Post by stargazer1682 on Jan 26, 2020 2:46:42 GMT
I'm giving it a chance, just as I'm (trying) to give Discovery a chance.
On the one hand, Discovery is exactly what it looked like from the outside, a flash, no substance. It's basically if Battlestar Galactica fucked Starship Troopers and the subsequent love child were now a moody teenager going through an emo phase. I waited until it was out on DVD - hell, I waited until season 2 was on DVD; because I was not motivated enough to pay for CBS All Access for STD. I'm still working my way through season 2 and have very little ambition to continue.
For Picard though, the temptation to see it before reading spoilers won out over my trepidation over what the show looked like; or the extra cost of subscribing, temporarily, to CBS All Access. I'm taking a calculating tact; I waited a couple of days after the first episode came out so that when I signed up for the free week trial, it would encompass the first two episodes. And since I started my one week trial today, I won't have to start my paid subscription until February 1st, meaning I'll only be subscribing for February and March; assuming of course that the episodes keep my interest to warrant seeing it through. I'm planning on going with the premium subscription, because if I'm paying to see it either way, fuck commercials. All in all $20 to watch the full first season isn't terrible; and is more a convenience charge of seeing it now versus waiting to get it from the library when it's out on DVD.
As for the first episode itself - honestly, I didn't hate it. I went in with a lot of ambivalence about what to expect from this series; and I'm also another person is sick and tired of all the dark and dreary bullshit passing itself off as drama, which a lot of the teasers seemed to hint at. But right from the start, there was something about the tone that felt a little bit more familiar to the old Star Trek shows; not cinematically, of course, that's still an adjustment, but not strictly a bad one, just different. To me at least it didn't feel like more of Discovery, it didn't feel, so far, like it had its head up its own ass.
It's still early though, of course; it's only one episode in a ten part serial story. And I do lament that. I miss more episodic story telling, where episodes were allowed to have a beginning, middle and end. It doesn't have to be only episodic stories; a lot of my favorite shows are the ones that perfectly balanced the one-offs and the season long arcs.
Liked that
I'm not a huge fan of the whole plot line of
Also, the whole thing at the end about how
It certainly has some intriguing implications, especially for
One thing I noticed that really stood out in a weird way to me, was how the TNG and movie era uniforms... just didn't seem to hang right on either Patrick or Brent. Maybe it had to do something with the convoluted licensing situation that existed before the CBS/Viacom re-merger, but they looked more like mediocre fan-made uniforms, rather than the well fitted uniforms they used to have.
On the one hand, Discovery is exactly what it looked like from the outside, a flash, no substance. It's basically if Battlestar Galactica fucked Starship Troopers and the subsequent love child were now a moody teenager going through an emo phase. I waited until it was out on DVD - hell, I waited until season 2 was on DVD; because I was not motivated enough to pay for CBS All Access for STD. I'm still working my way through season 2 and have very little ambition to continue.
For Picard though, the temptation to see it before reading spoilers won out over my trepidation over what the show looked like; or the extra cost of subscribing, temporarily, to CBS All Access. I'm taking a calculating tact; I waited a couple of days after the first episode came out so that when I signed up for the free week trial, it would encompass the first two episodes. And since I started my one week trial today, I won't have to start my paid subscription until February 1st, meaning I'll only be subscribing for February and March; assuming of course that the episodes keep my interest to warrant seeing it through. I'm planning on going with the premium subscription, because if I'm paying to see it either way, fuck commercials. All in all $20 to watch the full first season isn't terrible; and is more a convenience charge of seeing it now versus waiting to get it from the library when it's out on DVD.
As for the first episode itself - honestly, I didn't hate it. I went in with a lot of ambivalence about what to expect from this series; and I'm also another person is sick and tired of all the dark and dreary bullshit passing itself off as drama, which a lot of the teasers seemed to hint at. But right from the start, there was something about the tone that felt a little bit more familiar to the old Star Trek shows; not cinematically, of course, that's still an adjustment, but not strictly a bad one, just different. To me at least it didn't feel like more of Discovery, it didn't feel, so far, like it had its head up its own ass.
It's still early though, of course; it's only one episode in a ten part serial story. And I do lament that. I miss more episodic story telling, where episodes were allowed to have a beginning, middle and end. It doesn't have to be only episodic stories; a lot of my favorite shows are the ones that perfectly balanced the one-offs and the season long arcs.
Liked that
the mystery woman turned out to be Data's daughter, after a fashion; and that they seemed to incorporate Bruce Maddox as being behind her and her sister's development.
I'm not a huge fan of the whole plot line of
synthetics attacked Mars, killing so many people; so now all synthetics are banned.
The rationale is highly dubious; and you'd think the Vulcans would have at least objected to the logic applied here, lumping all of a certain type of life form, in this case artificial life, into the same category of threat... it's not logical.
Also, the whole thing at the end about how
"they're made in pairs" kind of made me shake my head. Like, why? What sort of heretofore unmentioned law of whatever ludicrous engineering method would require you make two synthetic lifeforms instead of one? That just seemed like a hackneyed plot contrivance, that allowed them to seemingly kill off a character in a surprise turn in the story, when it seemed like they were going to be so central to the story....and then, ta-da, they're "back", sort of; even though they're technically someone else.
It certainly has some intriguing implications, especially for
the fate of Voyager's Doctor.
The vilification of what is essentially an entire race of people
is, I suppose, timely; which is a very Star Trek theme, but like others have said, is it done the way one might expect Star Trek to tackle an issue, giving people hope? It certainly wouldn't be the first time Star Trek tackled a social topic in a heavy handed way; and so far this feels less cringeworthy than some of those other instances. (I'm looking at you, "The High Ground")One thing I noticed that really stood out in a weird way to me, was how the TNG and movie era uniforms... just didn't seem to hang right on either Patrick or Brent. Maybe it had to do something with the convoluted licensing situation that existed before the CBS/Viacom re-merger, but they looked more like mediocre fan-made uniforms, rather than the well fitted uniforms they used to have.