Yeah, I don't. Feels almost the same.
SNW Season 1 vs Season 2
- Thread starter Jedi Marso
- Start date
I applaud SNW for taking risks in Season 2. I mean we got a Crossover with an animated series and we got a musical episode and I enjoyed both. There is variety this season, and we didn't have an episode that was as out there as Elsyian Kingdom (Minus the ending, which I thought was Adorable). There have been some misses in Season 2 (Like Lotus Eaters and Lost in Translation) but overall I've really enjoyed this season.
I find season to be way superior to the first season. The episodes seem more fresh and lighter in tone. The two gimmick episodes: the m Lower Decks crossover and the musical episode were both outstanding. The characters feel even more alive than last season. This show is fantastic.
I like both seasons very much.
Season 1 is an absolute fantastic fresh start, they knocked it out of the park for the most.
Season 2 is IMO them finding their footing - getting more comfortable with the genre switches, finding they own style and characters better.
They toned down the "shocking twists" from S1 a little (kid in the transporter! Elyrian secret! Hemmer dead! Sybok tease! Kirk on bridge!), which is good. But IMO focused a bit too much on relationship drama.
Also Pelia is no good replacement for Hemmer - SNW is missing it's "dedicated makeup alien" (sorry, Spock isn't cutting it anymore in this day & age), and 2 female human-like aliens is a bit much.
Overall, S1 has the benefit of everything being new. But S2 has probably been a bit "more solid" - despite (or because) taking more wild swings and being comfortable with it.
Overall, I think I prefer S1 a bit more due to the novelty (and Hemmer). But the show is IMO absolutely on the right track. I am hoping for further refinements, because the show at it's core absolutely works.
Oh, also - give us more episodes!
At least 15 per season! Being episodic this show really needs it, and deserves it more than serialised shows that need to stretch their one story.
Season 1 is an absolute fantastic fresh start, they knocked it out of the park for the most.
Season 2 is IMO them finding their footing - getting more comfortable with the genre switches, finding they own style and characters better.
They toned down the "shocking twists" from S1 a little (kid in the transporter! Elyrian secret! Hemmer dead! Sybok tease! Kirk on bridge!), which is good. But IMO focused a bit too much on relationship drama.
Also Pelia is no good replacement for Hemmer - SNW is missing it's "dedicated makeup alien" (sorry, Spock isn't cutting it anymore in this day & age), and 2 female human-like aliens is a bit much.
Overall, S1 has the benefit of everything being new. But S2 has probably been a bit "more solid" - despite (or because) taking more wild swings and being comfortable with it.
Overall, I think I prefer S1 a bit more due to the novelty (and Hemmer). But the show is IMO absolutely on the right track. I am hoping for further refinements, because the show at it's core absolutely works.
Oh, also - give us more episodes!
At least 15 per season! Being episodic this show really needs it, and deserves it more than serialised shows that need to stretch their one story.
I actually think season 2 feels a bit stronger. I think overall season 2 has been better with 2.2, 2.5, 2.7, 2.8, 2.9 being really strong and 2.4 and 2.6 being solid. I didn't really like 2.1 or 2.3. I've only watched 2.4 and 2.5 more than once (because I rewatched with a family member). I haven't rewatched season 1 since the episodes aired last year (but I did watch some twice in the week they aired). It could be recency bias, but the season 2 episodes feel more more confident and more memorable.
I feel like Season 2 simply varied more in its quality and pacing. The highs were higher and the lows were lower. Season 1 had a more consistent quality, with fewer resulting standouts. Not sure which is better - to be consistently good, or sometimes great and sometimes a little weak.
The latter feels more "Star Trek" to me. There have always been those standalone, all-time great episodes in each series, with some questionable and/or lovably quirky decisions in between.
Season 1 felt a little too much like a great movie broken into segments. Sometimes you need non-sequiturs like O'Brien serving a 20 year prison sentence in his mind, or an hour-long Captain Proton adventure in the holodeck to cleanse the palate.
The latter feels more "Star Trek" to me. There have always been those standalone, all-time great episodes in each series, with some questionable and/or lovably quirky decisions in between.
Season 1 felt a little too much like a great movie broken into segments. Sometimes you need non-sequiturs like O'Brien serving a 20 year prison sentence in his mind, or an hour-long Captain Proton adventure in the holodeck to cleanse the palate.
Simple continuation, both good seasons, some great, few meh. Thing with Season 2 is that Pike wasn't center stage, well te me almost at all. I know the real world reason, but still felt he was missing.
I understand Kirk, and I 100% agree with the Klingons. Make up is, well not good, went from to much to to little, or not right. The Gold uniforms look Horrendous and cheap.. I know they were trying for the TOS look, but missed the mark by 100's of miles.
I was thinking about this the other day. For me, these 19 episodes are the single strongest run the franchise has ever produced. It's a degree of consistency unheard of in the old 20+ episode shows, and it's doubly impressive a half-century on. To me, that's the bigger story about the two seasons.
I definitely like season 1 better. My two least favorite episodes Happened season 2. I wish that the show didn't constantly rely on legacy characters, past events, time travel. I would like one whole season to be free of all that and just have them out there exploring and going on missions that have ZERO ties to any characters or events we saw in TOS.(meaning after the events in the Menagerie flashbacks)
We get 10 episodes per season so I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for a season without those few elements I mentioned.
We get 10 episodes per season so I don't think it's unreasonable to ask for a season without those few elements I mentioned.
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Agree with this wholeheartedly. A season without fanwanks and callbacks.
This is why i have a hard time ranking Star Trek shows after like 3rd and 4th place. VOY and TOS, for example, have much better episodes (to me) than Disco has ever had. VOY and TOS have had some of the best episodes of the franchise. However, I find half of TOS borderline unwatchable and a lot of VOY mediocre. DISCO doesn't have a lot of really *great* episodes to me - and none as good as the best of the other shows I mentioned - but it is consistently entertaining and has moments that are really well done.
I can't compare the two seasons because I think they have some equal ups and downs, but the Lower Decks episode is my favourite of the 19 episodes that have aired.
Season 1 actually followed the shows title, we got a lot of "Strange New Worlds" and exploring in that season. This season was half filler and experimental bullshit, the kind of episodes that would feel like a waste in a 26 episode season back in the day but now taking up a 10 episode run. In my opinion only five episodes this season (Episode 1 "The Broken Circle", Episode 6 "Lost in Translation", Episode 7 "Those Old Scientists", Episode 8 "Under the Cloak of War" and Episode 10 "Hegemony") were genuinely good episodes that felt like they'd have fit with Season 1's best episodes. The rest was just a waste of time at best.
The show is way too young, and has too few episodes per season, to waste on experimental episodes and general filler. SNW was advertised as going back to doing what pre-DSC Star Trek did best, literally exploring "Strange New Worlds" and having more episodic stuff (but with actual character development and occasional serialized elements, unlike several of the old shows). This season just felt half assed, and like others have pointed out its also felt like they had a much lower budget, a lot of "bottle" style episodes this season just taking place on the ship or in easily modified sets with blatant green screen, at least thats what it felt like.
The show is way too young, and has too few episodes per season, to waste on experimental episodes and general filler. SNW was advertised as going back to doing what pre-DSC Star Trek did best, literally exploring "Strange New Worlds" and having more episodic stuff (but with actual character development and occasional serialized elements, unlike several of the old shows). This season just felt half assed, and like others have pointed out its also felt like they had a much lower budget, a lot of "bottle" style episodes this season just taking place on the ship or in easily modified sets with blatant green screen, at least thats what it felt like.
I feel like season 1 brought people back to traditional Trek (love Disco but it's not typical format) and season 2 added more world building. Haven't seen the finale yet, watching it tonight.
I feel they are even. The quality is very consistent throughout the show.
The Gorn episodes made S1. While the LD crossover and the musical episode made S2.
The Gorn episodes made S1. While the LD crossover and the musical episode made S2.
In my view there were good and "less good" episodes in both seasons. More good in season 1 and more "less good" in season 2, so season 1 wins for me, but not by much.
Not sure which episode is my favorite, too many good ones.
Old Scientists* and the musical were by far the "least good" episodes of the entire two season run, with Serene Squall and Elysian kingdom the two "least good" in season 1. If I had to call out any episode as a bad one, it would be Those Old Scientists.
For the TV series themselves, I rate TOS as the best Trek show, followed closely by SNW. TNG is a distant 3rd. TAS is a very distant 4th followed by DS9 and ENT. Then VOY, PIC and DISC. LD is at the bottom of the pile.
* I'm an old scientist myself - the original red shirt geologist, but I survived to retirement age IRL
Not sure which episode is my favorite, too many good ones.
Old Scientists* and the musical were by far the "least good" episodes of the entire two season run, with Serene Squall and Elysian kingdom the two "least good" in season 1. If I had to call out any episode as a bad one, it would be Those Old Scientists.
For the TV series themselves, I rate TOS as the best Trek show, followed closely by SNW. TNG is a distant 3rd. TAS is a very distant 4th followed by DS9 and ENT. Then VOY, PIC and DISC. LD is at the bottom of the pile.
* I'm an old scientist myself - the original red shirt geologist, but I survived to retirement age IRL
In Season 2, 7 of the 10 episodes features new worlds (that includes Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, wherein the premise was precisely about our heroes learning about a world new to them). Two episodes focused heavily on learning new things about a species (Charades and Lost in Translation), and one (Subspace Rhapsody) was about a new space phenomenon. You don't have to like the season or how those new worlds were handled, but to suggest that the show isn't giving us new worlds is simply untrue.
Also, is the constant trash talking language necessary? It kind of brings down the mood.
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