Im also really happy that the big reveal had nothing got to do with romulans or control creating the borg
If you think about it sideways I don't see why we couldn't ask the same question about ourselves. It seems the golem has just as much claim as our bodies do to thinking they are who they are. I've thought about it before that it's interesting as humans due to sleep we don't have conscious continuity for more than a day. For all we know every day when we rise we could be a new copy and never realize it. There's no real way to know that we are the same person that went to sleep the night before.
I gave it an 8. Mainly because I believe that the second season will be better, so I want to be able to reward that with a 9. There was a lot of great stuff in season 1. I can't come up with a complete list, but here are some things that I really enjoyed: Picard is back! Riker is back! The Federation has not turned evil. I really like most of Picard's new crew. Some may not like Raffi, but she's become one of my favourite Star Trek characters. Rios rocks, too. The special effects are really great (although story and characters are more important for me). And most important of all: Nemesis is no longer the underwhelming conclusion to the TNG saga! There were also a few disappointments, for example: Another Dr. Soong? Come on... The overarching plot (evil AI wants to kill all biological life) was really boring. I hope for a better plot in season 2 In general I'm very satisfied with what I've seen.
The transporter raises similar questions...at least I think it does. I'm no expert in Trek technological lore. But doesn't it work by dissolving the body's matter into a digital pattern that's transmitted from one site to another? Or, in other words, it's a fax machine that destroys the original every time it's used.
It's obviously a lot better than Discovery. 10x better characters, far more likeable. The writing is hit or miss but obviously a step up over Discovery's trainwreck second half of season 2. The pacing and character-driven storytelling is much more compelling than the braindead, meaningless action of Disco. Lots of potential, mostly thanks to the crew. Rios and Raffi are great. Seven too obviously. When Juratti is in likeable light-hearted mode she's great, keep her there. Elnor is lovable.
There is an argument to be made there, for sure. And certainly I have seen a lot of fan speculation to that effect. However, given that we also see in Trek that one is conscious throughout the beaming process (I believe "Realm of Fear" with Barclay) there is obvious some magic that impacts it. But, yeah, the transporter is a death machine has been a source of discussion for a while.
Nemesis works better as a PIC Prequel than a TNG Sequel. For me personally, I'd say DSC and PIC were a neck-and-neck dead heat. How I rate them: DSC Season 1 --> 8.4, rounding to 8.5 DSC Season 2 --> 8.7, rounding to 8.5 PIC Season 1 --> 8.7, rounding to 8.5
I doubt I will either. With other poor Star Trek seasons, like TOS's third, the episodic nature allows worthwhile stories to stand on their own. Picard tied everything a single plot thread, and that plot was dumber than dirt.
I think I'd rate it an 8. Overall I really enjoyed the show; my only real issues with it were the pacing. I found the beginning a little slow, while the ending felt kind of rushed--it felt like the show both had too many episodes and not enough. I also wasn't a big fan of the needless escalation of the stakes--we didn't need yet another threat to all life in the galaxy. For me, it was pretty silly how Picard's terminal condition was ultimately triggered, and how they got around his physical death. Putting him in a synthetic body but just happening to make him look and feel exactly how he did before he died, and making it so that his new body will still continue to age and ultimately die, was kind of goofy. Why even bother setting up a terminal brain condition in the first place? But most of the characters were lovely, I was mostly satisfied with how they extrapolated the current state of the galaxy in the wake of Romulus' demise, as well as where Picard, Riker, Troi, Seven, and Data all ended up, and the acting was almost uniformly excellent. I also appreciated how the season didn't end on a cliffhanger; if they decided to stop here, I'd be satisfied. It wasn't perfect, but none of Star Trek is. I'm looking forward to the next season.
Between 8 and 9 for me. Voted 9, because Patrick Stewart nailed it. Never missed Geordi, Beverly or Worf, although I like both characters. Things I liked: - Rios and Seven drank something not toxic enough and not to their pleasure: Scotty could have offered better booze. I can easily imagine how Rios asks Seven "What's your poison?" - Ay caramba shouted by Rios - we were all waiting for it, didn't we? With the soccer ball motif - Jurati: never was fond of her character, but it changed with the last episode. She was clever and strong - Narek was stronger in the last episode than in the episodes before - Oh had to draw in her horns - A certain kicked the bucket after an epic hand-to-hand combat But: Starfleet only represented by Riker. No Clancy anymore.
Overall I gave the whole season a 5. Incredibly slow paced with a few decent episodes. It certainly did not live up to the hype (and I never really expected it to.) It was like painting a section of fence and then watching the paint dry for a week before painting the next section. Once or twice you see the lady next door gardening in a skimpy bikini and you keep hoping to see her again while you paint the next section of fence.
And yet I suspect most will be much more fond of this group of characters after one season than Discovery's bunch of nobodies after two years. Thanks in large part to the showrunners actually taking the time to have us get to know them. In contrast to jumping from one non-sensical action scene to the next non-sensical plot twist on Discovery, and forcing utterly un-earned emotional scenes on us with an already unlikeable set of characters. Culber and Stamets, does anyone really care? Ash and Burnham? Two annoying characters with no chemistry. Maybe Saru and Burnham I can kind of buy, cause they've had a fair amount of screentime together, but the rest, meh. Foundation wise Picard is 100x stronger.
I think Season 2 of Discovery blows away Picard and the reason for that is Pike, Number One and the Enterprise! They stole the whole season.