[Official] Star Trek: Discovery Thread

[FloatingFatMan]

Personally, I loved it!  The visuals were a little flashy and JJAbrahms like, however from what I can tell, it appears to be set in the main Trek universe, which is perfect!  I loved the bits of the TOS theme in the intro, though I'm not sold on their intro as a whole, yet.  I loved that the uniforms are a clear progression on from Enterprise (which is set about 60 years earlier), and I'm confused as to why the main character has a man's name...

 

The new Klingons.  I'm not sure about them yet.  I think I like the look, but not completely. They're going to have to grow on me.

 

One thing IS clear. I know now why Axanar was shut down. They're telling the same story. There's no way they'd want a fan production getting in the way of their official story.

[Dot Matrix]

59 minutes ago, George P said:

Flashy visuals?   I can just picture you saying that it looked cheap if they didn't use the level of visuals they did, complaining about the look in the other direction.    I'm not surprised though, I could've guessed your opinion on it at this point.  And really, the look and feel doesn't fit the period?  So it has to look like TOS did back in the 60s to fit the "period" of a scifi show set hundreds of years in the future?    My god man.

It worked in TNG, DS9, and in Enterprise when the TOS sets were re-built. Not sure why it wouldn't work on Discovery.

 

[FloatingFatMan]

As much as I love TOS, the original sets just look terrible these days. Discovery's sets seemed to be a mix of what we saw in Enterprise and what we saw in JJVerse.  I'm praying there's no bottling plant...

[George P Global Moderator]

1 hour ago, Dot Matrix said:

It worked in TNG, DS9, and in Enterprise when the TOS sets were re-built. Not sure why it wouldn't work on Discovery.

 

Yeah, and yet enterprise, which is set before TOS, has NOTHING in common with the TOS style, at all, unless everyone is seeing things i'm just not seeing.  Discovery is a clear linear progression in style from what Enterprise used, from the uniforms to the style of the bridge and it's controls and so on.    People need to let go, the TOS style is a product of it's day, the 60s, flashy colors and short skirts.   Did you hate it when Enterprise decided to use nothing from TOS for it's designs btw?    Fans need to let go at some point, you're not going to get a new 2017 show that uses the same visual style/cues from a show in the 60s for it's "scifi" aesthetic, it's not going to happen, and you'll only get laughed at if you did. 

[George P Global Moderator]

19 minutes ago, FloatingFatMan said:

As much as I love TOS, the original sets just look terrible these days. Discovery's sets seemed to be a mix of what we saw in Enterprise and what we saw in JJVerse.  I'm praying there's no bottling plant...

This is pretty much spot on, it's a step forward from what they set in Enterprise but it's not a whole jump ahead like we see in the Kelvin timeline which, due to the events in the first movie, moved/advanced things faster compared to the Prime universe at the same point.    It'll be very interesting, since this is only a short time before when Kirk and co set off, if this doesn't end right before TOS would start time line wise.   Not that I expect CBS to redo the original as a TV show, they'll leave that for Paramount and the movies while they fill in spaces before and after TOS/TNG.    

 

As far as the klingon look, this isn't the first time they've changed them, they looked different originally in TOS and different in TNG and then the reason got retconed in to explain it, which seems to be fine with fans, yet heaven forbid we make them look different again, oh no no. 

[techbeck]

Wish Michelle Yeoh was in it longer.  I liked her character.  And much better visuals than The Orville IMO.  I really liked the premier and looking forward to seeing where they go with this.  Was not really expecting the ending.  But then again, I have not been keeping up to date on anything but the premier date.    And liked the TNG "Number One"  reference.

 

Also curious if they finally explain that the hell happened to the Klingons.  TOS, they just looked like normal humans with bushy eyebrows.  And then you have Worf...wth?  Maybe I missed the story here but now in Discovery, they look even more different. 

 

I will still watch TOS from time to time.  Yes, it is old and Shatner's love scenes make me laugh, but I was more of a Spock/Nemoy fan.  Liked that the newest movies included him in them and liked his appearances in shows like Haven.  He also had one of those unmistakable voices. I imagine we will hear about him at some point in Discovery.  Maybe a possible crew member?

[Son_Of_Dad]

3 hours ago, techbeck said:

Also curious if they finally explain that the hell happened to the Klingons.  TOS, they just looked like normal humans with bushy eyebrows.  And then you have Worf...wth?  Maybe I missed the story here but now in Discovery, they look even more different. 

They actually had 4 movies in between the periods you stated........ The best explanation is what was given in the DS9/TOS crossover episode "It is not something we like to discuss" nothing story wise actually makes sense; it was the 60's with a shoe string budget that couldn't cover more than Spocks ears.

 

The Klingnons in DIS made as much sense as everything else that didn't fit into the timeframe. They shouldn't be calling this Star Trek it's just a sci-fi show attempting to use the existing brand name.

[George P Global Moderator]

5 hours ago, techbeck said:

Also curious if they finally explain that the hell happened to the Klingons.  TOS, they just looked like normal humans with bushy eyebrows.  And then you have Worf...wth?  Maybe I missed the story here but now in Discovery, they look even more different. 

That's the thing, the klingons have looked different and been changed before, so changing them now for Discovery somehow has "fans" up in arms, it's laughable.    The thing is, though I can't find a source atm, it is said that the klingons in TOS look more human because of genetic modifications, maybe a way to blend in during this war for spying and so on?  I don't remember where it's brought up though.  Anyways, them in TNG is probably the look you get when they've tried to undo the genetic changes from TOS and go back to their original look that we're probably seeing now in Discovery since it's set in the past?     This is a war and I expect a number of klingon houses/clans etc to be lost by the time it's over.   So when we finally get to the klingons we know in the later trek movies and TNG we're down to only a few types that mostly look the same.

[George P Global Moderator]

2 hours ago, Son_Of_Dad said:

The Klingnons in DIS made as much sense as everything else that didn't fit into the timeframe. They shouldn't be calling this Star Trek it's just a sci-fi show attempting to use the existing brand name.

While a few things were off, it's not major things, the overall look is a progression from what enterprise used, from the uniforms to the style of the bridge and ships.   The hologram communications doesn't fit the time period, I'll give you that, but I can let it slide for now.     I also hear some fans talk about the klingons cloaking technology not being part of this point in time, I don't agree, the episode limited the cloaking ability to only a set of ships, not all of the klingon ships could cloak, and also those ships that could got destroyed  by the end of the episode.   I figure the tech got lost in the process and reintroduced around the later star trek movies, think the klingon ship in ST3 could cloak already?   And besides, we know the romulans had cloaking technology in TOS.

 

The only fault, story wise, is that they rushed it, but that's the nature of the audience now.  It does have clear star trek moments, those should be more apparent going forward, these two pilot episodes rushed to try and pull in new fans.

[+John. Subscriber¹]

I really enjoyed both episodes and I’m excited for where it’s going. 

 

Does anyone else think the Discovery is going to be some sort of Black Ops (S31) or temporal ship? 

[LOC Veteran]

I really, really hope they wind up either tying directly into the TNG era somehow or literally having a huge time jump at some point to that era. Because, we need it, badly lol

[George P Global Moderator]

14 minutes ago, John. said:

I really enjoyed both episodes and I’m excited for where it’s going. 

 

Does anyone else think the Discovery is going to be some sort of Black Ops (S31) or temporal ship? 

I think the fact it looks as different as it does and the fact prisoners for life are somehow sent there means it's got to be some type of S31 or the makings of S31 (when did they first form anyways?).    I doubt it's anything temporal and so on but who knows?  Anyways, I think we're in for covert anti-klingon type missions from time to time along with running into other races out there and so on.

[LOC Veteran]

23 minutes ago, George P said:

I think the fact it looks as different as it does and the fact prisoners for life are somehow sent there means it's got to be some type of S31 or the makings of S31 (when did they first form anyways?).    I doubt it's anything temporal and so on but who knows?  Anyways, I think we're in for covert anti-klingon type missions from time to time along with running into other races out there and so on.

Well S31 was involved as far back as Enterprise. I think S31 was incorporated into the Starfleet charter or something like that, as a covert thingy etc. I actually don't know how far back Starfleet goes compared to when the Federation was founded and all that but obviously Starfleet is much older.

[George P Global Moderator]

8 minutes ago, LOC said:

Well S31 was involved as far back as Enterprise. I think S31 was incorporated into the Starfleet charter or something like that, as a covert thingy etc. I actually don't know how far back Starfleet goes compared to when the Federation was founded and all that but obviously Starfleet is much older.

Fans have asked for more S31 stuff, maybe this is what we're going to get?

[LOC Veteran]

I guess we'll have to wait and see. It would be truly awesome if they tied into TOS/TNG era mythology even a little bit. We're obviously not going to get that for a long ass time if ever again in the movies, so this could be the shot.

[Slugsie]

Watched both episodes last night (thankyou Netflix UK). Overall I thought it was pretty good. Great visuals, and the start of a good story arc that can run as the background for several seasons. Not sure about the Kilingons though, the facial prosthetics seem too OTT, and I hope they drop the subtitles for them soon - especially as none of the characters seemed to be comfortable speaking in Klingon, way too stilted.

 

My only real concern is that we only appear to have 3 enduring characters. The first officer, the tall alien science guy, and the white Klingon (way too soon for me to have learned the names  ). I really hope the next episode is a little slower paced so we can have some character development for the rest of the bridge crew.

 

Oh, and someone needs to reality check some of the science a little (I know ST usually just introduces 'hand-wavium' and 'techno-babble', but even that has its limits). The thing in the asteroid belt is 2000km away, and she has to get there and back in 20 minutes for 'reasons'. That's an average of 12,000km/h. With stopping and restarting that's a hell of a lot of G's. Plus she can be seen apparently swerving around asteroids with ease at an apparent low speed. That scene made zero sense.

[+John. Subscriber¹]

11 minutes ago, Slugsie said:

Oh, and someone needs to reality check some of the science a little (I know ST usually just introduces 'hand-wavium' and 'techno-babble', but even that has its limits). The thing in the asteroid belt is 2000km away, and she has to get there and back in 20 minutes for 'reasons'. That's an average of 12,000km/h. With stopping and restarting that's a hell of a lot of G's. Plus she can be seen apparently swerving around asteroids with ease at an apparent low speed. That scene made zero sense.

I agree, and also the pacing needs a little tweaking.

 

It did make me giggle when she shot off towards the asteroid field, as the thrusters were only on her back I couldn't help thinking her limbs would just be in bits flailing behind her. 

[The Evil Overlord]

Well, so far, I have no opinion, as I've only seen the 2 episodes available to me right now, I would have liked Michelle to have lived, but hey.

 

[LOC Veteran]

I think the scene with her shooting over to the klingon ship was basically done to be a TOS original movie mirror. Still, it did seem odd, though I guess "science" saved her right? Like in most situations in Trek

 

Anyways, I finally saw episode 2 and I loved it. The fact that Burnem (sp, not sure on it yet lol) gets no closure was a pretty nice touch, without going into spoilers of course. Also, from the preview of the upcoming season, it looks kinda pretty good to me. Still not on board with Harry Mudd though. Also, pretty sure I saw Burnem fighting Sarek in there???? Uh, ok. I guess they could explain her never being known to us that way

[Steven P. Administrators]

I am happy to report that it's also on Netflix in my country

[Son_Of_Dad]

4 hours ago, George P said:

While a few things were off, it's not major things, the overall look is a progression from what enterprise used, from the uniforms to the style of the bridge and ships.

Not really, the the bridge looked closer to the next gen movie bridge than to Enterprise. The uniforms are just a Whisky Tango Foxtrot, they are blue just as ENT but that seems to be where (or wear) any similarity ends. The divisions are gold/silver/bronze which you can hardly make out as the viewer, rank is denoted by pips on the uniform badge (chevron) which during that time should be different for each ship, which you should barely see 3 feet away e.g. a captain wears 4 gold pips on a gold badge :? IIRC this is set either just before or just after The Cage and not a great deal is lining up.

 

While I understand you have to make a new set look modern not match a set that's over 60 years old there are more believable ways to do it for example in Enterprise most of the controls were quite clunky and the sets gave the look of being quite cramped. Depsite the USS Says-no or whatever it was is said to be an older ship it had a transporter room with more space then TOS bridge

 

On the subject of ships most of the starfleet ships that just happened to show up looked better than every shot off the USS Discovery. 

Sarek's mind comms were just as crazy as the holo comms.

Edited September 26, 2017 by Son_Of_Dad

[Son_Of_Dad]

4 hours ago, George P said:

 I figure the tech got lost in the process and reintroduced around the later star trek movies, think the klingon ship in ST3 could cloak already?   And besides, we know the romulans had cloaking technology in TOS.

Romulans had cloaking technology as far back as Enterprise it's also established Klingons got cloaking tech from the Romulans in TOS  in exchange for Klingon battle cruisers. A cut scene from STIII also stated the Klingon captain stole the bird of prey from the Romulans.

[Som]

Overall i liked it, but their where a few small issues ...

1. the opening theme is very boring and unforgettable,

2. a few "science" bits where very dumb (not unexpected from kurtzman) , 

Spoiler

3. They killed the two most interesting characters in the first episode, T'Kuvma  and Michelle Yeoh

4. At one point Michael says don't kill T'Kuvma, you'll make him a marytr, then a few minutes later she killed him herself

5. (this is more the studio), the preview at the end spoiled the entire series for me, why they do that, so annoying

 

That said though i enjoyed it and am still looking forward to the rest

[Son_Of_Dad]

2 hours ago, LOC said:

I really, really hope they wind up either tying directly into the TNG era somehow or literally having a huge time jump at some point to that era. Because, we need it, badly lol

I have no faith of them fitting in with TOS time frame but they might not with TNG either. The best way to "reset" Trek is to cut all ties, go completely fresh, focus on a different ship, new crew, timeframe somewhere the viewer is unaware of; between TOS and ST1 or between ST6 and TNG. The JJ-trek should have gone in this direction rather than a retelling of Kirk which still leans on the original works.

[The Evil Overlord]

25 minutes ago, Son_Of_Dad said:

Romulans had cloaking technology as far back as Enterprise it's also established Klingons got cloaking tech from the Romulans in TOS  in exchange for Klingon battle cruisers. A cut scene from STIII also stated the Klingon captain stole the bird of prey from the Romulans.

Didn't Klingons steal the cloaking tech after stealing an old warbird, and reverse engineer it?