Star Trek: Discovery

[casstony]

The new star trek series debuted on Netflix last night: https://www.netflix.com/title/80126024

Episodes 1 and 2 were enjoyable and look promising for the series.

[The_bluester]

Forgot about that, will have to watch and see how it goes.

[casstony]

It was a major event at our house; we had friends over for the viewing :)

[Renato1]

I thought the first two episodes were extremely good. Though I kept getting distracted every time Sarek showed up - I kept thinking "What's Thomas Cromwell doing here?" (because he did such a good job playing that part in The Tudors).

I liked it much better than the ridiculous 2009 Star Trek reboot film which I hated (why on travelling back in time, didn't Nero/Eric Bana just ring up the homeworld and let them know that it was going to blow up in the future - hence saving his family?)

However, I was watching a Youtube video suggesting that executives were unhappy with this new series, that the actors have told their agents to find them other work come December, and that another Star Trek series set at another time will replace it. Who knows?
Regards,
Renato

[Renato1]

It transpires that the Star Trek Discovery crew are very avid anti-Trump virtue signallers.

http://www.truthrevolt.org/news/new-star-trek-cast-jumps-or-kneels-protest-bandwagon#.Wct7f3bKx7E.facebook

Cheesing off over 49.37% of your audience doesn't seem very wise (last election 46.08% voted for Trump, while 3.28% voted for the more right wing Libertarian candidate Johnson).
Regards,
Renato

[casstony]

Hardly any Star Trek viewers would vote for Trump. Star Trek has always had themes on the social leading edge that would have offended (or educated) the dummies long ago.

[casstony]

Renato, that site you linked to is akin to Britebart, so biased it's not worth looking at. If I find anything on a site like that I look for articles from respected journalists before taking news seriously. There's way more rubbish than balanced reporting on the internet.

[Tandum]

I can't wait to see Jason Isaacs as the captain.
Role on Ep03.

[casstony]

Yes it'll be interesting to see how the characters develop. In previous series there have been standout characters like Phlox, Quark, Data, Spock, etc who have spiced up the show.

[Renato1]

Hi Tony,
You accuse the article of bias without citing one single thing that it got wrong or is factually incorrect. That is effectively the definition of bias - especially as Googling say "star trek discovery producer klingon trump comments"
will throw up dozens of articles confirming the substance of what that article says, e.g.

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/features/inside-star-trek-discovery-the-franchises-answer-to-the-trump-era-w504563
https://www.salon.com/2017/09/22/star-trek-discovery-creators-our-klingons-are-secretly-trumpsters/
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/star-trek-discovery-klingon-slogan-similar-to-trump-maga-2017-9?r=US&IR=T

Regards,
Renato

[Renato1]

Check out Youtube videos of furious Star Trek fans who are Trump supporters.
Regards,
Renato

[rustigsmed]

Watched first two eps last night.

Looks ok, not sure where it sits in the timeline anyway I found the Klingon unification pretty weak and not that believable, but we'll see where it goes.

[casstony]

Renato, I looked up the background of the person behind that site before responding - please don't ruin the thread with garbage. These sites take a grain of truth and twist it into something else.

Trump's values are diametrically opposed to those of Roddenberry's Star Trek; it's natural that the cast will have opposite political views to Trump and that won't affect the future of the show.

[Nikolas]

Can we keep the politics out of this thread please? Renato you wear your heart on your sleeve but your leanings are clearly biased. I want to read about the show not about TRUMP or any other politicians, thanks.

[Andy01]

Watched Episode 1 of the new Star Trek Discovery last night & the kids were transfixed! (3 boys 8,11 & 13 y/o)
I recall watching the original series as an 8 y/o when it was first broadcast, same age as our youngest son is now.
Assimilation completed, parenting done & dusted!
Oh yes, the new show is very cool, great fx too 😎

[Visionary]

Clearly, they are a very virtuous cast, their pleading, tear-filled, upturned eyes filled to overflowing with virtuous intentions. They should all receive 5 virtue medals each.

[The Mekon]

:thumbsup: Not often I post these stupid emoticons, but this post deserves a thumbs up!

As for the show - I'm 62 years old and don't want to ruin such good memories of almost 50 years ago by watching this new stuff.

[casstony]

Good on you Andy, we're raising a couple of trekkies too. It's fun seeing them wrestle with the moral dilemmas while watching the shows.

[alan meehan]

I did enjoy discovery the filming was done well cant wait for more to come yes please keep politics out of this thread

[that_guy]

Star Trek Discovery seems more like the Expanse or similar space operas and lacks that "star trek"ness. For star trek, I much prefer the Orville over Discovery. But, I'd still watch discovery cos I'm a sucker for a good space opera ;)

[rustigsmed]

ep 3 definitely feels WAY more Expanse like now.

[Renato1]

Hi Nik,
Uhhm - the Captain of the Discovery keeps abusing Trump on Twitter, and the entire crew have a kneeling protest against Trump.......and I'm bringing politics into this?

May I suggest that they publicly brought politics into this.... nothing to do with me being biased.

Anyhow, this show is getting dumber by the minute. At the end of the second episode, instead of sending a team of military types to capture the evil Klingon, why the Captain and her First Officer decide to single handedly go on the mission instead. The top two highest ranked on the ship! It's as if Admiral Nimitz decided to fly a fighter against the Jap carriers at the Battle of Midway. Utterly ridculous, or both were utterly incompetent.

Then, in the third episode, everyone is blaming the disgraced former First Officer for the deaths of over 8000 people - in the battle that wouldn't have happened, had her mutinous action succeeded. And not only does she take all the criticism stoically - she seems to agree with them that she is indeed responsible. It makes no sense!

They also seem to be saying that she started the war that killed the over 8000, when the Klingons clearly started shooting first. It makes no sense.

Also, the space battle in the second episode was as dumb as they were in Deep Space Nine, pretending to be like sixteenth century sailing ships shooting cannon balls at each other in space. In the original Star Trek, the Enetrprise's space battles often involved shooting from 50,000 miles away - somewhat more realistic given that space is pretty big.
Cheers,
Renato

[The_bluester]

Still having had no chance to watch any of them.

To get at what seems your biggest complaint, why should the cast change what they do on a personal level? I am not aware that the doors of any studio have "Please check your personality at the door" on a sign at the entrance. If they do something that gets far enough up the nose of the company management I am sure they will face the ultimate sanction for it (Getting fired) like anyone else.

As for the article linked previously, not sure how it can be seen as unbiased when the second paragraph (The first being quite short) begins with "Star Jason Isaacs has a Twitter feed full of typically left-wing platitudes like ....." No guessing required as to the political leanings of the author. Being biased in the direction that you happen to lean (No matter which person or which way that lean happens to be) does not make it unbiased.

I suspect that many of those writing thing like “Ah well. I'll never watch this show again. Thanks for ruining it for many of us.” will continue to watch so they can continue to find outrage, just like the regular text messages you hear read out on ABC radio along the lines of "Typical bleeding heart leftie ABC bias" If they hate it so much, find another media outlet.

I will continue to ignore the backroom politics and continue to suspend disbelief, after all, no matter how they pitch it, from hand to hand combat in freefall to throwing artificial black holes at each other, a space battle is a pretty unrealistic thing.

[marc4darkskies]

I've been an avid trekkie since the mid 1960s. I've enjoyed all the series and movies. This one, though, is as close to garbage as I've ever seen. No outrage here, just disappointment, probably because my expectations of a Start Trek show have been formed over 50 years of reasonable continuity.

IMO, Discovery is dark and the characters are bluddy annoying - without exception! Please note that I thought that even before I heard about the cast's self-righteous and irrelevant political rantings. The dialogue is soooo 21st century! It's certainly not the language we've come to expect from Star Trek characters set in the 23/24th century where the way they spoke helped drive the feeling of a, more or less, utopian federation. So, the utopian feel of star trek is gone. There is no humour, just abrasive characters, death and destruction. There's a woman called Michael - seriously?! :shrug: ... blatant and uncessarary virtue signalling I reckon. Moreover, I think the strong undertones of PC-ness are jarring and awkward as opposed to all previous series where the social justice elements were blended well and made complete sense.

In any case I've watched all 3 of the first episodes and I came out feeling, well, down. Bottom line is that's not how I want to experience Star Trek!!!!

[multiweb]

Bit of nostalgia there Marcus? ;) I too am an avid trekkie. Did you enjoy the last three movies? The trend was already set for grittier story lines. I agree that the old school star trek themes and values are getting watered down in the new instalment.

[The_bluester]

Still without the benefit of having had time to see it yet (And so I can not compare it to the three most recent movies for the direction the story lines are headed)

But,



I recently started re watching old STNG episodes and I would not say that things blended or made much sense in the early ones. All of the various series I have watched (I am too young to have watched the original series) have been pretty stilted at the start.


As to I hold that the pertinent word is "Irrelevent" If I stopped consuming content from people I disagree with politically I would read and watch a lot less.

Anyway, regardless of if you or I agree with them or disagree, who are we to say that they should not have the right to express an opinion? Otherwise it is Leunig style "I disagree with what you have say and I will defend to your death my right to stop you saying it"

[marc4darkskies]

I guess I can't help a bit of nostalgia :) but I've appreciated how the brand has evolved. The latest movies are okay IMO. They're different for sure, and the parallel timeline needed some getting used to but they absolutely nailed the characters, their interactions and humour (very similar to the original series) and they did justice to the look & feel of a Star Trek show (if you ignore some of the crass, overboard fight scenes).

[casstony]

I grit my teeth through the first season of Expanse but season 2 was much improved and I'm looking forward to season 3.

On another note, I've had to reinstate an ignore list as I couldn't tolerate the grumpy old men and especially the term "virtue signalling": don't dis' my star trek :). The thread looks much more pleasant now.

[Andy01]

I'm loving Discovery, and having watched every episode of every ST series and every movie - I welcome the production values, new characters, new Klingons & new thinking.

I recall early eps of TOS, STNG, Voyager, DS9 & Enterprise were pretty average too! (eg: Encounter at Farpoint - cringeworthy even now) but without that early character development we would never have had the following classics - "All Good Things, Best of Both Worlds, By the Pale Moonlight, Little Green Men, Scorpion, Yesterday's Enterprise, City on the Edge of Forever, First Contact and The Wrath of Khan".

So sit back, enjoy a cup of Earl Grey (Hot) and see how it goes. :)

[glend]

The writers of Discovery have proven once again that there is little new in sci-fi, by borrowing Frank Herbert's concept of the Guild Navigator. In this incarnation Spores replace Spice. Even the use of a containment, is not so different from the illustrations in Dune. Still it is worth watching, until Expanse Season 3 is released.
Casstony how do you feel about Dark Matter? It borrows a few ideas as well and has mulitple seasons now.


I can do without the "After Trek" episodes.

[alan meehan]

Bring back 7of 9
AL

[casstony]

Hi Glen, we watched an episode or two of Dark Matter a while back and it didn't grab me. Discovery has some flaws but still worth watching.

Some other SciFi shows I've enjoyed include BSG, Caprica, Babylon 5, Red Dwarf, Westworld, Stranger Things and my possible all time favourite, Firefly.

[glend]

Dark Matter is a series that seems terrible as first but as the story line and characters develop it gets better. By season 2 its much better. The Android is the best character.

I have all rhe Firefly episodes on DVD and they still stand up just fine, despite having almost no tech in them. I keep seeing the Parliamentary Operative from Serenity in all sorts of things, and he still acts in that same manner.

Al, Seven of Nine, turned into a lawyer i believe - the ulimate Borg assimilation, or perhaps the lawyers assimiliated the Borg.

[alan meehan]

wow

[glend]

Just for you Al

http://www.startrek.com/article/seven-of-nine-things-you-should-know-about-jeri-ryan

I think ahe played a lawyer in some later series, hence the lawyer reference.
I found it funny that she keeps a regenetation alcove at her home.

[alan meehan]

Thanks Glen I must admit she looks scarry as a cyborg
AL

[casstony]

That's reminiscent of Next Gen so I'll take another look at Dark Matter. The android was good from the start.

[Camelopardalis]

If you guys haven't seen it already, you should watch The Orville....

[casstony]

I watched the first 2 episodes of The Orville, but apart from a few funny moments it's not to my taste.

[simon_rl]

Me too Andy, I have always been a huge Sci-fi fan, but Star Trek never grabbed me, until Discovery. Like Tony said it has more of a feel like "The Expanse", which I am a big fan of as well.