Octopus Overlords

Sudy Nym wrote: ↑Thu Oct 19, 2017 1:45 am - Tall scaredy-alien seems interesting, but he's just going to be annoying and underdeveloped, isn't he? (You know, like almost the entire cast of Enterprise.)

Actually, I feel his character has gotten more development than Micheal as the season has progressed. Harsh, but true. I find her character to be paper-thin, and it's only getting to be more of an issue as the season progresses. She really hasn`t much development beyond the plot requirement yanking her in different directions. No, her connection to Sarek hasn't yet developed any. It's just sort of there and I feel they put it in there to give it a connection to TOS and Trek overall.

As for the 40-min thing, it's airing on SPACE with commercials, so yes.

You know, I've come to realize about Discovery that I miss the away-teams on different worlds. So far, Discovery has shown us none of that. It's just been dark corridor after dark corridor. Surely, with the budget they've got, they could create amazing looking worlds, but corridors huh? Look at those amazing corridors!!

But are there any jars of pickles?

Rumpy wrote: ↑Mon Oct 23, 2017 1:54 pm
You know, I've come to realize about Discovery that I miss the away-teams on different worlds. So far, Discovery has shown us none of that. It's just been dark corridor after dark corridor. Surely, with the budget they've got, they could create amazing looking worlds, but corridors huh? Look at those amazing corridors!!

If we were more than 6 episodes into the series, I might agree with you.

We aren't though.

Key words: So far!

Newer ship, but not necessarily a more powerful ship.

I ran into this interview with Rainn Wilson and found it to be quite interesting. There’s a bit at the end where he discusses his dream Mudd Discovery episode and how it would lead to a Mudd centric spin off. That is an idea I find intriguing. Star Trek has always revolved around Star Fleet and the Federation. It would be excellent to have a series that stepped out of the shadow of Star Fleet and showed us the lives of people in that era from a new perspective. A Mudd centric series would be a great vehicle for something in the Trek universe that would truly be bold and new. It could also be a lot of fun, in a way that a Star Fleet series has trouble pulling off ( with the exception of the occasional rare episode ) I am a fan of Rainn Wilson and think he could carry a series like that.
Here is the article: http://www.startrek.com/article/exclusi ... inn-wilson

I would be all over that. DS9 hinted at (and sometimes featured) the underbelly of the Federation, and Discovery is exploring that underbelly while also showing us that there are civilians out there caught in the middle of all this....like Mudd. Having Rainn Wilson be our guide through the world of the civilians (especially those of a criminal bent) in that world would be amazing.

Ok, so just watched the latest episode, 6: Lethe. I partially take back my comment about seeing other worlds, as we finally get to see Vulcan. But what's funny is, the DVR offers up a generic show description of "exploring new worlds and civilizations", which I don't think it gets to claim at this point. Maybe it will be different in further seasons.

My God, if I see one more science fiction show do a Groundhog’s Day episode, I’m going to scream. It’s up there with Occurence at Owl Creek as the easy way out for lazy writers.

TV Tropes can keep you at a simmer for hours.

I didn't even watch this week's episode and I don't really feel like I'm missing anything. I think I might be past caring about the show at this point.

Rumpy wrote: ↑Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:00 pm I didn't even watch this week's episode and I don't really feel like I'm missing anything. I think I might be past caring about the show at this point.

Similar here. I know it's not exactly backbreaking to switch over to the CBS app, but it's enough of an annoyance that I find myself clearing out everything in my normal DVR queue before I bother thinking about Star Trek. I'll think I'll just binge watch the series in one go when the season is over.

I still like it quite a bit. Even after the annoying Groundhog's Day episode. The show is getting decent reviews (especially Sonequa Martin-Green's performance), so I'm obviously not the only person who's enjoying it. Next week looks like a return to more interesting fare.

wonderpug wrote: ↑Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:04 pm

Rumpy wrote: ↑Tue Oct 31, 2017 1:00 pm I didn't even watch this week's episode and I don't really feel like I'm missing anything. I think I might be past caring about the show at this point.

Similar here. I know it's not exactly backbreaking to switch over to the CBS app, but it's enough of an annoyance that I find myself clearing out everything in my normal DVR queue before I bother thinking about Star Trek. I'll think I'll just binge watch the series in one go when the season is over.

Well, for me, I can just easily watch it via broadcast or recording, so that's not even a problem. My problem in this case is my interest level. It's just not interesting enough for me to keep up with it. I'm a Trek nerd, and it's not pulling me in.

hepcat wrote: ↑Mon Oct 30, 2017 9:25 pm My God, if I see one more science fiction show do a Groundhog’s Day episode, I’m going to scream. It’s up there with Occurence at Owl Creek as the easy way out for lazy writers.

I expected worse, and it certainly doesn't start strong. There's some interesting character development and some funny bits, so it's not the worst thing ever, but the cycle timing seemed very off.

I'm not sure the series is really Trek, but it's finding it's voice and showing a few interesting sci-fi themes and ideas here and there, even if I'd rather not have magical Vulcan bullshit. I've seen worse first seasons and it's either this or back to the rewatch of DS9's first season, so I can keep going for a bit.

Ah heck yeah, now that was some Star Trek. It had some silly plot holes, but overall it just screamed classic Star Trek. I hope they do more world building like this.

the the part in episode three where they boarded the ship where 'things went wrong' seemed to copy very significant parts from Doom 3 and Dead Space, haha

hepcat wrote: ↑Mon Nov 06, 2017 10:47 pm Ah heck yeah, now that was some Star Trek. It had some silly plot holes, but overall it just screamed classic Star Trek. I hope they do more world building like this.

The last two episodes (the Time Travel one and this latest one) seemed pretty classic Trek.

Yeah, but I really hate groundhogs day episodes.

Nobody’s perfect.

Only on days I'm not masquerading as Major Buzzkill.

Fantastic battle at the opening of this latest ep. The rest was kind of a snooze. Really feeling the pull of Starfleet Battles. Wish they made a modern version.

Been thinking of reinstalling the first Starfleet Command game again.

wrong thread

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2017 2:57 pm

Wrong thread.

Isgrimnur wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2017 3:00 pm

Daehawk wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2017 2:57 pm

Wrong thread.

yep ty

Jag wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2017 2:41 pm Fantastic battle at the opening of this latest ep. The rest was kind of a snooze. Really feeling the pull of Starfleet Battles. Wish they made a modern version.

I loved the rest of the episode. It’s finally starting to feel like Star Trek.

And hell yeah on Starfleet Battles. I recently bought the newer version of the tabletop miniature game it was based on.

Jag wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2017 2:41 pm Really feeling the pull of Starfleet Battles. Wish they made a modern version.

They did. It's called Federation Commander. With expansion packs for Klingon and Romulan commanders. It's a vastly simplified version of SFB, but still just as tactical.

Jag wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2017 2:41 pm Fantastic battle at the opening of this latest ep. The rest was kind of a snooze. Really feeling the pull of Starfleet Battles. Wish they made a modern version.

Star Trek Online’s space combat is actually fairly close to Starfleet Battles. I don’t think it’s quite as good as the first two, it’s a bit more simplified such as only 4 shield directions instead of six. I do like the way you level up Bridge Officers and their levels determine special abilities that your ship can perform in combat. (Disclaimer: I haven’t played STO in quite a while, so I’m not sure what changes have been made but I played it quite a bit in the past, and it is very Starfleet Battles-like.)

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2017 4:28 pm

Jag wrote: ↑Thu Nov 09, 2017 2:41 pm Really feeling the pull of Starfleet Battles. Wish they made a modern version.

They did. It's called Federation Commander. With expansion packs for Klingon and Romulan commanders. It's a vastly simplified version of SFB, but still just as tactical.

That’s what I have, but I thought he was talking about the PC game adaptation.

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2017 7:20 pm I thought he was talking about the PC game adaptation.

That'd be Interplay's Starfleet Command series, later adopted by Activision (SFC3) before they both lost the Star Trek license.

Now that’s how you make a mid season finale. I can forgive them the occasional transgressions against the memory of older Star Trek shows if they continue to be that entertaining. The only thing I would have liked to see in addition to all that other goodness would have been seeing
Some mighty fine cliff hanging though. Can’t wait for it to return next year.

And here's the big discussion on Discovery and Lorca

Was there a scene that made it seem like he did? If so, I must have missed it.

hepcat wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2017 4:22 pm Was there a scene that made it seem like he did? If so, I must have missed it.

Some enterprising nerd did a frame capture of the jump coordinates and a command by Lorca is input right before the jump.
https://io9.gizmodo.com/what-is-going-o ... 1820398155

So I started watching the series and caught up to the current episode. Spoilers, of course. Lots of stream of consciousness stuff..

Much, much better than the two Abrams movies I saw.

While this series is heavily serialized, I can still see some episodic roots to some of the storylines, and ones that could have fit in other Trek series. I think DS9 does it right, though, giving a nice middle between the two.

I agree on the complaints of the Klingons - their speaking style and that they speak in Klingon.

While I assume the hull of parts of the ship looping has to do with the spore drive, it mostly looks like they added it to make a cool looking effect, but all it does is look kinda dumb to me. And frankly, I do wish they didn't add excess special effects.

Also, both the concept of the spore drive and the mind meld going across light years made me go eh. But whatever, I can live with it.

Of course, going in, I knew the spore drive especially, and probably the Klingon cloaking device would have had to be muted before the series ended.

I've gotten a little tired of them echoing lines from prior shows ("tell starfleet we have engaged the klingons" , "the needs of the many... few... one...") although I did love the Scotty impersonation.

IMO, there was too much foreshadowing of some of the twists (eg, the mirror universe, that Tyler was a klingon, that Stamets would be blamed for the homicide, etc). I could also tell that the admiral was going into a trap, though I thought she would be killed.

Is it normal for a person who hasn't gone to starfleet to become an officer of a starfleet ship? (I mean, I assume Michael didn't go to starfleet academy at all before she first visits the shinzou

Some questions/thoughts about individual episodes.

The time loop episode:
I couldn't buy that Mudd could manage to take over the entire ship in ~50 attempts. But why wouldn't he have just sold the time crystal? It would have been safer (there was always the chance he could have gotten killed in his attempts, and Mudd never struck me as particularily brave), and that has to be worth a lot. Also, why does he destroy the time crystal (or whatever he had that was controlling the crystal)?

Also, for the last time loop, I guess they told Stanets before Michael killed herself with those balls? Anyone else figured that Michael would inject herself with the special DNA, so that she would remember things before the loop, too? This episode also reminded me of the time loop episode in Dark Matter - that one had fun with the concept, too.

The forest/death ship episode
It sounded like the plan was to set the beacon to reveal cloaked ships, but it doesn't seem like they know how to do that until the end of the two parter, anyway. So what exactly were they planning to do with the beacon, before then?

While it turns, IIUC, out that Saru wasn't possessed but merely enjoying finally being free of what he had to endure his entire life, I'm not sure I buy that he would have destroyed their communicators

Also, why the hell do they use portable sensors that light up and give a loud beep at regular intervals? Is there no mute mode on those things???

The mirror universe episodes:
If they don't tolerate non-humans, I do have to wonder what mirror Spock was doing as an officer on his ship. Also, I would have thought that mirror Spock would have heard of this incident from his father, or prime Spock would have heard of this incident from his sister before the events of Mirror, Mirror.

I think that Berman served on the Shenzu for many years before Episode 1

Holy crap, now THAT was a surprise twist I did not see coming. I think the Tyler twist was there just to make us think the show wasn't capable of any big surprises. Then bam, they hit us with a Usual Suspects twist.

Kasey Chang wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2017 4:19 pm And here's the big discussion on Discovery and Lorca

Spoiler:

Did Lorca change the final jump coordinates?

This far fetched theory is no longer so far fetched.

Loved it. Yeah, it's silly at times. But I'm enjoying the hell out of it.

Well, I’m in Spain for a few days, and got a chance to watch the first two episodes on Euro Netflix. I really liked what I saw, but not enough to pay CBS by any means. Can’t say anything about the other eps, but the first two were very well done, effects were movie worthy. Too bad I can’t see the rest