Meyer Influences on DSC Greater Than We Give Credit For?

[Vger23]

I was thinking about how much Star Trek: Discovery seems to owe to Nick Meyer...despite how his involvement has been essentially down played. In fact, someone in another thread wrote "it seems the only thing Meyer contributed was the grille of the communicator." I actually entirely disagree. I've captured a few off the top of my head, big and small...

Wrath of Khan influences:

• A darker, more violent tone
  • - Ceti eels
  • - Terrell's suicide
  • - Regula One science team's fate
  • - Horrific injuries and deaths of Enterprise and Reliant crews during battle
• A visibly more militaristic approach to Starfleet
• Some "out there" tech (Genesis Device vs. Spore Drive)
• Cadets aboard the hero ship
• Family dynamics / melodrama (David and Carol with Kirk - Sarek and Georgeau with Michael)
• Moral conflicts about the impacts / application of new tech (again, Genesis vs. Spore Drive)
• Spore Drive Interface Chamber (or whatever the hell they call it) looks a LOT like the dilithium chamber where Spock dies.
• Emphasis on conflict
• Prime character experiencing crisis / self doubt (Kirk vs. Michael)

Undiscovered Country influences:

• Klingon "purity" and fear of cultural assimilation being a motivator for war ("the annihilation of our culture" "die on our knees")
• A division in Klingon political motivations
• Plot twists and conspiracies all over the place
• Submarine-like feel to ships
• Darker lighting and aesthetics
• Forced Mind Meld
• Showing "both sides" point of view in a conflict
• Starfleet not being "squeaky clean" (Cartwright, Burke, Samno, Valeris, West)

I'm not sure that he was a direct influence in the writer's room on some / all of this stuff, or if it was a combination of direct and indirect influence...but the impact is undeniable.

 

[lawman]

Interesting points. But do those things necessarily indicate the results of actual input from Meyer, or might they just be the work of writers who've seen and been influenced by his two Trek films?

 

[Lord Garth]

Nick Meyer also wrote the middle portion of The Voyage Home. Everything in the 20th Century.

So, you also have:

• Spock communicating with the Whales, which is similar to Burnham trying to understand the Tardigrade.
• A Russian onboard the Enterprise, and a Klingon on Discovery.

Granted, TVH was a comedy whereas in DSC they play it straight.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Discovery could use some comedy.

 

[Lord Garth]

"Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad" had some pretty comedic moments. Who doesn't like to see Lorca get blown up multiple times?

 

[Vger23]

Discovery could use some comedy.

Blasting a bowl of fortune cookies with a phaser set on kill was pretty fucking funny.

Gotta give it up, bro.

 

[XCV330]

Blasting a bowl of fortune cookies with a phaser set on kill was pretty fucking funny.

Gotta give it up, bro.

Those fortune cookies had a wife and kids. They was a good cop!

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Blasting a bowl of fortune cookies with a phaser set on kill was pretty fucking funny.

Gotta give it up, bro.

It was so funny, I forgot to laugh.

Who doesn't like to see Lorca get blown up multiple times?

That was so funny, I forgot it was supposed to be funny.

 

[CorporalClegg]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Their numbers were up.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Not to belabor this aside and hijack the thread, but "funny things to do with phasers on maximum" isn't what I'm looking for when I think about humor in Star Trek.

"Mister Broccoli" and "I am the Goddess of Empathy" on the other hand, just to name one example where it worked, yes.

YMMV.

 

[Lord Garth]

Noted. I lean more towards dark humor and black comedy.

But "Mr. Broccoli" was the line of the show.

 

[CorporalClegg]

I don't even know "comedy" is the right word. It needs more levity.

 

[Lord Garth]

"She change her hairstyle?"

"I hadn't noticed."

 

[CorporalCaptain]

"She change her hairstyle?"

"I hadn't noticed."

Yep. That's levity.

+1 for involving Meyer.

 

[skip bittman]

If they wanted his influence, they probably shouldn't have thrown out his script.

 

[Galaxy]

The Klingon language is also similar to Star Trek 6 where. they. talk. like. this.

 

[Lord Garth]

Small thing. In Star Trek II, Scotty should've taken Preston to Sickbay when he showed up on the Bridge.

That helmsman (I forget his name) in "Battle at the Binary Stars" showed up at Burnham's brig, when he should've shown up in Sickbay but couldn't find it... then he dies.

I wonder if that was a little in-joke?

 

[The Wormhole]

What I liked about that scene in Binary Stars is that guy was trotting out the old "I'm an explorer, not a soldier" routine, I couldn't help but notice that they first person to use that line in this show is someone suffering a head injury who went to the brig when he should have gone with sickbay.

 

[Vger23]

The Klingon language is also similar to Star Trek 6 where. they. talk. like. this.

In fairness...they talk like that in TMP as well. Very clipped.

It was really TSFS where it sounded more like a human language in terms of cadence etc.

 

[Michael]

Can't say I have been noticing Meyer's influence in the writing. Sure, on a purely superficial level some of the themes and stylistic choices might be reminiscent of his previous work for Trek, but just judging from the quality of the dialog and the plotting I would almost have to guess he isn't involved with the show anymore.