Star Trek Discovery: Season 2 - It Got Good. Real Good. (Ep 1 inside)

[atomheartbevo 90636]

So how is Lower Decks doing?

CBS just sent me another free month, as long as I claim it by the 26th, because football season is here or something.

I have yet to quit for more than a month, before CBS sends me another free month.  I think I've gotten 4 or 5 free months this year.

[Apep 645]

It's better than nothing. If you can get into a Young Adult, non-canon Star Trek style series, it's fine.

[atomheartbevo 90636]

21 hours ago, Apep said:

It's better than nothing. If you can get into a Young Adult, non-canon Star Trek style series, it's fine.

Getting caught up.  Yeah, if you take out the swearing, it's total YA.  It's not as grating as early episodes, but I question its existence.  Would have been better if they hired somebody like Scalzi to work on it.

[atomheartbevo 90636]

Kate Mulgrew reprising her Janeway role on Star Trek Prodigy on Nickelodeon

https://io9.gizmodo.com/star-treks-kate-mulgrew-returns-as-captain-janeway-in-t-1845313110

 

[atomheartbevo 90636]

Finished Lower Decks.   Finished stronger than it started.  
 

Spoiler

Surprised they got Frakes and Sirtis to cameo.  Nice surprise   

 

[Apep 645]

It definitely finished a much better show than it started, somewhat similar to the arc of the Orville in season 1. Unfortunately, where the Orville became TNG with the occasional gag, LD remains too zany to truly be Trek. I suppose irreverence is better than full-on SJW, so we should count our blessings.

[atomheartbevo 90636]

1 hour ago, Apep said:

It definitely finished a much better show than it started, somewhat similar to the arc of the Orville in season 1. Unfortunately, where the Orville became TNG with the occasional gag, LD remains too zany to truly be Trek. I suppose irreverence is better than full-on SJW, so we should count our blessings.

Yeah, goes back to LD should be the Nickelodeon series, just without the gore/swearing, because it's just way too hyperactive to be a regular ST series.

[Js1 87174]

Bump for today's premier. 

[Apep 645]

The beginning and the end were very good. The middle was good, nothing bad, just expected exposition.

[atomheartbevo 90636]

Does Riker show up in it?

[Apep 645]

No. Some may see the end as cheesy, but it got dusty.

[atomheartbevo 90636]

Riker still has a shot at showing up at the end of three different Star Trek series in one year, since he's pulled off two so far.

[Parliament 14593]

Dunno. Seems to me they wrapped it up pretty good already. Picard had more potential and they sure managed to mess THAT up.

https://wegotthiscovered.com/tv/cbs-reportedly-star-trek-deep-space-revival/

[Js1 87174]

On 10/15/2020 at 1:19 PM, Apep said:

The beginning and the end were very good. The middle was good, nothing bad, just expected exposition.

Pretty much.  Very interested to see the backstory on

Spoiler

the fall of the Federation

and you know damn well that 

Spoiler

Burnham/Discovery had something to do with The Burn somehow because duh

 

[Apep 645]

Maybe.

Sounds like the Federation more or less fell following the Burn. With this new dude, Book, I think we see a rebirth of the Spore drive. This will allow the Discovery to move around, discover what caused the Burn, and, more likely than not, touch off the Temporal Wars.

[Js1 87174]

That'd be super cool. 

[atomheartbevo 90636]

On 10/15/2020 at 8:40 PM, Apep said:

No. Some may see the end as cheesy, but it got dusty.

It was a damned good ending.

[atomheartbevo 90636]

2 hours ago, Parliament said:

Dunno. Seems to me they wrapped it up pretty good already. Picard had more potential and they sure managed to mess THAT up.

https://wegotthiscovered.com/tv/cbs-reportedly-star-trek-deep-space-revival/

Kurtzman is fucking involved with this.  I just know it.

[atomheartbevo 90636]

1 hour ago, Apep said:

Maybe.

  Hide contents

Sounds like the Federation more or less fell following the Burn. With this new dude, Book, I think we see a rebirth of the Spore drive. This will allow the Discovery to move around, discover what caused the Burn, and, more likely than not, touch off the Temporal Wars.

 

That's what I'm thinking

Spoiler

She and Discovery had to be the cause for the Temporal Wars.  Because it's fucking Kurtzman and he'll hijack/retcon perfectly good storylines from past Trek series, but also for the Federation to fall, it had to be something huge.

My generic review:  They weren't trying to tie it to Spock (and letting her truly stand on her own), and it finally felt like an original series, with an original storyline.  I expect that will change, but it was a very good start.  I enjoyed how they tied the beginning and end together.

[hornbri 1508]

On 10/17/2020 at 1:11 PM, Js1 said:

and you know damn well that 

  Hide contents

Burnham/Discovery had something to do with The Burn somehow because duh

 

She rushed to send back the last sign so Spock would know she made it to the future. My wild guess is that is what started the process.

[Sleep off ugly 279]

On 10/17/2020 at 2:01 PM, Apep said:

Maybe.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Sounds like the Federation more or less fell following the Burn. With this new dude, Book, I think we see a rebirth of the Spore drive. This will allow the Discovery to move around, discover what caused the Burn, and, more likely than not, touch off the Temporal Wars.

 

 

Don’t know how add a spoiler on a phone so I’ll be vague (but maybe skip if haven’t seen)

 

 

thought the tw were over at this point and doesn’t book say something to that effect?

[Apep 645]

Well...

 

The Temporal War itself ended when Archer killed the alien Nazi in the alternate 1940s timeline on Enterprise. Based on what Book said, most dilithium went up about 100-120 years prior to Burnham's arrival in 3188. Since the Enterprise-era temporal agents operated under the Federation and out of the 31st century, it seems like the Burn is related to the end of the Temporal War and the destruction of time travel technology. I think that Discovery somehow kicks off the Temporal Cold War by reintroducing time travel technology, which is then used to stockpile supplies in the past or outright steal them. Just a hunch.

 

 

[atomheartbevo 90636]

7 hours ago, hornbri said:

She rushed to send back the last sign so Spock would know she made it to the future. My wild guess is that is what started the process.

Spoiler

Honestly, they had to get rid of the suit.  It was just too powerful of a device and makes things too easy for her.  I'm hoping we don't get many more episodes just following Burnham around though.

 

[Apep 645]

There's supposed to be 13 episodes. No matter what happens, it can't take that many episodes.

[atomheartbevo 90636]

5 hours ago, Apep said:

There's supposed to be 13 episodes. No matter what happens, it can't take that many episodes.

Spoiler

I have a feeling we will see Discovery in the 3rd episode.  They can spend the 2nd episode having her hook up with Book and laying the groundwork for whatever was shown in the season trailer at the end, as well as searching for Discovery thanks to the new Starfleet comm guy.

 

[MillerEP 30901]

Lurian sighting! Dear sweet Morn:

Also, lets not forget top employee for 490 consecutive months!

 

[Apep 645]

I think they're over their sophomore slump.

It was an all Discovery ep. Michael finds them at the end. She's been there for a year. "What you call pain, I call foreplay." Will it join, "Make it so," and "KHANN!!" in the lexicon of great ST quotes. Maybe.

[hornbri 1508]

I am curious how many episodes are going to be just about what she was doing the last year. 

[Js1 87174]

On 10/22/2020 at 2:15 PM, Apep said:

I think they're over their sophomore slump.

 

  Hide contents

 

It was an all Discovery ep. Michael finds them at the end. She's been there for a year. "What you call pain, I call foreplay." Will it join, "Make it so," and "KHANN!!" in the lexicon of great ST quotes. Maybe.

 

 

Liked the second ep a lot 

[Apep 645]

Another good, but not great ep.

Not to go too CR, but the Federation's peacemaking abilities are starting to get a little too on the nose as a critique of Trump, especially since the episodes have been released post-ME peace. The good old, multikulti Federation. Just show up and make things better. If the Federation fell, Earth would have still had tons of alien residents. Are we expected to believe that the Federation spent the last of its dilithium on endless repatriation missions? That, as an alternative, the humans didn't commit xenocide?

If this is the Fall of the Federation storyline, I'm sorry, but the showrunners are wussing out. They needed to have a discussion or argument about up-armoring Discovery. If I was Saru, that would have been one of my first considerations. Burnham or Georgiou, at least, should have butted heads with him about the issue.

I'm really concerned about the quantum torpedo line. Pre-TOS, the Federation should have only had photon torpedos, right?

 

[atomheartbevo 90636]

1 hour ago, Apep said:

Another good, but not great ep.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Not to go too CR, but the Federation's peacemaking abilities are starting to get a little too on the nose as a critique of Trump, especially since the episodes have been released post-ME peace. The good old, multikulti Federation. Just show up and make things better. If the Federation fell, Earth would have still had tons of alien residents. Are we expected to believe that the Federation spent the last of its dilithium on endless repatriation missions? That, as an alternative, the humans didn't commit xenocide?

If this is the Fall of the Federation storyline, I'm sorry, but the showrunners are wussing out. They needed to have a discussion or argument about up-armoring Discovery. If I was Saru, that would have been one of my first considerations. Burnham or Georgiou, at least, should have butted heads with him about the issue.

I'm really concerned about the quantum torpedo line. Pre-TOS, the Federation should have only had photon torpedos, right?

 

 

 

Spoiler

In theory, xenocide, etc. shouldn't be as big of a thing going forward, at least for humans on Earth - a huge chunk of our militaristic/warring past is because we had too many civilizations/nations/tribes/etc. that were competing for various resources at various times.  

Unless dilithium is used to power replicators, the power grid, etc. in the future.

Edited October 29, 2020 by atomheartbevo

[Apep 645]

The writers are still too episodic.This isn't the Brady Bunch. Characters conflicts can extend over more than one episode.

[Js1 87174]

Saru is becoming one of my more fave captains 

[Apep 645]

Saru is Spock/Data/Odo/7. He's trying to find his way in a fallen human world while upholding the dignity of the Federation.

[Js1 87174]

New Federation is interesting. Dude interrogating Giorgio was.... suspicious 

[MillerEP 30901]

On 11/12/2020 at 9:40 PM, Js1 said:

New Federation is interesting. Dude interrogating Giorgio was.... suspicious 

They're still planning on a Section 31 spinoff, so my assumption is he is Section 31, and he's a part of the World building prior to that series.

Edited November 15, 2020 by MillerEP

[MillerEP 30901]

This is cool:

https://www.dailystartreknews.com/read/star-trek-discovery-honors-the-late-aron-eisenberg-with-a-special-easter-egg-in-die-trying

Star Trek: Discovery honors the late Aron Eisenberg with a special Easter egg in “Die Trying”

USS Nog, Eisenberg class

Also, some eagle eyed observers, also noticed this, color coded chart, looks like they're nearer the Delta and Gamma Quadrant? Assuming that Blue is Federation planets still (they said 38 members right?), white/pink is neutral, green is allied, and orange/red is hostile? 

Edited November 15, 2020 by MillerEP

[Js1 87174]

Yep. USS Nog and Voyager-J. Maybe we see the Enterprise-O. 

[Apep 645]

Bump. Another good episode.

 

They finally got around to refitting Discovery. The big surprise, for fans of previous series, is probably that they didn't dwell on the weapons and defenses. A few days after viewing, I'm not sure they even upgraded those.

 

[atomheartbevo 90636]

On 11/22/2020 at 11:20 AM, Apep said:

Bump. Another good episode.

Good, CBS just emailed me another free month offer, so I'll re-sub and catch up.

[Js1 87174]

It’s worth a watch

Edited November 26, 2020 by Js1

[Js1 87174]

The Yelchin! Nice little tribute 

[Js1 87174]

Very interesting episode.

- 3/4 founding members of the Federation left it - big implications in the future

- Picard tie-in!

- Good tribute to Nimoy. RIP

[MissingInAction 25554]

That last ep gave me menstrual cramps.

[atomheartbevo 90636]

I'm an episode behind, but I like Burnham with dreads/long hair.  Never saw her as attractive before.

Also, of course Saru and Tilly would go off to make contact with the locals by themselves, without being alert or having another officer/security along, and without any information about the locals.  Because KurtzmanTrek.

[MillerEP 30901]

Very interesting episode.
- 3/4 founding members of the Federation left it - big implications in the future
- Picard tie-in!
- Good tribute to Nimoy. RIP

Really enjoyed the Picard and nimoy tie ins, this episode seemed more like the old Star Trek, lots of story and emotion, I liked it.

[Parliament 14593]

12 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

I'm an episode behind, but I like Burnham with dreads/long hair.  Never saw her as attractive before.

Also, of course Saru and Tilly would go off to make contact with the locals by themselves, without being alert or having another officer/security along, and without any information about the locals.  Because KurtzmanTrek.

Am I a misogynist for thinking Tilly is annoying and just a bad character in general?

[Js1 87174]

9 hours ago, MillerEP said:

Really enjoyed the Picard and nimoy tie ins, this episode seemed more like the old Star Trek, lots of story and emotion, I liked it.

The episode title itself was a TNG tie in to the Unification I and II episodes from season 5

[atomheartbevo 90636]

3 minutes ago, Parliament said:

Am I a misogynist for thinking Tilly is annoying and just a bad character in general?

Nope.  She's not the only one that annoys me either.  

I get wanting to have a smart, awkward, mostly competent, impulsive (and yet can suffer from analysis paralysis) with moments of confidence followed by moments of self-doubt, character.  Probably a stand-in for the perceived Discovery audience.  At times, she's a 2020 version of Wesley.  I sometimes think her character would fit in better on a show like Big Bang Theory, or even better, Orville.

Her character can actually work really well, and has multiple times, but the writers deliberately put her in positions that make no sense, just to create tension or play to her fans.  Having her and Saru walk into the settlement and make "first contact" was broadcasting to the audience that she and Saru would get in trouble, and need rescuing.

It's like the writer's room said "Hey, let's put these two characters front and center and people will like that because they like those characters, but then we are going to make those characters look really weak and pathetic, and they will need rescuing by a badass."  Then again, sending the badass cynic in to make the trade would not take up 20 minutes of the episode.

[Js1 87174]

Omg she is a 2020 Wesley. Damnit