Did I mention there will be spoilers? Oh, there WILL be spoilers!
I actually liked the tenth episode of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY…until I hated it.
Well, “hate” is a strong word. So instead, I’m just gonna go with “totally pissed me off!”
So what was the straw that stuck in my craw?
Was it the underwhelming “surprise” that Ash Tyler is really the Klingon Voq and that there never was any “rape”? Nah. I knew he was Voq all along. Being predictable doesn’t piss me off.
Was it that Ash/Voq killed Dr. Culber…arguably the only character on the ship I was starting to actually like? No. That stung, but as I said in a previous blog, I’m not really emotionally invested in any of the characters. So I got over Culber pretty quickly.
Was it that I still have to wait to say “I told you so!” when we finally learn that Captain Lorca was/is originally from the Mirror Universe? Not really. I can wait another week or two for that “surprise” reveal.
Was it the cringe-worthy scene of Tilly’s first attempt at being “Captain Killy”? No. I pretty much expected something like that to happen—the inevitable “fish out of water” scene to establish that our civilized folks are gonna find it tough to pretend to be barbarians. And it wasn’t too bad. It was even kinda fun and cutesy.
Was it the Mirror Universe uniforms that somehow managed to be even more outrageous than the Starfleet uniforms? No, I pretty much ignored the glitzy half-vests…right after singing Let’s Do The Time Warp Again when I first saw the Discovery crew wearing them. Actually, I was more horrified to discover that the Elvis-like Starfleet uniforms on this show include golden soles on the boots! Who designed their footwear…Usain Bolt???
Was it the lack of banter? No. This episode actually had some decent banter for a change. (When I see/hear banter in an episode, my friends, I freely admit it.)
So why did this episode piss me off so much…and why did it only piss me off at the end?
Stupidity.
But not just any stupidity…it has to be stupidity that makes me say, “I just can’t believe that!” I mean, for Star Trek, I believe in faster-than-light space travel, transporters, food replicators, and even an energy barrier at the edge of our galaxy that turns ESPers into gods. But it’s the unbelievably stupid where I draw the line!
A few quick examples from Star Trek history…
- Kirk wants to go the Genesis Planet to take the body of Spock back to Vulcan. Admiral Morrow says, “Out of the question, my friend. The Council has ordered that no one but the science team goes to Genesis.” Fine. Let THEM pick up the body and take it to Vulcan! They’re already there anyway, and it shouldn’t be too hard to beam it up! The USS Grissom becomes a FedEx truck…no worries.
- There’s a hostage situation on Nimbus III. Starfleet sends the only starship in the Fleet WITHOUT a working transporter???
- A shuttlecraft crashes into the hangar bay and “Captain” Chekov doesn’t order a damage control team and all medical personnel to assist the captain, first officer, chief medical officer, chief of communications, chief helmsman, and three important diplomats? I guess shuttecraft are built Ford tough.
- Picard knows that exact sweet spot to fire at on a Borg cube to destroy it…and he NEVER ONCE TOLD STARFLEET INTELLIGENCE ABOUT IT??? That’s quite an important detail to overlook!
And while those moments didn’t ruin the entire movies for me (well, Trek V was pretty much ruined by the time Uhura was doing her seductive fan dance and Kirk was telling Spock to “be one with the horse”), those scenes still pissed me off at how unbelievably stupid and stupidly unbelievable they were.
Yeah, I realize that, had the USS Grissom picked up Spock’s body or Admiral Grandpa sent the Enterprise AND another starship (with a working transporter) to Nimbus III, that those movies would have been over in 18 minutes each. But still, stupid is as stupid does. And writing where the plot depends on something stupidly unbelievable happening just bothers the bejeebus out of me!
So what was so unbelievably stupid about Discovery‘s latest episode “Despite Yourself”? Two things, actually…
Ash Tyler snaps the neck of Dr. Culber. Fine. But remember that Lorca ordered another doctor to handle Stamets. I realize that other doctor wasn’t there at the moment when Culber croaked, but by the time Burnham had been on the ISS Shenzhou for a few hours trying to find some time to grab the data on the Defiant while getting constantly interrupted, Dr. Whoever or one of his nurses should have come into sickbay to check on Stamets and found a dead Culber splayed across the floor.
At this point, the following things would happen:
- Security checks the security logs and discovers that Tyler killed Culber (you bastard!) OR, if Tyler somehow erased them…
- Dr. Whoever does a quick check to discover that Culber’s neck is broken and, look, Lt. Tyler’s fingerprints are all over his neck! (They still have fingerprints in the 23rd century, right?) He wiped his fingerprints? Fine. DNA then. Doesn’t CSI air on CBS?
- Then Saru orders “Captain Killy” to contact the Shenzhou with an important, confidential message for Captain Burnham. Tilly tells Michael, “Tyler killed Culber!” (You bastard!)
Now, this sequence of events still might happen next episode (although I somehow doubt it, based on the previews), but still, Burnham has already been on the Shenzhou long enough (gotta be HOURS!) to feel burnt out (get it?), and now she’s gonna get down and get funky with McScruffy the Security Hottie. The longer it takes for someone—anyone—on the Discovery to, um, discover that Culber is dead, the less believable this all becomes.
And don’t say that Shenzhou was simply out of communication range. Lorca ordered Saru to stay within transporter range, and unless Scotty somehow invented transwarp beaming in THIS universe, too, then transporter range also means comm range.
And speaking of the horizontally-bopping Michash (man, that couple doesn’t ‘ship well!)…WTF??? I mean, literally! They’ve got time to do the nasty??? I thought they were on a mission!! I mean, Kirk never…oh, bad example. But that was the 1960s!
Seriously, though, I don’t care how hard a day “Captain” Burnham had in her ready room. This is no time for foreplay and a quickie…and especially not a longie! Lorca’s in the brig. (And yeah, I was thinking that the last scene would show him in the agony booth…and it did…so predictable again! And hey, who didn’t see the assassination attempt in the turbolift coming as soon as Burnham asked to be escorted by the ambitious Number One who was now feeling like number two?) The longer Lorca is in the brig, the more danger he’s in. Burnham’s not dumb; she knows this!
Oh, and the longer it takes the Discovery to get back to our universe to share the secret of detecting the Klingon cloak (which they never bothered to transmit back to Starfleet before jumping???), the more of their fellow officers will likely be blasted to atoms by the aforementioned newly cloaked Klingon ships! So hurry the hell up!!!
Sorry for all the exclamation points, folks. No I’m not! I’m pissed!!!
I mean, I’m all for Burnham getting laid. She’s been beyond tense for the last eight episodes! But seriously, people, let’s stay focused on mission here! Assuming Burnham doesn’t have computer access from her quarters (seriously???), isn’t there SOMEplace on the ship where she can sit at a terminal in peace? Can’t the Discovery‘s chief of security, I don’t know, secure Burnham in a computer alcove before he, um, secures her in her quarters? (Man, I’m running out of euphemisms for sex!!!)
Anyway I totally lost it when I saw this…
I yelled at the TV screen, “Oh, hell to the no! Get back to work, you horny teenagers!!!” I mean, there’s all the time in the world for shtupping AFTER you finish your mission!
Stupid writing. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Obviously, they have to give Burnham her piece of Ash before the big “surprise” reveal that he’s really Voq. But they’ve written themselves into this corner. They’ve only got five more episodes total and a lot still to do. I suppose that’s the challenge and the risk of serialized writing…having to include certain scenes before other scenes happen and figuring out where to, um, stick ’em in. But if you want to play in the big leagues, then get the right players on your team.
Having Burnham come back to her quarters with a “It was a really hard day at the office, honey…” look of exhaustion was ridiculous. This was a human child raised by Vulcans, dammit! WHAT WOULD SAREK SAY??? Actually, he’d say, “Put your big girl panties (back) on, and figure out a way to get to a computer…NOW!”
Up until that last scene, I was mostly okay with the episode. But after the fade-to-black, I just stormed right to my computer and started to blog. I actually don’t believe in blogging while angry…and perhaps I’ll feel differently in the morning.
It’s morning. I don’t feel different. So…publish!
I feel your pain — or anger. That whole, let’s take a minute for a romp in the hay, was the thing that bumped hardest for me, too. I was enjoying the episode and then I was like, “wait, what? they’re doing this now?”
It’s kind of a shame, too, because there was that great moment where they both confessed how they feel about each other, by NOT saying “I love you.” I liked that moment but it would have been just as powerful, if not more powerful, if they had acknowledged that there was no time to do anything about it. Watch “Godless” on Netflix for a great example of that. Those writers drew out those longing, sultry, “I want to have sex with you but we can’t” gazes for two whole episodes before those characters finally jumped in bed (or the hayloft in that case).
As for Ash killing what’s-his-name, my prediction is that we’re going to be asked to accept that everyone thinks Stamets did it.
If you want to enjoy this show you really have to set your bar for acceptable plot devices really, really low.
“As for Ash killing what’s-his-name, my prediction is that we’re going to be asked to accept that everyone thinks Stamets did it.”
Oh, man! If they do that, I’m blogging angry again for sure!!!
“If you want to enjoy this show you really have to set your bar for acceptable plot devices really, really low.”
More often than I’d like. It hasn’t ruined anything for me until this latest episode. That just made me furious.
I think Mr Castello has nailed it with his comment about a low bar for acceptable plot devices, and this has been my grumble about Disco since it began. I didn’t think anything could get less credible than the MagicZap (™) Spore Drive. Now we have ‘Pimp My Starship’ for that badass Mirror look.
Perhaps I’m just too old, and need to just accept that people ain’t making Trek for me anymore, and it’s in the hands of people pandering to teenagers with short attention spans. Rather like the awful Kelvinverse movies, I think we just have to reluctantly accept Disco for what it is, warts and all, with the alternative being no Star Trek at all. If it’s any consolation (which I doubt), the same is happening here in the UK with Doctor Who, which has been steadily sliding away from any credibility to the point where all you need is a glib script and a sonic screwdriver to fix, well, anything.
As for Disco plot points, then I’m almost prepared to forgive the Turnham/Tyler snog-fest, despite Lorca being grilled to well-done at the time. As has been said, ol’ Jim Kirk needed little excuse to teach aliens how to love, but the difference of course is that viewers actually liked Kirk and his crew, whereas very few of the Disco crew have earned any affection at all.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Capt Georghiou made a reappearance – maybe even as an Empress – and reckon there’s a strong possibility that Mirror Dr Culber will be cured of his evil ways and tempted over to the Light Side Of The Force (…sorry…) to replace his dead counterpart. We can’t have a whiny Stamets, can we? Oh, wait…
I can’t yet work out Lorca. If he is from the Mirror Universe, he could easily have denounced the whole ruse and declared “Behold! I am your rightful captain. Set the agony booth to 11 for these imposters,” but that clearly hasn’t happened.
Overall, STD reminds me of generic TV sci-fi; sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad, and sometimes it’s utterly wretched. It’s certainly more watchable than some of the drivel out there, but it’s been stripped of almost everything that made the franchise last for 50 years. But as I said earlier, I ain’t 12 years old any more. Sigh…
Man, if they make Georgiou the Emperor/Empress…that’s gonna be one angry blog!!! Enough with the doppelgängers!!!! 🙂
Oh, and I still think Dr. Who is infinitely more watchable now than it was back in the 70s and 80s when I started watching it. Sure, I still loved those old Tom Baker and Peter Davidson episodes, but the camp was turned up to 11, too. While Capaldi did turn into a bit of a disappointment for me, he still had some amazing episodes. I just think Moffat stayed on a bit too long and wore himself out a bit. I did love the recent Christmas special, though!
We’re youbalso angry at the end of Dr.Who’s XMAS special ? I love it too and will miss Capaldi, more that I will accept a female Doctor falling to her death in some atmosphere, I assume earth? Tom Baker was my Dr., but the old eps can be incredibly hard to watch at their slow soap opera pace. My favorite quote in life came from Tom: one good hope’s worth a cartload of certainties!
I ran that quote by my English teacher and she said it is acceptable to combine hope and is as hope’s although it’s rare.
Nope, I wasn’t angry at the ending to “Twice Upon a Time.” I thought it was a good “challenge” for Steven Moffat to leave for his successor. Remember that the end of “Best of Both Worlds, Part 1” was written with the team having no idea what would happen after Riker said, “Fire.” Good writers can deal with a challenge believably.
I’ve just watch episode 11…..and….well….I think your anger level of your next Discovery blog will be through the roof.
I’ll have damage control team on stand by in case you accidentally exploded. 😀
Yeah, I saw. Apparently, only people who have had major roles on the series already exist in the Mirror Universe. I’m surprised we didn’t see Admiral Cornwell and Security Chief Landry, too. Oh, well…maybe next week. 🙂
Yes, I did much rolling of the eyes myself during ep 11. I never expected to actually be correct about my Georghiou suggestion, but I guess fiction is stranger than, um, fiction. And given the backlash about Culber’s demise, I can now certainly see his mirror counterpart rejoining the Democrats, notwithstanding a compulsory anger-management course beforehand, one would expect.
It was also rather strange to see Burnham asking how the Klingons, Vulcans, Tellarites et al formed an alliance, when she’s supposed to represent that very kind of alliance in the form of the Federation (albeit without the Klingons).
For my next wacky suggestion – maybe Landry will indeed come back. As one of the more interesting characters, I certainly hope so. Given that her close bond with Lorca was left completely unexplored before her pointless demise, perhaps it will emerge that she and Lorca are/were both displaced mirror types, hence the strong bond. Another candidate for conversion?
As you’ll read in tomorrow’s blog, I knew you were right about Georgiou as soon as I read it. That said, it didn’t actually bother me because, by then, I’d just kinda let it go and went with the idea that the Mirror Universe is filled only with the main cast of Star Trek: Discovery plus a few stray extras here and there. 🙂
Get angry. You know they’ll blaim Stamitts got killing his lover. They also declare him not responsible because of his condition.
…they don’t have Nanny Cams in the 23rd century?
What I find stupid is we can’t get CBS to admit we’re in the Kelvin timeline.
I really enjoyed the computer image of the Defiant. The Starfleet of this show is running around in these awesome, somewhat realistic looking ships (with technology that blows TOS out of the water) and then we have to have a discussion about the USS Pinto that crossed a temporal / quantum barrier and was briefly here in the mirror universe.
If they don’t see the design of the Defiant as unusual, then this ain’t the Kelvin timeline, Mike. The writers really want us to believe this is prime timeline.
Thing is…do they expect us to believe that the Defiant they show is the one from “The Tholian Web” that has been in the Mirror Universe since the 2150s, and for some reason still hasn’t been redesignated ISS Defiant?
I doubt they’d redesignate the ship so much as just copy it.
Since the Kelvin Timeline is Paramount’s, they can’t come out and say it is, just imply it…
(Yes, I’m well aware CBS owns Star Trek, but the copyrights for the content of the movies belong to Paramount)
It’s true that CBS can’t use the Kelvinverse without permission, but why would they even want to? Why make their copyright/licensing life more complicated? CBS owns Star Trek prime. So that’s their sandbox.
But, if I’m not mistaken, isn’t Bad Robot invoived in producing the show for CBS ??
Nope. Not at all.
I don’t understand how its Kelvin though?
1. The tones don’t match. Kelvin Universe Trek is overly silly, whereas Discovery is a bit overly self important and serious.
2. They can’t legally use Kelvin stuff, that’s Paramount’s turf.
“Picard knows that exact sweet spot to fire at on a Borg cube to destroy it…and he NEVER ONCE TOLD STARFLEET INTELLIGENCE ABOUT IT???”
I always took that as something that Picard picked up when he reached the battle. He seemed to be getting whispers of the hive mind intermittently throughout the movie for some reason, so I assumed he was acting on something he “overheard”. It never even occurred to me that it could be something he already knew until you mentioned the possibility.
Well, if he heard the whispers, then I’ll accept that. Of course, there’s a LOT of Borg voices on a cube. It’s hard to imagine that they’re all thinking, “Man, I hope they don’t all shoot at our weak spot at junction 131-74 just below the center meridian on the port side of our cube!” 🙂
No, but it’s not hard to imagine that they were thinking they needed to focus their repairs on a vulnerable spot…
You can actually hear a sound effect indicating Picard overhearing the Collective just before he gives the order. Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPzJSBHG4pI starting at about 3 minutes 17 seconds (and lasting around 3 seconds).
The judges will allow it. 🙂
There another sore point. You let the largest ship in the fleet, and the flag ship to boot, in the hand of Captain Borg!!! Picard should have been in a lab being dissected!
Um, no. I’m sure they put Picard through every kind of test they could think of before clearing him for duty. Remember, even at that early point, Picard was one of the most famous and noted captains in Starfleet…from any era. You don’t dissect a legend. 🙂
Sorry mate, I think this was some of the best stuff I have seen in years. I love to hear all you “experts” though. You seem to be fixated on the 2 minute sex scene. There was lots to like and lots of great acting this week. Oh and sex does happen on board ships……If you are literally screaming at your TV, perhaps you should take a break.
I never said I was an “expert,” Ken. I’m just a viewer like you, with an opinion and a blog. You’re welcome not to agree with me. Heck, you can even write your own blog–there’s plenty of room on the Internet.
I also agree there was lots of great acting this week. And great directing by Jonathan Frakes. The episode was fun and ticked off all the important tropes about the Mirror Universe: ISS, Terran Empire logo with something going through the earth (upside down arrowhead?–okay, creative design idea), agony booth(s), daggers worn on uniforms, assassination attempt on the captain in a turbolift, etc. It even had some banter!
But although sex happens on starships (lord knows James Kirk taught us all that!), it does NOT happen during critical missions when every moment you delay increases the chance of discovery (or discovery of Discovery!) and potential loss of life back in your own universe. In episodes like “A Taste of Armageddon,” “Patterns of Force,” or “Errand of Mercy,” had Kirk and Spock stopped and sat down for a friendly game of chess before continuing on with their mission, the audience would have said “WTF!” too.
The episode wasn’t awful. It just pissed me off at the end. I found it insulting that the writers expected me to believe Burnham and Tyler would get all lovey-dovey in the middle of such a time-critical mission in very dangerous and unknown surroundings. But hey, that’s just one blogger’s opinion.
Thank you for sharing your pain with us. So glad I don’t watch it anymore, it all sounds terrible. Though I did feel pleased to see Anthony Rapp on a documentary about musicals over the holidays on the BBC talking about Rent.
I agree with all (from what I have watched) apart from point 4. above about Picard. That moment I took as the Borg in communication with Picard, whether it was intentional or not on the part of the Borg, Picard still had some link with the collective. We saw the Borg whispering inside his head, so I took it that he knew where to fire based on those whispers. Also even if Picard had information before hand, it was most likely buried deep in his subconscious. What I saw on screen was an intuitive bolt out of nowhere, a sense of clarity, similar to either Sisko in Rapture, or Odo at the end of Broken Link.
Okay, I’m down with that, Jack. 🙂
A show that glorifies Homo Sexual behavior is #NotmyStarTrek, it is leftist garbage and I would not waste my time if it was even free and could give 2 hoots in Hell less about it and Hollywood’s sodomite agenda!
Dude, are you for real? Check the calendar: it’s 2018. The gays won. 🙂
Like I give a Dam!
Well, you obviously didn’t care enough in school to learn to spell or capitalize properly. So yeah, I believe that you don’t really give a damn. Congrats on that, Allen. 🙂
Haha, I guess you didn’t like DS9:Rejoined either (one of the best Star Trek episodes ever in my opinion), or DS9:The Emperor’s New Cloak.
What did you think of TOS when shock horror, they had a women as number one in the pilot episode.
If you see this as a reason to make it #NotmyStarTrek then I think you should look long and hard as to whether this has ever been a show for you as it has always from the very beginning of Trek been about pushing boundaries in creating a more tolerant and accepting society.
Also while granted I haven’t been watching this show since early on, but I doubt they “glorified” it, just like they don’t glorify hetrosexual behaviour. It just depicts natural behaviour.
Jack, your comments are valid, but a person like Allen just doesn’t listen – you are wating your time. It’s intersting though, that despite not giving a Dam (although what an artificial body of water has to do with it I’m not sure) Allen still seems to be following these posts.
Jonathan – it would be handy to have a spell-check or some way of going back and editing a post – I’m sick of my typos!
Sorry, I just use Word Press. I don’t write the code. 🙂
Bryan, I don’t know if you read this, but I do have spellcheck, just use firefox :). Right clicking on this (or any edit box) you can turn spell check on and off, and change the language :).
But yes, I do miss an edit feature. So many of my posts here have made no sense. It helps if I write it first in a text editor and then copy paste it, which gives me more time to notice any mistakes.
It would also feel nice to get notifications to replies to comments. When I first started posting comments on this blog I turned on the “Notify me of comments” option, but then I got so many emails from every comment whether it was a reply to mine or not that I stopped checking that option :(.
It’s times like this that I really wish I knew how to code. But alas, this is the comment interface that WordPress provides to me. I’m sorry, my friends.
Jack – thanks for your reply. I use Firefox, but wasn’t aware of that feature. (There is no [reply] option under your message) so placed it here. Have just tried it – easy! Thank you.
Jonathan. Missed you comment about code when I replied to Jack. I have no knowledge of how Word Press works, or of relevant coding. I assumed you might have written things externally then pasted and formatted ‘on site’. The very small number of resulting typos is therefore impressive.
Nah, I write everything within the WordPress dashboard. Then I re-read everything–even comment replies like this one–and make corrections and edits. Longer blogs get two or three additional passes. I like a clean blog. 🙂
Um…. sorry to say, but the second you claim “leftist garbage” you have officially given up any semblance of understanding Star Trek history. Star Trek has been pushing progressive agenda before progressive was even a THING.
Just imagine if Star Trek IV: Save The Whales (ahem, I mean Voyage Home) was made TODAY. People like you would call it leftist garbage just the same. The fact is, we allowed ourselves to enjoy things and listen to messages without being butthurt snowflakes about there being a message back then.
“I don’t watch Star Trek to be preached to” I hear some of you saying. Well, clearly you haven’t been WATCHING Star Trek!
BTW, I just want to let people know that Allen is responding with a lot of immature, crybaby comments that are mostly violating my rules against swearing and direct insults/belittling comments, so the comments are getting trashed.
Don’t forget headeralsexual caucasions are a no-no on TV now!
Did you say “headeralsexual”?
Hmm, I don’t know. Yeah, the sex scene is inapt at that time and place, but other than that, I don’t see it as harsh as you do, Jonathan. The “oh, someone killed Culber” and maybe “oh, it was Tyler” will come in the next episode or the episode thereafter. Yeah, it’s a bit dumb, but there have been worse cases of dumbness in Trek’s history (some of which you’ve pointed out).
I do however have one big WTF moment with the episode/storyline, and that is the whole Ash/Voq thing. It’s one thing to make someone *look* like a human, but a totally different thing making someone *register* as a human, including red blood, a lesser number of organs, crusing and reassembling of bones, etc. Seriously? I don’t think it’s either feasible nor possible…
Yeah, they’re asking fans to accept a LOT when it comes to Ash/Voq.
For the last part, perhaps you missed almost EVERY episode where Kirk got it on with someone? Or maybe you missed the episodes where Riker was screwing something? Or even the entire episode they did with TNG where Picard fell in love, and stayed with them for a while?
In other words, what are you complaining at? Your post sounds nonsensical when you follow Trek
Note that I did mention Kirk in a tongue-in-cheek comment midway down the blog, Summoner. 🙂
That said, the only time Kirk was ever on a critical mission and did the roll-in-the-hay, it was “Bread and Circuses” when the slave Drusilla is sent to him as a final “gift” to a condemned man. And even then, it was hinted at that Kirk might have tried using Drusilla to get hold of one of the communicators. Of course, we later learn it was Merrick (Merricus) who took the device, but the writers were giving viewers that little head fake to make the revelation it was Merrick seem much more surprising.
Aside from that, there wasn’t really a mission when Kirk had casual sex DURING the mission unless he was under some mind control (“A Private Little War”) or he was using sex specifically to gain the trust of an enemy (“Wink of an Eye”). Feel free to correct me if I’m forgetting an episode with sex-during-a-critical-mission in it.
I’d love to know how you interpret them kissing as “having sex”. You seem to be misinformed on a few things lol..
I suggest you go back and actually watched TOS again then; because I ain’t explaining something that you’re apparently not getting.
In “Wink of an Eye,” we cut to commercial with Kirk and Deela getting rather passionate in Kirk’s quarters. After returning from the commercial, Deela is brushing her hair, and Kirk is pulling on his boot. I’m guessing you’d argue that nothing happened because we didn’t actually see it on screen. 🙂
Just “kissing,” you say. Um, yeah…
I didn’t say anything about Kirk when I said “just kissing”. I was referring to the Discovery scene, in which you see nothing. Sure, implied, maybe. But you don’t what happened after the cut. How do you know that someone didn’t come in the room, or they stopped? Millions of possibilities.
Including this possibility…
(Jonathan drops mic.)
In reference, the second line of my comment about TOS was a separate point related to the similar situation. So, uh yeah..
Just read your article. So don’t be shy. Does this mean you didn’t like something about the story? I haven’t seen any of the episodes so I suppose you could call me unbiased. Funny you should mention that they seem to have discovered sex. I wonder if they have restrooms too. None of the other Trek shows appeared to have any. “Nuff said.
The first mention of bathrooms in Star Trek was the DS9 episode “Explorers” in May of 1995. (Feel free to check me on that, Moon Pie. You’ll find I’m right.) 🙂
As for sex, that’s been a staple of Star Trek since Kirk first got it on with Lenoore Karidian in “The Conscience of the King” back in 1966. “Are you like your ship, Captain…surging and throbbing?”
I don’t have a problem with the sex itself. As I said, Burnham kinda needs to get laid anyway, and she and Ash have to get it on before the big “surprise” reveal that he’s really Voq the Klingon. My only issue is with the timing of the sex. Just as I don’t recommend people boink in the middle of a board meeting or on the 25-yard line during a championship playoff game, I don’t recommend two officers on a mission in potentially dangerous enemy territory choose that moment for a bit a’ the ol’ in-out-in-out.
Now you’re not going to like me for this Mr Lane, but I think your reference to Star Trek bathrooms is – as Mr Spock would say – “Not correct, captain”.
Not 1995, but in fact 1989. And even worse is the fact that it’s from your *least favourite ST movie*, when Kirk, Spock and McCoy are in the brig. After Spock reveals that Sybok is his ‘bro from another mo’, Kirk presses a button and a seat slides out. The seat is in fact a toilet, with a just-visible lid, a flush button and a sign above saying ‘Do Not Use While In Spacedock’.
Easy to miss, as I’d imagine most viewers were holding their heads in despair throughout most of that movie.
I’m now going to find a quiet corner and lament not only the fact that I knew that, but also felt the need to tell someone else. Sigh… (again).
Yeah, ya got me. In my defense, though, the thing in the brig in Trek V was never identified specifically as a toilet. Yeah, we fans assumed it was, but the first time the actual word “bathroom” was uttered in any Star Trek, it was by Jake Sisko in “Explorers.” Anyone know the other DS9 “first” that happened in that episode?
Sorry, Johnathan, but I’m in with those fans who have despised Discovery from Day One. It’s gone beyond my worst expectations; the Powers That Be™ have gone beyond scraping the bottom of the barrel, and have now burrowed into the very bedrock upon which the real Star Trek is laid.
This isn’t what Star Trek is all about, by any stretch of the imagination. If CBS had any sense, instead of trying to kill Trek (as they have been doing for over 50 years now…and I don’t believe what I’m about to post), they’d sell the franchise to Disney. At least, The House Of Mouse can wrestle back some sense of Gene’s Original Vision, and put Trek back in the good graces of the fans CBS has pissed off…like you and I.
Doug
Actually, Paramount will be bought by Sony. Remember: you read it here first!
As for CBS, I think they’re keeping Star Trek for the time being.
Of that, I have no doubt. Maybe then they’ll start producing good movies again.
As for CBS keeping Trek…they’ve quite effectively killed it, though. I won’t name names here, but a certain director who’s fond of lens flares comes to mind, not to mention their imposing a few “guidelines”, definitely had a hand in its’ demise 🙁
Can I also point out that while Burnham and Taylor are getting it on, their shipmate is being agonizingly tortured. You’d think that, out of compassion for a shipmate they both profess to admire, they might prioritize getting him the hell out of there. Imagine if you were the one in the agonizer booth. How would you feel if your two shipmates just left you there while they “took some time for themselves”?
I think the idea the writers wanted to convey is that Tyler, under Burnham’s orders, made sure Lorca was put into a cell and NOT into an agony booth. Tyler figured, “Okay, that’s taken care of–time to ponder my inner-Klingon…” and left. After all, who’s gonna do anything bad to a prisoner on a Terran Empire ship?
🙂
Jonathan, no matter what they would have said or done in this episode something would have pissed you off. I am convinced you look out for that ONE thing that angers you in every episode Discovery that you watch. You have made it pretty obvious that you hold the show to a different level then you do any of the other series. You mention other previous problems but pretty much forgive them with an ‘ehhhh’ while you act as though the sex scene in Discovery is the stupidest thing you have ever ever heard of. If that isn’t bad enough, when you get comments that people make who haven’t watched the show, you let them pile on as well rather then being decent and urging them to experience what they profess to dislike rather than just yelling out loud about something they actually know nothing about. I’m not saying that the ‘sex scene’ was the best thing I have watched on television but in no way was it the big deal that you make it to be and in no way did it ruin an outstanding episode. I really wonder if there is any possibility of there being a Discovery episode that you will enjoy and not get ‘pissed off’ about. I don’t think so.
I understand what is going to happen here…you’re going to make it sound like very little of what I am saying here relates to what you said and for the little bit that does, you’ll come up with some clever explanation that makes me sound silly and you to sound intelligent and deep. The one thing I know you won’t do (or wouldn’t have until now) is mention that your dislike of Discovery directly relates to your thoughts on Axanar and has nothing to do with the writing or the acting in the show.
I’m just a guy with an opinion, Edward. So are you. But no, my opinion of Discovery has nothing to do with my opinion on Axanar. Two different animals in two completely different parts of the zoo. I complained about JJ Trek long before Axanar ever existed. Before that, I had my problems with Nemesis and Insurrection, with Generations, with Trek V, with the first two and a half seasons of Enterprise, with aspects of Voyager, etc. As a Trekkie, I’ve held a lot of critical opinions over the years that had nothing to do with Axanar (since it didn’t exist yet).
And hey, I still watched all those movies and series. I even enjoyed many episodes of Voyager and Enterprise, and I enjoyed Insurrection and Nemesis (still can’t stomach Trek V). But as Korax said, “Everyone’s entitled to an opinion.”
Right?
There’s a specific line of dialogue that contradicts your supposition here. Burnham is actually told, flat out, that Lorca won’t be tortured *to death.* The implication is very clear: they are expert enough at torture that there is no risk of the subject actually dying from the agony they will inflict. So Burnham knows FULL WELL that Lorca will be subjected to the agonizer booth. There’s no way she can prevent it and stay “in character” but she can damn well hurry her plan along so that he’s in there as little as possible.
Or she could take some time to have a quickie with Taylor.
Everything about this story line works fine — until Burnham just forgets about Lorca’s predicament to spend some quality time with a Taylor who (as far as she knows) she will have ample time to spend with when they are all out of danger. So yeah, that was a definite WTF? moment for me.
Well, it seems we’re mostly in agreement. 🙂
I’m in Australia and as far as I know, have no access to the series. Everything I’ve read (+ve and -ve) has confirmed my belief I ain’t missin’ nothin’!
As for the comments here, whilst you have been open about not being anamoured with Discovery, you always seem to me to try and supress this with your comments – you seek positive things to say and I always find your blogs interesting and informative (well – perhaps not quite all of your diverse blogs in some other areas). er – I’m not really trying to suck up.
And every part of the world has its Allens.
Yeah, the Allens of the world seem to be a constant. Fortunately, the rest of the world doesn’t stop to wait for them to catch up. 🙂
Go blow dumbass, bbbbahhhhaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, everyone. I know I said I was trashing pretty much everything Allen is sending now–he’s apparently upset enough to send me a LOT of angry, frustrated one-liners and determined to demonstrate an inability to properly use the English language (this time it’s commas). But I just wanted to give you all a taste of the quality of a typical comment I’ve been trashing so you understand why. Allen might not be intelligent enough to understand why I’m doing this, but I know the rest of you will understand. So enjoy this one. I’ll go back to trashing the rest of his attempted posts after this (unless Allen unexpectedly grows a brain at some point in the future), but for now, you all get a little sunshine and a good chuckle for your day. 🙂
Its no weirder than what Neelix and Tuvok used to do with Plomeek broth in the delta flier when nobody was looking
That’s it! I’m turning this blog around right now and taking us all back home!
Leave it to Gabe to make the blog weird 😛
…well, weirder than usual 😉
And I don’t even pay him!!! 🙂
No, he doesn’t. I’m actually a paid schill for CBS.
Hi J L…
I could not agree more…but let’s explore how far down the rabbit hole this iteration of Star Trek to see why it’s detritus ridden narrative fails!
In a single word… VISION….OR LACK THERE OF. vitally no single unified vision.
STD ( unfortunate but apt acronym) fails in a ‘mirror’ fashion to why Star Trek Continues STC, DOES NOT…..
Vic Mignogna’s vision…
TOS…Had Gene’s vision….
B5 straczynski’s JMS
FRINGE (grossly underrated) JJ’s….
Vic M clearly had a vision of eps 10 and 11 off the bat, sewed seeds in a JMS style (Smith, The Hood, Spocks journey, Kirk’s weariness etc) but did not draw attention to them and then patiently BLAM! The finale to TOS which ranks with any of the top 3 episodes in trek history…and I mean all 700 plus eps….
STD is a visionless committee-assembled agglomeration of platitudes, cliches and Trek canon ignoring verbiage which is beyond amateur. Have you seen how many exec producers are in the opening credits? The show is a mess, and no amount of production values and budget can polish this turd.
Everything is telegraphed, multiple times, dialogue is clunky, performances lack integrity, visuals are over engineered like a magicians sleight of hand all in the service of distracting you from the visionless journey.
STC DID THE IMPOSSIBLE on a budget of 10 cents …and it did so because when resource is scare, you better care about the characters, you better be engaged by performance, the story and the words…..and it delivered on all in spades. The shivers I got with the music segueing to TMP, THE STORY arcs dovetailing with the benefit of hindsight, and yes….I actually came to accept new Spock and Kirk so much so, that if the idiots at CBS Paramount had greenlit STC to produce 26 new episodes to be the TOS 4th season with the clutch of 11 being the fifth, I would be happy to pay $10 pay per view to watch those……alas.
STD IS NOT WORTH A DIME in comparison…..I’m open to a revaluation which makes all that has come before being made revalatory…. But I doubt it. There are no G’Kar/Molari or Shadow bombs hidden in this pile of recycled refuse.
What is truly unforgivable, is that with 700 plus eps to mine, and a timeline out to the 27th century, that went backwards, soiled the canon, soiled Gene’s vision and took a blank canvas of creativity and just stuck a collage of Teek cliches on it instead of an original oil….
I’m bored with Klingons ( who actually rarely appeared in TOS)… They could have gone to the 27th century and shown how the temporal division came about…think of the canvas. They could have explored the post kitomer peace, the impact of Kirk’s death, the beta or delta quadrants, the rebuilding of Vulcan society, the political struggles of re-unification….all allegory gold mines….
Nope…no vision, no integrity.
This is space opera which has been branded TREK… And I’m not fooled for a single nanoseconds. What’s worse, is its poor space opera poorly executed. Worse of all, Orville wipes the floor …coz it gives us what we used to want…
I would not want another Branon Braga Terk, but at least he had vision as does Seth….
I want Trek to challenge me, educate me and take me to strange new worlds and new civilisations with at least a modicum of pseudoscience credibility. Warp drive, log pads, transporters, communicators, transdermal injections and med beds all had some basis in future research or science theory….but as a post graduate biology masters holder….FUCK THE SPORE DRIVE…..
Sorry go off on that note….I wanted a more eloquent close, but it’s been building up and there is no amount of inertial dampening that would prevent the Discovery crew from being splat into goo on the interior walls of the ship when it spins 20 times on its axis in less than a second….that’s going to pull about 30 Gs if you do a quick calculation…….
I will keep watching, for now, but I may bail and wait for second hand Blurays as I did halfway thru season 2 of Enterprise, only to be surprised how good it got until those men of “vision” pulled the plug on it too early…..
My greater fear, is that this will kill Trek for a decade…like the Dr Who hiatus…let’s face it, Beyond was in my view worse than ST V…this is a dire time for Trek..I believe it is on life support, but because the patient is drugged up, he appears fine….and you know what happens when you take away the support…(budget reductions, cast shrinkage etc…Space 1999 season 2).
Oh well, thanks for igniting that with your blog…I started to read it nd stopped….watched the ep, and came back…and agree with your vent….
Apologies for mine
Fran in the UK
Don’t mince words, Bones, what do you really think? 🙂
Oh, and please don’t use the F-word in your comments to this blog from now on. Thanks, Fran.
Well, stupid pretty much covers it for the entire series.
I agree.
Again, all I can say …again…is that no matter what had happened in the episode something would have pissed most of you people off. So far we’ve been through the technology, the ship designs, the special effects, the writing, the lack of canon, the sexuality of certain characters, the portrayal of certain characters, teh Klingons, teh Vulcans, the darkness of the scenes, the writing, the lack of banter (WTF??) and I’m sure Ive missed about 10-15 more. Of course the subject always starts with “I really wanted to like this episode but…” and you can fill that in with any of the comments I made above.
I enjoy reading the articles but honestly is your time being well spent to write so much and come up with the same conclusion every time?
I good with it. Don’t you worry about me, Edward. 🙂
I share your feeling totally.
I’m kinda surprise that the Constitution-class isn’t the biggest raging point for me, probably because I’ve already expect something that silly since they messed with D7, but also probably because the crew stupidity is beyond astronomical scale.
Burnham, especially.
Seriously, is something like “GET THE F**K OUT, I HAVE F**KTONS OF CLASSIFIED REPORTS TO CATCH” so hard to say?
Or how about, “Let me check my damn e-mail or I’ll have you thrown out an airlock…one body part at a time!”
(See, I speak Mirror.) 🙂
So you did like that much? Yes, bad writing, a bad graphic for a well-known Ship from the YOS show. Anyone note they said the REAL ISS Discovery was most likely displace to their universe? That should go over well. As it jumps in and starts destroying everyone.
I was kind of shocked at the Doctor getting dispatched but I have a feeling dead isn’t dead on this show yet. I kind of knew Ash/Voq when Ash and Captain Lorca escaped and Ash snapped a Klingon’s neck. Really? on top of looking nothing like Any of what we have seen at Klingons, they going not have much stronger bones and the redundant system that means you to be a Vulcan, Romulan or another Klingon to snap a neck of a Klingon like that. So not suprise at all.
The show is what it is. A reboot with updates.
Sorry, something missing here. Did Burnham do the horizontal mambo while she was away or when she got back? If the former, yeah, that’s like Guy Fleegman :”Oh! That’s not right!” and even if after she got back it happened during the first 2 minutes. But if it happened an hour or two after the return, then it was Frakes’ misdirection for not winding down the characters (they DO have to sleep in the alternate universe, right?) enough for the mood to settle enough to engage in the rumpy pumpy. Not having seen it, I don’t know.
But sometimes they have to edit to make sure they don’t exceed running time limits, so it’s possible something got cut and then you saw the abrupt transition to the scene which jolted you out of your suspension of disbelief. But that’s a directorial problem, if that was what happened, it may not have been a writing issue.
When you finally watch the episode, David, you’ll see that Burnham, Lorca, and McScruffy all beamed over to the ISS Shenzhou. Lorca was put into the brig as a prisoner, and Burnham went to access a computer in her ready room (as she was the ship’s CO) and download information on the USS Defiant and how it crossed over to that universe. She comes back to her captains quarters exhausted, having tried in vain to get the data while everyone was welcoming her back and kissing her butt. McScruffy was waiting there for her, and she explained how she wasn’t able to access the data yet. As that was her mission, not having accomplished her goal, she and the others wouldn’t have returned to the Discovery. This was, of course, underscored by the final cutaway to Lorca, screaming in pain in the agony booth.
So no, this had nothing to do with editing, David.
Ah, OK. That explains it better as the first tirade left a few things out.
One of the rules of world building is that the writer(s) MUST be consistent. The only thing I can think of to possibly explain this cluster-frack was that Burnham discovered something in her search that would make her want to ‘appear’ to do the rumpy-pumpy with Ash to be consistent with her character’s actions in the mirror universe. That way she would not trigger an alarm with her mirror-shipmates so they would continue to trust her. (at least enough for her to get the data she needed)
If this is true, then Frakes and the writers failed to give us (the audience) that information as well.
But that’s my take on it (having not seen the show) and reading the comments here. It is a significant world-building flaw that triggered your emotional response.
But yeah, bad writing.
“… the first tirade left a few things out.”
I had intended for the blog editorial to be read by folks who had seen the episode, so I didn’t waste space summarizing what was a very complex and full episode, David.
Now….to the crus of it all….
How did Lorca get to the primeverse?
How did he locate Lorca prime?
How did he not get seen or found out?
How did he dispose of Lorca prime?
How long was he in the primeverse?
Did he contribute to the Federations ideology thawing?
Did he champion “at any cost” from within star fleet?
Who else did he kill? It can’t be just one!
Did he plan to return to mirror verse at all?
Are any other characters also a mirrorverse plant?
And….finally…..”drum roll please”…..have the powers that be worked it all out in advance so we don’t get a JJ LOST resolution or a single line of exposition to explain it before someone decides to go off and brush their teeth…..(never happened in Trek)….
Sigh…..not even my fanedit skills can rescue this…..
F
Well, my guess is that yes, the writers worked everything about Lorca out in advance. They had to. All the episodes were written and filmed before the first one aired. And we’ll likely find out the answers to most of your questions over the course of the next five episodes.
I thought there was only three eps left and this last one was one of those three?
Nope. There will be 15 episodes total in season 1 (original there were supposed to be 13). This was episode 10. 15 minus 10 equals 5. Wait, let me double-check that. Yeah, five. 🙂
no problem Jonathan, just note your answer as related to the questions I asked… pretty much a smart answer that ignores anything I said or asked. I notice you have a lot to say when people agree with you…funny how that works. However this is your blog site and you can answer in any way you want, I guess.
“I notice you have a lot to say when people agree with you…funny how that works.”
Actually, Edward, I hate to make you face an inconvenient truth, but scroll up and down the page. Most of my longer answers were to people who didn’t agree with me: Ken, Summoner, Moon Pie Guy, and you. I had nearly 35 comments to read through yesterday, and I didn’t have time to wax poetic for each. Most of the folks who agreed with me got a sentence or two at most.
I’m sorry if you felt that I didn’t answer your question. In my mind, I did. It’s my blog, Edward, and if I choose to spend my time analyzing what’s wrong (and occasionally what’s right) about Star Trek: Discovery, and if 1K-2K people want to read what I have to say each time I do (yeah, go figure!), then no, I don’t think I’m wasting my time. Lord knows, we Trekkies tend to analyze nearly everything about our favorite franchise to within an inch of its life. Do you know how many times I’ve tried to convince other fans and also mundanes that DS9 is the best of all the Star Trek series? Each time I debate that, I come to the same conclusion. A waste of time? Well, not to me.
And hey, at worst, you’ve only got another 5 or 6 blog editorials about what’s wrong with Discovery (maybe less if I really like an episode) until you don’t have to deal with my opinion again until 2019! 🙂
…wait though didn’t Kirk bang Marlena in “Mirror, Mirror”? Yes yes, I know, THAT was to “maintain cover”… I get your point. Burnham and Tyler banging was kind of stupid. Its not the dumbest thing Trek’s done.
Nah, the dumbest thing Trek’s ever done was Uhura professing her secret love of Scotty.
Prove I’m wrong!
Ewwww what a triangle for the JJVerse!
Oh God, I love this blog. LMFAO
Glad to be of service, Tom. 🙂
I could not have said it any better myself.
My problem is the waste of potential. These 100 (or more – well it feels that way anyway) producers & exec producers have a reported $8 Million to spend per episode but apparent very very little of it goes to the amateurish writing staff. Based on what was accomplished with the little that TOS & every series since (until now) had to spend on an episode this series should have been orgasmic but …… NO!
I was actually looking forward to episode 10. Thinking of the potential. Looking at the possibilities. This one however brought back the distaste of the previous 9 episodes.
I am in this to the bitter end and sadly, at this rate, we are heading to a VERY BITTER END
I’m of the opinion that the Captain is from a third universe. He plays too dumb to come from the mirror-verse. Plus, they did say when filming was still going on that there would be multiple universes in the series. I think this is just the first.
Still has plot holes you could drive a freighter through…
A THIRD universe??? I doubt that. The writers have been setting up a lot of scaffolding for a revelation that Lorca is from the Mirror Universe but is a freedom fighter and, therefore, actually a good guy. I admit, I didn’t the rebel-against-the-empire angle coming…so yeah, maybe the writers can still surprise me, at least a little! 🙂
Dumb Trek….?
Hmmmm
Spock’s Half Brother
McCoys Beard
That Rikers dream “filler” episode (shades of grey?)
…..and the most cringe worthy EVER…
SPOCK’s flamenco dance in Platos Stepchildren !!!
Prove ME wrong on that last one…!
Brain and brain! What is brain?!?!? 🙂
In the immortal words of Bruce Willis…
“Welcome to the party, pal!”
Jonathan – you mentioned this blog had been written specifically for those who had seen the episode (and, I guess, the series). Not fitting the criteria, I’m nonetheless finding it fascinating to read the wealth of opinion and info emerging, particularly in relating various events and character traits to the established Star Trek universe – in addition to plot weaknesses being explored. (I have noticed in almost any series of any genre, it is not unusual for a plot line to have some weak spot just to make development of the plot possible.)
And while not everyone agrees with you (or each other), that is only normal; but it’s good to see little that approaches personal attacks (well…there’s one of course). This blog must have attracted something like a record number of comments, most having something significant to say, and with minimum rancour – a record in itself.
OK, so this comment is not directly significant, but has anyone else stepped back to see the collective gestalt of the comments?
Not even close to a record number of comments, Bryan. Have you forgotten all my blogs during the Axanar lawsuit??? 🙂
As for civility, we don’t have a perfect record, but it’s better here than many places online. What I do find interesting is how some folks who disagree with me seem to also feel a need to criticize me for having/sharing these opinions in the first place. Edward Darlow feels strongly that I’m wasting my time writing these editorial reviews. Commentor Ken calls me an “expert” in quotation marks and suggests I stop watching Discovery altogether. And Summoner2100 thinks my blog post seemed “nonsensical.”
I, on the other hand, have more of a live-and-let-live attitude. Everyone’s entitled to an opinion. With the exception of that homophobic Allen luddite, I’m pretty happy to respond politely and tolerantly without any negativity. Sure, I might not always agree, but that’s the foundation of civil discussion and debate. No need to call this blog nonsensical or suggest I’m wasting my time. And hey, even if I am, it’s my time to waste. 🙂
Hmm, yes, I was forgetting, “Axanar”, in particular. The source of much heated debate, and much heated babbling that could not be graced with a description of being “debate”. In many ways, a sad time with so much wasted negative energy.
I did say “minimum rancour” and “little that approaches personal attacks”, in these statements comparing this particular blog to quite a few of your blogs where such claims could not be made. The overall tone of response here has been comparatively refreshing, even though the majority of your respondents to your blogs always show they value what you have to say.
You write essentially because you believe you have insights, knowledge and opinions worth sharing for those interested to read them (or for reasons along hese lines). Your large following confirms your thoughts and opinions (which I always find relatively balanced and free of bias) are respected by many, including some who do not always agree – which as you say, is the “…foundation of civil discussion…”. As for people who think your writings are “nonsensical” or “you are wasting your time”, the obvious response is, why in hell are these people persisting in reading your work or taking the time to voice their negativity. No-one is forcing them to read the stuff!
Then there are the Allens of this world. Uneducated (I mean the basics of education and learning to be part of a society, not University etc), and often the product of an extreme religious fundamentalist backwater. (Not an attack on religion, I’m an active Christian, but I hope an informed one!). Freedom of speech gives them the right to voice an opinion, no matter how uninformed, but we don’t have to read their mindless utterances.
I think there are some out there who feel that those people who criticize Discovery must have some kind of “agenda”–for example, I’m angry about Axanar or something. They really want everyone to either like/love the show or if they don’t, to have the common courtesy not to share those complaints because it makes the series sound somehow less successful. And because they don’t want to feel that they are somehow incorrect in their enjoyment of the series, they conclude that those criticizing it have an axe to grind or are somehow rooting for CBS to fail.
At least in my case, it’s none of the above. As I said, I still enjoy watching the series. It’s not bad; it just has some flaws…and a few major ones for me personally. I’m not trying to “convert” any Discovery fans into hating or rejecting the series. I pay my six bucks a month just like they do. If I wanted CBS to fail, I’d still be watching it each week at my friend’s house. (Actually, no, I wouldn’t. He wasn’t impressed with the show and canceled his subscription after episode four or five, I think…just after I subscribed.) In another month or so, I’m going to write an editorial about how CBS doesn’t care if Discovery succeeds or fails, but I won’t go into that now.
But my main point is that folks can love, like, dislike, or hate Discovery…I don’t really care. I’m only sharing MY truth with whoever wants to read what I have to say. No agenda. No nefarious plan. I just have an opinion…just like I did about “The Last Jedi.” 🙂
Don’t wish to prolong this, but there are those who get angry in a “debate” and their minds close – they read, but only “hear” what they wish to hear. Their response to what has been written reads as if they are responding to something that is totally different to what they are responding to. Logic can go out the window.
As an impartial observer who has seen nothing of “Discovery” and has no agenda other than a wish to see the Star Trek concept continued with artistic intregrity and in a “valid” way, your comments and descriptions of “Discovery” always seem to reflect a hope that it may become a true extension of the Star Trek milieu and even though admitting a dislike, their seems to be a hope that what you dislike in the series will evolve and be “corrected”. […. A collection of periods to be inserted into that last sentence at will].
Pretty much. As fans of Discovery are quick to point out, TNG, DS9, VGR, and ENT all struggled through their first seasons. That being said, none of those series ever featured shiny golden soles on the boots of the uniforms. What WERE they thinking??? 🙂
I don’t believe I said ‘wasting you time’ and if I did I apologize what I was trying to say is the lack of fairness in your views. Really though. There is no reason for me to geo into this since as we both have said…”Its your blog and that means your opinion”
Anyway, I’m not feeling too good today so you and your son take care. We can fight again another day…when it is a better day to die!
I hope you feel better soon, Edward.
Although I’ve only watched a handful of episodes from the beginning, I’ve followed lots of commentary on just about every episode since. The vast majority of these commentaries have been critical of the series. Which I tend to agree with. I personally find nothing redeeming about any of the characters, with one minor exception, Tilly, perhaps. Or is that Hapless?
Now, what HAS grabbed my attention, is Mr. Robot! There are many similarities between the two shows, like being of a darker theme, but, the characters are very interesting. And it’s unpredictable mind games, the main character experiences, will snap your head back, like being on a rollercoaster.
So, since Amazon gave me a nice 30 day trial of Prime, (I saved it till just before Christmas ( – ; ) I binge watched the first two seasons.
The irony is, I think that Evil Corp. Is a metaphor for Amazon, lol.
I guess I need to check that show out.
On the other hand, I recall the words of Homer J. Simpson: “It’s those TV networks, Marge, they won’t let me. One quality show after another, each one fresher ad more brilliant than the last. If they only stumbled once, just gave us thirty minutes to ourselves! But they won’t! They won’t let me live!!!”
I have read most of this blog and comments and I agree mostly with Edward. This is your blog Jonathan and you can steer it in any direction you see fit. You can be pissed off for any reason.
Yes yes… you liked Disco till the end until you realised that you had to find a reason to dislike it. For each episode it’s the same thing… you liked most of it except… fill in the blanks. Starting with… CBS who established the fan film guidelines… I’m sure we can get 90% of fandom to agree that the established rules forced Axanar, Continues etc. to either die quickly or die a slow agonizing death.
You can also be angry that you guessed the plot… Well… I’ve known the plot and what happens… not all of it but mostly all of it since early October. I’m not as connected as you are but still… I know the major details. You are much more connected than I am so if you wanted to know it would have been easy to obtain the information. I will not mention who told me except to say I know what’s to come and my lips are sealed.
Finally to those who say the visuals, writing, acting are poor… I completely disagree especially with the writing and acting. I think not only is the writing some of the best Trek has ever had… far superior to most TV Shows… I believe the writing is world class and the acting top notch as well.
I understand the anger and hatred that fans have toward CBS. I understand the hope that many of you have that Disco is a failure so that you can gloat and be happy. Get used to it… It’s all about the money .
The Star Trek franchise makes a ton of gelt and will continue to do so long after we are all gone. Last I saw is that CBS and Paramount own Star Trek and THEY can do as THEY wish not WE wish with it. So what I say to you is watch and enjoy or don’t watch and hate i.e. make love not war.
I’m not the only blogger out there who gives the new series credit where credit is due but still has issues with it, Xman. Earlier today, I read this very insightful editorial on ScreenRant that approached Discovery very similarly to the way I do:
https://screenrant.com/star-trek-discovery-too-dark/?ref=yfp
I strongly recommend giving it a read, as the observations the writer makes are spot on (at least in my opinion). And he’s not simply trying to get viewers to hate the new series. Far from it! But he does make some excellent points on why this new series doesn’t feel like Star Trek for many longtime fans.
I had dinner last night with a good friend–the one who canceled his subscription and stopped watching Discovery after four or five episodes. He’s also a fan of classical music, and he compared Discovery to listening to a modern interpretation of Beethoven’s 9th symphony where the orchestra purposefully plays some of the notes differently, perhaps in an edgy way, perhaps adding sharps and flats where they don’t belong…and it just feels wrong. Some segments of the piece are familiar and pleasant. And perhaps some alterations are even interesting and evocative. But then there are these parts which just sound shrill and dissonant and tell you that, no, this isn’t Beethoven’s 9th symphony at all. And while my friend is all for creative musical expression and experimentation, Beethoven is Beethoven for a reason. So either compose an entirely new symphony from scratch and don’t call it Beethoven, or else play the piece the way the composer intended it. Don’t try to “modernize” Beethoven and instead bastardize it and still call it Beethoven. It’s not.
And one final point: I don’t simply bash Discovery when it misfires. The most recent season of “Game of Thrones” bothered me (and my friend), as well. It was still good, but the episodes suddenly got predictable and simplistic and felt shallow and rushed. We bitch about that, too. My friend constantly complains about “The Walking Dead,” as well. I’m not quite as bothered by this most recent season as he is, but the point is that you can continue watching a series and still have complaints about it.
After all, it’s still a free country. 🙂
You know, if it pisses you off that much, you don’t have to watch it.
I certainly don’t.
Star Trek has run its course. It’s time to look at other possibilities.
“You know, if it pisses you off that much, you don’t have to watch it.”
Heh, heh. One could same the same for reading and approving your posts, Blue. 🙂
I’m so happy! Someone agrees with me!!
Don’t get cocky, kid! 😉
I’m kinda later here, but I just have to say: this is the first time I threw my hands up in the air watching anything.
I hope they’re not going to do a Dallas dream season so that Culber would return.
Nah, I think he’ll just come back as his long-lost twin-brother Seymour who was raised by a Mugato and Gorn. 🙂