Positivity Update: Still "Positive". Stuff I like: Cast, set design, upbeat feel, thematic vibes, props, effects, the Shenzhou design Stuff I am 'could go either way' about: Uniforms, war storyline, Klingons Stuff I dislike: Small universeness, the Discovery design Stay tuned.
I agree for the most part. Except I like the ship design (at least the Shenzhou) and really don't like the uniforms--actually, I don't much care for the over-use of blue in general.
Star Trek has always been about human drama more than "scifi ideas". The "scifi ideas" are there to propel the human drama.
Based on what's been shown, I am optimistic that the episodes will be as good as these lead-ups. But teasers and trailers are not the full episodes.
True, but Trek tended and usually tried to make technobabble feel like real technology. While using real science where possible. At least until DS9 and especially VOY, where the quality of technobabble went down. Looking at TNG episodes like "Time Squared" and "Contagion", both used sci-fi ideas wonderfully to complement the human condition and vice-versa. "Time Squared" is high concept, in terms of seeing one's self from the future due to an anomaly that may have been created due to an accident as ordered by the person who has managed to slip back in time. Add in Picard who is very confident and usually right, sees this strange set of events, and falters. Not a bad episode for Troi, too. we never get an actual explanation for the space tornado thingy, only guesses, as to why it took a fascination to the ship - but for Picard it did sense two of them and may have had a rudimentary intelligence. Or a being lived in the tornado, we don't know. But it's not a story about space tornadoes and critters living inside as much as Troi can figure out what's inside, but of Picard and what happens to a person if they make a mistake and actually see proof of it before it happens. Again, it's high concept stuff but with Picard's character it's all explored rather well. "Contagion" had an allegory on computer viruses, though the Ikonian sensors were not malicious as such so it's not a direct parallel being made, assuming if it's possible - I can't connect my Commodore 64 to my smartphone and see the C64's ROM being reprogrammed. Mostly because the C64 has only ROM and no EEPROM or other form of reprogrammable storage for critical operational processes, but that's just a technicality. But having Picard there to counter Worf's idea that the portal door (and yes, it's closer to magic than technology right now) was used for escape as opposed to conquest was mind-opening and rather good and very Trekkish, as well as the crew figuring out the probes - the characters interact with the events without always knowing what other characters do, in front of the TV screen we see what they all do so naturally the answers come quicker to the viewer. It's why "reality is stranger than fiction". Anyway, Picard might still have been wrong but his reasoning to make a hypothesis was entertaining, and sufficient to counter Worf's belief. That and how the Yamato's logs were copied over to spread - that was brilliant. Showing not just the Yamato's captain frustrated with the ship "malfunctions" but the tie-in to the planet and the Romulan threat. It almost has a proto-DS9 vibe but "Contagion" goes in a completely different and self-contained direction...
I very much doubt he's doing anything like that and it certainly isn't a “fact”. I still remain “very positive” about Discovery. Initially I wasn't very keen on the Klingons featuring so heavily and I had to warm to the design of Discovery, but it looks like they are doing something new with the Klingons and the ship is looking much better after the redesign. One thing I keep wondering is if the show has a realistic chance and the potential to become a cult phenomenon like Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Lost or Breaking Bad. I mean the sort of “must-see TV” that even my non-genre-savvy co-workers start to watch and talk about. Personally, I'd settle for a show that is intelligent and engaging and runs for a certain amount of time, but never quite catches on with the general audience at large. But if it actually manages to reach the status of a mainstream cult show, that would be awesome, too. I imagine that's kind of what happened in the nineties with The Next Generation so I guess it could happen again. But something inside of me tells me that in today's TV landscape it's much harder to reach these heights.
If you watch any of the writing panels from STLV or SDCC that I posted, the STLV actor panel, or even the novel panel, a lot of your "war" qualms would probably be alleviated. What's a: "small universe-ness"? RAMA
The Sarek/Spock stuff, and Mudd being in it, I just prefer a cleaner break, not shoehorning in connections to existing characters and shows
I'm kinda' okay with Mudd. Him being such a unique, but not too-well known character, who hangs around during that timeframe (and likely in the same region of space near the klingons) anyway. But the Sarek/Burnham/Spock-relationship? Yeah. That's shoved right in your face with the subtlety of a brick. "You like Spock, right? See, she's related to him! Remember Spock? Remember him? They're related!"
I see. I think the whole reason it's set in 2255 is so they could have some of these secondary characters in it. Though this is in direct opposition to what STNG tried to do, taking modern drama as it is, I don't think the characters are going to be exactly the same as we've seen. RAMA
Now I am just doing the waiting game! I like how they are not spilling too much of the story! Hope it will be as interesting as it looks!
I'm feeing positive... but at the same time not all that super excited for some reason, or at least as excited as I was when it was first announced. Unlike others here I have no issue with the design aspects or the time period; I just haven't seen or heard enough yet to think this will be the smart and thoughtful show I want it to be (and was expecting when Fuller was attached), and not just a super flashy TV version of the JJ movies. Too much of the emphasis in the trailers seems to be on the visuals over creating a rich and believable world, and so far the simplistic dialogue sounds like it could have come straight out of the JJ movies as well (or VOY and ENT for that matter).
Good fight got season 2 before they finished airing season 1. Until something majorly fails I think we'll see the same with discovery. I don't think we'll be waiting around on a renewal decision