Discovery Season 3

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I finally spent the $10 to get a month of All Access and started Discovery Season 3. This thread will have spoilers.

So I am 2 episodes in, and there are good and bad things to it.

This could be so much better if they dropped the need to be so woke.

Gene Roddenberry was woke without being woke. He wanted a future where humanity worked together and race and gender didn't matter.

We saw women officers. We saw an Asian officer that was not doing laundry and didn't have a stereotypical accent. A black female officer was intelligent and wasn't a maid.

They even put in a Russian during the cold war.

And it worked.

Fast forward to Discovery Season 3, and in two full episodes, there hasn't been a single straight white male that wasn't a villain.

That can only be intentional. It's not overt, but it is a clear demonization and racism.

And it takes away from two otherwise decent episodes.

After the first few minutes, I found myself finally warming up to Burnham.

I think the first episode did a very good job of setting a new tone and slowly getting us in position to see what the Federation is like nearly 1000 years after Kirk.

They didn't give it to us all at once. The first episode showed that Burnham and Discovery were separated and we find out in the second episode that Discovery arrived a year after Burnham.

So one episode was all about Burnham and the other was about the rest.

There are no words for how annoying Tilly is. She may have taken Neelix's title as the most annoying Star Trek character of all time. She is the Jar Jar Binks or Jonathan from Who's the Boss of the Star Trek universe.

Rose Tico seems cool compared to Tilly.

What makes it slightly tolerable is yelling "MOOOOOOO" at the TV when she talks.

The second episode wasn't as strong as the first, but I see they are trying to send a message of hope, and that is what Star Trek is supposed to be.

I just wish they didn't hate white males so much.

[Mel]

I'm glad you explained all that. I didn't really understand the "woke" complaints. Yeah, I see too many women in charge, regardless of species. I skipped around earlier; maybe I'll skip to season 3 instead of abandoning the show.

Since there are no captions, back when Michael was being adopted, I would have *sworn* the mom said she wanted to adopt Michael as her "son." Did I hear that wrong? Is this a "woke" thing? Are son and daughter are interchangeable?

In another thread, you mentioned Mandalorian, another one I hadn't heard of. I checked it out on IMDB. Looks good! Do you also have a subscription to Disney+, or are you watching it on another channel?

Thanks!

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I think you must have heard that wrong, but it has been a long time. Michael is a boy's name, but I don't remember a scene where she was being shopped around before finding the right parents.

I hope this isn't a spoiler, because it goes all the way back to the pilot if I remember right, but Michael's adopted parents were Sarek and Amanda, and she grew up with Spock. That's been very important, right up to the episode I watched yesterday, which was Episode 7.

Spock is very important to this series, to the point where they recast him and he will be serving on the next series, Strange New Worlds, which will feature Pike's Enterprise.

I don't think "son" is a woke thing, I think you may have misheard. But I'm not 100 percent sure on that.

Don't skip Season 2 of Discovery--it was much better and far more connected to the original series.

Season 2 was good enough that the fans clearly wanted a Pike series, and it's happening. Of course, the bad part there is that Pike was so good that he overshadowed the original characters and it took the whole season for Spock to actually feel like Spock.

As for Mandalorian, it is made by the same people that ran the Star Wars cartoons. You do need Disney Plus, but if you are a Star Wars or Marvel fan, it's loaded with great content. The bad part is it has the bad Star Wars too.

But Mandalorian almost feels like an apology. The season 2 finale had a surprise that brought the house down.

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Ok, so I am now 7 episodes into season 3, and I'm still finding that white males are very scarce in the 32nd century. Knowing this is intentional really is a distraction.

But if you can force yourself passed that, there are some good episodes there.

Basically, in the 31st century, a major event happens that really screws up the Federation and the ability to travel by warp. There are some weak plot points there but if you roll with it, you have a good mystery and we are seeing the 32nd century, 100 years after this major event, through the eyes of the crew.

I just finished an episode entitled Unification III, which based on the title, was something I thought would resolve a major Trek debate. But the language used did not do that at all. It's funny how I read some reviews of the episode and they claimed it did answer that debate, but it did nothing of the sort.

However, the season isn't done, and a quick non spoiler google claimed that I am 2 episodes away from what I am looking for. Let's see if that's not right either.

There ARE some decent episodes here. A lot of good Star Trek ideals being pursued.

Of course, Tilly is so damn annoying and they did something with the character that made absolutely no sense except some idiot in the writers room decided to push this plot line on a cow.

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Episode 8 was not horrible, but again, the wokeness killed it.

They actually spent a couple of minutes having the new "non-binary" whine about being referred to as "she" because "SHE" is a girl. SHE wanted to be called THEY. And then it was done.

This is actually a thing.

So that brought the episode down. What's even more frustrating is that the character itself doesn't bother me. She, and I will use that pronoun, is an interesting character. Sort of a more tolerable version of Wesley Crusher.

Episode 9 was far more interesting. It's the first of a 2 parter, which I am guessing is how they are going to get Georgiu (sp) off Discovery. There may be a Section 31 show coming and she is supposed to be involved. Hard to do unless the show is set in the same era.

What I really liked was a very TOS/TNG type mysterious alien. They also had a very clever nod to City on the Edge. It wasn't the best episode as it revisited a plot line from Season 1, but part 2 is certainly something I'll watch with interest. Of course, Episode 9 ended a 12 year old debate, which is a good thing.

[Mel]

Cram, you didn't spoil anything. When skipping around, I did watch the parts about the adoption, and Spock being Michael's brother, and why he was angry, and so on.

Before starting season three, I watched the last three episodes of season two. The whole dilemma of trying to keep the Sphere data safe very interesting. I'm glad I watched it. And it sets up season three, as I think you said.

I agree that season three has worthwhile episodes, that some are so-so, and that woke is always annoying. (I was reading some STD summaries at fan sites. Those sites use "they" for Adira, which is SO confusing when reading.) Btw, I don't find Tilly annoying, except for her hair; too big and loose for an officer. That said, I didn't like her in the Mirror Universe.

I love Emperor Georgiou. In People of Earth, when she kicked Wen's leg, took off the helmet disguise, and said, "Diplomacy is so slow," it was priceless! I also like Jett Reno. I enjoy her brief scenes.

I was awake through the excruciating woke dialogue in Episode 8. I watched the Emperor's two-parter, but was busy at times, or nodded off. I enjoyed Paul Guilfoyle as Carl, and the ending that explained where he was from. I may backtrack a few episodes before I go further.

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Interesting. I just finished Episode 11. Not one of the better episodes, though the last few minutes were ok. It reminded me of the worst of Voyager.

I don't think I am alone in my dislike of Tilly. She just doesn't fit on a Star Trek show for me. But as woke writers do, they shoved her down our throats.

SPOILER....









It's bad enough they made her a first officer despite being an ensign, but to put her in charge? And then her first act was to be smug and lose the ship.

Honestly, even Saru is not the most experienced captain, but it was a tactical error to put Tilly in charge of a dangerous situation.

This episode was a total bore until that last barrage of action. One thing I am curious about is how they have an Orion woman on the show and the men aren't going crazy over her. Maybe after Pike, they found some sort of countermeasure, though it would be nice to have a line in that regard.

[Mel]

I must have seen episode 11 because I recall most of this.

I agree. I had thought ensigns were also officers, but after this episode, I looked it up to make sure. It was an odd decision, and not believable, putting Tilly in charge.

I noticed the Orion woman. I either forgot or never knew that all Orion women are supposed to be utterly irresistible. I thought the Talosians forced her behave that way. It would be nice to have a line of explanation.

Oh gawd, I just flashed back on that awful scene in STTMP where Ilia says she's taken a vow of celibacy.

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I barely remember TMP. I find that movie hard to rewatch. Too boring for me. As for Orion women, they did a whole episode of Enterprise on that.

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I finished Discovery yesterday. The two episodes before the finale were better than the finale, which came off as this paint by numbers thing. Plus, it does seem a bit much to think that over a century passes and all the Federation's top people can't figure out what caused The Burn, but Discovery bangs it out in a few weeks.

Still, the show does seem to be trying a bit to come back to the good of Star Trek--I give them that.

For me, the finale fell a bit flat. It felt like paint by numbers action. I can't remember a single straight white male all season.

Obviously that was intentional. That's a flaw that hung over the season, though unlike shows like Voyager and Enterprise, I could see some good there.

But that said, Star Trek is no longer must see for me. I will only pay for All Access when full seasons are complete.

[Mel]

I watched the last four episodes in one sitting. I was riveted and couldn't wait to watch it again. I did watch it again, and as it unfolded, I wondered what had interested me so much. The plot with Discovery being taken over by the Orion was great, and getting Discovery back was great. But I didn't like subplots about Su'kal, especially the idea that his mom created a device to keep him safe which was so powerful, his anger or fear destroyed all the dilithium.

I still watch STTMP now and again. It is awful and disappointing. I felt that way when I came out of the theater when it came out. Outside were lines and lines of Trekkers eager to get in to see it. I tried hard to look like I had enjoyed it, but what I wanted to do was say, save your money. Mad Magazine made fun of that movie and everything about it was right on. I recall others, I think some in here, saying that they enjoyed seeing the ship on the big screen.

I'm with you. I'll renew CBS All Access when season 4 is finished. I'm not yet interested in seeing Picard.

Btw, when you said you don't remember STTMP, I thought about my age. It's easier for me to recall older events than newer ones anymore.

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Star Trek Picard left us with a very big philosophical question. I don't know if it will be covered in Season 2 or not, but I think it might be.

I agreed about Sukal, and it seems really odd that the Federation had 100 years to figure out what happened yet somehow Discovery manages to get it done in a few weeks.

I guess my biggest issue was not being able to look at Tilly without making cow noises.

She's just a really annoying character.

I also think that the taking and retaking of Discovery is a bit old hat. It's been done better on other Trek shows. The finale to me was just paint by numbers predictable. But Discovery does have good moments and good episodes which puts it above say, Enterprise and Voyager which were almost 100 percent garbage.

TMP is one of those movies that is bad enough and slow enough that no matter how many times you rewatch it, the plot leaves you. TWOK I practically have memorized and haven't seen it in years.