A Star Trek Discovery

[aggienaut]

   Now, I don't really watch TV (I don't actually own a TV), and I rarely seem to be watching whatever everyone else is watching (though after GoT had been going four or five years I finally caught up whilst in a cave in central Turkey and have been a huge fan ever since), but I do sometimes watch things on Netflix.
   Back in high school when Star Trek Next Generation was still airing I was rather fond of it. I watched a bit of Deep Space Nine but it failed to really catch my interest and they seemed to be just godmoding around once they got their super stealth space fighter jet the Defiant going on (though admittedly I was already barely following things by then), and Voyager really I think I just didn't find any of the characters likable, and many of them downright annoying. And then that series Enterprise, I've never seen at all but from the trailers and things it just didn't appeal to me, though I don't remember well enough to say what put me off. And the movies! the more recent movies have all felt like they were trying to be a stupid action movie too hard instead of whatever it is exactly that makes Star Trek Star Trek, and having to compress their storylines into a movie -- people are zipping all over hte galaxy and having interstellar action sequences which make it feel like the whole galaxy is one very small place.

   But the Discovery trailers somehow caught my interest and enticed me to watch it, and now, lo, verily, I am caught up on a series in its first season, I can for once participate in the true heart and soul of livejournal, fandomry!

   I have found the series to be a really good mix of action and adventure without feeling forced like the recent movies. There's plenty of action happening but it's still very Star Trek.

   One major thing I really look for in series or movies is complex characters. Star Trek has had a tendency to have everyone in Starfleet be just such a nice chap / woman, unless they're a purpose written bad apple who will die in the episode. So far in Discovery there appear to be several crew members you're really not sure you like, and I watch subsequent episodes just HOPING they don't become likable, because I'm black hearted like that. Without giving any spoilers away, the (current?) captain of the Discovery in particular definitely seems like someone not entirely admirable, and I love that. He seems to have done some extremely questionable things in the past. I hope he does more!

   The one big problem seems to be that, from my just-now-googling, it appears to take place ten years before the original series, but general look and unfiforms specifically are definitely not the same as in the Original series, and the level of technology seems to be more advanced. In particular their key piece of experimental technology seems like it breaks "the universe" by being more advanced than anything subsequently seen.... but it also seems like it might be unethical so maybe it ends up getting buried....

   Also is it just me or is Klingon style in this century totally baroque?

   And was there a starfleet bridge officer in the first two episodes with a big blocky robot head? You only catch glimpses of them and I'm almost tempted to go back and rewatch because the question is bothering me.

And speaking of doodling, just because I believe every entry should have an image component, here's a piece of a little adventure I doodled up that I call "spacecat."

Meanwhile in real life
   Went over to the fire station for some more training for joining the volunteer fire brigade, but it was interrupted when they actually got a call out and had to scramble. "In the olden days we coulda taken you with us but these days you can't come along until you're certified"
   Walking back home across an empty paddock in the middle of "town" and looking up to see the millions of starts and the milky way I thought to myself "man, I love this town."

   In other news my fridge now appears to be broken. I think someone has put a hex on my electronic devices :'(

Comments

[sweet-jane.livejournal.com]

This is interesting. Your feelings about tv are similar to mine, down to not owning one and never watching things at the right time (including GoT, but then really getting into it eventually). And your experiences with Star Trek as well, down to being fond of TNG but never fully getting into DS9 or Voyager and not watching Enterprise at all. I only watched the first of the new movies after a friend and my boyfriend at the time convinced me it was great, but I hated it (except for Leonard Nimoy, who always added a nice touch to any Star Trek endeavor).

Anyway, you've persuaded me to check out the new series. I do love the Star Trek universe, and I'm intrigued by the possibility of more nuanced characterization. (Have you ever noticed how annoying Picard would be if Patrick Stewart wasn't such a compelling actor? The way the character is written he's impossibly perfect. Probably why he had to be assimilated by the Borg: so he could get to be evillll).

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Hahaha yeah, Picard is infuriaratingly nice and good and has the perfect solution to everything but he's such a good actor we really don't mind! I thought it was funny once TNG ended he played a whole string of bad guys.

I didn't work in much about the Original Series into this entry but I've been watching episodes of it on netflix and its really kind of funny how backwards it is by today's standards even if it was progressive for its day ... the tiny skirts for the women's uniforms and Kirk saying he's "not used to having a woman on the bridge" in the first episode. And I swear the plot of 2/3rds of the episodes (at least the first season or two) seems to simply be "they discover a civilization / being of unlimited power!"

[lenine2.livejournal.com]

I've read mixed reviews. Some fans of TOS like it, so I may try it. I could never get into TNG and didn't even try with the others.

I have had the first season of GoT sitting here on the coffee table for over a year. I know I'll like it, but I keep forgetting it's there. I should take it to the family vacation house this weekend along with my stitching and leave the laptop at home.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yeah it took me forever to finally watch GoT, and then when I did, after it being played up so much by everyone I was like "well this is very pretty but it's not THAT amazing" ..but then what really drew me in was how complex the characters are. And the infamous fact that you literally don't know who could die at any moment ;D

[pundigrion.livejournal.com]

Soooo, the weirdness with the tech and all has a pretty simple if rather dodgy in-canon explanation. In the movies, the timeline got split and there was some parallel universe deal so *technically* this series would be after Enterprise but separate from TOS because the split occurred just before that. Clear as Mudd?

I am still grumpy about that myself, and also I hate prequels. C'mon guys, boldly going forwards, not in reverse! (I still love them all though anyhow, sigh)

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

I don't quite know why they couldn't have just placed themselves at the end of the current timeline

And I guess its easy to see how this fungus drive business is definitely going to put them in an alternate timeline. Alternate timelines may grudgingly get past the trekkie fanbase but I think its even more offputting for the non-geek mainstream they presumably always hope to court. Star Trek already seems geeky enough without being like "so how does this fit in with the other ones? oh uhhh alternate timelines what? ::eyes glaze over::"

[pundigrion.livejournal.com]

The fungus drive is one crazy over-powered MacGuffin and probably makes both fans and nonfans roll their eyes.

[emo-snal.livejournal.com]

Yeah I totally agree!