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Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 2x01 - "Brother"

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I've been a big fan of DSC from Day 1. I really did enjoy Season 1. I loved the war theme arc. Trek can be too idealistic at times. It needs to have some blood and guts and I do like space battles.

I liked Season 1 because it was something different happening in Trek. Yes it pissed off the traditionalists, but DSC has been a shot in the arm with new blood.

I thought the opening sequence with Burnham narrating was spectacular.

Anson Mount is as expected, terrific as Captain Pike.

Loved the production values. It was like watching a motion picture.

Season 2 looks to be more like traditional Trek. Likely that was due to CBS needing/wanting higher ratings. Season 1 did alienate some tradtiionalists. Now CBS is trying to woo them back.

The away mission was more like a TOS away mission with the Pike as Kirk, Burnham as the science officer/Vulcan, and Tig Notaro as the substitute for Dr. McCoy's acerbic humor.

I like the way they did Speck's quarters - the retro 60's room screen with the circle elements, the 3-dimensional chess in both TOS Speck and childhood Speck's rooms, the Lyra hanging on the stand, and the subdued lighting. The whole thing felt right.

Loved the easter eggs such as the fortune cookie message.

Tily's character continues to offer refreshingly awkward humor.

Oh and I just can't get enough of looking at NCC-1701. Everytime they show her, I get a lump in my throat.

I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season. Perhaps it'll take off some of the sting of losing Star Trek 4 the movie.
 
I also just watched the first episode of the second season on Netflix. I really enjoyed it. The depressive atmosphere of the first seasons seems to be gone and with that I don't just mean the obvious moments that have been infused with humor.
The CGI effects were the weakest part of season 1 for me. In the second half of the first season there were downright embarrassing at times. It's good to see, that with an extended production schedule for season 2 there were able to improve massivley on the CGI effects. Given how fantastic the season premiere looked and how massive some of the setpieces were I'm also not the least bit surprised the show went over budget in the first half of the season, as has been reported previously.

A word on the version streaming on Netflix: Just like the first season the show is NOT streaming in 4K. It's streaming in Full HD with HDR added again.
 
The ship interiors do look rather large. I don’t know if that’s the lens or not.
They look like the STO versions of them.
 
That was good Star Trek.
Not great. But really, really good. And most importantly: It was Star Trek. Like, it's still very different than what I (or other people) would expect from a Star Trek show, and most certainly very different from what I would expect from a Star Trek show set during the TOS timeframe. But it's undeniable Star Trek.

Star Trek is back, folks!

As for this specific episode: It's probably my second favourite DIS-episode so far. I thought "Lethe" in S1 (coincidentally also a rescue episode) was still quite a bit better, especially for the great character work. But "Lethe" was the one, bright exception in a more disappointing BSG-clone attempt season. THIS episode - "Brother" - is a perfect template for the rest of the season. It feels great - and it doesn't feel seperated from the rest of the show. It feels like this IS now the show!

Things I liked about "Brother":
A lot. Mostly the entire tone of the show has changed. Even though there was still a lot of set redressing, it doesn't feel as claustrophibic as season 1 - this feels like a big, interesting universe. Also, the pure, simply fact of "being on a starship" feels having it's grace back it had in the best of times of Trek: It's just an amazing prospect, being able to travel the universe, discovering and exploring. Even if there are dangers out there. I like that.

Also of note were all the little humorous bits included. Burnham: "I'm a terrible patient" Doctor randomly strolling by: "I'd second that!". Not all of them worked. But they did wonders for the overall feel. I like that.

I very much like Pike. Mostly I like Anson Mount as a wide eyed, optimistic Starfleet Captain. Because he really, really well caputures this Star Trek tone, while also greatly expressing he's a deeper character - showing regret, doubt, thoughfulness - but very nuanced. That makes his overall positive outlook feel soo much more well-founded.

Also, we got a much better and clearer look at our regular bridge-crew. Something that really should have been done in the previous season. I really like Detmer and Owosekun.

Things I'm ambigous about:
It was a very, very simple rescue-mission, that was solely blown out to a big adventure thanks to all the action happening. It's essentially a 60 minutes Action-romp. That's not a bad thing: It was a good action romp. The problem is, that many of the action beats didn't make much sense. The missing logic was greatly covered up by things just being so damn fast and exciting. But also, it probably cost a shit-ton of money to make, and the series won't be able to shell that out regularly long-term. It works amazing a teaser. But the actual "story" needs to have a bit more meat in it later on. This entire mission felt a bit like Burnhams space-suit mission in the pilot, only turned up to eleven.

Not yet sure what to think about their depiction of Spock. They basically didn't show anything - only teasers for their relationship. The teases were good, very well made. But I can't say I'm really interested in another rebooted Spock.

Things I didn't like:
The main characters felt off. That was unexpected. Tilly was the sole bright-spot of optimism in season 1. With the whole show now being more like Tilly, Tilly herself felt... off... a little bit. In season 1, she felt like Wesley Crusher done right, with a sprinkle of Barclay. Here, she just felt more like Wesley. Stamets felt as if he had a complete reboot of character as well - his reaction to the loss of Cruz was very natural and well handled. But it quite clashed with how he reacted towards at the end of season 1. And they still made Burnham too much of an expert in everything. She was the one coming up with every solution to any immediate problem - not just science, but also action prodigy. That was a bit much. I like that the episode was focused on her - she is the main character after all - But I would prefer it, if OTHER characters came up more with solutions as well, and Burnham simply was the one enacting them. But alas, the other characters got to shine as well (Tig keeping her crew alive, Tilly catching a satellite) - so that was definitely there! I just wish it was more connected to the main plot.

What I didn't like was the death of blue-shirt guy: Came out of nowhere, had no impact on the plot, and no one really cared about it anyway. It was only there to sgnify "danger". Which is okay - but goddamn have his colleagues have a scene of mourning afterwards!

Unrelated observations:
  • Pike saying to Burnham: "Sometimes it's wise to keep expectations low" - in a scene immediately followed with the elevator gag from the trailer. Yeah.
  • Wish there were more scenes of the Enterprise - Every single shot was already spoiled in the trailers
  • I really liked the use of real-life space photography in the opening! More of that!

Overall, I'd give it a 8/10.
Pretty darn good, but still room upwards for the really good stuff. Similar to what I gave the original opening - more of a set-up for the main story, than an actual story beat. But a really damn well made one, and this time I'm optimistic they'll keep this level of quality, which was an issue with season 1.
 
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8/10, better than anything from last season.
-1 for killing Connolly too soon. Why waste strong characterisation, good acting and a foil for Burnham?
-.5 for stilted dialogue.
-.5 for continued use of Tilly as comic relief as opposed to a genuinely interesting portrayal of an austistic starfleet officer.
 
I enjoyed this a lot. Loved the Sarek family backstory (so long as they don't ruin it with Spock/Burnham incest, which I fear is a real possibility from the people who think a Georgiou show is a good idea). I liked Pike although he's got a real school-teacher-trying-to-be-cool vibe about him. Is Hugh only going to exist in Staments' memory?

The action scenes were very reminiscent of the space jumps from the Kelvin movies. The mansplaining Enterprise science officer's death was Chief Engineer Olsen's from ST'09 except moreso. Where were those pods in season one? I'm sure they'd have come in useful at some point. The engineer of the Hiawatha was brilliant.

Looking forward to more.
 
Still waiting for it to release on Netflix UK, it says today but not sure what time. :shrug:
 
King Daniel Beyond said:
I enjoyed this a lot. Loved the Sarek family backstory (so long as they don't ruin it with Spock/Burnham incest, which I fear is a real possibility from the people who think a Georgiou show is a good idea).
Click to expand...
Agreed. :crazy:
King Daniel Beyond said:
I liked Pike although he's got a real school-teacher-trying-to-be-cool vibe about him. Is Hugh only going to exist in Staments' memory?
Click to expand...

Wow! Yeah. :guffaw:
That's kinda' true! I guess Star Trek has this vibe written in it's DNA.

King Daniel Beyond said:
The action scenes were very reminiscent of the space jumps from the Kelvin movies. The mansplaining Enterprise science officer's death was Chief Engineer Olsen's from ST'09 except moreso. Where were those pods in season one? I'm sure they'd have come in useful at some point. The engineer of the Hiawatha was brilliant.

Looking forward to more.
Click to expand...

Huh. Fully agreed. With everything.
 
Awesome episode; loved nearly every minute of it. Traversing the asteroid field seemed a bit excessive, but it's a minor nitpick. I happened to have read the Discovery comic annual yesterday that had come out in April and there was a nice bit of continuity with that in the episode, with Culbert being a fan of Kasseelian opera and it being what prompted Stamets to talk to him for the very first time at a bar.
 
ozzywiz said:
8/10, better than anything from last season.
-1 for killing Connolly too soon. Why waste strong characterisation, good acting and a foil for Burnham?
-.5 for stilted dialogue.
-.5 for continued use of Tilly as comic relief as opposed to a genuinely interesting portrayal of an austistic starfleet officer.
Click to expand...

What on earth makes you think Tilly is supposed to be autistic?
 
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