Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery 4x04 - "All Is Possible"

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

It's not so much a voice coaching issue, her voice is just fine, it's how they're having her do these lines, it's honestly more like what you'd get from a fan production. It's all for coolness factor, and it doesn't fit either the character or her natural flow. It's a problem I have with a lot of modern shows that do action/drama, and that's the feeling that I'm watching those interview scenes with wrestlers that they often do on WWE.

This was filmed in 1968 and this is how most Trek dialogue should be delivered or something close to it:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

This is actually a problem I have with modern genre TV, especially Disco and the CW shows, where the actors stand on their mark and deliver their lines. They stand while the camera moves. It's like they're static in the scene.

They don't feel naturalistic. They're overly staged and their dialogue is overly self-aware. But the actors do their best, and Disco has one of the best cast on TV right now.

It's like genre TV has moved away from naturalistic dialogue, the type you saw on TOS or on contemporary non-genre dramas.*

*Although shows like The Expanse and the reboot Lost in Space are much better at this.

 

[cooleddie74]

Shatner and Kelly actually use the space in their scene. Walking from Kirk's computer to the chair where Kirk sits down and continues talking. Kelly never hogs the scene but is prominently on display in the background.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

As for Gray's history, I vaguely remember thinking that he was a Starfleet Admiral or some kind of flag officer who had critical information regarding [Burnham Loud Whisper]The Buuuuuuuuurn[/Burnham Loud Whisper]. .

Gray's way too young to be an Admiral. (Doesn't look like Gray himself has ever even served in Starfleet.) Are you sure you're not thinking of Senna Tal? We know he was one.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Could be wrong. but I think SMG decides how to deliver her lines, at least when it comes to voice control.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Gray's way too young to be an Admiral. (Doesn't look like Gray himself has ever even served in Starfleet.) Are you sure you're not thinking of Senna Tal? We know he was one.

Yeah, I think that was Senna. Beyond being in a relationship with Adira, we haven't got much info on Gray life.

 

[XCV330]

Agreed. Stamets seems to be an almost irredeemably clingy, obsessively controlling and broken person on many levels, who has shown little-to-no character growth. Maybe he's too close to Culber to have any of that counseling mojo rub off on him, but I know if I had a partner who acted like that all the time around other people, I think I would probably break it off pretty damn ricky-tick.

one thing I did notice and liked about this episode was that Culber still has a lot of issues from the whole death and resurrection he has not dealt with. It always felt like he never really had time to decide whether he really wanted to continue the life he had, but instead threw himself into working on others. At some point I feel like his character is going to have hard problems that have to be dealt with. I hope they keep the Stamets Culber relationship going, but even the best ones have rocky patches, and Culber may not have been all in on the "adoption" idea.

Interestingly both Lower Decks and now DSC have implied that adapting back to life is not a pleasant process. Lower Decks did it for comedic effect, mostly, and since both shows were in production about the same time, I doubt there was much crosstalk. The other major resurrection in Star Trek, Spock, was mostly handled off-screen by the closest thing to trained professionals there were in the matter.

 

[nic3636]

Count me in with the anti-Stamets crowd. The only time I liked him (after S1) is when he's being a supportive family member to either Culber or Adira. Other than that they've portrayed him as emotionally immature and prone to irrational outbursts and obsessive behavior. Kind of like Bashier in DS9 (though obviously very different characters). Nothing wrong with having a character like that conceptually, it just hasn't done anything for me.

Side note, I can't believe this guy is a commander. At the end of S3 he burst into an important meeting with Vance and other higher ups hysterically screaming nonsense. I don't really think he has any business being an officer, his character would have fit better if they made him a civilian who was brought in solely for his spore drive knowledge.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Count me in with the anti-Stamets crowd. The only time I liked him (after S1) is when he's being a supportive family member to either Culber or Adira. Other than that they've portrayed him as emotionally immature and prone to irrational outbursts and obsessive behavior. Kind of like Bashier in DS9 (though obviously very different characters). Nothing wrong with having a character like that conceptually, it just hasn't done anything for me.

Side note, I can't believe this guy is a commander. At the end of S3 he burst into an important meeting with Vance and other higher ups hysterically screaming nonsense. I don't really think he has any business being an officer, his character would have fit better if they made him a civilian who was brought in solely for his spore drive knowledge.

He's not all that different than McCoy, someone who speaks his mind and doesn't follow protocol. And probably got his commission the same way, via a direct commission.

 

[eschaton]

‪‪And worth mentioning, Adira is his adoptive child, not daughter.

Fixed, can't believe I did that again.

I have no issue remembering Gray's gender, but for some reason my subconscious must think Adira is a little butch lesbian or something. Maybe it's because I had a lot of friends who looked like Adira 20 years ago in college, and at that time they all identified as women (though I dated an enby a bit later).

 

[nic3636]

Some other notes:

- I disagree they need to give Gray more to do. Maybe they make it like Miles/Keiko in TNG where Adira is the one who goes out and does things and Gray is the stay at home partner who just gets a little screen time here and there. I would be fine with that.

- They absolutely need to get Wilson Cruz more screen time. He is one of the strongest actors on the show and the underutilization of him in the series borderlines on criminal.

- I think they should just cut out Bryce, Rhys, Owo, Detmer, and the blonde. No speaking lines at all. None of them are very talented actors and it's better to re-deploy their screen time to other characters. Maybe make Book and Adira bridge officers to replace some of them.

 

[nic3636]

He's not all that different than McCoy, someone who speaks his mind and doesn't follow protocol. And probably got his commission the same way, via a direct commission.

Maybe, although those character traits aren't exactly what I had in mind. McCoy had a certain viewpoint that he wasn't shy about sharing, but that isn't exactly how I see Stamets.

 

[eschaton]

This is actually a problem I have with modern genre TV, especially Disco and the CW shows, where the actors stand on their mark and deliver their lines. They stand while the camera moves. It's like they're static in the scene.

They don't feel naturalistic. They're overly staged and their dialogue is overly self-aware. But the actors do their best, and Disco has one of the best cast on TV right now.

It's like genre TV has moved away from naturalistic dialogue, the type you saw on TOS or on contemporary non-genre dramas.*

*Although shows like The Expanse and the reboot Lost in Space are much better at this.

One of the big issues I have with Discovery's scripting - right from the beginning - is it feels like they don't know how to script scenes with more than two people talking. Like 90%+ of dialogue is two people alone in a room, with most of the last 10% technobabble exposition meetings.

Now, there's a proper place for two-person scenes. Romantic scenes obviously, and other scenes which show great emotional vulnerability. But lighthearted/comedic scenes work better with at least three scripted characters, as it allows for the "third wheel" to interject non-sequiturs. Hell, most of the charm of TOS was based upon three-person banter. It wouldn't have worked if only two out of the three ever talked at once.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Gray's way too young to be an Admiral. (Doesn't look like Gray himself has ever even served in Starfleet.) Are you sure you're not thinking of Senna Tal? We know he was one.

Ah! My mistake - that's who I was referring to. Yeah, you're right - I suspect Gray was much too young to have made much of an impact. He dreamed of being a Guardian, and maybe was in training for that, but he was likely more renowned for the symbiote he carried.

 

[Amasov]

S
- I think they should just cut out Bryce, Rhys, Owo, Detmer, and the blonde. No speaking lines at all. None of them are very talented actors and it's better to re-deploy their screen time to other characters. Maybe make Book and Adira bridge officers to replace some of them.

That's something I wish this show had: more of an actual bridge crew. While Discovery seems to be a Trek show that's trying to break Trek norms, I wish it would feature a bridge crew utilizing more of the regulars.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Maybe, although those character traits aren't exactly what I had in mind. McCoy had a certain viewpoint that he wasn't shy about sharing, but that isn't exactly how I see Stamets.

Yeah, Stamets isn't as likeable as McCoy. In some ways he's like Spock, off putting, aloof and seemingly arrogant. Stamets is the worst qualities of McCoy and Spock combined.

 

[eschaton]

Judging by what happened when Jadzia lost the Dax symbiont, Gray likely remembers absolutely nothing of the previous Tal lives now.

Which should honestly lead him to have some sort of existential crisis.

 

[137th Gebirg]

That's something I wish this show had: more of an actual bridge crew. While Discovery seems to be a Trek show that's trying to break Trek norms, I wish it would feature a bridge crew utilizing more of the regulars.

They tried to in previous seasons, I think, but now that Burnham's the captain, she seems to suck even more of the air out of the bridge than she did before. They really should have brought Saru back to be Captain. Of all the Tier-1 characters in the show, he has grown and developed the most and should do more than just be Burnham's Obi Wan Kenobi.

 

[eschaton]

That's something I wish this show had: more of an actual bridge crew. While Discovery seems to be a Trek show that's trying to break Trek norms, I wish it would feature a bridge crew utilizing more of the regulars.

I think it's partially related to COVID protocols causing them to limit the number of cast on stage.

I mean, they quite noticeably didn't even use the bridge sets for Episodes 3 and 4.

We'll be back to having a "bridge show" this week though, which means they'll be present again.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Yeah, Stamets isn't as likeable as McCoy. In some ways he's like Spock, off putting aloof and seemingly arrogant. Stamets is the worst qualities of McCoy and Spock combined.

Regardless of McCoy's bombast, we all knew that he, Kirk and Spock were the best of friends and most, if not all, of McCoy's emotional bloviations were out of profound caring for his friends. There was empathy there.

Stamets? No... he thinks he cares about Culber, but he's an emotionally selfish creature, never really once genuinely caring about Culber's resurrection plight, but only insofar as how it would affect Stamets if Culber walked away from it all.

I saw this same despicable behavior recently in Burnham when Booke was trying to come to terms with the loss of his entire world, and it irked her that he didn't seem to want to come around quickly enough for her liking.

It really is disquieting the amount of regressive character assassination that's being done here. Do they even know what they're doing anymore?

 

[Nerys Myk]

The bridge crew are just background. People to give exposition and shake around.