Discovery at SDCC - Consolidated Thread

[Noname Given]

No, no, no. Perfect example is "Where Silence Has Lease". That conference room scene is appalling. "There's an alien out there that wants to kill us...what do we do? LET'S TALK ABOUT IT FOR 20 MINUTES!".

Kirk would have had that thing handled in half the time.

The WORST one was from TNG's "Q-Who":
http://www.chakoteya.net/NextGen/142.htm

(The tractor beam is green)
PICARD: Report, Lieutenant.

WORF: The beam is draining our shields.

RIKER: If they pull down our shields, we're helpless.

PICARD: Warp eight, any heading. Engage.

WESLEY: Captain, the beam is holding us here.

RIKER: Increase power!

WORF: Shields weakening.

DATA: Shields will be down in eighteen seconds.

PICARD: Locate the exact source of the tractor beam. Lock on phasers.

WORF: Phasers locked on target.

PICARD: Fire.

WORF: They still have us.

DATA: Shields are down, sir.
(A circular cut is made in the hull, and a section of several decks is pulled out)

WORF: A type of laser beam is slicing into the saucer section.

RIKER: Carving us up like a roast.

PICARD: With whatever force necessary, terminate that beam. Fire when ready.
(They blast a big hole through an edge of the cube)

PICARD: Again, Mister Worf.
(Two more holes are blown in the scaffolding)

DATA: Tractor beam is released, sir. Force field is maintaining our hull integrity.

RIKER: Damage report?

WORF: Coming in, sir. Sections twenty seven, twenty eight, twenty nine on decks four, five and six destroyed.

PICARD: Casualties?

WORF: Eighteen were in those sections and are missing.

PICARD: What is the condition of the alien ship?

WORF: They have sustained damage to twenty percent of their vessel. Life support minimal.

PICARD: Conference.

^^^
Lets see - you just had your shields drained, your ship heavily damaged (a huge chunck cut out of it); have lost 18 people and ONLY DAMAGED 20% OF A THE HOSTILE SHIP THAT DID THIS...so what does the Captain do? Call a conference where they spend 10 minutes talking about what to do next (IDK - finish the job and blow up the threatening ship, which they should have done on the Bridge in the first place - hell the had a conference earlier in the episode where Guinan is saying:

GUINAN: They're called the Borg. Protect yourself, Captain, or they'll destroy you.

And what's the result of this conference, Riker suggests since the Borg paid them a visit, he should take an away team over tpo the Cube and do the same. And even more hilarious is, they are surprised when Riker says:

RIKER [OC]: The Borg seem to be using their combined power to repair the ship.

IDK what the writers were thinking - What competent Captain would call a conference in the middle of a battle; and then decide it's a good idea to send his First, Second, and Third officers onto a hostile ship that's 80% operational still? It have to wonder if the writer's room conversation was "Hey we've gone 5 minutes without a conference room scene...."

Had this been TOS - the episode would have been over once the Borg damaged Kirk's ship and killed 18 of his crew...Kirk wouldn't call a conference, he'd do what a comportment Captain should do - Continue firing until the ship was 100% destroyed or disabled then scan the wreckage for intel/info. What Kirk would do, is call a conference in the middle of a fight.

 

[BillJ]

Had this been TOS - the episode would have been over once the Borg damaged Kirk's ship and killed 18 of his crew...Kirk wouldn't call a conference, he'd do what a comportment Captain should do - Continue firing until the ship was 100% destroyed or disabled then scan the wreckage for intel/info. What Kirk would do, is call a conference in the middle of a fight.

Kirk called a conference and all his senior officers left the bridge during "Balace of Terror".

 

[KirkusOveractus]

Kirk called a conference and all his senior officers left the bridge during "Balace of Terror".

But not in the heat of the battle. They were in the midst of shadowing the Romulans and deciding whether to advance on them and stop them or find another alternative. They were not engaged with the Romulans at the time.

 

[BillJ]

But not in the heat of the battle. They were in the midst of shadowing the Romulans and deciding whether to advance on them and stop them or find another alternative. They were not engaged with the Romulans at the time.

When you're shadowing them, things could change at a moments notice and they weren't even on the same level as the bridge!

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

I've never really had a problem with conference scenes. But I think I enjoy them because I like seeing starship operations and whatnot. I even enjoy them in the novels, picturing them in whatever their particular observation lounge looks like just being a normal team working together in an office. I remember a scene on the Aventine where one of the officers who likes to annoy people who are easily annoyed is purposely unwrapping candy very loudly to bug one of the others. There's something mundanely 'fun' about stuff like this to me. I'll be okay if Discovery doesn't have these kinds of scenes, but it could be fun once in a while if it serves the story. I do understand how having one such scene in EVERY episode becomes tiring after a while.

EDIT: I was re-reading some of the posted examples of bad conference scenes, and I would like to amend that yes, these scenes are big problems. I like the scenes when they aren't stupid.

 

[KirkusOveractus]

You know what we need to do right now? Meet in the Briefing Room to discuss this.

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

Family meeting!

 

[Starfury]

You know what we need to do right now? Meet in the Briefing Room to discuss this.

Don't be ridiculous. It's not the 90s anymore. We'll meet in the brig instead, shouting accusations at each other, playing the game of "whoever's on the right side of the forcefield when the ship is blown apart wins the argument"!

 

[starmike]

Kirk called a conference and all his senior officers left the bridge during "Balace of Terror".

Not in the middle of a battle.

 

[Mr Awe]

I hope there's no fucking conference room on Discovery.

At least we know there won't be a fucking holodeck!

 

[Anglachel]

At least we know there won't be a fucking holodeck!

That's true. I'm glad the NX-01 didn't have one.

 

[BillJ]

At least we know there won't be a fucking holodeck!

I wouldn't be so sure. We saw them on TAS. What was that area with trees Burnham walks into?

 

[KirkusOveractus]

At least we know there won't be a fucking holodeck!

What if the last episode has Riker watching all of this on a holodeck?

 

[KirkusOveractus]

I wouldn't be so sure. We saw them on TAS. What was that area with trees Burnham walks into?

Not sure, but I'm thinking that's some kind of hydroponics or something. Maybe that's where she meets Stamets for the first time?

 

[Mr Awe]

Some guy who had literally never before written a TV script in his life.

It's sobering to see that, for the first time, when it's being broadcast as an episode of a real TV series. Some watching from between one's fingers.

That one doesn't stand out as particularly bad in my mind. It was pretty much par for the course for TNG at the time. Hey, a first TV script on an actual show is more than most people get. Pretty cool!

 

[{ Emilia }]

At least we know there won't be a fucking holodeck!

What's wrong with getting a nice comedy episode like Fistful of Datas? I liked the fun adventure mood of quite a few holodeck episodes. Of course those didn't have super-intense interpersonal drama and epic stakes and gritty humourless action scenes.

I do wonder if DSC will deliver any humour at all, and that's been part of Trek since TOS.

 

[Mr Awe]

I wouldn't be so sure. We saw them on TAS. What was that area with trees Burnham walks into?

Now you're scaring me!

I suspect that's not a holodeck. Maybe the huge ship is some sort of ark?

 

[Mr Awe]

What's wrong with getting a nice comedy episode like Fistful of Datas? I liked the fun adventure mood of quite a few holodeck episodes. Of course those didn't have super-intense interpersonal drama and epic stakes and gritty humourless action scenes.

Honestly, if a series had one or two holodeck adventures for fun, maybe I could tolerate them. But, the history of holodeck episodes is not good. Given the SF setting, it's already unreal enough, why compound that by having an additional layer of unreality? They have the entire universe to have fun in. If they want a fun romp, they can do that without the holodeck.

 

[Noname Given]

Kirk called a conference and all his senior officers left the bridge during "Balace of Terror".

Not while they were directly facing the ship and taking fire.

 

[fireproof78]

What's wrong with getting a nice comedy episode like Fistful of Datas? I liked the fun adventure mood of quite a few holodeck episodes. Of course those didn't have super-intense interpersonal drama and epic stakes and gritty humourless action scenes.

I do wonder if DSC will deliver any humour at all, and that's been part of Trek since TOS.

Petty confident you have comedy episodes without the holodeck. I mean, look at "Shore Leave" and "Troubles with Tribbles." Shore Leave especially showcased some ideas that are holodeck-like with the way the planet was run. I think that could create the mood without leaning on the holodeck, and its malfunctions.