DIS: “Will You Take My Hand?”

[Makeshift Python]

Chuck doesn’t scream anymore but you can still tell by his tone that he’ll dread talking about something. I recalled that when he reviewed “Two Days, Two Nights” which I think was the first ENTERPRISE season 1 review he had done in a long time. Come to think of it, it’s been awhile since he covered at TNG season 1 ep.

As an aside, I note that you have named this thread DIS instead of STD. You can immediately tell the views of the person in question by what they shorten this show to. I'm not mocking or judging or anything like that, it just made me chuckle at how badly this show has fractured the fanbase that three letters can now be a point of contention.

To be fair it’s how Chuck labels his episodes too, so I was just being consistent on that note, and it’s consistent with the other series. You don’t see people referring to VOYAGER as “STV” after all.

Personally I only use initialisms for TOS, TNG and DS9, while addressing the one worded subtitles by full instead of the first three letters. Like if the Picard series will be called “Star Trek: Picard” I’m neither gonna call it PIC or STP.

[DisgruntleFairy]

I only have one criticism... Clint Howard was never in Star Trek Voyager like Chuck seems to suggest.

[Makeshift Python]

I only have one criticism... Clint Howard was never in Star Trek Voyager like Chuck seems to suggest.

He wasn't on TNG either.

Overall solid summary of the season, and my thoughts pretty much mirror regarding the main storyline about the Klingon war. Since it isn't compelling, the show isn't always that fun (which is why I'm more gravitated towards the non-war stories like the timeloop episode). The only thing I like about the resolution is that it was resolved at all, because I was that done with the storyline and wanted the characters to move onto a different adventure.

It'll be awhile before we hear you tackle DISCOVERY again, but I look forward to hearing your opinion on the second season.

[Worffan101]

"Has potential but spoiled by over-focus on a poorly-written character and has weak plot" seems to be Chuck's summary.

That's basically what I thought too. You have two characters with a lot of interesting potential (Tilly and Lorca), one character who's critically flawed but easily fixed (Saru), and none of them is given the focus they need. Also they have learned very little from the last two shitty season 1s.

What a disaster of a show.

[clearspira]

So... shall we take bets on there being a season 3? Lets put quality aside for a moment and focus on the Picard series and question whether they would actually have two shows in production at once. They may do, sure, but times have long since passed the days of TNG, DS9 and VOY where this show was profitable enough to do that. Now add into that the Viacom/CBS merger and all the volatility that could bring and the fact that Netflix is no longer helping to fund the show and we have all the blocks for this being the shortest Trek series of the lot.

[Zoinksberg]

Well twist my nips and call me a Romulan

Gets my vote for quote of the episode. I will admit, my feelings about redesigning things aside I do like the external design of the 1701. My absolute love of the Constitution Refit probably has something to do with it since they definitely took some cues from that when designing it.

While I disliked the season more than Chuck, I think he summed it up really well. Devoid of joy. The most lighthearted and 'fun' episode featured the crew being murdered over and over. The prologue given my Michael feels like an encapsulation of the show, empty and almost nonsensical statements delivered in such an overdone "this is important!" way. The scene that follows is somewhat heartwarming, but a freakin jar of pickles got infinitely more emotion out of me. Speaking of, looks like they got the "there is zero humor" note after the fact. And promptly took that too far with the absolute cringe elevator scene shown in the season 2 preview. Tig Notaro gives me a little hope for some genuine humor, I do like her delivery style and hope they use her character well.

As a whole though I have little hope for season 2. There is the tiniest bit of positivity in the back of my head, that maybe they can pull this back and make something out of it. However, Chuck's comments about The Orville writers seeming to grow as the season went on versus Discovery writers not moving an inch bodes poorly for the show. The disappointing Short Treks, created as a money grab that failed spectacularly when Netflix laughed at their offer, doesn't make much of a case that things have turned around.

[clearspira]

"Has potential but spoiled by over-focus on a poorly-written character and has weak plot" seems to be Chuck's summary.

That's basically what I thought too. You have two characters with a lot of interesting potential (Tilly and Lorca), one character who's critically flawed but easily fixed (Saru), and none of them is given the focus they need. Also they have learned very little from the last two shitty season 1s.

What a disaster of a show.

I think i've made my thoughts on this show clear, but I will admit that it COULD have been better if Micheal was not the main focus. She is an asshole, and whilst not quite Harry Kim levels of wooden, she is still on his metric. Add to the political agenda surrounding her and you have a recipe for disaster.

As an aside, I hated Tilly, she made an impact on me like Jar Jar and Neelix, and I don't know why people like her. She is Hollywood autistic AKA a clown that says the wrong things and is a bit nutty but endears herself to everyone around her because she is just so nutty!
She annoys me every time she opens her mouth. You know who she reminds me off? Natalie Portman in Garden State, where they tried to make her so nutty and out of place that one scene had her start to make weird noises for no reason and bounce around like she was being electrocuted.

[King of the owls]

I think "joyless" is very apt word to describe the first season of Discovery. It's not the worst that Trek has put out and I would myself a somewhat fan of it. But you just feel itself struggle to be that it can be a chore to watch at times. It wants to be a TOS prequel show but it wants to be modern Star Trek that's serious and dark. One about war and all the ugliness of war but it wants also to throw in references to TOS like Harry Mudd.
It's balancing act that's failing at which makes Discovery a chore to watch at times.

[clearspira]

Well twist my nips and call me a Romulan

As a whole though I have little hope for season 2. There is the tiniest bit of positivity in the back of my head, that maybe they can pull this back and make something out of it. However, Chuck's comments about The Orville writers seeming to grow as the season went on versus Discovery writers not moving an inch bodes poorly for the show. The disappointing Short Treks, created as a money grab that failed spectacularly when Netflix laughed at their offer, doesn't make much of a case that things have turned around.

Watch that season 2 trailer. See the jokes and the humour in it? Trust me, somewhere, there is a CBS executive who has been watching the Orville very carefully. That alien face farting in the lift or whatever it is doing is absolutely something you would see in that show.

[Makeshift Python]

So... shall we take bets on there being a season 3? Lets put quality aside for a moment and focus on the Picard series and question whether they would actually have two shows in production at once. They may do, sure, but times have long since passed the days of TNG, DS9 and VOY where this show was profitable enough to do that. Now add into that the Viacom/CBS merger and all the volatility that could bring and the fact that Netflix is no longer helping to fund the show and we have all the blocks for this being the shortest Trek series of the lot.

From what I understand the Picard series is likely to be a limited event series rather than an ongoing one like DISCOVERY is supposed to be. Also you forget there's a third show, LOWER DECKS. As for whether there will be third season really all comes down to how well the second season does, doesn't it?