To be fair, the lighting in the MU scenes always seemed different, at least to me.
First Impressions
- Thread starter Damian
- Start date
Maybe the Klingons got sick of Terrans squinting and bumping into things, and decided to do the slaves a solid and include eye drops with every slave collar.
Well Mirror Terok Nor was lit significantly darker than Prime DS9, probably so it was easier to tell them apart.
The Mirror NX-01/NX-09 and the Prime Defiant (in ENT) were also lit darker.
Well, the mirror universe is (at least figuratively) a dark, dark place.
They have characters saying "tech" instead of "technology" as well. Is script runtime so reduced that multisyllabic words are too lengthy for all these shows to utilize? TOS or TNG or what not, there used to be tighter standards for technobabble. It's not like Trek is the only franchise trying to be all hipster and kewl, but none of them comes across any better. Just as long as people buy the "merch", which they're not doing either... but correlation is not causation and it's not like the diminutization of the language is the biggest reason why modern day sci-fi sucks. Kinda like having an officer be set up for an important peace mission but then throws a tantrum and - contrary to her orders - shoots someone and starts a war but it's somehow not her fault in any way shape or form...
In Discovery the Klingons are represented as the anti-Federation. The Federation is about integration, peace between worlds and species. T'Kuvma basing himself on Kahless (this series' version) teaches racial purity, xenophobia, isolationism as the basis of Klingon strength and unity, an us vs. them mentality. Voq though T'Kuvma's heir and initially a hard-core follower, seems to transcend this message by becoming Tyler.
I finished up the first season last night. Overall, I liked the characters. I thought I was not going to like Tilley but she grows on you after a while. However, if they are not careful she could turn into the new Wesley Crusher (the cadet who has all the answers). They'll have to manage that with the writing and acting to make sure that transition does not occur.
I already went into some of the things I didn't care for (nu-Klingons, spore drive, etc.) and won't belabor those points again. In general I liked the 1st season, even if it's just easier to think of it as a reboot for now. However, I was surprised at how quickly they wrapped up the Klingon War arc. It's like they realized "oops, we only have 2 episodes left this season, we better finish the war off". Probably partly because they spent basically 4 episodes of a 15 episode season in the Mirror Universe. I liked those episodes, but when you don't have the usual 25-30 episodes a season, you don't really have the luxury of spending lots of time on one story arc, when you have another season long arc supposedly going on that you'll need to resolve.
I was a bit curious why the crew didn't seem all that curious or even worried about the fate of the original Lorca. Based on Drastic Measures he's out there somewhere. I don't think we've seen the last of Lorca--I liked the way he was written in Drastic Measures and look forward to seeing that guy at some point.
And then of course they come back 9 months later, indicating they had to 'artificially' move things forward to bring the war ot a conclusion. And the end seems a bit off. I mean, L'Rella takes over the Empire and they just basically give up. That's how the war ends? They just pull back their troops when they were on the brink of victory? It was almost like "Oops, out of time". It almost makes me believe they'd be better off with a full normal episode run for each season. I mean, you want to do these big story arcs and have them concluded within one season, then you probably need more time, more episodes. 15 just didn't seem to be enough with everything they seemed to want to do.
I already went into some of the things I didn't care for (nu-Klingons, spore drive, etc.) and won't belabor those points again. In general I liked the 1st season, even if it's just easier to think of it as a reboot for now. However, I was surprised at how quickly they wrapped up the Klingon War arc. It's like they realized "oops, we only have 2 episodes left this season, we better finish the war off". Probably partly because they spent basically 4 episodes of a 15 episode season in the Mirror Universe. I liked those episodes, but when you don't have the usual 25-30 episodes a season, you don't really have the luxury of spending lots of time on one story arc, when you have another season long arc supposedly going on that you'll need to resolve.
I was a bit curious why the crew didn't seem all that curious or even worried about the fate of the original Lorca. Based on Drastic Measures he's out there somewhere. I don't think we've seen the last of Lorca--I liked the way he was written in Drastic Measures and look forward to seeing that guy at some point.
And then of course they come back 9 months later, indicating they had to 'artificially' move things forward to bring the war ot a conclusion. And the end seems a bit off. I mean, L'Rella takes over the Empire and they just basically give up. That's how the war ends? They just pull back their troops when they were on the brink of victory? It was almost like "Oops, out of time". It almost makes me believe they'd be better off with a full normal episode run for each season. I mean, you want to do these big story arcs and have them concluded within one season, then you probably need more time, more episodes. 15 just didn't seem to be enough with everything they seemed to want to do.
Oh, one other thing I almost forgot. One problem with redesigning familiar aliens is sometimes I don't recognize them as such. I didn't realize in the last episode of the first season that we were looking at Orions (esp. the males). They looked nothing like Orion males depicted previously. I actually thought they were other humans (they did have a bit of an odd tint but I initially dismissed that do to lighting). Ditto for Tellarites. I didn't realize at first there were Tellarites being shown.
Basically I'd say if they want to show previously shown aliens, it might be a good idea to retain some familiar element that makes you say, ah, that's an Orion. Otherwise you might go through most of the episode and not even realize it.
Honestly back to the Giger-Klingons for a second if it wasn't pointed out they were Klingons in the first episode I probably would have thought they were some new alien species. If they weren't the major plot point and one just popped in episode 3 for an appearance I'd probably honestly think it was some never before seen alien.
Basically I'd say if they want to show previously shown aliens, it might be a good idea to retain some familiar element that makes you say, ah, that's an Orion. Otherwise you might go through most of the episode and not even realize it.
Honestly back to the Giger-Klingons for a second if it wasn't pointed out they were Klingons in the first episode I probably would have thought they were some new alien species. If they weren't the major plot point and one just popped in episode 3 for an appearance I'd probably honestly think it was some never before seen alien.
That 9-month time jump really reminded me of the New Frontier series and it’s 14 month jump that allowed the Excalibur to miss the Dominion War.
But the Klingons in Discovery really remind me of the one species of Xindi.
I think it was 3 years actually with NF.
Because it wasn't...
I just checked Memory Beta, and it’s 16 months.
Sorry. I was misunderstanding what you were referring to. I thought you were referring to the gap prior to the novel "After the Fall". There was a 3 year gap between that and the book prior (Stone and Anvil).
But that wasn't a time jump or anything. Just 3 years happened in NF that we know almost nothing about (kind of like that gap in Deep Space Nine when they brought that series forward to the Typhon Pact era, though in that case they filled in much of what was going on during that time)
Yeah I was referring to “Double Time”.
Oh, got it. I was racking my brain trying to figure out when that occurred in the novels but since it wasn't in a novel, that's probably why I couldn't think of it
Actually it did, because it takes place between “Once Burned” and “Double or Nothing” and explains the year-and-a-half time jump between “Fire On High” & “Double or Nothing” and was later referenced in later books.Oh, got it. I was racking my brain trying to figure out when that occurred in the novels but since it wasn't in a novel, that's probably why I couldn't think of it
Yeah, I don't really see the war as Burnham's fault either, but the show was selling this point. Lorca, the female prisoner in Ep. 3, Admiral Cornwell, and even Burnham blamed herself for the war, although the Torchbearer Klingon attacked first, and the Sarcophagus ship fired first. Burnham's error was stepping foot on the Beacon of Kahless, and choosing to fight the Torchbearer instead of running away, although there is no guarantee she would not have been pursued by the Torchbearer and killed. But her self-sacrifice would have been preferable to triggering a war that ended in thousands of lives lost. I think she carried this guilt as well as the guilt of Captain Georgiou's death, but her redemption arc is kind of clunky, she "saves" mirror Georgiou and then redeems herself in the eyes of Starfleet for helping to end the war and not allowing Starfleet to sacrifice its principles.Because it wasn't...
I disagree that the show was "selling it." It just demonstrated that characters believed such facts and that impacted their viewpoint on Burnham. Part of her journey is coming to grips with what she could and could not have done differently.
No matter what characters said I never believed that the war was Burnham's fault. People just used that as leverage with her.
Cornwell did say she was blamed "rightly or wrongly", which I think indicates people familiar with the facts knew it wasn't directly her fault but popular opinion might disagree.
I'm hoping it's ok to revive my old First Impressions thread (it's been about 10 months so it's not too old).
I just got season 2 on Blu-Ray and as I don't stream this is my first go around with season 2. I thought it might be better to continue posting my first impressions since it's a continuation of the existing thread really. Fingers crossed
Anyway I'm 2 episodes in at this point. I found the first episode of season 2 to be the usual set up for a new story. There is some natural carry over from season 1--but it seems they are trying to set it up for a different story line and feel. And so far I like what I see. Particularly the 2nd episode "Eden" I think it was called.
One thing I liked was reading the novel "The Enterprise War" BEFORE watching season 2. Hearing Pike talk about Spock's difficulty make a lot of sense after reading the novel--I found that to be an advantage. Plus it explains why the Enterprise was not involved with the war. I thought after reading the novel and how it ended would help and I find it has.
I still have some of my production design pet peeves, but I didn't figure that was going to change so I'm just going with it for now. But season 2 so far, 2 episodes in, has a definite different vibe to it. It actually feels a bit more Star Trekky to me, for lack of a better word. I like the guy who plays Pike--in a way he reminds me of a bit of a mix between Jeffrey Hunter and Bruce Greenwood. He has a bit of Greenwood's sense of humor with the seriousness of Hunter, if that's possible. It's hard to explain but I could see a bit of both Pikes in Discovery.
I was a bit confused though. They said the planet in "Eden" was 140,000 light years away, which Pike said would take about 150 years to get to at maximum warp, and it was in the Beta Quadrant. Yet Voyager was stranded on the other side of the galaxy in the Delta Quadrant, over 70,000 light years away. We have been told the Klingon Empire (and parts of the Federation I believe) stretch into the Beta Quadrant, while if I recall correctly the Delta Quadrant was on the opposite end from our quadrant. So how can something in a neighbor quadrant be farther away than the opposite quadrant?
But other than that I mostly liked what I see so far. I have a feeling these mysterious 'angel' aliens will figure prominently in this season and while I've managed to avoid major spoilers I know Spock will make an appearance at some point. It'll be interesting to see him and also to see how the novel "The Enterprise War" factors into his present condition (since it was strongly hinted what happened in that story has an impact on Spock as seen in season 2). I will also be interested to see how the Enterprise appears. All I've seen is Spock's quarters (which featured a pretty massive redesign).
I'm a bit disappointed to see only 2 of the 4 Short Treks from between season 1 and 2 are on the Blu-Ray set. I had hoped all 4 would be included. Hopefully future releases will include the missing episodes.
But it's nice to have Star Trek episodes to watch that I've never seen. I'll try to pace myself to stretch it out a bit.
I just got season 2 on Blu-Ray and as I don't stream this is my first go around with season 2. I thought it might be better to continue posting my first impressions since it's a continuation of the existing thread really. Fingers crossed
Anyway I'm 2 episodes in at this point. I found the first episode of season 2 to be the usual set up for a new story. There is some natural carry over from season 1--but it seems they are trying to set it up for a different story line and feel. And so far I like what I see. Particularly the 2nd episode "Eden" I think it was called.
One thing I liked was reading the novel "The Enterprise War" BEFORE watching season 2. Hearing Pike talk about Spock's difficulty make a lot of sense after reading the novel--I found that to be an advantage. Plus it explains why the Enterprise was not involved with the war. I thought after reading the novel and how it ended would help and I find it has.
I still have some of my production design pet peeves, but I didn't figure that was going to change so I'm just going with it for now. But season 2 so far, 2 episodes in, has a definite different vibe to it. It actually feels a bit more Star Trekky to me, for lack of a better word. I like the guy who plays Pike--in a way he reminds me of a bit of a mix between Jeffrey Hunter and Bruce Greenwood. He has a bit of Greenwood's sense of humor with the seriousness of Hunter, if that's possible. It's hard to explain but I could see a bit of both Pikes in Discovery.
I was a bit confused though. They said the planet in "Eden" was 140,000 light years away, which Pike said would take about 150 years to get to at maximum warp, and it was in the Beta Quadrant. Yet Voyager was stranded on the other side of the galaxy in the Delta Quadrant, over 70,000 light years away. We have been told the Klingon Empire (and parts of the Federation I believe) stretch into the Beta Quadrant, while if I recall correctly the Delta Quadrant was on the opposite end from our quadrant. So how can something in a neighbor quadrant be farther away than the opposite quadrant?
But other than that I mostly liked what I see so far. I have a feeling these mysterious 'angel' aliens will figure prominently in this season and while I've managed to avoid major spoilers I know Spock will make an appearance at some point. It'll be interesting to see him and also to see how the novel "The Enterprise War" factors into his present condition (since it was strongly hinted what happened in that story has an impact on Spock as seen in season 2). I will also be interested to see how the Enterprise appears. All I've seen is Spock's quarters (which featured a pretty massive redesign).
I'm a bit disappointed to see only 2 of the 4 Short Treks from between season 1 and 2 are on the Blu-Ray set. I had hoped all 4 would be included. Hopefully future releases will include the missing episodes.
But it's nice to have Star Trek episodes to watch that I've never seen. I'll try to pace myself to stretch it out a bit.
Similar threads
