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Post by the light works on Oct 9, 2017 4:46:23 GMT
OK, I just binge watched Discovery episodes 2,3,4 and 5. Does that mean I'm officially hooked? I hope not, because I hate to expend that much emotional energy for a series that is probably only going to last one season. And the reason it may only last one season is because the way they go through major crew members, I don't think anyone is going to be left for a second season. WARNING - Don't get attached to anyone. They all must be wearing red undershirts under their uniforms. well, don't think I'll bother making any effort to watch it if they are doing the whole "let's see how many characters we can kill off" routine. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 9, 2017 12:37:45 GMT
OK, I just binge watched Discovery episodes 2,3,4 and 5. Does that mean I'm officially hooked? I hope not, because I hate to expend that much emotional energy for a series that is probably only going to last one season. And the reason it may only last one season is because the way they go through major crew members, I don't think anyone is going to be left for a second season. WARNING - Don't get attached to anyone. They all must be wearing red undershirts under their uniforms. well, don't think I'll bother making any effort to watch it if they are doing the whole "let's see how many characters we can kill off" routine. Suffice it to say, there is only one character in Discovery that the entire show revolves around. Everybody else is incedental. And in my opinion, that one character isn't even that likable. I will post my review of the first 5 episodes as soon as I get some time. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 11, 2017 4:12:03 GMT
OK, after watching the first 5 episodes of Discovery, I said I would let you know what I thought of it so far. First, the good. The production quality, sets and graphics are superb. More the quality of a feature film than what you would expect of a TV show. It also has a lot of non-stop action and suspense. It does keep you on the edge of your seat and you won't be bored. Unfortunately, that's the only really good that I can say. So let's get on with what I didn't like.
The title. Discovery really isn't Star Trek, at least not so far. Trek War would be a better title. Only because Star Wars is already taken. The show is about a war and not much more. No exploring strange new worlds. No seeking new life and new civilizations. And no boldly going anyware, except into battle. I know DS9 and Enterprise had their war, but at least thy would break from it every now and then and have a non-war episode. So far, Discovery is war, all war and nothing but war. Now I realize it's only been 5 episodes and that may change. I hope so, but not counting on it happening..
Character development. Not much to do here. There is only one character, Michael Burnham, and everything seems to revolve around her. As far as development, I think she's already developed as far as she's going to develop. She's not Vulcan but was supposedly raised on Vulcan by Spock's mother. Vulcans are supposed to learn to suppress their emotions and rely totally on logic. This girl has no emotions to suppress and you may as well throw logic out the window. You would think if they were going to base the whole series on one character, they would at least find someone that is likable. Michael Burnham is not likable in any way. She's arrogant, smug and comes across as thinking she is better than everyone else. Oh, yeah, she's also bi-polar. One minute she's the loyal star fleet officer dedicated to the Federation and the next she's a militant rebel hell bent on getting her own way, even if it means assaulting her captain or anyone else that gets in her way. She seems to flip-flop between these two personalities every few scenes.
They haven't told us too much about the Capitan Lorca yet other than he's lightaphobic (can't stand bright lights) and has a one-track mind, and that's to destroy Klingons.
The only other character that is the least bit interesting is the First Officer, Saru. They haven't done too much with him yet but I can see some potential there.
The Klingons. They had two varieties of Klingons to choose from. TOS Klingons (boring) or Next Gen Klingons (more interesting), but no, these are a new breed of Klingons that are neither. They are so ritualistic and primitive that it's hard to believe that they are capable of developing chemical rockets let alone technology so advanced that it has Star Fleet shaking in their boots. And honor? Klingons are supposed to be all about honor. These Klingons have no honor, neither between others or even amongst themselves. They actually remind me more of the Xindi from Enterprise.
The Ship Discovery. Discovery is a really nice ship. Too bad it's equipped with an experimental space jumping technology that nobody, even it's inventor, knows how to use. In order to get to where they want to go, they are dependent on a giant microbial based supercomputer pig that would rather crunch the outer hull of the ship and the crew than crunch navigational data. In fact, the only other ship in Star Fleet that had this hyper space technology was eaten by the supercomputer pig. Of course Capitan Lorca, following his one-track mind, wants Michael to turn the pig into a super weapon and send it to destroy Klingons. Not sure how they are going to hop around space without their pig but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
If all of this doesn't sound much like Star Trek, it's because it's not. I really don't see this nonsense going beyond one season even if they did decide to put it on free TV. I don't think I would be interested in watching a season two. We'll have to wait and see where it goes. They still have 10 episodes left of season one. Who knows. Maybe they'll turn it around.
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Post by Cybermortis on Oct 11, 2017 9:02:00 GMT
Slight aside/note to the above;
From what I can work out CBS wasn't able to use the TNG Klingon designs because they don't hold the rights to them, so they had to come up with something else.
Quite why the opted for Klingons is anyones guess. They are easily the most overused species in the Trek universe, having appeared in every season of every Trek series except I think Enterprise Season 3. Yes, they even appear in Voyager since one of the characters was part Klingon and liked to remind us of that at every opportunity.
So they basically decided to pick the one species it would be hardest to do anything new with, and any changes would cause backlash from those who know their Trek - which seems to be everyone but those who made Discovery.
This whole situation kind of reminds me of Batman vs Superman and Captain America Civil war. BvS was a dark glossy mess filled with talent but crippled by studio Execs who couldn't think, see or hear anything but the sound of money rolling in. Those Execs realised too late they did not have a work of art, but a pile of garbage, and proceeded to panic and hope that the audience would be distracted by the name and effects and not notice how bad the whole thing was.
Civil war on the other was hand bright, glossy and focused. If the studio execs stepped in to make changes this was done before filming started, or by working with the films director and producers after which they left them alone to make the film. Or put more simply the execs did their actual jobs instead of thinking they could do everyone elses as well.
Proof I think that CBS is incapable of learning from past mistakes they, or anyone else, has made over the years.
I doubt Discovery will get a second season either. Mainly because rumour has it that all of the actors told their agents to find them new jobs in November last year; Although those rumours might come from actors who's characters get killed off on the show.
The Orville in comparison seems to be closer to Civil War than BvS, not that I'm saying its THAT good rather it seems to be more focused, relaxed and has a better sense of what it is and wants to be. while also being gifted with execs who've done their job in advance and then more or less left things alone.
According to reports while viewer figures from The Orville have dropped it seems likely to be renewed for a second season. The reason is that The Orville is currently the number two rated series on Fox at the moment, out performing both Family Guy and even The Simpsons.
This does beg the question as to what would happen to Family Guy and American Dad should Orville be picked up for a second season, but for a full season. I don't see Seth McFarland having the time to be the lead on a 20+ episode live action series and do two other shows at the same time. Best guess would be a season two of anoher 12-15 episodes of Orville. Failing that either Family Guy or American Dad would probably have to either find a new writer and producer or end their run.
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 11, 2017 11:57:44 GMT
Seeing how I don't watch either American Dad or Family Guy, I hope they put their money on Oreville.
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Post by the light works on Oct 11, 2017 13:39:45 GMT
as I've already said, a couple times, "If you wanted to make a TV show fail, what would you do?"
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Post by ironhold on Oct 11, 2017 15:53:52 GMT
Seeing how I don't watch either American Dad or Family Guy, I hope they put their money on Oreville. Family Guy and American Dad are being syndicated out, so Fox may have more interest in keeping them going since it's a ready supply of money. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 11, 2017 16:28:17 GMT
Seeing how I don't watch either American Dad or Family Guy, I hope they put their money on Oreville. Family Guy and American Dad are being syndicated out, so Fox may have more interest in keeping them going since it's a ready supply of money. They have enough episodes of both to keep them running in syndication for years without making new ones. What makes more money, leasing out old reruns that you've already paid for, or paying for new shows and then having to dig up advertisers to pay for them? If the shows are still popular, keeping new ones on the air makes sense, but if their ratings are slipping, cut and run. Putting your money into a new show, like Orville makes sense if it stays popular. After they have enough old episodes stockpiled (usually at least 3 or 4 seasons) then they can also syndicate that out. These popular shows will run for many years in syndication. Look at Star Trek TOS. 53 years and still going strong. |
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Post by ironhold on Oct 11, 2017 23:15:30 GMT
Family Guy and American Dad are being syndicated out, so Fox may have more interest in keeping them going since it's a ready supply of money. They have enough episodes of both to keep them running in syndication for years without making new ones. What makes more money, leasing out old reruns that you've already paid for, or paying for new shows and then having to dig up advertisers to pay for them? If the shows are still popular, keeping new ones on the air makes sense, but if their ratings are slipping, cut and run. Putting your money into a new show, like Orville makes sense if it stays popular. After they have enough old episodes stockpiled (usually at least 3 or 4 seasons) then they can also syndicate that out. These popular shows will run for many years in syndication. Look at Star Trek TOS. 53 years and still going strong. Nowadays, it takes about 100 episodes to be seriously considered "profitable" for syndication unless there's something else at work, such as the show being old enough and popular enough to be grandfathered on through. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 16, 2017 20:35:17 GMT
Discovery Episode 5. This program is going nowhere at warp speed.
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Post by Cybermortis on Oct 16, 2017 21:19:32 GMT
Discovery Episode 5. This program is going nowhere at warp speed. That is not a good sign for a 13 episode series that claims to have a season long plot arc, especially not when the general consensus seems to be that the first two episodes are not all that connected to the rest of the series as is. It's understandable to have pauses in a full on season where you are finishing scripts maybe a month before they are filmed. But bizzare in a half-series that has been in production longer than some films. You'd seriously expect them to have a clear idea where they are going, and be able to maintain a fast paced plot episode to episode. Even more so if the first two episodes are basically just setting up the plot for the third episode onwards. Not really. Breaking Bad had 64 episodes, Battlestar Galactica (2004 series) 74 and even Prison Break only had around 80 episodes. Heck, Star Trek TOS itself had 79(?) episodes and the last season was only made with the specific intent to shove the series into sydication. It seems that for an hour long series the cut-off point is between 70-80 episodes, unless that series has a particually strong following or reputation. |
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Post by the light works on Oct 17, 2017 5:28:12 GMT
meanwhile, on the Orville, they went through an entire episode without mentioning the blue alien, had a moral quandary, and developed characters.
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 17, 2017 12:06:37 GMT
But they did mention "the leg" again. But I have to admit, it was really funny if you caught it.
When Discovery and Oraville first aired, my initial thoughts were that I was going to really like discovery and not care for Oreville. Just the opposite has happened. Too bad we have to wait two weeks for the next episode of Oreville.
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Post by the light works on Oct 17, 2017 14:15:29 GMT
But they did mention "the leg" again. But I have to admit, it was really funny if you caught it. When Discovery and Oraville first aired, my initial thoughts were that I was going to really like discovery and not care for Oreville. Just the opposite has happened. Too bad we have to wait two weeks for the next episode of Oreville. yes, it has continuity from episode to episode, which is nice. I, myself had expected to be annoyed that I would have to go out of my way if I wanted to watch Discovery. I'm finding that's really not an issue. |
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Post by ironhold on Oct 19, 2017 19:24:51 GMT
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Post by the light works on Oct 19, 2017 19:38:09 GMT
I agree with him that it is a pretty weak connection - and the first thing a lawyer would ask is if the writers know the game exists. so my advice to the game developer would be make sure his documentation is sound and take advantage of the publicity. |
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 19, 2017 20:02:44 GMT
Of course he claims that. Follow the money. But seeing how weak the "character concepts" seem to be in Discovery, I'm not sure I would want to claim they were my idea. |
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Post by the light works on Oct 19, 2017 20:11:00 GMT
Of course he claims that. Follow the money. But seeing how weak the "character concepts" seem to be in Discovery, I'm not sure I would want to claim they were my idea. also, if you read the article, how limited the correlation is. |
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Post by WhutScreenName on Oct 23, 2017 17:50:04 GMT
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Post by GTCGreg on Oct 23, 2017 19:01:24 GMT
That's a shocker. The question is, will the viewing audience renew it for a second season. Watched last nights episode. Come on, a commanding Admiral is going to visit a star ship's captain to chew him out and ends up in his bed? That isn't even worthy of a cheap afternoon soap opera let alone a Star Trek storyline. And for what? It added absolutely nothing to the story except to trash the whole concept behind the Star Trek franchise. No, I don't think I'll even be watching the second half of season one when it comes back on in January, let alone wasting my time on a season two. Now Orville? That I am really getting into. |
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