Spoilers Star Trek: Discovery (CBS Spoilers)

[Huntn]

​

Ok, I bit the bullet, subscribed to the limited commercial subscription for a free week and $5.99 a month at CBS All Access. I’ll unsubscribe after completing the series.

Episodes 1 and 2 were excellent. A war... with Klingons. The writing was taught, the action was exciting, the story is intriguing. I liked what looked like on location filming and the production values were high, plus it felt like Star Trek. I’m in! After a season of the Orvil, I was almost fearing someone would tell a joke.

Ps, I thought there was a dedicated thread for this, did a search, no result. Let me know if I missed it.

Of note, if you subscribe through CBS All Access, then go to the Apple TV and choose the log in choice it will ask you to log in via Apple TV or CBS.com. CBS is the right answer for this circumstance, and it will give you an access code to enter at CBS.com. Can you subscribe through iTunes? I don’t know, but $5.99 a month seems less than I remeber it to be.

 

[Huntn]

Spoiler
S1: Episodes 3&4 complete.









Wow. Someone mentioned advanced tech. They were not Kidding! Since this is the first I’ve heard of spore drive, and it is no where to be seen through Voyager, I have to assume it gets lost as in the Discovery is lost or they decide that enslaving an intelligent Beast for navigation, is against Federation moral protocol, and/or the tech is locked away for the future. Although a familiar ST moral theme, I like how it is presented.

Now I just have to put up with with retro ugly ships.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

View attachment 776379
​

Ok, I bit the bullet, subscribed to the limited commercial subscription for a free week and $5.99 a month at CBS All Access. I’ll unsubscribe after completing the series.

Episodes 1 and 2 were excellent. A war... with Klingons. The writing was taught, the action was exciting, the story is intriguing. I liked what looked like on location filming and the production values were high, plus it felt like Star Trek. I’m in! After a season of the Orvil, I was almost fearing someone would tell a joke.

Ps, I thought there was a dedicated thread for this, did a search, no result. Let me know if I missed it.

Of note, if you subscribe through CBS All Access, then go to the Apple TV and choose the log in choice it will ask you to log in via Apple TV or CBS.com. CBS is the right answer for this circumstance, and it will give you an access code to enter at CBS.com. Can you subscribe through iTunes? I don’t know, but $5.99 a month seems less than I remeber it to be.

Please let me know when DVD (to buy) becomes available in Region 2 (apparently, it is - or will be - available fairly soon in region 1).

 

[Huntn]

S1: Ep 5&6
I’m getting the same good feelings I had for STNG, the first time since 1994, it’s last air date. I’m almost emotionally vested. Now, are these feelings justified? It’s certainly a less feel good show than STNG, but as it navigates the Federation-Klingon war in serialized episodes, it seems true to the Federation. The Captain has some issues. Some good interpersonal drama in these episodes, along with the F word...

If it has not been mentioned in the general Star Trek thread, these Discovery episodes are serialized, not procedural like STNG.

 

[S.B.G]

Glad you're enjoying DISCO! I'm sure you have numerous questions about what is going on and how it all reconciles with canon. Many of the answers will become more clear in the final episodes of the season.

I'm looking forward to season 2 and have been since season 1 ended.

 

[Huntn]

S1:Ep7- Finally a fun episode! The personality change in the ship’s engineer Paul Stamets, due to something that happened an episode or two ago is a change for the better, but is unstable. I could easily go with a variation of a temporal loop event because I like Harry Mudd, a colorful character that reminds me somewhat of Q, at least in temperament and mannerisms.

 

[benji888]

Please let me know when DVD (to buy) becomes available in Region 2 (apparently, it is - or will be - available fairly soon in region 1).

November 18: http://trekcore.com/blog/2018/08/global-star-trek-discovery-blu-ray-dates-steelbook-announced/

 

[Zxxv]

It was pathetic. A star fleet officer that’s always close to tears disobeying chain of command at every opportunity. She’d be in the brig and up against a wall in no time. Total joke of writing.

 

[S.B.G]

Just came across the season 2 trailer (released a month ago).

 

[velocityg4]

If it has not been mentioned in the general Star Trek thread, these Discovery episodes are serialized, not procedural like STNG.

That definitely kills the series for me. There is always the dreaded season finale cliffhanger. Then the series getting axed. So, you'll never know what happened. I won't even start watching a serialized Sci Fi until it is four or five seasons in. Since it is highly unlikely they'll kill the series without a finale.

I like it when one episode has nothing to do with another. Let each one be a complete story. All the serialized episodes is what killed DS9 (later in the series), Voyager and Enterprise for me.

 

[Huntn]

That definitely kills the series for me. There is always the dreaded season finale cliffhanger. Then the series getting axed. So, you'll never know what happened. I won't even start watching a serialized Sci Fi until it is four or five seasons in. Since it is highly unlikely they'll kill the series without a finale.

I like it when one episode has nothing to do with another. Let each one be a complete story. All the serialized episodes is what killed DS9 (later in the series), Voyager and Enterprise for me.

And some of the stories were amazing considering the compressed time frame for an episode, with a main plot and time for a sub plot!

Depending on the series I like both. What was cool about STNG were stand alone episodes with an overlying theme that allowed for continuity in the overall environment such as returning guest characters. And although most were stand alone episodes, they allowed for progression of events and characters.
[doublepost=1535170305][/doublepost]

Just came across the season 2 trailer (released a month ago).

I’ll watch this after Season 1 is in the bag.

 

[Huntn]

@velocityg4, I’ll also mention that the advent of short changed seasons, like 10 episodes for some shows lends itself to a searialized story. Discovery is 15 episodes, the Orville had 12, but back in the good old days, STNG was 25, so they had more leeway in their story telling. I agree that there are examples where serialized story telling sucks when a show gets cancelled and they did not predict it in time.

 

[velocityg4]

And some of the stories were amazing considering the compressed time frame for an episode, with a main plot and time for a sub plot!

Depending on the series I like both. What was cool about STNG were stand alone episodes with an overlying theme that allowed for continuity in the overall environment such as returning guest characters. And although most were stand alone episodes, they allowed for progression of events and characters.
[doublepost=1535170305][/doublepost]
I’ll watch this after Season 1 is in the bag.

Right they were able to continue character development. Given how each episode was a full story. Except the occassional two parter. They didn't have enough time to drag their feet on irrelevant minutia of personal relationships. Worse yet the personal relationships of the bad guys. To stretch a story across the season.

Not to say all serials are bad. Many do a good job. Lost, Fringe, Agents of Shield are some. Then there are just so many others which do a bad job of this and drag on. Even though they have some good content. They require liberal application of fast forward to skip content which does not advance the plot. Thank goodness Netflix makes this so easy with the preview timeline.

It's sort of like reading a dedicated low output author like Hemingway or Tolkien. Their novels are stories all the way through with small amounts of description. While pulp authors like Koontz and Stephen King have interesting stories. They load their books with filler, long winded descriptions. So, that they can churn out big books with little substance.

Hopefully Star Trek Discovery is one of the good ones. I've been a big Star Trek fan since the first episode I ever saw at a friends house, "A Fistful of Datas". I won't know until it has matured enough until there is little risk of cancellation on a cliffhanger and they license old episodes to Netflix or Amazon Prime. I'm just skeptical that a CBS streaming service can survive or that a show with such high production cost will.

By the way. Is it shot in 4K?

 

[benji888]

...
By the way. Is it shot in 4K?

They don't specify specifically, but they used Red cameras which are capable of 4K & better. It was also released in HDR (HDR10 & DolbyVision) on Netflix outside of the USA & Canada. Some said the first couple episodes were 4K, but others say it was all 1080p + HDR.

So I'm guessing it was shot in 4K, but, I would guess VFX are HD/2K. I'm just not sure if post production was done in 4K or 2K. I would guess they started off in 4K, but opted for speed at 2K, but that is speculative.

 

[Huntn]

Right they were able to continue character development. Given how each episode was a full story. Except the occassional two parter. They didn't have enough time to drag their feet on irrelevant minutia of personal relationships. Worse yet the personal relationships of the bad guys. To stretch a story across the season.

Not to say all serials are bad. Many do a good job. Lost, Fringe, Agents of Shield are some. Then there are just so many others which do a bad job of this and drag on. Even though they have some good content. They require liberal application of fast forward to skip content which does not advance the plot. Thank goodness Netflix makes this so easy with the preview timeline.

It's sort of like reading a dedicated low output author like Hemingway or Tolkien. Their novels are stories all the way through with small amounts of description. While pulp authors like Koontz and Stephen King have interesting stories. They load their books with filler, long winded descriptions. So, that they can churn out big books with little substance.

Hopefully Star Trek Discovery is one of the good ones. I've been a big Star Trek fan since the first episode I ever saw at a friends house, "A Fistful of Datas". I won't know until it has matured enough until there is little risk of cancellation on a cliffhanger and they license old episodes to Netflix or Amazon Prime. I'm just skeptical that a CBS streaming service can survive or that a show with such high production cost will.

By the way. Is it shot in 4K?

No idea. Now that it looks like Picard may come back it will be interesting what name (of the show) and if it is serialized.

 

[ActionableMango]

disobeying chain of command at every opportunity

Everyone does that. Picard and the entire bridge crew in TNG, Janeway, Sisko, Ezri, Kim, Worf, Jadzia, I could go on and on. It might be easier to list crew members that haven't disobeyed orders. Jadzia literally went on a killing spree. Kirk disobeyed the chain of command more times than there are stars in the sky.

Disobeying orders and/or the chain of command is a staple of Star Trek.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

When does season 2 start?

 

[S.B.G]

When does season 2 start?

All we know is 2019 right now.

 

[VivaLasVegas]

All we know is 2019 right now.

Thanks season 1 was good now I will wait for season 2.

 

[Huntn]

Two episodes left- Ambitious story twist, involving parallel universes, the advantage of serialized story telling, expansive events and expendable characters.

Spoiler: Plot spoiler

3 Captains, maybe more in 15 episodes.

 

[Huntn]

Finished Season 1, overall a big thumbs up. 20 some years after STNG, a ST with some bite, that I can sink my teeth into. However, I’m not certain I love the season finale because I don’t believe a Klingon would be capable of destroying her home world as a threat to unite 24 Klingon Houses, but I went with the flow anyway.

I approve of the changes to the Klingon’s appearance that was made for this series. I also find it hard to believe that Star Fleet would shelve something like a spore drive, because it’s advantages are monumental.

Also I’m a bit fuzzy, but in later Star Treks there were cloaked Klingon vessels, but I don’t remember if they could be tracked?

 

[S.B.G]

I also find it hard to believe that Star Fleet would shelve something like a spore drive, because it’s advantages are monumental.

I wouldn't say, just yet, that Star Fleet eventually shelves the Spore Drive as we don't know how the writers are going to reconcile the technology with the later series and its lack of existence at those times. Clearly they have to come up with something to make it work out. It could get destroyed and all the people who knew about it (a relative few in Star Fleet) get killed and all knowledge and evidence of it lost forever. Or it could get shelved after being deemed too damaging to organic beings and the structure of the universe. Or it could be shelved by the Federation after being deemed too powerful for military use.

Regardless, its one of the things that I look forward to seeing how creative they get in getting rid of it before the time of TOS.

Also I’m a bit fuzzy, but in later Star Treks there were cloaked Klingon vessels, but I don’t remember if they could be tracked?

So in TOS the episode "Balance of Terror" Kirk and the Enterprise were able to detect a blip on their motion tracking sensors, while crude and not good enough for exact positioning, it allowed them to track, within some degree, the Romulan ship that had passed into Federation space and destroyed the Earth outposts.

Then in VOY, cloaked D7-class battle cruisers could be detected using a metaphasic sweep and also Energy "distortions", manifesting themselves most often as refracting visible light energy from surrounding stellar objects very near the cloaked ship's outline, appearing as a "shimmering" effect, while cloaked and prior to decloaking, could give away a cloaked ship when observed.

--Sources: Memory Alpha

 

[Huntn]

I wouldn't say, just yet, that Star Fleet eventually shelves the Spore Drive as we don't know how the writers are going to reconcile the technology with the later series and its lack of existence at those times. Clearly they have to come up with something to make it work out. It could get destroyed and all the people who knew about it (a relative few in Star Fleet) get killed and all knowledge and evidence of it lost forever. Or it could get shelved after being deemed too damaging to organic beings and the structure of the universe. Or it could be shelved by the Federation after being deemed too powerful for military use.

Regardless, its one of the things that I look forward to seeing how creative they get in getting rid of it before the time of TOS.


So in TOS the episode "Balance of Terror" Kirk and the Enterprise were able to detect a blip on their motion tracking sensors, while crude and not good enough for exact positioning, it allowed them to track, within some degree, the Romulan ship that had passed into Federation space and destroyed the Earth outposts.

Then in VOY, cloaked D7-class battle cruisers could be detected using a metaphasic sweep and also Energy "distortions", manifesting themselves most often as refracting visible light energy from surrounding stellar objects very near the cloaked ship's outline, appearing as a "shimmering" effect, while cloaked and prior to decloaking, could give away a cloaked ship when observed.

--Sources: Memory Alpha

Interesting points. Discovery appears to have found a definitive way to track cloaked Klingon vehicles so let’s see if that too is reconciled.

Has anyone kept their CBS All Access subscription going because of all the original programming there?

 

[VivaLasVegas]

Has anyone kept their CBS All Access subscription going because of all the original programming there?

What else is there besides Star Trek Discovery?

 

[S.B.G]

Interesting points. Discovery appears to have found a definitive way to track cloaked Klingon vehicles so let’s see if that too is reconciled.

I just put on the last episode of DISCO S1 since I hadn't seen it since earlier this year.

While watching it and looking at the USS Discovery, NCC-1031, a Crossfield-class starship and recalling how at the end of the episode they meet up with Captain Pike of the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701, a Constitution-class starship, I had a thought.

WHAT IF, and I mean what if, toward the end of the series run of DISCO (whenever that may be), they reveal that the whole ship (and its sister ship the USS Glenn - now destroyed in a Spore Drive accident), crew, and its associated technologies had been sent back in time from a different period? Perhaps it was a part of the Federations plan to either win the Klingon war or to make peace with them. Perhaps they went back in time as an exception or even in violation of the Temporal Prime Directive.

When we think about it, the design of the Crossfield-class compared to the Constitution-class ships of what appears to be the same time period, the USS Discovery is far more advanced in every sense and style. I get it that TOS was made in the 1960's and DISCO is now, and design and production elements are vastly different now. But to make a new Star Trek today and put it in the setting of TOS timeline with this design and technology is a bit odd.

The non-existence of the Spore Drive in TOS, TAS, TNG, VOY, DS9 and ENT could be explained if DISCO were actually from the far future in the Star Trek timeline.

You heard it here first.