Jump to content


Photo

Star Trek: Discovery. Series talk and discussion


  • Please log in to reply
981 replies to this topic

#861 Whirlygig

Whirlygig

    Dances with Toys

  • Members
  • 1,431 posts

Posted 05 April 2019 - 10:36 PM

Spoiler


#862 Gothneo

Gothneo

    Knows Paul Bunyan

  • Members
  • 5,753 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Land of sky Blue Oxen

Posted 06 April 2019 - 07:06 AM

Pike facing destiny and choosing it despite the ramifications was a nice touch... I think it could have been more impactful. where I think the writers got lazy was by adding the extra caveat that by taking the crystal, your destiny is now locked in and pre-determined, which for pike, as a viewer we know this, but thats 4th wall knowledge. All they really needed to do was to explain that most people can't handle seeing what fate/the future/etc has in store for them and an internal struggle... ala DS9 "Shadows and Symbols" would have been perfect. 



#863 Gothneo

Gothneo

    Knows Paul Bunyan

  • Members
  • 5,753 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Land of sky Blue Oxen

Posted 12 April 2019 - 04:15 AM

Looks like they are tying in the shorts.



#864 Whirlygig

Whirlygig

    Dances with Toys

  • Members
  • 1,431 posts

Posted 12 April 2019 - 09:29 AM

Yep.  But I'm finding myself wondering...

 

Spoiler


#865 Gothneo

Gothneo

    Knows Paul Bunyan

  • Members
  • 5,753 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Land of sky Blue Oxen

Posted 13 April 2019 - 06:26 AM

I thought exactly the same.  We got another episode of The Orville... I find that show not only more entertaining but more coherent. Your idea Whirlygig maybe the only way to salvage much of anything.



#866 Whirlygig

Whirlygig

    Dances with Toys

  • Members
  • 1,431 posts

Posted 21 April 2019 - 08:28 AM

Spoiler


#867 Gothneo

Gothneo

    Knows Paul Bunyan

  • Members
  • 5,753 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Land of sky Blue Oxen

Posted 21 April 2019 - 06:25 PM

That’s a terrible idea. The great thing about only going forward 50 or so years is they have the ability to start with a fairly fresh slate while keeping continuity. Going forward that far will create more issues imo. I hate to say it but, after a decade of “new trek”... and really trying to give it the benefit... I’ve mostly been disappointed. Luckily I’ve got years of TNG, DS9 and VOY i can watch and enjoy.

#868 MisterPL

MisterPL

    Yes the Troi figures hair worries me.

  • Members
  • 940 posts
  • Gender:Male

Posted 22 April 2019 - 10:22 AM

So, what are everyone's ratings?

 

Season 1: Three out of five stars?

Season 2: Four out of five stars?



#869 djc242

djc242

    I know FHC by name.

  • Members
  • 585 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Los Angeles, CA

Posted 22 April 2019 - 01:46 PM

I liked Season 2 way more than the first. I want to go back and watch both again. The pace was sometimes really quick. I also want to evaluate the show after knowing where everything was leading in each season. That way I can judge things for as they were and maybe ignore any of my expectations that werent met. I still think some of the issues I have with the story will remain.

I loved Pike, the Enterprise, and those blue phaser beams! Culber and Stammets (spelling?) were never favorites but their scene in the finale really moved me. I feel like those two have it dialed in now. Im curious to see where they go in season 3. Personally happy they are moving to a time where canon really doesnt matter.

#870 VulcanFanatic

VulcanFanatic

    Leonard Nimoy fan

  • Members
  • 3,165 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Southeastern North Carolina

Posted 22 April 2019 - 02:56 PM

So, what are everyone's ratings?
 
Season 1: Three out of five stars?
Season 2: Four out of five stars?

Based on what I've seen of both seasons, negative 5 stars of 5. Of course I am seen as a troll since I don't like the show.

#871 Alteran195

Alteran195

    Their ACTION FIGURES, not dolls!!

  • Members
  • 3,461 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Minnesota

Posted 22 April 2019 - 03:10 PM

4/5. I really enjoyed the storyline, and am very curious what theyll do next season. Weve had some small snippets of that time period with Daniels on Enterprise, but its still essentially a blank slate.

#872 Gothneo

Gothneo

    Knows Paul Bunyan

  • Members
  • 5,753 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Land of sky Blue Oxen

Posted 22 April 2019 - 05:50 PM

The technical production of both seasons is fantastic... I give that a 4 just because... well lens flares and prostectically distracting Klingons.

Trek has a good history of getting quality actors, and Disco is no exception... and again I think I’d go 4 in this area and love issacsLorca and Mounts pike, as well as a number of others.

The weak point for me is the writing. We’ve had glimmers of good... but overall I Can’t give the writing more than a 2... and that might be generous.

So a total score would probably be 2.5 or 3 just because I think a good story is so important.

#873 Alex

Alex

    Yes the Troi figures hair worries me.

  • Members
  • 926 posts
  • Gender:Male

Posted 23 April 2019 - 01:53 AM

So, what are everyone's ratings?

 

Season 1: Three out of five stars?

Season 2: Four out of five stars?

I know I'm probably going to get some hate with my answer to this question, but...

 

  1. Season 1: 2/5 Stars (Maybe 2.5 out of 5 if I'm being really generous because of the fairly awesome second half)
  2. Season 2: 3–4/5 Stars

My reason for potentially ranking season 2 so scathingly low is all about the writing and that thing they keep trying to pass off as the Enterprise. (The updated aesthetic bugs the hell out of me, especially since they had an outright perfect plot–point that could have explained the TOS retro aesthetic if anyone in the writers room had been thinking.) Pike was awesome, but that's because Anson Mount is awesome. I almost wish they had made him a new character though since he could have easily carried DSC forward if they'd done so and kept him around. While the season as a whole was exponentially better than the first season, it still suffers from some really botched plotlines that just hurt it for me overall.

 

Spoiler

 

The writing did improve this season, despite my complaints above, but it could still be so much better. I felt like the season was solid overall, but they fumbled at the last second in the finale, which hurts my overall view of the season. It was still pretty good, but the more egregious screw–ups ruin an otherwise awesome season.

 

Speculation about season 3:

Spoiler

 

I know I need to watch the finale again, maybe some of the things that irked me the first time through won't get to me on a second viewing and it'll be a firm 4/5 star season for me instead of a 3–4/5 star season.

 

Also, (and this is just a side–irk of mine,) why the -insert colorful metaphor or choice here- can I not pre–order DSC S2 on Blu–Ray yet!? Seriously, The Orville hasn't even shown its season finale yet, but I can preorder the DVD release of season two right now, and could have done so at least as early as last weekend. Meanwhile DSC S2 is over and I still can't even preorder the Blu–Ray set. I "get" not having it ready to go yet, and I wouldn't even mind another November release date, but at least let me order the thing now while its fresh in my mind. The DVD and Blu–Ray releases should go live for preorder within a week of the finale airing, not months later. If you didn't sign up for CBS All–Access to watch the show when S2 premiered, you're probably not signing up now, and even if you were, the Blu–Ray/DVD release could still be set for so much later in this year that you'd want to sign up to see the show sooner and then grab it on disc later. Not being able to preorder it now though is irritating, and I was equally irritated with the way the season one release was only announced months after the finale had aired. I know this is a minor complaint, but its irritating, and I would think you'd get more sales if you could run an add at the end of Such Sweet Sorrow, Part 2 that just says something like "pre–order DSC S2 on DVD/Blu–Ray now, coming this November" effectively giving fans an incentive to do just that while the finale is fresh in their minds.

 

One last minor complaint: I hate the 2:1 aspect ratio! I get it, DSC is locked into this ratio for the long haul now, but I really hope that the Picard series uses a normal 16:9 aspect ratio instead. I know this is a minor thing that's not a huge issue, but it's the one technical aspect of the show that drives me crazy for multiple reasons.

 

  • 2:1 is a nonstandard ratio! Just because Netflix is stupid and decides to use it doesn't mean that CBS AA should emulate their bad behavior.
  • Because of the point above that 2:1 is a nonstandard aspect ratio, it effectively forces the show to be arbitrarily letterboxed even on a "normal" widescreen TV. There are no TVs that use the 2:1 aspect ratio for the aforementioned reason, nor are there any computer monitors that use this as a native ratio. There are also no plans to ever make 2:1 a standard aspect ratio, to produce 2:1 TVs, or to produce 2:1 computer monitors.
  • 2:1 is just irritatingly slightly off an actual aspect ratio standard to be annoying. 1.9:1 is the standard used by Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI) cameras in various resolutions. It was chosen specifically because it crops well to 16:9 (A.K.A. 1.78:1) and 2.39:1, which is what's used for most 35mm film releases in the United States, as well as virtually every other widely used aspect ratio that's treated as a standard.
  • The show doesn't need to be any wider than a normal widescreen TV. ENT was frequently viewed with black bars because it had to be letterboxed to fit on our standard definition TVs, but it wasn't the desirable way to view the series. It was letterboxed because ENT had embraced a new standard. DSC is not doing that, (see above comments,) it's being different for the sake of being different.
  • Because DSC goes from deep blacks to bright whites, it draws attention to the edges of the image where the letterboxing occurs unnecessarily, which also takes away from some of the tighter shots.

Again, I know it's minor, but I just hate this oddball aspect ratio that wants to be 1.9:1 but isn't. I could actually live with the show being 1.9:1, as that would suggest that the people involved in the production wanted to use the full image without cropping anything, but for the true 2:1 that this show is shot in you pretty much have to crop the image anyway. I'm not even against letterboxed widescreen Trek, and would be fine with 1.85:1 or 2.39:1 if you really wanted to go with motion picture ratios. My beef is specifically with 2:1 and the people who keep trying to make it "a thing" when it's not.



#874 Gothneo

Gothneo

    Knows Paul Bunyan

  • Members
  • 5,753 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Land of sky Blue Oxen

Posted 23 April 2019 - 05:58 AM

Good analysis Alex. I’m pretty much in agreement... though aspect ratio doesn't really bother me. I did watch the finale again... and if anything I found many of the action scenes overly drawn out and almost comically at times.

#875 MisterPL

MisterPL

    Yes the Troi figures hair worries me.

  • Members
  • 940 posts
  • Gender:Male

Posted 26 April 2019 - 10:27 AM

Looks like the CBS/Viacom merger is still inching closer:

 

https://variety.com/...lks-1203196750/

 

"... CBS views Viacom as having a host of troubled assets..."

 

Yeah, like "Our Star Trek series is more successful than your Star Trek films!"



#876 Gothneo

Gothneo

    Knows Paul Bunyan

  • Members
  • 5,753 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Land of sky Blue Oxen

Posted 26 April 2019 - 04:33 PM

Since National Amusements controls both... it sure seems like its paying money to yourself to buy one out.



#877 Gothneo

Gothneo

    Knows Paul Bunyan

  • Members
  • 5,753 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Land of sky Blue Oxen

Posted 13 February 2020 - 07:31 AM

So.. I re-watched DISCO S2 this last week. It was nice to re-visit it after letting it sit awhile. 

 

  • New Eden is still that standout Episode of the Season for me.
  • Aston Mount is still perfect and Awesome as Pike.
  • The whole "Red Angel / Control" story line is overly complex and obfuscates some great moments

I was pondering why I liked New Eden so much, and I think the reason is that much of the season everyone is so manic... so busy trying to solve this or that problem... its so manic, that, the stress and anxiety would quickly break anyone. While New Eden was a bit bit more relaxed, and allowed you to explore the personalities of the characters... This element was in most previous Trek Writing, and is even a part of The Orville... so I have to wonder if this style isn't some of what many fans miss??  



#878 MisterPL

MisterPL

    Yes the Troi figures hair worries me.

  • Members
  • 940 posts
  • Gender:Male

Posted 06 April 2020 - 08:38 AM

Hang on now... I submit Superman II as same basic time traveling plot plot... both instances use a celestial body And some fantastical way of using it to reverse time.

 

Superman wasn't using the Earth as anything but a reference point, like watching a TV screen while you rewind a videotape. He was in space because he needed the room to fly ludicrously fast. Geez.



#879 Gothneo

Gothneo

    Knows Paul Bunyan

  • Members
  • 5,753 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Land of sky Blue Oxen

Posted 10 April 2020 - 02:29 AM

lol... you must be bored to go back and comment out of context on something from a year ago! 



#880 MisterPL

MisterPL

    Yes the Troi figures hair worries me.

  • Members
  • 940 posts
  • Gender:Male

Posted 10 April 2020 - 10:07 AM

It was interesting reading the criticisms leveled at this show, most of which were purely aesthetic. It seems that toy collectors crave visual continuity more than other Trekkies.

 

I've also come to the conclusion that, while it's often stated that it takes a Trek show three seasons to "find its footing," it really takes Trek fans three seasons to adjust to a new show because they don't readily embrace change.






3 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 3 guests, 0 anonymous users