Tag: All Access

THE GREAT WALL OF SPOILERS

Perhaps I should have realized it when I heard Dr. Kovich reference Gilligan’s Island in the opening scene of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY‘s tenth episode of season four, “The Great Barrier.” Realized what? Well, those castaways set out on a “three hour tour” and ended up spending a LOT more time stuck in the same place. And that’s kind of what’s been happening with Discovery this season.

While there’s nothing inherently wrong with the decision to have season-long story arcs—as Discovery has done since season two and arguably since season one)—it does present a challenge for properly pacing out the general plot line. Thirteen hours (give or take) is a massive of time to fill locked into the same overall narrative. It’s certainly not impossible to keep a storyline going for that long, but it often takes a little bit of “padding” to stretch things out a bit. And a little bit is good. It gives the creators a chance to develop the characters, something that was frustratingly absent with the manic pace of the first two seasons. So, yeah, a little bit is good. A…little…bit.

For the first half of season four, the pacing of the overall story arc was decent. The anomaly (DMA) wasn’t even introduced until the end of the first episode, and it kind of took a back seat over the course of the next few episodes, although the second episode dealt with the trying to collect data on the distortion while spotlighting Book’s emotional devastation. But then we had episodes dealing with (in this order) finding a rogue Romulan ninja nun, Tilly leading a group of Starfleet cadets (and Adira) to safety after a shuttle crash while Burnham and Saru try to talk Ni’Var into rejoining the Federation, and then freeing trapped prisoners in the path of the DMA’s destruction while an experiment on board Discovery nearly destroys the ship (and introduces Ruon Tarka).

Five episodes in, and there was a steady build-up of the DMA in importance. That led to episode six, where Discovery has to actually enter the subspace rift to collect otherwise irretrievable data on the DMA. And now the main story arc had taken center stage, exactly when it should have, building to a big clash in episode seven (just before the holiday hiatus). Michael and Book lock horns over what to do about the device generating the DMA: destroy it or try to contact Unknown Species 10-C and ask them politely to turn it off. Both arguments sounded reasonable, something which has been a part of Trek since TOS.

Perfect pacing so far. The first half of the season ended with a strong cliffhanger and the promise of even more revelations and action in the final six episodes.

And then Star Trek: Discovery kinda got stuck…

Continue reading “DISCOVERY’s “The Great Barrier” was a lot to get through… (editorial review)”

YOU JUST KNOW THERE ARE GONNA BE SPOILERS!

Oh, man! They were SO close…SO close to having a perfect episode! And considering how many times I have found at least one thing to criticize about each episode of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, a truly flawless episode has still eluded them.

Granted, is there really such a thing as a “perfect” Star Trek episode? Fans could probably find nits to pick for some of Trek‘s greatest triumphs like “The City on the Edge of Forever,” “The Trouble with Tribbles,” “The Best of Both Worlds,” “The Inner Light,” “The Visitor,”…and I could go on. But that’s not exactly what I’m talking about. What I mean by “perfect” is an episode where even the little flaws don’t bother you (or me). And the latest episode of Discovery, “Rubicon,” COULD have been that most coveted of episodes. It was gorgeous to look at, exciting, well-acted, well-paced, dramatic, and it had some really good action sequences (especially the scenes with all the jumps). It even featured some minor bridge characters getting a chance to actually LEAVE the bridge. It could have been a “perfect” episode except for one not-so-small problem…

It was WAY too predictable.

Part of the problem is that I knew, before the episode began, the title: “Rubicon.” Now, technically, Discovery episodes don’t display their titles to viewers (unlike most of the other Trek series), so I’m not sure this is a completely valid criticism. But I’m still counting it. Titling the episode “Rubicon” would be like titling “The City on the Edge of Forever” instead “The Tragic Death of Edith Keeler.”

For anyone not familiar with the Rubicon River in Italy or the phrase “Crossing the Rubicon,” it comes from ancient Roman times. Before Julius Caesar conquered Rome, he was the governor of a neighboring province and the general of that province’s army. When his term ended, the Senate ordered him to disband his army and return to Rome. He returned to Rome, all right, but he didn’t disband his army. In fact, he took his soldiers with him, which was a HUGE no-no (like, treason and insurrection illegal), and once those soldiers crossed the Rubicon River, the die was cast. Caesar’s army had entered the Rome province, and civil war ensued.

For the past few episodes of Discovery, the decision facing the Federation (with Michael and Book on opposite sides of the issue) was whether to try to make peaceful first contact with Unknown Species 10-C or risk a war with them by striking first at their DMA generator and preemptively destroying it. With a title like “Rubicon,” I pretty much knew from the first moment that the episode would end with the action that would lead to war.

Of course, there were other “tells” in this episode (and the ones leading up to it) that also cemented that inevitability…

Continue reading “ST: DISCOVERY’s “Rubicon” was the perfect episode with one major flaw: PREDICTABILITY! (editorial review)”

I’LL SEE YOUR BET AND RAISE YOU SPOILERS!

“All In” won’t go down as the best STAR TREK: DISCOVERY ever made, but it succeeded on a number of levels. It also failed on a number of levels. Let’s take a look at both sides now, win and lose, and still, somehow…

In many ways, “All In” was the “A Fistful of Datas“/”Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang“/”Bride of Chaotica” episode of Discovery. What each of these stories has in common is a sense of “fun and games” where the cast and production crew can just kinda let themselves go in an episode that’s lighthearted and funny, has a little pizzazz, and isn’t simply filled with melodrama, angst , tension, and gravitas. The first three of those episodes took place mainly on the holodeck/holosuite in settings far removed from the path that Star Trek usually treads. “All In” does essentially the same thing…just without the holoemitters.

For me, despite other obvious weaknesses of the episode, the humor and lightheartedness were the most welcome and refreshing aspect this time around. Admittedly, there’s still some serious shat going down in the galaxy, as billions, if not trillions, of lives are at risk. And worse than that, Michael and Book aren’t seeing eye-to-eye. But maybe that’s why we need a little vacation on a floating barge hidden behind a holographic sea serpent (hey, maybe this episode DOES have holoemitters!) to do some relaxing gambling and mixed martial arts ring-fighting.

But seriously, folks, let’s start with what, I believe, was the inherent strength of the episode…

Continue reading “STAR TREK: DISCOVERY meets OCEAN’S ELEVEN…but does it work? (editorial review)”

I’ve gotta hand it to the folks at STAR TREK: DISCOVERY…this episode took chutzpah!

We’re going into the mid-season hiatus—six weeks without new episodes of Star Trek: Discovery—and one might have expected a “big” episode with lots of action sequences and suspense and drama building to a huge cliffhanger ending that would leave the viewers shouting for “more!” And while we did get that aforementioned cliffhanger, the rest of episode—I’d estimate 90% or more—was just people literally standing around and talking. Just…talking. Okay, a few were sitting. But just talking, talking, and talking some more.

Heck, they didn’t even leave the room! Nearly the whole episode took place entirely on just two sets…and neither was even the bridge! If last week’s “Stormy Weather” was a bottle episode, then this week’s “…But To Connect” was a thimble episode.

And yet, as God is my witness…

It somehow worked!

It would have been easy to simply dismiss this episode as a misfire. After all, “all talk, no action” is a valid criticism for most shows. And don’t even get me started on the amount of heavy exposition in this episode! At times, the dialogue bordered on science lecture—or maybe law lecture…or both—and at other times felt a little like watching CSPAN. (For those readers outside of the U.S., we have TV channels that air nothing other than proceedings in our Senate and House of Representatives. Most times, watching CSPAN and CSPAN2 is orders of magnitude LESS interesting than watching paint dry.)

So why did this quiet, no-action, potentially even “boring” episode work for me? What left me wanting to write a positive review rather than tearing it apart? Let’s dive in…

Continue reading “Did I just watch an episode of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY that was 90% just people STANDING AROUND AND TALKING???? (editorial review)”

SPOILIN’ FOR A SPOILER? WE GOT ‘EM!

I literally have zero complaints about this episode! Well, that’s not entirely true…I found Book’s dad to be a very annoying hallucination. On the other hand, so did Book, and I think he was supposed to be grating. So can I really complain about something I’m meant to complain about? Interesting question!

But what’s not up for questioning is how much I absolutely LOVED this episode. And that’s saying something because “Stormy Weather,” STAR TREK: DISCOVERY‘s sixth episode of season 4, was forced to do more with less. Budget-wise, this episode was about as inexpensive as they come. First of all, it was a “bottle” episode…which means it took place entirely on the ship and/or on existing sets. No new sets had to be built, no one had to create virtual backgrounds for the AR Wall, few extras were used (the bridge almost felt kinda empty, and the ship’s bar definitely was), outside of the ship was just blackness (saving on VFX shots), and even make-up costs were minimized by having the alien Linus off-screen all episode in his quarters “under a heat lamp.”

Low budget episodes like this often happen mid-season (we’re just about halfway through season four now), allowing money to be reserved for the BIG final episodes with all of the action and huge VFX sequences…which is a fact of life for nearly every show on TV these days. With low budgets and limited sets, “bottle” episodes can be hit and miss. But some have been quite excellent—TNG‘s “Ship in a Bottle” (the ultimate “bottle” episode where holodeck Moriarty returns) and “Disaster” are two that come to mind.

And speaking of TNG, perhaps the main reason this particular episode came out so well is because it was directed by a person who is no stranger to TNG-style “bottle” episodes: JONATHAN “Commander William T. Riker” FRAKES.

Frakes knows what makes Star Trek “feel” like Star Trek, and he brought that knowledge to this episode. When done properly, a ship-gets-trapped-and-crew-needs-to-find-a-way-out story is really just a tool for spotlighting the abilities of characters whom we care about. On TNG, we cared about all of them—Picard, Riker, Data, Beverly, Deanna, Worf, Geordi, even Wesley when he wasn’t saving the ship in some annoying way. Do we care as much about the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery as we did about the crew of the Enterprise-D? Well, if anyone can make us care, it’s Jonathan Frakes.

Believe it or not, this was Frakes’ SEVENTH(!) time directing Discovery. He’s also directed 17 additional episodes of other Star Trek series along with two of the feature films. So…y’know…wow! The guy’s about as “veteran” as it gets behind a Star Trek camera.

Continue reading “Even ST: DISCOVERY “haters” would LOVE the most recent episode “STORMY WEATHER”! (editorial review)”

AND JONATHAN SAID: “LET THERE BE SPOILERS…”

I remember one of my biggest pet peeve scenes from Star Trek TOS happened during the episode “Tomorrow Is Yesterday.” The Enterprise had just done a slingshot around Earth’s sun and is traveling back to the future. They’ve beamed Captain Christopher and the Air Force MP back into themselves (whatever the heck that was), restoring the past, and just as they cross the orbit of Pluto, Spock says, “Braking should begin…now.”

Growing up on nearly constant nightly reruns of Star Trek, I had always thought of “now” as meaning “this very moment.” Spock’s a pretty precise guy! He wouldn’t say “now”—especially with that slight pause before saying it—unless the Vulcan meant, “You should start braking the exact moment you hear me saying this.”

Instead, Captain Kirk slowly turns in his captain’s chair, nonchalantly pushes one of the buttons on his armrest, and says, “Bridge to engineering…begin full braking power.” Now, why Sulu couldn’t do it from the helm as soon as Spock said “now” or Kirk said “do it” or something, I never quite understood. Years later, I realized that the writers wanted one more opportunity for Scotty to remind Kirk of the danger. And indeed, we cut to Scotty in Engineering saying, “Pulling away from the sun weakened ’em, sir. They may blow apart if I reverse…”

Um, what part of “now” are they having a problem with? Scotty knows the situation: they’re in a time warp flying at ludicrous speed through decades, even centuries. You either start braking “now” or else you’re gonna overshoot the 23rd century and wind up in the 32nd…and that century already has another time-displaced starship from your era!

But rather than saying, “WTF, Scotty, cut the damn engines NOW!!!” Kirk responds casually, “No choice, Mr. Scott…” at which point Scotty takes a leisurely stroll over to the back of engineering and nods to two crewmen who start—nearly 18 full seconds AFTER Spock said “now”—to finally begin stopping the ship.

It was one of the few times in Star Trek that I would yell at my TV screen.

I still really like that TOS episode, and of course, I understand that the writer, the director, and the film editor simply wanted to wring as much tension and suspense out of the scene as possible. But even years and decades later, it still bothers me enough that I’ve just spent 400 frickin’ words of a STAR TREK: DISCOVERY review kvetching about it!

But that’s my lead-in to discussing the fifth episode of Discovery‘s fourth season, “The Examples.” Like “Tomorrow Is Yesterday,” it’s a decent enough episode…not my favorite, not awful. But also like “Tomorrow Is Yesterday,” it left me yelling at the screen—although in this case, it was multiple times!

Let’s discuss…

Continue reading “When you find yourself YELLING at the screen multiple times, it might NOT be the best episode of ST: DISCOVERY… (editorial review)”

ALMOST ZERO SPOILERS!

The fourth season of the wild ‘n’ wacky STAR TREK: DISCOVERY just premiered…at least in the U.S. and Canada. The rest of the planet will need to wait until an undefined date in “early 2022” (according to CBS) to view the new season because, um, reasons.

Up until this past week, viewers around the world (outside of the U.S. and Canada) got to watch Discovery on Netflix. This was because the infrastructure —both technical and red tape—to set up CBS All Access, which is now Paramount+, was not yet properly in place in other countries. In other words, without a service like Netflix—or in the case of PICARD and LOWER DECKS, Amazon Prime—there would be no way for international Star Trek fans to watch the various new series. So CBS offered non-U.S. and Canada streaming licenses to those two services.

But now, with Paramount+ now available in about 20 foreign countries (and another 25 set to add the service within the next year), the equation had changed entirely. CBS began unwinding its streaming agreements with Netflix earlier this year when TOS, Voyager, and Enterprise were all permanently removed from Netflix back in September. Obviously, CBS (now ViacomCBS) wants as many subscribers to Paramount+ as possible, and having their content simultaneously available on Netflix doesn’t exactly encourage folks in places like Europe, Asia, and Australia to sign up for an extra paid streaming service.

Indeed, reports are saying that VCBS had been working an agreement to buy out all of Netflix’s financial interest in Star Trek: Discovery, a show they had co-produced with CBS back in 2017. Unfortunately for fans in countries that do NOT contain the Rocky Mountains or share a coastline with the Great Lakes, that deal was finally inked this past week, and the announcement that Discovery would NOT be debuting internationally on Netflix on Thursday, November 18 came on November 16…just two days before hundreds of thousands of fans outside of North America were looking forward to the big premiere.

CBS tried to put some lipstick on this pig…

…but in the end, few besides the suits at VCBS were particularly happy about the last minute “news.” This included the Discovery cast and production crew, many of whom tweeted their own frustration with the timing of the announcement and the fact that they weren’t informed.

I’m not going to lambast VCBS for their decision(s) in this matter. I totally understand wanting to consolidate Trekkies to Paramount+ as it debuts worldwide, rather than having them giving their fan bucks to Netflix instead. And I assume that, in a perfect world, infrastructure would probably have already been in place to premiere Discovery internationally on the same date that season four premiered in North America. For whatever reason, that didn’t happen. And I suspect that negotiations with Netflix were precarious enough that sharing the news early with the cast and production crew (and likely having it leak) would have done way more harm than good.

That said, there is an obvious risk for VCBS in this…

Continue reading “Where in the world is STAR TREK: DISCOVERY??? (editorial and review)”