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

[eschaton]

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

My issue was more with the whole "ship is in danger due to X thing" plot. But basically every late Voyager episode which wasn't a "character focus" exercise for Seven, The Doctor, or occasionally another crew member. These episodes are lame because we know that whatever tension takes place over the course of the episode, it will all be resolved by the end of the episode (or two-parter, in rare cases), meaning the show is essentially faking us out.

Trek had always thrown out episodes like these on occasion. But no other series - not even Enterprise - fell back on this plot device as much.

 

[XCV330]

I rewatched some episodes of DSC recently. They hold up well on re-watch for me.

 

[Lord Garth]

I watch seasons of these types of shows from start to finish. Sometimes I'll put on a random one (with serialized shows in general, not just DSC) but not usually. The seasons aren't long -- they're not 26 episodes -- and it only takes a few days if you watch a few at a time.

I don't go from Season 1 to 7 or whenever. I'll put on a season I feel like re-watching and watch that from start-to-finish.

It's a different type of TV viewing. Not quite the same type as when we were kids, but I have my own way of handling these types of re-watches. Go in order, a few at a time, and as time permits.

 

[Spot261]

My issue was more with the whole "ship is in danger due to X thing" plot. But basically every late Voyager episode which wasn't a "character focus" exercise for Seven, The Doctor, or occasionally another crew member. These episodes are lame because we know that whatever tension takes place over the course of the episode, it will all be resolved by the end of the episode (or two-parter, in rare cases), meaning the show is essentially faking us out.

Trek had always thrown out episodes like these on occasion. But no other series - not even Enterprise - fell back on this plot device as much.

I think it can work on a repeated basis provided the ideas are good and "thing X" introduces something other than a threat to be overcome. Trek works best when it operates on multiple levels and I'm fine with threats to the ship provided that plot structure doesn't define the episode in isolation of other qualities. The problem is Voyager so frequently did them with little apparent depth, nuance or meaningful significance beyond the literal events on screen, so all we take home is "the crew were in danger, but they predictably escaped, cue end music"

TNG had a surprising number of "ship in danger" episodes but far more often we could almost forget that aspect of the plot because our focus was elsewhere, some allegory, some ethical dilemna. "Pegasus" springs to mind here. On a cursory view it could easily have been taken as a "Romulans threatening the ship" episode with a plot device for having our heroes escape, but when I think back on it I primarily recall Riker's dilemna, the impact of keeping secrets, questions about the nature of duty and the limits of loyalty to authority, not the danger of being trapped in an asteroid.

 

[eschaton]

I think it can work on a repeated basis provided the ideas are good and "thing X" introduces something other than a threat to be overcome. Trek works best when it operates on multiple levels and I'm fine with threats to the ship provided that plot structure doesn't define the episode in isolation of other qualities. The problem is Voyager so frequently did them with little apparent depth, nuance or meaningful significance beyond the literal events on screen, so all we take home is "the crew were in danger, but they predictably escaped, cue end music"

TNG had a surprising number of "ship in danger" episodes but far more often we could almost forget that aspect of the plot because our focus was elsewhere, some allegory, some ethical dilemna. "Pegasus" springs to mind here. On a cursory view it could easily have been taken as a "Romulans threatening the ship" episode with a plot device for having our heroes escape, but when I think back on it I primarily recall Riker's dilemna, the impact of keeping secrets, questions about the nature of duty and the limits of loyalty to authority, not the danger of being trapped in an asteroid.

Yeah. this comment made me post something about basic episode structure in the main forum. Basically all Trek episodes boil down to some mixture of danger, character focus, allegory/message, and (occasionally) comedy. Voyager decided to not allow its characters to grow, only made a half dozen forays into comedy at most, and mostly dropped the allegorical elements by the end of its run. Thus all it really had were these fake danger episodes, or often great character episodes which almost never had any wider ramifications for the series. But Voyager took the wrong lessons from these earlier outings - seemingly deciding it would try to roll sixes on doing another BoBW or something.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

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.

Says the guy who included Angel One and Catspaw on that list.

That you even manage to even implicitly describe "Acquisition" as "sophisticated and developed" is profoundly ironic.

YMMV, of course

I get very little mileage out of haterism, to be honest.

 

[lawman]

I just finished a rewatch of all of Trek in canon order. ... 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.

Why would you do that to yourself? Did you get a special badge at the end or something?

 

[eschaton]

Why would you do that to yourself? Did you get a special badge at the end or something?

I'm a glutton for punishment I suppose.

Seriously though, there were a lot of individual Trek episodes I had never seen. I just wanted to be able to say I'd seen all of them.

 

[fireproof78]

Why would you do that to yourself? Did you get a special badge at the end or something?

Why do people watch DISCO if they don't like it?

 

[Crazy Eddie]

Why would you do that to yourself? Did you get a special badge at the end or something?

Achievement Unlocked: "These are the Voyagers"
- Complete all seven seasons of "Star Trek: Voyager" without dying -

 

[CaptainMurdock]

I keep watching because I hope it gets better. I don't flat out hate Discovery but I dislike a lot of things about it. I'm an avid fan of TOS and I love the 23rd century era of Trek. So naturally the idea of visiting a pre TOS era of untapped potential appealed to me. Sadly it wasn't the show I was expecting or wanting to see so I was left disappointed with it. I can't say that I gave Voyager or Enterprise a fair shake. I gave up after 5 episodes in on each show. I wanted to give Discovery a fair shake and I did. It just wasn't what I wanted. I kept watching because I hoped it would get better. I did like a few episodes and some characters, but ultimately season one didn't do it for me and I don't plan on rewatching it any time soon. Will it stand up to repeated viewings? Maybe. It's too early to say I think.

 

[Jadeb]

I keep watching because I hope it got better. I don't flat out hate Discovery but I dislike a lot of things about it. I'm an avid fan of TOS and I love the 23rd century era of Trek. So naturally the idea of visiting a pre TOS era of untapped potential appealed to me. Sadly it wasn't the show I was expecting or wanting to see so I was left disappointed with it. I can't say that I gave Voyager or Enterprise a fair shake. I gave up after 5 episodes in on each show. I wanted to give Discovery a fair shake and I did. It just wasn't what I wanted. I kept watching because I hoped it would get better. I did like a few episodes and some characters, but ultimately season one didn't do it for me and I don't plan on rewatching it any time soon. Will it stand up to repeated viewings? Maybe. It's too early to say I think.

You sound like me. You might give the final season of Enterprise a shot. I liked it a lot more when it became a fannish TOS loveletter.

I can't see myself rewatching any of Discovery except maybe the Mudd ep.

 

[CaptainMurdock]

You sound like me. You might give the final season of Enterprise a shot. I liked it a lot more when it became a fannish TOS loveletter.

I can't see myself rewatching any of Discovery except maybe the Mudd ep.

I'll check it out. I did see an Ent episode not too long ago that was pretty cool. They visit a Vulcan ship and the crew are zombie like. That may have been a later season episode but I dug it for sure and the Mudd episodes of Discovery are my favorite as well.

 

[The Wormhole]

They visit a Vulcan ship and the crew are zombie like. That may have been a later season episode but I dug it for sure

Impulse from season 3.

 

[CaptainMurdock]

Impulse from season 3.

Thanks!

 

[Refuge]

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?

I find individual stories pretty much self-contained in an episode stand up best to a re-watch. One can still follow an overall arc or mission propelling these standalone episodes, that is to be expected. However if there is too much of a disappointing gotcha moment in a serial theme it can devalue a rewatch. Like I can rewatch my favourite Trek and look froward to savouring a moment. Example, 'this' is the episode where Janeway goes all 'Ripley'. Should be a bit of fun. Versus, this is the episode where Seven throws the Species 8472 to the Hirogen - nah don't want to watch that.

With Discovery I don't think I want to rewatch their gotcha moments AND what leads up to them. I really don't need to rewatch everything about Lorca now with the realisation he is fake. That Ash is fake too. That Michael was never intended to face any consequence for mutiny. That Mudd episode is one that could stand a rewatch though.

 

[omnirad]

I just re-watched Disco's two part premiere and appreciated seeing Ensign Connor before he was resurrected in the Mirror Universe. Same for seeing Prime Georgiou in action before she became The Emperor. Looking forward to catching Lorca's evil little hints.

 

[Cyrus]

I don't have any issues rewatching serialized shows. I have seen old epidodes of Game of Thrones and enjoyed watching them just as much as the first time. And I have rewatched many Discovery & arc based DS9 episodes. I would rate rewatchability of Discovery as above average compared to previous Trek shows.

 

[Captain pl1ngpl0ng]

I lost interest after the mid-season finale and I haven't watched the last three episodes... that was a surprising development for me.
I do think of going back to ds9, tng and ent (again) with joy, I even want to give voyager a second chance, and I have already seen the Orville twice,
but I have no desire for discovery at the moment...

I don't know,
I think discovery lacks a certain charm that the other shows got plenty of.

 

[Refuge]

Maybe it would of interest to know what works as a rewatch? What shows out of the Star Trek stable have some kind of statistic that validates people wanting to rewatch it?? Example Netflix figures. What is the most rewatched Star Trek?