mj

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Posts posted by mj


  1. First time in years I have rewatched Star Trek episodes multiple times, not in the previous two seasons of Discovery, nor in Picard. I watched the ending of S3 E2 so many times I have lost track. I started this season irked because somehow in the future the Federation was gone, but even in E1 the hope of the Federation persists in such a way that it is inspiring. But while I loved the ending of E1, the ending of E2 felt so much like the Star Trek of old, I have watched it over and over.  I get the same feeling. And in each of the episodes we have seen Discovery embodying the Federation in what they do to help who they encounter, keeping hope alive, even with Michelle Yeoh’s character non-Federation interjections. I loved Saru’s  comment about dialogue being a tool, and how Earth and Titan will work out their problems. I loved Tilly hugging the tree, finding something on Earth that remembered her. I find the first three episodes  of S3 rich enough to consider again and again.

    *I went back and checked to see if I really didn’t review episodes, and I did review a few after all, just not with the current enthusiasm. 


  2. Recall my gripe about how the Federation universe was so close to the mirror universe, that it did not have the impact of the contrast of the two universes as in 'Mirror, Mirror'.

    Then in the very next episode we find out who Lorca really is. I have watched that episode and every subsequent episode with my mouth wide open in shock.  I must say that

    there has been quite a satisfying resolution of most issues. I liked that Burnham was deservedly reinstated. ( Her reinstatement had to come, but I did not think I would find it believable...and it was.)

    Pike and the Enterprise coming soon. I'm looking forward to it.

     

    Contrary to what I vehemently declared earlier, I have to go back and re-watch these 15 episodes. It seems..cough...cough...mumble..that AE may have been right about the series after all....

     

    However I am still repulsed by the new Harry Mudd!


  3. Never ever saw her in person, but did see her on the television. She was a role model for me ( but so was my dad, a math teacher).

    My parents let me watch Star Trek (TOS), and she was a black woman in a responsible role, a good thing to see at an impressionable age, at a time when

    it was rarely seen on tv. Because she was there, i did not know that black women did not have those kinds of jobs, so a future life in the sciences

    seemed reasonable, seeing it both on tv and home. She is special to me because of this.

     

    Now I actually qualify for full retirement from my position as a college math professor, although I am not retiring just yet....


  4. And the death of Dr. Culber was another shocker for me....I can't count on who the characters are in this version of Star Trek. I'm tossing, twisting in real life. I cannot make an emotional investment. No other Star Trek has been this dark or or left me with a feeling of hopelessness.

    I do have an update on who's watching. Since CBS all access has this free period, my physicist friend ( we are both in our sixties) has gone back to watch the first few episodes of Discovery. Last time I spoke to him he had finished the episode where they had freed the spore drive creature. He is questioning the whole idea of the spore drive, but I would suggest that for him, like me, the show is watchable. Curiosity is the trump card.

    With regard to the mirror universe, Discovery has been so dark that there is not the stark contrast between the universe Discovery left, and where it is now...not like in the original series.

    But what was actually wrong with Ash Tyler! Didn't see it coming.....wow!


  5. I agree that this is the kind of interesting idea that one would expect from a Star Trek series, and it is one of the reasons I am still hanging in with the series. I agree that something has to happen to spore drive, because there is no mention of it in any other Star Trek. What is going to happen to Stammets?

    Some of the best stories and subplots showing the decency and risk-taking of the main characters has centered around the spore drive. Also the worst story (Mudd).

    The episodes I have rewatched have involved some aspect of the this drive.


  6. None of my family members is watching Discovery. My good friend who is a physicist and life long Star Trek fan, is not watching Discovery nor the Orville. He refuses to pay, nor likes what he hears in the many reviews he reads and watches. He asked me what people here are saying, and I told him there was virtually no one here is watching or talking about it, but that one guy really loves it. (That would be you, AE!)

    I only bought CBS all access to watch Discovery. I pay the low amount that means I get commercials. The jury is still out for me. I find a certain prevailing heaviness in working with the emotions of betrayal, guilt, resentment, suspicion, revenge,manipulation on a regular basis. You don't see a lot of friendship. There is a lot of sadness. Now they are lost in space.

    I will start watching again when they have new episodes, but I don't see myself watching reruns the way I do with all the other series.

    I don't even see Kevin here commenting on this series. But we do have AE.

     

     


  7. I am still trying to make it through the first season. Some of the ideas are thoughtful and trek-like. I like lots of the characters, although the main characters often have bad things happen, like death or life sentences in jail, or becoming part of the ship's star drive.

    Other aspects are horrible and dystopian, the opposite of Star Trek.

    The jury is still out for me. I'll keep watching for now, as long as there are not too many more episodes like the the Harry Mudd Time Loop episode.

    With regard to CBS ALL Access, i do find myself watching Perry Mason reruns, with commercials.


  8. I agree that this looks plausible. I felt so sorry for the Admiral when she found herself alone in that trap originally designed for Sarek. But to me it looks like Lorca set her up. It must have crossed her mind.

    If the Klingon have the mind sifter, they will use it.

    In some of the fan fiction, the Klingons used the mind sifter on Kirk.


  9. The point is that both he and Stamets lived through every single murder and he enjoyed it. And even if Stamets did not remember everything, Harry would. I think Stamets was allowed to be a witness of each loop so that there was a real memory of the evil. Lorca was not bothered by the endless murders, but Harry relished all the ways he killed Lorca, and Stamets knew it.

    No, the TOS Harry never went that far. He was naughty, not evil . The Discovery Harry is still witty, but he is twisted, vengeful, excessive, and sick, and I am not surprised that he did not say the words' what, me a murderer... no one is dead''. No instead he boasted to Lorca about how many times and ways he had killed him. Not good. Not trek.  Even the Klingons have context for their violence. He did not need that much video-game like violence to accomplish his goals of stealing and selling the ship.

    I do not look forward to seeing this Harry again. I always looked forward to seeing Harry in TOS.


  10. I disagree that the Harry Mudd of TOS had that dark an edge. When he was going to strand the crew of the Enterprise

    with the androids, there was no hint of murder. The TOS Harry Mudd was a charming rogue, and a thief.

    This Mudd is psychotic. He murders one man over and over and over again in multiple ways. His cleverness does not mitigate the the unrelenting, unmeasured cruelty. The potential sweetness of romance for Burnham in this time loop

    is overshadowed by the unbounded vengeful violence. It is like video game killing......no heart....how many points did I get? This is my least favorite episode. The one good aspect of this was the punishment they devised for Harry after all his meanness.....and the final transport was done by Stamets (I still am working on names) who was forced to live through

    the cruelty of each time loop. It was appropriate and a punishment that was equivalent to jail,and very trek-like.


  11. I have watched each episode so far, and while there are many aspects I do not care for, I like a lot of it, and it has good issues in the episodes, and more than one point of view. Some of the humor is too risque, but other is side-splitting hilarious.

    My favorite humor was when the brother asked the captain about whether they could still have lidded drinks on the bridge, and the captain said sure. And later we saw he taking a sip. (I don't have any of the names in my head).

    Haven't you wondered if the crew really did all their eating in the cafeteria?

    I really liked the fact that in the latest episode, fighting the Krill, they could not bring themselves to let the children be harmed, yet were told that these children would grow up hating them.

    That was a very star trek-like episode in my opinion. They had to act to stop the Krill form murdering 100,000 or so people, yet couldn't slay the Krill children, who remain to hate them for killing everyone else, which was the only way to stop the mass killing. A no win scenario.


  12. In many ways these episodes are tough to watch, less entertainment and more drama. It reminds me of the different nature between the two Battlestar Gallatica series. I soon stopped watching the Edward James Olmos version.

    But I really enjoyed Burnham's action to save the tardigrade, and Stamets' risky move, more or less experimenting on himself. The plot thickens. What has really happened to him? Is he really okay, and just in awe, or is something wrong?

    I have to keep watching just to see Lorca's response to the tardigrade situation, and what is going to happen to Stamets.

     

    I have a colleague who is a physicist who currently isn't watching The Orville or Star Trek Discovery. But he keeps reading commentary to warn me about what's coming next. He asked me about the comments on this website, and I had to confess that I hadn't been here for years, and that there was very little conversation here. But I am also watching the Orville also.


  13. I was drawn in by this episode. I also watched this episode multiple times, which is one advantage to Star Trek being on all access.

    Saru was blunt and to the point. I loved Burnham's speech when she made it plain to Lorca that she lives and dies by Star Fleet Principles.

    The magnitude of her loss, and the pain it brings, is apparent but not overacted. I liked the scene where she touched the insignia on

    the pillow. I think crediting Burnham with starting the war with the Klingons is not quite accurate, since the Kingons were planning war all along,

    despite what everyone says. The Federation does not understand the Klingons well enough to make a better assessment of what started the war,

    But she did mutiny. I am glad she is out of jail.

    What I liked about this episode was how an apparently resigned to her fate  Burnham popped right back into top form when put into situations that needed her expertise.

    I also liked Lorca's comment on how the universe perhaps did not like waste.


  14. Ummm.....She's in jail!

    So I watched the first episode after watching 60 Minutes. It seemed a little tedious but I watched the whole episode. I decided to go ahead and pay for CBS All Access, but the one with commercials.

    And I watched the second episode which ended up with Commander Birnham (sp?) stripped of rank and put in jail for life, for mutiny, and so forth. Course I realize that she won't stay in jail...

    As a fan of the original series and of Uhura, I was not anticipating jail.

     

    But someone on 'After Trek' pointed out that her back story sounded a lot like Worf's, whose parents were killed, leaving him to be raised by humans. I guess she will be pulled out of prison by the captain of Discovery,

    like Tom Paris in Voyager.

     

    I'll watch for awhile. I now see why CBS put a stop to the more engaging fan fiction, Axanar.


  15. Hands down. City on the Edge of Forever. Even the name of the episode captures the precarious nature of the choice Kirk was ultimately forced to make. 

    When I see that episode title Kirk's terrible dilemma and painful final choice just pop right out as if IHad just seen the episode.

    That is probably why I like the fan fiction episode 'White Iris'. As a fan it seems that all such events in Kirk's life would have to come to a head.


  16. I really liked John B.'s Phlox. He had such depth and his responses made him seem so real. Two examples.

    His response to the new prejudice against aliens he encountered I think at the start of season four, when he just wouldn't

    go back down to the surface, even though he had been craving Chinese food for so long, was so real. The response to prejudice that never makes the evening news is why it is successful and will never go away......people just stay away from mean people. He settled for take out.

    Then I loved the time he was playing basketball with the senior staff. He was playing the game by standing in one spot shooting 'three-pointers', enjoying himself and thinking about a Denobulan (spelling?) 'analog', interpreting the game in terms of his own cultural perspectives. Everyone else was sweating, running and jumping and exhausting themselves..... playing basketball! To me this is the kind of understated excellence Star Trek had over most sci-fi....interspecies cultural interaction. Phlox considered himself to be playing the game, but was seeing things from his own perspective. The humans were including him and doing things from their perspective, including using and trading Phlox's special shooting talent to win...it was a brief, excellent vignette of inclusion. And right before the tragic news of the embassy explosion.....