Discovery Series

[CABAL]

-snip-

I kind of feel like they should have gone for a kind of mix of the original idea of having the show be be an anthology and the approach they went with. I think the way the show is going, having each season spotlight a different character would have been a better choice. Burnham as the S1 lead, Stamets as the S2 lead, Saru as the S3 lead, etc.

 

[Walshicus]

I kind of feel like they should have gone for a kind of mix of the original idea of having the show be be an anthology and the approach they went with. I think the way the show is going, having each season spotlight a different character would have been a better choice. Burnham as the S1 lead, Stamets as the S2 lead, Saru as the S3 lead, etc.

This would have been far more interesting.

I can't quite tell if the show is starting to become self-aware at how Burnham is perceived though. One moment characters are calling her out for the nonsense the writers make her do... but the next she's doing it again.

 

[dvatreknerd314]

Spoiler: Episode 10

Georgiou has her Prime Kirk moment, trying to change the Terran Empire into something better. Goes just about as well as expected. Then we learn that "Carl" is actually the Guardian of Forever, relocated during or after the Temporal Wars. Georgiou goes though the Guardian to a point where the Mirror and Prime universes haven't split, or so the Guardian tells us. It's a shame we didn't get to see what that point is, but the development of the Section 31 series might not be that far along yet.

Reno finally shows up again. I'm happy they had her absence from the show for a bit referenced in the dialogue.

 

[dvatreknerd314]

Spoiler: Episode 11

I was gonna do episodes 11 and 12 together since 11 ended on a cliff hanger but so did 12...

So not a whole lot going on until the very end of the episode. We discover that there's a lifeform on the ship lost in the nebula where the Burn originated. Saru waits until this moment to reveal that the marks on the Kelpien captain's head weren't due to radiation, but due to pregnancy. Saru tries to take Discovery into the dangerous nebula and nearly destroys the ship in the process, only to be saved by Book's magical ship. Book makes it to the planet and beams Burnam, Culver, and Saru to the planet. Then we get the required alien-actor-out-of-makeup episode. I...really noticed a difference in how Doug Jones played Saru without makeup versus with makeup. I think he was physically more expressive in-makeup than without it. We go through a wonky series of areas where we see an earlier form of the Starfleet uniform, though similar in look to the 32nd century iteration. We eventually learn that Su'Kal, the Kelpien marooned on the planet, is not only psychologically a child, but might also have been the cause of the Burn. Its...a little too fantastic for my tastes. The rest of the episode on the planet is about trying to get Su'Kal to...end the simulation? I think?

Anyway, back on Discovery, Tilly is placed in command, only for the Discovery to get captured by Osyraa. Before Discovery jumps away, Burnam returns to Book's ship but Adira beams down to the planet.

Not a lot going on in this episode overall. I think something more is going on with the representation of evil seen in the holographic program.

Spoiler: Episode 12

More stuff going on in this episode. Osyraa uses Discovery to break into the protected Federation bubble. She proposes to merge the current Federation with the Emerald Chain, but that idea is eventually rejected. We see the bridge crew trying to retake the ship. They're assisted in the end by the sudden appearance of the sphere data, located in our favorite astromech droids robots, the DOT-3's.

Largely action-based episode, though we see a lot more of Osyraa and Vance than previously. Vance is starting to grow on me a bit after this episode. I'm quite impressed by how the relationship between Book and Burnam has evolved. It's a much more mature, though still a tad clumsy, relationship than anything we've seen on the series.

We get a tense scene that pits Burnam against Stamets, culminating in Burnam placing Stamets into an escape pod (field?) and ejecting him into space to protect him from Osyraa. We only have one more episode of the season left so it'll be interesting to see how this culminates.

We also got to see a reappearance of a member of Kima's species from Short Treks

 

[dvatreknerd314]

Spoiler: Episode 13/Finale

So...there are a lot of bad things about this episode. Surprisingly most of them are not with the story.

When Adira beams down to the planet they're made to look Xahean by the holoprogram...at least I think that was the idea. The makeup used on Del Bario looks poorly done, almost lazy. Exactly how the holoprogram recognizes Gray and gives him form is odd, and not explained in the episode. Maybe there'll be more of an explanation in the next season but it's a odd curiosity now, as Gray clearly isn't just an hallucination anymore. His ability to go beyond the limits of the holoprogram as it's disintegrating is odd.

In the group of bridge officers we get someone named Lt. Ina instead of Nielsen. It's an abrupt change and odd, as this is the second time Sara Mitch's character has either been recast or replaced in dialogue-heavy situations.

We get ships arriving from Ni'Var. No good views of them but it's interesting at least. Supposedly the detached nacelles of Discovery gives them better maneuverability but it's never seen.

Tilly has...absolutely no command presence.

It looks like the sea creature from the simulation is just that. I thought maybe it was a representation of another survivor or something, but apparently not. We get a made-up explanation for how Su'Kal caused the Burn. We also learn dilithium has some kind of 'subspace component', whatever that means. And apparently the Burn was just his scream travelling through subspace.

Discovery apparently is a Tardis. The turbolift system is extremely large, even for a ship the size of Discovery, but I think we saw something similar on the Enterprise-E in Nemesis. The data core looks a lot more advanced than it theoretically should. It looks more 32nd century than 23rd, but that may be due to the upgrades.

So in the fight scene with Osyraa, Michael gets absorbed into the data core? Then comes out of it. It'll be interesting to see if there are any long-term consequences to this. Apparently Discovery's OS was reverted to the pre-upgrade version, so probably no more magic swirly-whirly nonsense. It's a shame they killed of Osyraa, as she could have been a complex villain for a while.

No idea what happens to Aurelio. Book's magic empathic abilities allow him to pilot the spore drive. We learn his real name isn't Cleveland Booker, though that was probably a given.

The warp core is odd. It's surrounded by a massive chasm, and its ejection sequence bothers me in that it scrapes against the sides of the shaft rather than a clean ejection. I'd think the ejection system would be much more reliable.

We get much better views of the future Federation ships. Not bad but not the best either.

It looks like there's still some resentment on the part of Stamets toward Burnam.

What the Chain will look like will be interesting. It looks Saru might not be rejoining Discovery. Sahil makes his reappearance as an official Starfleet officer now. Michael is finally promoted to captain the Discovery.

The new uniforms...don't look good. They look unfinished. Even something as similar as black slacks instead of gray would have been much better. The uniforms were fine for background characters, but they don't look good when finally placed on the main cast. They especially don't fit in with the Discovery set itself.

They finally settle on "Let's Fly" instead of "Engage".

The episode was written like it could be the last episode of the season, even though it's been renewed for at least Season 4.

 

[LordChicken]

I have the opportunity to watch this for free from a shared account with a friend. So I finally broke down and am watching it. I am on episode six of the first season. I do not think it is Star Trek, but I do like it so far.

I do not understand why they are making Michael out to be some kind of super bad guy when she was doing the best she could to stop the war with the Klingons before it started and no one would listen. Plus why would the Vulcans not share with Starfleet how they deal with the Klingons before any of this happened? Sarak could have been like "Yo I told Michael to do this and since I am Mr. Bad Ass you all can deal" And that could have prevented Michael from sentence to life in prison.

 

[SciFiFan]

I have the opportunity to watch this for free from a shared account with a friend. So I finally broke down and am watching it. I am on episode six of the first season. I do not think it is Star Trek, but I do like it so far.

I do not understand why they are making Michael out to be some kind of super bad guy when she was doing the best she could to stop the war with the Klingons before it started and no one would listen. Plus why would the Vulcans not share with Starfleet how they deal with the Klingons before any of this happened? Sarak could have been like "Yo I told Michael to do this and since I am Mr. Bad Ass you all can deal" And that could have prevented Michael from sentence to life in prison.

Discovery is not as bad as many make it out to be. I think the ships should have had more of the TOS esthetics for continuity purposes and the Klingon redesign was unnecessary. The show does start getting better in season 2 and it really stands on its own in season 3. As for Burnham, even with the best of intentions, mutiny is a serious offense.

 

[Terradyhne]

Yeah even my thought on Discovery, after watching first season, was its SCIFI with some assets from Star Trek. With Season 2 and 3 this completely changed, it has a strong Star Trek undertone now.
I like the design of the Discovery itself, except for the saucer part. The whole Burnham part is forced on emancipation s***, even if her role is more of the savior of the Federation. The powerful woman aspect, should be explored with an Enterprise-C series, with Captain Rachel Garret.

 

[LordChicken]

I do not understand why they thought Axnar was going to compete with this... Man, I wish they could have made what they wanted to.

@SciFiFan I do agree that mutiny, even under the best of intentions, is a serious offense. And she should be punished.

@Terradyhne The design of the Discovery is growing on me a bit. I do think the saucer is too small for the width of the ship and I'm not sure why it needs spinny bits or cut-outs other than to look "SciFi" But the secondary hull and the warp nacelles do look pretty good.

I'm sure this has been brought up before but I think this looks better:

Image source: https://imgur.com/a/4KVLz