Star Trek Discovery

[DialgaChampion]

Yes and No. Season 4 consisted of a bunch of mini arcs consisting of 2 & 3 parters. So jumping into one of those in part 2 or 3 left you blind. The Mirror one was a 2-parter.

Not that I'm complaining, because season 4 was the best one, especially after the monstrosity of season 3. I felt the show finally hit it's stride in that final season, at least until that finale ruined everything.

Not to go too OT, but "In a Mirror, Darkly" had some of the best vfx of the entire series, alongside the final 3 episodes of the Xindi arc. I always enjoy the large space battle scenes.

At least Braga finally acknowledged a few years ago that what he did with the finale was a mistake, after initially defending his decision back in 2005.

However, I do think Discovery missed a key opportunity here. They showed the USS Defiant's schematics, explained how it had been taken into the mirror universe and could hold the information to get them back, but the writers never expanded on it. In fact, they returned to their own universe without so much as a glimpse of the Defiant itself. *facepalm*

 

[Derwin0]

In fact, they returned to their own universe without so much as a glimpse of the Defiant itself. *facepalm*

Might be a rights issues. Depends on who owns the look of the Defiant, CBS or Paramount.

Rights issues were why they had to change the Klingons, as Paramount owns the look of the non-TOS Klingons.

Though I would think CBS owns the look of the Defiant as it's from the original tv series.

 

[primestar31]

Not to go too OT, but "In a Mirror, Darkly" had some of the best vfx of the entire series, alongside the final 3 episodes of the Xindi arc. I always enjoy the large space battle scenes.

At least Braga finally acknowledged a few years ago that what he did with the finale was a mistake, after initially defending his decision back in 2005.

However, I do think Discovery missed a key opportunity here. They showed the USS Defiant's schematics, explained how it had been taken into the mirror universe and could hold the information to get them back, but the writers never expanded on it. In fact, they returned to their own universe without so much as a glimpse of the Defiant itself. *facepalm*

I don't think you paid enough attention to what happened. Nearly ALL the info was visual writing as on paper from the Defiant and was REDACTED, which was shown on the screen looking like a 'Freedom of Information' act document that had almost everything covered up, and then photocopied to make sure it couldn't be removed to see the data underneath that.

Even the emperor mentioned that it was redacted, and totally worthless to the Discovery people. She then also expounded on that to say they all died, basically turned inside out like we saw that other ship had done earlier in the season.

 

[DialgaChampion]

I don't think you paid enough attention to what happened. Nearly ALL the info was visual writing as on paper from the Defiant and was REDACTED, which was shown on the screen looking like a 'Freedom of Information' act document that had almost everything covered up, and then photocopied to make sure it couldn't be removed to see the data underneath that.

Even the emperor mentioned that it was redacted, and totally worthless to the Discovery people. She then also expounded on that to say they all died, basically turned inside out like we saw that other ship had done earlier in the season.

I do remember them saying that, but that made it pointless for the writers to incorporate the Defiant into the storyline in the first place. It was done for no other reason than as a nostalgic reference, of which there are a lot of in this show (same as the Tribble, the mention of Jonathan Archer, the Holodeck, etc.). If you're going to include the Defiant reference as a tip of the hat to old Star Trek fans of previous series, then at least expand on it. Show the Defiant as being commanded by the Emperor, since after all, it is supposed to be the most advanced ship at the time and at their disposal. Or show it being disassembled at a shipyard and the parts being duplicated for use in their other ships. Do something with it. Don't just say "Oh yeah, there's this ship that everyone remembers from Enterprise and TOS, so let's add it into the episode, but not really do anything with it."

I mean, you could be right Derwin, it may very well be a rights issue. Same thing with the uniforms, the Klingons, etc. Still, it doesn't change the fact there's so many missed opportunities with this show, ways for them to improve it and make the best out of a bad licensing situation, yet we're stuck with what we've got.

 

[primestar31]

The ONLY real problem I still have with this series, is that the Klingons look like LIZARDS / or humanoid dinosaurs!

It's ridiculous. There's a lot of ways they could have gone instead of that...

 

[KAB]

The ONLY real problem I still have with this series, is that the Klingons look like LIZARDS / or humanoid dinosaurs!

It's ridiculous. There's a lot of ways they could have gone instead of that...

Why couldn't they make the Klingons look like, ummm.....Klingons?.

 

[dare2be]

Why couldn't they make the Klingons look like, ummm.....Klingons?.

That's already been discussed. Corporate personhood rights.

 

[Derwin0]

Why couldn't they make the Klingons look like, ummm.....Klingons?.

Paramount (not CBS) owns the looks of the Klingons, due to the look debuting on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which Paramount owns the rights of.

CBS had 3 choices with Discovery:

• License the look from Paramount (which would cost licensing fees)
• Use the look from the original series, which CBS does own
• Come up with a whole new look

 

[dfergie]

Action packed episode, glad Amazon picked up CBS access as the sound is way better upmixed with neural-x, adios Lorca, unless the prime universe version shows up... figured Burnham would bring the emperor back.

 

[osu1991]

Watched 5 episodes yesterday and today to get caught up. Was left wanting more, kind of wish I had waited for the last 4 or whatever before I started.

 

[dfergie]

Interesting setup for the season finale... Should be action packed.

 

[primestar31]

I got to admit, this series definitely got much better by 1/2 way through the season. Still can't figure out how they can reconcile the much better technology with TOS, but since we've changed so much in 50 years, I'm not going to let that bother me too much.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

I'm so glad that Captain Philippa Georgiou "actually" did survive, but what happened to the Emperor?

J.K.

 

[dfergie]

Cool!

 

[DialgaChampion]

I just watched the finale last night and I found it disappointing.

Spoiler

They built up this whole idea of the Klingon fleet getting ready to attack the Federation, along with the concept of blowing up the Klingon home world, and the end result was neither. It made no sense how Cornwell relented to Burnham's objection of destroying Qo'nos, after she and the other admirals had already come to the consensus that desperate times called for desperate measures. I think Georgiou gave up the bomb way too easily, considering her ruthless personality from the "mirror universe". The fact that L'Rell was able to convince all of the Klingons to break off their attack in the Sol system, despite the fact all the houses were still divided and fighting individually for control, was very hard to believe, even with her threatening to blow up her own world. And then all of a sudden, the war was magically over.

The final scene with the Enterprise in it, along with the ending credits being the TOS theme song, again, served no purpose other than as a nostalgic reference to say, "Oh yeah, see, this is Star Trek, because everyone remembers that theme song and the NCC-1701."

In fact, you could argue that the Enterprise, being the flagship of the fleet and all, should've been the ship to carry out the Qo'nos mission in the first place.

I mean, the only logical explanation for the way they ended the season (and believe me, this show defies logic all over the place, so that's not saying much), is that the writers don't know where they're going with this series in Season 2. The way the season finished left the series open so that, for example, they could jump hundreds of years into the future with a brand new ship and crew, and just start clean from scratch again. Which is actually what was speculated months ago, that the anthology idea could be brought back into the limelight should the first season not be successful.

 

[dfergie]

Spoiler

Actually I thought it brought the show back to the original theme, peace before battle and the end shot was a nod to continuity. There was a Wrath of Khan nod in the market place if you knew what to look for along with at least one more nod to the series...

 

[Derwin0]

Season over, time to sign up for a free trial of CBS Access, binge watch during the Olympics, then cancel.

 

[dfergie]

This might have been interesting on the finale...

 

[DWS44]

Haven't looked in a while, this series available streaming from anywhere other than CBS All Access yet? I cancelled my All Access after I saw the poor sound/picture quality when I tried to watch episode two.

 

[DialgaChampion]

This might have been interesting on the finale...

It was rumored months ago that Section 31 had some kind of involvement in the season, but we didn't have anything concrete until that deleted scene surfaced.

As for why they deleted it, well... that remains a mystery. Sounds like Kurtzman was thinking of setting up a cliffhanger finale for Section 31 to have a main story arc for the second season, but changed his mind and decided to end off showcasing the Enterprise making an appearance instead.

The latest rumor circulating around the web (and incidentally, a lot of the rumors that came out before and during the early episodes of Season 1 ended up being true later on in the season) is that for Season 2, CBS is trying to find a way to tie the show in with the real prime timeline, because Netflix isn't footing the entire bill this time, so even though CBS greenlit the second season early on, there's some actual financial risk involved for them. Plus CBS already confirmed that the budget for the new season had been upped to $9 million per episode, for what it's worth.

I don't know. If I had to guess, I'd say that with all the production problems and delays during the first season, we won't see the next season until 2020. And then even if CBS and Kurtzman do try to tie it in with the prime universe, the only way I could see them doing it would be with some kind of temporal anomaly sending them on a one-way trip into yet another universe, although this time it would be the prime one. And if they wanted to keep the Discovery as the main ship in the series, the spore drive would have to be permanently destroyed and any other advanced technology removed as well; or, the anomaly would have to send the ship into the 29th century or something far beyond Nemesis, where their technology would actually make sense to fit in with the timeline.