Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 1x01 - "The Vulcan Hello"

[Amaris]

^^^
But what if said Civilization was MEANT to die - which is the mean tenant of the PD (because if they evolve they could do something that would harm others in the Galaxy.)

Of course there's also PD episodes like TNG's - "Justice" <--- Yeah, real intelligence on display there on the Planet of 'Victoria's Secret' models. Riker and Yar weren't smart enough to ask - "Hey if someone breaks a law here, what's the penalty?"

"Meant to die" implies a universal purpose, as if there's some god or government in a position to make that decision. I don't believe there is, nor should it be some 24th century humans who can't be arsed to save lives that are different from their own.

 

[Nerys Myk]

^^^
But what if said Civilization was MEANT to die - which is the mean tenant of the PD (because if they evolve they could do something that would harm others in the Galaxy.)

Of course there's also PD episodes like TNG's - "Justice" <--- Yeah, real intelligence on display there on the Planet of 'Victoria's Secret' models. Riker and Yar weren't smart enough to ask - "Hey if someone breaks a law here, what's the penalty?"

They just assumed the guilty party would have to do laps.

 

[Amaris]

They just assume the guilty party would have to do laps

Alpha Betas! Ooh! Ah! Alpha Betas! Ooh! Ah!

 

[cooleddie74]

I did love how Burnham referred to the Prime Directive as General Order 1 and not the PD. In TOS it was frequently referred to as "the non-interference directive" or General Order 1 and fits in more with this era in history. The rule has been around for less than a century at that point and isn't yet so worshipped and fanatically held to that starship captains will just permit an entire civilization to die just because it has yet to develop its first rickety warp ship flown by a scientist with substance abuse issues.

I wouldn't be surprised if a plot of at least one future episode revolves around the Discovery crew violating the Prime Directive in order to save the inhabitants of a world that Lorca or Burnham or both consider to be poor victims of their own shortsightedness. Kirk seemed to ignore the PD at will a decade later and get away with it. Starfleet Command clearly grades its deep space captains on a greater curve than it will in the 24th century.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

It's late, I slept for fewer than three hours last night because I'm a ridiculous frakking nerd who loves Star Trek so much he could barely sleep, and I have a couple of beers in the fridge. Top shelf, but not top shelf brand.

I'm going to saddle up and rewatch the prologue premiere duo extravaganza. I might catch new references this time and/or gain greater admiration for Saru's feet.

Not like that.

 

[cooleddie74]

Pervert.

Go on.

 

[Timewalker]

Complaining about the Klingons? Meaningless.

Complaining about the "look" and level of technology? Meaningless.

Complaining about lens flares? Meaningless.

Complaining about James Frain as Sarek? Meaningless.

"This is the bestest Star Trek EVAR!"? Meaningless.

Honestly, if you like it, great. I'm pleased to see that this time around I'm not the only one who finds the latest "let's make a space series and slap the Star Trek label on it so people will watch it" thing to be utter crap.

The Vulcan Hello isn't supposed to be watched separate to Battle of the Binary Stars; it's a setup episode for both the latter episode and the series as a whole, and is structured as such. It's not a failing of the episode if people aren't willing to watch the two episodes back-to-back as was intended.

If that's what was intended, that's how it should have been presented. For free, not a teaser and then expecting $$ to see the actual meat of the story. This is blatant bait-and-switch, and such tactics never impress me.

Meh - You vcan see the second episode free. Just sign up for the Free Week CBSAA is always offering; and has since they started the service. There's zero excuse for saying "I can't see the full pilot for free without subbing" as - as long as you have internet and a compatible device or PC with Windows 10; yes, you can.

You do realize that some of us live in countries where CBSAA isn't legally available, right? And the only channel that offers this show in Canada requires a paid subscription.

The only way I was able to see this first half-episode was because of simulcasting. And I actually found the Coca-Cola commercial more interesting and fun (nice catchy tune).

But what if said Civilization was MEANT to die - which is the mean tenant of the PD (because if they evolve they could do something that would harm others in the Galaxy.)

Meant by whom? Supernatural entities are not required, thanks. And anything can evolve to do harm in the future. Humans are a prime example.


My thoughts on this:

What a disappointing mess. The Klingons were no better than a cookie-cutter Doctor Who villain - slow, ponderous movements, unnaturally slow, garbled speech.

The opening credits? Where's the sense that this has anything to do with space? It looks like an inventory list of TOS props that got mixed up with the intro to the old British World War II series "Tenko."

The desert scene reminded me of the Dune/Children of Dune TV miniseries, and for a couple of moments, I was expecting the characters to have to outrun a sandworm.

So Michael Burnham, like nuSpock, has a Vulcan Phone-A-Friend. Isn't that sweet. Hopefully she doesn't end up calling Sarek in the shower, or even worse, in the middle of his next pon farr. And why is Sarek willing to talk to his ward, who is in Starfleet - but not Spock, who is also in Starfleet? Sarek disapproves of Starfleet, so this is quite the double standard.

But since the whole idea of Spock having any sort of female sibling (biological, half-sister, or adopted) was already done in fanfic from the early 1970s, I guess it doesn't have to make sense.

Oh, and the actor playing Sarek? Cardboard. He's got as much charisma as Robin Curtis did when playing Saavik, which is to say zero.


I'm thankful I decided to wait to see what this would be like before shelling out $$ for a Space Channel subscription. Looks like I'll be saving my money, since it had its chance to impress me, and failed.

Frankly, this thing was worse than the worst episode of any fan film series I follow. The only reason it gets an F from me is because the official grade scale doesn't go down to ZZ.

 

[Sakonna]

With TNG, something I loved about the first two seasons was that they truly have a feeling of being in deep-space, out on the frontier with only themselves to rely on. Those seasons are deeply flawed, but they have a sense of wonder about space that doesn't turn up that much in the rest of Trek.

I thought this ep definitely had that same attitude of amazed wonder towards the universe, especially the first half or so.. It's a good vibe, I'm glad to be picking it up again from a Trek show.

 

[Ithekro]

The lack on communications ability in TOS could be directly linked to this war. If the Klingons blow up enough subspace relay stations, Starfleet will not be able to send out messages out to the Romulan border as quickly as they might want to . Espeically if they decide they need to move a lot of the older relays from the inactive Romulan border to the Klingon border as an expedient way to keep communications up on the hot front of the Federation, rather than the old cold and silent border with the Romulans.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Why is there a relay station on the edge of Federation space, that might as well be a post office or a cell tower, sidling up to Klingon so close that the area is contested.

Who was the Federation communicating with?



They were spying on the Klingons.

 

[cooleddie74]

The Vulcans did it to the Andorians 100 years earlier. Federation member species have nasty habits of covert surveillance under the guise of benevolent activity.

 

[Smoked Salmon]

With TNG, something I loved about the first two seasons was that they truly have a feeling of being in deep-space, out on the frontier with only themselves to rely on. Those seasons are deeply flawed, but they have a sense of wonder about space that doesn't turn up that much in the rest of Trek.

I thought this ep definitely had that same attitude of amazed wonder towards the universe, especially the first half or so.. It's a good vibe, I'm glad to be picking it up again from a Trek show.

Yes, the amazing wonder of war, war, war!

"These are the Voyages of the Starship Discovery. It's one year mission to explore strange familiar enemies, to seek out darker starships and new wars. To boldly go into conflict like no soldier has gone before!"

The wonder! The awe!

 

[Guy Gardener]

Remember when cameras used have those wrist straps so that you couldn't drop them?

PS... Photon grenades.

PPS... Transport 30 federation Soldiers to the Klingon bridge.

PPPS... Cut the gravity first, as a call back to Star Trek 6.

PPPPS... Klingons had cloaks in Enterprise, the run afoul of a Romulan cloaked mine field, and they have a 28th century (the ships were built in the present to Future guys specifications using future knowledge PROBABLY?) cloakable Suliban CellShip in Enterprise's Hold for 4 damn seasons.

PPPPPS... Unless that ship was built to ram, that was stupidly self-cripplingly suicidal, and surely the impact of a couple million tons moving at a few hundred mph, is a pin prick compared to photonic explosions every-time a torpedo strikes home?

 

[Mage]

I thought that was higly ejoyable. Will watch the second episode tonight.

 

[Agony_Boothb]

I loved it. The characters, the klingons, the ships, I'm onboard with it all. Can't wait to actually get to see the discovery next week​

 

[cultcross]

Just finished on Netflix. My show notes (by the end of scene 1 I had so many things to say I went and got a notepad. seriously.)

Open on an eye cliché.
Like the Klingon look when in context and moving. The makeup is very good quality compared to the old days. I pretty much instantly forgot the fact they look different, if I'm honest.

Desert scene - neat bit of location shooting. I guess the point of this scene is to set up Burnham/Georgiou's friendship but the dialogue is a bit clunky. There are much better friendship scenes to come.
Love the aliens.
Prime directive, anyone? No? OK. That's actually cool, I always hated the 'let them die' aspect.
This whole sequence is very reminiscent of STID's opening.
Clunky as fuck expositon - the 'explain the mission to a person already engaged in the mission' cliché.
Love the ship shot. The Shenzhou is a nice ship.

The space shots are really nice in this show. Very JJVerse, and that's a good thing. Empty starfields are nowhere to be seen.
It's the bridge - TOS sounds!
Narration is quite 'explorer' themed which I like. I liked the line about 'where the next generation (drink!) will call home'.
Workplace banter - tick although a little forced seeming. New to Trek though.
Casual racism about Kelpians from the Captain - don't like.
SM-G's portrayal of Burnham as a human with Vulcan affectations I really like. She shares mannerisms and traits with Spock but isn't robotic, 7 of 9ish, or boring.
Telescope! Love it.
"What will we gain?" asks the science officer, apparently.
I love this whole sequence - We're explorers, we are here to be nosy, let's take risks to know the unknown. This is wonderful stuff.
Love the spacesuit and TMP homage. Didn't love the out of place Matrix-y reference to 20thCentury airlines.
Radiation exposure countdown cliché - ugh. Radiation doesn't work that way. What does the ticking clock actually add here?
Burnham's excitement and thrill at exploring the unknown, perfect.
Klingon spacesuit looks awesome although I'd have loved to have seen more detail actually visible on screen. Hopefully it will reappear.
"I've got no signal" "tech the tech, Mr Saru" "There's no signal Captain, FFS" Love it.

I rather like the line "I see you as you see your end". That's a cool cultural addition.
Klingon has motivation other than honour - tick
Motivation is however rather poorly explained - boo.

Love the sickbay and the medical uniforms. "Leaving against medical advice because super important stuff to do" cliché.
I like the exchange on the bridge where the Captain trusts her judgement and orders red alert. That shows their relationship much better than the desert scene did.
"Retreat is not an option" - erm, why, exactly?
Phase cannons! Drink!
Why is Starfleet being all aggressive here - lock weapons - we want them to think we are going to fire - why? Arguably, this action is as much to blame as Burnham's later target lock for starting this shit.
The ships aren't aligned perfectly, finally!
What would that dude have done if T'Kuvma hadn't taken his hand out of the flame, just been like "OK, ow, I'll stop now. Anyone got any butter?"
Skin colour? Really?
Oh yay, more chanting.

"Retreat is no longer possible" - Again, Why? It seems an eminently sensible plan to me.
Saru tells Burnham details about his species. She's served with him (we learn later) for 7 years - how does she not know this?
Casual racism again, from Burnham this time. Admiral even calls her on it and she makes the "culture not race" excuse. Ugh.
"What does the solider in you say?" Ugh.
Some 'TOS acting' going on when the loud noise goes off. Georgiou is really hamming it up.
"Working" says the computer. Very TOS.
Sarek was what, stood right by the phone?
Sarek calls out her racism too, and she doesn't even notice. Please tell me we're not supposed to side with Burnham in this episode?
"You cannot save lives that are already lost" - line of the episode.
"Give them a Vulcan hello"

Spoiler

I like the way the conflict is played between Burnham and Georgiou, although the line "how dare you challenge me" is poor, the rest of it is good leadership on Georgiou's part. But we still (sort of) see Burnham's point of view. This is the sort of exchange TNG was lacking.
Vulcan nerve pinch! WTF?!
Sudden recovery from nerve pinch is sudden.
I like the way the Klingon arrival is portrayed, it's more ominous than the trailer.

Overall for this episode: a 6. It's not a great pilot, it's a bit shorter than I imagined, but it is entertaining, it is much more different than I expected, while still having Trek hallmarks. I adore the explorer bits, I didn't adore the casual racism. I hope this qualifies as an 'average' episode and therefore I'm giving it a score which implies a 'good end of average'.

To be continued in the other thread.....

 

[Cap.T]

Wired... Netflex is streaming the show with HDR but only in 1080p not 4K.

 

[Cyrus]

Just watched the first episode.
I thought it was very good. I plan to do the 1 week free subscription to see the next 2 episodes.
Not sure how to feel about Klingons. Need to see more of the series to see where they are going with this.
Saru was great.
The credits showed Goldsman did a rewrite of the script written by Fuller. I think Fuller is a better writer than Goldsman, so this is not a good thing. I imagine this wouldn't have happened if Fuller had stayed.

 

[Tyr]

Just saw the first episode. Pretty boring, and it looks like a cheap webseries. The CGI reminds me of video games, not very impressive. The Klingons did not do much for me. Could be a new species, they don't remind me much of the klingons we have seen before. I'll give the second episode a try, but by now I don't know if I am going to watch any further.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Well it's almost 3:30 here. I tried to sleep. But after an hour of laying in bed, I'm still too wired. I suppose I may as well give it another go.