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

[Jadeb]

^ The article I cited was specifically talking about sign-ups FOLLOWING the airing of The Vulcan Hello on CBS broadcast TV.

Where do you see that? From my read, they broke the record after the airing, but that doesn't mean they're not counting the signups from throughout the day.
Frankly, I'm guessing the wording is sloppy, and that "Following the" isn't really meant to indicate when the record was broken. I'd be surprised if it didn't break the record even before the ep aired.

 

[DigificWriter]

Based on a comment from Alex Kurtzman, it seems as if the show was designed - intentionally - to 'mirror'/'mimic' the "The Cage" vs "Where No Man Has Gone Before" scenario, albeit if "The Cage" had actually aired; it also sounds very reminiscent of what happened with Babylon 5 vis a vis The Gathering and Midnight on the Firing Line.

"The Vulcan Hello" and "Battle at the Binary Stars" are essentially "The Cage"/"The Gathering", and "Context is for Kings" will be "Where No Man Has Gone Before"/"Midnight on the Firing Line".

 

[Campe]

I would imagine people who already bought All Access were watching it on All Access and those don't count for ratings if I'm not mistaken.

We watched the live streaming on CBSAA (mainly because I wanted to see how it worked... answer? Needs work.). I’m sure I’m not alone in that.

 

[tomalak301]

"The Vulcan Hello" and "Battle at the Binary Stars" are essentially "The Cage"/"The Gathering", and "Context is for Kings" will be "Where No Man Has Gone Before"/"Midnight on the Firing Line".

That was the impression I got after watching the Season trailer. While I wasn't a fan of the first episode and turned luke warm on the second, I'm still cautiously optimistic for what is to come. Heck, hopefully we finally see the ship next week.

 

[DigificWriter]

Where do you see that? From my read, they broke the record after the airing, but that doesn't mean they're not counting the signups from throughout the day.

It's right in the opening paragraph of the article (emphasis mine):
Following the broadcast premiere of Star Trek: Discovery last night on CBS, CBS All Access broke a new record for subscriber sign-ups in a single day, eclipsing the previous record held by the 2017 GRAMMY Awards.

 

[Jadeb]

It's right in the opening paragraph of the article (emphasis mine):
Following the broadcast premiere of Star Trek: Discovery last night on CBS, CBS All Access broke a new record for subscriber sign-ups in a single day, eclipsing the previous record held by the 2017 GRAMMY Awards.

That still doesn't mean that they're not counting the signups before the episode. It's a single-day record, after all. If the record was broken at 10 p.m., for example, they'd have had 22 hours to get there.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

Did anyone expect that wouldn't be their record day for new subscribers?

CBS remains the network of the elderly. If Discovery had directly followed the football game it might have grabbed a bigger share of younger viewers; instead, it was put after Sixty Minutes - gods know if anyone outside of octogenarians watch that show.

60 Minutes pulled a 2.5 vs Discovery's 1.6 for the 18-49.

 

[DigificWriter]

That still doesn't mean that they're not counting the signups before the episode. It's a single-day record, after all. If the record was broken at 10 p.m., for example, they'd have had 22 hours to get there.

Yes, it does. You don't use the word "following" unless you're describing a specific scenario of cause and effect in which one thing (the broadcast premiere of The Vulcan Hello) led directly to another thing (record sign-ups for CBS All Access).

 

[Jadeb]

Did anyone expect that wouldn't be their record day for new subscribers?

Would be a sad commentary on the state of the franchise if they didn't.

 

[Jadeb]

Yes, it does. You don't use the word "following" unless you're describing a specific scenario of cause and effect in which one thing (the broadcast premiere of The Vulcan Hello) led directly to another thing (record sign-ups for CBS All Access).

I got a traffic ticket following my visit to grandma's house. Guess grandma is to blame, huh?
"Following" only indicates sequence, not cause. And, in this instance, I'm guessing we're putting too much faith in the wording on Superhero Hype. I doubt there's any real indication of what time the record was broken. It's just an easy way to introduce Discovery into the story.

 

[cultcross]

Yeah the phrase 'sign ups in a single day' clearly indicates, well, a single day. And media use 'after' and 'following' and similar words to link ideas all the time.

 

[Bernie McBear]

I just finished watching on Netflix. I really enjoyed it. When I first heard the music for the main titles I was underwhelmed but I found I enjoyed the music more in context alongside the visuals. I enjoyed the chemistry between the characters, I liked the humour between them at the beginning. I think it was a good start with potential but it is too soon to tell how it will stack up against other Star Trek series for me.

 

[Sakonna]

Did anyone expect that wouldn't be their record day for new subscribers?

Yes -- all the people who've been posting here for months about how obviously doomed Discovery is. If you look hard enough, I'm sure there's at least one post predicting with total certainty that the Discovery pilot would be so bad, CBSAA would have a record number of cancellations on the day it airs...

I feel it's maybe a mistake to repeat DS9 and have the "total war"/"WWII in SPACE!"-scenario, again. I think a "local" war, like the current incursions into Afghanistan/Iraq/(by god hopefully not!)North Korea would have been much more timely and realistic.

I'm not sure if I want to see "the" big space war again. I would have been more interested in "a" space war, more assymetrical warfare, less total destruction. That would also avoid the plot hole of why noone ever uses WMDs, even though it's the ultimate war for their survival going on.

That's a good point. I do have faith that they won't just be repeating DS9 here -- I think just the angle we're approaching it from, it'll feel very different. Hopefully my faith is not misplaced!

Based on a comment from Alex Kurtzman, it seems as if the show was designed - intentionally - to 'mirror'/'mimic' the "The Cage" vs "Where No Man Has Gone Before" scenario, albeit if "The Cage" had actually aired; it also sounds very reminiscent of what happened with Babylon 5 vis a vis The Gathering and Midnight on the Firing Line.

That's such an interesting notion, and, it seems to me, a very good use of the flexibility and innovation available in the streaming TV era. A show still has to entertain, but it can free itself from the rigid pilot rules of old.

 

[DigificWriter]

Following up on my comment about Kurtzman's comment, he specifically described "Context for Kings" as a "2nd Pilot"... hence my comparison of it to "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "Midnight on the Firing Line".

 

[Philip Guyott]

I am not sure if CBS is being brave, stupid or genius at this point.

Certainly, not showing the main ship within the first two episodes was a brave move.
I know that people are expressing concern that there were things in it that were wrong for the era, but I had not gone into this with an expectation that it would be. Besides weren't we all warned by the shows writers that within the first few episodes it would appear that they are breaking with canon, but that all will be revealed in time?

The only thing I don't like so far is that the makeup on some of the Klingon's looked so overdone that the poor actors looked like they had trouble speaking their lines, or at least that was my first impression.

Overall I am still optimistic about the show and I can't wait for next weeks episode.

 

[Gepard]

Following up on my comment about Kurtzman's comment, he specifically described "Context for Kings" as a "2nd Pilot"... hence my comparison of it to "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "Midnight on the Firing Line".

Why would anyone intentionally do that? Just make one pilot, ffs. There's no USS Discovery in the first two episodes of a show called Star Trek: Discovery!

 

[spunXtain]

Reading all of the posts from the apologists is really cracking me up!

The creators of this show do not give a shit about any established canon or continuity in any way. That's a fact that they have firmly established within the first 5 minutes of the show.

This could have all been avoided by NOT making another prequel. This show is never going to please everyone.

 

[DigificWriter]

Why would anyone intentionally do that? Just make one pilot, ffs. There's no USS Discovery in the first two episodes of a show called Star Trek: Discovery!

Because it lets them do a more "slow burn" serialized story that sets up one thing and then allows them to go somewhere else that nobody's expecting.

 

[Michael]

I am not sure if CBS is being brave, stupid or genius at this point.

Certainly, not showing the main ship within the first two episodes was a brave move.

I don't know. I think people are putting way too much weight on the eventual appearance of the titular ship. I doesn't have to be “another character”, like they loved to say about the other Star Trek ships. And I say that as someone who loves the Star Trek ships and owns all the Eaglemoss models.

 

[cultcross]

I don't know. I think people are putting way too much weight on the eventual appearance of the titular ship. I doesn't have to be “another character”, like they loved to say about the other Star Trek ships. And I say that as someone who loves the Star Trek ships and owns all the Eaglemoss models.

I am trying not to get obsessed with those. I have restricted myself to my 6 favourite ships of all time, and banned myself from getting more.

We shall see how that goes.