Star Trek: Discovery, Season 1

Cafe Society
1

I just finished watching Season 1 of Star Trek: Discovery. I started a new thread to discuss the entire season with whoever might be interested rather than try to tack on to the individual episode threads.

Overall, I have to say that I’m pleasantly surprised. The series as a whole is pretty good, and never struck me as being as clunky and goofy as Star Trek: Enterprise.

Starting with the look—very good, very slick, matching up with what’s going on in the Chris Pine movies. Things look clean and stylish, which is part of the Star Trek ethos (hey, Roddenberry hired William Ware Theiss to do costumes! Style is important).

— I was disappointed that they stuck to the blue jumpsuits from Enterprise instead of moving more towards Captain Kirk-style togs, but they did a decent job. I like the metallic stripes on the uniforms, and the offset one down the front. The white medical uniform looks amazing.

— (One thing I thought was weird—the women’s uniforms have four stripes and the men’s have five—why in the world would Starfleet want or need to make such a differentiation?)

— The Klingons—Umm they’re looking a bit too monstrous, aren’t they? I had to relearn how to recognize a Klingon. Where’s the long hair and interesting beards? And their facial makeup was so heavy that it always seemed like it was a struggle for them to move their mouths.

The feel and motion—again it’s slick and fast like the Chris Pine movies, but in this respect, I think this is something they got wrong. Star Trek should be smart and cerebral. Talky. Less superhero actiony. Still, it wasn’t too bad in that respect. It didn’t ruin everything.

The cast of characters—I think they did a really good job with this. The characters are almost all interesting in some way, and feature a broad diversity of personalities, experiences, backgrounds, attitudes, etc. The twists and turns for several of them were quite good.

The cast of actors—Pretty damn good. Off the top of my head, I can’t say I have any huge complaints. Although, sometimes Tilly was played a tad too ditzy maybe?

The story—The TOS I grew up with was very episodic. This one has a very different story structure and I can’t say I have anything to complain about. Very strong arc, and a very strong character and actor at its center with Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham.

Complaints:

— This is my fault, kind of. I accidentally spoiled myself on the Ash Tyler revelation by looking at Wikipedia. I really wish Wikipedia wouldn’t reveal plot points in their “cast and characters” sections.

— Overall, slightly too actiony, and slightly too little nerdy philosophizing, but I can’t complain too much

Anyone want to talk about this?

2

I’m avoiding it until I can get it on DVD.

3

As am I. Unfortunately, according to people who claim to know (John and Ken over at Mission Log), don’t count on that ever happening. I’m not sure that I believe that but I guess I’ll find out.

4

It’s a revenue stream that they won’t be able to turn their backs on.

5

I appreciate actual philosophy, not so much nerdy philosophizing or technobabble, so to me this was an improvement. Maybe it will attract viewers not otherwise so interested in a Star Trek setting. (The philosophy can still be there, just in a subtle or clever way rather than strident.)

6

As explained to me, the argument is that releasing it on DVD will undercut their streaming service. They would rather get their money through that route than DVD sales.

I don’t know what’s going to happen. I tend to agree with you - DVDs will be released eventually. Who knows when that will be though. I wouldn’t personally expect to see them before December of 2019.

7

Don’t know if anyone’s caught on yet, but CBS is broadcasting Discovery Season 1 on a weekly basis (Fall 2020). They’re on episode four this week.

8

I’m guessing that CBS’s streaming service, like DC Universe/Warner Brothers, is crashing and they’re going to merge them back into their broaders services.

9

That may be the reason. I suspect it’s because of the lack of original content with the production shutdown. And it’s not the first time they’ve rerun a streaming show on the broadcast network. Several years ago, they showed the first season of The Good Fight on CBS over the summer.

10

That’s how I’m currently watching it. Only 5? episodes in so not reading too much of the thread to avoid spoilers. Hate the new-new look of the Klingons. How they gonna explain this retcon in 30 more years (assuming the Trek franchise even has that much longer to “live”). Otherwise it’s not as bad as seeing the 1st ep when CBS originally aired it (and the DVR cut off the ending because fucking football ran long, like always…) Seemed to get a bit better once they actually introduced the Discovery and most of the actual cast. Better but not great, certainly nothing I’d pay for another service to watch.

11

They should just stop explaining such things.

12

Yes, I am watching this.

I have questions- Why-oh-why is she blamed for killing 8000?

Why did they go after a Klingon leader with just the two of them and phaser pistols, instead of a team of 20 security with rifles?

Why- when they went into the hulk- was it again- pistols and not rifles?