DIS - Brother

[PerrySimm]

Fair point about how TNG took a while to get good. It's perhaps fair to give Disco a bit more time to find its groove. Based on this first review, it does sound like Season 2 at least attempted to sandpaper the edges a bit.

[Darth Wedgius]

This is the only episode of the show I've seen (it was on YouTube), and I thought it was... OK. It didn't make me want to watch the next episode, but it didn't make me want my hour back.

If all the other episodes are this Michael-focused then I can see why that would annoy some people. Star Trek (no bloody :TNG, :DS9, :Voyager, or :Enterprise) didn't focus on even Kirk this much, and the other shows were ensemble works that I enjoyed the more for that. I thought Tilly's ramble went on a little too long, but I didn't hate the character or even wish to see less of her.

Two things stood out on the negative side - the science officer dying (to show where disagreeing with Michael gets you? But I might be reading too much into it) and, more, that I couldn't figure out how Pike got back to the asteroid or how Pike and Michael beamed back out. I thought the transport enhancers were (1) elsewhere and, since that part of the asteroid went boom, (2) a lot of elsewheres. Did I miss something?

The Michael/Tilly dialog about non-baryonic matter was a touch I liked. Two Starfleet officers geeking out over a new sciency-thing

[clearspira]

I have a big problem with the ''well, the other shows took a whole to get good'' cop out because in order for that to apply to STD it would require the producers to have learned nothing from well-publicised mistakes made decades ago. I'm not giving them extra credit for treating the show like it exists in a vacuum separate from all that came before it. Personally I think TNG is a bad comparison, its ENT they should have learned from: don't break canon, don't confuse ''darker and edgier'' with ''swearing and tits'', don't rewrite the histories of beloved characters, don't have your lead commit deplorable criminal acts that are easily forgiven.
Of course, I would argue that ENT is the superior prequel because very little had previously been written about the 2100s making it a fertile ground for stories whereas setting it not only in the 2200s but at the same time as TOS is insane - ESPECIALLY as no effort was made to make it look like a TOS era ship. I am not saying bring the cardboard sets back but come on, there is a middle ground here. What a dumb decision and one that they clearly realised by the end of season 2 with the time skip.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Over all this one didn't seem that bad. I know that that might not had been Chuck's goal but that's impression that I got based on this review.

Chuck's like, "I gotta make damned certain that everybody has a bad impression of this episode."

The impression I got was tired of Michael but not the rest of it - it's probably the first DIS review that made me think "There's a chance of something worth watching here."

Well it's generally agreed upon that the second season was an improvement from the first.

It's not even good like a follow up or anything. It just sorta feels like it was pretty mediocre before but now that they brought Pike in it's pretty interesting.

[saiforigis]

Now "this is the power of math." But anyways I felt this episode was okay. Pike is good and Michael works works well with him. The next two episodes are good, especially New Eden, felt very Star Trek-y.

[Telxvi]

I'll admit I was a little drunk, but the episode made go out and cut this mess together.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7OqRLrgZ6o

Season 2 didn't start off promising. I stopped watching entirely a couple of episodes later.

I'll just rely on the reviews to fill everything in from now on I guess

[Ikiry0]

Killing off the science officer who disagreed with her felt really mean spirited at the time. On it's own, it wouldn't really be much but it feels a lot like people who disagree with Micheal need to suffer in the show, which is doubly weird when the series supposedly starts off with Micheal making a major mistake but from then on treats her as if her decisions are flawless/there is a problem with anyone complaining about her decisions.

I dunno, I might be reading into it too much from a dislike of the series.

[Shuboy07]

I was not expecting that stinger this early. It's the exact Simpsons moment that EVERYONE was quoting after the season finale. I'm guessing Chuck just needed to get that out of his system.

[FlynnTaggart]

Was rude sneezing lizard dude the elevator part people were accusing STD of ripping off The Orville? Also yeah, the treatment of science guy was pretty effed up, disrespected and then killed off just to make Micheal look better. Certainly didn't make her more likable or sympathetic, you don't endear a character to the audience by knocking other character down a peg.

Lizard dude should have been reprimanded or something. Even if its part of his culture to sneeze on people respecting other peoples cultures does not mean letting them walk all over you. Be like if it was someone's culture to greet people with a kick in the downstairs (you know, the Fratonians of the Beer Nebula) though I'd probably prefer a kick in the lower level over being sneezed on, thats disgusting.

I will say one positive thing about STD, the guy playing Pike seems pretty good and the Enterprise uniforms are decent, respecting previous canon while not just being carbon copies. Not sure why they didn't go for something like them in the first place rather then the futurized ENT style jumpsuits.

[Nealithi]

Okay so I am going to put a few things in here.

Why is Pike in gold but every other star fleet uniform is the blue jumpsuit? Not saying I do not like it. But I would like to know.

This got me to go back to the review of the Vulcan Hello. And the discussion broke down into hating on the new Trek. But I noticed something and wanted to mention it. Aboard the klingon vessel with the wrapped up dead guy. He had a device on his head. Recall Star Trek IV quizzing Spock. That is a klingon mummification glyph. And clearly the klingons here were mummifying this warrior. Now Worf says the body is just a shell. But there are rituals with that shell. Like guarding it against predators till the soul reaches Stovokor. So there is some concern for the bodies of the dead. It may just be different religions on Qo'nos?

As to the bit with the pod in this episode. . . Sorry I have to go to STO again. They had some scenes with pre-swap Lorca. And one of his crew in danger? He drops his gun in a fire fight to get her out of rubble. And leaving one behind. "That. Is not how we operate, Commander." I felt that summed up the ideal of Star Fleet to me and the feel of Star Trek. We do what is right, and figure out how to succeed with the moral high ground. And that is Michael rescuing Pike. Do what is right. Because that is what the ideal is for. Just my two cents.