I find it interesting that when I went into this season I was enjoying Burnham and Lorca, (familiar faces from other shows), but by the end of the season it turns out Saru and Stamets were my favorite characters.
I think it was pretty bold, in general terms, not to structure the show like a regular Star Trek show, where you get to know the bridge crew. That’s one of the reasons it feels so different even after 2 seasons. Stamets is kind of the equivalent of Scotty from TOS or Geordi Laforge from TNG, I guess, but he never felt that way. And Saru definitely never felt like Riker or Spock.
Pod
1927
I’ve never bought that idea. The original Trek had little focus on the bridge crew. It was all about Spock, Kirk and Bones. TNG was what made it an ensemble.
True. But TNG has shaped most people’s idea of what Trek is in this moment in time. It has mine.
On a whim I signed up for a trial to CBS All Access a few days back and proceeded to watch 12 freaking episodes in 3 days. Guys, I really like what they have here - the serialized format, the setup and setting, the characters are all incredible. The visual effects are so fucking great, too - the sounds, both old and new, and where season 1 has been heading (which, to be clear, I’m not able to forsee at all - what the fuck moments abound). I stopped reading this thread at some point, sure this wouldn’t be something I wanted, and now I’m glad I decided to give it a shot, because I am really clicking with this.
Yeah, it’s really great, while also being very different from other Trek. After TNG they fell into this rut, where aside from DS9 every show was just trying to be like TNG.
rshetts
1931
Season 2 is even better. Anson Mount as Pike and Ethan Hunt as Spock both really nail it. The production quality is top notch and the story is pretty good as well. It answers a lot of “how can this be” questions brought on from the first season and at the end it truly sends Discovery where no Trek has gone before.
Sadly most of the people who don’t like wanted it to be like TNG. If they could stop trying to view it through TNG glasses ( and quit nitpicking about Klingons, I mean seriously, they’ve changed the Klingons look about 100 times already, let it go ) they just may like it. Myself, I was sceptical at the start but but I gave it chance to be its own show and I am glad that I did.
Zylon
1932
Once. They’ve changed the Klingons exactly once before in the prime timeline. There was the TOS/TAS “Mongol” design, then the TMP “forehead ridge” redesign, which carried forward in all films and TV series with only minor refinements until Discovery.
rshetts
1933
Once? That’s either a joke or we have a very different view on “minor refinements”.
I actually prefer this new look because to me they seem more “alien” and fierce/dangerous. Not to take away from the old look of the species, though.
jsnell
1935
I don’t agree. Season 2 was a huge dip in quality; one of the largest I can remember for any series. The thing I ended up loving the most about Season 1 of Discovery was how all the little inconsistencies or places with characters acting nonsensically that annoyed me while watching it turned out to have an explanation. So the point of the story where you finally really understand what’s happening (rather than just think you understand) really packed a punch.
Season 2 learned exactly the wrong lessons. They tried the wheels within wheels storytelling again, but that only works when the deepest core of the mystery actually is interesting. The true nature of the Red Angel is not only utterly moronic, the reveal also directly undermines the story they tried to tell earlier.
And on the smaller scale there was just so much painfully bad writing and plotting in Season 2 that it’s hard to believe it was made by the same people. Like bringing Culbert back from the the dead, only with the character being even more of an empty suit than before. Or the attempt at making the death of the robot lady who had gotten like three lines during the previous ten episodes matter to the audience.
But Pike was indeed pretty good.
Zylon
1937
Then please do point out what in the basic Klingon design from The Motion Picture has changed over the years, other than iterations on the head ridge. And before you answer, be sure to remember that it’s canon that Klingons head ridges vary significantly between individuals…
File this one under “Arguments I can’t believe I’m actually having.”
rshetts
1939
Now that I agree with. Moving on…
Didn’t Star Trek: Enterprise explain all this?
Yes. But should they have explained it?
I like explanations. Also, it sort of fits with why Worf’s so embarrassed to talk about it.
I just finished S2 last night. Vague spoilers blurred.
Better than S1? Yep. Without its flaws? Er, no. Glad I made it to E4 because the first three took forever to get its convoluted storyline in place. The Discovery shitting out an asteroid turd was possibly the low point. They made some disappointing decisions with certain characters, who had the potential to be a lot more interesting, and they crossed the line one too many times with “will they or won’t they die” plot lines. Considerable time was spent hand-wringing, including AT CRITICAL TIMES OF IMMINENT DANGER GUYS SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU ARE OUT OF TIME GAAAH! As a completely unrelated aside, what’s up with Saru’s body prosthetic? Prosthetic team, you may have noticed the actor is an thin as a rail, why does he look like an alien beefcake (with a bad case of rubber) with his shirt off? Shall I insert confused Malcolm Reynolds gif? I have to give them credit for fixing the Klingons, who were vastly improved over S1. Not so much their look (though I like what they’ve done with them now), but the long, drawn-out spittle-flecked exposition which was painful to sit through early in S1.
And of course Pike, Spock and the vastly underused No. 1 were awesome, by far the best thing about the season. The dynamic between all of them and Burnham (who remains great, but needs a foil) was fantastic, and splitting this up strikes me as a case of “too soon” because right now I’d much rather stay with that crew on the Enterprise. They did everything necessary to establish this as a new spin-off series, but I hear they’re going with… Section 31 instead who they set up to fail? Strange.
Anyway, I still think it’s a very good show, which is why the various niggles frustrate more than otherwise.
Pod
1944
Nah, you are wrong. It’s really that simple.
