Will Discovery stand up to repeat viewings as the others do??

[WraithDukat]

So I'm currently on my umpteenth rewatch of DS9, I'm still enjoying the episodes immensely. I did the same with Enterprise not so long ago and can say the same.

I watched an Episode of Discovery for just the 3rd time and really didn't enjoy it much. Could it be:

1. The hype of having Trek back on TV is over so I'm not watching it with Rose tinted glasses.

2. It's just not as rewatchable as the others.

3. Meh, you don't always enjoy them on rewatch.

What are other peoples thoughts on rewatching Discovery and whether it will stand the test of times as the others (mostly) have?

 

[The Wormhole]

Only time will tell.

 

[fireproof78]

Since I don't find all episodes of every series to stand up to rewatching, I'm going to go with, probably not.

 

[KennyB]

Yeah I'm not sure all the previous episodes stand up to that.............Each series had outstanding episodes and stinkers. Some are worse than others. I think DSC had a pretty consistent first season but I am sure there will be some bad ones along the way.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

As long as most of its episodes are more watchable than
Miri
This side of Paradise
The Apple
Catspaw
The Gamsters of Triskellion
Spock's Brain
And the Children Shall Lead
Spectre of the Gun
Wink of an Eye
The Empath
The Mark of Gideon
The Lights of Zetar
Cloud Minders
Turnabout Intruder
Code of Honor
Justice
Haven
Angel One
The Child
The Outrageous Okona
Loud as a Whisper
Shades of Gray
The Bonding
Qpid
Half a Life
In Theory
The Masterpiece Society
Imaginary Friend
Man of the People
Force of Nature
Sub Rosa
If Wishes were Horses
The 37s
Threshhold
Acquisition
Demons/Terra Prime
These Are the Voyages

It should be no problem.

 

[eschaton]

Yeah I'm not sure all the previous episodes stand up to that.............Each series had outstanding episodes and stinkers. Some are worse than others. I think DSC had a pretty consistent first season but I am sure there will be some bad ones along the way.

The thing is though, since Discovery was more serialized than any earlier Trek, it's hard to just go back and watch your favorites without watching the entire season.

I think Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad is basically the only truly standalone episode from Season 1.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

The thing is though, since Discovery was more serialized than any earlier Trek, it's hard to just go back and watch your favorites without watching the entire season.

I think Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad is basically the only truly standalone episode from Season 1.

"Context is for Kings" kind of is too. Yes, capturing the Tardigrade has implications for future stories but if you skip it and watch the following episodes you just figure "Oh yeah, he captured that thing a while ago..."

The only ones that are really hard to watch out of sequence are the three or four mirror universe episodes and the Pahvo two-parter.

 

[cbl1]

Not a swipe at the quality of the episodes - as I really liked the first season.

I don't find serialized episodes as rewatchable because you can't just jump in a watch a favorite without really watching a whole season again.

Example: Nu Battlestar - loved it when it was on (at least the early seasons) but have never rewatched. It would be a major commitment to start a rewatch.

I can see myself rewatching this first season in its entirety just prior to the 2nd season returning.

TOS and TNG you can pretty much jump into any episode and don't have to think about continuity or where they are in the story arc. DS9 is more difficult to just jump into episodes in the later seasons.

Voyager - it can be easily jumped into but should have been a lot more serialized like Discovery in my opinion. No repercussions episode to episode took away a lot of the drama of being stranded. I always thought Voyager should start every episode with a Map showing their progress home! And show the obstacles ahead of them. Like in late season 2 / early season 3 show on the map them getting closer and closer to known Borg space. Would even have allowed easier jumping into or getting back into watching by knowing where they have progressed to. One of the other issues with serialized storytelling is once you lose someone its hard to get them back. Well easier today because they can binge watch to catch up. In Voyager and DS9 days if you missed an episode you could be a little lost and give up (I actually did miss a lot of DS9 when it aired because I lost track of what was happening).

So I guess I answered my own complaint. Serialized in the past could alienate those who missed episodes as they would lose track of what happening and stop watching. That has changed in today's age with the ability to watch on demand. So I guess that is why networks are willing to do more serialized storytelling now (as it does make for a better product in my opinion). Voyager done today would have been allowed to be serialized and would probably have been an excellent show for it (It had tremendous potential).

 

[AlanC9]

I don't find serialized episodes as rewatchable because you can't just jump in a watch a favorite without really watching a whole season again.

Example: Nu Battlestar - loved it when it was on (at least the early seasons) but have never rewatched. It would be a major commitment to start a rewatch.

Or Lost. I can't bring myself to pull that trigger.

 

[WraithDukat]

Yes, it could be the serialisation that's the problem as I very much just picked a random episode (saying that though it's not like I didn't know what was going on).

 

[Wowbagger]

As long as most of its episodes are more watchable than
Miri
This side of Paradise
The Apple
Catspaw
The Gamsters of Triskellion
Spock's Brain
And the Children Shall Lead
Spectre of the Gun
Wink of an Eye
The Empath
The Mark of Gideon
The Lights of Zetar
Cloud Minders
Turnabout Intruder
Code of Honor
Justice
Haven
Angel One
The Child
The Outrageous Okona
Loud as a Whisper
Shades of Gray
The Bonding
Qpid
Half a Life
In Theory
The Masterpiece Society
Imaginary Friend
Man of the People
Force of Nature
Sub Rosa
If Wishes were Horses
The 37s
Threshold
Acquisition
Demons/Terra Prime
These Are the Voyages

It should be no problem.

This is a helpful list! I have bolded the episodes that I would rather rewatch than any random episode of Discovery S1.

People love crapping on old Trek in order to make new Trek look better, but, even when old Trek was mediocre, it was telling more sophisticated, developed stories than anything Discovery attempted this year. Only the truly awful episodes -- which are, in all honesty, fairly rare -- limbo under the very low bar Disco set. I've seen "Catspaw" about nine times in the past 24 months, because my toddler loves watching "the spooky cat," and, though I'm about ready to tear my hair out if I have to see Sylvia and Kirk match wits again, I still find more to think about while watching it than I did with "Despite Yourself."

YMMV, of course, but I tend to agree with both of the main points in this thread: (1) serialized shows are inherently less rewatchable, and (2) Discovery is not a good serialized show, which hurts it even more.

 

[Hey Missy]

I can't tell any of the Mirror episodes apart because they ran together so much. Was "Despite Yourself" the one where they get home or was that "Vaulting Ambition"?

 

[Ovation]

I’ve already rewatched DSC more than VOY (I’ve seen each episode twice and have started a third rewatch). Not that I hate, or even dislike, VOY. Just that I prefer DSC.

 

[lawman]

The thing is though, since Discovery was more serialized than any earlier Trek, it's hard to just go back and watch your favorites without watching the entire season.

I don't find serialized episodes as rewatchable because you can't just jump in a watch a favorite without really watching a whole season again.

This would seem to make perfect sense. You don't pick up a novel and read a random chapter from somewhere in the middle.

And yet... and yet...

Game of Thrones is supremely rewatchable. I have re-watched chunks of it (and even single episodes) with assorted friends on assorted occasions, and what was good the first time remains good again and again. Better, even... you see nuances, character moments, bits of foreshadowing, that slipped by you the first time around.

I always thought Voyager should start every episode with a Map showing their progress home! And show the obstacles ahead of them. Like in late season 2 / early season 3 show on the map them getting closer and closer to known Borg space. Would even have allowed easier jumping into or getting back into watching by knowing where they have progressed to.

Hmm, interesting idea! Wouldn't have made up for bad writing, of course, but it might have given the show more of a sense of long-term coherence.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I've seen each episode twice and enjoyed both times.

But long term, I tend to rewatch standalone Treks more than serialized. One's a 45-minute commitment, the other for 15 episodes (or more, in the case of ENT S3 and DS9).

 

[eschaton]

I've seen each episode twice and enjoyed both times.

But long term, I tend to rewatch standalone Treks more than serialized. One's a 45-minute commitment, the other for 15 episodes (or more, in the case of ENT S3 and DS9).

On the other hand, it's damn hard to binge watch episodic shows. Even if I had the time and they were good episodes, I couldn't watch more than 2-3 episodes of TOS, TNG, or VOY in a single night without getting bored.

 

[BillJ]

On the other hand, it's damn hard to binge watch episodic shows.

I've never had any issue.

I couldn't watch more than 2-3 episodes...

At my age, that is binge-watching.

 

[eschaton]

I've never had any issue.

I just finished a rewatch of all of Trek in canon order. It took me the better part of two years, although I took a lot of breaks (and I'm married with kids and a full-time job, so I don't have a ton of free time in the evening to binge). The last few seasons of Voyager were far and away the hardest to get through. Not because they were uniformly terrible, but because so many of them were structurally similar, and with the lack of any character development everything just smeared together so it felt like I was watching one episode repeatedly.

 

[cbl1]

I did binge watch DS9 the other month since I had the CBS All Access. Back when I missed a lot of the serialized arch episodes and lost track of what was going on.

I went back on just watched the primary arch episodes and skipped the stand alone ones.... so I guess in that case the serialized were the more rewatchable. Anyhow I think I watched about about 30 total episodes over a few weekends (skipping a lot of filler). Was nice that even though I have the cheaper All Access with commercials ... the DS9 episodes played without commercial. I guess the older library doesn't force commercials.

 

[cbl1]

Voyager last 2 years become .....the what's wrong with Seven of Nine this week show.