Spoilers If you could change one thing about Discovery

[Soong-type Android]

Show of hands--who here remembers the part where V'Ger calls out Spock while he's on Vulcan?

You mean the same half Vulcan Spock who possesses telepathic abilities, practised Vulcan mental disciplines for years and has previously been shown to be affected by a ship crewed by Vulcans being destroyed as opposed to the completely human Michael Burnham with none of those abilities? Yeah, not the same thing.

But the belief that the reason DSC's format needs to change is because no other Trek show has featured (at the most) 1-2 main protagonists who were at the heart of all the important stories, is provable bunk.

Obviously the format can't change now because the whole concept is that it is Michael Burnham's story which undermines your second point as it isn't comparable to previous Trek series as this is the first Trek series specifically intended as being one particular character's story. It is simply my personal opinion that Discovery would be a better series had it retained the same character dynamic seen from TNG - ENT rather than focusing on one character.

 

[Rahul]

Yeah, the main problem with Burnham as a character is the writing. Especially how too much revolves around her.

And I don't mean that the writers are focused on her. She's the main character! That's okay. It's that the universe itself seemed to be focused around her.

A good comparison would be Frodo from "Lord of the Rings". He's "the" main character. More than half of all pages are from his perspective. But the universe isn't centered around him - only this one(!) fact, that he is the bearer of the one Ring. Everything else - his connection to Gandalf, the journey he takes, the people he meets, the dangers he escape - they all stem from this one(!) thing, and his choices regarding it. And that for more than a thousand pages!

If the DIS-writers had written Frodo, he would start out with the Ring, but then also turn out to be the brother of Aragorn, his genetic father the leader of the Ringwraith, his adopted mother the Queen of the Elves, and Gollume giving him his ring because of a prophecy. It's just - each connection is problematic because it already existed before the inciting incident - the RIng - and the sum total of them is absurdly unbelievable. Whereas in the books as written - he also meets all these people, is important for everyone, and all told from his perspective. But it makes sense because it's all a direct result of the central conceit of the story. Not the story twisting itself around to incorporate Frodo's backstory at every turn.

 

[Soong-type Android]

And I don't mean that the writers are focused on her. She's the main character! That's okay. It's that the universe itself seemed to be focused around her.

This! ↑↑

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Brand it a franchise reboot.

 

[plentode]

Only one... remove Burnham's relationship with the Sarek family.

 

[Jayson1]

I think the big issue isn't whether or not it's a good idea or not to focus so heavy on one character. I think the issue is Burnham simply isn't interesting enough to really deserve that level of focus and the actor isn't super compelling enough that makes you just want to come and watch the actor do his/her thing. If the Picard show or Gergiou show has this same kind of focus it will play different because both are more interesting characters played by movie star level talent.

The other issue is the supporting cast is simply to good to be sidelined. The full cast is not being used to it's full potential because Tilly,Saru, Stamets and now Jett Reno command more screen time simply because I think people want to see more of them. because they like what they have seen. I mean it's to far in the game for Burnham to not be the lead but it should fill more like a ensemble show and also where the other characters actually feel important to the main story arc and are around to do more than just prop up Burnham and push buttons during space battles.

What's weird is the second most important character on the show also seemed to be one of the shows least interesting characters in Tyler and he got that level of importance for no reason other than being Burnham's love interest. It's a weird dynamic were your least interesting characters are at the top driving the show while you got all these great other characters sort of sitting in the background not being used to full potential.

I think it must be case of the old school pretty people tv trope. How many old school tv shows have focused on some pretty good looking guy or lady while you got a bunch of experienced character actors just being wasted. I think it has happened alot and this is when the shows CBS roots kind of show. It;s like you got two options. Show focuses on hot dude or lady and supported by experienced character actors or show stars top level character actor and us supported by mostly young good looking people and maybe one other character actor of note.

Jason

 

[SJGardner]

What's weird is the second most important character on the show also seemed to be one of the shows least interesting characters in Tyler and he got that level of importance for no reason other than being Burnham's love interest. It's a weird dynamic were your least interesting characters are at the top driving the show while you got all these great other characters sort of sitting in the background not being used to full potential.

While I disagree with you on Burnham, who I like very much, I also believe Tyler was just not good enough to get so much focus, let alone a romance with Burnham. They had just no chemistry at all which made the whole relationship feel like it was forced into the story just so that Burnham could have a love interest. It might be for self-serving reasons, given what an ardent Burnham/Tilly shipper I am, but I would've left out the romance with Tyler altogether. It never really worked, just like how Tyler himself didn't really work as a character. Despite all the story potential with Voq, he ultimately just shrugged off all signs of a crisis of identity and ended up as simply Ash Tyler with the memories of a Klingon that sometimes come in handy for him.

 

[Nyotarules]

Funny you should mention that, I work in the education system in Australia and these days it's unusual to find a school where the leadership isn't largely composed of women.

Same with the UK, there is concern not enough male teachers in the Primary sector (4 - 11)

 

[Dr. Z. Cochrane PhD]

TOS Klingons. TOS established them and ENT set it up.

 

[seigezunt]

Make it free to watch!

Yes, make CBS pay my cable bill!

 

[Groppler Zorn]

And I don't mean that the writers are focused on her. She's the main character! That's okay. It's that the universe itself seemed to be focused around her.

Agreed. Again I’d refer to ds9 here since the universe literally did revolve around Sisko. Without him the literal timeline of the canon universe would not have unfolded the way it did because aliens who exist outside the realm of linear time needed that piece of their puzzle moved in those ways at those points. With no Sisko the dominion conquer the alpha quadrant probably. Or destroy the wormhole - thus ending the game for the prophets.

Question is, did ds9 seem like that?

Nope.

Does dsc seem like the prime universe revolves around Michael Burnham?

Kinda sometimes yeh. Even the prime mirror universe seems to focus on her quite a bit too...

I understand why it seems like this given that Michael is the lead character. But it seems less that she participates in events and more that events occur around her.

If someone in the prime universe noticed this, that could make things very difficult for Michael. I’d watch that storyline tbh.

How do you spell “Q”?

 

[Ralphis]

I would have set it somewhere in Trek's future right from the onset. While I like Discovery and personally didn't have a problem with it taking advantage of the technology and resources available to them to make the show look as good as it can - even if it meant looking more advanced than TOS, TNG, etc. - it's divided the fan-base. The basic premise of Season 1 could have easily been done in a post-TNG era setting. Sure, some of the details would be lost (Burnham obviously wouldn't be Spock's foster sister), but you could still give the same basic story if it were set in, say, 2456. Klingons cut off all diplomatic ties for some reason at some point in the late 24th century and there's no contact with them aside from random skirmishes. Burnham's parents die, she's raised on Vulcan. Even the Mirror Universe aspects of Season 1 could still work to some degree even considering what we know about it from DS9 (the fall of the Terran Empire, etc).

But I'm fine with it the way it is.

 

[Disco!Disco!]

You mean the same half Vulcan Spock who possesses telepathic abilities, practised Vulcan mental disciplines for years and has previously been shown to be affected by a ship crewed by Vulcans being destroyed as opposed to the completely human Michael Burnham with none of those abilities? Yeah, not the same thing.

Spock was on Vulcan minding his own business, when V'Ger called to him. Just him. The Vulcan Kolinahr Master only sensed it when melding with Spock.

It is a bizarre random connection that centers Spock, but you're giving it a free pass for...reasons.

 

[Groppler Zorn]

Spock was on Vulcan minding his own business, when V'Ger called to him. Just him. The Vulcan Kolinahr Master only sensed it when melding with Spock.

It is a bizarre random connection that centers Spock, but you're giving it a free pass for...reasons.

To be fair, the Vulcan lady did say “it [V’Ger] stirs your human half, Spock” so maybe it affected only half Vulcans, not full Vulcans. That could be a reasons.

 

[Soong-type Android]

It is a bizarre random connection that centers Spock, but you're giving it a free pass for...reasons.

Depends if you interpret "called out" as being literal. But you can give a certain amount of leeway due to Spock having telepathic abilities. Regardless, I'm not a fan of these sort of stretching credulity to the limit type of connection a major protagonist has to a plot, particularly when it happens on a repeated basis.

 

[JesterFace]

I think there was a lot of potential in the pilot when Philippa Georgiou was in command.
Shame that Georgiou (our universe version) wasn't around after the first two episodes.

She wasn't the only captain that deserved more screen time, Lorca was great too.

Out of the two I would choose Georgiou.

I think that counts as one thing, "missing captains".

 

[Disco!Disco!]

To be fair, the Vulcan lady did say “it [V’Ger] stirs your human half, Spock” so maybe it affected only half Vulcans, not full Vulcans. That could be a reasons.

Yeah, fans try to come up with ways for it to make sense because it really doesn't.

 

[Groppler Zorn]

Yeah, fans try to come up with ways for it to make sense because it really doesn't.

Spock is deep

 

[seigezunt]

Yeah, fans try to come up with ways for it to make sense because it really doesn't.

Yep, it's what we've always done, since way back. It's a heck of a lot more fun than the current approach.

 

[gblews]

I agree with your overall point, but to follow your line of argument here, why is the show called “Discovery” and not “The Burnham Diaries”?

Two reasons, because "The Burnham Diaries" is a dumb title and because of tradition. All the spinoffs (eccept DS9) have been named after ships. However, the title of the show has never had much influence on a Trek show's format or the identity of protagonist.

I suppose the best comparison would be Deep Space Nine - much of which revolves around (the) Sisko, since he was half prophet alien the whole time and the entirety of DS9 depended on Sisko being born to Joseph, etc.

However, DS9 wasn’t 100% Siskocentric. Nor is DSC 100% Burnhamcentric, but the percentage of focus is higher for Michael than it was for Benjamin. Michael seems more integral to the dsc universe than Sisko did to the events of ds9.

Looking at this another way, we could argue that a reduced focus on Michael would give some of the other characters (many of whom I find more interesting - and I’m not knocking Burnham here, she just doesn’t speak to me) more of a chance to shine.

DS9 was the one Trek show that was close to an ensemble format. None of the others had this type of format. They all had a focal character, through whom most of the stories were old. In the spins before DSC, the focal character was always the captain. As someone has already pointed out, even TOS was presented through Kirk or Spock, with McCoy as an infrequent alternate.

The point is that DSC is directly following in the footsteps of TNG, VOY, and to a slightly lesser degree, Ent.,and TOS.