If you told me they kept whatever first draft Bible he had for a five-season show and simply shoehorned a single crew into it, I’d believe you. Dominion War was kind of a left turn on DS9, as was ST:Enterprise going off to lala land beyond the barrier, but no show had to completely reinvent itself over and over like Discovery.
But Discovery didn’t reinvent itself over and over? Thats a really strange statement. Season 2 is different than Season 1 but you see the parts from Season 1 that worked. The thread of character development stayed consistent as well.
Just because I didn’t like the final season doesn’t mean that I don’t think the rest of the show was well done.
Season 1, gritty war drama with “prestige TV” tropes galore in the first half, Mirror Universe camp in the second.
Season 2, Palate-cleansing memberberries, including a crazy supercomputer. That said, taking the lesson that everybody loved the Pike Enterprise casting and chemistry was a good thing.
Season 3, People weren’t connecting with the show… fuck it, it’s an entirely new era now. New ships, new culture, new players, new everything. Going home will not be a serious plot consideration, and frankly neither will unpacking the trauma of deciding not to do so. No need anyway, because Burnham’s mom is there, and she’s the only character that matters until S4. Also, I liked the universe that the Burn made, but (1) fuck that, we’re fixing that, and (2) the resolution felt off, very humane in its way but like a heavy-handed fable better suited to a one-hour episode’s payoff rather than a season-long arc.
Season 4: Burnham’s the captain now! All themes of working under people and the trope of the rotating captain are done now. Even Sonequa Martin-Green called it a new start.
Season 5: Okay, so they’re finally settling in, now that it’s time for the last season, which tried so hard to have a resolvable plot of the week but also furthering the “overlong movie” model of serial storytelling that so much streaming era genre stuff is obsessed with. As an aside, it’s amusing that the whole thing would have worked out better for everybody if they just let Moll “win,” since there was no way she was passing the test at the archive.
I became fond of many of the characters: Saru’s arc is awesome, Stamets and Hugh have the best relationship of any couple in ST, and Jett Reno is a treasure. It’s not that the writing was universally horrible or anything. They did an okay job dragging these characters between different tones and settings, but IMHO the whiplash is real. Overall I liked Disco, even if I could never quite love it, but I don’t think I’m coming up with anything novel by suggesting that the vision for the show was all over the place and seemed to be reactionary based on the reception of previous episodes.
None of those things are ‘reinventions’. Those are called story arcs.
Season 1: Had a shuffle of show runners and was the first season of a Trek show. The vast majority of Trek shows don’t find their footing until Season 2 or 3 so I feel like this is a non-issue.
Season 2: ‘Palate-cleansing memberberries’ is not even remotely a fair summary of the season, especially when half of the stuff you’re talking about were barely in the show. Spock doesn’t properly show up until halfway through the season. Moreover, the show takes place 10 years before TOS. NOT including the Enterprise in some capacity and showing off Captain Pike in his prime would have been whined about. It’s also kinda hard to suggest that it’s nostalgia for the sake of nostalgia when Pike was never a large part of TOS or the Star Trek world in general. Una straight up never had a name until Discovery. They brought aboard the least well known Enterprise crew and a broken Spock. Hardly ‘memberberries’.
Season 3: The timejump was planned from Season 1, so no. It wasn’t a reactionary reinvention of the show to what people did or didn’t like. Going home couldn’t have been a serious plot consideration because of the entire arc of Season 2. Also “Burnhams mom is the only character that matters until Season 4”. Right. I guess the whole thing with Saru and his arc (which you literally just mention at the bottom of your post) doesn’t matter. Guess Adira and their arc doesn’t matter. Guess the Trill being set up doesn’t matter. Guess President T’Rina of Nivar doesn’t matter despite her being a major player in the following seasons. You either straight up did not watch the season or you’re misremembering so badly that your summaries here are just not worth anything.
Season 4: Sonequa called it a new start for Burnham. Moreover, what do you expect it to rehash the same shit forever? They’re in a new century and after the ending of the last season it’s a new start for the FEDERATION as well. Once again you’re actively ignoring half of what’s going on in the season to fit your own personal dismissive narrative.
Season 5: When the season was written they did not know it was going to be the last season. And once again you actively prove that you either did not watch the season or barely paid attention. There is a literal time jump in the season showing what would have happened if Moll ‘won’. Burnham saw a timejump where Moll and L’ak won. FedHQ is in utter ruins and the crew is dead. So… no. Really don’t think that would have “worked out better”.
You just spent a message dissing the show and inaccurately summarizing aspects for the sake of insulting it. So…
Overall I liked Disco
P.S. It is hysterical to suggest that DSC was reactionary in any way when every single season pissed people off worse than the last and doubled down on the core tenants and messages.
If you told me they kept whatever first draft Bible he had for a five-season show and simply shoehorned a single crew into it, I’d believe you. Dominion War was kind of a left turn on DS9, as was ST:Enterprise going off to lala land beyond the barrier, but no show had to completely reinvent itself over and over like Discovery.
But Discovery didn’t reinvent itself over and over? Thats a really strange statement. Season 2 is different than Season 1 but you see the parts from Season 1 that worked. The thread of character development stayed consistent as well.
Just because I didn’t like the final season doesn’t mean that I don’t think the rest of the show was well done.
Season 1, gritty war drama with “prestige TV” tropes galore in the first half, Mirror Universe camp in the second.
Season 2, Palate-cleansing memberberries, including a crazy supercomputer. That said, taking the lesson that everybody loved the Pike Enterprise casting and chemistry was a good thing.
Season 3, People weren’t connecting with the show… fuck it, it’s an entirely new era now. New ships, new culture, new players, new everything. Going home will not be a serious plot consideration, and frankly neither will unpacking the trauma of deciding not to do so. No need anyway, because Burnham’s mom is there, and she’s the only character that matters until S4. Also, I liked the universe that the Burn made, but (1) fuck that, we’re fixing that, and (2) the resolution felt off, very humane in its way but like a heavy-handed fable better suited to a one-hour episode’s payoff rather than a season-long arc.
Season 4: Burnham’s the captain now! All themes of working under people and the trope of the rotating captain are done now. Even Sonequa Martin-Green called it a new start.
Season 5: Okay, so they’re finally settling in, now that it’s time for the last season, which tried so hard to have a resolvable plot of the week but also furthering the “overlong movie” model of serial storytelling that so much streaming era genre stuff is obsessed with. As an aside, it’s amusing that the whole thing would have worked out better for everybody if they just let Moll “win,” since there was no way she was passing the test at the archive.
I became fond of many of the characters: Saru’s arc is awesome, Stamets and Hugh have the best relationship of any couple in ST, and Jett Reno is a treasure. It’s not that the writing was universally horrible or anything. They did an okay job dragging these characters between different tones and settings, but IMHO the whiplash is real. Overall I liked Disco, even if I could never quite love it, but I don’t think I’m coming up with anything novel by suggesting that the vision for the show was all over the place and seemed to be reactionary based on the reception of previous episodes.
None of those things are ‘reinventions’. Those are called story arcs.
Season 1: Had a shuffle of show runners and was the first season of a Trek show. The vast majority of Trek shows don’t find their footing until Season 2 or 3 so I feel like this is a non-issue.
Season 2: ‘Palate-cleansing memberberries’ is not even remotely a fair summary of the season, especially when half of the stuff you’re talking about were barely in the show. Spock doesn’t properly show up until halfway through the season. Moreover, the show takes place 10 years before TOS. NOT including the Enterprise in some capacity and showing off Captain Pike in his prime would have been whined about. It’s also kinda hard to suggest that it’s nostalgia for the sake of nostalgia when Pike was never a large part of TOS or the Star Trek world in general. Una straight up never had a name until Discovery. They brought aboard the least well known Enterprise crew and a broken Spock. Hardly ‘memberberries’.
Season 3: The timejump was planned from Season 1, so no. It wasn’t a reactionary reinvention of the show to what people did or didn’t like. Going home couldn’t have been a serious plot consideration because of the entire arc of Season 2. Also “Burnhams mom is the only character that matters until Season 4”. Right. I guess the whole thing with Saru and his arc (which you literally just mention at the bottom of your post) doesn’t matter. Guess Adira and their arc doesn’t matter. Guess the Trill being set up doesn’t matter. Guess President T’Rina of Nivar doesn’t matter despite her being a major player in the following seasons. You either straight up did not watch the season or you’re misremembering so badly that your summaries here are just not worth anything.
Season 4: Sonequa called it a new start for Burnham. Moreover, what do you expect it to rehash the same shit forever? They’re in a new century and after the ending of the last season it’s a new start for the FEDERATION as well. Once again you’re actively ignoring half of what’s going on in the season to fit your own personal dismissive narrative.
Season 5: When the season was written they did not know it was going to be the last season. And once again you actively prove that you either did not watch the season or barely paid attention. There is a literal time jump in the season showing what would have happened if Moll ‘won’. Burnham saw a timejump where Moll and L’ak won. FedHQ is in utter ruins and the crew is dead. So… no. Really don’t think that would have “worked out better”.
You just spent a message dissing the show and inaccurately summarizing aspects for the sake of insulting it. So…
P.S. It is hysterical to suggest that DSC was reactionary in any way when every single season pissed people off worse than the last and doubled down on the core tenants and messages.