Impressions after 15 episodes in a weekend
- Thread starter TrickyDickie
- Start date
Wouldn't the external device be the tardigrade/Stamets?
Also, a Quantum Filament Drive is just technobabble I made up wondering if it sounded better than the mycelium network. They are both wonderful fictional tech.
The tardigrade/Stamets were the navigators, or interface between the spores and the computer, they somehow communicated with the spores once they flooded the chamber, the spores I guess existed outside of space/time-sort of like the prophets in DS9? And the spores told them where to take the ship-the coordinates. That's how I understand it. What I don't get is the whole disassembling or transformation of the ship into energy and reassembly of the ship.
The Tardigrade's not just a navigator. It has the ability to travel the network all by itself. It therefore must already contain within itself the secret to becoming energy in the network while still being able to reassemble itself at the other end of the journey.
Here goes.
Stories about exploring strange new worlds and civilizations had been a feature of past Star Trek series. There was almost none of that in DSC.
Past ST series also had plenty of stories that were allegories about the human condition and were a way to make social commentary, although I understand that may not be everybody's cup of tea.
What we did get with DSC was war. It reminded me of Star Wars, which featured a seemingly never ending war through every one of its movies.
Some of the battle scenes in DSC were on par with those in SW. The special effects were fantastic. It was light years better than what we got in past ST series. The production value of DSC seemed just as good as in SW. Visually, DSC seemed more similar to SW than to past ST series. In this regard, I think being similar to SW is a good thing.
The MU storyline also reminded me of SW. (Discovery) rebels vs the evil (Terran) empire. And when emperor Georgiou referred to Michael as her daughter, it gave off a "Luke, I am your father" vibe. After I heard more dialogue between MU Georgiou and Michael, it made me think maybe Michael is DSC's version of Anakin and Georgiou is akin to emperor Palatine.
I like DSC. It was entertaining, even though it was lacking what past ST series had. I am curious to see what season 2 has to offer.
Last edited:
There isn't nearly as much of this in 'old' Trek as people like to think there is. None the less, they did dedicate a whole episode. Plus they did dedicate substantial screen time exploring a previously unseen realm of the universe.
The whole season was an allegory. Actually, it was more like three.
Because Star Trek has never done wars before.
Wut?
That's like saying "Star Trek is like Star Wars because Star Trek has guns that shoot lasers and so does Star Wars."
Here's the thing though: The whole Star Trek and Star Wars are mostly the same is kind of like my life's work. Or rather, they are two sides of the same coin. (Or maybe two sides of the same Rubix Cube?) But they are still distinctly different sides.
However, it annoys to no end when people use one in a negative capacity against the other -- it's like the other is pejorative. It hinders on the pretense that one is better than the other (form what usually amounts to bullshit reasons) and that they're totally different and any likeness to the other should only be viewed negatively.
You read a lot into what I wrote.
If you're annoyed, then you're annoyed.
Whatever the case may be, I didn't find the outcome of DSC attempt at it (or lack of) as compelling as what I saw from past ST series.
What I wrote were the impressions that I got after watching the season. I saw similarities with SW as I described. If your impressions were different, then so be it.
If you're annoyed, then you're annoyed.
Take your pick, it may have been zero, or one, or two, or three, or four or ….
Whatever the case may be, I didn't find the outcome of DSC attempt at it (or lack of) as compelling as what I saw from past ST series.
What I wrote were the impressions that I got after watching the season. I saw similarities with SW as I described. If your impressions were different, then so be it.
Last edited:
I didn't really feel like I was watching Star Wars when I was watching STD, but STD didn't really feel like a Star Trek TV series to me, it seemed to be liberally borrowing from lots of SF genres. The warp effect reminded me of Doctor Who, the weird looking aliens did remind me of Star Wars aliens, rather than the very human looking aliens we usually get in Star Trek minus the J.J. Abrams films, the jumping of Discovery reminded me of Battlestar Galactica, the whole spore thing was reminiscent of The Expanse, though Ketwolski has shown on his YouTube channel, that the idea likely came from a video game in development, the show as a whole in terms of design seems to draw heavily on the J.J. Abrams Trek films-the look of Vulcan, the lens flares, the hairless Klingons, etc.
Discovery at least engaged me more that of 3 out of the 5 Star Trek shows I've tried to watch through.
The only Episode that engaged me was the half seasonal cliffhanger directed by Frakes. I did keep tuning in weekly to see the new Episodes as they dropped largely out of curiosity and to have something to talk about with other Trekkers. But I never really bought into the Klingon threat, I knew the Federation would come out of it, it's a prequel afterall.
To each their own. I didn't approach it as a prequel but its own story, noting that I knew little about the characters, rather than if it was Kirk/Spock prequel.
But, everyone is different. I dropped out of TNG for much the same reasons.
+
My impression isn't that there is any conversion to energy or need for reassembly. The spores have created a network through a particular layer of subspace. The network connects all the mycellium and the layer of subspace they use is practically everywhere so it is located everywhere "under" normal space. The Navigator (whether tardigrade, Stamets, or non-super navigational computer) communicates with the spores and identifies the target destination. The drive or the tardigrade then pushes the ship/tardigrade into the subspace layer - much like how the regular warp drive pushes the ship into the subspace layers used for warp - so it can travel to the identified target coordinates and pop out in regular space. No need for conversion to energy, and not fundamentally different than the regular warp drive, just using a different layer of subspace (subspace is handy for all kinds of things in Trek).
It's kinda confusing when you really start to think about it, the spores were like the energy source for the Tardigrade that did all the work, once Stamets took over the Tardigrade's role it becomes problematic because Stamets couldn't travel the mycelium like Ripper could, and doesn't use the spores as an energy source. Presumably the ship phases into subspace like Data did on Davidia 2 in the TNG Episode, Time's Arrow, the phasing causes a transporter like effect. So it's possible the ship isn't dematerializing, just phasing out, though it appears to be.
We don't really know he couldn't, though. We never saw him try. (Hey, maybe that's how Prime Lorca will make his inevitable debut - Stamets beams himself back to the MU for a rescue
)Even assuming he can't, though, I don't think it's a problem. He got a tardigrade DNA infusion, he didn't become a tardigrade. Just because it's enough to link his mind to the network that doesn't mean his body has the necessary capabilities to initiate a jump on its own.
I say "Context is for Kings" engaged me (after finding the first two episodes pretty poor), but the wheels fell off from there.
I think if I were to try to clarify my position is that the episodes over all kept me engaged, vs. the very sporadic engagement I felt with shows like TNG, VOY or ENT.
It might just be due to the serialized nature of the show, rather than anything especially engaging about the characters or situations. I honestly didn't care about any of the characters. Georgiou was the most likable but her death only shocked me, it didn't make me sad. I was intrigued enough by the cliffhanger to pickup watching it when it returned.
I get what you're saying.
I wish I had seen as much quality scifi shows as you have. I have seen my share of cheesy scifi, though.
Have you ever seen that campy Flash Gordon movie?
When watching the DSC throne room scene where emperor Georgiou was hailed -- "All Hail her most imperial majesty, the mother of the fatherland … all hail the emperor Philippa Georgiou Augustus … " -- it actually brought up memories of a scene from Flash Gordon.
It was totally unexpected. I didn't know those memories were still with me.
The drama of that scene was reminiscent of the dramatic entrance of emperor Ming the Merciless in that Flash Gordon movie. "All hail Ming, ruler of the universe, emperor of the galaxy". Both emperors were wearing similar elaborate cape attire as they were hailed.
Don't get me wrong, I am not, at all, saying DSC is campy. It is not.
I guess my point is that it is funny how watching certain scenes brings up certain memories.
One more thing. In the season finale, when Suru rose up from the captain's chair to oppose MU Georgiou's plan to obliterate Kronos, he proudly exclaimed "We are Starfleet". They don't do that kind of stuff. As I watched that, I couldn't help but think that, Wesley "we are Starfleet. we don't lie" Crusher, would have been proud.
So, there were scenes in DSC that reminded me of past Star Trek, as well.
I just wanted to share these useless, but hopefully, amusing thoughts.
Yeah, many of us have all sorts of reasons for being fans of DSC. Relax, you're still one of us.
To what and to what extreme? A kneejerk reaction or did she just stop giving a damn? I don't recall much of the episode, but was she an enlisted officer at the time? I find it interesting that someone with such training - both by a military organization and having been raised on Vulcan - would be far more emotionally feeble as such.
