I liked seeing the actors get to play some different roles and I liked seeing the fantasy life of the characters whenever there was something off the beaten path. It helps round everybody out, in the same way that playing an instrument or having a pet does.
I haven’t really been compelled to start watching this season yet, but I will eventually. Still, it seems pretty lackluster in terms of people getting into it from what I can tell. It’s a really bad sign. Final season of Discovery not being that big, Lower Decks ending, Prodigy shunted over to Netflix, Paramount+ cutting budgets and bleeding subscribers… I think we may be close to the end of another Star Trek era. I hope that isn’t true, but it could be.
They really need to light a fire under the fan base. I would suggest that would involve greenlighting Legacy, but I don’t have much hope for that.
My wife and I are just not in a position right now where we have time to watch anything together in the evening. That will change in a couple of weeks and we’ll start watching.
For my money, sticking to prequels is where the problems start.
Disco, SNW: hard prequels bordering on TOS reboot in the case of SNW.
Meanwhile Picard and lower decks are very much grounded in nostalgia (hint: each have more Frakes appearances than DS9).
This era never really had the same bravery to do something new like TOS and TNG-era, IMO. I was a big fan of Disco’s move into the future (it’s just that Disco miss the landing every time for me).
I think in the original she asks: “If you’re a cop, name a law.” His answer: “Don’t kill.” is correct, but not exclusive cop knowledge and thus no prove.
However, knowing the correct number of Enterprises is, in my opinion, proof for being a Trek nerd.
Or is this meme so meta that it’s joking about the meme… I don’t even, we live in a society!
I don’t know where the meme comes from but this is how it is used as far as I have seen it. A question “Name X whatever”, one single answer and the joke is that the answer fits for X
I have long held that Season 5, Episode 2 of is the best episode to “test” if you’ll like Star Trek or not. It is a generally well-liked and well-reviewed episode, but more than that, from both a story and a character standpoint it is representative of what your average Star Trek episode is generally about.
So, my recommendation is to watch that one episode and report back.
Ooooh! I really like that idea! Several people that I know started to watch TNG and just couldn’t get into it. And I feel like part of it is the wacky crustiness of the first few episodes of the first season. So, I second this idea of diving right into the core of the show!
Okay. It’s not “Q” weird, but that is absolutely a weird episode. The whole “speaking in metaphors” thing is sort of a ridiculous concept as you’d have to have a language in place to even develop the metaphors. I loved how “out there” that episode is, and it is genuinely thought provoking, but if that was the first episode that I ever saw, I’m not sure I ever would have watched another one.
But I do like the concept of checking it out given a single episode. I’d rather recommend Season 5, Episode 18 (Cause and Effect), Season 2’s The Measure of Man.
Well, that was certainly an episode of Star Trek: Discovery. Actually, it might be one of Discovery’s most representative episodes.
Discovery at its worst: geez that warp chase scene was awful. It wasn’t a great use of How We Got Here because there wasn’t enough time between the flashback and the redux to make the flashback seem justified—the bulk of the episode happened after the redux anyways. It wasn’t a great use of Once More With Clarity, either. I guess they were going for some sort of dramatic Rayner reveal? But, the “revelation” that the Antares was shadowing Burnham that whole time wasn’t particularly interesting. Nothing was gained by temporally displacing that scene other than frontloading the action, which makes it seem like Discovery is scared to lead with a character moment or a story beat, as if their mentality is “we gotta get to the pew pew ASAP because that’s why the audience is here.”
It felt unearned, and was just another instance of Discovery borrowing things from better shows without adding anything or seemingly even understanding why what they borrowed worked in a different context. And of course, this teed up one of Discovery’s most obnoxious long-running tropes: Burnham knows she’s right and spends a few minutes exasperatedly explaining to an unwelcome guest with equivalent or higher authority than her to no avail. The thing that’s always weird about these scenes is the way Burnham keeps going even after it’s become very clear that the person she’s trying to convince isn’t having it. At that point, focus on getting into the ship, don’t continue the argument! These scenes always feel like Burnham is trying to make sure that the viewer knows she’s right rather than the other character.
I know she’s right. She’s always right.
Discovery at its best: The scene where Discovery and Antares save the settlement on Q’mau. This had all the bits and pieces of a classic Trek triumph: the heroes put the mission, their ships, and themselves at risk to save innocent lives because it’s the right thing to do and ultimately save the day thanks to quick thinking, creativity, and Starfleet’s engineering prowess. This was actually the only sequence in the episode where the Burnham-Rayner interaction worked: Rayner’s calculated risk paid off but introduced a new complication, but Rayner was also pretty quick to concede that “ok yeah, to hell with this ‘Red Directive’ nonsense, innocent lives are at stake” and ceded authority to Burnham.
Visually, seeing Discovery and Antares literally shield the settlement was fantastic. The detail on the shields stopping the rockslide was great fun to watch. These have always been my favorite Discovery moments: classic Trek formula with modern effects and pacing.
Why I’m worried: Rayner. One of Discovery’s quirks has always been what I call “the interloper,” an external authority figured foisted onto the cast to either foil or assist Burnham depending on which direction the story needs to turn. Lorca and Pike were more pronounced instances of this quirk than Vance and Rilliak were, but all four seasons have done it.
Our season 5 interloper looks to be Rayner, and it looks like Rayner is going to be as prominent as Lorca and Pike were. And boy, I didn’t find Rayner to be interesting or compelling at all. I’ve worked with far too many “I’m allowed to be a jerk because I’m right” types to be entertained by them, particularly when played straight. I really hope they do something more novel with Rayner, and quickly.
Agree with most of it. That intro with Michael riding on that ship at warp is exactly why I don’t like Discovery all that much. It’s always Michael, it’s got to be Michael. Plus the way this was used as you pointed out was just not good.
Also the reasoning to get Tilly back on board later, eh, don’t know, why not I guess. But why park a character at the academy teaching if you just get her back later with some half-baked excuse.
Same for Rayner, he has been retired as a Captain, despised working with Michael but of course she can persuade him to work as her Number One? Really? Sorry, but that does not make sense to me. I like him as a character though, so not too unhappy he sticks around.
But Michaels monologue about the progenitors at the beginning of episode 2 just nailed it in terms of what is not good about Discovery. Of course Michael recently thought about her existence, of course she has the drive to now look for answers the questions, but what if she does not understand. Always her her her. None of the other characters seem to matter.
I am quite excited they revive that progenitors plot from TNG, it is good material. However I am worried they only did so since they saw this is what saved Picard Season 03, fan service by bringing back as much TNG as necessary. So we will see. Cautiously optimistic, but it is still the Discovery that I don’t quite like.
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