If that were the only criteria, then Firefly should never have been cancelled.
To be fair, the early cancellation makes the few episodes of it all the more bittersweet though. It could have easily been that like so many shows it'd have run way past its welcome.
Y'know, I've been struggling. As a long-time Trek fan and someone who tries to keep a degree of objectivity, I went into this show trying to see the good and the bad. There's a lot of things that bug me. I really don't like the new Klingons. There's not nearly enough tying this show visually to TOS, a show that takes place something like ten years later IIRC. There's a bunch of ham-fisted references to old Trek, such as Lorca just... having a tribble, or that Gorn skeleton, or the off-hand remark about the Constitution-class in the latest episode. Not to mention the dumb writing (Why doesn't Ripper just rip its way out of its spore drive container? If nobody went back to salvage the ships at the Battle of the Binary Stars, how did they get Georgiou's telescope? Why is Burnham the most Mary of all Sues?)
And yet... I feel compelled to watch. Of all the niggling things, most little, some very much not, none of it is enough to sour me on this show. Hell, there's things I even like about it. The Crossfield-class is actually really cool once you see it in motion. There's still this air of Trek somewhere underneath the bad writing - the whole situation with Ripper was very similar to what Capt. Ransom did, for instance. Hell, as dumb as it was before this point, they even managed to do something really interesting with Sarek in "Lethe". And Lorca is an absolutely terrible, profoundly broken human being whom I hate with a passion... and I can't wait to see what he does next.
I think... at the end of the day, being well aware of all its huge, obvious flaws... in spite of them, I actually like this show. I sure as hell didn't expect to. Maybe it was my low expectations going in padding the result, or maybe it's hitting just the right chord with me, but I legitimately like it.
"... it seems like the best course of action is to let Discovery focus on being the best show possible, and worry about the consequences later."
Hard, compelling science fiction is difficult to do in the format of television or movies. It often encompasses concepts that take some time to explain, and you have 45 minutes to tell a story as well as keep the attention of your audience. The kind of science fiction that does well in that short format is one that is "lighter" on hard science and "heavier" on worldbuilding. Creating your universe an interesting place with interesting inter-connected pieces is how you build a backdrop to base your characters and stories on. If you re-write your setting every time you make a new series, viewers are disincentivized to become invested in your universe.
Since your universe is overhauled each time you start up a series, the focus shifts to story and characters. Most stories in Star Trek are terrible. Stories are the weakest part of Trek. There are some good characters, but often they are good in spite of the story. Usually, this is accomplished through dialogue. Worf is more interesting talking about Klingons than he is actually being a Klingon (since he gets his butt kicked all the time).
At the end of the day, the unique aspects of your universe is going to be what separates your fiction from the hundreds of other science fiction settings out there. Your stories have been told before (and probably better). Your characters have existed in other stories. Focusing on story and character, while neglecting your universe, is the wrong way to handle science fiction in this kind of format.
As for the arstechnica article, it's mostly babbling. It's an overly long Facebook post about what they liked about the show, which is fine. Viewers like the show and want to talk about it. The only part that was weird was the author's view of the motivation of Burnham.
"It offered us an impossible vision of hope, where good people like Burnham fight for peace against all odds."
Burnham went to save Sarek because he's her dad. Lorca let her go save Sarek, because he's a manipulative scummy character. "Selfless" is not a trait these two share.
Discovery has one of the best opening series ever.
It matches the opening themes to TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager better than Enterprise. Although, the Enterprise opening title captured the exploration spirit theme of Star Trek far better than the other Star Trek series. The Discovery opening title seems to be more about technology than space with TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager or the exploration spirit theme of Enterprise.
Although for the most part, personally I prefer this version of the Discovery opening title. There are some scenes in the original version that are better, but it just fits Star Trek more with the darkness of space.
I may be in the minority with this but I liked Enterprise's opening. It did capture the exploration spirit well in my opinion. And as much as I hate to admit it, I actually LIKED the opening theme song. There. I said it.
STO: Where men are men and the women probably are too.
I support the Star Trek Battles channel.
I may be in the minority with this but I liked Enterprise's opening. It did capture the exploration spirit well in my opinion. And as much as I hate to admit it, I actually LIKED the opening theme song. There. I said it.
I liked the music, but the "exploration spirit"? Well, yeah, it did capture it - but it also made it appear as if the only nation which ever achieved anything on this planet was America........
Yeah, I didn't like that NASA-bias either. On the other hand, it's always been present in Trek, just a lot more subtle.
I may be in the minority with this but I liked Enterprise's opening. It did capture the exploration spirit well in my opinion. And as much as I hate to admit it, I actually LIKED the opening theme song. There. I said it.
I liked the music, but the "exploration spirit"? Well, yeah, it did capture it - but it also made it appear as if the only nation which ever achieved anything on this planet was America........
Maybe due to the fact that America dominated exploration in the 20th Century. There is a Polynesian Raft, HMS Enterprise and a bunch of scenes about Leonardo Da Vinci's work and a German diagram of the Solar System. The International Space Station is an international effort not American. The only thing missing is Sputnik, Mir, and Russian Cosmonauts. Although having Mir, the International Space Station, Astronauts, and Cosmonauts seems a bit redundant.
The only thing missing is Sputnik, Mir, and Russian Cosmonauts. Although having Mir, the International Space Station, Astronauts, and Cosmonauts seems a bit redundant.
You forgot the Buran, but that aside:
Nobody would have asked them to put EVERYTHING into it, but the mix could have been a lot better at reflecting what humanity in general has done in order to get into space. At the very least they could have included Gagarin.
The first satellite was Russian, the first space station built in space, first orbital flight, person with most time in space, first animal in space, first human being in space, first woman in space, first civilian in space, first space walk, first docking and transfer, first female space walk, first soft landing, first pictures from lunar surface, first automated sample return, first fully automated orbital flight of a spaceplane with airstrip landing, all Russian/Soviet.
They should have just stuck to flybys of the NX with Archers theme (the end credits music) playing like every other series.
The DSC theme is fantastic but the credits should similarly be flybys with all the modern effects the show is built on.
Edit this is what I mean. I dunno about Archer's voice over but Star Trek.com released this video a while back and it seems to me it was intended to be the opening credits all along. The uploader added the credit names and music to the video so different music may have been intended but it works much better to me.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though. JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
well, they made one change...judging by the locations of vulcan and andoria in relation to the alpha/beta border, earth is no longer on the line and is now firmly in the alpha quadrant as of 2256
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch." "We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
Passion and Serenity are one.
I gain power by understanding both.
In the chaos of their battle, I bring order.
I am a shadow, darkness born from light.
The Force is united within me.
well, they made one change...judging by the locations of vulcan and andoria in relation to the alpha/beta border, earth is no longer on the line and is now firmly in the alpha quadrant as of 2256
Yeah, given how faithful to the Star Charts the rest of the map is, that is one change I don't really understand. But OFC, since nothing else about the physical location of the stars seems to have changed, I guess they moved the boundary sometime after DIS, because maps shown in Voyager, and Insurrection, clearly show Earth as the dividing line.
It's also interesting to note that several of the systems in the northern part of the map are shown as Klingon, but future maps show them as Romulan. Though, we do know the Klingons and Romulans fought over that border area all the time, so the Klingons owning those systems isn't unusual.
> @somtaawkhar said: > Being the massive lover of maps that I am, and with the knowledge that the in-show map shown on the bridge and in the ready room was based off of the Star Trek Star Charts maps, I decided to see if I could point out what all the locations on the map are, and how well they compared to the Star Charts. > > The results were interesting. As you can see in the images below, the in-show map is amazingly spot on. I find it nice they would take the Star Charts, which were non-canon, and use at least the relevant sections of them when making a canon map seen in-show. > > (If the below maps are hard to see, right click, and hit view image, to see them in full size)
I find it odd that there's a planet Archer in Klingon space just southeast of Nerandra on the Discovery map.
STO: Where men are men and the women probably are too.
I support the Star Trek Battles channel.
An article on that site mentioned a fan theory that Admiral Cornwell (Lorca's Ex) is the same character as Lethe in the Dagger of the Mind episode from TOS. The episode where Admiral Cornwell is captured by the Klingons is also called Lethe. Being betrayed by her friend and lover and captured by the Klingons where they caused psychological damage to her psyche could cause Cornwell to land in prison where her memory was erased. Another possibility is that the Klingons brainwashed her to become a Klingon spy and ends up in prison as a result.
We already had Mudd and Sarek so it would make sense to see the origins of other TOS characters.
Comments
To be fair, the early cancellation makes the few episodes of it all the more bittersweet though. It could have easily been that like so many shows it'd have run way past its welcome.
And yet... I feel compelled to watch. Of all the niggling things, most little, some very much not, none of it is enough to sour me on this show. Hell, there's things I even like about it. The Crossfield-class is actually really cool once you see it in motion. There's still this air of Trek somewhere underneath the bad writing - the whole situation with Ripper was very similar to what Capt. Ransom did, for instance. Hell, as dumb as it was before this point, they even managed to do something really interesting with Sarek in "Lethe". And Lorca is an absolutely terrible, profoundly broken human being whom I hate with a passion... and I can't wait to see what he does next.
I think... at the end of the day, being well aware of all its huge, obvious flaws... in spite of them, I actually like this show. I sure as hell didn't expect to. Maybe it was my low expectations going in padding the result, or maybe it's hitting just the right chord with me, but I legitimately like it.
I Support Disco | Disco is Love | Disco is Life
"... it seems like the best course of action is to let Discovery focus on being the best show possible, and worry about the consequences later."
Hard, compelling science fiction is difficult to do in the format of television or movies. It often encompasses concepts that take some time to explain, and you have 45 minutes to tell a story as well as keep the attention of your audience. The kind of science fiction that does well in that short format is one that is "lighter" on hard science and "heavier" on worldbuilding. Creating your universe an interesting place with interesting inter-connected pieces is how you build a backdrop to base your characters and stories on. If you re-write your setting every time you make a new series, viewers are disincentivized to become invested in your universe.
Since your universe is overhauled each time you start up a series, the focus shifts to story and characters. Most stories in Star Trek are terrible. Stories are the weakest part of Trek. There are some good characters, but often they are good in spite of the story. Usually, this is accomplished through dialogue. Worf is more interesting talking about Klingons than he is actually being a Klingon (since he gets his butt kicked all the time).
At the end of the day, the unique aspects of your universe is going to be what separates your fiction from the hundreds of other science fiction settings out there. Your stories have been told before (and probably better). Your characters have existed in other stories. Focusing on story and character, while neglecting your universe, is the wrong way to handle science fiction in this kind of format.
As for the arstechnica article, it's mostly babbling. It's an overly long Facebook post about what they liked about the show, which is fine. Viewers like the show and want to talk about it. The only part that was weird was the author's view of the motivation of Burnham.
"It offered us an impossible vision of hope, where good people like Burnham fight for peace against all odds."
Burnham went to save Sarek because he's her dad. Lorca let her go save Sarek, because he's a manipulative scummy character. "Selfless" is not a trait these two share.
http://trekcore.com/blog/2017/10/new-star-trek-discovery-sanest-man-episode-photos-and-video-preview/
It matches the opening themes to TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager better than Enterprise. Although, the Enterprise opening title captured the exploration spirit theme of Star Trek far better than the other Star Trek series. The Discovery opening title seems to be more about technology than space with TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager or the exploration spirit theme of Enterprise.
Although for the most part, personally I prefer this version of the Discovery opening title. There are some scenes in the original version that are better, but it just fits Star Trek more with the darkness of space.
I support the Star Trek Battles channel.
Yeah, I didn't like that NASA-bias either. On the other hand, it's always been present in Trek, just a lot more subtle.
Maybe due to the fact that America dominated exploration in the 20th Century. There is a Polynesian Raft, HMS Enterprise and a bunch of scenes about Leonardo Da Vinci's work and a German diagram of the Solar System. The International Space Station is an international effort not American. The only thing missing is Sputnik, Mir, and Russian Cosmonauts. Although having Mir, the International Space Station, Astronauts, and Cosmonauts seems a bit redundant.
You forgot the Buran, but that aside:
Nobody would have asked them to put EVERYTHING into it, but the mix could have been a lot better at reflecting what humanity in general has done in order to get into space. At the very least they could have included Gagarin.
They should have just stuck to flybys of the NX with Archers theme (the end credits music) playing like every other series.
The DSC theme is fantastic but the credits should similarly be flybys with all the modern effects the show is built on.
Edit this is what I mean. I dunno about Archer's voice over but Star Trek.com released this video a while back and it seems to me it was intended to be the opening credits all along. The uploader added the credit names and music to the video so different music may have been intended but it works much better to me.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
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#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
My character Tsin'xing
> Being the massive lover of maps that I am, and with the knowledge that the in-show map shown on the bridge and in the ready room was based off of the Star Trek Star Charts maps, I decided to see if I could point out what all the locations on the map are, and how well they compared to the Star Charts.
>
> The results were interesting. As you can see in the images below, the in-show map is amazingly spot on. I find it nice they would take the Star Charts, which were non-canon, and use at least the relevant sections of them when making a canon map seen in-show.
>
> (If the below maps are hard to see, right click, and hit view image, to see them in full size)
I find it odd that there's a planet Archer in Klingon space just southeast of Nerandra on the Discovery map.
I support the Star Trek Battles channel.
https://www.inverse.com/article/38062-star-trek-discovery-episode-8-trailer-spoilers?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=outreach&utm_campaign=organic
An article on that site mentioned a fan theory that Admiral Cornwell (Lorca's Ex) is the same character as Lethe in the Dagger of the Mind episode from TOS. The episode where Admiral Cornwell is captured by the Klingons is also called Lethe. Being betrayed by her friend and lover and captured by the Klingons where they caused psychological damage to her psyche could cause Cornwell to land in prison where her memory was erased. Another possibility is that the Klingons brainwashed her to become a Klingon spy and ends up in prison as a result.
We already had Mudd and Sarek so it would make sense to see the origins of other TOS characters.
This meme needs to be altered. Not sure if it is strictly limited to Discovery and STO or all of Star Trek.