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Star Trek Discovery


I dunno, man - the first trailer came out yesterday, and it's at least visually awesome:

I hear ya, I just miss red and gold I guess. I liked the trek style from the 60s to the 90s better. I was hoping for a different direction than the movies. Its over the top epicness comes off as a bit trite to my palette but, again, I agree with you.
 
I liked it. But I struggle with liking it.

I mean, Trek is back on the air so I should be happy. It's one of my things.

But it just doesn't feel like Trek.

First of all, the main character should be thrown out the airlock BSG-style. No place on a starship and a terrible character. And how does Spock suddenly have a human sister we've never heard of in 50 years?

Why the changes with the Klingons? Why do they have four nostrils now? And ten years later in Trek-time, they look human (augment virus), and then they look like Gene Simmons for a couple hundred years. Klingon fashion must be a bitch.

Why do all the Klingon ships look spiky and not at all like Klingon ships? Why are the Federation suddenly building ships that are just saucer sections with warp engines stuck on wherever?

Why don't they hire an electrician so you can actually see on the bridge? Are all the lights out or something?

And weaponizing a dead Klingon sounds awfully close to terrorism or a war crime. Starfleet seems to frown on that kind of stuff.

But I liked the effects. I liked the opening. I liked Michelle Yeoh. I liked the Spock-style EVA sequence. I liked the effects.

But wow it seemed to be a lot of random sci-fi squeezed into a Trek outfit.
 
They got the look, not the substance. Besides, you have to subscribe to yet another streaming service, CBS All Access, to see the rest of the series, including part two of the introductory episode. With all the publicity, ratings of that first half of the episode were so-so.

The price is $5.99 per month with the ads; $9.99 without. Worth the cost? Not to me. This is the dark side of cable cord-cutting.
 
Have I just outgrown star trek? How many platitudes about understanding each other and political correctness could they fit in?

So you have an Asian female captain and a black female first officer in the future, great, we get it... women can do anything men can do... Asians and blacks should be in senior roles too..ok ok ok entertainment industry we all get that now, can't we just go back to great characters, strong actors and just a show that escapes you off to the 23rd century without a big dose of moral education on the way. The captain was A W F U L, the back stories were tedious. I don't care about your back story in the first few episodes, I don't know you! Show me what this ship can do and kick some Klingon ass! Come back and give me a back story in season 7.

The ships and their capabilities should be one of the stars of the show and it feels like they were just a stage to have the pc parade play out. I want to know what this enterprise can do, how fast it can go, what's its weapon and armoury, what tricks has she got up her sleeve? Did we even see engineering?

Design of the federation ships was not really attention grabbing and the Klingon ships looked like crustations. Where is the slick bad ass bird of prey in green that made you wanna be Klingon? It's gone and replaced with boring Klingon politics speeches and race discussions. Meh

And the CGI: lame. First time they showed the enterprise I was like 'this looks like a cartoon'. Models and green screen in TNG was way better and that was a billion years ago.

Liberals ruin everything and now they can add star trek to the list. Thanks guys.

Oh no wait I'm not done, how obvious was it that the federation were the western allies and the Klingons were Muslims? "They only respect force" "They will die for their cause" it was America vs Iran and Isis in space.

Beam me up Scotty I'm ready to go.
 
Have I just outgrown star trek? How many platitudes about understanding each other and political correctness could they fit in? .... it was America vs Iran and Isis in space.

I was waiting for this angle to pop-up. One of the things that has made Trek better IMO has been the underlying political themes that reflect real-life political issues. In this case I'm not so certain that it's necessarily specific to America vs. Iran & Isis. However that could certainly be a facet worthy of discussion. It seems to be a broader broader culture clash between two primary points of view: 1. The classic United Federation of Planets analogous to an ideal United Nations that is seen as positive, versus 2. Anti-globalist cultures which see unification as something destructive.

These are worthy topics of discussion that IMO are a step above most other TV programming, and it's set in a sci-fi universe, which is a personal favorite, so I'm more than willing to give it a chance and see where it goes. Enterprise was just getting to the point of being good when it was cancelled. Personally I would have liked to have seen the new series pick-up in the 26th Century where the conflict was with the Sphere Builders, but that wold have required more progressive writers to make sense of the problems presented by multiple universes and time-lines, and since for some unfathomable reason they didn't consult me personally on that ;) , we got more Klingons instead.
 
I was waiting for this angle to pop-up. One of the things that has made Trek better IMO has been the underlying political themes that reflect real-life political issues. In this case I'm not so certain that it's necessarily specific to America vs. Iran & Isis. However that could certainly be a facet worthy of discussion. It seems to be a broader broader culture clash between two primary points of view: 1. The classic United Federation of Planets analogous to an ideal United Nations that is seen as positive, versus 2. Anti-globalist cultures which see unification as something destructive.

These are worthy topics of discussion that IMO are a step above most other TV programming, and it's set in a sci-fi universe, which is a personal favorite, so I'm more than willing to give it a chance and see where it goes. Enterprise was just getting to the point of being good when it was cancelled. Personally I would have liked to have seen the new series pick-up in the 26th Century where the conflict was with the Sphere Builders, but that wold have required more progressive writers to make sense of the problems presented by multiple universes and time-lines, and since for some unfathomable reason they didn't consult me personally on that ;) , we got more Klingons instead.

I agree if it was a subtle reference to modern day politics it would be a positive as we could relate to it but all the equality and diversity messages were overwhelming.

And yes I agree a post TNG universe would have been better and they could have had all those new twists you mention but no they took the safe option of prequel, minorities, gender balance and political dialogue.

See this year's emmys and you will see why star trek had no hope of being good in this current environment
 
It comes down to this: They have covered every possible theme and plot twist over the various Trek series. It doesn't mean there isn't more to do, but this one is still a work in progress so far as I'm concerned, and it may never get beyond that. Is it really original to have Klingons who are evidently religious fanatics, and tying this to the original series by having the main protagonist as a human who was brought up on Vulcan by Spock's father?

At least James Frain, as Sarek, does credit to the role. He has mostly played villains in the past.
 
You know what? I didn’t even notice that the two leads were women.

I mean, they make up half the poplulation, it’s gonna happen. Yeoh was awesome. Just give us a show with her on her ship without Micheal and I would have been happy.

I want a yoeman Daft Punk episode.

But yes it was heavy handed. Micheal = Trump acting stupid, childish, and in a position she didn’t deserve. T’Kuvma = leader of ISIS goading the Feds into a fight.

It was interesting that ulitmately it was the Feds that committed an act of terrorism with the bomb on the body. Very ISIS, that.
 
You know what? I didn’t even notice that the two leads were women.

I mean, they make up half the poplulation, it’s gonna happen. Yeoh was awesome. Just give us a show with her on her ship without Micheal and I would have been happy.

I want a yoeman Daft Punk episode.

But yes it was heavy handed. Micheal = Trump acting stupid, childish, and in a position she didn’t deserve. T’Kuvma = leader of ISIS goading the Feds into a fight.

It was interesting that ulitmately it was the Feds that committed an act of terrorism with the bomb on the body. Very ISIS, that.

Definitely some problems. Can't lock onto the Captain because no life signs, but they could beam a bomb onto a dead Klingon. No signal because of a huge dust storm, but they could see a trail of footprints on the ground. They only send 2 people ( 2 highest ranking officers ) over to the Klingon ship instead of a boarding party, and what's with the instant deceleration to a stop from warp? That seems to be hitting the brakes a bit hard. They don't use a BSG FTL. Then there's the ramming scene as if the Federation ship is somehow glued in space. It should have just bounced off at that speed pretty much undamaged. Too much sensationalism, too little plot, and too many holes. But I'll still be tuning in for the next episode :confused: .
 
Definitely some problems. Can't lock onto the Captain because no life signs, but they could beam a bomb onto a dead Klingon.
I struggled with that... but then I remembered about the set-up with the 'lateral transporter array' being old. So I gave that one some space. I would rather have seen the Klingons throw up a force field around that section if they needed Yeoh's body to stay.

No signal because of a huge dust storm, but they could see a trail of footprints on the ground.
Ya, clearly dumb. A very flag waving patriotic kind of weird thing to do. Especially because at that time, that was the insignia for the Enterprise, not for Starfleet. Starfleet only took that symbol after the Enterprise was the only Constitution class to return from their five year missions.

They only send 2 people ( 2 highest ranking officers ) over to the Klingon ship instead of a boarding party,
That's classic Star Trek behaviour right there though isn't it?

and what's with the instant deceleration to a stop from warp? That seems to be hitting the brakes a bit hard. They don't use a BSG FTL.
That I actually bought. Star Trek warp drives are supposed to be non-newtonian, they work by warping space. They do this a few times in TNG actually - come out of Warp at a dead stop, or go from a stop to warp.


What did surprise me though is that they were able to come out of warp with pinpoint accuracy - 50 m or so away from another ship. Seems like awful great driving.

Then there's the ramming scene as if the Federation ship is somehow glued in space. It should have just bounced off at that speed pretty much undamaged.
Starships are heavy (nacelles) and mostly full of air where the ramming happened. So I gave that one a pass.
But it wasn't very Klingon to ram somebody when you were winning the fight, and it sure wasn't honourable to agree to a cease fire and then do so.
Too much sensationalism, too little plot, and too many holes. But I'll still be tuning in for the next episode :confused: .
My problems:
  1. Klingons don't have four nostrils and don't look either like TMP style Klingons or TOS style. Klingon fashion must be a bitch to require so much surgery.
  2. If somebody claimed to be Kahless, they should have killed him on the spot. Kahless was supposed to be unbeatable.
  3. Klingon ships everywhere, and nary a D7 or Bird of Prey in sight. Just random tubes and spiky glowy bits.
  4. They should have thrown Micheal out an airlock 10 minutes in. No way would she have been first officer of anything but a garbage scow. What a terrible character.
  5. The Federation ships don't build a bridge between the Enterprise TV show and TOS. What a missed opportunity.
  6. Why do they keep introducing new Federation species that you don't see later on in the timeline? Why not explore Andorians or Tellarates more?
  7. How the hell do they blow a deck out, killing dozens of crew, and only the square section around Micheal remains? And nobody cares about all those crew, only the one person who's in jail?
  8. I obviously think too much about this stuff.
 
Why do you have to always bash "liberals" and blame them for everything? Can't you be apolitical, have fun and not always be trying to bait people. In case you didn't know it, it really makes you come across like a real asswipe, IMO.

I'm just calling it as I see it. You reap what you sow and all this sowing of identity politics from liberals is now so choking you can't even make a sci fi fiction without it dominating proceedings.

I'm ok with coming across as an asswipe. Remember when bringing up a different point of view was called a debate and not baiting? Now unless you conform to the group think and reinforce the narratives you are 'baiting'?

C'mon Chris, your no snowflake and you promote challenging of the true believer paradigm but you don't like me challenging your liberal paradigm? If my points are wrong please address them I would welcome the discussion and I would hopefully learn something along the way.

As long as I'm saying things that challenge your paradigm and your saying things that challenge my paradigm and we are not physically hurting each other we may both come out the other end richer for it and not stay in our bubbles.

Liberals ruined star trek. Why am I wrong?
 
I'm just calling it as I see it. You reap what you sow and all this sowing of identity politics from liberals is now so choking you can't even make a sci fi fiction without it dominating proceedings.

I'm ok with coming across as an asswipe. Remember when bringing up a different point of view was called a debate and not baiting? Now unless you conform to the group think and reinforce the narratives you are 'baiting'?

C'mon Chris, your no snowflake and you promote challenging of the true believer paradigm but you don't like me challenging your liberal paradigm? If my points are wrong please address them I would welcome the discussion and I would hopefully learn something along the way.

As long as I'm saying things that challenge your paradigm and your saying things that challenge my paradigm and we are not physically hurting each other we may both come out the other end richer for it and not stay in our bubbles.

Liberals ruined star trek. Why am I wrong?
You’re wrong because it’s a ridiculous assertion with no merit.

It was created Only to piss people off and adds nothing to the conversation.
 
You’re wrong because it’s a ridiculous assertion with no merit.

It was created Only to piss people off and adds nothing to the conversation.

I have explained how the overbearing attention to identity politics (and this is liberal politics of promoting victim culture) is for me what made the first two episodes so insufferable.

It's not created to piss people off. It just pisses you off cause your obviously a liberal and don't like the mirror being held up
 
I have explained how the overbearing attention to identity politics (and this is liberal politics of promoting victim culture) is for me what made the first two episodes so insufferable.

It's not created to piss people off. It just pisses you off cause your obviously a liberal and don't like the mirror being held up
I find it amusing that I consistently vote conservative and yet from folks like you I get accused of being a liberal.

Which is not an insult at any rate.

Hold your own mirror up. Attention seeking behaviour is boring.
 
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