Star Trek: Discovery, screwed by CBS

[Julius Seeker]

This video says it all.



I had heard of rumours of CBS forcing some weird designs into the show in 2015, I had no idea it had gone this far. Bryan Fuller being off the project for months now is news to me, and gives me little hope in the project. They're moving away from the scifi elements. I don't think this is Gene Roddenberry's vision.

[Shrinweck]

Yeah I dunno... On the other hand, season one of every Star Trek show since TNG has been the worst season. It could shape up into something nice. The last couple times I've started TNG I haven't even bothered watching seasons one and two lol

[Julius Seeker]

It could be enjoyable. But their direction is highly disappointing. I was looking forward to something that would have some interesting SciFi stories.

I think Voyager and DS9 having weak season 1s is debatable as both series evolved a lot, and while some liked DS9s later seasons, others did not (myself included). I would agree with Voyager season 1 being weaker, they confined themselves too much with trying to focus heavily on a story arc; which sounds great on paper, but always seems to show weakness at one point or another - particularly when you are limited to one ship. Star Trek has typically been at its best when it is telling great episodic science fiction shows. I think Fuller's idea of an anthology - season long stories with different casts, similar to Fargo - is a great model to explore; and Fuller was the right guy to pull it off.

CBS, since the feud they had with Abrams, seems to be a gigantic shitpile on the franchise.

As for season 1s of Star Trek, I can't leave this unsaid - season 1 of Star Trek TOS is fantastic! It's weird how it could slide so quickly. Perhaps they had like 20 great stories, and then just ran out of ideas due to lack of writing staff access.

[SineSwiper]

DS9 was still in the old mode of producing standalone episodes, and they really didn't know what direction their characters were going to go in. As soon as they saw how successful Babylon 5 was turning out (which they sorta stole from, anyway), they planted more seeds for continuing stories. Despite the rocky first season, it still had a lot of good character growth for some characters.

[Julius Seeker]

There's this series instead!
Apparently has a lot of Star Trek alumni involved including Jonathan Frakes (Riker), Robert Duncan McNeil (Tom Paris), and Brannon Braga (Creative on TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT) on the production side. In the cast there's Penny Johnson Jerald (Cassidy Yates on DS9) in the main cast as the Doctor, as well as others who had bit roles in the Star Trek spinoffs. Of course, Seth Macfarlane himself is a Star Trek actor. While the series is a spoof of Star Trek, it also upholds the ideals of the franchise as envisioned by Gene Roddenberry, and he is bringing back a more optimistic vision of the future than Star Trek has drifted in recent times.
In other words, the parody is likely to be more Star Trek than Star Trek Discovery. This is what fans should get on board with.

[kali o.]

Wow...The Orville looks pretty damn good.

[Eric]

[Shrinweck]

As far as trailers go I didn't hate it. I'll keep being cautiously optimistic.

[kali o.]

I dunno man....the visuals looked pretty pumped up, but "Sasha" helming the series? Meh...I don't see her up to it.

I dislike that they are going pre-Kirk too (2255?), but that's just me. It's pretty much confined to Klingons.

[Shrinweck]

If they're going by the new movies the only "canon" TV franchise is Enterprise (which I kind of liked as a whole, honestly) so if they wanted to futz around with things they'd be fine to as long as it didn't contradict Enterprise or the movies. It's sci-fi so they can pull any number of things out of their ass.

[kali o.]

ST, Episode 1 didnt really tell me much.

Orville was pretty good though. But the tranny episode was pretty fucked up and heavy handed progressive silliness. Hope it doesnt go further down that road.

[Shrinweck]

I quite liked Discovery for what it was. Take it for what you will given what I previously said about disliking the way the other Star Treks began (for the most part), but this is the first time the first couple episodes have gotten me interested in watching more based on merit of the story rather than the reputation of the series as a whole.

My most notable concern is probably the new Klingon make-up and facial prosthetic look like they'll limit any potential acting an actor can do... but those are words that I could end up eating.

[Eric]

This series should be called Star Trek: War

[Shrinweck]

If they're really going to push a Klingon war arc as like the multi-season story arc then yeah that'd be bullshit... But I'd like to think that's not happening. I think the next episodes are going to be closer to what we're used to.

[Shrinweck]

I was pleasantly surprised by the last episode. Which was good because last weeks episode (while it had some cool shit) was probably my least favorite so far.

[Shrinweck]

I was curious if I'd missed Jeffrey Combs in an episode of this so far and I guess not... It's hard to imagine a series without him haha

Rob Lowe was apparently in heavy alien make up in a cameo though lol

[Shrinweck]

Holy fuck I didn't realize it in the introduction episode but new chief of security dude is motherfucking Clem Fandango

YES I CAN HEAR YOU CLEM FANDANGO

[Zeus]

Am I the only one who watches this show and it feels like it's set AFTER all of the others rather than before them?

[kali o.]

Am I the only one who watches this show and it feels like it's set AFTER all of the others rather than before them?

Well, you can't be blamed since from almost every angle (politics/starfleet, technology, etc) it is more "advanced" than the timeline suggests. I can handle non-canon (I liked the movie reboot) but this is fucking ridiculous.

The series is actually pretty far removed "ethically" from where it should be, too. It's actually pretty confusing.

I don't know what other people seem to like about this series but I can't see it lasting long on cbs' service.

The Orville, on the other hand, is showing signs of finding its footing as the season goes on...but Fox will probably find a way to fuck it up eventually.

[Shrinweck]

Netflix has put enough money into the show for it to be profitable enough to make a second season. So it'll last through then at the very least. I'd like to imagine they'll re-evaluate the whole CBS service thing.

[Julius Seeker]

Just as a note, they pretty much got rid of all the new staff and have put Alex Kurtzman (Brian Fuller's co-show runner from the beginning) back in charge. Apparently they had a lot of issues with season 2.

[kali o.]

I think this series is beyond salvaging (much like Enterprise was). This project probably should have just ditched the ST brand -- it would have done much better without that anchor; especially since it is clear the people in charge of the project didn't care to stay rooted in canon.

To be clear, I am no longer just apathetic about Discovery. I actively dislike it.

PS - Shameless repeated plugging -- Orville is great -- check it out if you haven't.