Poll How positive are you about Discovery now?

[BillJ]

It definitely doesn't sound like there's been a decade of peace between the Federation and the Klingons, or any peace at all.

KIRK: We have legitimate grievances against the Klingons. They've invaded our territory, killed our citizens. They're openly aggressive. They've boasted that they'll take over half the galaxy.

 

[Tuskin38]

https://www.cnet.com/features/star-trek-discovery-cbs-all-access/

"Although the series deals with war, Harberts describes Discovery as a family show and promises it will deliver the same moments of comedy the previous series are known for."

So what heck caused it to be rated TV-MA?

 

[RAMA]

Then you really didn't find peace. Spock mentions seventy years of unremitting hostilities in The Undiscovered Country.

Not a great line, unless you accept stretches of cold war between two other wars as "unremitting hostilities".

 

[BillJ]

Not a great line, unless you accept stretches of cold war between two other wars as "unremitting hostilities".

The key word is "war". The Klingons and Feds reach mutual understanding and peace, yet continue to prepare for the next war. And it doesn't sound like the Feds and Klingons just started fighting on December 31st, 2265. TOS makes it sound like there is a long list of grievances and skirmishes.

So the "peace" Discovery shows, is fleeting at best. Which continues the trend of making it feel compartmentalized from the rest of the franchise.

 

[JD]

https://www.cnet.com/features/star-trek-discovery-cbs-all-access/

"Although the series deals with war, Harberts describes Discovery as a family show and promises it will deliver the same moments of comedy the previous series are known for."

So what heck caused it to be rated TV-MA?

Yeah, that does seem a bit odd, but you have to remember, the people making the show aren't the ones who decide on the rating, so this could be a case of him considering something family friendly, and the people who rated not.

The IGN story Rama linked to upthread also addressed the whole god incident.

Well, religion, faith and spirituality do at the very least. Aaron Harberts is quite clear on that. Of course, any Trekkie/Trekker could’ve already told you the same, but a report a few months back indicated that one of the series’ stars, Jason Isaacs, was told he couldn’t say “God” during a scene. A predictable Internet news cycle of anguish followed, but Harberts told me the whole thing got blown out of proportion, and what was a discussion about Isaacs’ specific character, Captain Gabriel Lorca, was made to seem like a blanket approach for the show.

“You will come to understand why that character has faith or doesn’t have faith is of vital importance,” Harberts says.

So the whole no saying god thing is just a part of Lorca's characterization, not something that applies to the whole universe.

 

[Kor]

https://www.cnet.com/features/star-trek-discovery-cbs-all-access/

"Although the series deals with war, Harberts describes Discovery as a family show and promises it will deliver the same moments of comedy the previous series are known for."

So what heck caused it to be rated TV-MA?

I don't know, but that question was already asked weeks ago.

Kor

 

[JD]

Here's another interesting quote from the IGN article:

In terms of the thematics, I don’t feel that they’re limiting, because we as a staff want to tell stories that have people up and cheering,” he says. “And we want to have a show that you watch with your family or your spouse and turn off the TV and have a debate about. Or turn off the TV and feel really good before you go to bed. Or have an episode of television that leaves you thinking that the world could be a better place and that getting up for work the next day is actually something that’s possible. So, in terms of limitations that way, I don’t feel any of that. That’s the kind of TV that we need, you know? It’s like, I’m a huge Game of Thrones fan, but when they burned the little girl at the stake, I was like, well, yeah. This is gonna be a tough one. That’s a tough one on a Sunday night.”

So despite the war story, they are still trying to make this a positive show that will make you feel good.

 

[cultcross]

Ever since the early 2000s, the actual Star Trek franchise has struggled towards some notion of newness, trending darker or more kinetic. This was true in the J.J. Abrams films, but it was already true in the later Next Generation movies, with their laser cannons and their spaceship smash-ups. There’s an official new Star Trek show debuting this month, Discovery, whose trailers promise war and complex motivations and all the other stuff Battlestar Galactica did last decade

Just to clarify, you're aware that's not intended as a complement, right?

 

[BillJ]

So despite the war story, they are still trying to make this a positive show that will make you feel good.

I hope they're not trying to be all things to all people. Because that rarely ends well.

 

[Mudd]

There’s an official new Star Trek show debuting this month, Discovery, whose trailers promise war and complex motivations and all the other stuff Battlestar Galactica did last decade.

A fair number of trekkies are real impressed with Star Trek doing a number of things that other shows did ten or fifteen years ago.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Yup.

 

[JD]

StarTrek.com has been doing a whole series of interviews with the cast members for the last couple weeks.
Mary Chieffo plays Klingon battle deck commander L'Rell.
Sam Vartholomeos plays Ens. Danby Connor.
Kenneth Mitchell plays Kol, leader of the Klingon House of Kor.
Sonequa Martin-Green plays Cmdr. Micheal Burnham (this one is actually from a round table interview with other news outlets, so this interview might pop up in other places).

 

[Vger23]

I hope they're not trying to be all things to all people. Because that rarely ends well.

Admittedly, though, TOS did this quite well:


You could have very serious personal human stories
WNMHGB
COTEOF
Metamorphosis
The Menagarie

You had war stories
Arena
Balance of Terror
A Private Little War

You had light-hearted stories
I Mudd
Trouble With Tribbles
A Piece of the Action
Shore Leave

You had politics/cloak-and-dagger and universe-building
Journey to Babel
Errand of Mercy
Friday's Child
Enterprise Incident
Elaan of Troyius

Darker, Less "Happy" Stories / Downer-Ending Stories
Doomsday Machine
Obsession
Omega Glory
Ultimate Computer
Lights of Zetar
Dagger of the Mind
The Man Trap
Private Little War
(it's actually amazing how many of these there are...despite so many people's rose-colored history goggles of how upbeat and positive Star Trek always is)

Explore the Galaxy and Meet Strange, New Lifeforms Stories
Devil in the Dark
Corbomite Maneuver
Who Mourns for Adonis
The Apple
Return to Tomorrow
That Which Survives
Squire of Gothos
The Cage

And Stories Where Humanity Is "Good" and "Evolved" / Stories Where the Human Spirit Prevails
Arena
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
The Empath
Day of the Dove
By Any Other Name
This Side of Paradise
Return of the Archons
Spectre of the Gun

It's actually pretty amazing the diversity in theme and tone TOS accomplished, largely without it being jarring or confusing to audiences. It's certainly a mix that was not achieved in the other series...at least not with the success as TOS had.

If DSC can pull it off, though...man that would be something.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Crusade.

The producers make a season long arc telling a story about a series of progressive achievements leading to a final (relatively speaking) victory, but the Network says "Screw this, play the exciting episodes first to get bums on seats."

No one is afraid of this happening?

 

[Mudd]

No.

 

[JD]

Admittedly, though, TOS did this quite well:


You could have very serious personal human stories
WNMHGB
COTEOF
Metamorphosis
The Menagarie

You had war stories
Arena
Balance of Terror
A Private Little War

You had light-hearted stories
I Mudd
Trouble With Tribbles
A Piece of the Action
Shore Leave

You had politics/cloak-and-dagger and universe-building
Journey to Babel
Errand of Mercy
Friday's Child
Enterprise Incident
Elaan of Troyius

Darker, Less "Happy" Stories / Downer-Ending Stories
Doomsday Machine
Obsession
Omega Glory
Ultimate Computer
Lights of Zetar
Dagger of the Mind
The Man Trap
Private Little War
(it's actually amazing how many of these there are...despite so many people's rose-colored history goggles of how upbeat and positive Star Trek always is)

Explore the Galaxy and Meet Strange, New Lifeforms Stories
Devil in the Dark
Corbomite Maneuver
Who Mourns for Adonis
The Apple
Return to Tomorrow
That Which Survives
Squire of Gothos
The Cage

And Stories Where Humanity Is "Good" and "Evolved" / Stories Where the Human Spirit Prevails
Arena
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
The Empath
Day of the Dove
By Any Other Name
This Side of Paradise
Return of the Archons
Spectre of the Gun

It's actually pretty amazing the diversity in theme and tone TOS accomplished, largely without it being jarring or confusing to audiences. It's certainly a mix that was not achieved in the other series...at least not with the success as TOS had.

If DSC can pull it off, though...man that would be something.

I thought TNG and DS9 pulled it off really well.

 

[RAMA]

Just to clarify, you're aware that's not intended as a complement, right?

I understand what they're trying to say of course, I'm simply pointing out DSC appears to up the modern dramatic quotient just as I said. It's obvious. We all already know the last few shows strayed from perfect peace and into more conflict, that's no secret.

 

[RAMA]

A fair number of trekkies are real impressed with Star Trek doing a number of things that other shows did ten or fifteen years ago.

Yeah, especially since it's been off the air for 12 years. Great point there.

But on a serious note, I've mentioned more than once I wanted the franchise to change tack in 2000 and argued strenuously for that back then. I was right, just way too early.

RAMA

 

[Prax]

Admittedly, though, TOS did this quite well:


You could have very serious personal human stories
WNMHGB
COTEOF
Metamorphosis
The Menagarie

You had war stories
Arena
Balance of Terror
A Private Little War

You had light-hearted stories
I Mudd
Trouble With Tribbles
A Piece of the Action
Shore Leave

You had politics/cloak-and-dagger and universe-building
Journey to Babel
Errand of Mercy
Friday's Child
Enterprise Incident
Elaan of Troyius

Darker, Less "Happy" Stories / Downer-Ending Stories
Doomsday Machine
Obsession
Omega Glory
Ultimate Computer
Lights of Zetar
Dagger of the Mind
The Man Trap
Private Little War
(it's actually amazing how many of these there are...despite so many people's rose-colored history goggles of how upbeat and positive Star Trek always is)

Explore the Galaxy and Meet Strange, New Lifeforms Stories
Devil in the Dark
Corbomite Maneuver
Who Mourns for Adonis
The Apple
Return to Tomorrow
That Which Survives
Squire of Gothos
The Cage

And Stories Where Humanity Is "Good" and "Evolved" / Stories Where the Human Spirit Prevails
Arena
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
The Empath
Day of the Dove
By Any Other Name
This Side of Paradise
Return of the Archons
Spectre of the Gun

It's actually pretty amazing the diversity in theme and tone TOS accomplished, largely without it being jarring or confusing to audiences. It's certainly a mix that was not achieved in the other series...at least not with the success as TOS had.

If DSC can pull it off, though...man that would be something.

That's the beauty of sci fi, and the platform TOS operated on. I think we could make lists like this for any Trek series

 

[Vger23]

I thought TNG and DS9 pulled it off really well.

I'd say DS9 yes...maybe even as good as TOS.

TNG...no, I don't agree there. I'd say they attempted to pull it off...and the attempt was valiant...but most of the time the diversity of theme did not suit the characters and that universe well. More often than not, to this viewer, it just fell flat and unconvincingly and/or just flat out ineffective.