Star Trek: Discovery in trouble?

[Karha of Honor]

I'm intrigue (an sorta suprise it feel like there's a bit of a negative reaction fom a lot of people) while I do admit the design feel more Mass Effect-y than Star Trek, I think it has potential

Our world feels more Mass Effecty than TOS.

It's not a general statement of tech advancement. There's design elements in places there that look like they're influenced by Mass Effect specifically. The Discovery has an N7 racing stripe. The uniforms have a similar silhouette and accent scheme to human and asari clothing in Mass Effect, (particularly the uniforms worn by Anderson and Hackett, but also some of the common civilian outfits). The space suit looks like it could be straight out of Cerberus's armory.

Mine was also not a statement on tech advancement.

[The Romulan Republic]

I want to give Discovery the benefit of the doubt. And I'll give them credit for greater diversity in casting, and for some gorgeous visuals (even if they feel more stylistically in keeping with Reboot Trek than the original timeline TOS era).

But it looks like they're making some of the same mistakes, in particular with regard to prequels disregarding continuity, that Enterprise did. And I think its sad that the management of Trek seems to have a fixation on prequel-era stuff/reboots to the exclusion of anything else.

[lsgreg]

Is it just me or does the Clingon's in Discovery look like the aliens from Enemy Mine? That is a movie I would like to see made into a series.

[Fixer]

But it looks like they're making some of the same mistakes, in particular with regard to prequels disregarding continuity, that Enterprise did. And I think its sad that the management of Trek seems to have a fixation on prequel-era stuff/reboots to the exclusion of anything else.

This was on of the concerns with Bryan Fuller leaving. The official line was that he left amicably to work on American Gods, but rumours from behind the scenes he was unhappy with the retcons and lore butchery that he knew fans would hate.

[BunBun299]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8aUuFsXRjU

I saw this trailer less than 48 hours before I saw Discovery's. And it honestly feels more like Trek to me than Discovery does. Change just a couple details around, and say this is the comedy Trek spin off not following the best and brightest of Starfleet, but the guys who barely passed their exams, and I'd accept it as such.

The Discovery trailer is not leaving me feeling at all encouraged about this series. I desperately want new Trek. But this does not feel like Trek to me. The so called Klingon does not look like a Klingon. More like some other franchise's Klingon wannabe. By all rights, every Klingon we see in this series should have smooth foreheads. Don't want to go that route? It annoys the continuity freak in me, but fine. At least make them look like the TNG era Klingons that audiences fell in love with and people cosplay as.

The ship is quite ugly. It makes the NX-01 look good by comparison.

We really should be seeing more species we're familiar with from this era, not ones that they want to say have been here all along, we just never saw them over the next 100 years.....

By all rights, we should be seeing TOS era uniforms, or at least something close to that.

It's a mistake to go the prequel route in the first place. Just make the series post-TNG era, and you can even have Admiral Riker or Admiral Janeway give them a proper send off. No one was asking for another prequel series.

Like I said, I want new Star Trek. And I'll check this series out when it comes out. Maybe it will be good enough to make me overlook the flaws. But my expectations are being set low.

[Fixer]

Wow, you're not wrong. The parody does look more like Trek than the new series.

I feel as if there's a highly appropriate image to go with this revelation.


There we go.

[Robovski]

It is bad that the Seth McFarland parody looks better than the real thing.

[Redem]

It is bad that the Seth McFarland parody looks better than the real thing.

Well The Orville meant to look like TNG, this try for something different

[Nessus]

Orville does look more classic Trek then Discovery, but that''s a double edged sword. It also captures, (an enhances, for parody purposes) classic Trek's visibly cheap sets and the like (mostly the camerawork's fault, rather than the physical assets, actually). It's deliberately made to look lower budget than it probably is in order to capture the cheese factor.

While I'm not totally on board with Discovery or it's visual style yet (I'm trying to extend it a lot of credit, but there is a lot of red flag stuff there, so I feel a bit stretched), I very much appreciate that it's going for a higher production value look in general. The ideal IMO would be something that has classic-compatible design sense coupled with modern production values and techniques, to provide a more "real" and cinematic looking Trek than we've traditionally had. The TV shows haven't looked contemporary to their time since the 90s, and the movies haven't since the 80's (apart from the JJ flims, which have fantastic on-screen production value, but hit-and-miss design sense, and unintentionally dadaist writing).

Unfortunately, I feel like the best visual Trek stuff I've ever seen has always been fan art. It makes me sad and kinda frustrated to think that with all their money and resources, the official productions still can't match or surpass random CG hobbyists on DeviantArt.

[ChiggyvonRichthofen]

There are aspects of the JJ-Trek design that I like, but it feels like there should be a ton of middle ground between the "flashy, modern, Apple store" look and "slavish devotion to 60s production design" look. Unfortunately, that middle ground is mostly being ignored. Generally, this sort of stuff isn't a high priority to me compared to some fans who are truly knowledgeable about model design, set design, and the like. A little bit of visual restraint, a few homages to 23rd century Trek/slightly retro feel to keep continuity, and the feeling that these are functional ships that people actually work and live on (a feeling completely lacking in JJ-Trek) is all that I want. Frankly, they just aren't doing a good enough job of that.

Still, I'd accept the series if the story is actually good. Not holding my breath though.