Star Trek Discovery season 2 megathread

[Paul Walker]

He was in that role because Spock was unavailable. I thought he was acting that way in an attempt to try and out-do Burnham and (the shadow of) Spock.
He'll have been thinking constantly "if Spock was here, he'd be better". I know that doesn't necessarily show, but he felt very much like Captain Jellico - someone who knew how to put on a show.

Overall I've liked the opening two episodes of Discovery this season. (I liked a fair amount of season 1, and was prepared to give bits of it some leeway due to the massive issues in the production and writing team).

I loved the look they gave the Enterprise. Whoever created the set for Spock's quarters did it with love.

[Worffan101]

Don't be this way, dude. Just don't. Don't be a fucking stereotype.

Connolly's arc, if you can call it that, is shitty lazy writing and only encourages the alt-right. It's also, as I said, shitty writing, and makes the viewer wonder why Pike even has this incompetent jackass on his ship.

He's only there because Alex Kurtzman, an idiot who only knows how to write self-centered frat boys, thinks that if if he has a white guy act like a smug dick for no reason, then get humiliated in a failed joke and killed for DARING to defy The Great Michael Burnham's superior wisdom and inherently superior intellect, he'll win social-justice points. Which...isn't how it works.

I didn't understand that gif the first time you used it and I still don't.

Surprising no-one more than myself, I agree with clearspira here. (then again, I don't really understand most reaction images under any circumstances, so...)

[clearspira]

Anyway with the obvious troll on my filter list, I can probably try to get back to this thread.

Spira, Worf said MRAs "includes" incels, which is perfectly accurate (and is basically the same thing as what you said). I want to believe you are trying to engage in good faith, but it doesn't help that you constantly misread what other people are saying.

And I guess it's fair not to simply describe MRAs as alt-right by default, but I think that's about as useful as, say, arguing that people who talked about "states rights" in the 1940s were not necessarily racists. In the case of MRAs, the notion that their goal is only "men's rights" has always been dubious when so many of the actions by the general movement is not to address problems men have, but to deny problems women have/blame feminist for the problems they have (and focusing so much on a dislike of women as an extension). I have seen groups like, say, The Good Men Project not do stuff like that and instead try to actually talk about problems men have, but the irony is that almost every group I know like that have basically divorced themselves from the term "MRA" because they don't feel it has any positive connotations anymore.

For MRAs themselves that still believe that their movement isn't largely a hate group, is what you "feel" about your innermost beliefs more important than what the movement as a whole might be doing, in a practical sense?

As far as how that relates to Discovery- I don't see how the "stupid jerk character gets comeuppance" trope should be seen as something political when you have the same show showing clear reverence for how awesome the new White guy captain is (Pike). It's just lazy writing. Once again people are injecting dumb political shit where "it's bad writing" suffices just as well. Also, Episode 1 wasn't even written by Kurtzman.

I am engaging in good faith, and I hope you are too. But I am not misreading anything, you only think that because you so fundementally disagree with what I think. We are like a meat eater and a vegan arguing over a lost pig - we are never going to see eye to eye or read the same information in the same way no matter how clear cut either side thinks it is.

No, MRAs are not the same thing as INCELs. I can see why you would like that to be true, but it isn't. An MRA is someone who believes in things like improved reproductive rights for men, better child custody laws for men, more refuges for battered men etc. INCELS have virgin rage because they are creepy f-ks who believe that they are owed sex.

And as for ''their goal'' you can stop with that right now, because MRAs are not a hive mind with a collective goal any more than feminists are. Or shall I lump you in with the radfems who literally want to kill men or the trans exclusionary feminists? Apparantly you are all the same by your logic.
According to official stats, teenage girls in the US are increasingly uncomfortable with calling themselves feminists because they feel as if the word no longer has positive connotations. Isn't that weird? Its almost as if both sides aren't all that different in the West and everything you have said about MRAs can be applied both ways. Herm...

[Makeshift Python]

I didn't understand that gif the first time you used it and I still don't.

Surprising no-one more than myself, I agree with clearspira here. (then again, I don't really understand most reaction images under any circumstances, so...)

I basically found your reply amusing. Just nothing but a lot of anger dripping over Kurtzman and the Burnham character. It makes me wonder how you can even try watching this show. I mean, if you really believe in all that you posted, then I don't see why you should continue to watch unless you're hate watching (which I never understood the appeal).

According to official stats, teenage girls in the US are increasingly uncomfortable with calling themselves feminists because they feel as if the word no longer has positive connotations.

Kind of like how conservatives for a long time dragged the term "liberal" through the mud so much through the years that during the 2000s there were people that didn't want to be associated with that term because it was starting to be considered a derogatory. It's not that case anymore, but that doesn't stop right-wingers like Rush Limbaugh from trying to keep it as a derogatory.

[Worffan101]

I didn't understand that gif the first time you used it and I still don't.

Surprising no-one more than myself, I agree with clearspira here. (then again, I don't really understand most reaction images under any circumstances, so...)

I basically found your reply amusing. Just nothing but a lot of anger dripping over Kurtzman and the Burnham character. It makes me wonder how you can even try watching this show. I mean, if you really believe in all that you posted, then I don't see why you should continue to watch unless you're hate watching (which I never understood the appeal).

I watch for the same reason I watched all of the rest of Trek including fucking Enterprise and the beige that is Voyager. I love Star Trek and I want it to be good.

I also hate that a man who can't write is once again in charge of something I love to ruin it. Just like he ruined Spider-Man and the Mummy and helped make the Kelvin movies other than Beyond total shit.

[Makeshift Python]

I'm not as harsh on Kurtzman in this instance because a lot of my issues with his previous credited works had Orci, Lindelof, and Abrams heavy in the creative process and it was a lot of their decisions I wasn't keen on. From what I also understand, he's not been as hands on with this show aside from directing one episode so far because he's too busy working as a producer for many other shows. So far he only has a story by credit and that was for the first episode. I understand he took over showrunning duties for the latter half of this season. I'll be curious to see what impact that will have.

So far, the two episodes this season is the most I've been engaged with for TV Trek since the third season of ENTERPRISE.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Kind of like how conservatives for a long time dragged the term "liberal" through the mud so much through the years that during the 2000s there were people that didn't want to be associated with that term because it was starting to be considered a derogatory. It's not that case anymore, but that doesn't stop right-wingers like Rush Limbaugh from trying to keep it as a derogatory.

Not really familiar with this. Of course the right recognize it pejoratively, but it's not much beyond typecasting. SJW is a more apt example where people actually brand it as pejorative on either side and people actually take the usage offensive regardless of how someone treating an issue is perceived.

[Makeshift Python]

If people called me a SJW, I'd only be flummoxed on how that's supposed to be a derogatory.

My favorite buzzword by the Alt-right is "snowflake" because of the incredible irony. Their recent reaction to that Gillette commercial showed as much.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

If people called me a SJW, I'd only be flummoxed on how that's supposed to be a derogatory.

My favorite buzzword by the Alt-right is "snowflake" because of the incredible irony. Their recent reaction to that Gillette commercial showed as much.

Well yeah that's kind of what I'm saying. It's residualized to refer simply a person taking consideration to progressive developments, but a lot of people on the left recognize it predominantly as but a slur on the right.

Obviously people on the right just come off kinda trite and generalizing if you want to get technical, but the actually qualifying pejorative aspect of it, being people that act contemptibly as if they're a warrior, isn't even the characteristic of the person being subject.

[BunBun299]

So, haven't read this whole thread before commenting. But episode 1 of this season is up for free on YouTube. Not going to take the time to link it now, it's easy enough to search for if you want.

The turbolift scene I think is the most glaring example of what is wrong with this series. That exterior shot of the lift was eye rollingly stupid. There is no way there could be enough open space inside Discovery for there to be all of those shuttles flying around. Someone in the effects department just thought that would look cool, and gave zero thought to the implications.

Also, inside the turbolift was pretty terrible with the alien sneezing on the guy who was 'mansplaining' at Michael. He had to aim at the guy, rather than just sneezing straight ahead where he'd hit no one. And the shit eating grin Michael had at this just made me hate her all the more. The alien snot on his cheek was the cosmic consequence of someone daring not to love her and heed her every word. For this show to have any hope of succeeding, it needs to seriously dial back on this awful character and give the others more screen time. Tilly, Stamets and Saru all need to take the lead in episodes from time to time, but that clearly isn't going to happen.

Also, the scene was clearly an attempt to add some Orville like humor, but it was 'comedy' written by someone who clearly has only ever heard of the concept of laughter, but never actually experienced it. There is no wit to be found here.

After watching the episode, I spent a good deal of time searching the comment section, looking for some sort of defense of the episode. Surely someone has something positive to say about it. But as long as I searched, I could find nothing. No one had anything positive to say about it. Closest thing was some people replying to others, bashing them for not liking the show, but not trying to offer any positive counter arguments. I want something to maybe make me change my mind and somehow find some enjoyment in this new Trek series. Maybe I'll find something like that in this thread. But so far, it seems people watching it are not enjoying it.