Star Trek: Discovery Will Return On January 7th, 2018 (theverge.com)

CBS announced that Star Trek: Discovery will return for the second half of the split season on Sunday, November 12th. There will be roughly a two month gap between the last episode of the first half of the split season, which aires on Sunday, November 12th, and the first episode of the second half of the split season. The Verge reports: When the network announced the series's September release date, it revealed that the first season would be split into two "chapters." The second chapter begins with the show's 10th episode, "Despite Yourself." Chapter 2 will contain the season's remaining six episodes, and will run through February 11th. According to CBS, the show will apparently find the crew of the USS Discovery in "unfamiliar territory," and they'll have to get creative about ways to return home. In this week's episode, the crew came face-to-face with the Klingon Empire over the planet Pahvo, after the planet's native species summoned them, hoping to resolve their conflict. After that, it'll be a longer wait for the show to return: CBS recently announced that it renewed Star Trek: Discovery for a second season, but that announcement didn't come with further details about a second season release date, or the number of episodes or chapters planned for season 2.

Comments

They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[NicknameUnavailable]

By splitting the season long enough that they hope people won't cancel it since the next half is just around the corner. Too bad the "magick spores traveling faster than warp" concept is so fucking retarded in contrast to the rest of the Star Trek universe.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Anonymous Coward]

By splitting the season long enough that they hope people won't cancel it since the next half is just around the corner.

Split seasons are why I stopped watching shows as they broadcast. When they started splitting Breaking Bad that was the final straw for me. Now I only watch once an entire season is available, and half the time I don't even care about the show anymore and just forget about it entirely.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[EnsilZah]

It's not just the magic spore drive, everything about the writing is sloppy techno-babble and stupid character decisions.

Look at the groundhog's day episode, some two bit smuggler manages to get his hands on time-travel tech that everyone seems to know about but no one is going to ever use again because it's 'illegal' or something, so we're going to see entire spaceships destroyed in the war when this thing could easily resolve battles in the favor of any side that uses it?
So he murders the crew, what, 50 times, but it's ok, the timeline resets, it's not like there's a possibility of 50 alternate timelines where the survivors just have to go on from that point, no, har har, we'll punish him by making him go back to his girlfriend.

Oh, you've been having trouble maintaining your magical telepathic link to the Vulcan guy? I'll just replicate this device I've been working on in two minutes.

Oh, I got to the rank of a security officer on this special ops starship but I'll just open the cage for this large creature with giant claws and impervious skin and attack it to do what exactly, besides getting killed and clearing a spot for the next guy?

I could probably go on, but the whole thing is not really that memorable and is starting to fade for me.

I was looking forward to seeing what a continuous plotline would look like in the Star Trek universe, or what happens when the reality of war sets in and the Federation can't hold on to its rules and ideals.
I think television writing in general has evolved past the trope of the week thing, but I could probably live with it if it wasn't so fucking sloppy.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[tlhIngan]

By splitting the season long enough that they hope people won't cancel it since the next half is just around the corner.

True, however, it's also true that it's around the time of the winter haitus most TV shows undergo mid-season. In a typical TV season it starts around August or September, runs until November sweeps and a few episodes beyond, but by December all shows go on haitus until mid January or so when they all resume normal programming again.

I know Netflix has distorted the idea of a season, but the traditional reason for this is the episode filming pipeline is typucally 8-9 days or so, so you're burning through a summer's worth of episodes. Come winter haitus they have a few episodes left and are simply catching up on filming for the rest of the season.

There's often a spring haitus as well - something after February sweeps. Then it resumes late March and continues until June or so for the season finale.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[AmiMoJo]

The spore drive is pretty tame compared to some of the silliness seen on Star Trek. Right from the get-go we had Kirk talking computers to death, space Nazis, space native Americans more than once, space hippies, countless holodeck malfunctions, ad numerous villains with a grab gab of unexplained superpowers.

Remember season 1 of Next Generation? Apparently Westley can go faster than warp speed with his mind.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[mrbester]

Nice retcon. Seasons used to run consecutively until recently, when there was the decision to break them up for reasons, usually money; replace with something more likely to get views and therefore increased revenue from advertisers over a holiday period and resume when the festive excitement dies down and everybody is back at work.

Netflix releasing episodes weekly is just returning to the old model.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[byrtolet]

Oh, you've been having trouble maintaining your magical telepathic link to the Vulcan guy? I'll just replicate this device I've been working on in two minutes.

This is exactly what I hate of most star trek films. They can do everything in two minutes just with pushing randomly on some buttons.

I love sci-fi (books), but star trek is pure drama. And not particularly good one. Drama in sci-fi context is still drama, not sci-fi.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[JaredOfEuropa]

Agreed, I quite liked Discovery at first, but then again I'm not a typical Trekkie; I thought Origins was decent (except for the awful title song, which reminded me too much of sucky reli-pop: faith, heart, strength, soul, believe etc).

As for time travel, I wish writers would just stop using that as a plot device. It's the ultimate lame deus ex machina, done to death, yet incredibly hard to do right (and believable).

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[JaredOfEuropa]

The weekly model makes sense even on a streaming service. You want people looking forward to your show, and have them talk about it: "Did you see last night's x?". Instead of the bingers spoiling it for the slow viewers, weekly episodes will have everyone more or less on the same page, which makes for more interesting talk around the (virtual) water cooler.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[sheramil]

True, however, it's also true that it's around the time of the winter haitus most TV shows undergo mid-season.

Why? Does it get too cold to film? Just set a bunch of episodes on an ice planet.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[JaredOfEuropa]

The spore drive is tech jumping the shark. It is way too powerful and changes everything... which could make for an interesting story, but writers usually just fix the overpowered nature of their game changer by imposing some lame and contrived limitation.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[AmiMoJo]

It will be like the cure for the Jem'ha'dar addiction, invented in one episode so apparently not that hard to do, but some excuse is given as to why it can't be mass produced and used long term.

Similarly I expect that either the spore network will be destroyed or its toll on the human computer component will lead to it being banned.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[lister king of smeg]

I was looking forward to seeing what a continuous plotline would look like in the Star Trek universe, or what happens when the reality of war sets in and the Federation can't hold on to its rules and ideals.

If you want to see what happens when the federation goes to war then you need to go watch Star Trek: Deep Space 9. Its main plot arc is the Dominion War the preludes starts in season 2 war stars in earnest in season 5 ends at the end of season 7.

If you want to see Star trek with a continuous plot-line go watch Star Trek: Enterprise Seasons 3 The Xindi Afterword you will know why there wern't any movies for seven years, or a Star Trek series on air for 12 years, despite having had multiple series (some concurrently) running for 18 years, and this season killed the franchise. It is bad, really bad.

Re: They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Lanthanide]

Season 3 of enterprise is relatively good, although there are a few bad filler episodes, including the abysmal "North star".

It was cancelled in season 4.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[jellomizer]

I found the entire Star Trek Discovery project just an abuse on the Star Trek fan base.
Just because they put the Star Trek label on it it is a guaranteed minimum turnout. So they use it to leverage their failing all access.
I don’t know about you, I am still trying to find ways to cut down on monthly payments, not finding more. And CBS all access cost nearly as much as the other streaming service but for only show I want to watch. And then they put in these gaps which I am paying for and not having content.
STD seems OK, but not worth it. I am supposed that there are so many slashdotterd who bitch and moan because there is some software they have to pay for, or the new device is $50 more then the previous one. That a Big company like CBS is holding Star Trek for hostage just for a internet streaming business experiment.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[thegarbz]

The spore drive is pretty tame compared to some of the silliness seen on Star Trek.

I don't think there's too many complaints about tameness or silliness. The problem is that it is shoehorned into the original series and happens prior to the events of the original. This implies that the universe took a giant leap back in technological capability to get to the original startrek.

All powerful is fine if it is consistent. At least if it were set in the future compared to the original it would be somewhat believable.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[jellomizer]

But I am not paying the broadcast company money for the months I am not getting content. I am checking out other stations.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Paradise Pete]

Try reversing the phase. You'll enjoy it more.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[hlavac]

Cancelled Netflix, ran out of things to watch and can't stand the weekly dripping of Discovery. Will resub in a year and binge watch it ;)

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[AmiMoJo]

Similar to Enterprise then, the original NX-01 had better tech than the NC-1701 a century later.

Re: They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[lister king of smeg]

Season 3 of enterprise is relatively good, although there are a few bad filler episodes, including the abysmal "North star".

It was cancelled in season 4.

did anyone watch it though?

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[jwhyche]

I made it to episode 5. "maybe it will get better." ....

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Big Hairy Ian]

Too bad the "magick spores traveling faster than warp" concept is so fucking retarded

I know a few people who travel the universe courtesy of Magic Mushrooms :)

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[drinkypoo]

I was looking forward to seeing what a continuous plotline would look like in the Star Trek universe,

Because you skipped ST:DS9, ST:V, and ST:E? We've seen it three times, and the reaction has been yay, meh, and boo respectively.

Re: They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[drinkypoo]

did anyone watch it though?

Yep. And they killed it off just when it was starting to get its feet, under new writing direction.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[rtb61]

Basically it ain't star trek, it is something else. Some pathetic SJW grim soap opera full of emotional angsts and feelings, boring, boring feelings all over the place. They also really, really, butchered the Klingons, really just awful, sort a mysandrist's view of men. It comes of more the idiotic feeding their own egos rather than producing a show to attract any specific target audience and most definitely not teenage male nerds. Women wont watch it not matter how stupidly they are shoved into dominant roles because they want to watch their time soaps not future stuff they hate.

Never forget the name STD, is not by accident, think about the sexual picadelos of all the people involed in making it, they could not have missed STD. So why do it, yeah because white male nerds will get an SJW STD by having to watch it because they poor babies can not miss star trek, they are mocking you, seriously, they really are, which is proven by STD. Of course whoops, male nerds are simply turning it off and now, no audience. Shortest Star Trek series ever, that's my bet two season dead end and lots of heads to roll.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Eddi3]

What are you even talking about? I just rewatched Enterprise. Thier tech is shit. They can only go warp 5, almost every ship they ever run into is faster than them and it gives them problems. They have no phase cannons, only inferior plasma cannons. Nor do they have photon torpedos. They have no shields, only hull plating that really doesn't stand up to anything. Their medicine is inferior.

The only thing I can think of, is they get ahold of a Suliban ship that can cloak, and they use it for a rescue once. They can't figure out how it works well enough to integrate it into their own systems. The same thing happens in TNG anyway, they use a craft they obtained, it can cloak, but they can't use it for their own ship.

Re: They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[ChunderDownunder]

I wasn't a great fan of Enterprise.

The problem was that the characters were wooden, to the point that the sexy Vulcan thinks they're beneath her. Archer and his southern sidekick are simply on the wrong show - NCIS New Orleans to be precise. Reed is completely dull. Phlox is your quirky non-human doctor but didn't we see that with the hologram? And Mayweather fills the Wesley/Harry Kim/Chekov role.

So when the most interesting character on the show is Hoshi, it's because the male cast are meh.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[AmiMoJo]

They have flat touch screens. A century later and they are back to big clunky buttons and neon indicator lights.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Opportunist]

The spores are the midichlorians of the Star Trek universe. An answer to a question nobody asked and gave a fuck about.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Opportunist]

And if that doesn't help, try it in subspace. Or with a tachyon beam. Or a reverse tachyon beam in subspace.

Or as someone said about the Star Trek murder mysteries: The particle-of-the-week did it. In all of them.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Anonymous Coward]

They switched only because 23rd/24th century feminists found that flat touch screens were sexist.

It turns out male fingers were rougher and thus worked better on touch screens. Coupled that with stronger upper body strength meant that male Starfleet officers were able to enter commands faster and more accurately, which led to a gender gap in promotions and getting holodeck and replicator privileges.

As for flat screens, they were done away with as they trigger certain women who are sensitive about their body shape not being curvy enough.

23rd century MRAs tried to fight against this, by mansplaining that men got more promotions because they were more willing to wear red shirts and go on away missions. "Redshirt" became a rallying cry of 23rd century alt-right movement.

To combat this, they switched red to be the color for command division, while rigging bridge consoles to easily explode upon the slightest irregularity happening to any part of the whole ship, so as equalize the death gap.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[MightyMartian]

Considering that Discovery is a pretty expensive show to make, I can imagine that they were gambling that if it was a flop, they could pull the plug, but if it was a success, they could use the hiatus to film more episodes.

Thus far, while it isn't my favorite ST (I'm a TOS fan, myself, with DS9 in second place), it isn't bad. Judging by what's happening to Stamets, I suspect there's a reason the spore drive ends up in the wrecking yard of failed FTL technologies, where transwarp drive will join it later.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[MightyMartian]

TOS was the height of science compared to TNG, where there wasn't a problem that couldn't be solved by a well placed tachyon beam. For TOS, the technobabble was mainly just to set up a situation, for some TNG episodes, the technobabble was basically the story.

Re: They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[MightyMartian]

I always viewed Kirk's ability to drive computers nuts to be the dramatic version of:

10 PRINT "DOES NOT COMPUTE"
20 GOTO 10

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[SuiteSisterMary]

Well, the problem with that is that we, right now, have better tech than the TOS Enterprise.

Could you really make a TOS era show in this day and age, with banks of toggle switches and blinkenlights?

Personally, I think Discovery is doing a fine job of trying to be evocative of the original series, without looking like horrible 60s throwback.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate to be that guy, but:

I was looking forward to seeing what a continuous plotline would look like in the Star Trek universe

Just get a few seasons into DS9.

or what happens when the reality of war sets in and the Federation can't hold on to its rules and ideals.

Sisko straight up assassinated a Romulan senator. Easily one of the greatest episodes to ever come out of Trek.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Anonymous Coward]

Basically it ain't star trek, it is something else. Some pathetic SJW grim soap opera full of emotional angsts and feelings

Have you seen TOS ?

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[AmiMoJo]

Star Trek Continues is a TOS era show and it stands up really well. Okay, you have to suspend your disbelief at how primitive all the tech is, but it's easy because the stories are so good.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[e3m4n]

Agreed, they're having a huge continuity problem here. This is supposed to be a prequel to the original series (aka 5yr mission). Replicators? They didnt show up until TNG. These pistol shaped phasers? That didnt appear until Season 1 ep 26 (devil in the dark). Until then everyone was using 'type 1 phasers' not these new upgraded 'type 2'. And why do they feel the need to incorporate all these lesser TOS characters like Harry Mudd into the show? Completely not necessary. A jump drive? Why spend all that time working on the transwarp drive on the Excelsior class if they could just jump anywhere.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[squiggleslash]

I don't know why everyone's criticizing this new Star Trek thing, I mean, I don't think Seth MacFarlane is necessarily a great choice of ship's captain, but other than that the whole thing is great.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[lgw]

Try reversing the phase. You'll enjoy it more.

Meh, it's still Star Trek even so. Try reversing the polarity of the neutron flux for real entertainment. Then you'll get time travel devices that make some kind of sense.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Baron_Yam]

>Could you really make a TOS era show in this day and age, with banks of toggle switches and blinkenlights?

Yep. TOS exists in a world where in the 1960s we almost nuked China and in the 1990s there had been enough time for genetically engineers 'supermen' to grow to adulthood and start the Eugenics Wars.

If you accept it as an alternate reality that diverged from ours about mid-way through the 20th century, it's fine. Maybe we'd make the buttons a bit less blocky, though.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[lgw]

ST:V was entirely episodic after the premier. Nothing changed, beyond a couple of cast changes pushed by the money guys.

Had it been a real ongoing plot, they would have had crew leave or join at every nice planet, the first Voyager would have been lost at the end of the first season, and the ship's name go along with a series of ships over the course of the story. It should have ended with a tramp steamer returning to the Federation with none of the original crew, but a bunch of people with different motivations for being there.

That's what a good long-term plot looks like. Sadly incompatible with the way Hollywood makes TV.
 

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[sconeu]

or what happens when the reality of war sets in and the Federation can't hold on to its rules and ideals

Sisko straight up assassinated a Romulan senator. Easily one of the greatest episodes to ever come out of Trek.

Especially after the two-parter "Past Tense", where Bashir asks Sisko what he thought would happen if the Federation ever got pushed to the limit, would they abandon their ideals; and then Sisko replies with some platitude.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[lgw]

STTNG is just so much better if you treat the first season like the Matrix sequels.

TOS was a bunch of SF short stories, written by a variety of SF writers of the day. In all its glory, and all its suckage, it was very free-form and very different from normal Hollywood writing. It's not really comparable to any of the other ST because of that.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[drinkypoo]

That's what a good long-term plot looks like. Sadly incompatible with the way Hollywood makes TV.

Hey now, I never claimed that it was good. In my opinion, ST:V is the weakest show in the canon, even given ST:E.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[lgw]

Wow, we actually agree on something. First time for everything.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[CylanR77]

he problem with that is that we, right now, have better tech than the TOS Enterprise

No kidding. I've been watching through TNG and one aspect of the show that jumps out as being unbelievably primitive is that the away teams have to describe what they're seeing to the bridge crew.

You know, instead of just streaming video from their iPho-errr... tricorders...

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Zeromous]

Rewatched recently and Enterprise holds up way better than DS9. IMHO

Yeah the Xindi plot was strange, but just the type of thing Id expect from noobs in space with powerful friends and technology.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[NicknameUnavailable]

All of the tech you described, while fanciful, is conceivable. Spore drives are hand wavy shit by a bunch of writers too dim to real the most recent physics research coming down the pipeline.

Re: They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[princessproton]

It may not technically be Trek, but it certainly feels closer to what I loved about the franchise than the current CBS show does, probably due to Brannon Braga's involvement. The new CBS show is military sci-fi and seems closer to shows like BSG than the exploratory and philosophical themes of the past Trek shows.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[JaredOfEuropa]

Yeah, Enterprise.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[NicknameUnavailable]

All the technologies from TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT have some basis in technology with the exception of some bizarre one-off episodes. The spore drive on the other hand is the central technology of the new series and it is flat out absurd. You might as well replace the ships and artificial gravity with astral projection bubbles and fairies at this point because the sci-fi pretense is absolutely gone. Warp drive was based on some cutting-edge research, and is still a viable future technology, along with replicators, transporters, gravity plating, inertial dampeners, shields, weapons systems, ablative armor, nanotech, biotech, etc. The only real exceptions were the Vulcan mind powers and Kess from VOY, but the vulcan part would at least be plausible with some genetic enhancements amounting to something like bluetooth transceivers under their fingertips.

Magickal spore powered by giant invulnerable telekinetic tardigardes is just fucking dumb and sloppy on the part of the people writing.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[jwhyche]

o bad the "magick spores traveling faster than warp" concept is so fucking retarded in contrast to the rest of the Star Trek universe.

Stars and stones, thank the gods there is someone else who thinks this way. Of all the Star Trek concepts that has the be the most stupid one they have come up with. Sad part, is it didn't have to be that fucking stupid. There are plenty of concepts that would let them do the same thing with out stupid "spore magic." Some of them are even Star Trek canon.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[jwhyche]

Split seasons

Split seasons is the reason I don't watch many network tv shows any more. I just wait till they come to hulu, netflix, or comcast demand and watch them all at the same time or when I want too. An I've formed the option if they don't come to any of those services then they are not worth my time.

Yes, I have comcast cable because it is the only thing that is available. Of all the flaws of comcast their on demand system doesn't seem to be one of the. Holy shit, I just defended comcast.

Re: They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Gavagai80]

You call that relatively good? The alien Nazi 9/11 season was what made me give up on Enterprise.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[ThePawArmy]

Exactly what I do.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[thegarbz]

Could you really make a TOS era show in this day and age, with banks of toggle switches and blinkenlights?

Back up a sec. Do you realise I'm talking about a central plot device, and you're talking about beautifying how a console looks? No one cares about that switches vs touchscreens. On the flip side something like the spore drive changes the complete plot dynamics of the entire Star Trek universe.

Re: They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Maxo-Texas]

Season 4 of enterprise was the "good" season for fans of TOS.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[SuiteSisterMary]

Nonsense. The original Star Trek had tons of 'this changes everything, but next week it never existed' moments. Let alone TNG.

Re: They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Maxo-Texas]

And yet The Orville is more faithful to trek in tone, style, effects level, and concept than any kelvin science fiction universe with the words :star trek" pasted on it to attract star trek fans.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Maxo-Texas]

HE HE HE HE.

A joke worthy of the new star trek series!

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Maxo-Texas]

I like Continues.

it's a shame it got caught up in the Axanar debacle.

Hell, it's a shame that the axanar got caught up in the axanar debacle. It looked to be pure trek true to the star fleet battles gaming system. Axanar sent chills down my spine it was so good.

Continues lost 3 episodes because CBS got so defensive.

Why does CBS refuse to give the fans the shows they want? And so we watch the Orville and the better fan productions.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[UnknownSoldier]

Yeah, TNG does some pretty dumb shit.

1. Let's send humans (with the chance that they could get killed) instead of a probe *facepalm*
2. Tendency to beam in THEN draw their weapons -- they started fixing this in later seasons *double facepalm*
3. Let's use these shitty 14" monitors instead of Wall-to-Wall screens
4. Let's use a flat console that has ZERO tactile feedback instead of having actual physical buttons
5. Let's not put any seat belts or anything else to hold onto in the bridge when the ships gets rocked
6. Riker/Captain telling another officer Shields up" when it would be far faster for them to hit a button right next to them
7. "Shields at maximum strength" - Uh, shouldn't shields always be at max strength if they are on? Again, why isn't there a button next to the captain's char?
8. Constantly using voice commands to _another_ officer who has to listen, and then execute it. This is about a 3+ second DELAY. Good thing they always ran into enemies who were patient!

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[thegarbz]

The original Star Trek was made of isolated episodes and not a series. You could play them in any order and they'd still make sense.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[wisnoskij]

Why?
The entire premise of the show is that Discovery is special and gets to be the only ship with the instantaneous plot advancing device.

Re: They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[oakgrove]

Yeah, except BSG was actually really good.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[drinkypoo]

The entire premise of the show is that Discovery is special and gets to be the only ship with the instantaneous plot advancing device.

I thought the entire premise of the show was that people liked Dark Matter (which for some reason was cancelled anyway) so they had to make a ship full of troubled people with an instantaneous travel drive because they didn't have any other sci-fi shows to copy *cough*B5*cough*

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[drinkypoo]

You only have to keep in mind that the original portion of the historical record was produced with rougher production values due to the technology available at the time it was committed to video. They actually had touch screens at that time, and the physical controls they did have on the actual Enterprise were much smaller, but the television production had to be made for typical North American television sets and took their resolution into account. In order to provide visuals to which the audience could relate, it was necessary to use recognizable props.

Re: They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Baron_Yam]

>The problem is Spock didn't correct him.

Spock knew a lot about Earth history, but mostly centered on the early 20th century and items of popular interest to the peoples of that time, and also mostly from the viewpoint of the United States of America.

Perhaps this is because they had the most documentation survive the Eugenics Wars and WWIII (though I can't recall if those are one event or two distinct ones).

Even a (half-)Vulcan can only study the available data. And though he was brilliant and had committed large amounts of information to memory... Spock was still merely an evolved biological being, and far from infallible.

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[mixmasta]

"The Romulans are now in the war, and all it cost was the self-respect of a starfleet officer." (paraphrased)

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[mixmasta]

"The Romulans are now in the war, and all it cost was the self-respect of one starfleet officer." (paraphrased)

Re:They're Trying To Milk Subscriptions

[Agripa]

I was looking forward to seeing what a continuous plotline would look like in the Star Trek universe, or what happens when the reality of war sets in and the Federation can't hold on to its rules and ideals.

That sounds like ... Enterprise, which was cancelled by the person responsible for Discovery.

I think television writing in general has evolved past the trope of the week thing, but I could probably live with it if it wasn't so fucking sloppy.

That would be an improvement at this point.

I think I remember this

[93 Escort Wagon]

”According to CBS, the show will apparently find the crew of the USS Discovery in "unfamiliar territory," and they'll have to get creative about ways to return home.”

This is the episode where Kes and Neelix join the crew, right?

Re:I think I remember this

[meglon]

On the bright side, the re-imaging of the Kazon can't be any worse than the originals were..... maybe they'll look like the old Klingons....

Re:I think I remember this

[taiwanjohn]

Speaking of Klingons, my #1 gripe with ST:D is that the Klingons now look like the 'engineers' from Alien/Prometheus. The only reason I can think of for doing this would be to "leech" off the popularity of those movies. In the same vein, the opening title sequence for ST:D looks like it was designed by the same team that did it for Westworld. Oh yeah, and Ex Machina was really popular, so let's put a robot/cyborg on the bridge crew too... it'll be great!

Re:I think I remember this

[xlsior]

Speaking of Klingons, my #1 gripe with ST:D is that the Klingons now look like the 'engineers' from Alien/Prometheus. The only reason I can think of for doing this would be to "leech" off the popularity of those movies.

More realistically: there's only so many ways of gluing bits of latex to an actor's face that won't bear a cursory resemblance to an alien species seen in another franchise.

Re:I think I remember this

[lister king of smeg]

”According to CBS, the show will apparently find the crew of the USS Discovery in "unfamiliar territory," and they'll have to get creative about ways to return home.”

This is the episode where Kes and Neelix join the crew, right?

Oh yes Voyager seasons 1-4 the time we sat there uncomfortably watching Nelix the bumbling broom headed pedo alternate between ptsd flashbacks and obsessing over the attentions of the three year old Okompa (alien from planet jailbait) Kes...
Then we get to season 5 where Kes explodes and we get to watch Janeway continue to endanger her crew during her ongoing child custody battle with the borg queen over their lesbian lovechild^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Seven of Nine. Oh and Nelix finds a new child to obsess over in the form of Naomi Wildman half alien born earlier in the series.

Re:I think I remember this

[jellomizer]

However they could had glued the latex in a way that looked like a Klingon. They had that model and it’s rights to use.

Re:I think I remember this

[Anonymous Coward]

ROTFLMAO

They should have added a giant H on the forehead of the doctor so we would not mistake him for human. Like in Red Dwarf. That would have been smegging nice!

Re:I think I remember this

[MightyMartian]

With a captain like Lorca, if someone like Jar Jar showed up, he'd be spaced in about five seconds. Lorca is one very bad guy.

Re:I think I remember this

[Megane]

Not necessarily. The old Paramount with the primary ST rights is now CBS. The company currently known as Paramount, making STD and the recent movies has to license it, and they don't have the rights to make things look the same. This includes the "reboot" movies, and is why they had to change the way the uniforms looked. (As if we'd really notice, since ST has been changing uniform designs since the first movie. It's more notable when they don't change uniforms, as happened in the TNG/DS9/VOY era.)

Re:I think I remember this

[lgw]

I doubt it, if the guy had any insight. Jar Jar is a WMD disguised as a lifeform.

There's was a great bit in the Clone Wars cartoon about this. Bunch of troopers along with Jar Jar walking cross country after their ship crashed. An enemy tank approaches. They just send Jar Jar out to make friends with the nice tank crew. Only takes about 30 seconds from Jar Jar's clumsiness to destroy the tank.

tl;dr: a Sith Lord is a valuable asset.

Re:I think I remember this

[AmiMoJo]

Interesting suggestion... Kes seemed to have the mind if an adult, which is the main objection to relationships with children. And did he actually ever have a romantic relationship with her, I can't remember...

Re:I think I remember this

[tepples]

I thought National Amusements owned a controlling interest in both CBS and Paramount. Or is this issue not important enough for the board to force a license?

Re:I think I remember this

[Wulf2k]

There was a whole arc about how Neelix was jealous of Tom Paris giving her attention.

Re:I think I remember this

[MightyMartian]

I'm thinking you've just given away the ending to the second half of the season, judging about the rumors about the identity of a certain security officer are true.

Screw ST:D...

[pinzvidz]

... I'm just glad The Orville got renewed for a second season.

Re:Screw ST:D...

[Kokuyo]

Never watched STD (Oh how I love that nobody noticed that unfortunate abbreviation) and never going to as long as The Orville runs.

I was really apprehensive about a ST clone mad eby Seth McFarlane but it really works. He replaced the stuffiness of the Federation with his humor but the rest, that what I always liked about Star Trek, is there.

Re:Screw ST:D...

[Anonymous Coward]

And then I recognized Brannon Braga as a producer on The Orville, and he sounded familiar, and that's because the worked on Star Trek: The Next Generation (from intern to executive producer) and Voyager, and the movies Generations and First Contact.

And not to mention other credits like the new Cosmos.

I'm sure he brought a lot of the Star Trek flavor to The Orville.

I'm actually okay with the more sophomoric moments on The Orville. Kind of subverts that stuffy holier-than-thou Federation feel.

Not to mention it's on free TV, free as in you can watch it without pay over the air or on cable, and free as in you have options to watch it commercial free for payment, on a choice of services (Amazon and Hulu, at least).

Sorry, CBS, I'm not propping up your pay-for-one-network service, not for Star Trek, and not for The Twilight Zone. I'll pay for aggregated streaming (I have Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu), and I'll pay for individual shows that are on cable (Sherlock, Doctor Who). If your STD is worth acquiring, I'll wait until it's inevitably on Netflix.

Re:Screw ST:D...

[hawk]

Oroville has done Star Trek better than *any* of the spinoffs.

It's just that kirk, err, captain whatshisface, isn't the only one that's incompetent; they all are!

Also, it's camp and understands that, and isn't above mocking itself. (and why are there so many families and children on a ship that's in mortal combat every episode?

hawk

Re:Screw ST:D...

[Maxo-Texas]

It's also free with advertisements on Fox.com.

That's where I watched it.

Re:Screw ST:D...

[Maxo-Texas]

The Old Startrek isn't an abbreviation. It's an identification.
The Animated Series isn't an abbreviation either. It's an identification.
Deep Space 9 is.

So a bit inconsistent.

Star Trek Discovery is a reasonable identifier and STD is a reasonable identifier. It's a bonus that it expresses the contempt I feel for anything kelvin.

Kelvin is a completely different science fiction universe with star trek pasted over it in an attempt to pull in star trek fans.

I don't begrudge fans of Kelvin. But as a fan of Star Trek, I am not a fan of Kelvin.

I might like it if it didn't have "star trek" pasted on it and polluted the star trek brand.

Special effects

[pablo_max]

Let's hope they do something about the "action scene" special effects.
Not sure if anyone caught episode 8 where Saru is "running" and high speed. It was cringe worthy bad.
Most of the fighting scenes are also laughably bad. Especially with the Klingons. How is that the the Klingon, a warrior race, are so crap at fighting? Super slow reaction times, apparently no motor skills to speak of and complete lack of technique.
I personally hope they ditch the stupid continuum stuff and try to make the show more realistic. They should start by getting rid the the stupid spore drive.

Re:Special effects

[meglon]

None of that is going to matter until they get more lens flare.

Re:Special effects

[Megane]

Not sure if anyone caught episode 8 where Saru is "running" and high speed. It was cringe worthy bad.

Did it have "ch-ch-ch-ch-chhhhhhh" sound effects?

Re:Special effects

[hawk]

>How is that the the Klingon, a warrior race, are so crap at fighting?

This is a common trait of all Bad Guys (TM) while fighting the Good Guys (TM) in either promotional segments or when the plot actually turns on the outcome.

It's because The Writers are on their side!

hawk

Who cares about StarTrek HIV+ how is Orville doing

[Anonymous Coward]

AKA the real Star Trek.

TV Guide

[Calydor]

Slashdot is apparently now the TV guide. While sure, Star Trek is popular with the nerd segment frequenting the site (referencing the News for Nerds tagline, not being rude), so are many other shows.

When does SHIELD start back up? 12 Monkeys? Where's the article about the between-seasons cancellation of Dark Matter, leaving it to end on a massive cliffhanger? What makes Star Trek so special it gets its own article about how long the mid-season break is?!

Re:TV Guide

[jaklode]

Star Trek is a huge franchise with long history and very influential for nerds. The others are not really.

Re:TV Guide

[Gadget_Guy]

Where's the article about the between-seasons cancellation of Dark Matter, leaving it to end on a massive cliffhanger?

Oh man, I hadn't heard about that. It's a good thing we had a discussion about TV here on /.

Re:TV Guide

[hcs_$reboot]

Well, they could talk more about Game of Thrones, for starters

Re:TV Guide

[hcs_$reboot]

Slashdot is apparently now the TV guide

Great! Was wondering what we'll have this week-end.

Re:TV Guide

[Anonymous Coward]

That's for the wrong type of nerd.

Re:TV Guide

[thegarbz]

What makes Star Trek so special

That everyone has heard of it, unlike say those other TV series (I assume TV series anyway) you mentioned.

Re:TV Guide

[ChunderDownunder]

There's always the Doctor Who Christmas special.

The latest fanrage surrounds her wearing braces (suspenders). Did they not have belts on Gallifrey?!

Re:TV Guide

[hcs_$reboot]

Something with Chuck Norris then?

Re:TV Guide

[rtb61]

Possibly because we want to actually contribute to a future humanity that does reach the stars, that becomes a galactic society. You do realise that Shield is delusion super hero nonsense and 12 Monkeys is basically a rush to human extinction. https://www.youtube.com/watch?... are you deaf, blind, dumb and stupid (it's in the opening)?

Re:TV Guide

[Calydor]

Ohhh, so we only talk about the GOOD news?

Re:TV Guide

[Megane]

Chuck Norris and Natalie Portman as co-stars would be a good start.

Chapter 2

[fahrbot-bot]

According to CBS, the show will apparently find the crew of the USS Discovery in "unfamiliar territory," ...

They find themselves on the Orville, learning how to be likable. :-)

BeauHD wishes for dictionary for Xmas.

[SeaFox]

Star Trek: Discovery will return for the second half of the split season on Sunday, November 12th. There will be roughly a two month gap between the last episode of the first half of the split season, which aires on Sunday, November 12th, and the first episode of the second half of the split season

They're "returning" for the second half of the split season in two days? So... there isn't a split at all. Since the show has been "airing" every week so far...
Or, if the coming episode is the last until January 7th, then the show is ending in two days, until the second half begins, not returning.

Re: BeauHD wishes for dictionary for Xmas.

[mjpaci]

Thank you. I noticed that immediately when I read the synopsis - surprised that it took this long before someone commented on it!

Fuck you all this show is good.

[kamapuaa]

This show is more of an authentic Star Trek than the recent movies, is a fun watch, and is approximately 300 times better than the first seasons of either Next Generation or DS9.

God damn I remember people on Slashdot bitching after episode #1&2 that SJW this and Gamergate that - a female crew member named "Michael" was obviously a concession to, I don't know, transexuals or ungendered bathrooms or something.

Re: Fuck you all this show is good.

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you paid for that opinion? No rational human being would call this Star Trek. Imagine Kirk saying to one of the crew he ought to bring back the science officer or not come back at all... or leave someone begging to be rescued behind because he simply didnâ(TM)t like the said person... this std will feature nazi punching next ðY

Re:Fuck you all this show is good.

[AmiMoJo]

Geeks should identify with Bernham. She was raised by Vulkans and always tries to act rationally and logically. The time loop episode was a good example, most people who have had a hard time believing it but her rational attitude towards it was key to saving the day.

She is a bit socially awkward and they avoid plastering her with make-up so she looks like a real person. Some people seem to have a problem with her skin tone and gender not matching their own, which is ironic because they are usually the same people arguing that everything should be a meritocracy and those things are irrelevant.

Re: Fuck you all this show is good.

[MightyMartian]

I could the same thing about Sisko. Would Kirk have fabricated evidence to draw the Romulans into a war with the Dominion? Lorca is just Sisko without even the need to rationalize fundamentally immoral acts.

Re:Slightly OT, but...

[taiwanjohn]

I found out the other day that the character of Lt. Stamets (the "magick spores" wrangler) is based on a real person. And the same guy was also the inspiration for a character in an episode of Hannibal Lecter as well. There's a brief discussion of both characters in this recent Joe Rogan interview. Fascinating stuff... the truth is indeed sometimes stranger than fiction.

Discovery isn't Star Trek

[dicobalt]

It's just not. Klingons don't make sense AT ALL and Lorca is George W Bush in space. Meanwhile the main character (Star Trek doesn't have main characters) Michael is written to be a contradiction. This show needs to be cancelled, it's a terrible concept terribly executed. I want a show about Quark's bar.

Re:Discovery isn't Star Trek

[thegarbz]

It's got all the classic Trek elements. Exploration and discovery, moral questions, new alien species...

No it doesn't. Star Trek was a series about an ideal future where people of all backgrounds overcame their differences to work together. This on the other hand seems more like an idiots guide on how to staff a dysfunctional spaceship. The dynamics of the interactions are very un-Star Trek

Re:Discovery isn't Star Trek

[lister king of smeg]

I want a show about Quark's bar.

So Cheers in space with a bit of Breaking Bad mixed in would watch.
Or an black comedy about Garick he is a likeable DS9 charecter too, call it "Keeping Up with the Cardassians".

Re:Discovery isn't Star Trek

[Austerity Empowers]

Brunt, FCA, ended this show due to a violation of the 666th Rule of Acquisition:

Ain't nobody got time for talk-shows that also has money to pay for shit.

Re:Discovery isn't Star Trek

[hawk]

>The Klingons have always been about a society that is fractured into houses and only ever united by war,

No, that's only the spinoffs.

In Star Trek, they were evil commies, or maybe nazis, with funny eyebrows and odd accents (like all Hollywood commie/nazi villains). [OK, like the on-screen ones]

hawk

Re:Discovery isn't Star Trek

[drinkypoo]

Then why was there so much bickering on the Enterprise? McCoy and Spock regularly argued with each other over petty differences,

They both clearly enjoyed it. Spock never complained. As the series progressed into the movies, their relationship was revealed as friendship and their rivalry good-natured.

Mr. Scott has admitted he LIED regularly to his own Captain,

Shock, amazement. It's normal to manage expectations. What if your estimates go badly, sadly awry? The estimates on fixed-rate auto repair jobs have some fudge factor in them, too.

Kirk himself was a reckless and arrogant narcissist with a sex addiction problem

While I recently read an article which disagrees with you on that point, even if you accept it as a given, he also always carried the day. That's the decider, right?

Wait a second...is TOS supposed to be a Genius level then?

Essentially, yes. Everyone on the Enterprise in TOS is from the top of their class, or the equivalent. That generally remains the formula throughout the series; you can probably count on one hand the number of protagonists who are described as a discipline problem, and most of them were on Voyager.

Just long enough

[mwvdlee]

A 2 month break is just long enough for me to forget about my time "invested" in the show.
The show might return in 2 months, but I probably won't.

I'd rather watch The Orville

[mrun4982]

It's much better and doesn't require another subscription. It's Star Trek but with regular people.

Re:I'd rather watch The Orville

[Baron_Yam]

It has its faults, but yeah, I'm on Team Orville. They've been doing what Trek should have been doing - and doing it better - since about episode 4.

Re:I'd rather watch The Orville

[ckreon1992]

https://goo.gl/8m3xSU Give Free Voucher and Gift Card UpTo $100 chat now !!! No Fake ,No Scam ,No Virus Limited Offers until Early 2018 "Everyone Is Winner!"

Fingers Crossed...

[multi io]

Star Trek: Discovery Will Return On January 7th, 2018

...unless one of the lead actors gets accused of sexual harassment.

Re:Fingers Crossed...

[The Cynical Critic]

Knowing how many people have been accused of sexual harassment so far and how big the cast for a show like ST:D is, it's probably only a matter of time before at least one of them is accused of it. Doesn't matter if it's true or not (just look at what happened to Kevin Spacey when he tried denying the accusations made against him in a diplomatic way that didn't involve going on the offensive), just an accusation is enough to wreck someone's career and the continuation of any show they can't be edited out of.

Re:Fingers Crossed...

[Baron_Yam]

> Doesn't matter if it's true or not (just look at what happened to Kevin Spacey when he tried denying the accusations made against him in a diplomatic way that didn't involve going on the offensive)

I think you'll ultimately find that the knives came out so quickly for Spacey because everybody knew already. Just like everybody knew he was gay but nobody ever talked about it because he didn't want it known due to potential career effects. He had power because he made people money, and once that went away he couldn't prevent everyone turning on him. After all, they were loyal to his earning power, not to him.

I'm very much for due process before the hangings start, but I have a high confidence Spacey will turn out to have deserved his noose.

>just an accusation is enough to wreck someone's career and the continuation of any show they can't be edited out of.

This is a very bad thing, and Hollywood apparently has the attention span of a gnat with ADHD, because they've made more than a few movies about witch hunts decimating their community.

I'd love to see - at least in the case of a single accuser and not the entire community pointing fingers - a studio issuing a press release to the effect that they're going to take precautions against possible problems, but the accused will continue to work (should they choose to do so) until a court finds them guilty.

Re:Fingers Crossed...

[Baron_Yam]

>How have you missed them?

I don't follow the news much, so only the biggest, most unavoidable items tend to get to me.

I'd actually still like to see one - can you name a name for something recent I could google?

Re:Fingers Crossed...

[Baron_Yam]

Google says... "Danny Masterson".

Accusations, a police investigation that has 'stalled', and the accused denies the accusations.

That's significantly different from the Spacey situation, where there are a large number of corroborated, credible accusers and the accused has admitted - though with an "I was drunk and don't remember" excuse - that at least the first accusation is credible, followed up by no denial of the additional accusations.

Netflix says they're not doing anything about it until more comes to light, and good on Netflix for that! Risky, though, if it ultimately turns out Masterson is guilty and just bluffing.

Don't give a fuck

[Chas]

As long as it's on their own proprietary streaming service, I refuse to even think about the series.

As such, it ranks, in terms of importance in my life, someplace behind even my next bowel movement.

Re:I don't have cable TV

[ChunderDownunder]

With CBS buying Channel 10, a struggling TV network here in Australia, I was hoping it would end up on free to air.

But apparently they've already sold the distribution rights to Netflix Australia. :(

Re:I don't have cable TV

[Paradise Pete]

I'd tell you, but posting it has a cost: time. That's why I'm never gonna tell you.

If you like STD

[Nocturrne]

You may have a hormone imbalance.

Star Trek is taking a hiatus

[bennyp]

> Hopefully for them to find out why it sucks - my wife

Re:Just long enough ... to what? exactly.

[petes_PoV]

A 2 month break is just long enough for me to forget about my time "invested" in the show.

And that's the problem. In 2 months it will need all the marketing of a new show. Whereas people who used to watch it will have had enough time to get used to not watching it and will be unlikely to miss it particularly.

The only way I can see this break "saving" the show is if they pull a stunt like fast-forwarding several months or a year and re-boot.

B5

[Kunedog]

If you want to see what happens when the federation goes to war then you need to go watch Star Trek: Deep Space 9.

Or just check out the source material.

Yawn

[markdavis]

>"CBS announced that Star Trek: Discovery will return for the second half of the split season on Sunday, November 12th."

On an expensive subscription service that doesn't work on many devices. Yawn. I will continue to watch and enjoy The Orville, like most Trek fans.

Re:Yawn

[ckreon1992]

https://goo.gl/8m3xSU Give Free Voucher and Gift Card UpTo $100 chat now !!! No Fake ,No Scam ,No Virus Limited Offers until Early 2018 "Everyone Is Winner!"

Warming up to it

[Dan East]

I'm trying to keep an open mind, and I'm gradually warming up to it. Throwing the entire timeline out the window (it is set before TOS, but is far more advanced technologically - I guess so the Klingons can be the bad guys again) is the worst part, IMO. They should have just placed it in some time after TOS and used some other species besides "Klingon" for the bad guys.

Anyway, to address your point more specifically:

Too bad the "magick spores traveling faster than warp" concept is so fucking retarded in contrast to the rest of the Star Trek universe.

In my opinion, TNG is the best Star Trek series. It epitomizes a lot of what is best about Star Trek. I've watched all the episodes numerous times, but I decided to start fresh since I started watching Discovery. Guess what is introduced in the very first episode of TNG:

1) An omnipotent, omniscient being that can read anyone's thoughts, instantly transport the ship anywhere with total disregard for distance, change and manipulate matter in any way, and even kill an entire species of creatures - wherever in the universe they may be - instantly. In other words, a purely magical being with zero scientific explanation or possibility.
2) A smallish room that multiple people can enter than can visually and physically simulate to those people any place, somehow providing each their own experience and allowing them to be far apart from one another than the size of the room, while allowing them to interact with objects that do not actually exist, in a totally perfect and flawless experience that cannot be recognized separate from reality.
3) A device which can instantly create any food or drink out of thin air.

So we have a magical being, a magical room, and a magical food making box. Discovery jumps the shark compared to this how, exactly? Sure, the whole biological "spore" thing that must somehow be navigated organically is quite annoying - if you're going to do this, just make it some kind of technology and not biological. Still, TNG was far more of a stretch over TOS than Discovery is over the various series that came before.

Re:Warming up to it

[Megane]

1: It's magic, we don't gotta explain shit. Probably the least believable part was "why here and why now?" Transcended species are a staple of science fiction, Q was just more of an asshole than is usual. There was also a TOS episode that had two magical beings running the show.

2,3: The holodeck and replicator are based on transporter technology. If you want to talk about magic, that's the elephant in the room. It can somehow re-assemble your atoms perfectly, thousands of miles away? I can accept the platform part, but the remote end is complete fucking magic. Also, the first holodeck episode was in the animated Star Trek series, so you can't even blame TNG for inventing it.

One of the better things about The Orville is that they don't have transporter technology. One of the more advanced races that won't talk to them apparently does, but there's no magic plot device that has to be subverted every other episode.

Re:Warming up to it

[NicknameUnavailable]

Q was perhaps outlandish, but there was enough not described he could just be a part of a really advanced series with different technology and an ego (per the voyager extrapolation,) the holodesks are based in extrapolations of known physics, as are the replicators. It is conceivable with enough engineering to get from where we are to holodecks and replicators. The magic spores on the other hand are described in great enough detail to make them absolutely absurd and based in no known physics.

Re:Warming up to it

[Chelloveck]

The first thing you have to keep in mind about Q: John de Lancie is fucking awesome and any excuse to have him play a recurring character is a good one.

There is no second thing.

Screw them

[Rick Zeman]

...and their subscription model. I'm not going to pay them twice since I'm already paying them through my cable bill. No double dipping allowed.

Meh, maybe i'll pick it up later

[Austerity Empowers]

Mostly when it comes to netflix in NA. I can wait a year, there's so much stuff to watch that I'm not thirsty to pay money to see ads.

Re:Meh, maybe i'll pick it up later

[Gilgaron]

That's my plan... I haven't seen it anywhere official yet, but if Netflix really bankrolled most of the show for the world rights I'm sure it'll be on in NA once the first run is over with.

Re:Just long enough ... to what? exactly.

[Anonymous Coward]

A 2 month break is just long enough for me to forget about my time "invested" in the show.

And that's the problem. In 2 months it will need all the marketing of a new show. Whereas people who used to watch it will have had enough time to get used to not watching it and will be unlikely to miss it particularly.

The only way I can see this break "saving" the show is if they pull a stunt like fast-forwarding several months or a year and re-boot.

Hopefully they can throw in a physical morphing field where they discover ancients and a transwarp ring, and then just call it the USS Destiny and let Robert Carlyle be the chief scientist. Better show, bigger budget, better cast. Mostly.

Yawn

[magzteel]

I found the pilot episode barely watchable. Nothing I heard or saw made me want to see episode 2. From the comments here it appears I didn't miss anything

When can I start watching?

[amigabill]

My Tivo got part of the first episode, football messed up the scheduling so I didn't get to see much. It hasn't been on since. Sorry, not interested in paying for the show. (What else would I watch on their website for it?)

Sorry

[nospam007]

The Champignon drive is so stupid, I can't watch it.

Re:I don't have cable TV

[Megane]

It's not on cable TV. At least not in the US. But they did broadcast the first episode on CBS, and it bored me before it could offend me.

Re:Who cares about StarTrek HIV+ how is Orville do

[Megane]

...says the AC who hasn't been watching it. It's been so much better than it has any right to be.

It's better than sad grimdark trek made by grimdark millenials for cynically pushing a streaming service with absolutely no concept of what made Trek fun.

ST:D feels like a thrown together mess...

[Noishkel]

I wasn't super in to ST:D from the get go, but after actually watching the first 7 episodes I have to say that this show, while it has been 'getting somewhat better', is still a very logically inconsistent mess. It looks visually great, but even then none of the affects look all that good. Relying way to heavily on the look and feel from the JJ Abrams films with a lot smaller budget.

But ironically, while the look and humor of The Orville is still rather cheesy the actual writing, dialogue, and universe itself is shocking better than anything we've seen on ST:D as of yet. Hell, the racist android from the Orville in one episode showed more character development than the lead from Discovery has yet. After all, no one in The Orville is tripping over themselves to save the main charters every time she screws something up.

Buttons allow blind operation

[tepples]

They have flat touch screens. A century later and they are back to big clunky buttons

Thank goodness. At least with buttons, your fingers can feel which of several adjacent buttons you'll be pressing before you press it. Take a 21st century example: How many people prefer to type on the flat screen of a Galaxy Tab or iPad compared to a physical keyboard? Or how many people prefer to look away from the road to operate an automobile's touch-driven climate control?

...what?

[wonkey_monkey]

CBS announced that Star Trek: Discovery will return for the second half of the split season on Sunday, November 12th. There will be roughly a two month gap between the last episode of the first half of the split season, which aires on Sunday, November 12th, and the first episode of the second half of the split season. The Verge reports:

Right, so the last episode of the first half airs on Sunday... and the first episode of the second half airs (or "aires") on the same day two months later.

Glad we got that cleared up.

the real reason for the transporters

[hawk]

There is a simple reason for the transporters in Star Trek (and thus the assorted three letter spinoffs).

The special effects budget.

It begin and ends there: they didn't have the budget to land a ship each week, so they concocted the transporters.

Which then turned into a plot crutch.

But as a plot crutch, it paled next to Commander Cleavage's "I sense . . . " and the time travel that means that the majority of the spinoff episodes never happened.

Time travel in science fiction is generally bad, with obvious holes and no reason to think that the "final" result remains final I've minutes later.

The only examples I can think of with non-stupid time travel are Turtledoves "Guns of the South" (fixed time displacement, keeping both ends in sync) and stuff like that series last year where a person can't appear in a time they've already been (which it didn't really seem to follow).

hawk

Re:the real reason for the transporters

[hawk]

Also, if memory serves, Roddenberry and the original writers *did* think there was something like a holodeck, but never came up with an affordable idea.

Similarly, I think they were supposed to have replication rather than cooks, but again, materializing food is waste of both special effects budget and time that could have gone to the episode.

hawk

The Orville counts as Trek

[SeattleLawGuy]

I'm not sure The Orville counts as Trek though.

The Orville Counts as Trek the same way that Hudson's Adventure Island counts as "Mario Goes on Vacation."

You change the names, but fundamentally you're making Star Trek.

Am I the only one who really likes this show?

[Zeromous]

I get why everyone hates on it but I tune them out these are the same people still mad at George Lucas and Ronald D Moore.

I like Michael, I like the crew, I like their interactions, the scenery is fan-fucking tastic. Honestly in a 10 years before enterprise world where the movie storylines never happened, to me this is ideal Star Trek with a huge budget.

Of course everyone complains. I am not, and will watch every episode thrice as I have every other Trek before it.

Re:Future humans are magically enlightened?

[tepples]

we are supposed to believe that humans in the Star Trek future have magically gotten over their animal instincts and tribalism. So why not also getting over the need for tactile controls?

To get over that, you must first get over the need to do something whilst looking at something else. That's easier said than done until neural interfaces become practical.

Re:Who cares about StarTrek HIV+ how is Orville do

[wisnoskij]

It's moderately better (aka not quite the worst show currently airing), but that is not saying much.

Re:Who cares about StarTrek HIV+ how is Orville do

[antdude]

It got renewed as of a few weeks ago. Happy Arbor Day! :)

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[LesserWeevil]

I'm sure that as soon as CBS gets their streaming service off the ground they'll cancel the series. And if the series is a failure before that, they'll say "see, SciFi never has an audience."