Should I give Discovery another chance?

[Balok's Decoy]

OP, you indicated you quit after 6 episodes, which would put you at Lethe. I recommend picking DSC up again. The seventh episode, Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad, is my favorite of the season. It's a lot...hmm...peppier? than the preceding episodes. It's really fun. And then once you get into the MU stuff, there's some great content in there too. I'd say take another shot at it. At most you'll drop $6 and about 9 hours for your trouble. In the grand scheme of things, not too bad, imho, whether you change your opinion of it or not.

Also keep in mind how rough early seasons of most Trek series were before they took off. The fact that DSC is this good this early should encourage you (and everyone). So, even if you don't stick around right now, keep an eye on it.

 

[CRM-114]

A major problem I’ve had with DISCO is that it’s started to color my enjoyment of other parts of Star Trek. I feel like I’ve become more aware (and more critical) of the weaker elements of the franchise as a whole.

 

[seigezunt]

Maybe you just need to take a Trek break. I've taken several over the years.

 

[Balok's Decoy]

A major problem I’ve had with DISCO is that it’s started to color my enjoyment of other parts of Star Trek. I feel like I’ve become more aware (and more critical) of the weaker elements of the franchise as a whole.

Nostalgia colors all of our views of Star Trek. Fond memories are powerful and manipulate our critical eye.

 

[Refuge]

I actually thought Lethe was the best episode.

 

[AlanC9]

A major problem I’ve had with DISCO is that it’s started to color my enjoyment of other parts of Star Trek. I feel like I’ve become more aware (and more critical) of the weaker elements of the franchise as a whole.

I've heard that about the Star Wars prequels, actually; it's not just that they're bad, it's that they make you realise that SW itself is bad.

 

[ITDUDE]

Maybe you just need to take a Trek break. I've taken several over the years.

Mine was between 2005 and 2009

 

[Donker]

that SW itself is bad.

Haha, yeah it really is.
I watched Star Wars as a kid but was always a Trekkie so while I liked Star Wars, I never really cared that much for it. I actually got into Star Wars more from the video games like the Jedi Knight games, Xwing vs Tie Fighter, Rogue Squadron etc. So much, much older I went back to the original trilogy without any nostalgia goggles and was like "Wow these films actually aren't that good". I can understand they were mind blowing for the era, but honestly the writing is pretty weak for them.
The best aspect of the OT is actually the cinematography. The storytelling through visuals (Opening of A New Hope is a great example, or pretty much every scene with Darth Vader). This is why I cannot stand the new Disney Star Wars because they use modern Marvel cinematography and it just loses what makes the OT actually stand out. This is also why I think the new Star Wars movies are largely so confusing with the setting and what the hell is even happening, where the cinematography in OT really shows you the concepts of Rebels vs Empire well, it simply doesn't do the same for Disney Star Wars.

 

[CRM-114]

Maybe you just need to take a Trek break. I've taken several over the years.

I took a prolonged break from Star Trek starting during Season 3 of ENT. I only started to come back to it with the debut of ST09. In that time, I discovered a lot of other shows, including Doctor Who (another show I took a break from during Matt Smith's first season and haven't been back).

The thing is, outside of Star Trek, I don't really care for a lot of science fiction. I've seen some Stargate, and while I didn't hate it, it didn't grab me either. I like Star Wars, but I still haven't seen The Last Jedi and I'm not sold on Solo.

 

[Donker]

Maybe you should give it a chance to watch it all in one sitting. Since it's modern serialised TV, it's actually not designed to be watched week to week, but all at once as a large several hour movie.

That said, Discovery to me is just bad and frustrating. I never, ever intend at this point to go back and watch Discovery S1 ever again. It would help if it's good episodes were good one off viewings but they only really make sense in the context of the larger story so I cant' even really enjoy those.

That said, I actually pirated Discovery for the most part day 1, because I don't live in the US and we get it on Netflix a day later and a day later a lot of the conversation is over on the forums, then a day later, I would run it on Netflix in the background just to show Netflix that Star Trek is being watched lol.
I don't like Discovery but I don't want Star Trek to die. So if you can, just put it on in the background to support Star Trek as a franchise, but you don't have to watch it. It's barely a Star Trek show anyway in any meaningful way.

 

[fireproof78]

It's barely a Star Trek show anyway in any meaningful way.

How so? It isn't action/adventure with some social commentary? I must be watching a different show...

 

[Gul Sengosts]

Another vote for the MU episodes, at least the early ones (10+11). Disliked everything before that but genuinely enjoyed these, better direction, better acting, etc. Looked like it was finally coming together and showed actual potential. Sadly, it deteriorated again soon and the finale was as lame as the early stuff again.

 

[ALF]

CRM-114, you checked out after episode 6... my first thought was to suggest that if you didn't see anything worth sticking around for in the first 6 episodes, then yes perhaps you should quit the show. But then it got me thinking that a critical look at the way the writers divided this first season may be in order, so here we are, straight from the current Memory Alpha page:

Chapter One
The Vulcan Hello 1x01
Battle at the Binary Stars 1x02
[edit: These first two episodes should strictly be considered a prologue]

Context Is for Kings 1x03
The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry 1x04
Choose Your Pain 1x05
Lethe 1x06
Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad 1x07
Si Vis Pacem, Para Bellum 1x08
Into the Forest I Go 1x09

Chapter Two
Despite Yourself 1x10
The Wolf Inside 1x11
Vaulting Ambition 1x12
What's Past Is Prologue 1x13
The War Without, The War Within 1x14
Will You Take My Hand? 1x15

So watching up to 1x06 means there was no resolution of the first act nor a taste of the second act. That's an issue. There was an incredible dose of levity in Magic 1x07 that would have probably helped with the pacing... I seem to recall 1x06 being really heavy and relying on a lot of Vulcan telepathy-ness... and Burnham's buried feelings. It may be a matter of debate but I would describe 1x07 as a fun episode.

My opinion here is that I found all of the surviving characters unlikable in the first six episodes - this led me to worry that I wouldn't get invested in any of them. The trip to the MU seemed to sort that out for me, I felt it was genius to expose our new characters to their evil twins so early - deconstruction of our heroes in the MU is very Trek trope and we've never gotten it so early (or as protracted!) into a series.

The mid season break was nice and short. The best part was there were no breaks in the second half. This really helped with investing in the story each week. Some tv shows have drawn out, bungled, randomized broadcast schedules that it makes the flow of the series impossible to enjoy! (*cough- Star Wars Rebels - cough*)

 

[seigezunt]

I took a prolonged break from Star Trek starting during Season 3 of ENT. I only started to come back to it with the debut of ST09. In that time, I discovered a lot of other shows, including Doctor Who (another show I took a break from during Matt Smith's first season and haven't been back).

The thing is, outside of Star Trek, I don't really care for a lot of science fiction. I've seen some Stargate, and while I didn't hate it, it didn't grab me either. I like Star Wars, but I still haven't seen The Last Jedi and I'm not sold on Solo.

Much the same here. I pretty much tanked after the first or second season of each of the TNG+ shows, coming back later via DVDs or reruns. Didn't even catch Nemesis in the theater.

Came back in a big way when I picked up David George's Crucible novels after having not read any Trek novels for over a decade. Just in time for 2009.

 

[USS Triumphant]

At least DISCO hasn't created the eye candy girl (yet) that is so prevalent in ST.

In my opinion, they've gone with a different kind of eye candy girl - Tilly is frikkin' sexy, and not in any way we generally see on TV. And they do so much with her hair. And I find Mary Chieffo to be very unusual and attractive, too - but when she's on "After Trek". Not so much in the Klingon makeup.

(But yeah, I got what you meant. Hopefully that bodysuit crap stays gone: completely aside from whether or not they're eye candy, Blalock, Ryan, and Sirtis never looked better than the episodes when they were in Starfleet uniforms.)

 

[fireproof78]

But yeah, I got what you meant. Hopefully that bodysuit crap stays gone: completely aside from whether or not they're eye candy, Blalock, Ryan, and Sirtis never looked better than the episodes when they were in Starfleet uniforms.

Body suits need to be banned.

 

[pst]

For me, DISCO is a frustrating show. So many components of the show were so weak, and yet there were moments that would tease that a better version of the show could be done than what we were seeing onscreen.

to me, discovery is a weak show with strong components. and the season finale seems to indicate the producers are aware of this, pressing the reset button as hard as they can without literally resetting events like other treks have in the past. what this means though is that events haven't really progressed much since those 6 episodes you watched, but those strong components could coalesce into something magical in season 2. so maybe drop back in next season and if it's still weak, bail again.

 

[CRM-114]

to me, discovery is a weak show with strong components. and the season finale seems to indicate the producers are aware of this, pressing the reset button as hard as they can without literally resetting events like other treks have in the past. what this means though is that events haven't really progressed much since those 6 episodes you watched, but those strong components could coalesce into something magical in season 2. so maybe drop back in next season and if it's still weak, bail again.

It sounds like you and I feel much the same way about the show. It’s the potential within all of the mediocrity that makes me reluctant to write it off completely.

 

[pst]

It sounds like you and I feel much the same way about the show. It’s the potential within all of the mediocrity that makes me reluctant to write it off completely.

i don't think star trek: discovery is good television or even good star trek. it's not the star trek i wanted or the star trek i feel like i really need right now. i don't think it has been coherently plotted or satisfyingly produced. but there's a spark buried inside the cold, violent, crude, underwritten first season. i'd be lying if i said i didn't come to love michael burnham -- despite the flaws in her character and the flaws in how the character is written. i didn't need an overlong side trip to the mirror universe, but again i'd be lying if i said i wasn't tickled by that one kickass fight sequence or really fond of the way it brings the discovery crew together in the end.

there's stuff to like here if you can get past the stuff you don't like. even if there's way more stuff to dislike in this particular series so far.

 

[AlanC9]

to me, discovery is a weak show with strong components. and the season finale seems to indicate the producers are aware of this, pressing the reset button as hard as they can without literally resetting events like other treks have in the past. .

It's hard to make this stick as a serious analysis, since the whole season is known to have been written as a single plot arc.