And always gonna be. Go cry about it some more
While I do generally enjoy discovery, I do think It’s still pretty flawed. Not because of the spore stuff, but because of the way that they have to deal with so many “danger to the entire galaxy/universe/multiverse” type events back to back. Like, doing a few is fine, I generally enjoyed the xindi arc in Enterprise for example, but having so many starts to feel very forced after awhile.
I especially find that bit with the spore energy extractor in the mirror universe that could kill all life in the multiverse if not stopped jarring, because, if you have a potentially limitlessness number of alternative timelines, and the massive expanse of space, to develop that tech in, the odds that nobody else ever built one of these drops to essentially zero, except that the existence of the plot at all implies nobody else ever has.
Not because of the spore stuff, but because of the way that they have to deal with so many “danger to the entire galaxy/universe/multiverse” type events back to back
I find this complaint to be fairly flawed. It’s like saying that it’s exhausting to have to deal with a space station on DS9 all the time. That’s just… the show. Discovery, the ship, was built to be a fast reaction vessel to respond to immediate and imminent threats. Why is it such a surprise that they do exactly that? It’s like complaining that a special forces team is constantly dealing with dangerous missions. It’s their job.
Every show has their own tone and flavor. Discovery’s is the major threats. That’s really all there is to it on that front. It’s not wishwashy or bad writing. It’s just the literal gimmick of the show.
Not liking it is fine but that specific complaint never really struck true for me.
odds that nobody else ever built one of these drops to essentially zero, except that the existence of the plot at all implies nobody else ever has.
It doesn’t drop to essentially zero. Not all timelines are identical. Each has their own differences. Just because a Charon-type mycelial core was made elsewhere doesn’t mean that those people didn’t notice that issue or curtail it in their own universe. Question, do you have the same complaint about the finale of Lower Decks then? That’s not dissimilar.
Edit: Downvote an opinion you disagree with while refusing to engage. Go replicate a spine, would you?
I’ve not seen much of lower decks tbh. I’ve tried watching it a couple times, trying different episodes in case its just a case of it taking a few to get in stride, but I’ve just not liked it the same as other trek shows, the characters just seem annoying and everything happens too fast.
I’m not really sure what you’re saying in the first part here. Not liking a show’s gimmick is a completely acceptable reason to not like the show. You agreed that it was acceptable to dislike the gimmick but you don’t like people citing the gimmick as the reason they didn’t like the show?
I’m not really sure what you’re saying in the first part here. Not liking a show’s gimmick is a completely acceptable reason to not like the show.
I’m probably being autistic again and not wording this as well as I can hear it in my head.
You agreed that it was acceptable to dislike the gimmick
Correct
but you don’t like people citing the gimmick as the reason they didn’t like the show?
It’s more that I don’t like it when people slam the gimmick as being nonsensical in the lore. If people don’t like the constant world ending events, thats totally fine. But I dislike it when the complaint comes rooted from not understanding something that is inevitably going to happen in that world.
Like to try and elaborate on the special forces analogy, it’s more like this.
If you don’t like special forces shows, totally understandable. But if you’re saying that the special forces show is unreasonable because that stuff is never needed or would never happen? That’s where my problem lies. It doesn’t come from disliking the gimmick but questioning the gimmick.
Like you can not like Section 31 all you want but some sort of shady ass intelligence agency was going to happen eventually inside of the Federation, one way or another. Same thing with the idea of a Trek show that does focus on the major events while other series get to focus on either minor events or major events of a different variety, like diplomatic incidents or what have you.
Not because of the spore stuff, but because of the way that they have to deal with so many “danger to the entire galaxy/universe/multiverse” type events back to back. Like, doing a few is fine, I generally enjoyed the xindi arc in Enterprise for example, but having so many starts to feel very forced after awhile.
I totally agree. When the stakes are over the top it makes the universe feel small. When everything depends on one crew at all times it feels hard to believe there is a larger world they exist in in which to immerse my imagination. Discovery has fantastic characters, acting, directing, costumes, sets - I would love to see all these great features thrive without leaning on artificial plot tension. The main goal of any show is to make you care about what happens. Ideally you care because you feel a personal connection to the characters. But making the stakes huge, and including frequent ticking-clock scenarios is easier. The thing is I do care about these characters! The artifice is unnecessary!
But it got better the longer the show went on! I appreciate how every season the stakes got smaller, and more believable, and the pacing got less frantic especially in the last two seasons.
spoilers: de-escalating stakes each season
- season 1: The entire Klingon war, and btw the existence of every possible universe is threatened.
- season 2: All life is about to be wiped out, but only in one universe.
- season 3: Is the Federation over? It’s not clear if the dilithium crisis extends to other galaxies, but the stakes seem to be scoped to geopolitics in one quadrant.
- season 4: Several planets are in danger. Still bigger stakes than I’d prefer, but there is much improvement over season 1.
I especially find that bit with the spore energy extractor in the mirror universe that could kill all life in the multiverse if not stopped jarring, because, if you have a potentially limitlessness number of alternative timelines, and the massive expanse of space, to develop that tech in, the odds that nobody else ever built one of these drops to essentially zero, except that the existence of the plot at all implies nobody else ever has.
Agreed. It’d have been perfectly fine to scale it down to have the extractor messing up the nearby mycelial network/subspace enough that the spore hub drive would become inoperable, and they’d lose the only method they had to get home.
If anything, that might be more compelling, since you could easily squeeze in a character conflict with some people wanting to leave, damn the consequences, or make preparations for a long term stay in the mirror universe if they got stuck.
In some way, its probably similar to Lazarus’ machine. He managed to build something capable of obliterating two universes. It didn’t seem that difficult, or that much more advanced than the Enterprise, you’d think someone else would have built something similar, and accidentally destroyed the universe in so doing.
