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ValueSubtracted , 27 days ago

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but I didn’t realize there were conspiracy theories floating around about them being fired or some nonsense. I figured the actual reason was probably pretty benign.

ValueSubtracted OP , 28 days ago

Nope - after they were cancelled, they were allowed to go back and film some additional scenes to add to the end of the finale to give it some closure.

ValueSubtracted OP , 27 days ago

I wouldn’t say I found it distracting, if only because I knew it was coming, but I can definitely see the argument that it wasn’ t necessary.

ValueSubtracted OP , 28 days ago

I really like his answer to a question about Academy’s setting:

So you’re setting this —

In the “Discovery” era. There’s a specific reason for that. As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him. I see him recognizing he’s inheriting an enormous mess to clean up and it’s going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and that’s a lot to ask of a kid. My thinking was, if we set “Starfleet Academy” in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, it’s not going to speak to what kids are going through right now.

It’ll be a nice fantasy, but it’s not really going to be authentic. What’ll be authentic is to set it in the timeline where this is the first class back after over 100 years, and they are coming into a world that is only beginning to recover from a cataclysm — which was the Burn, as established on “Star Trek: Discovery,” where the Federation was greatly diminished. So they’re the first who’ll inherit, who’ll re-inherit, the task of exploration as a primary goal, because there just wasn’t room for that during the Burn — everybody was playing defense. It’s an incredibly optimistic show, an incredibly fun show; it’s a very funny show, and it’s a very emotional show. I think these kids, in different ways, are going to represent what a lot of kids are feeling now.

ValueSubtracted OP , 28 days ago

I think that’s a good thing - not just for the reasons Kurtzman highlighted, but because Starfleet being in a “rebuild” phase gives them a nice excuse to put cadets to work.

I also just enjoy the 32nd century setting, so I’m glad to stick with it a while longer.

ValueSubtracted , 28 days ago

But it took how many months of retooling to give us the last season?

Less than one, as far as I’m aware. They got permission to write and film an additional three days’ worth of footage, which became the epilogue to the episode. Everything else is exactly as they orginally shot it, from what they’ve said.

ValueSubtracted , 28 days ago

Oh wow, I’m glad you were able to attend - how was the crowd?

ValueSubtracted OP , 28 days ago

As far as season finales go, I think this was their best one to date. The action was split pretty nicely between the chaotic events on the bridge, Saru’s mission, and Burnham and Moll inside the portal. I thought the thoroughline of the clues left by the science team came together quite nicely, as well - there was a good amount of emphasis on how concerned the scientists had been about exactly who was going to find this thing. Burnham’s ultimate decision to chuck the whole thing into the black hole caught me by surprise, but seemed pretty well-reasoned.

As far as series finale’s go…I think they did pretty well with what they had. The several-decade time jump often works really well to cause some self-reflection, and it was nice to see an Admiral Burnham who was so settled down. And hey, we got our “Calypso” tie-in that managed to answer very few questions, but at least they closed that circle.

It really does feel like the end of an era. This show kickstarted the barrage of Trek we’ve (hopefully, mostly) enjoyed over these past few years. Of all the series that have followed it, Discovery has consistently been the one I’ve looked forward to watching the most, as it’s been the most willing to surprise and challenge me along the way. It’s been, as they say, a long road.

ValueSubtracted OP , 28 days ago

I guess we will never find out where it actually came from

This was something that caught me off-guard, but the more I think about it, the more appropriate it seems. Some things are just unknowable.

ValueSubtracted OP , 28 days ago

It would have been interesting to see Walking Dead L’ak, but it was also kind of nice to see Moll accept the situation and start to trust Burnham.

ValueSubtracted OP , 28 days ago (edited 28 days ago)

I think that makes certain assumptions about how Zora engages with the world, which may or may not be correct. I’d really like to rewatch “Calypso” as it’s been ages, but Paramount+ seems to have…misplaced the Short Treks in my country.

ValueSubtracted OP , 28 days ago

Whoops, fixed a typo in my comment.

What I’m trying to say is, I don’t think it can be called cruelty if Zora, in her capacity as an artificial intelligence, doesn’t mind. It may not be accurate to assume she will react in the way a human would.

ValueSubtracted OP , 28 days ago

At this point, you’re just describing a Starfleet officer.

ValueSubtracted OP , 27 days ago

Zora’s already demonstrated the capacity to disobey an order if she wants to.

So we don’t know if Zora’s being “tortured” from her perspective, and we have pretty solid evidence that she could just leave if she wants to.

ValueSubtracted OP , 29 days ago

Yeah, I thought this one was particularly notable since they were a relative unknown prior to Discovery.

ValueSubtracted OP , 29 days ago

I think it’ll probably get five seasons, but I wouldn’t hold my breath beyond that.

ValueSubtracted OP , 29 days ago

The Academy series remains on track to start filming this summer.

ValueSubtracted , 29 days ago

I literally yelled at the TV: "Why didn’t you just do that?! Or at least technobabble away why you ‘can’t just’ "

You know, the execution was a little clunky, but I really appreciated the idea that Starfleet would sit around chatting about the situation for the bit, while the Breen would just swing in with a YOLO maneuver.

ValueSubtracted , 29 days ago

He memorably played “unconscious guy on a table” in “Shades of Gray.”

ValueSubtracted , 29 days ago

How dare these people behave semi-rationally! We’ve got a story to tell!

ValueSubtracted , 29 days ago

TFW you’re a little too accustomed to genre conventions…

Edit: And I think we all get that from time to time. When’s the last time you expected the transporters to work during a high-stakes mission?

ValueSubtracted , 1 month ago

Are you the one on the left or the right?

ValueSubtracted , 1 month ago

Smiling

ValueSubtracted , 1 month ago

Yes, it was sarcasm, and Riker smiles upon you.

ValueSubtracted OP , 1 month ago

Marvel at the two whole photos (okay, one whole photo and one heavily-cropped photo) that they’ve provided this week!

But hey…Nhan!

ValueSubtracted OP , 1 month ago

It sounds like it was somehow intended to represent that only one House holds the Holy Rings at a time - it’s not clear if the symbol was meant to change depending on which House possessed them at the time.

ValueSubtracted , 1 month ago

I’m pretty ambivalent about her, but I agree it was an interesting performance, particularly for a woman at that time in television.

She was horribly underused - it’s downright criminal that she doesn’t pay a significant role in “The Measure of a Man.”

ValueSubtracted , 1 month ago

The greatest discovery of all was within us all along is still out there somewhere!

ValueSubtracted , 1 month ago

It’s really quite simple. No one was watching it, which is why it was cancelled.

But they had to keep making it because CBS All Access needed those viewers, which I remind you did not exist, to prop up the streaming service.

See? See?

ValueSubtracted OP , 1 month ago

It sounds like it will be released in the UK for sure - we might be more details in the future.

ValueSubtracted , 1 month ago

Suddenly realizing that Keiko and Vedek Winn could have resolved their differences very differently…

ValueSubtracted OP , 1 month ago

This show is at its best when they just let Wil be Wil, and go a little off-script. I feel like those moments have been edited out of the final product all season, which made TRR feel kind of soulless.

Until this one - his (seemingly) unscripted chatter with Frakes is great.

ValueSubtracted OP , 1 month ago

The effects are so good overall, and used so creatively, I kind of feel badk for taking them for granted.

ValueSubtracted OP , 1 month ago

That’s an interesting interpretation - like Richard, I assumed the Progenitors created both the portal and the container it was in (though not necessarily that the container was generating the portal, just encasing it).

ValueSubtracted , 1 month ago

The showrunner is in charge of production, including the writers room. Matalas was co-showrunner of season two, and sole showrunner of season three.