Let’s be silly: predict the number of seasons Discovery runs; come back later to see if you're right

Discussion in 'Star Trek: Discovery' started by Quinton, Apr 17, 2021.

?

How many seasons will Discovery have?

  1. There. Are. Four. Seasons.

    10 vote(s)
    10.1%
  2. Five seasons. Edges out Enterprise.

    35 vote(s)
    35.4%
  3. Six! Just shy of TNG/DS9/VOY.

    20 vote(s)
    20.2%
  4. "The full seven."

    20 vote(s)
    20.2%
  5. More than seven seasons. Screw it, Burnham's breaking records.

    14 vote(s)
    14.1%
  1. Lord Garth

    Lord Garth Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 7, 2011
    Location:
    Aug 10, 1999
    That's the same exact way that I always vote!

    Oh, wait a minute, we were talking about voting in this poll. ;)
     
    ThreeEdgedSword and Quinton like this.
  2. DarKush

    DarKush Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 18, 2005
    I voted five seasons. I don't see it going on much longer than that. Even the season three finale could've easily worked as a series finale. Discovery was designed to be a series about Michael Burnham, and though it's transitioning a bit more to an ensemble series, Burnham is still the central figure.
    And to me her journey is just about complete. She's made it to captain and she's found love with Book. Next season we get to see how she does her best to juggle and keep both
    , but after that, there's not much story left to tell.

    To keep it going after that feels like they would have to retread ground.
    Strip Burnham of the captaincy which then potentially starts that arc of her reaching for the captain's chair going again. Same thing with Book if they take him out of the picture, and she (along with Book) has to rebuild their relationship, she finds a new love, or she just goes it alone, and we've already seen some aspects of that already with her character. Now adding a child/children to the mix would change it up though.
    They could really get bold by killing off Burnham or writing her out of the show and shifting the series' lead to say Tilly or Saru, but if they did that it would feel more like a jump the shark moment, since this series was created to be revolve around Burnham.

    With Burnham's personal journey almost done, all that's left from a series perspective is rebuilding the Federation and I can't see them keeping that storyline going past two seasons. Certainly a series centered around that premise can go multiple seasons, but that wasn't Discovery. The restore the Federation idea seemed (IMO) to fall into their laps and even last season they spent a good deal of time on The Burn, the Emerald Chain, as well as acclimating to the future, than exploring after-Burn Federation politics. Exploring larger galactic politics hasn't been a strong suit of this series, which is strange because they do well with good set ups, like the Klingon politics in the first two seasons, the deadly games of the Terran Empire, and the fractured Federation in the third season, but they don't spend enough time really plumbing those ideas. I guess they could go back/forward in time or to another alternate reality, but that also feels like retreading.
     
    Last edited: May 11, 2021
    Quinton likes this.
  3. Richard S. Ta

    Richard S. Ta Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 10, 2021
    I'd hate to see them do seven just out of a sense that most Berman shows did that. That said, I'm not sure I'd like to see it go longer than seven. I think five or six is a good number, with my preferences falling on the side of six. Seven is a weird number. Five is too few.
     
    Quinton likes this.
  4. Swedish Borg

    Swedish Borg Commodore Captain

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2021
    Even with seven seasons, they'll likely have fewer episodes than Enterprise, and a little more than TOS.
     
    Quinton and Richard S. Ta like this.
  5. Swedish Borg

    Swedish Borg Commodore Captain

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2021
    Speaking of her captaincy, I wouldn't be surprised if Michael did something in the next season that will have her demoted to able crewman.:D
     
    Richard S. Ta likes this.
  6. Deks

    Deks Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2003
    I was under the impression that Discovery was renewed for season 5 already.
    Past that point however, we don't have any information on whether the show will go on.

    I have no issue with Discovery going on for more than 5 seasons (as there would be stories to tell), but the writers I think need to shift attention away from Burnham and towards other characters among other things.

    For instance, once Season 4 is complete and focus on restoring the UFP is there and on its way, its possible they will start pushing the show to sync up with 'Calypso' short trek as they described they would (and which takes place in the 42nd century)... this 'push' would still take place in the 32nd century effectively conclude it with the crew abandoning ship and Zora hiding in the nebula continuing to evolve.

    It was said in Calypso that the captain had died. Now, we don't know WHO that is because Discovery seems intent on changing captains every season (and its possible in that instance that Burnham might get killed at some point, or another captain might die instead - possibly Saru - though I somehow think Saru could be given command of USS Voyager instead which may be featured more intensely and share missions with Discovery), and we also don't know how much of the narrative (and visuals) from Calypso could change (in which case, if they decide to keep the story intact, then Zora will either revert Discovery to its 23rd century look for whatever reason, or they will dispense with that particular visual effect and just keep Disco in its 32nd century design outlook with some more changes to the hull which would signify how much Zora evolved over the next 1000 years - and with programmable matter, replicators and transporters, its certainly plausible).
     
    Quinton likes this.
  7. Nyotarules

    Nyotarules Vice Admiral Moderator

    Joined:
    Jan 20, 2016
    Location:
    London
    I voted six, it will climax showing a young Spock attending the funeral of his adopted sister after she died in a bombing. The whole show was a Vulcan little boy's dream, stressed by his sister's death, Sybok leaving home and his Mother's alcoholic rant at Sarek being a bad father
     
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2021
    NOVE9, StarMan, DarKush and 1 other person like this.
  8. Lord Garth

    Lord Garth Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 7, 2011
    Location:
    Aug 10, 1999
    Zora said she was ordered to have Discovery stay where it was.

    Craft, who has no idea about any of this, came to the conclusion most people would come to if Discovery had been waiting for 1,000 years. That the Captain who gave that order was dead. He doesn't know what happened, even though it would make total sense for him to think that.

    If the crew did another 1,000-year time-jump and they needed Discovery to be there so they could find it and no one else would be able to, then the Captain -- whoever it is -- might not be dead. And Zora wouldn't be forthcoming if the Captain told her not to be.

    I see "Calypso" as being like the Gene sequences at the beginning of every season of Better Call Saul. That's where everything ends up. They're just filling in the blanks for how it got there. At least that's what I think they're trying to go for.
     
    Quinton and Deks like this.
  9. Deks

    Deks Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2003
    This leads me to think.. are the Disco writers going to keep pushing the narrative 1000 years into the future every couple of seasons?
    Aka, first 2 seasons took place in mid 23rd century.
    Third and 4th seasons in 32nd century (the ending of Season 4 forcing the crew to make another time jump and hide Discovery in that nebula where Zora could evolve), and 5th to 6th seasons in 42nd century.

    This also opens up other questions:
    How will the crew execute a time jump if all temporal tech was destroyed and they need to leave the ship behind?
    Shuttles? And which temporal tech will they use... and how will they use it (given the Temporal Accords).

    EDIT: I'm well aware there are plethora of temporal technologies available in Trek and to the Federation... I was just wondering that if the writers go into this direction, which method will they use given the Temporal Accords (wouldn't surprise me if they tried doing it in secret, but I don't think it would be easy or possible to pull off with how far technology would have evolved by that time frame).
     
    Last edited: May 16, 2021
    Lord Garth likes this.
  10. C.E. Evans

    C.E. Evans Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Nov 22, 2001
    Location:
    Ferguson, Missouri, USA
    I voted six seasons.

    My speculation: the series will end with the launch of a new 32nd-Century USS Enterprise and some characters from DIS will carry on into that (like how Chief O'Brien went from TNG to DS9). Eventually, there'll be a millennium-spanning crossover event with SNW in which the Enterprise, the Discovery, and the Enterprise-whatever will have to join forces to stop evil time-travelling Tribbles from changing history...
    :angel:
     
    Quinton likes this.
  11. Gingerbread Demon

    Gingerbread Demon I love Star Trek Discovery Premium Member

    Joined:
    May 31, 2015
    Location:
    The Other Realms
    I'm going for six... It's a nice number.

    The show ends with a brand new Federation all shiny and reborn, and Earth has after much angst rejoined.
     
  12. Grizzlor

    Grizzlor Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2021
    Location:
    New Jersey, USA
    Most streaming series do not go beyond 4. That said, it's the flagship show so who knows. I'd think 6 at most.
     
  13. Swedish Borg

    Swedish Borg Commodore Captain

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2021
    You know what's an even nicer number... eight!

    J/k ;)
     
    Gingerbread Demon likes this.
  14. timtonruben359

    timtonruben359 Captain Captain

    Joined:
    Feb 27, 2012
    I'm guessing six seasons for two reasons:

    1) I'm assuming the principal cast all have six year deals with CBS (six years is the industry standard). After that, there would be renegotiation and higher salary requests.

    2) I think the upcoming movie we've been teased about may be Discovery based. If 2023 is the release date, season six would likely have aired (or be airing) at that point.
     
    Isaac Lawrence likes this.
  15. Gingerbread Demon

    Gingerbread Demon I love Star Trek Discovery Premium Member

    Joined:
    May 31, 2015
    Location:
    The Other Realms
    Oooh Disco movie I'm down for that
     
  16. Swedish Borg

    Swedish Borg Commodore Captain

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2021
    As long as it's better than "Insurrection" which seems like a TNG two-parter and not an upstanding one at that!
     
    F. King Daniel likes this.
  17. Gingerbread Demon

    Gingerbread Demon I love Star Trek Discovery Premium Member

    Joined:
    May 31, 2015
    Location:
    The Other Realms
    I can't disagree with that. The movie had a good opening 20 minutes then turned into poo after that. I liked the sing along.
     
  18. Swedish Borg

    Swedish Borg Commodore Captain

    Joined:
    Mar 18, 2021
    Yes, it's funny the look of impatience that Worf gets because he doesn't know about "Guilbert and Sullivan", not to mention that what Picard says is wrong they are not composers! Sullivan Is, Guilbert is a librettist. It's funny to be lectured by someone who doesn't even know their stuff!!!:lol:
     
  19. fireproof78

    fireproof78 Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Apr 11, 2014
    Location:
    Journeying onwards
    That's not hard to do.
     
    Swedish Borg likes this.
  20. dupersuper

    dupersuper Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 24, 2020
    So you're predicting...six seasons and a movie.