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

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"Star Trek Discovery"barelyachieves liftoff
Despite being outfitted with some interesting wrinkles, "Star Trek: Discovery" is an unspectacular addition to the existing fleet of "Trek"-branded series. The result, creatively, makes for an awkward liftoff, one perhaps most notable for its commercial mission, which is to entice new subscribers to CBS All Access.
Launched with a cliffhanging hour on CBS, the program's second episode and those thereafter will air on the network's fledgling streaming service, a shrewd way to attempt to hook fans and extract their hard-earned cash.

Still, if that represents a fresh approach distribution-wise, where "Discovery" feels weakest is in the fundamental qualities that have defined the best "Trek" series -- namely, the strength of the interplay among its characters. By that measure, this sixth live-action iteration feels a trifle clunky, especially in patches of dialogue during the initial episodes, three of which were previewed.
 
I'm pretty disappointed overall. It's not terrible, and it may get better, but this was a very mediocre start.

Michelle Yeoh was terrible. Her and SMG had really poorly written dialog.

The visuals were over cooked.

The story probably could have been compelling but wasn't executed well IMO. The twist in which Burnham Vulcan pinches Georgiou felt dumb and unnatural.
 
I don't know. I think people are putting way too much weight on the eventual appearance of the titular ship. I doesn't have to be “another character”, like they loved to say about the other Star Trek ships. And I say that as someone who loves the Star Trek ships and owns all the Eaglemoss models. :lol:

As time as worn on and the casual fan has left Star Trek, the uber-fans have had to find new details to obsess over and discuss. Starships seems to be one of the things that fill the void. Holding off the debut of the new vessel, and thousands of new things to over-analyze, is bound to upset somebody, although once it appears they should get over themselves.
 
Things like the holo-communicator can bring me out of a story, too. Because I keep thinking about the practicability of the idea. When they are talking to the admiral on the bridge, for example; what is he seeing on his end? The whole Shenzhou bridge crew? Just Captain Georgiou? Wouldn't it be totally confusing for someone to use this technology, having to parse two sets of surroundings at once?

None of that has anything to do with established Trek canon, though. Although I do understand what you are saying regarding holograms on later shows such as Voyager. I guess the key difference would be that this kind of hologram can't really interact with the surroundings it appears in. It can't touch anything, for example.

That's the whole point; this hologram isn't supposed to be solid, it's just a light projection used to communicate a message, as shown here:

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I think that having holo-communications in Star Trek is a great idea, and was glad to see it on this show.
 
The only reason holo - communicators weren't used on TOS is that the writers and directors - had they known or could have conceived holograms - would not have been able to depict them properly considering the technical and budget constraints on the show.

Don't forget - the Klingon War bankrupted the Federation which was saved only by the Iotian Syndicate payments, and even then had to struggle for several decades before coming up with new technology.
 
I'm pretty disappointed overall. It's not terrible, and it may get better, but this was a very mediocre start.

Michelle Yeoh was terrible. Her and SMG had really poorly written dialog.

The visuals were over cooked.

The story probably could have been compelling but wasn't executed well IMO. The twist in which Burnham Vulcan pinches Georgiou felt dumb and unnatural.

Totally agree. Burnham has been on this ship SEVEN years. She commits treason because her Vulcan Step Father told her to. Seven years with Georgiou and she doesn't trust her judgement????
 
Totally agree. Burnham has been on this ship SEVEN years. She commits treason because her Vulcan Step Father told her to. Seven years with Georgiou and she doesn't trust her judgement????
He didn't tell her to. In fact, he specifically cautions against doing something rash because she is trying to undo something that already happened (the attack which killed her parents). It is the emotional reaction to the connection with the Klingons specifically which triggers the incident. Burnham feels she knows the Klingons, and she has the only way to stop them.
 
The only reason holo - communicators weren't used on TOS is that the writers and directors - had they known or could have conceived holograms - would not have been able to depict them properly considering the technical and budget constraints on the show.

Don't forget - the Klingon War bankrupted the Federation which was saved only by the Iotian Syndicate payments, and even then had to struggle for several decades before coming up with new technology.
So what's the excuse for the rest of the shows?? The technical and Budget would have allowed it during the 90's and early 2000's. They should just have used a view screen like the rest of the shows.
 
Totally agree. Burnham has been on this ship SEVEN years. She commits treason because her Vulcan Step Father told her to. Seven years with Georgiou and she doesn't trust her judgement????
Did it seem that the intro on the desert planet played out more like Burnham was new to the ship? The captain says she thinks she's ready for command but the scene played like she was very green. I felt that a lot of Burnham's scenes played like she was new to the ship and crew.
 
So what's the excuse for the rest of the shows?? The technical and Budget would have allowed it during the 90's and early 2000's. They should just have used a view screen like the rest of the shows.
DS9 had them. Enterprise did not because they were a super-prequel.
Voyager had a communicating hologram, not a hologram communicator.
 
So what's the excuse for the rest of the shows?? The technical and Budget would have allowed it during the 90's and early 2000's. They should just have used a view screen like the rest of the shows.
TV budgets wouldn't have allowed that type of hologram with a constant effect. They did allow holo-communicators, DS9 played with them, but they didn't pan out with realistic 'holograms' so the producers dropped them. As for 3D holoprojection generally (such as Saru's model of the Klingon ship) TNG certainly had that technology in season 1's 'The Last Outpost' and it is not presented as new.
 
Totally agree. Burnham has been on this ship SEVEN years. She commits treason because her Vulcan Step Father told her to. Seven years with Georgiou and she doesn't trust her judgement????
It felt like an attempt by the writers to telegraph "hey look everybody we're going to have conflict between Starfleet characters on this show!"

And I get that. But it has to be done in a natural way.

In most of Trek, I often enjoy how the main characters are down for each other and have each other's back even when a character has a cockamamie idea/plan/theory/claim. Doesn't mean you can't have conflict, just don't be stupid about it.
 
With TNG, something I loved about the first two seasons was that they truly have a feeling of being in deep-space, out on the frontier with only themselves to rely on... I thought this ep definitely had that same attitude of amazed wonder towards the universe, especially the first half or so.. It's a good vibe, I'm glad to be picking it up again from a Trek show.
Interesting. I occasionally got that feeling from TNG, more often from TOS... but I really didn't get it here. The Shinzou was on the "edge" of Federation space, near disputed territory... yet they had no problem consulting in real time with an Admiral, or even with someone on Vulcan in the heart of the Federation. What's more, when trouble arose, a dozen or so other starships were mere hours away, and even capable of timing their arrival to warp in simultaneously for maximum dramatic effect.

None of this adds up to the impression that was so commonplace in the TOS era — that starships are few and far between out there, and the captain and crew of any one of them are usually on their own, responsible for resolving the situations they encounter without backup.

Instead this episode left me with an impression that I also got from the JJA films, and it bothers me here as it did there — that the writers have forgotten that space is really, really BIG.
 
"Star Trek Discovery"barelyachieves liftoff
Despite being outfitted with some interesting wrinkles, "Star Trek: Discovery" is an unspectacular addition to the existing fleet of "Trek"-branded series. The result, creatively, makes for an awkward liftoff, one perhaps most notable for its commercial mission, which is to entice new subscribers to CBS All Access.
Launched with a cliffhanging hour on CBS, the program's second episode and those thereafter will air on the network's fledgling streaming service, a shrewd way to attempt to hook fans and extract their hard-earned cash.

Still, if that represents a fresh approach distribution-wise, where "Discovery" feels weakest is in the fundamental qualities that have defined the best "Trek" series -- namely, the strength of the interplay among its characters. By that measure, this sixth live-action iteration feels a trifle clunky, especially in patches of dialogue during the initial episodes, three of which were previewed.

Sadly, I can not totally see the point of this review.
I loved it, at least parts of it, as a hardcore Trekkie. I had some misgivings about the plot, but immediately love the whole world, because it's the good, old Trek world. But I think there aren't that many things in it grabbing non-Trekkies. As a whole, despite the visual overhaul, it feels a lot like the "old" Berman-era Trek. Especially compared to some other high-quality streaming television, like GoT, Stranger Things, True Detective, that pull you in even if you weren't a fan of the genre in the first place.

But then again, I clearly don't know how to pull that off with Trek either, instead of mabye do a beat-by-beat repeat of the first half of ST09, with personal backstory/motivation on familiar environment (Earth) -> Academy -> First big starship mission. And both TOS and TNG, which are universally beloved even outside fandom, have a pretty boxed-in launch episode focussing on hardcore-nerd stuff, and only started to gain mass appeal once there was a ton of quality television available to shift through. I'm counting on DIS pulling more and more people in the longer it goes.
 
Well, I loved it. Thank goodness we have Star Trek back on TV! :) The visuals were beautiful. I loved the planet scenes and the starship interiors and exteriors. Very pleased to have had the morning off work to watch it in the UK!


Well Star Trek really isn't back on tv. For one episode but that's it...
 
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