Well put.
What is Star Trek: Discovery about?
- Thread starter Amasov
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Good thread question. Wondered this myself more so in terms of why did they name the hero ship Discovery because to me it didn't seem like they were doing much exploring at all and that another name should've been chosen. I'm enjoying a lot of the responses, Mdtauk, Lord Garth, and Santa Carl's replies resonate with me the most.
Perhaps it's a case where the real world demands of the television/streaming business are factoring in. I imagine the series' creators are being constantly pushed to do episodes or arcs that will create buzz and drive up subscription numbers so that leaves them always trying to the next thing to make DISCO a watercooler talk series.
It was absolutely not intentionally set up that way. The original showrunner had his own ideas, then they got nixed, but certain aspects of his ideas remained, but were changed from their original envisioning. Then a similar thing happened halfway through the second season. Then someone made a decision to classify everything and send the ship into the future because they just couldn’t get the original setting to work. So the entire show has been continually flip-flopping between ideas, and it wasn’t intentional or part of some grand plan. But lots of shows don’t actually hit their stride or figure out just what they’re supposed to be about until later seasons anyway.
Very true. And at this point, I don't think the show even know what it wants to be.
The third season has done a pretty good job of laying down what it's going to be from now on. Discovery in the 32nd Century, taking orders from Vance, doing whatever story is going on in the week.
If my original description in the very second post in this thread wasn't a sufficient enough answer. It sounds to me like you want Discovery to be pigeon-holed into one thing. As if the story from the first season is what DSC should've been what it was about forever.
When I see interviews from Michelle Paradise, she doesn't sound like someone who doesn't know what she's talking about. I can pick out bullshit from someone pretty fast. She isn't giving out the "we're all very pleased", "we believe this is the best since Wrath of Khan" non-answers from the Berman Era. She doesn't "answer" questions like Donald Rumsfeld used to during the Bush Administration. And she doesn't sound like some used car salesman trying to rip me off.
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Technically, ENT was about the early days of Starfleet, before the Federation and the Prime Directive. It ended up being about finding common ground in difficult situations.
DIS when it starts is about the fall and redemption of a first officer in Starfleet. As noted in earlier posts, its become a show about self discovery, and an examination of Star Trek’s legacy as a whole.
The setting was the early days of the Earth Starfleet. But that wasn’t the premise. The premise was the formation of the Federation.
But that’s such a nebulous concept. You can apply that same idea about lots of shows. And, really, that’s not what ENT ended up becoming. For the first two seasons the show was just TNG/VOY Jr., with a ship and crew flying around aimlessly just ‘exploring’ things. Almost every S1 and 2 script could have been written as a VOY episode. Then it became an allegory for 9-11. Then it finally became TOS/TNG Prequel Overkill (that’s not actually a complaint, mind you. I enjoyed the final season, but by then it was too late.)
Yes, it could be applied to any Star Trek show.
And I would not say it was aimless. Everything was either undefined or loosely established in S1 & S2.
There just wasn’t as much to learn in that environment as expected, even though it was supposed to be the wild west in space. Everything important had already been covered by the three series preceding it, and the show played it too safe considering the setting. That's all.
Discovery at the very least, it its credit, does take risks.
Well, I blame UPN for the show having to play things safe. But you’re correct. And, while this is just my opinion, I also think the premise was inherently flawed because every Trek fan had their own idea of how the Federation formed, and anything they tried to show us would never have lived up to the fans’ expectations.
But I think we’re veering off course from the OP. This is about DSC, not ENT.
I'm sorry, but, that's not accurate.
Well, there's a parallel between what's going on with DSC and what happened with DS9.
There was a post on another board I was posting on back in 1997, and there were people wondering what DS9 was about. Someone went through the five seasons (up to that point) and put it like this...
Season 1 - "We're about Humanitarian aid and bringing Bajor into the Federation!"
Season 2 - "No we're not! We're about Bajoran Politics, the Cardassians, and the Maquis!"
Season 3 - "No we're not! We're about the Dominion!"
Season 4 - "No we're not! We're about Worf and the Klingons!"
Season 5 - "No we're not! We're about setting the stage for a galactic war!"
This post stuck with me because how TV series (and franchises) evolve over time is always something that's interested me.
The point was, at the time it seemed like every season was about something else. But, by the end of the series, people settled on it's about Sisko, his role with the Bajorans, and DS9's value as a point of interest in the Galaxy. The Final Answer ended up being the things that were common throughout the entirety of its run and were broad enough to accommodate the changes that occurred.
Ultimately the same thing will end up happening with Discovery. That's the reason I gave the answer I did in my first post. Something that was broad enough to accommodate everything that's happened in the series up to this point and focuses on the things that are common throughout.
Its ongoing mission: To explore strange, newish television trends; to seek out new subscribers and retain the aging fanbase; to boldly go in the most revenue-friendly direction any executive can imagine!
(I kid, I kid. ... Mostly.)
This is probably the best answer. But Burnham’s journey has been so muddled and inconsistent that I struggle to say it’s done this particularly well.
I think it is Self Discovery and effective will vary from audience member.
Michael Burnham's extended adopted family on adventures in space.
Mum, adopted Mum, dead mentor Mum, mirror universe adopted Mum, Dad, Adopted Dad, Adopted brother, half-Klingon boyfriend, magic future boyfriend and mirror universe twin. Did I miss anyone?
Mum, adopted Mum, dead mentor Mum, mirror universe adopted Mum, Dad, Adopted Dad, Adopted brother, half-Klingon boyfriend, magic future boyfriend and mirror universe twin. Did I miss anyone?
From an article I saw recently.
"The initial concept of Michael - a human child raised by Vulcans to value logic and detachment above everything else, and whose unearned confidence in her own judgment was her greatest flaw - was intriguing and ripe with potential, and I'm sure if creator Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies, Hannibal) had been allowed to actually make the show he conceived he would have known what to do with her. But without Fuller, Discovery has refused to explore Michael's complications, just treating her as a straight-up hero and forcing all the other characters defer to her. Which works if she's a captain - which I suspect was her original arc - but that's not how it's played out so far."
I feel like her complications are present and in every scene she's in. She wants to be constantly be in the middle of the action but doesn't always make the best choices, i.e. Georgiou and the show unpacks the consequences of those choices.
Yeah, I think this season has done a better job examining those complications. At the same time, just this week she apparently chooses to deceive her captain and crewmates, just as she chose to deceive the bridge crew way back in the very first episode.
I wondered if there will be fallout from that, or further exploration of some sort. Hope so.
And that's just from the first three seasons. Wait 'til we see what's next!
As I would expect.
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