Star Trek series coming in 2017

[mirth]

They even explained that primary hull design :P

[SirAndrewD]

Episode 4 was very good and felt a little more Trek like. The pieces are starting to come together.

It had its good and bad points. 

It absolutely had a traditional Star Trek moral dilemma, and it came at it from a different angle where Starfleet didn't go with the moral choice. 

Lorca is kind of a badass.  He might give Commander Adama a run for his money on space arsekickers. 

The actions of the security chief, Landry, with the Water Bear were beyond irrational.  Not even remotely the acts of a sane or coherent human being, especially considering their former interactions.  She wasn't acting un-Starfleet, she was acting like a maniac and the results of her decision was pretty much what any sane person would expect.   Seriously strained my disbelief there. 

And, still, ugh, the Klingons.  Apparently they find humans a tasty snack now (I know, there's revenge heart eating in DS9).  I just still can't take them as even being remotely the same species in the rest of the canon.  The writers keep saying they're trying to make the Klingons more sympathetic and relaetable, but I've yet to see anything that does that.   All we've gotten from them is that they're Xenophobic and more than a bit genocidal, not something that makes them relateable or sympathetic at all.

It's not just a problem of the way they're portrayed either, the actors seem to have a hard time emoting through all their makeup and it's distracting.

Dunno, I felt it was a bit of a step back from Episode 3, but then again I mostly feel that because there were Klingons involved.  I'm nearing the edge of abandoning ship though. 

[mirth]

I think you'll see an out for the Klingon's being so alien. At least it was hinted at tonight.

Lorca is a badass. One of the highlights of the show for me. Same for Saru, another excellent character.

The thing with the security chief was dumb, but they laid some ground work earlier in the episode for her character taking such an extreme risk. So, I was able to roll with it within the context of the episode.

Anyway, I liked the episode and how the show is developing. What I've seen so far is light years better than anything we got from season 1 of TNG.

[SirAndrewD]

Anyway, I liked the episode and how the show is developing. What I've seen so far is light years better than anything we got from season 1 of TNG.

45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG. 

[JasonPratt]

The writers keep saying they're trying to make the Klingons more sympathetic and relaetable, but I've yet to see anything that does that.   All we've gotten from them is that they're Xenophobic and more than a bit genocidal, not something that makes them relateable or sympathetic at all.

The showrunner explicitly said he's trying to make the Klingons seem (American) Republican.

So take "more sympathetic and relateable" with that and the other evidence: even Republicans will enjoy this show because they can sympathize and relate to the new Klingon subspecies! 

[JasonPratt]

(I understand that the writers are kind of painted into a corner about how to transition into some version of the TOS Klingon relationship with the Federation after Enterprise. I guess...)

[bbmike]

Plus, I was drinking bourbon in my NCC-1701 glass while I watched. Seemed to help.

O0

[SirAndrewD]

The showrunner explicitly said he's trying to make the Klingons seem (American) Republican.

So take "more sympathetic and relateable" with that and the other evidence: even Republicans will enjoy this show because they can sympathize and relate to the new Klingon subspecies! 

Yeah, I'd read all that.  I was more going on the NYCC comments by producer Alex Kurtzman.

"There have been lots of questions about that, there have been lots of questions about the look of the Klingons and the truth is that we wanted to shift everyone's perspective about what the Klingons are because they're so traditionally relegated to just being the bad guys," Kurtzman said. "And that meant making visual changes, too, while hopefully maintaining and retaining the spirit of the original Klingons.

And when we conceived of the idea of the first season being about the war with the Klingons it was terribly important for all of us to make sure that we represented both sides of the war in a way that was understandable and relatable," Kurtzman said. "And while the Klingons have been given specific treatment and various iterations in the past, we needed to know what it was like for them to go through this, too, and to humanize, for lack of a better word."

He was directly asked about why they looked different, and his response was to say that they change the look because they wanted to change the perception of them as a race.  He went on to pat himself and Discovery on the back for making Klingons multifaceted.   I really found that disingenuous based on what we've seen so far.  Firstly, because Star Trek VI, TNG and DS9 did a LOT to make the Klingons seem more than just generic bad guys, so the idea that Discovery is some how breaking new ground here is sort of laughable.  Secondly, I don't see these Klingons as breaking new ground at all, in fact, I see them as a regression to the more generic villains of TOS.   Given where we are, they have less in common with Trump and Republicans and remind me most of Nazis, ugly four nostriled sentient flesh eating Nazis. 

Having Nazis come to mind when watching the Klingons seems to defeat the stated purpose of them not being the "bad guys". 

Again, we'll see going forward.  I hate that they may be keeping things hidden from the viewer in a silly JJ Abrams style mystery box.   We may yet see something that makes sense later, but we're getting drawn along like a cat chasing a string till then. Good strategy for holding subscribers. 

I will say though, that I took Kurtzman's comments over the weekend to indicate that the Klingons in the show are the only ones we'll see going forward. 

[mirth]

I dunno. I thought the deal that the Torchbearer dude was offered at the end of the last episode hinted at a bridge from the STD Klingons to something we're more familiar with.

[SirAndrewD]

I dunno. I thought the deal that the Torchbearer dude was offered at the end of the last episode hinted at a bridge from the STD Klingons to something we're more familiar with.

Entirely possible.  I sort of hope for the same thing.  We'll see what lies in the Mystery Box.

[mirth]

Agreed. I kinda like how they're setting up to explore how much each side is willing to sacrifice its ideals in order to win the war.

[SirAndrewD]

Agreed. I kinda like how they're setting up to explore how much each side is willing to sacrifice its ideals in order to win the war.

I like that too.  It ties in pretty nicely with DS9.  It also adds depth to the militarization of Starfleet that existed between TOS and Star Trek VI. 

Kirk and Sisko had no problems at all switching off the explorer tag and going soldier whenever a shooting war broke out.

[BanzaiCat]

Ok, sounds like I'm going to have to watch Episode 2, the way y'all are going on about it.

[bbmike]

Don't pay for it!

[BanzaiCat]

Don't pay for it!

You're hilarious, bbmike. :)