Star Trek Discovery: The Bryan Fuller TV reboot

...looks like I should edit the thread title

http://tvline.com/2016/10/26/star-trek-discovery-bryan-fuller-showrunner-stepping-down/

Oh great another Kurtzman-Goldsman joint. Because they did such a great job with Fringe.

akiva goldsman's continued success is one of life's great mysteries

oh c'mon, s2-4ish of Fringe were pretty good

this is weird to me. why would fuller walk away from this because he 'doesn't have time'? clearly something must have been going wrong.

I hear he wants to spend more time with his family.

season 3 of fringe was pretty good. then kurtzman & orci demanded a dumb cliffhanger and the show never recovered.

Trek has always had a mix of inspired weirdos and hacks, I feel like it benefits from that.

Fuller's working on at least two other tv series, including American Gods. If the Paramount people kept meddling and were an irritating presence, it'd be a good reason to bail.

He's still writing/plotting at least

http://www.polygon.com/2016/12/14/13962170/star-trek-discovery-lead-walking-dead

Sonequa Martin-Green will play the lead (the XO of Discovery).

Should we change this thread title?

I'm not going to believe this show is happening until there's an actual pilot date.

Should we change this thread title?
to:
Sasha Deathwatch

It's funny how much she looks like a younger Angela Bassett who had been tipped to be in the series.

wasn't there a rumor they were doing an anthology series with a different timeframe/cast each season? hmm.

Well this is still taking forever. I will however happily back this:

https://tvline.com/2017/03/31/star-trek-discovery-rainn-wilson-harry-mudd-cbs-all-access/

lol I watched the original Mudd ep the other night w my daughter and the entire time I was distracted by the highly visible shaving line all around Carmel's neck.

Fucking hell it's tomorrow

I have concerns but I really *want* it to be good

I guess I hadn't been paying attention but, uh, you have to pay for some CBS streaming service to watch this beyond the first episode? Really? I hope everyone enjoys the first ST series to last exactly one season.

It's on Netflix in the UK and a bunch of other countries

A few reviews have slipped through the embargo and been decent

This should be worth a flyer just for more Michelle Yeoh.

I'm sorry, I misunderstood: CBS is only airing the first half of the two hour pilot on actual TV. Fun idea.

If they streamed it only on the CBS app but allowed digital purchases on amazon, itunes, etc. it'd make more sense. but, afaik, they are making it only available on the CBS app

so irritating, I'd shell out for the entire season purchase even if it trickles out a week at a time as per usual

i'll probably wait until next year and stream the whole season then. or find "other ways" that will appear soon, i'm sure

I just did the free CBS trial on my tv device, but I guess it doesn't air until tonight? boo

I guess I hadn't been paying attention but, uh, you have to pay for some CBS streaming service to watch this beyond the first episode? Really? I hope everyone enjoys the first ST series to last exactly one season.

― Señor Winces (Old Lunch)

yeah i mean i know game of thrones seems to do ok and all but i'm not sure why directly adopting a piracy-based business model is cbs's schtick here

anyway when the streaming service fails they'll probably just toss it to another streaming service. doesn't necessarily doom the show.

Phase II - proposed for Paramount Television Service, a fourth US network
Voyager (1995-2001), Enterprise (2001-2005) - designed to support UPN (1995-2006)

nice ship -- too bad they haven't invented probes yet and have to send their first officer into lethal radiation

this was fun but fuck CBS for making me watch a thousand NAVY SEALS promos and then asking for money to keep watching

points for having the main plot thread be about a black woman trying to tell everybody "no really, they're going to kill all of us" and being shouted down

cbs has consistently been tightassed with digital access to its programming since the tv-web boom, it's annoying

Enjoying this!

First question: how can I get one of those dope uniforms

We signed up for free trial - canceled after 2nd ep & got a month free so 4 more episodes

But seriously $6 for 1 original show and commercials is a joke. $10 if you want commercial free? Eat a dick

A few minutes in, it looks right at least. The ship and cinematography look like a Star Trek show (vs. the new movies).

New Klingons - ehhhhhhhh. The makeup is so heavy their faces barely move.

Huh.

The theme manages to have twelve different sections, goes a bit Mahler for some reason, not very catchy

Although I speak as someone who liked Faith of the Heart so ignore me

Only seen the first hour - I feel like I can semi-credibly guess which ideas/dialogue came from Fuller and what came from Kurtzman/Goldsman. Not bad but the character-backstory shit is hacky and painful.

Thought it was ok. Will keep watching.

But yeah, the theme tune is a mess

I liked the show!

At the beginning I was thinking "hmm, is this Star Trek enough?"

But, thinking back, the best shows start out with their own scope and integrate. Enterprise was slavishly devoted to tying into continuity while not fleshing out much history. More than anything I got the impression that someone (Fuller? looked like he was the writer w/Ortzman) had an understanding of what TNG and DS9 did well.

The previews make it look like it's going to be scientific discovery (hah!) in a time of war. Which is a clearer mission statement than we've gotten recently.

Yeah did enjoy that and thought there was going to be more, but I guess CBS is running it as a weekly show and selling it on elsewhere.

Gotta free up airtime for those Chuck Lorre productions and NCIS: Anchorage.

I know it's a Toronto production, so I hate to say this but most of the sets looked pretty lacklustre. Felt like they were adding the occasional lens flares out of sheer desperation to spice it up. And yeahhh, the guys playing Klingons can't even act in all that get up. Hopefully they will sort it out as it goes along.

I'm guessing the backgrounds in the Klingon ship were put there in post-production, because they were pretty ornate?

I thought the story was engaging & the character development pretty solid for a 2-ep premiere. I am so used to expecting exposition dumps for new shows but this played out like a mini movie, it was kinda thrilling tbh

I think the Michael character has been set up with good layers & i’m really interested to follow her journey now

Doug Jones was great & I loved Michelle Yeoh

Klingon makeup looks more like the movie Romulans but dont they always seem to screw around with their look iirc?

Mr Veg had some gripes about how it doesn’t look like it’s taking place before the original series but i wasnt too bothered by that myself

I was wondering if teh original Klingons were supposed to look like evil humans intentionally. Seem to be a bit Hispanic pirate update in the tv series or something don't they? Is that why they were made to look less human.

Latest look has shades of Tudor era doublet and hose and tunic look don't it?

klingons lose a bit of menace when they sound like they're trying to talk through a retainer.
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/villains/images/1/1f/Shelley.png
today ish a good day to die, you turdsh!

lol

I watched S05 E03 but have no real memory of it

Trill mindmeld and cloaking monster and puzzle piece something something something (why have Klingons disappeared in the 32nd century?). It's still bad but now I'm stuck and have to finish the season.

Amazing how the then-seemingly-bad first couple of seasons seem solid in comparison, at least you had Jason Patrick and Space Hitler chewing scenery.

S3 was really weird and the plot is feeling horribly clumsy. It seems to basically be turning into zelda triforce fetchquest. Ugh.

Oh and as someone on IMDB pointed out, whats the point of finding any of this now when they had a Genesis device in S3 of Picard?

Sorry I meant EP 3, dammit.

But having said that - Culber-as-Jinraal was pretty fun, Wilson Cruz acted that up really well, and I liked how it was a callback to when all the DS9 crew had to go around manifesting Curzon and all Dax's other peeps.

oh man the actor who manifested joran(?) for ezri in DS9 s07 was almost unbearably over-the-top

Was he the serial killer one the whole point it was for? I cant actually remember it now lol, and I only watched it last year.

yes! so bad

Joran, the pick-me serial killer

Discovery this season seems like a video game, collect all the pieces of the puzzle type quest. The graphics seem kinda gamey too cf Michael surfing on a spaceship in a "warp bubble".

So, I thought I didn't enjoy last nights episode for various reasons, but...
it turns out its one of the most liked/popular of the show!? Clearly I missed something. All I kept thinking was "if Burnham and Stamets kept reappearing in the past how come they dont remember it happening before? Why isnt Burnham fighting herself breaking the frickin timeline? What have I missed?" Apparently the whole thing was a callback to a VOY episode called "Shattered" which completely escaped me, so ok.

Also bummed they mentioned Lorca but he was conveniently out on a mission *kicks dirt, grumbles*

The bit where Stamets was desperately trying not to fuck the timeline up by saying the wrong thing was pretty funny, tbf. Also Reno's one appearance. "ah no, are you stuck in a time loop?" *rolls eyes*

i know this is an ongoing thing but it just takes so much longer to DO LITERALLY ANYTHING on this ship in this seriez because everyone has to use the right tone & let everyone’s voice be heard and omg this episode would be half as long on a normally fuctioning ship that just fucking takes orders lol

covert anti-woke series in the guise of a woke one

kind of fond indulgent lol at the idea that I am invested enough in these characters and their GROWTH to welcome a time-travelling retrospective looking back on how much they've all changed

like, the robot woman who not a day goes by that we don't think about - I could barely remember her - although I looked her up and remembered that she was a completely anonymous character until she got given a back-story about 5 seconds before she was killed off

totally!

Remember Michael and Spock talking about their feelings and childhood trauma for ten important minutes when they were supposed to be saving all of human existence? lol

he was a completely anonymous character until she got given a back-story about 5 seconds before she was killed off

Haaha yes that bit was the worst. I was all "wait, did I miss an episode or 2? Who is this again!?"

death of robot lady episode is the only thing i can remember about this show that isn't jason isaacs or michelle yeoh

did they get isaacs back for this last season - isn't his non-mirror-version unaccounted for? failure if not

Watching the time travel episode and just… why?

So, we finally see under the Breen's helmets. And apparently they can speak regular human language and not just cyborg brrtzz sounds. And have two faces?

Not sure I cared much for the "love uber alles" tone of the episode re Moll and L'ak, but hey, some interesting things thrown up by the ISS enterprise showing up and finding out what likely happened to much of its crew.

Still finding the whole fetchquesty structure a bit on the nose.

Actually I dont think I got all of the ISS storyline - was some of it from TOS? I havent seen much of that.

I think their default state is a… vapor? That’s contained by the suits and it takes effort to keep solid form? The other Breen said something like that.

I was confused by it because the entire vibe between them has been unrequited love, that she was using his puppy dog eyes to keep him as her crime partner.

Oh is that what it was! I dont know why I didnt get that lol.

oh man i can barely watch this… feels like a parody of the most boring “planet of hessian robe-wearing villagers” ep of stargate

Was neat hearing them bring up the Denobulans seeing as I've been watching ENT recently haha. I thought it was a nice enough episode - I loved the concept of the language.

The time travel episode - first episode I've seen since the early thir season - was very mid but entertaining enough that I'll watch the rest of the season.

I think the new ST shows are going to carry on in this future world? I haven't figured out how it works yet.

It's a bit weird that they presented the whistling language as a totally alien concept when every few years NPR runs a story like
https://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2015/09/26/443434027/in-a-turkish-village-a-conversation-with-whistles-not-words

Also jarring to see Spanish presented in their funky Papyrus-y subtitle font.

On the plus side, Cronenberg with his stash of legal pads is lending more credence to that character actually being time-stranded David Cronenberg.

i liked this episode because it was mostly self-contained & about something other than them? i mean it was pretty stock standard off-world stuff but at least it’s not “manic shakeycam on the bridge”

Yeah whats the go with Cronenburg, I'm wondering if he's a Q.

feel bad for being a grump about an ep people actually enjoyed! but the struggle was real, maybe i am running out of Disco energy

Good episode this week, lots of action and callbacks.

When they talked about the library that changed locations a lot all I could think of was "where is Xur" from Destiny haha. Reno was great in that scene, she is criminally underused in the show.

"Seven of Limes" cocktail made me actually lol.

Next clue located in the Badlands! mentioned year 2371 which apparently is the year Voyager left DS9 in season 1*, so something's gotta happen around that next week! Will DS9 still be there? Or a Maquis colony? Maybe a caretaker? I know it wont be The Sisko cos Avery Brooks refuses to have anything to do with ST anymore does he (mores the pity).

*I'm not that much of a nerd, someone on reddit ST pointed this one out.

Could have been hallucinating but I thought one of the screens they pulled up had this old TNG pal on it:
https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/k739c6vd8v7.png

I mean as far as hiding an ultimate weapon goes, inside an inescapable null-space void of a creepy higher dimensional scientist isn't the worst spot!

Hmm! Which scene? I have the ep saved on my Plex.

Either one with the main viewscreen or in engineering where they're sifting through possible spots, but I wouldn't rewatch just to find it,
especially since random space features in the corner incidentally resembling a creepy face is just as likely!