Does this series seem more mature and grittier than the other series?

In my experience there's a significant correlation between "grittier" and "more immature"

 

How do you figure? UPN had problems with rural penetration, but it still reached something like 80-100 million households. CBS All Access, by contrast, has (at last report) about 2 million subscribers.

We have no idea about DISCO's specific audience numbers, of course, so can't draw direct comparisons to ENTERPRISE, but it seems very safe to say that only a fraction of CBS All Access subscribers are watching DISCO (let's be very generous and say 3/5th of them), which would mean DISCO draws ~1.2 million viewers/week. (And, really, I think ~800,000 is more realistic.) By contrast, ENTERPRISE averaged 5.9 million viewers/wk in its first season, 2.9 million viewers/wk in its last season, and never once dipped below 2.5 million (which happened the week it was cancelled). It's really hard to argue that DISCO on its best day has a wider audience than ENTERPRISE on its worst.

Where DISCO makes up for this smaller audience, presumably, is the subscription model: CBS gets ad revenue AND $5.99/viewer/month, which adds up to big money.

As for the main topic of the thread: I subscribe to the consensus that Discovery is far "grittier" than other Treks, but has the maturity of a 16-year-old Star Trek RPG player who just saw Battlestar Galactica for the first time. Its grittiness is not realistic; it's an aesthetic affectation that often comes across as wooden or heavy-handed (e.g. Tilly's cussing and the various Shocking Deaths). DS9 and even TOS/ENT are more realistic about how soldiers actually behave.

 

I don't think it's intentionally grittier, they're just trying to be more realistic with their depiction of planets, space and physics.

 

I would love to see Voyager and Enterprise with the CGI they use in STD, otherwise I think Discovery is bad. Too much of a SJW festival

 

Yeah, sure......

 

You think i’m wrong?

 

The Trump Era. Where showing diversity automatically leads to some people screaming "SJW!!!!!" no matter what. It could be the best written thing ever. Emmy Award Winning. But, if you dare have minorities or too many female leads, then, "Oh no!!!! SJW!!!!"

 

Yeah I doubt they sat around and asked "how do we make this all gritty"

It just kinda is, the subject matter, a different kinda story, ill bet season two is a smidge lighter

 

"SJW" as a divisive label that exposes your bias. Trek has ALWAYS been about pushing more progressive social ideals, from day one-- the original pilot to TOS had a woman as second in command, a move so controversial at the time that the network's forced a change. DS9 had only one caucasian male in the primary cast. Voyager had a female captain, a Native American 1st officer, a hispanic chief engineer, and Korean ensign.

If a black female lead, a gay couple, and an Asian captain is "too SJW", maybe Trek isn't for you.

 

But why? Just to be politically correct?
A female named Michael? Embarrasing

Maybe that kind of politically correct stuff isn’t for Star Trek

 

Not my intention, I never use the SJW card, but when it affects Star Trek I won’t stay quiet

 

What about a man named Lindsey? One of the best guitar players ever.

You do realize there are women named michael in the world right?

When I hear SJW I don't think of "woma named michael SOCIAL AGENDA RAWR"

I think of someone who gets violent or breaks the law or violates others rights, due to their own social biases. Comitting one wrong to balance a different perceived wrong.

When did SJW get to mean "woman named michael" or "average women character models" in a video game?

 

Sure, I apologize. I am not a troller but I seriously believe that there is a social agenda behind the characters in Discovery

Voyager pulled it off without being so ”in your face” about it.

 

And?

Entertainment, for millennia, has contained “a social agenda”. Not all of it, of course, but far, far more than most people would imagine.

 

But when they do stuff just to appeal to minorities bothers me. A black female lead with a gender neutral name with a gay couple in the mix? Give me a break...

 

Yes, gritty!!