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Post by blueshift on Oct 4, 2017 20:12:33 GMT
Well, after they started filming, CBS ordered more episodes. It had originally been slated for 13 or so (I think?) and they bumped it up. So that may have something to do with it. The article specifically said it would be 9/6 though, which is odd. Unless there will be more to the 6. |
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Post by Toph on Oct 4, 2017 20:32:16 GMT
I mean that when they planned the show, they had fewer episodes than currently, because CBS ordered more after they started filming.
That may be why this break exists, and is scheduled in such a way you that find weird (I personally don't find it the least bit odd).
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 6, 2017 18:17:43 GMT
The first Discovery novel has thumped through my letterbox. Set one year before THE VULCAN HELLO and one year after THE CAGE. I look forward to seeing how David Mack (who is usually a guarantee of quality) handles this era.
It seems to be the same rough page count as regular Trek novels but is from a different imprint, published at a different size and is, er, twice the price of them!
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Oct 9, 2017 19:12:10 GMT
That was a decent episode. Lots of massive plot holes and I still don't care about the main character, but felt more the right direction. Too little too late? We'll see
The Klingon stuff was tedious though. Really wish they didn't have them speak Klingon all the time!
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 9, 2017 19:39:16 GMT
Ep 4 was more like it.
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 9, 2017 20:35:34 GMT
There was also a bit where a certain visual effect is introduced and as it happened I could imagine legions of long-term fans screaming: "NO! IT CAN'T DO...THAT!" I did giggle.
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 12, 2017 21:42:24 GMT
My reactions so far can be summed up as:
Episodes 1 and 2: Bit all over the place but not bad. Not keen on lead character but like actor. Please change prosthetic so Klingon actors can talk more clearly. Michelle Yeoh unusually bad though.
Episode 3: Oh dear. Oh dear oh dear. Everyone is EEEEEEEEEEEEVIL. No-one to root for other than cheery cadet. Jason Isaacs unusually bad though.
Episode 4: Ah right. I get it now. That's a much better balance. I can see what the show is aiming for now. Isaac's performance choice now makes sense.
Now looking forward to episode 5. If it stays with the tone of episode 4 I think this show could work. It feels like the 'Stargate: Universe' of the Trek shows to 'SG-1', if that makes sense. Lorca is starting to feel like the Dr Rush character on SG Universe: a clever chap who feels he is the most intelligent person in the room but is surrounded by morons so he has to manipulate let them to get the job done.
Burnham felt like a write-off as a redeemable character until episode 4. Let's see more of that and please give the actor some lighter moments too.
I really like the USS Discovery even if it is a bit USS Evilprise. It's great when the saucer starts to spin round.
-Ralph
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 16, 2017 22:07:32 GMT
Enjoyed episode 5. There are still niggles as the tone is still veering all over the place but it's getting there. I do hope the Klingon war is a one-season story though.
I reckon the new chap is a dirty stinking traitor! I don't trust him!
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Oct 17, 2017 6:15:45 GMT
Enjoyed episode 5. There are still niggles as the tone is still veering all over the place but it's getting there. I do hope the Klingon war is a one-season story though. I reckon the new chap is a dirty stinking traitor! I don't trust him! -Ralph Yeah that was decent though oh man Michael is still an awful 'main character' and I really really hate eye torture!!!! |
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Post by Bogatan on Oct 18, 2017 10:44:17 GMT
Just rewatched The Cage and suddenly a few of Discoveries choices dont seen quite so off. Uniforms are a lot more simple than the regular series uniforms. The designs arent anything like Discovery but something about the colours is.
And Spock is shown swiping the air to use a computer as they do in.. well all modern sci fi, but specifically as they do with the holo screens on Discovery.
And if you look past the fancy JJ style direction the sets themselves have quite a TOS movies 1-6 to them which also makes sense. Discovery is a brand new research vessel, of course they get the top end prototype everything. in 2256 its all advanced protypes tech. by 2265 most new vessels are likely incorporating much of the proven tech from Discovery. By 2271, 13 years after Discovery is launched older ships like the Enterprise get upgraded as they come in for refits.
Of course they will ruin this theory by visiting Enterprise or ship that appeared in TOS which will have a radically redesigned modern bridge/interior sets.
Enjoyed episode 5. Also enjoying reading people reactions to each episode. People are so confused. They seem to like one episode and then hate the next as if they were 2 completely different series. One review says such and such an episode is getting the series on track while another review claims they've completely screwed up the series with the latest developements. There just seems to be no concensus on anything, which I love.
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 18, 2017 12:27:48 GMT
I think the lack of consensus comes from the show not having found a consistent tone as yet. It's all over the place so far and I find my own opinion fluctuating depending on the episode I am watching or even with individual scenes. I am not sure yet whether I think it's a 'good' or 'bad' show!
-Ralph
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Post by blueshift on Oct 18, 2017 12:41:01 GMT
I think the lack of consensus comes from the show not having found a consistent tone as yet. It's all over the place so far and I find my own opinion fluctuating depending on the episode I am watching or even with individual scenes. I am not sure yet whether I think it's a 'good' or 'bad' show! -Ralph Yeah. This week's had lots of stuff that felt very Trek but also swearing and eye torture!!!! |
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 18, 2017 14:34:13 GMT
Indeed!
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Oct 22, 2017 18:14:19 GMT
I think the lack of consensus comes from the show not having found a consistent tone as yet. It's all over the place so far and I find my own opinion fluctuating depending on the episode I am watching or even with individual scenes. I am not sure yet whether I think it's a 'good' or 'bad' show! -Ralph Yeah, there is a great deal of "margin for error" in terms of the tone of the show. I still find it difficult to tell how much the show supports the "hard men making hard decisions" outlook, and how much it is holding this up to demonstrate what is wrong with it. It lurches back and forth between "Lorca is a man who gets things done" to "Lorca is an 'ends justifies the means' monster" and back again without warning. It almost feels like there are two distinct authorial visions of the show pulling in different directions and where any given episode ends up depends on which one wins. Karl |
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Post by Pinwig on Oct 22, 2017 18:31:05 GMT
I'm loving it. Watched ep 4 on Friday. Goodly goodington says I.
Visited friends today who have every trek series boxed set lined up under their telly. TOS right through to Enterprise. It was quite a sight.
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 23, 2017 18:48:13 GMT
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Post by blueshift on Oct 23, 2017 18:49:29 GMT
This week's ep was very bland and eeeeeh. Which is a shame as it was starting to get better!
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 23, 2017 20:25:45 GMT
I thought it felt more Star Trek-y than the rest of the show so far. That could easily have been a DS9 episode.
-Ralph
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Oct 23, 2017 23:59:29 GMT
I read some of the comments after. Oh dear. |
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Oct 24, 2017 0:01:46 GMT
Have caught up to episode 6 now. Enjoying the show a lot although it is variable in tone and editing. Seems to be finding it's feet now though.
Loving the new Klingons and their perspective. But yes, prosthetics should have allowed more mouth movement although there were signs this has now been caught.
Prob the best testament to it is that Mrs M who has only scant experience with Trek before is loving the show.
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Post by legios on Oct 24, 2017 19:27:50 GMT
Ah, Episode 6. Just watched that. It does feel like they are starting to square the circle in terms of tone by actually acknowledging the natures of some of the characters and their decisions and calling them into question. It still does feel a little disjointed, but there is a sense that there is a point to be found in that somewhere. I am also going to make an admission - I've worked out what was irritating me about Cadet Tilly now, and it really isn't the character or the actresses fault. It's the fact that Tilly is one of the few TV characters in a good many years that I feel some identification with. Her marked social anxiety, her habit of talkingveryquicklyandcontinuallywhennervous, I can't help but see the parallels to a younger Karl in Tilly. I think that is probably why I initially had a negative reaction to the character. It was only when I realised that I was thinking "someone really needs to sit Tilly down and tell her to take a breath, it'll be ok, you don't have to fill all the silences" that it clicked into place. I feel bad about being irritated by her now. But, with that overdue apology to Cadet Tilly made, on to other matters. {Engage Spoiler Drive!}
I too have my doubts about our new addition to the crew - the ease of his and the Captain's escape in the previous episode rather put me in mind of Princess Leia's "They let us go, it is the only explanation for the ease of our escape.
I like Admiral Cornwall, she's a very human character in a show which hasn't had many of those. I actually kind of felt for her in her attempts to reach out to Lorca - he clearly matters a lot to her, and I thought there was a decent job done there of exploring her desire to protect him but also to fear him and fear for him... There was a lot of stuff wrapped up in those two characters and I think it has been really well played.
I wasn't expecting them to free the Space Tardigrade quite so soon. I had half-expected the "torturing one to bring peace for the many" thing was going to be labored out over the season. I'm actually quite pleased that it wasn't.
That said, I am amused that the allegedly brilliant scientist Michael Burnham didn't see what happened coming. Especially as she was the one who first labelled it a Tardigrade - which after all have as their most noteable feature their tendency to respond to any hostile environment by going - "I'm noping-out, wake me when this nonsense is over".... (I find Tardigrade's amusing for that very trait. Humans pride themselves on adaptability and the capacity to remake the world to suit them. Tardigrade's just have infinite patience and are quite happy to go for a snooze until things are more to their liking...)
In other humorous observations. I spent part of a scene in episode 6 wondering what on earth Stamets had done to himself with his magic potion in episode 5. I then chuckled enough that I had to rewind the episode a bit after it clicked for me that their genius Mycologist is high on 'Shrooms...
In less amusing vein, this weeks episode did put me in mind of a fan theory that has been floating around for three or so weeks - that Gabriel Lorca did not survive the destruction of the Buran, and was instead replaced by his Evil Double from the Beard-Universe. I'm far from convinced that this is where the show is going - if only because it seems a terribly "cheap" way to approach it. But there were a few moments where it did occur to me that "dysfunctional pirate ship" isn't an environment in which it is difficult to see Lorca fitting in.
Karl |
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Post by Bogatan on Oct 24, 2017 21:25:43 GMT
That theory had occured to me too, It sort of makes sense and allows the possibility of a season 2 reboot.
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Oct 24, 2017 21:26:51 GMT
Ehh? Where do they get that from?? |
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Post by The Doctor on Oct 24, 2017 21:39:02 GMT
I love humans. Always seeing patterns in things that aren't there.
-Ralph
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Post by legios on Oct 25, 2017 18:37:34 GMT
I love humans. Always seeing patterns in things that aren't there. Indeed *eyebrow* It is one of their more fascinating characteristics. Ehh? Where do they get that from?? It appears to initally proceed from the observations:- 1) Lorca is clearly evil, or crazy. 2) The Mirror Universe Starfleet is filled with evil and crazy people, whereas there are no such people in "proper" Starfleet. 3) Therefore he is from the Mirror Universe. (Some versions elaborate this to:- He is from the Mirror Universe and formed an alliance with Section 31 because they would work well together because they would be equally ruthless. (this is for purposes of "explaining" the fact that Discovery's hull number is 1031 - which apparently can have no other explanation than signalling that the ship belongs to Section 31. Which would make them a galactic-level dreadful evil conspiracy - of the incompetent kind of dreadful, not the other kind)) The achilles heel of this tottering pile of deduction is of course, point 2. Which can be simply refuted by observing that there are a surprising number of evil, crazy or just plain loonie people in the employ of "proper" Starfleet and the Federation. Garth of Izar, Captain Tracy and John Gill fairly well refute it before we even move beyond Star Trek itself... Of course, the fact that after his Shroom infusion, Stamets' reflection was out of temporal synch with his body is apparently strong evidence for the theory as it is very clear foreshadowing of the importance that the Mirror Universe has to Discovery's story... The heavens alone know how this theories believers interpreted the last shot of Episode 6! Karl |
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Oct 25, 2017 19:28:40 GMT
The Mirror Universe that was not discovered until 10 years later?
I strongly suspect Discovery won't make the mistake of using the Mirror Universe in this way. If at all. |
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Post by blueshift on Oct 25, 2017 19:34:33 GMT
The Mirror Universe that was not discovered until 10 years later?
I strongly suspect Discovery won't make the mistake of using the Mirror Universe in this way. If at all. Oh of course they will. They'll also totally do the Borg too. You mark my words! Enterprise couldn't resist! |
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Oct 25, 2017 21:42:56 GMT
Discovery doesn't feel like fan service in the way Enterprise was.
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Post by blueshift on Oct 25, 2017 21:44:40 GMT
Discovery doesn't feel like fan service in the way Enterprise was. Mmmm I'd say the crutches of PREQUEL!!! and KLINGONS!!!! and sodding SAREK!!!!!! is fanservicey enough for me!!! |
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Post by Fortmax2020 on Oct 25, 2017 21:49:04 GMT
It does seem keen to do its own thing though whereas Enterprise was just keen to invent phasers and transporters.
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