Star Trek Discovery

gubble

I watch Star Trek (and other things) to entertain me as a bit of escapism from real life. It's entertainment. 

S3 of Disco wasn't any of those things for me. Instead it was a 'lesson' on how to be pc in today's climate. 

fretmeister

gubble said:

I watch Star Trek (and other things) to entertain me as a bit of escapism from real life. It's entertainment. 

S3 of Disco wasn't any of those things for me. Instead it was a 'lesson' on how to be pc in today's climate. 

Just like TOS was in the 60s then?

dazzajl

fretmeister said:

gubble said:

I watch Star Trek (and other things) to entertain me as a bit of escapism from real life. It's entertainment. 

S3 of Disco wasn't any of those things for me. Instead it was a 'lesson' on how to be pc in today's climate. 

Just like TOS was in the 60s then?

I think all ST has been very reflective of the culture it was made in. TNG must be the most so of all the series and in many ways time has been the most unkind to it. 

Moe_Zambeek

I quite enjoyed S3 but it was definitely not as good as the first two series. The earnestness of Burnham grated a bit.

Also annoyed me that they seem to be so hopeless at security, and saru seems to be basically hopeless as a captain. 

Overall I hope they sharpen things up a bit for following series; I definitely hope there are more to come. 

Also - ref Picard - I cant quite put my finger on why it’s so meh...on the face of it it should be great but it’s just a bit...wimpy?

fretmeister

dazzajl said:

fretmeister said:

gubble said:

I watch Star Trek (and other things) to entertain me as a bit of escapism from real life. It's entertainment. 

S3 of Disco wasn't any of those things for me. Instead it was a 'lesson' on how to be pc in today's climate. 

Just like TOS was in the 60s then?

I think all ST has been very reflective of the culture it was made in. TNG must be the most so of all the series and in many ways time has been the most unkind to it. 

TNG has definitely aged the worst. I still like it, but I do wonder if I would if I hadn't watched it when it first came out.
173 episodes IIRC and I reckon there's under 50 that remain high quality.

dazzajl

fretmeister said:

dazzajl said:

fretmeister said:

gubble said:

I watch Star Trek (and other things) to entertain me as a bit of escapism from real life. It's entertainment. 

S3 of Disco wasn't any of those things for me. Instead it was a 'lesson' on how to be pc in today's climate. 

Just like TOS was in the 60s then?

I think all ST has been very reflective of the culture it was made in. TNG must be the most so of all the series and in many ways time has been the most unkind to it. 

TNG has definitely aged the worst. I still like it, but I do wonder if I would if I hadn't watched it when it first came out.
173 episodes IIRC and I reckon there's under 50 that remain high quality.

The best episodes of TNG to me are the ones where their great actors were let lose a little. So Patrick and Brent basically. And season two where they had Diana Muldaur was great. 

Picard started off with more promise than any other Trek. It was moody, so cinematic and more
about suspense than action. Then it seemed to become more TNG as it went on. Still a good watch but not where I thought it might go. That
said, Jerri, Jonathon and Marina were all given so much more to work with than in their previous Trek series. 

darthed1981

So, not been in here for a while and it's gone a bit negative.

I grew up on TNG and I'm probably one of the people who considers Picard a "second father" - so the idea for me it has dated is a bit daft.

Seasons 3-7 have dated in that the women are mostly in traditional caring roles, and the gay episode ("The Outcast", fact fans) is still from the "no gays on TV" era - but the drama itself is little 45 minute morality plays.  Just because TV is all serialised now, doesn't remove value from episodic drama.

As for disco S3 - I was a bit disappointed with the reveal that the Burn was caused by a heartbroken child (was pretty obvious the incident that trigged Su'Kal was going to be watching his mother die) but it was ultimately Trek, and the little message about seeking connection, if indeed this is the end of the road for Saru, was pretty solid.

Going into Season 4, which now will have Captain Burnham in the 32nd century, it has opportunities to explore rebuilding the Federation, for example, what has happened to the Klingons now?  How did the burn affect the Borg? 

One of the underlying messages of Trek has always been that moving forwards, reaching for the sky instead of hiding at home can be desperately costly.  Something that comes from the US experience (the lost colonies, the Donner party etc, not all the genocide) but also the space program (the lost crews of Apollo 1, Challenger, Columbia...) reflected in Trek in Wolf 359, the Dominion War.

Disco has run with that with it's bloody Klingon conflict and the Burn, now it needs to go back to optimism again.

Also, lets have Q back, maybe the Spore drive lets Starfleet start to reach beyond our Galaxy to other galaxies, and he re-appears...

"How can you not recognise me, Picard kept those what do you call them.... Captain's logs didn't he?  There is a Voyager right there... you can't have forgotten dear Kathy... do I look older?  Well if you had been watching humanity for a thousand years you'd look older as well!!!..."

Still got Strange New Worlds to be made as well... it isn't the late 90s, but it's a fun time to be a Trekkie.

Jalapeno

darthed1981 said:

Still got Strange New Worlds to be made as well... it isn't the late 90s, but it's a it should be a fun time to be a Trekkie.

FTFY

ennspek

 I still have issues with a mushroom powered star ship and the fact that she is named Michael. Petty I know.
Overall I've found it all rather dour.

stratology

ennspek said:

 the fact that she is named Michael. 

If naming a woman Michael is supposed to be futuristic, progressive, open-minded - it's not.

I've worked with an Italian guy named Andrea - a perfectly normal Italian man's name, that is a regular female name in many other countries. Names having different gender specificities in different countries or cultures is quite common for present day earthlings.

Axe_meister

ennspek said:

 I still have issues with a mushroom powered star ship and the fact that she is named Michael. Petty I know.
Overall I've found it all rather dour.

With the right mushroom you can go anywhere

Jalapeno

stratology said:

ennspek said:

 the fact that she is named Michael. 

If naming a woman Michael is supposed to be futuristic, progressive, open-minded - it's not.

I've worked with an Italian guy named Andrea - a perfectly normal Italian man's name, that is a regular female name in many other countries. Names having different gender specificities in different countries or cultures is quite common for present day earthlings.

The actress who played the mother in The Waltons was Michael Learned, not that rad tbh !

Grangousier

 mushroom powered star ship

Ah, student days...

darthed1981

One thing that will always work against Discovery, Picard or any new Trek is scenes like this one...

From the sound design at the start (sounds like something very powerful spooling up for a fight), to THAT speech, to Geordi running back into all the (flesh melting) plasma coolant, to Picard's "that will be the day".

It's just damn near perfect.

goldtop

fretmeister said:

dazzajl said:

fretmeister said:

gubble said:

I watch Star Trek (and other things) to entertain me as a bit of escapism from real life. It's entertainment. 

S3 of Disco wasn't any of those things for me. Instead it was a 'lesson' on how to be pc in today's climate. 

Just like TOS was in the 60s then?

I think all ST has been very reflective of the culture it was made in. TNG must be the most so of all the series and in many ways time has been the most unkind to it. 

TNG has definitely aged the worst. I still like it, but I do wonder if I would if I hadn't watched it when it first came out.
173 episodes IIRC and I reckon there's under 50 that remain high quality.

I'm watching all of TNG from start to finish, and it is very patchy.

As for PC or not - Star Trek always had that tendency. Like a lot of '60s sci-fi, future norms were written as the author's blueprint for how society could be. But Star Trek isn't that progressive/liberal - I can't remember a gay storyline, for example. DS9 had a few wink-wink lines on that symbiotic creature which changed host and sex (but whose name I forget).

(I'll probably try with Discovery again, but only after binging DS9.)

dazzajl

darthed1981 said:

One thing that will always work against Discovery, Picard or any new Trek is scenes like this one...

From the sound design at the start (sounds like something very powerful spooling up for a fight), to THAT speech, to Geordi running back into all the (flesh melting) plasma coolant, to Picard's "that will be the day".

It's just damn near perfect.

It’s ridiculously cheesy and camp nonsense and  I totally adore it. And you’re right, you could never make something like that now. 

I’d have loved to see Picard bring a dark thriller to the Trek world but updated Next Gen was what we got. I’m okay with that, there’s never been any Trek that I’m not glad to see. 

fretmeister

Just seen on Twitter that only a few days before Disco Series 4 is going to launch it is getting pulled from Netflix completely until Paramount's streaming service launches in Europe next year.


Stupid decision. Just like with the Mandalorian only being available in the USA for months before the rest of the world, it's not going to stop people from watching it...






No doubt when the Paramount streaming service does launch all Trek will be removed from all other platforms.

I have 3 streaming subs already. I am not paying for another one.

VimFuego

It doesn't seem a very sustainable business model, all these companies setting up their own competing streaming services, as you say most people will only subscribe to 2 or 3 and happily pirate anything else. No one really benefits, customer or seller.

fretmeister

VimFuego said:

It doesn't seem a very sustainable business model, all these companies setting up their own competing streaming services, as you say most people will only subscribe to 2 or 3 and happily pirate anything else. No one really benefits, customer or seller.

It's mad - I've got Netflix, Prime, Disney, and I get the odd short time NowTV pass for Sky sports when needed.

Once Paramount+ launches no doubt Hulu will follow and before you know it that would be £60 a month just to watch a few shows that are exclusive to a platform.

stickyfiddle

fretmeister said:

No doubt when the Paramount streaming service does launch all Trek will be removed from all other platforms.

I have 3 streaming subs already. I am not paying for another one.

Yarrr!