Paramount+ Star Trek: Discovery - Official Thread (2 Viewers)

[Nelson Au]

The City on The Edge Of Forever music changes are probably better discussed in the Scott Atwell Star Trek thread.

But to summarize, my recollection is nearly all the music is changed that Fred Steiner composed specifically for this episode. There is tracked music from other episodes that remained in the episode, but the specific score uses the melody from the song Goodnight Sweetheart. Such as when Edith slips on the staircase, and of course when Edith is hit by the truck. And the song Goodnight Sweetheart is replaced with a generic song. My VHS tape from Paramount with the black box had that altered music. Same with the laserdisc. The first edition DVD restored the score and song after they acquired the rights. I can double check the laserdisc to hear it.

There is a mention on Memory Alpha that an early VHS release from Oaramount has the music intact. It’s called a TV Classics release.

If you’ve never heard the altered music, you’re lucky! I even remember hearing it on syndicated broadcasts in later years before the remastered releases. It’s awful and reduces the impact of the scenes.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

After S2 is done, a binge watch of the entire season will be a great way to kill a day...

 

[Josh Steinberg]

After S2 is done, a binge watch of the entire season will be a great way to kill a day...

Definitely gonna happen in my house; if not immediately when it airs, certainly when the Blu-ray comes out. Maybe it'll get split up over a couple nights but it'll happen.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Welcome to the best night on TV!

I can’t wait to see what Discovery has in store for us, especially with the trailer giving away almost nothing (which I like).

Also, my officially licensed T-shirt just arrived! It was on sale at CBS’s site so I ordered it in a moment of weakness. It’s the “DISCO” shirt that the crew wears for workouts and training.

 

[Josh Dial]

Welcome to the best night on TV!

I can’t wait to see what Discovery has in store for us, especially with the trailer giving away almost nothing (which I like).

Also, my officially licensed T-shirt just arrived! It was on sale at CBS’s site so I ordered it in a moment of weakness. It’s the “DISCO” shirt that the crew wears for workouts and training.

I ordered one of those last season! There's a non-zero chance we meet some day, both wearing the shirts, and the universe explodes.

 

[Nelson Au]

The Red Angel was full of surprises! A lot of good things were said and emotional releases between characters to resolve their issues. It started with a nice homage to Star Trek 2. Was there a reference to Star Trek Enterprise in there? Maybe. I’m not sure what happened to Leland there. I didn’t see the way the episode ended coming! That was a good surprise.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I ordered one of those last season! There's a non-zero chance we meet some day, both wearing the shirts, and the universe explodes.

Made my night! Thank you!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I just watched “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” on VHS and I had completely forgotten about Kirk calling Spock a half-breed in the episode, and then Spock teasing Kirk at the end of the episode for the insult’s lack of sophistication (and kinda smiling while doing it).

I can just imagine. “Don’t call me half breed. I had a sister who did that once and she’s never been heard from again!”

 

[Sam Favate]

Oh yeah, I thought of that Kirk-Spock fight when Burnham said it on Discovery. One of the great TOS moments.

 

[Hanson]

They replaced Sara Mitich with Hannah Cheeseman this season to play Ariam, so I assumed Mitich decided it wasn't worth all the makeup sessions to play an anonymous robot lady. Guess who's playing replacement officer Nilsson? It's Sara Mitich! So Ariam is kind of back from the dead.

 

[David Weicker]

I had problems with this past episode. And its all due to Michael Burnham.

She is such an unpleasant, unprofessional, toxic person. To be honest, I was actively rooting for her to die during the experiment.

I now know why I have such problems with the Ash/Michael love scenes. She is such a horrible person, I can't imagine anyone wanting to even date her, much less fall in love with someone like her.

(actually, I've had problems with a lot of the episodes, and her character is at the center of what is wrong)

 

[TJPC]

Mr. Contrary here! The character of Michael Burnham is one of the chief reasons my wife and I love the show. We think she is terrific!

 

[Sam Favate]

They replaced Sara Mitich with Hannah Cheeseman this season to play Ariam, so I assumed Mitich decided it wasn't worth all the makeup sessions to play an anonymous robot lady. Guess who's playing replacement officer Nilsson? It's Sara Mitich! So Ariam is kind of back from the dead.

Wow! I thought that was her!

 

[Greg.K]

Well they definitely have found a way to end episodes making me want to tune in again next week. I have some big expectations now for a season ending cliff hanger.

 

[Nelson Au]

I’m kind of surprised by the lack of thoughts and speculations from the Jason’s, Josh’s and Carabimero on this episode and the last couple. My spoiler filled thoughts:

My coworker made a very good observation, he’s convinced that the Red Angel is still Michael. He’s been convinced of this for weeks now. The Red Angel episode makes it clear that the bio-neural signature they found in the Red Angel matches Michael amd he felt vindicated. So the massive surprise ending revealing the Red Angel as Michael’s engineer mother coming out of the Red Angel suit was a great surprise. At first, I thought this made perfect sense. Her mother would have a similar bio-neural signature perhaps. So it fits. I still want to think it’s Michael’s mother. Though he still feels if the bio-neural signature matches Michael exactly, it has to be her.

The appearance of the Red Angel they found seemed random, so perhaps the times the Angel appeared to save Michael, it was her mother. And other times, it’s Michael. And it was Airiam who said that all this was because of her, it’s all her doing.

I thought it was also interesting that Leland admitted to Michael that he caused her parent’s deaths. And also revealed the story that her parents were working for Section 31 on the time travel suit. But he might not have known now that Michael’s mother used the suit she created to escape the Klingon’s attack to retrieve the Time Crystal. I think there will be those who will find it a stretch that Michael’s past is that surprising. And that the line from Airiam that this is all because of her is asking a lot of the audience. I kept thinking, this feels like Sisko. That they are saying that Michael’s Journey is her destiny. Sisko at the end transforms to be with the Prophets. Is being the Red Angel the destiny for Michael how the series ends? Or is it just showing that Michael uses the suit on a few missions to fix a few things? Perhaps the destiny for her is as Airiam says, this is all because of her. The Future AI would know what happens and since it infected Airiam, she was able to tell Michael what she knew, but Nhan ejected her before finishing. My guess now is Michael takes over the suit and uses it to defeat the AI threat. And once the time-line threat of the Future AI is resolved, she hangs up the suit and spends time getting to know her mother again. I guess we see in the following episodes how they plan to play this revelation out.

About Airiam, I also noticed that they placed a bit of emphasis on Airiam’s replacement, Nilsson. I figured it was the same actress who played Airiam from the first season.

 

[Carabimero]

Nelson, I was on location, got back yesterday, slept and the first thing I did was watch the episode.

The episode was really talky. Talking heads. Not bad at all, just a lot of talking. Maybe too much for my taste.

I like Burham more than last season, but I still don't believe her mix of strength and compassion, which sometimes borders on downright negligence. She makes everything too much of a drama. Like every desire or counter desire she has is the most important thing. I'd love to see some nuance from her.

As far as the main plot development, I thought it was pretty good. I didn't figure it out and was pleasantly surprised. It just didn't seem like that episode justified its length.

But overall season two continues to entertain and maintain interest.

 

[John*Wells]

The Best part of recent episodes in my view is that, there were no Klingons

 

[TJPC]

WHAHOO! Can we make this permanent?!

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Sorry guys, it's been a busier week than expected. Will try to elaborate more on last week's episode if I can find them time. It was a pretty intense ride.

 

[Josh Dial]

I really liked episode 10, The Red Angel. While I'm not sure having the funeral at the start of the episode--as opposed to the end of the previous episode--was the best decision narrative-wise, the scene was touching nonetheless. The funeral was certainly more touching than Yar's funeral. The speeches struck a nice balance of conveying Starfleet ideals and memories that seemed authentic.

I also liked that this episode continued the show's practice of allowing all of its characters to feel genuine emotions and realistically act on those emotions. I'm not sure we would see a character from another series punch a superior officer like Michael did. For me, that is potentially a strike against those other shows. You can throw all the Starfleet ideals you want at a character and it won't necessarily overcome human nature. Michael decking Leland (Alan van Spring is from my hometown!) felt authentic and very much in the moment. For me, Roddenberry's idealized version of the future worked on a grand cultural scale, but I never quite believed its general application at the individual level.

Speaking of Michael, I think her hot and cold personality fits with her vulcan/human upbringing. SMG is really good at flashes of emotion followed by a quick jerk back to stoicism. The tension between her two natures is mirrored by Spock (and vulcans as a race, to a certain extent).