[worry]

Yah the dialogue is often clunky ("I've been your captain for seven years now...") but a lot of it was in the trailer so I figured we already went over it, and it was mostly restricted to the Captain/Burnham exchanges. Doug Jones was great and I liked just about everything about the Klingon scenes. Seeing them hairless was a little weird, but I chalked that up to these particular ones being a cult. If ep 2 proved otherwise though then it is a pretty weird decision.

[worry]

Neither. It's not a failure at all, there's just some clunky lines that are very evident of this being a pilot, and which you'd hope the writers of a high profile Star Trek project would know better.

[QuickTidal]

worry, on 25 September 2017 - 06:22 PM, said:

Seeing them hairless was a little weird, but I chalked that up to these particular ones being a cult. If ep 2 proved otherwise though then it is a pretty weird decision.

They showed the Ruling High Council in ep 2...they all look this way.

So yeah, it's either a really tone deaf canon change (and they'll ignore it or never explain it)...or they are working it into the mythos (like we are 100 years from TNG so maybe something causes their physiognomy to change drastically?). It's probably the former to be honest.

worry, on 25 September 2017 - 06:48 PM, said:

Neither. It's not a failure at all, there's just some clunky lines that are very evident of this being a pilot, and which you'd hope the writers of a high profile Star Trek project would know better.

Yeah, I mean Yeoh does her best with what she's given (so does Martin-Green), so it's not her fault. And I THINK Martin-Green also has to deal with trying to be a human acting like a Vulcan (as stage instruction) which is maybe why her stuff is coming across so stilted?

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 25 September 2017 - 07:11 PM

[Una]

I basically want to BE Michelle Yeoh. Dancer-martial artist-movie star- Starfleet captain. Dream. Job. Also, I have been trying to get my hair to look like that for years, without success.

I watched both episodes on Space because I'm in Canada. I can't believe they didn't even give you the second half of the pilot in the US!

I really didn't like Michael. I cannot understand how someone gets to the rank of Commander with so little discipline. They talk her up like she's so smart and brave, but then the way she acts is completely reckless and arrogant. She reminds me of Harry Potter in the Order of the Phoenix when he let his Chosen One status go to his head and went all whiny and awful whenever he didn't get his way. After she royally screws everything up, I hope the end result is she learns some humility, or she could become the character I love to hate.

I understand that special effects and make-up evolve, so I am not overly concerned about the look of the sets, but I am rather perplexed as to why they saw the need to remake the Klingons into looking like Orcs.

Overall though, you can't say they didn't put any effort in. I remain cautiously optimistic.

[QuickTidal]

Una, on 25 September 2017 - 07:18 PM, said:

I really didn't like Michael. I cannot understand how someone gets to the rank of Commander with so little discipline. They talk her up like she's so smart and brave, but then the way she acts is completely reckless and arrogant.

^^This. 100%. Hell, even her first sojourn is ENTIRELY too reckless for a 7 years #1 commander spot to exhibit. Riker would be ashamed of her behaviour.

Una, on 25 September 2017 - 07:18 PM, said:

but I am rather perplexed as to why they saw the need to remake the Klingons into looking like Orcs.

Mumble-y Space Orcs!

Una, on 25 September 2017 - 07:18 PM, said:

Overall though, you can't say they didn't put any effort in. I remain cautiously optimistic.

This is about where I sit. I'm happy to keep watching and see if it grows on me and my issues go away. So far it's NOT the dumpster fire I excepted...but it's not great yet either.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 25 September 2017 - 07:23 PM

[Abyss]

Una, on 25 September 2017 - 07:18 PM, said:

...I watched both episodes on Space because I'm in Canada. I can't believe they didn't even give you the second half of the pilot in the US!...

WE WIN!!!!!

[Malankazooie]

Yeah, that was really annoying when they cut it off and didn't finish airing the second part. If they made that decision thinking it would push viewers to sign up for that CBS All Acess (whatever that is) I think they are direly wrong. I think they pissed off more people then anything else. I certainly am not going to pay a subscription for only one show.

Oh well, maybe I'll try and find a reliable torrent site and download the episodes as they become available there. I will probably wait though and see how the next three or four episodes are received before I do that though.

[worry]

Sounds illegal.

[Malankazooie]

shhhh.... remember snitches get stitches.

[Cause]

I liked it. Its a high budget Sci-Fi TV series and they are in short supply these days.

Was it star trek though? Some changes seem arbitrary, other actions are clearly meant to be a homage. Why is it general order 1 and not the prime directive? I read an article where the producers explained why they changed the look of the Klingons and after the whole read, I missed any explanation other than I felt like it. He kept talking about art and direction and capturing the feel of star trek but it felt like he had no real answer other than wanting to leave his own mark. Also the whole episode was about battle. I enjoy action so Im not too upset but its never been the center of Star Trek. Will the whole season be about the war?

The Ships are clearly Star Trek, so are the uniforms. The technology has been significantly improved to match our modern expectations and the whole thing looks smoother, slicker and better managed. It makes it seem out of place in the star trek timeline and also Im still confused excactly which universe the show is meant to exist in. The movies, the TV series or a 3rd path.

[Malankazooie]

I love this, just love love love this. And if it doesn't raise the goose bumps on you, then rush to the emergency room to check if your heart is beating, kay?

[QuickTidal]

Oh,and I forgot to mention all the Dutch angles...and lens flares...we stopped counting them in episode 1 at 40....FORTY lens flares in an hour. My wife got so annoyed she stopped watching.

[Una]

QuickTidal, on 25 September 2017 - 07:22 PM, said:

Una, on 25 September 2017 - 07:18 PM, said:

I really didn't like Michael. I cannot understand how someone gets to the rank of Commander with so little discipline. They talk her up like she's so smart and brave, but then the way she acts is completely reckless and arrogant.

^^This. 100%. Hell, even her first sojourn is ENTIRELY too reckless for a 7 years #1 commander spot to exhibit. Riker would be ashamed of her behaviour.

Now that I think about it, Tom Paris was supposed to be some arrogant hot shot cowboy type and not even HE tried to pull half the stuff that Michael Burnham did.

But yes, after all that NuTrek nonsense, I was dreading a dumpster fire and, although I wasn't really blown away, I thought it was a respectable effort. There are some odd storytelling choices that I do hope they have a good reason for making. For that, I am willing to reserve judgement until I see where they have decided to take us. Also, I need to see who the actual crew of the Discovery is. That chemistry is so important in this type of show and we only got to see the Shenzhou. It could still totally go either way.

[Abyss]

Honey Cups, on 26 September 2017 - 01:15 AM, said:

Abyss, on 25 September 2017 - 07:44 PM, said:

Una, on 25 September 2017 - 07:18 PM, said:

...I watched both episodes on Space because I'm in Canada. I can't believe they didn't even give you the second half of the pilot in the US!...

WE WIN!!!!!

Which is honestly just sad. This whole show is a ransom on one of the most beloved franchises to its home country due to greed.

Seriously. It boggles the mind that frikkin Canada got the two hour premiere and CBS flat out screwed the US market from even watching that.


Also, WE WINNNNNNNN!

[Serenity]

QuickTidal, on 25 September 2017 - 07:22 PM, said:

Una, on 25 September 2017 - 07:18 PM, said:

I really didn't like Michael. I cannot understand how someone gets to the rank of Commander with so little discipline. They talk her up like she's so smart and brave, but then the way she acts is completely reckless and arrogant.

^^This. 100%. Hell, even her first sojourn is ENTIRELY too reckless for a 7 years #1 commander spot to exhibit. Riker would be ashamed of her behaviour.

Agreed. I made it through about 5 minutes of the incredibly irritating 'After Trek' show, just long enough for them to say that they wanted the two-parter to be an extended prologue to set up the character so that viewers could understand and sympathise with her. I think they failed.

Although, to be fair, she would have been ashamed of Riker's beard.

[Serenity]

QuickTidal, on 26 September 2017 - 12:47 AM, said:

Oh,and I forgot to mention all the Dutch angles...and lens flares...we stopped counting them in episode 1 at 40....FORTY lens flares in an hour. My wife got so annoyed she stopped watching.

They were channelling JJ Abrams

[Malankazooie]

There's an "After Trek" show? Damn, they must think they really have something then. Is it hosted by Chris Hardwick?

[Serenity]

Nah, somebody called Matt Mira trying very hard to be Chris Hardwick. He was cringe-inducingly awful from what I saw.

[Cause]

What was that line about transporters being obsolete? I never understood that line

[QuickTidal]

Also, how about the fact that the titular ship of the show...ISN'T IN THE FIRST TWO EPISODES OF THE SHOW THAT BEARS ITS NAME.

I've decided I have way more salt about this show than good words.

And my wife point out a few more things as she finished watching the eps last night (after giving up during the Lens Flare Party in Ep1).

T'Kuvma actor speaks SO SLOWLY. It's like he learned his Klingon lines an hour before they shot any scene where he says them so he's plodding through them at a snails pace to remember them...and buried under all that makeup and prosthetics he is a nigh unlistenable muffled space orc.

The disjointedness was jarring in Ep 2...like when the ensign gets bonked and stumbles (for some inexplicable reason) into the brig so he can have a random conversation with Burnham instead of whatever...JUST so we can have a "ripped away" moment? I mean what kind of sensationalist nonsense is that?

And the space battle. The Space battles even in the lowliest of old Trek episodes felt epic and grandiose. Apparently the STD effects crew took their cues from THE PHANTOM MENACE Gungans VS Droids instead with ineffectual looking skinny lasers firing from one ship to another in super fast little "Pew pew" moments. Ugh. It felt anything but epic.

This post has been edited by QuickTidal: 26 September 2017 - 01:21 PM