Spoilers A lack of uplifting optimism and cerebral stories will kill this show
- Thread starter Smoked Salmon
- Start date
I would prefer some grit and psychological complexity. Dark is fine with me, as long as it has some kind of light to balance it.
Cerebral. The Cage was rejected because it was too cerebral. Not because it was intellectual, or made you think. It all happened in Pike's head, mind tricks, mental manipulation, cerebral.
Star Trek has at times been clever, but its not intellectual, and the crux of its survival isn't hope and optimism, its its entertainment value and mass appeal. I think its off to a good start.
Star Trek has at times been clever, but its not intellectual, and the crux of its survival isn't hope and optimism, its its entertainment value and mass appeal. I think its off to a good start.
If I were to go with just an overall impression on viewing it would come down to colour. The visuals had a blended palette of indistinct edge that at times blurred into greys and murky blues. The mood was controlled and it too needed more passion and emotion and variation, it was difficult to lock onto an image or a character that didn't feel styled. I felt the Federation characters were kind of robotic. I wanted to like the Captain and mostly she was okay but she just didn't relate charismatic to me. Michael was more human. The Klingons.. was he an albino Klingon? Really I don't think I was paying attention enough by then, and that is not a good sign.
Definitely lacked joy. However I genuinely felt a buzz of Star Trek at the beginning and seeing the golden star ship break through and reflect above another beige sandy landscape (someone loves monochrome in this production), well, the ship looked lovely. It wouldn't take much to give 'Discovery' a lift. Maybe when we do see star ship Discovery the hope will spring from there?
Definitely lacked joy. However I genuinely felt a buzz of Star Trek at the beginning and seeing the golden star ship break through and reflect above another beige sandy landscape (someone loves monochrome in this production), well, the ship looked lovely. It wouldn't take much to give 'Discovery' a lift. Maybe when we do see star ship Discovery the hope will spring from there?
True, but OTOH, every other Trek show, including the horribly imbalanced Enterprises, managed to introduce all the main credited cast before the end of the first half of the two parter. I remember looking for Michael Rapp in 1x1 but I don't recall if he showed up, and the Doctor had maybe one scene.
I will say that the interactions they did focus on came across very well. The Burnham/Saru stuff had shades of McCoy/Spock without coming off as a seventh generation Chinese bootleg (ie Trip/T'Pol) or being incredibly ham fisted and bordering on insulting (Data/Pulaski, who was an otherwise likeable character).
I don't know what you all were expecting, but there was very little about this I found "dour" or "grimdark."
Certainly no more than classic episodes like "Doomsday Machine," or "Balance of Terror" or "Best of Both Worlds" or films like "Wrath of Khan" where there were superior or highly adept enemies, big battles, high stakes, death and destruction.
The main characters were charming and their interchange was witty (YMMV). The captain was idealistic and steeped in Starfleet pride/ethics, much like Picard but without the arrogance and pompous holier-than-thou attitude about himself. Michael Burnham is a complex, obviously evolving character (see flashback scenes) that we will learn more about as the series moves forward. The thrust of the story was about exploring (even though that exploration "went bad" with the Klingon trap...but hey...just about every TOS episode was about exploring "gone bad" hahaha).
I don't think for a moment this is a series that's going to focus on battles and death and the horrors of war while exposing humanity's ugly underbelly.
I think it's just the opposite. It will (similar to DS9) show how difficult it is to hold to one's ideals when faced with great challenges.
I also guess that this isn't about an all-out war. My guess is that it is about trying to prevent this from continuing to escalate into a war. I could be wrong...but I don't believe this will be week-in-and-week-out battles and death. I think, more like "The Undiscovered Country", it will be about de-escalation in desperate circumstances...and about how our prejudices affect our ability to do that.
Again, is that the path I personally would have taken with a new Trek show? No...it's not. But, I'm still patient enough and entertained enough by what I saw last night to give this season a whirl.
Certainly no more than classic episodes like "Doomsday Machine," or "Balance of Terror" or "Best of Both Worlds" or films like "Wrath of Khan" where there were superior or highly adept enemies, big battles, high stakes, death and destruction.
The main characters were charming and their interchange was witty (YMMV). The captain was idealistic and steeped in Starfleet pride/ethics, much like Picard but without the arrogance and pompous holier-than-thou attitude about himself. Michael Burnham is a complex, obviously evolving character (see flashback scenes) that we will learn more about as the series moves forward. The thrust of the story was about exploring (even though that exploration "went bad" with the Klingon trap...but hey...just about every TOS episode was about exploring "gone bad" hahaha).
I don't think for a moment this is a series that's going to focus on battles and death and the horrors of war while exposing humanity's ugly underbelly.
I think it's just the opposite. It will (similar to DS9) show how difficult it is to hold to one's ideals when faced with great challenges.
I also guess that this isn't about an all-out war. My guess is that it is about trying to prevent this from continuing to escalate into a war. I could be wrong...but I don't believe this will be week-in-and-week-out battles and death. I think, more like "The Undiscovered Country", it will be about de-escalation in desperate circumstances...and about how our prejudices affect our ability to do that.
Again, is that the path I personally would have taken with a new Trek show? No...it's not. But, I'm still patient enough and entertained enough by what I saw last night to give this season a whirl.
Um, they showed one more episode public ally then NETFLIX shows for new streaming content - and that never seemed to hurt the viability/profitability of that content for NETFLIX.
CBS showed episode one as a marketing tease to see if they could get a few more people to 'bite' and try the service. That's the only reason one episode ended up being broadcast on their Network. It was a commercial. Frome this article, the move appears to have been successful:
http://tvline.com/2017/09/25/star-trek-discovery-ratings-season-1-premiere-cbs/
But I would say ultimate success for ST: D on CBSAA will depend on how many STAT subbed after the one week free trial.
^^^
That's when you can claim one way of the other that this CBS marketing move succeeded or failed.
Are those numbers quoted in the article JUST the people who watched it on CBS Network...or does it include an estimation of how many people have streamed it off CBSAA? Because, if it's only the folks who watched it on the network...you can probably add to that number.
The Cage was rejected for other reasons. The "too cerebral" story is Roddenberry's vague, self-aggrandizing, half-truth recollection from years after the fact.
Kor
It was pretty much the whole show.
She's a T'Pau Sue character.
It's the journey. From watching "After Trek" the writers do understand that Trek is about hope and I think the show is about developing that hope. I think we will see them develop that hope as they surmount incredible odds. It's a journey to develop that hope.
Ok, bro
I love The Big Bang Theory.
Paint the sets bright white with glitter in the paint and use extremely bright lights on every single set.
Have the cast wear pink, fluorescent yellow, and turquoise uniforms. with bright red booties.
Every episode should be about the wonders of humanity's utopia, and our evolved sensibilities and superior moral compass in the future.
Phasers should have only two settings- tickle and full-body gasm.
Explore and discover the wondrous and peaceful beings that inhabit our galaxy every week. Find ways to make friends with them when we teach them about how wonderful humanity is.
Lots of fun. Like a belly laff every 6-7 minutes. Because fun!
No conflict...characters should all agree politely after quoting some high-meaning words about how humanity in the future doesn't do this or that.
LET'S MAKE STAR TREK GREAT AGAIN and eliminate this horrible, dark, bleak vision of humanity that DSC has inflicted upon us.
Paint the sets bright white with glitter in the paint and use extremely bright lights on every single set.
Have the cast wear pink, fluorescent yellow, and turquoise uniforms. with bright red booties.
Every episode should be about the wonders of humanity's utopia, and our evolved sensibilities and superior moral compass in the future.
Phasers should have only two settings- tickle and full-body gasm.
Explore and discover the wondrous and peaceful beings that inhabit our galaxy every week. Find ways to make friends with them when we teach them about how wonderful humanity is.
Lots of fun. Like a belly laff every 6-7 minutes. Because fun!
No conflict...characters should all agree politely after quoting some high-meaning words about how humanity in the future doesn't do this or that.
LET'S MAKE STAR TREK GREAT AGAIN and eliminate this horrible, dark, bleak vision of humanity that DSC has inflicted upon us.
You're a political speech writer, aren't you?
