Should there be more every day life on Discovery?

Awkward small talk in the Turbolift?

"So... how is it going in Astrophysics Department..?" "It's good it's good it's good... And... ehm... Transporter Room?" "uh-uh... you know you know... People beam up... people beam down..."

*uncomfortable silence*

 

Lot's of CCTV, computer monitoring, Betazed thought police, physiological penal colonies, stuff like that.

You know ... "paradise."

Tech One: "So, third date with T'wje'jenj, how did it go?"
Tech Two: "Well, turns out she has four sets of sex organs."
Tech One: "How was the sex?"
Tech Two: "Surprisingly good."
LaForge: "Oh how I hate you."

 

I agree, as long as the show doesn't become about those issue, becoming like a soap opera set in the future. It's esp good if some everyday issue has a payoff in the sci-fi story. Even if it doesn't, I remember in The Naked Time Uhura mentioned the door to her quarters was squeaky. I liked that. It makes it seem more real and relatable.

 

This is my biggest problem with Star Trek. They say the ship has hundreds of people on it, but they're often in the way of the story. The story is about a small handful of people on a space ship, and the need to explain what hundreds of people do feels like an annoyance. I wish they made it feel like these people were delegating important things to managers who were managing teams of their own.

 

As someone who is frankly sick of Starfleet, I've wanted a civilian Star Trek show for years. The closest I've seen is the fan film series Star Trek: Aurora. But I love it when the shows have had slices of every day life. There's a reason writers loved writing for O'Brien, McCoy, Quark, and others who took a more regular-person look at the experiences they go through.

Ultimately, any show is about characters, first and foremost. The story is simply there so we can see how they react. So, the more we see of the characters, and their reactions to the everyday, the more fun it would be to see them placed in various situations.

 

One would think individual crew members would be trained to handle simple problems like that on their own. A simple repair kit would suffice. It's not as if some hapless ensign would breach the core by trying to tighten the flap on his air vent. (But then this is TOS we're talking about. )

(I couldn't find that reference @cgervasi I tried searching that episode's transcript with "quarters", "door" and "squeak")

Engineers are too busy calibrating life support and monitoring the warp core to go on squeak duty, aren't they? (At least on Kirk's Enterprise)

 

I think that line from Uhura about the doors squeaking was from "THE MAN TRAP", just as she exited a turbolift and she passed by two crewmen, right before the Salt Vampire turned himself into the Swahili speaking crewman.

 

^ Yes. "The Man Trap":

UHURA (to crewmen) The door to my quarters still rattles when it opens. Would you stop by and see if you can do something about it? Thanks, Bobby. (Green changes into African crewman) Crewman, do I know you?

http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/6.htm

 

Much thanks. I thought it might be that episode.

 

I'm in need of new sig material, and I like these two comments as a general statement on the totality of Trek, may I use them?


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But to answer the question, I agree with those have said that little bits of non-work related character development are what makes the characters likable. It doesn't have to be 45 minutes of the chief engineer biting his toenails, but little comments and moments that help sell them as more than just things that say dialog.

 

Please feel free to use mine, I'm flattered!

 

Because the Germans (aka The Federation) invaded France and put the Federation flag (German flag) in the middle of the French capital as a statement to its enemies. Of course the French put their hands in the air and surrendered when the Federation came to invade, and let all of the above happen, just as they always do.

Plus ca change, you could say.

 

I don't see "no shagging" going down well on a ship that's supposed to be full of homosexuals.

 

It's pretty clear so far that Discovery is aiming at a propulsive, plot-driven adventure format - so, no. There's no indication that this version will incorporate the "workplace drama" aspects of TNG/DS9/Voyager/Enterprise, which are absent from TOS and all of the Trek movies.

 

I couldn't agree with you more. They made the effort with the Enterprise D to some extent and it all helped add to the totality of that universe. It's a well known fact quite a few of Trekkies would love to be in Starfleet and living in the world of the Federation if they could. Therefore making it seem as real as possible on the screen allows those fans to do the next best thing.

 

Balance it out. Having too much everyday stuff makes and having not enough are two sides of the same coin.

 

According to TNG Technical Manual, at least one trasporter room must be always manned. So, eight hours. Standing. In an empty room. Waiting. Waiting. Waiting.

 

Fixed that for you.