I personally might have enjoyed it more if it hadn’t been (seemingly) shoehorned into the Star Trek universe. I understand it’s not a very subjective metric, but Discovery just didn’t feel like Star Trek.
It comes across as if someone producer got pitched a sci-fi series with the plot of Discovery and thought, “This is great! It would be even better if we slapped Star Trek all over it!”
I bailed on DSC back when season 2 was airing. Specifically, Project Daedalus was my last episode. Later, I tried watching it again and trying to enjoy it more on its own merits, ignoring the Trek branding and whatnot. I wanted to bail again at the exact same point. I don’t know if it’s a too many cooks situation with the constant showrunner turnover or if the writers’ room just has an obsession with melodrama, but at no point did it feel, to me, like there was a good show hiding in there.
What I saw was ok from a plot perspective (for me). So the whole premise was nice and to me it fit into Star Trek. But as I just complained in another comment: I couldn’t cope with the amount of crying and the way they forced drama into the story.
Burnham is raised by Vulcans which is used when it suits the plot (then she’s extremely analytical and objective) but then suddenly turns into an emotional mess when they want to portray drama. That just feels … off. Also the other officers. I should believe that these are the best of the Star Fleet, top of their class, trained for war but then they falter in the middle of a mission because their lover/friend/whatever gets hurt or dies? That just doesn’t fit.
Maybe I zoned that out from previous Star Trek (because it’s been a while …), but in my mind the characters there were a lot more stable and professional. They all had their individual quirks and mannerisms, but during missions they more or less got their shit together.
Burnham is raised by Vulcans which is used when it suits the plot (then she’s extremely analytical and objective) but then suddenly turns into an emotional mess when they want to portray drama. That just feels … off
No, that part feels very, very on to me. Burnham was a human girl who was witness to family being brutally slaughtered (as far as she knew/could tell) who was then placed in the care of a Vulcan man who liked living as a sociology experiment. This is a person who is traumatized from a relatively young age, and who has no idea how to cope with her feelings. She’s never received therapy, only more psychological abuse.
The issue I ended up having with the show is that the show itself never addresses this. It’s actually pretty clearly the setup for the entire series, but no one ever acknowledges that Michael needs help, no one ever tries to get her any, and, in the end, she never gets the help she needs. They took what could and should have been a character arc about healing from abuse and just turned it into “SMG’s pretty good at crying”.
Once it became clear that the show had zero interest in examining its inciting premise, I lost all patience with it.
There are a lot of bad trek episodes scattered across every series. Bad episodes isn’t the issue with Discovery. The issue is that, throughout all of trek, the crew has come together and stuck with each other through thick and thin. If there ever is inter-crew strife, it’s solved in generally one or two episodes (except for major plot/story themes like the Maquis, or Seven being a Borg).
Discovery, on the other hand, is a show where the crew was constantly backstabbing, betraying, lying, and being all around bad towards each other. There was no finding solace among the crew in a world filled with strife – the world was strife, and the crew was also strife. And whenever the inter-crew issues seemed like they could finally be resolved, some new stupid issue was shoehorned in. It was unbearable to watch because of the forced melodrama.
And whenever the inter-crew issues seemed like they could finally be resolved, some new stupid issue was shoehorned in. It was unbearable to watch because of the forced melodrama.
It’s almost like those “filler” episodes in all the previous series actually had a function of allowing the series’ interpersonal relationships to gel and solidify. When everything is always an emergency and everyone must react RIGHT NOW OR ELSE it tends to wear people out. There’s nothing wrong with missions that just go somewhat routine and people get to interact with strange and interesting people from entirely different situations and places.
I like it as well, yet I didn’t find a place in Trek forums until I left Reddit last month. So this is new territory for me. Take it in stride, there are other Discovery fans out there.
Greetings fellow DSC fan. I like the show, too. Considering that Paramount+ kept it going for 5 seasons, a lot of other people watched it. While I’m a fan of the show, I don’t think it’s perfect, and I can respect other folks critiques of the show. But sometimes the vitriol generators go so long and strong, it can be difficult to separate the signal from the noise with DSC criticisms.
I love it. But I keep it to myself because star trek online forums are pretty aggressive when you say you like it.
Hey man you can’t control what you like.
I personally might have enjoyed it more if it hadn’t been (seemingly) shoehorned into the Star Trek universe. I understand it’s not a very subjective metric, but Discovery just didn’t feel like Star Trek.
It comes across as if someone producer got pitched a sci-fi series with the plot of Discovery and thought, “This is great! It would be even better if we slapped Star Trek all over it!”
I bailed on DSC back when season 2 was airing. Specifically, Project Daedalus was my last episode. Later, I tried watching it again and trying to enjoy it more on its own merits, ignoring the Trek branding and whatnot. I wanted to bail again at the exact same point. I don’t know if it’s a too many cooks situation with the constant showrunner turnover or if the writers’ room just has an obsession with melodrama, but at no point did it feel, to me, like there was a good show hiding in there.
What I saw was ok from a plot perspective (for me). So the whole premise was nice and to me it fit into Star Trek. But as I just complained in another comment: I couldn’t cope with the amount of crying and the way they forced drama into the story.
Burnham is raised by Vulcans which is used when it suits the plot (then she’s extremely analytical and objective) but then suddenly turns into an emotional mess when they want to portray drama. That just feels … off. Also the other officers. I should believe that these are the best of the Star Fleet, top of their class, trained for war but then they falter in the middle of a mission because their lover/friend/whatever gets hurt or dies? That just doesn’t fit.
Maybe I zoned that out from previous Star Trek (because it’s been a while …), but in my mind the characters there were a lot more stable and professional. They all had their individual quirks and mannerisms, but during missions they more or less got their shit together.
No, that part feels very, very on to me. Burnham was a human girl who was witness to family being brutally slaughtered (as far as she knew/could tell) who was then placed in the care of a Vulcan man who liked living as a sociology experiment. This is a person who is traumatized from a relatively young age, and who has no idea how to cope with her feelings. She’s never received therapy, only more psychological abuse.
The issue I ended up having with the show is that the show itself never addresses this. It’s actually pretty clearly the setup for the entire series, but no one ever acknowledges that Michael needs help, no one ever tries to get her any, and, in the end, she never gets the help she needs. They took what could and should have been a character arc about healing from abuse and just turned it into “SMG’s pretty good at crying”.
Once it became clear that the show had zero interest in examining its inciting premise, I lost all patience with it.
Likewise, the melodrama is what killed it for me.
There are a lot of bad trek episodes scattered across every series. Bad episodes isn’t the issue with Discovery. The issue is that, throughout all of trek, the crew has come together and stuck with each other through thick and thin. If there ever is inter-crew strife, it’s solved in generally one or two episodes (except for major plot/story themes like the Maquis, or Seven being a Borg).
Discovery, on the other hand, is a show where the crew was constantly backstabbing, betraying, lying, and being all around bad towards each other. There was no finding solace among the crew in a world filled with strife – the world was strife, and the crew was also strife. And whenever the inter-crew issues seemed like they could finally be resolved, some new stupid issue was shoehorned in. It was unbearable to watch because of the forced melodrama.
It’s almost like those “filler” episodes in all the previous series actually had a function of allowing the series’ interpersonal relationships to gel and solidify. When everything is always an emergency and everyone must react RIGHT NOW OR ELSE it tends to wear people out. There’s nothing wrong with missions that just go somewhat routine and people get to interact with strange and interesting people from entirely different situations and places.
… what???
Crying alien baby breaks warp and Ensign First Officer Captain Tilly… That series is hard to enjoy…
@MaxHardwood @aksdb And the computer refuses to disclose crucial information because it has feelings. :eyeroll:
Much like the 2009 movie.
I like it as well, yet I didn’t find a place in Trek forums until I left Reddit last month. So this is new territory for me. Take it in stride, there are other Discovery fans out there.
Greetings fellow DSC fan. I like the show, too. Considering that Paramount+ kept it going for 5 seasons, a lot of other people watched it. While I’m a fan of the show, I don’t think it’s perfect, and I can respect other folks critiques of the show. But sometimes the vitriol generators go so long and strong, it can be difficult to separate the signal from the noise with DSC criticisms.