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

Josh Dial

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Looks absolutely sick. Can't wait for the premiere.

I can't either, Hanson. Season 2 looks to be distilled Trek (the best possible sense).

It must be a temporary assignment.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but UESPA (not Starfleet) operated the Enterprise's five-year mission, right? Is it possible that Pike is running a limited-time UESPA mission? He could also be on detached duty (see, for example, Riker and crew of the D in TNG's Gambit).
 

johnnybear

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I can't either, Hanson. Season 2 looks to be distilled Trek (the best possible sense).



Correct me if I'm wrong, but UESPA (not Starfleet) operated the Enterprise's five-year mission, right? Is it possible that Pike is running a limited-time UESPA mission? He could also be on detached duty (see, for example, Riker and crew of the D in TNG's Gambit).

UESPA was mentioned twice in the original show! Charlie X and Tomorrow is Yesterday! But the latter was to Captain Christopher, a 1960s pilot way out of his time so could have been Kirk trying not to give too much away! But it also gets a mention in VOY Friendship One and also in ENT but as I'm not a fan of that one I can't really guess!
JB
 

Josh Dial

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The Calypso Short Trek episode was absolutely amazing. Beautiful and surprisingly heartwarming for only 15 minutes.

A few nice mysteries thrown in to round things out (1000 years is furthest out we've been on any Star Trek, right?). Will we see this ship play out in the show itself (maybe our crew left the ship like a hidden Delorean to be "picked up" at a later date)?
 

Dave Scarpa

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Yeah it was filmed well, but i did'nt think too much of it, now i here we might see this character again, i guess, but to me too much time was spent on something that in the end really did'nt matter, maybe this event that happened to the crew ill somehow retconn the entire series into never happenning which would suck, but to me it came off as a tv version of the movie "Her". Why did'nt craft just leave, the ship was operational as was the shuttle, it just didnt make alot of sense. At least the next one will feature a character from the actual show, i gotta ask is this the best the writers can do? and that this was co-written by the guy responsible for writing the upcoming Picard series doesnt leave me with much hope
 

benbess

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My family is not happy with what CBS has done with Star Trek. Overall, Discovery has not worked for my family so far. We like the actors fine, and the special effects are great, but the setting, the stories, the grim tone and mood, the character arcs etc. just don't work for me or my family.

We are also upset they haven't remastered Deep Space Nine and Voyager.

Bottom line: I'm not planning on re-subscribing to CBS even when Discovery comes back on. Maybe after all the episodes have aired we'll join for a month and binge the new season, but honestly I'm not even sure that's worth it.
 

holtge

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Amen. I agree completely with everything you said in your post. It makes me so angry that TPTB at CBS haven't figured out by now that what they've done with this iconic franchise in the past ten years is beyond infuriating.
 

Nelson Au

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I’m sorry that Star Trek Discovery is not to everyone’s taste. I get that, it’s very different. But at the same time, it’s kind of cool to see what new people can do with the franchise. As Spock says, for V’ger to grow, it has to evolve.

But not go on with that.

Yesterday I finally had a chance to sit and casually watch the second new segment of the Short Treks. These are the short format 13 or so minute stories in the new Star Trek Disco era. After seeing the first one last month, Runaway, and the new one called Calypso, I’m more convinced these are interesting experimental films designed to try some different ideas and story telling. Gordon and Ben, I strongly recommend to at least give Calypso a try. At its core, it’s very authentic and true to Star Trek. That’s not hyperbole. The second Short Trek at first had me questioning what the heck they are doing here, in the end, it’s a very cool storyline. Very human. I went in with an open mind. And I’m like what I think you are, very long Time fan here going back to TOS. I’ll be curious what you guys think. Haven’t seen much of Josh S here, I’ll be curious of his reactions too. I’m going to watch it again tonight. And I recommend Runaway too, though it does contain one bad swear word. It does star Tilly, so what did we expect.

The writer of Calypso is one of the writers on Disco, so it will be interesting if this Short Trek is indicative of the new season. If so, then it will be great to see it. Of course, the show runners are gone now, so the new season could be a totally new Enterprise, excuse the Decker quote. :)
 

joshEH

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My family is not happy with what CBS has done with Star Trek. Overall, Discovery has not worked for my family so far. We like the actors fine, and the special effects are great, but the setting, the stories, the grim tone and mood, the character arcs etc. just don't work for me or my family.
I don't see how Discovery is any more grimdark than DS9. Its first-season story arc was pretty much exactly the same as the Dominion War arc, philosophically -- the Federation is increasingly overpowered by a ruthless enemy, forced to compromise its ethics, until the point that the leaders are willing to go along with a villainous entity's plan to commit genocide, yet the lead characters refuse to let it happen, and find a way to reach out to an enemy leader and negotiate a ceasefire, thereby saving their society from itself and reaffirming the values they embody.

If anything, it was *less* dark as a portrait of the UFP than the Dominion War was, because the primary sources of villainy came from the Mirror Universe, rather than via compromised Starfleet officers like Section 31. And Burnham, Saru, and the others repeatedly came down on the side of refusing to accept a moral compromise in a difficult situation, rather than grudgingly accepting one (or trying to) as Sisko did in "In the Pale Moonlight."

Many of the most effective and powerful moments in this recent season were moments where the characters stood up for what was right, reached out to one another, bonded as a crew, and found a better way. The only way in which DSC is darker than DS9 is in the strictly literal sense of set-lighting and color schemes, and they even found a (very nonsensical) Mirror Universe-based excuse for keeping the lights low.
 
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Josh Dial

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I don't see how Discovery is any more grimdark than DS9. Its first-season story arc was pretty much exactly the same as the Dominion War arc -- the Federation is increasingly overpowered by a ruthless enemy, forced to compromise its ethics, until the point that the leaders are willing to go along with a villainous entity's plan to commit genocide, yet the lead characters refuse to let it happen, and find a way to reach out to an enemy leader and negotiate a ceasefire, thereby saving their society from itself and reaffirming the values they embody.

If anything, it was *less* dark as a portrait of the UFP than the Dominion War was, because the primary sources of villainy came from the Mirror Universe, rather than via compromised Starfleet officers like Section 31. And Burnham, Saru, and the others repeatedly came down on the side of refusing to accept a moral compromise in a difficult situation, rather than grudgingly accepting one (or trying to) as Sisko did in "In the Pale Moonlight."

Many of the most effective and powerful moments in this recent season were moments where the characters stood up for what was right, reached out to one another, bonded as a crew, and found a better way. The only way in which DSC is darker than DS9 is in the strictly literal sense of set-lighting and color schemes, and they even found a (very nonsensical) Mirror Universe-based excuse for keeping the lights low.

Prime Universe Josh (I think--it's hard to keep us straight...) has the right of it. In terms of message and themes, Discovery is arguably the closest to a "pure" Star Trek show we've had. While the first season was definitely light on classic exploration (ironic, given the ship's name), it did explore the Mirror Universe more than any other show, and explore new ways to travel.

Michael's "that is Starfleet" speech in the season finale did a good job of stating the goals of the UFP, Starfleet, and humanity: "No, we will not take shortcuts on the path to righteousness. No, we will not break the rules that protect us from our basest instincts. No, we will not allow desperation to destroy moral authority." Michael admits that she's guilty of all of those things. She says they--Starfleet--have to be "torchbearers", casting a light so that they may see the path to lasting peace. Discovery is literally showing the origins of how Starfleet becomes "our" Starfleet.

The writers get it--it's a shame some viewers did not.
 

holtge

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The writers get it--it's a shame some viewers did not.

It's not that I, as a viewer, don't get it, it's the fact that we keep being introduced to new casts and new shows that just do not appeal to me. What's wrong with bringing back the DS9 cast for a soft reboot telling us what everyone has been up to for the past twenty years? Or showing us what's been going on in the Federation since Voyager finally returned home? Why, instead of a mash-up of the TNG/DS9/VOY cast coming together to thwart an invasion of the Alpha Quadrant by the Hirogen are we treated to a stupid reboot of the Original Series starring a cast that holds little to no resemblance of their OS counterparts using a convoluted "Kelvin" storyline that no one asked for? Or yet another Star Trek TV origin story that promises to answer how the Federation became the organization we see in the OS?

No, my biggest problem with Star Trek: Discovery is that I have to invest my time in getting to know brand new characters that frankly I just don't care about instead of providing me with updates on the characters I already fell in love with years ago. Instead of hearing about the adventures of Michael, the traitor, and some human/Klingon hybrid, I want to know how William Riker is faring as captain of the U.S.S. Titan or if Capt. Benjamin Sisko ever returned from his extended stay with the Prophets. Did Seven of Nine ever truly embrace her human half, Annika? And what about Worf and his duties as the Federation liason to the Klingons? These are all storylines that I bet would make for good television. So why, instead, are we getting yet another "remake"?
 

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