Star Trek: Discovery - spoilery thoughts?

[Xaios]

It was... okay.

(Granted, okay is still likely the 3rd best Star Trek premier, so I'll take what I can get.)

[Winter]

With the new Star Trek FINALLY out I would like to know everyone's thoughts on the new series, what you like about it, what you don't like about it. Is this a bold new direction that will inject new life into the series or will this be the Mass Effect: Andromeda for Star Trek? I'm really interested to know what everyone thinks of the show as it goes on.

So let be the first to say something that will likely make its way into my own review of the show and say, why is this a Prequel? No really, why is this a prequel? Aside from the inclusion of Sarek and making the Klingon's the main antagonist I see no benefit in making this a Prequel, at least not in the Prime Universe. As a prequel to the Kelvin Universe it might have worked given the similarities the two have, such as the design of the Klingon's, the way the show is filmed is similar to the Kelvin films but as part of the original series continuity it just seems to raise to many questions.

For starters aren't the Klingon's suppose to have smooth foreheads... and hair? Also I may be wrong but if I recall correctly the Federation and the Klingon Empire never engaged in open war far. The Romulans fought with the Federation but the Klingon's never did anything Discovery is showing. Or am I wrong on that point?

On the flip side I love how the series starts with the Captain and her first officer saving a pre warp species from going extinct without directly interacting with them on the grounds that letting them all die out is stupid and a waste. I wonder if the show runners watch Chuck's reviews and were taking notes in order to avoid making the same mistakes of Voyager, Enterprise, and TNG.

In fact Lieutenant-Commander Michael Burnham reminds me of Chuck's original idea for he's suggestion for Janeway. Making her the first officer who has to take up the captain's chair when the captain dies after the shit hits the fan. Wouldn't that be cool.

[technobabbler]

Burnham is retarded. (or she could be bipola and imagined communing with force ghost Sarek)

Ep #1. Captain we must kill the Klingons, even if we fire first!
Ep #2. Captain, we can't kill the Klingons, that'll make them martyrs. Let's send 2 people to capture the boss Klingon. Oh wait, he killed you. So I'll make him a martyr and your death will be in vain. Our heroine!

I'm just a hack with an opinion.

[Hedrigal]

I really really hatedteh cinematography on the first episode. The amount of lens flare and dutch angles was really obnoxious and was actually making one of my friends nauseous.

[Winter]

Burnham is retarded. (or she could be bipola and imagined communing with force ghost Sarek)

Ep #1. Captain we must kill the Klingons, even if we fire first!
Ep #2. Captain, we can't kill the Klingons, that'll make them martyrs. Let's send 2 people to capture the boss Klingon. Oh wait, he killed you. So I'll make him a martyr and your death will be in vain. Our heroine!

I'm just a hack with an opinion.

Yeah Burnham isn't exactly off to a great start but in her defense most of the captains of every Trek series didn't really have the best first impressions. In fact I think the only ones who didn't come off as completely insufferable was Kirk and Sisko and Burnham does have her strong points and I do like that the show punishes her for her bad decision making. Unlike Archer and Janeway who almost never punished for what they did, Burnham made a number of bad calls and was rightly called out on it. Sure we know from the preview that Lucius Malfoy intends to give her a chance to redeem herself but its still a case that she has to help fix the mess she helped make.

And unlike Archer she clearly feels guilty for what she has done and that she has no one to blame but herself. Not a perfect start but still better then where Voyager and Enterprise started in my opinion.

[Fixer]

Merging this thread with the Sci-Fi and fantasy forum.

[Fixer]

Yeah Burnham isn't exactly off to a great start but in her defense most of the captains of every Trek series didn't really have the best first impressions. In fact I think the only ones who didn't come off as completely insufferable was Kirk and Sisko and Burnham does have her strong points and I do like that the show punishes her for her bad decision making. Unlike Archer and Janeway who almost never punished for what they did, Burnham made a number of bad calls and was rightly called out on it. Sure we know from the preview that Lucius Malfoy intends to give her a chance to redeem herself but its still a case that she has to help fix the mess she helped make.

And unlike Archer she clearly feels guilty for what she has done and that she has no one to blame but herself. Not a perfect start but still better then where Voyager and Enterprise started in my opinion.

I don't know. Burnham seems to combine the worst aspects of the last three Captains into one single package.

The crazy certainty of Janeway in being right (with the script writers possibly agreeing) and micromanagement as she pushes the science officer off his console to do his job. Breaking all the rules to get her way.

Captain Archer's personal feelings about the Vulcans, no wait wait the Klingons this time, leading her into unprofessional conduct, disrespecting the chain of command and undermining her Captain's authority.

The reckless disregard for orders and adrenaline junkie attitude of KT Kirk only with far less rational behind it.
She did a landing on the object instead of a flyby, just because she felt like it. She killed the Klingon leader on an instant whim despite knowing it was wrong.

There's a checklist of things that read "Not officer material" somewhere and I'm pretty sure she ticked every single box.

Regardless if Burnham knows she royally screwed up or not, it doesn't really change the fact that she's shown by her actions that she's not fit to be in any level of command whatsoever. Even if she were right about attacking the Klingons first which is now impossible to prove, her tribunal and sentence was entirely justified considering that she has threatened the continued existence of the entire Federation by disobeying orders, staging a mutiny and providing the enemy with a solid foundation for war.

If an entirely different crew takes over the Discovery cursing her name while trying to clean up this mess as she rots in jail, slowly dying from a cancer earned from an interrupted radiation poisoning treatment, it would be completely logical end to her story arc.

Also I guess it would make sense for why Spock and Sarek never bring her up again

[technobabbler]

i hope for the sake of decent character arcs that the writers/showrunners are setting up a redemption arc, or tragedy arc, for Burnham. ANd Burnham isn't batshi____ crazy for the sake of being a *rebel*

But as the season teaser said....8,100+ died in the first two days of the war. arguably all because of Burnham. That's a faster death clock than Janeway!' and some big redemption that's needed.

and for any non-B5 viewers, the Burnham setup sort of parallels Earth-Minbar's first contact backstory.

And given how sympathetic/noble Tkuvma was written and how much of an unsympathetic arsehat Burnham is, I'm cheering on the Klingons to genocide Humans. Oh wait, we already know how history will look like in 10 years.

[GandALF]

I'm just glad she's not a season 1 TNG ultra-smug Roddenberry human with no flaws.

[Dînadan]

Captain Archer's personal feelings about the Vulcans, no wait wait the Klingons this time, leading her into unprofessional conduct, disrespecting the chain of command and undermining her Captain's authority.

Add into this the whole 'Vulcan hello' thing mirrors the Enterprise Vulcan mentality regarding Klang rather closely, so she seems to be adding into the mix the negative qualities of them as well.