Star Trek Discovery

[Drunk Monk]

Captain? WTH?!?



I have yet to see any of S3 but as soon as I get P+, these threads are going to light up like photon torpedoes.

[Drunk Monk]

as soon as I get P+, these threads are going to light up like photon torpedoes.

Fire Photon Torpedoes!

S3e1 - I always try to minimize spoilers and as none of you are following the new Treks, it's all spoilers, but you've probably gleaned from the trailers that S3 of Disco leapt into the future. Well, ST is already the future but now Disco is in the future of the future - 930 years past the time of the Enterprise. The Federation has fallen due to 'the burn' when all dilithium melted down causing every warp-enabled ship to explode. That was about a century prior to when S3 takes place. And now Disco looks like the bastard child of the Star Wars Cantina and Bladerunner. At least it does in the trading post.

S3 finds its feet quickly, driven by Burnham. It's got some novel design elements like a holographic budgie alarm clock, some amazing panoramic landscapes and a mildly amusing hallucination scene. There's some action, a few decent fight scenes, and some catching up with new technology.

And then, it comes back around to the heart of ST - that glorious vision of hope that is the Federation - and suddenly, I got the feels. Didn't see that coming. I got the warm fuzzies, like a chest full of tribbles.

S3e1 is a two-parter but I'll save part 2 for later.

I am all in.

[Drunk Monk]

S3e2 picked up with the Disco because the ship got separated from Burnham in the wormhole. Disco arrives in the post-apocalyptic S3 and has some serious issues - a major crash landing taking out all their systems. Two takeaway points here: 1. Tig Notaro as Jett Reno, Engineer, is the greatest thing to happen to ST in centuries. Her acerbic wit is hysterical and adds much needed comic relief as well as an acutely sober perspective on the absurdity of it all (and in this ep, she's high on neural blockers). 2. Phillippa Georgiou is one of Michelle Yeoh's most kickass roles so far. She just chews up the scenery and still gets to deliver hand-to-hand fights with a panache seldom seen in a 58 year old. The ep final mcguffin was a great twist.

S3e3: The crew is reassembled and the mission of the season is redefined. The reunion gave me the feels right at the get go. This ep felt like a TOS ep in how the Federation resolves interplanetary disputes. It was a bit silly, but we get to meet the new character, Adira, the non-binary. What's more, 'they' are a trill symbiont like Dax from DS9. Yeah, it's a bit confusing and this ep just introduces them and hasn't quite got into the non-binary aspect yet. Note that Disco is the most LGBTQ show out there because space, amirite? It's fallout from Sulu perhaps, or perhaps more clearly stated, Takei. The Stamets/Culber relationship is one of the most heartwarming gay couples in the galaxy. ST: TOS went boldly into diversity a half century ago and Disco keeps pushing that forward. 

The first 3 eps have established the setting and major story arc. I feel the metaphor of the fallen Federation works well in our post-Trump world. It brings up those nagging questions of identity and the American/Federation dream - do they still have meaning? Is there still hope? 

I imagine the next ep will start really digging into it.  Engage!

[Drunk Monk]

One more thought about e3

It's strangely reassuring that in 3188, the Golden Gate Bridge is still standing.

[Greg]

Built to last, despite all those Octopi.

[Drunk Monk]

e4 was a meh. 
It starts as an endearing log by the Dr., who is the first Starfleet Doc who isn't crotchety. I do like him. He's got a great bedside manner.

It moves to Adira and her Tal symbiont, which she can't connect with, so they have to go to Trill to discover what's up. Adira wasn't developed enough so her issues don't gain sympathy. The actor playing Adira, Blu del Barrio, is non-binary in real life, and they are intriguing, but I haven't quite warmed up to them. There's metaphoric potential here but so far, this first exploration is underwhelming. But I'm hopeful. Still, hard to beat Dax.

Capt Saru tries to unite the bridge crew over dinner but that fails. Georgiou is snarky, a bit overplayed, but we'll take it. Detmer freaks out, something that's been building since e2. I find Detmer intriguing but she's never quite been explained satisfactorily for me. She was under Georgiou from the very start, but she still feels underdeveloped. What's up with her cybernetic implants anyway?

The biggest bum out was that there was no Reno. 

So this ep fell flat. They can't all be winners.

[Drunk Monk]

e5 was back on track. The reunion with what's left of the Federation. All the Disco crew gets showcased and we say goodbye to one for now. A major focus on Georgiou teasing an upcoming story arc that has great promise. The episodic conflict, like in the last episode, was a bit absurd overall, but it served as a device to move the main story arcs forward. The best parts remain with the engineering crew - Reno, Stamets & Tilly - and Georgiou of course. Yeoh is just killing this role. It's like she's got the entire crew intimidated, both on set and behind the scenes, and is just taking the character wherever she pleases, and that is of a supreme villianess.

[Drunk Monk]

E6 - All about Grudge the cat. An ok Ep. The new ships do some crazy stuff.

The federation admiral is okay. Saru is finally becoming more of a Captain. Still all about Georgiou. And grudge.

---

E7 - Ni’Var - Vulcan & Romulan reunited. A cameo from Spock Prime.

[Drunk Monk]

Morning after note on e7 - this was a pivotal ep because it solved one of the primary missions of s4 but it was a little anticlimactic. There were numerous plot points orchestrated to give trekkers the feels but none of them hit home for me personally, although I appreciated the attempt from a detached point of view. The Vulcan/Romulan ritual might have been better served, more Amok Time-esque beyond just the gong and torches. It was a great opportunity for some deep dive Easter eggs. Maybe I just missed them.

I had coffee late in the day so I was up late and wound up watching 'The Cage' ST: TOS. That is truly a brilliantly written episode, and the redux as 'The Menagerie' was an even more brilliant bit of recycling. The new digital Enterprise graphics don't mesh with the early sets, phasers and communicators. Given the arc of Pike now with Strange New Worlds on the (event) horizon, that Captain has had the weirdest career in Starfleet ever. Thanks to Disco, Pike knows what no Captain has known before...how it ends. And Pike's ending is poignant.

[Drunk Monk]

E8: another meh Ep. A visit to book’s planet. The evil villainess of the emerald chain (a crime syndicate), an Orion queenpin, is revealed and she’s not as villainous as I would like. Kinda wish it was tellurite instead of Orion. Saru trying to find his signature command was amusing. Adira comes out as non-binary which was a tad stilted but at the same time, I can’t remember seeing that ever before on tv, so that’s cool. There’s a Star Wars/Expanse style space battle that I would e enjoyed more if the paneers and photon torpedoes made the classic noises. The Georgiou arc is getting interesting and it was notable that Yeoh rocks an examination catsuit in sickbay and still lookin great, especially considering she’s a year and a half older than me and I look terrible in a catsuit now.

[Greg]

Which begs the question: when did you look good in a catsuit?

[Drunk Monk]

Exotic Erotic. There's a long LSD-drenched story there, but we're saving it for DM & The Yeti.

[Greg]

The Exotic Erotic! Now, I have a film opening. But did the Yeti ever attend the ball?

[Drunk Monk]

But did the Yeti ever attend the ball?

Once you see the Yeti in asscheekless chaps, you can never unsee it.

But back on topic...

E9&10 was a 2-parter titled Terra Firma and it was awesome, the kind of eps that make Disco work. It's a deep dive into my fav ST universe and the swords come out right away. The mcguffin twist should've been obvious but I was too engrossed to see it coming (I had guessed a different direction which in retrospect was way off base). It's a major turning point for the series, but it sets up Section 31, which had been in question since the start of this season. Well played Disco. 

The final 3 eps will no doubt resolve the Emerald Chain arc and the mystery behind the Burn. Disco (the ship) has become sentient which explains one of the Short Treks, my favorite one (http://www.brotherhoodofdoom.com/doomFor...8#pid30568) the one by Chabon. 

Gotta savor these last three because I won't get another ST fix for a while.

[Drunk Monk]

Binged those last 3. They were all tightly connected, like the Disco movie, and it closed up the story arcs launched for S3. It's big - once again, the entire galaxy is in jeopardy and the crew risks everything. And many of the deus ex machina resolutions were absurd. The writers clearly thought we'd be dazzled by the bombastic special effects to notice that. And we almost were. 

The ultimate reason for the burn was kinda dumb. It almost worked - I can see where the writers wanted to go with it, but it fell short. There were huge dangling bits regarding narrow escapes and such, but okay, whatev. The one that bugged me the most was the Disco turbolift revelation - that made no sense at all. Why would the turbolifts have that much empty space in Disco? That was totally unacceptable. I can tolerate some of the others, like healing a knife wound with a phaser and the spore drive hack, but the turbolift scene was very upsetting. That could've been resolved in so many other ways. 

There was a good excuse for Saru not to be in makeup, which was good for that actor because Doug Jones is an oddly shaped human and has played so many iconic roles but always in makeup, akin to Serkis in a way. It was good to see his face. Sonequa is a painful over actor but that's a good fit for Trek. 

It put Disco in a new place once again. From a story in between Enterprise and TOS, it has jumped to be the most futuristic of all the series so far, with an entirely new take on the Federation (which means yet another iteration of uniforms - yay for cosplayers). The Disco crew is so distant from the machismo of TOS crew, but it still works in it's own weird way. Despite all it's shortcomings, especially regarding those deus (and there are so many in these last three eps), I still believe in the mission. I look forward to S4.