Spoilers Season 4 Trailer

[DigificWriter]

Characters from the Mirror Universe are 'cartoon villains'; that's the point of the conceit behind its existence.

Even in DS9 when some of the characters weren't villains, they were still 'cartoony' because that's what the MU is for.

 

[eschaton]

Characters from the Mirror Universe are 'cartoon villains'; that's the point of the conceit behind its existence.

Even in DS9 when some of the characters weren't villains, they were still 'cartoony' because that's what the MU is for.

Lorca managed to stay undercover for a year or so though, which shows that he's unusually canny/restrained by the standards of the MU.

I think Discovery also made a bit of a mistake in terms of the tone. The MU works because it's cartoon evil, but it's also camp as hell, which means it doesn't come across as grimdark. Season 1 was so dour and humorless, and that camp aspect of the MU was really ignored.

 

[Jayson1]

I agree. Ash Tyler was always written badly. He seems to have no kind of life other being Burnham's off and on love interest. Also I still can't figure how much Klingon is still in him or how all that works. Jason

 

[DigificWriter]

Lorca managed to stay undercover for a year or so though, which shows that he's unusually canny/restrained by the standards of the MU.

Just because he was able to adapt, it doesn't mean that he wasn't going to be exactly like every other character from the MU if and when he got back to where he belonged.

 

[Quinton]

I'm honestly a bit bummed that we may never see Ash again. Didn't love the guy, per se, but Latif did a good job with the character.

 

[Jayson1]

I think the character could be salvaged being away from Burnham. My go to example in situations like this is always Angel becoming a better character on his own show after leaving Buffy. Jason

 

[Quinton]

I think the character could be salvaged being away from Burnham. My go to example in situations like this is always Angel becoming a better character on his own show after leaving Buffy. Jason

Apt! Fully agreed.

 

[Blue Squadron]

I think different badges for different ships goes back quite a bit further than Lower Decks (TOS)

Oh I’m well aware of the TOS uniforms and the different ship badges. There’s reasonable evidence to suggest that was never actually meant to happen but they were clearly on-screen, so it it what it is...

LD has created something entirely different though. It’s not just about the badges; they have set up an entirely parallel set of uniforms, including a different combadge, a dress uniform and an admiral uniform as well as the standard working uniform (across multiple ships).

They happily have flashbacks to Mariner in the First Contact-type uniform, which makes sense, but then they deliberately kept Riker, Troi and the Titan crew in the older uniform.

I can understand why they did it — the FC uniform is a big visual cue for Riker; it also sets his ship apart and emphasises that Boimler is moving on to something different — but it if LD really is fully “canon” then it’s quite a departure for the TNG-onwards era to have two completely different sets of uniforms running in parallel.

I don’t particularly care about this and I actually quite like the LD designs but it’s an interesting choice. From a practical production point of view, the new uniforms are obviously far better suited to an animated series than the mostly black and grey FC uniforms, which would have been very dark and uninteresting on-screen. I suspect it may not have even occurred to them what they were establishing in the context of the wider franchise when they chose to mix and match their new LD uniforms with the FC uniforms.

But this one s somewhat tangential to the subject of the S4 trailer...!

 

[PatrickGood]

What's at the core of the anomaly light years across? Another childlike psychic or something technological but vast like the Whale Probe or V'Ger?

Empress Georgiou accelerated a Crossfield Class with a Spore drive to 99.9999% the speed of light to get back to Burnham without Time Travel, But the brakes lines were cut by the real villain

 

[IMC Headquarters]

STAMETS: It's five light-years wide.
TURBOLIFT SHAFTS: Hold my beer...

 

[Tuskin38]

That wasn’t a turbo shaft

 

[SJGardner]

STAMETS: It's five light-years wide.
TURBOLIFT SHAFTS: Hold my beer...

The season would be resolved with Burnham simply deciding to have the Turbolift Funhouse swallow up the entire anomaly.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

Which creates the Turboshaft Universe...ruled by Zareh the White...

 

[Rhodan]

The issue with the first two seasons is they both closed poorly. Having a bad ending - to a season or an entire serialized drama - can destroy its reputation. Look at what happened with Lost, Battlestar Galactica, and Game of Thrones. There is still a lot of good content earlier on, but to some extent knowing what is waiting at the end has ruined a lot of fan enjoyment.

And there is kinda variant of this effect with "That Hope Is You, Part 2", which IMHO wasn´t terrible per se, but it had so much thoroughly mediocre story that apart of Burnham becoming captain it had so little interesting going for itself and season 3 just kinda fizzled away.

 

[TedShatner10]

There were a few minor deviations to unrelated stories, but, overall, it was a constantly-evolving plot that kept adding more and more to the point over overcomplication. But, despite that, it was all toward the same goal. Season three just had half a dozen unrelated stories; most of which I just found boring and poorly-done.

I think Season 3 felt more grounded and more coherent actually, with the Emerald Chain a bit more fleshed out as antagonists (the Emerald Chain are glorified pirates and slavers feasting on the carcass of the once illustrious, past its prime Federation for profit and power , while S2's Control wants to blow up the Milky Way because...).

I didn't even mind the Die Hard on a starship (even if the TARDIS like interiors of 31st century starships is a bit riduculous).

 

[TedShatner10]

Lorca managed to stay undercover for a year or so though, which shows that he's unusually canny/restrained by the standards of the MU.

It was quite ridiculous how Lorca reverted back to being an 2D evil Terran (when it demanded far more nuance, in that he was still a ruthless militant, but he unintentionally absorbed many Federation values and formed a genuine emotional bond with his Prime Universe crew).

I think Discovery also made a bit of a mistake in terms of the tone. The MU works because it's cartoon evil, but it's also camp as hell, which means it doesn't come across as grimdark. Season 1 was so dour and humorless, and that camp aspect of the MU was really ignored.

It was still campy at how internally ultra aggressive the Terran Empire's military and bureaucratic apparatus was at all levels - with all the endemic assassinations aimed at VIPs plus mass executions of rank 'n file, you started to really wonder how the Terran Empire sustained itself as a major galactic superpower (without totally disintegrating after a wave of endless civil wars, its fragmented remnants resembling Firefly's Reavers crossed with VOY's Kazon).

 

[Jadeb]

The discussion of the Lorca reveal makes me think of how they flirted with making Osyraa a three-dimensional character before quickly reverting her back to a mustache twirler for the finale. Why the desire for a stock baddie at the end? I wonder if they think the season arc can be satisfying only if a black-hat “bad guy” gets their comeuppance? Or are they so wedded to wrapping it all up in the finale there’s no room for complexity?

 

[RAMA]

STAMETS: It's five light-years wide.
TURBOLIFT SHAFTS: Hold my beer...

The 32nd-century version is a tesseract.

 

[fireproof78]

Why the desire for a stock baddie at the end? I wonder if they think the season arc can be satisfying only if a black-hat “bad guy” gets their comeuppance?

I believe it is precisely that. I think it is a combination of current cultural discourse as well as a lack of trust in the audience. I do not believe this production team trusts the audience at all any more and so simplify things for the sake of not losing them, not realizing that by doing so they probably will lose some.

 

[The Wormhole]

Lorca didn't 'become' anything.

The writers completely telegraphed - on multiple occasions - the true nature of the character from very early on in the season.

"Completely telegraphed." Really? I seem to recall when the first season was airing and the rest of us were predicting Lorca was from the MU, you were the one arguing he "clearly wasn't." But now it was "completely telegraphed"?

Regardless, when the reveal was made Lorca was indeed written differently and he lost all subtlety he previously had.