Meathead

Agreed. The best thing about Discovery is getting Strange New Worlds. And the cat.

Meathead

Official Trailer

Superman07

Yeah. Nothing really wowing me with that.

Shannon Nutt

I'm with you Superman07 - there's nothing about that trailer that says, "Hey, we're going out with a bang" or "We're doing something exciting" - it just screams "more of the same stuff we've been doing."

milo bloom

A reminder that they filmed the season not knowing it would be the last.

They only did extra filming after they got the cancellation so the final episode could be a finale.

Josh-da-man

At least the way each season on this series is structured and self-contained, each season could have easily been a final season.

Xiroteus

I always thought they knew season five was the last. Season four could have been a series final.

DJariya

Kenneth Mitchell died from ALS. He played multiple characters on Star Trek Discovery.

jjcool

damn. I've been a fan of his since seeing him on Jericho. He would pop up in a lot of different shows for 1 or 2 episodes. Always a solid performance.

printerati

I may get to this once all episodes drop and Paramount+ gives away a free month or 50% off a year again, but I am letting my subscription lapse now that I'm caught up on Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks. This show just isn't enough of a reason to keep it, and never has been.

devilshalo

Bandoman

I'm one of the few who love this show for what it is, and not just because it ushered in a Trek revival. Looking forward to S5.

tanman

So I did something that I NEVER thought I'd do. I rewatched STD. All of it. From the very beginning. I've been watching the Shuttle Pod Show podcast and have been wanting to rewatch Enterprise for awhile now. So after doing that I decided why not rewatch STD with the final season coming up.

I have not been the biggest supporter of STD at all. Now I don't think I've slammed it like others have or spew pure hatred at the show. But I've definitely not held back on my criticisms of the show. I have to say that the series as a whole played much better on a second viewing, for the most part.

There are still some things that I absolutely hate about the show.

• The first and foremost thing I hate is the absolutely idiotic plot points that last entire seasons.
  • Season 1 & 2: The whole hidden Klingon spy thing leading to a love triangle between Michael and the Klingon lady and that stupid looking guy with the punchable face. This plot was so stupid, and lasted for two seasons. I could not get over the fact that someone actually said yes this would be a great thing to spend hours and hours on. The fans will love it. It doesn't help that there is zero chemistry between the two actors. Every. single. emotion wrought scene is like nails on a chalkboard.
  • Then we get to season 3. The Burn. OMG this has to be the single dumbest idea in all of Star Trek history. Like way worse than knocking up your captain when you both turn in to lizards. At least that episode (singular) still had charm. The idea of the burn is okay, I guess, but just feels so forced. All season long it's all about the burn. What is the burn? What caused the burn? Can you believe the burn? AND IT WAS ALL CAUSED BY A FUCKING CRYING KELPIAN MAN CHILD?! What the actual fuck? Like what were the writers thinking? An entire season wasted on this dumb ass idea. They didn't even try to explain it. Just that he was born on a dilithium planet. That's it. And him crying made every single warp capable ship go boom. They were coming off of a perfect season set up too. It's star trek and we're jumping 800 some odd years from anything that we've ever seen in this universe and this is what we get?
• I still thought that were wasn't enough character development. They only focused on a couple of characters and didn't ever say a word about any of the others. You don't even really learn the names of the bridge crew until season 3 or 4. And then they're still one dimensional characters. Some only say a few lines in an entire season. STD is just way plot focused instead of a character focused show.
• The way the show uses technology and technobabble is inconsistent and doesn't make any sense. After 4 seasons I still don't understand why only Stamets can fly the ship and why he needs to be plugged in all the time to jump. It just doesn't make sense even within the confines of the show and feels like saying just because we say so.
• The Klingons. I hated everything to do with the Klingons. Their design, their ship design, every single scene with the Klingons. Every plot having to do with the Klingons. It was all so terrible.
• The conflict. I still hate all the unnecessary interpersonal conflict going on between characters. It just gets incredibly tiresome.
• The violence. I know they were trying to make the impression that this isn't your daddy's star trek but the violence was just a big much at times. It's a bit difficult for the audience to believe that the character Book is a sympathetic animal lover when he just brutally murdered a whole bunch of people to save these animals.

I did find a lot to really like about STD on this rewatch.

• The production values are absolutely incredible. The SFX, the set design, lighting, everything is absolutely gorgeous to look at.
• The actors are phenomenal. Say what you will about Michael Burnham. I really think they took the entirely wrong approach with introducing her character. It was a big risk making the star of your show a mutineer and a bad officer and it failed. But Sonequa Martin-Green is incredible in this. I blame the writers for not using her empathy and emotionality more judiciously. I think she's a phenomenal actress. She really sells her emotions on screen and I really appreciate that. She also has a commanding presence. But it's all hampered by the writers constantly wanting to make her insubordinate. Michelle Yeoh and Jason Isaacs are absolutely phenomenal in their roles. And what Doug Jones can do to create a non-human character is nothing short of legendary. And of course Anson Mount and Ethan Peck are iconic in their roles.
• A lot of people liked season 2 and thought it was the best season but I actually think season 4 is the best so far. There were a lot of filler episodes but the overall story arc of the 10-C is really great. Especially the last few episodes where they are dealing with the 10-C, I think, were phenomenal. I feel like the show finally captured the essence of great trek. It was a great science fiction story filled with wonder and hope. Using innovative techniques and working together as a team to solve a problem. Making first contact with such a different species was very cool. I thought the idea of using chemical compounds and light to communicate was very interesting. Yeah sure it does take a lot from close encounters but it still makes it a uniquely trek story.

Overall I enjoyed my rewatch and appreciate STD a little bit more. Hopefully it goes out on a high note.

Meathead

First two episodes are out.

Bandoman

I have to wait until the weekend to watch.

Noonan

Pretty good start. Looks like the last season will be a classic treasure hunt story, similar to the TNG episode it's based on. Already a bunch of emotional dialogue you'd expect from a show that's on its last season.

milo bloom

We haven't watched it yet, but the whole season was filmed before they knew it was going to be cancelled. They went back and filmed more stuff for the last episode after the fact.

Noonan

Really? It certainly felt like it was written as a final goodbye.

milo bloom

They could have possibly filmed a couple snippets to slip into other eps, but what I saw was that Paramount gave them money to film a new ending to the last episode, so I figured that was the only one that would be changed.

tanman

Honestly there are a lot of episodes that have that attempted emotional gravitas. Basically every episode someone is dying or leaving or ordered the wrong sandwich. Maybe this time it actually feels like it earns it.

tanman

That was a pretty awesome start to the season. I watched the Ready Room and they mentioned how this season there is an air of levity to the writing which I think is really needed. this show definitely took itself too seriously. They finally look like they are having fun. The production continues to amaze. Sure there's a lot of rule of cool going on here but it's still a really fun and awesome looking ride. I mean that entire chase with Michael on the exterior of a ship going at warp was pretty amazing looking. The decoy warp trails were a pretty cool idea too. The sand chasers were also a really cool sequence. Again really incredibly well done. We are really spoiled for this show looking like a feature production. It just hands down looks incredible. Has any modern day Trek show won a technical Emmy?

I mean that shot from the view of the open shuttle bay of them just finishing jumping to a new planet with the whole view spinning? That awesome scene with Michael coming right at Discovery's view screen and beaming right on the bridge and her just taking a seat in the Captain's chair? Two ships using their shields to protect and encampment! Come on! That's just incredible TV!

I didn't really appreciate the Soong android. Outside of TNG I've really disliked all the Soong storylines. I didn't like it in Enterprise and really didn't like it in Picard. Sure they did a good job with making it look like Data but I love Data and would much rather him be unique in the world of Trek.

I have my doubts on basing the entire season on a somewhat problematic TNG episode but the set up at least makes it look like a fun season. I hope they continue to highlight some of the other bridge crew so hopefully they'll get some time in the spotlight instead of it just being the Michael, Saru and Book show.

Noonan

Did you watch both episodes? Because...