Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x01 - "The Vulcan Hello"

[CorporalClegg]

Technically all the pilots so far (apart form TOS) have been two parters. Does anyone actually watch them split up anymore? I don't even know where the episode break is on any of them off the top of my head.

AFAIK the only time they've ever been "cut" was in reruns.

*And all consumable media has the original versions.

 

[Forbin]

Jumping into the thread without reading 26 pages .
Beautiful production - high-end movie-quality effects and graphics. Good story, decent cast and characters. Everything looked great from a production point of view.
I don't like the Klingon makeup redisign (yet another).
This is clearly a prequel to JJ trek, and has no visual relationship to TOS at all.
I ain't buying another streaming service, and I'm not a big JJ fan. If it eventually comes out on Bluray at a reasonable price, I'll probably pick it up.

It should have been a post-TNG series, not a JJTOS prequel, IMHO.

 

[Mudd]

"Captain, I have brought great dishonor onto my underpants and I MUST change!"

"I'm gonna need a pair of pants brought to the landing site..."

 

[Mudd]

I think a lot of the dialogue was fine.

The three or four sentences that weren't jargon, technobabble or call-outs to old Trek?

 

[cultcross]

I didn't think there was much technobabble, and when they seemed to be going down that road, Saru had a nice shutdown line. Georgiou's line which was basically 'reverse the polarity' and he responds 'there's no fucking signal, did I stutter' (paraphrased)

 

[Tuskin38]

I really enjoyed it when Burnham physically set up a telescope to look out a window to see if they could get a better idea of what the 'intruder object was.)

Actually, it was already set up, you can see it in Georgiou’s ready room a couple scenes earlier in the background. I guess the captain is fond of looking at things with her own eyes

Klingons had cloaks in Enterprise,

No they didn’t

 

[Michael]

I liked the bit about the telescope, too. But if you think about it, it's actually kind of weird that the “ship sensors” don't include cameras and visual magnifying equipment that's better than some old school telescope.

 

[Mudd]

I'm going back and forth on the idea of doing a 'flashback' pilot. Or a prologue pilot, or whatever you want to call it.

A prologue is almost always better than a flashback.

Start the show where the story starts.

A flashback is not the narrative "traveling back" to the past; it's a character in the story's "present" remembering a thing. Unless there's a plausible and important reason for the character's reverie in the present, it shouldn't happen.

 

[cultcross]

I liked the bit about the telescope, too. But if you think about it, it's actually kind of weird that the “ship sensors” don't include cameras and visual magnifying equipment that's better than some old school telescope.

I really liked that bit, actually. Finally someone in Star Trek just looked out the bloody window.

 

[Nyotarules]

Encounter was, mostly, fun to watch.

IMO compared to Vulcan hello, Encounter was boring, actually even without this Encounter was boring. Its one of those TNG episodes I skip when its on TV.

 

[Michael]

I really liked that bit, actually. Finally someone in Star Trek just looked out the bloody window.

Yeah, it was a cool sequence, for sure. But in the back of my head I was thinking that it's the usual bullshit that almost let's “sensors” seem like some form of magic. If they don't include an optical telescope camera, what much are they worth?

 

[cultcross]

Yeah, it was a cool sequence, for sure. But in the back of my head I was thinking that it's the usual bullshit that almost let's “sensors” seem like some form of magic. If they don't include an optical telescope camera, what much are they worth?

Sensors are plot driven anyway. Sometimes they can detect fundamental particles, other times they can miss whole ships.

 

[somebuddyX]

Suliban and Romulans had cloaks in Enterprise but not Klingons.

 

[Tuskin38]

And the Suliban cloaks we’re described as particle based or something

 

[cultcross]

All those rumours about digi-Majel or Marina Sirtis doing the computer voice turned out to be wrong (at least for the Shenzhou)
Tasia Valenza is the computer voice.

 

[Jadeb]

All those rumours about digi-Majel or Marina Sirtis doing the computer voice turned out to be wrong (at least for the Shenzhou)
Tasia Valenza is the computer voice.

I thought it sounded like Siri at one point. I enjoyed the "Working!" they threw in there.

 

[Tuskin38]

All those rumours about digi-Majel or Marina Sirtis doing the computer voice turned out to be wrong (at least for the Shenzhou)
Tasia Valenza is the computer voice.

Shaak Ti in Clone Wars!

She also had a bit part in TNG.

Woah I recognize a lot of her credits

 

[David Brown]

If their goal was to get a more general audience to watch this show I think they failed extremely hard. Nothing about this premiere is screaming that I need to go subscribe and watch the next episode. There is potential and as a Star Trek fan I am going to give it a chance because all Trek shows have taken time to become a good show overall. With all this technology, they definitely needed to just say this was a reboot of the franchise. Nothing makes sense with TOS (honestly nothing probably can so it's another reason to not have a prequel.) I'll be going in on a friend to get All Access and see where this show can go.

Again, as a premiere episode to get an audience, they did a terrible job picking up any potential new viewers other than Trek fans.

Agreed. Starting out with a speech in Klingon and with lots of subtitles is also a turnoff. My wife turned and gave me the long sidelong glance. She grew up watching Trek with her father and recently went to the theater with me to see Wrath of Khan. Not a good sign it turned her off so quickly.

I dislike the new Klingons and they really need to ratchet back on the subtitles. I'm reading the bottom of the darn screen instead of watching what's going on.
I give it a mixed bag. Looks great, I loved the opening titles and music. The story has potential. Sarek felt unnecessary, that could have been any Vulcan. He is clearly lacking the gravitas of Mark Lenard. It felt like Sarek-lite.
Overall, my opinion, I give it a mixed bag. I didn't hate it, I don't love it. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Tosk]

Reading is for losers.

 

[cultcross]

I think it would have been nice to transition to the Klingons speaking English after establishing that they were, in universe, speaking Klingon. Red October style, as someone mentioned earlier. There's a nice realism to including the language, but it does drag after a few minutes of reading.