Watched the second episode, and still on the fence about whether to continue on or not. The things that are turning me off aren’t wokeness or the male/female ratio on the bridge, it’s the storytelling and scripts.

One of the good things about the older ST episodes were that they were about story, not so much about character development. You learned about the characters by their actions and maybe gained some insight into their backgrounds slowly over the course of the series, but almost all of the episode time was focused on the story of the episode. Now, they spend too much episode time on learning about the characters, what drives them, their hopes and fears, and so on. Honestly, I don’t really care. This episode, the first 10 minutes were party in the Captain’s quarters before the story of the week even gets going. Nothing wrong with occasionally showing a little off duty time (like Kirk and Spock playing 3D chess, or the poker games on the Enterprise D), but those were fairly short.

The shortened story this week was a little lame. Basically a rip off of Close Encounters (you use music to communicate with the alien ship), some dodgy decision making, plot holes (the aliens didn’t notice Spock’s shuttle leaving, when they were able to detect everything else?), and changes in behavior of characters (Spock laughs - really?). Plus, the whole thing about Pike knowing his future, where can that possibly go as a story point?

With Discovery, Picard, and now this, they’ve about ruined the ST franchise for me. The only new ST show I enjoy is Lower Decks.

I gave up on Star Trek long ago. After watching the trailer I noticed two things: 1. There was no gravitas to the commanders voice, assuming it was him doing the voice over; 2. There were two many big names in the cast which to me is a warning sign. Anymore I tend to think anything Rebecca Romijn is in is a stinker.

I don't like how cavalier Pike is with disregarding the Prime Directive, but that's been an issue in nearly every episode in every series. It's just blatantly disregarded in this series, I suppose. Just another sign of the current times, I suppose--"My way is better than your way and I'm going to make you succumb to my morés."

quote:

Originally posted by radinski:
I gave up on Star Trek long ago. After watching the trailer I noticed two things: 1. There was no gravitas to the commanders voice, assuming it was him doing the voice over; 2. There were two many big names in the cast which to me is a warning sign. Anymore I tend to think anything Rebecca Romijn is in is a stinker.

I agree with #1. He just doesn’t seem very commanding for lack of a better term. Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, etc. it was always pretty clear they were in charge. This Capt. Pike just seems dull and uninspired.

Don’t watch enough stuff with Rebecca Romijn to really know, but so far the character hasn’t been too impressive. Basically botched her mission in the first episode, so that Pike and the crew had to rescue her, and really didn’t do anything in the second episode.

I was kind of hoping they were going to more of a story-of-the week, stand alone episode type series like they promised, but I think they’re still carrying too much big story arc baggage.

Holy shit. I didn’t even recognize her. Number 1.

Still wondering who this Sam Kirk guy is. I’m I being stupid? Should I know this?

I actually like the actor playing Pike. It is his hair that I can’t stand. Did they give him a bouffant? An up do? What the hell is that? It certainly doesn’t look starfleet captain-ish.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
Still wondering who this Sam Kirk guy is.

Sam is James T's brother; however, he will be dead in a few years. There's a reference to him in the original series.

OK with it so far - Music was better on Discovery -On spocks tricorder defibrilaator was spelled wrong when he zapped Kirk.

I kind of dig it so far. Hopefully they'll stop with the "I'm dead in ten years" bit pretty soon. My only real grip is why does Pike have quarters roughly the size of an NBA court? If I were the enlisted crew in a rack I'd be a considering a visit to Ceti Alpha V...

In the last episode I think his quarters had a fireplace. Lol. Maybe it was holographic but fire and ships have never been a good mix.

I’m still stuck on his pompadour.

So far I'm not too put off by anything about it. Which is like when someone asks how you're doing and you reply "not too bad".

Put another way, I'm grateful that I don't feel like it sucks. That can be a mighty big compliment these days.

Fireplace, bar, full galley style kitchen. seating for what looks like the entire bridge crew, engineering, and the visiting team. In the first episode I thought maybe he was meeting Spock in the crew mess / lounge and it was just deserted at the time, but that's pretty clearly his quarters. Meanwhile there are probably 30 redshirts sharing 15 bunks in a rack squeezed up under the #2 antimatter reactor next to the Randomloudnoisitron 4000.

"Sorry guys, gotta move you to Cargo Bay 2 / Radioactive Waste Storage. Captain needs the space for his new handball court."

Episode 3: "We're conducting a survey of a planet ravaged by ion storms, which we know to have an adverse affect on the transporter and communications. So we're beaming down and taking no additional equipment with which to boost signal strength for communication or emergency beam-out."

quote:

Originally posted by Dwill104:
The only new ST show I enjoy is Lower Decks.

Yeah, it's interesting when the only decent "real" Trek show is a quasi-spoof cartoon.

Of course, Star Wars went through the similar with the later seasons of Clone Wars and Rebels, when the alternative was the excremental Sequel Trilogy.

Yea, that episode kind of sucked. A couple sorta big reveals that felt flat. I’ve never attended Starfleet Academy but that away mission screamed out “let’s not be dumbasses and let’s take a shuttle”. Plus lightning ghosts are just dumb no matter how you slice it.

It’s not woke though (other than the all female crew) so I’m still watching. And nobody has cried yet (I’m looking at you Michael).

quote:

Originally posted by copaup:
I kind of dig it so far. Hopefully they'll stop with the "I'm dead in ten years" bit pretty soon. My only real grip is why does Pike have quarters roughly the size of an NBA court? If I were the enlisted crew in a rack I'd be a considering a visit to Ceti Alpha V...

Sure, at least for a while. But it gets too eel friendly there in a few years.

quote:

Originally posted by pedropcola:
I’ve never attended Starfleet Academy but that away mission screamed out “let’s not be dumbasses and let’s take a shuttle”.

If this is an example of the quality of foresight and planning necessary for graduating Starfleet Academy, dude I'd graduate magda cum laude.

At least we get The Orville back on June 2nd.

quote:

Originally posted by DanH:
At least we get The Orville back on June 2nd.

Like Lower Decks, Orville is another example of a spoof that's actually better Trek than the current "real" Trek.

(At least, once they hit their stride partway through Season 1...)

At this point, I wouldn't even call The Orville a spoof.