I am finally caught up on the show. Why the soft reboot, moving the time period 950 years into the future? I rather enjoyed the 22nd century setting, getting to see TOS-era characters, ships, places, and so on.
Why the soft reboot?
- Thread starter Admiral Jean-Luc Picard
- Start date
There are all sorts of reasons why the creators may have decided to do so, and I suspect many of them factor. In my own view, the most important consideration is that, going forward, the writers will not be beholden to a relatively rigid canon. Star Trek: Discovery can chart the course of the distant future, boldly going rather than carefully sidestepping.
If you aren't already aware, a 22nd-century show is coming in the form of "Strange New Worlds." It will follow Pike, Spock, and Number One aboard the Enterprise. I'm not certain whether or not the exact time frame has been revealed publicly yet, but regardless, I would presume that it will begin shortly after the events of Discovery's most recent episode.
If you aren't already aware, a 22nd-century show is coming in the form of "Strange New Worlds." It will follow Pike, Spock, and Number One aboard the Enterprise. I'm not certain whether or not the exact time frame has been revealed publicly yet, but regardless, I would presume that it will begin shortly after the events of Discovery's most recent episode.
Well, you'll get that in Strange New Worlds, so no worries there.
I think with Diacovery they wanted to forge it's own identity after the severe BTS drama that impacted the story arcs if each season. plus, possible reactions to fan pushback.
They want shake things up and try and win over new fans by making it feel less like Star Trek. You do that by removing the Federation and basically all the canon. Have most of your characters stop wearing Starfleet uniforms or doing adventures that aren't connected to Federation issues. I'm guessing they feel safe in doing this because you got PIcard and the Pike show and even the Section 31 show and Lower Decks to explore more familiar ground. I bet the ship will actually be used less this year and we will see more planet based stories.
Jason
Jason
I'm sorry, what problems needed to be resolved? BTS drama?
Most likely referring to show runners Fuller being fired during season 1 and showrunners Berg and Harberts being fired during season 2.........season 3 seems to have made it with Michelle Paradise intact for the whole season.
23rd.
The 22nd Century is Archer's time and when ENT takes place.
Because they're doing other shows continuing the 23rd century stuff, like Section 31 and Strange New Worlds.
The part that bugged me the most is that everyone has to pretend Discovery never happened and never speak of the crew again. Um... how does that fight Control exactly?
It doesn't. It's to partially pacify the "STD Sucks!" Crowd and also (an attempt) to satisfy the perfectly legitimate question of "Why did no one try to duplicate the Spore Drive?" Can't try to duplicate something you never heard of.
For an in-story explanation: Discovery contains a sphere of data with tons of information Control would love to get its hands on. Information that's embedded into Discovery. If something similar to Control ever emerged: it can't seek out what it doesn't know about.
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I agree. I also think they want to explain why Spock never mentioned having a sister. I think also they want to excuse to not just change the setting but the overall look of the show. I am expecting them to ditch the Starfleet uniforms and we might see the ship turn on the lights or even some alterations to the main sets. Especially the uniforms. I think the TOS style looking ones that Pike and his crew wear is about to become the main Starfleet look for the franchise in that time period.
Jason
The central pickle the writers had is they wanted to create repeated existential crises to the Federation even though it kind of stretched plausibility given it was only ten years prior to TOS and the events within were never mentioned.
I mean, Season 1:
I think Season 2 handled things much better overall. While there was ultimately a struggle which threatened "the entire galaxy" this was always happening enough on the DL that as far as the Federation as a whole was concerned, nothing much of consequence happened. Though the elaboration of the relationship between Michael and Spock was a bit concerning, insofar as if the two of them reconciled it would have to be asked what happened to Michael that she was later on never a part of Spock's life.
But really, I think Kurtzman & company simply want to do something similar to the Klingon War/Control every single season. They want a big epic battle where the entire fate of the galaxy stands in the balance and it's up to the Hero Ship to save the day. You just can't tell these kinds of stories at that point in the timeline without people asking questions. Which is why Strange New Worlds - which appears to start in the timeline immediately after Discovery Season 2 - is apparently going to be more small-bore episodic stories. The problem wasn't the point in the timeline, it was the kind of story they wanted to tell didn't belong as a prequel.
I mean, Season 1:
- Confirmed Michael Burnham was one of the most infamous (and heroic) people in Starfleet history.
- Introduced the most technologically-advanced ship in Starfleet which played an instrumental role in the Klingon War.
- Showed that the Klingons brought the Federation to its knees and were within minutes of bombarding/invading Earth.
- Gave us a technology (the Spore Drive) which can travel anywhere in the entire universe instantaneously, Not only that, it can also travel to alternate universes, and travel through time.
I think Season 2 handled things much better overall. While there was ultimately a struggle which threatened "the entire galaxy" this was always happening enough on the DL that as far as the Federation as a whole was concerned, nothing much of consequence happened. Though the elaboration of the relationship between Michael and Spock was a bit concerning, insofar as if the two of them reconciled it would have to be asked what happened to Michael that she was later on never a part of Spock's life.
But really, I think Kurtzman & company simply want to do something similar to the Klingon War/Control every single season. They want a big epic battle where the entire fate of the galaxy stands in the balance and it's up to the Hero Ship to save the day. You just can't tell these kinds of stories at that point in the timeline without people asking questions. Which is why Strange New Worlds - which appears to start in the timeline immediately after Discovery Season 2 - is apparently going to be more small-bore episodic stories. The problem wasn't the point in the timeline, it was the kind of story they wanted to tell didn't belong as a prequel.
If SNW ends up being earlier than DSC, we wouldn't end up expecting even little mentions of DSC among the Enterprise crew.
Either way, SNW should give us our RDA of the 23rd century.
Either way, SNW should give us our RDA of the 23rd century.
What does Richard Dean Anderson have to do with Star Trek?
Preface: I love Discovery, warts and all.
The reboot is for a clean break. A showrunner would write the show into a corner, and then leave/get fired before being able to reveal their plan on how to get them out of that corner. For example, Brian Fuller came up with the DASH (spore) drive. Obviously it couldn't be kept around, it never showed up in TOS or later shows so there had to be a reason to get rid of it. It's entirely possible (seeing Fuller's work) he just didn't care and would never have dealt with the issue at all had he stayed on. But he didn't stay on, fans wanted an answer to what is as @Lord Garth points out is an entirely reasonable question, so the remaining writers had to come up with a reason. The Herbarts started the Red Angel mystery which in pre-season PR was said to explore the theme of science vs faith, but got fired before they could finish that line of thought, so we got the second half of season 2 which did not (IMO) tie cleanly with the first half of season 2. So ultimately I think after all of the fan grumbling over the disjointed nature of the storytelling, Kurtzman, Michelle Paradise, and the rest of the writers room just decided to have a clean break and reset the show to cleanse the palate for a new showrunner and hopefully a more cohesive season. I could be wrong, but that is my gut feeling.
The reboot is for a clean break. A showrunner would write the show into a corner, and then leave/get fired before being able to reveal their plan on how to get them out of that corner. For example, Brian Fuller came up with the DASH (spore) drive. Obviously it couldn't be kept around, it never showed up in TOS or later shows so there had to be a reason to get rid of it. It's entirely possible (seeing Fuller's work) he just didn't care and would never have dealt with the issue at all had he stayed on. But he didn't stay on, fans wanted an answer to what is as @Lord Garth points out is an entirely reasonable question, so the remaining writers had to come up with a reason. The Herbarts started the Red Angel mystery which in pre-season PR was said to explore the theme of science vs faith, but got fired before they could finish that line of thought, so we got the second half of season 2 which did not (IMO) tie cleanly with the first half of season 2. So ultimately I think after all of the fan grumbling over the disjointed nature of the storytelling, Kurtzman, Michelle Paradise, and the rest of the writers room just decided to have a clean break and reset the show to cleanse the palate for a new showrunner and hopefully a more cohesive season. I could be wrong, but that is my gut feeling.
I have a similar feeling as well. Again, no evidence, and the show will speak for itself as that season goes on but I think that all the writers leaving impacted the show and Kurtzman opted for a new start.
I think Discovery did its job well enough though, which is demonstrate interest and need in newer Trek.
Putting the characters in a completely unknown environment which they have to either get home from or reconcile and improve in is a second chance at the bat for the Voyager concept.
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