Paramount+ Star Trek: Discovery - Official Thread (1 Viewer)

[Bryan^H]

You are harping on an incomplete technical definition of prequel which is irrelevant to the reality.

If it is canon, and part of a connected series it is either a prequel, or a sequel depending on the timeline.

 

[Detour (1945)]

Nerds!!!

(With all due respect, of course)

 

[Harry-N]

Nerds!!!

(With all due respect, of course)

Namecaller!!! (with as much respect in return)

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

Prequel as you use it is, IMHO, wrong. Predecessor would work, because one precedes the other.

I agree with Harry and Philip; a prequel is, by its very definition, a work containing events that precede another existing work. Something does not retroactively become a prequel just because another work is made later that is set after it.

"Enterprise" and the first two seasons of "Discovery" were prequels because the later shows already existed when they were made. TNG, Voyager, DS9 were all sequels to TOS because TOS already existed when they were made. They were not prequels to "Picard" because "Picard" did not exist when they were made. "Picard" is, however, a sequel to TNG.

 

[Josh Dial]

To the Prophets all things are prequels and all things are sequels.

 

[Nelson Au]

I guess there was never separate threads for each season of Discovery. So in a few hours, we’ll be seeing the premiere and posting here. I won’t watch till Thursday evening, California time.

 

[Jason_V]

I agree with Harry and Philip; a prequel is, by its very definition, a work containing events that precede another existing work. Something does not retroactively become a prequel just because another work is made later that is set after it.

Not the first time I have a minority opinion and certainly won't be the last. Other minority opinions: Star Trek IV is not nearly as good as everyone says; the majority of "Picard" is rubbish; Berman and Braga and Kurtzman aren't the devil incarnate; and late TNG is not as good as everyone says.

Anyway, I have steadfastly avoided all trailers, TV spots and opening scenes for Discovery Season 3. When I start the season after work tonight, I want to be fresh and filled with excitement and wonder. Just like it should be.

 

[Bryan^H]

Not the first time I have a minority opinion and certainly won't be the last. Other minority opinions: Star Trek IV is not nearly as good as everyone says; the majority of "Picard" is rubbish; Berman and Braga and Kurtzman aren't the devil incarnate; and late TNG is not as good as everyone says.

I agree with you

 

[Nelson Au]

Jason, I’ve avoided TV spots and recent trailers too. But there was a teaser shown at the end of last week’s episode of Lower Decks. It didn’t seem to show much that gave anything away.

 

[Jason_V]

Jason, I’ve avoided TV spots and recent trailers too. But there was a teaser shown at the end of last week’s episode of Lower Decks. It didn’t seem to show much that gave anything away.

I know I watched that episode, but I also know I was zoning out during parts of it. So I likely saw that spot but not a thing is registering in my brain about it.

 

[Harry-N]

Ep. 1 is out there now. I just watched it.

 

[Josh Dial]

I believe under the forum rules discussions of new episodes are fair game without spoiler tags starting at 12:01 am Eastern Time every Thursday.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

That felt more like a series premiere than a season premiere, but if it were it would be the best Trek series premiere since "Emissary".

If the first two seasons felt way too advanced for a pre-TOS story, the world of this premiere felt significantly more advanced than "Picard" while still feeling like an evolution of what came before. At the same time, there are new constraints: without a united federation of planets pooling resources and allocating them with maximum efficiency, having enough gas for your car is a real concern again.

I'm reading a book right now, and it included the following statement:

"Ideas are wilder than memories. And I can be wild. I can be stubborn as the weeds, and you will not root me out."​

The Federation, as a organizational entity, has effectively ceased to exist. Memories of what it was are fading. But ideas are wilder than memories, and the idea of the Federation -- what it stood for and what it aspired to -- still perseveres. I find that somehow really inspiring, that the stories we tell about ourselves can echo down through the generations, that even in times of great turmoil the idea of something better can light the way through the darkness.

Heading into this premiere, I had assumed that Burnham and the USS Discovery were separated by great distances. But I had forgotten about the 2009 Star Trek, and how Spock arrived in the Kelvin reality 25 years later despite less than a minute's difference in entering the temporal anomaly. Discovery was directly behind Burnham, so presumably it won't be 25 years, but it might well be half a dozen years.

The show really feels liberated no longer being trapped into such a tight space in the continuity. It even provided a nice explanation in a throwaway line that the temporal wars were so devastating that time travel technology was outlawed and destroyed, to take further time travel off the table.

 

[joshEH]

Also: Morn.

Or, at least, another Lurian, up there in the far future.

 

[Harry-N]

It even provided a nice explanation in a throwaway line that the temporal wars were so devastating that time travel technology was outlawed and destroyed, to take further time travel off the table.

Making something "outlawed" rarely stops it entirely. Criminal types, if they want to and try hard enough, can always flout the laws.

Still, that line is probably meant to nix any ideas of trying - for the law-abiding types - and for now.. Later seasons or stories could deal with criminal time travel.

 

[Doug Wallen]

I liked it, I really liked it. Finally seems that the show is where it needs to be, exploring with a healthy dose of adventure.

I felt like I had a silly grin on my face throughout the episode. Looking forward to this season's storyline.

Sure did enjoy seeing David Ajala's enthusiasm for Book in the Ready Room follow-up.

 

[Jason_V]

Sure did enjoy seeing David Ajala's enthusiasm for Book .

Agreed 100%. I'm usually wary of new characters like Book, but the way Ajala imbued him with humanity and the chemistry he has with Sonequa Martin-Green is pretty rock solid. Right now, they're two competing sides: he knows of the Federation as history and really can't be bothered with it; she just gave up everything to save the Federation and wants nothing more than to find/rebuild it. He's out for survival; she's out to find the Discovery crew. He won't trust early in the episode; all she can do is trust.

I loved Martin-Green in this episode. The right amount of jubilation that the plan from Season 2 worked and then abject defeat when Discovery wasn't there with her. Despite the last two years, she is still a true believer in the ideals of the Federation. Over different series we've seen how those ideals play with dropping in and out of different alien races; how they play with a crew stranded 70 years from Earth; how they play on a stationary station where every decision can have impacts down the road. Now we're going to see (hopefully) how those ideals hold up in the far future when the comforts of the 23rd/24th century are gone.

And let's face it: while it was cool to focus on Burnham and Book in this episode, we know Discovery didn't get destroyed. I'm pretty happy there wasn't some kind of big reveal in the closing moments of the episode. That would have felt cheap to me.

Last thing: the location shooting in Iceland was amazing. Iceland is a beautiful place and all the outdoor shooting made me realize how much of Season 1 and 2 were done on sound stages. The felt claustrophobic to me. This episode is not only gorgeous to look at it but it's a wide open canvas that no computer can ever replicate. Just beautiful.

 

[Tino]

Loved it.

But I think my favorite moment was when Burnham commissioned the Federation officer. One of the most touching scenes I can recall in all of Star Trek.

 

[Nelson Au]

My off the cuff impressions: the premiere was very visually strong! Great location filming and visual effects. It felt a lot like Rogue One. This did not feel like Star Trek. I think it could be called Genesis II. There was a lot of great action and adventure. But I was wondering what is going on.

It was an interesting opening and it made sense after thinking about it overnight, that this is a totally new universe for our 23rd century crew. Part of why I felt this wasn’t Star Trek is they took away most of the things that is Star Trek. And its not about starships and phasers as Michael said. I kept wondering, where is the hope. Where is the positivity of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek? What happened to humanity? As the premiere ended with the visit to one of the remaining Starfleet outposts, it became clear what the focus of the season will be. In a way, this might be wagon train to the stars in its purist form.

It’s upended everything we’ve come to know about traditional Star Trek. And it’s sort of like an episode of Star Trek were our hero’s suddenly find themselves in a world where everything they’ve known is gone through some event. So the focus is restoring the past to return the future to how it was. But this premiere shows us that what the Discovery crew sacrificed everything for isn’t exactly what they would have hoped. So it looks like a tough road ahead. and it will take a while to rebuild the Federation rather then doing an ex dux machina.

it was cool to see the future Andorian, the Morn Alien, and whatever those other guys are. Orion’s I guess.

On another topic, I just cannot separate the Short Trek Calypso with what is going on now. That Short Trek shows an abandoned Discovery 1000 years in the future. I keep wondering if the series will end with the Discovery abandoned out there. Or was Calypso just a one off “what-if” story and a coincidence. Or maybe this is just a jumping off point the producers used to map out the new season?

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I also really enjoyed it.

I had this nagging pang of sadness throughout because I like to imagine a future where the Federation is a perfect entity as epitomized by TNG’s Enterprise, and I like to imagine a future where the conflicts of this lifetime have been resolved. The new adventure is exciting but I felt that sense of loss too. But I understand it both as a storytelling choice and a reflection of our time. The original Trek came out at a time of great social turmoil and I think people needed to see what a future that worked out could look like. But today’s audience has perhaps become passive in accepting that one day everything will be just fine, and it seems the right choice to make the storytelling about how the future is never settled and how we can never be complacent about it, how we won’t get the future that we want by giving up on today and waiting for it to arrive. That feels as important a message for today’s viewer as TOS’s was for the 1960s viewer.

So when that final sequence happened, like Tino said, it was a powerfully moving segment because it hit that moment of hope and optimism I come to Trek for but put it in the context of a world in turmoil.

I am a little surprised that no one has commented on the debris field of the destroyed ship orbiting the planet. It sure looked like it could have been Discovery. And with Michelle Yeoh in this show but also set to have a 23rd century spin-off, I don’t think we’ve seen the final word on time travel yet.