[ShinySteelRobot]

Like everyone else, I thought the Kirk actor is too deadpan to be Kirk. He needs to EMOTE much better. Hopefully he amps up the charisma and charm in S2.

I hated that they killed off Hemmer in the Gorn episode- I thought he was a REALLY interesting character- but like the way they've made the Gorn a real terror

It's funny, when I was watching that episode I thought Hemmer is the best character after Pike and Spock, and was really looking forward to seeing more of Hemmer in S2 and beyond. Then they up and killed him off!

I keep hoping they'll find a way to "revive" him though. Maybe the writers were hedging their bets, because we didn't see a body, and we know that Hemmer is cold-resistant and cold kills Gorns, so maybe the Gorns would die of cold before they "hatched" and killed him.

That aside, IMHO they made the Gorn too much like the xenomorphs from Aliens, with the ultra-violence and creepy intelligence and gestating within humans and growing to full size in a few days etc.

 

[Rob Helmerichs]

Like everyone else, I thought the Kirk actor is too deadpan to be Kirk. He needs to EMOTE much better.

Or, if he wants to be less like Pike and more like Shatner, emote much worse.

 

[cwerdna]

I liked this final S1 episode, although I don't remember anything about any Klingon time crystal from TOS, but what the hey. I thought you always had to slingshot around a star to time travel.

The time crystal jazz was in STD and not something from TOS. If you watch it from the beginning of Disco or at least the season were Pike comes into picture (I believe S2:E1 is where you should start), you'll see what I was referring to and already spoiled earlier.

I liked Disco for awhile but boy... season 4 with the DMA and all was seriously lackluster. You won't need to watch S4 of STD for the Pike time crystal stuff.

 

[dcheesi]

Like everyone else, I thought the Kirk actor is too deadpan to be Kirk. He needs to EMOTE much better. Hopefully he amps up the charisma and charm in S2.


It's funny, when I was watching that episode I thought Hemmer is the best character after Pike and Spock, and was really looking forward to seeing more of Hemmer in S2 and beyond. Then they up and killed him off!

I keep hoping they'll find a way to "revive" him though. Maybe the writers were hedging their bets, because we didn't see a body, and we know that Hemmer is cold-resistant and cold kills Gorns, so maybe the Gorns would die of cold before they "hatched" and killed him.

That aside, IMHO they made the Gorn too much like the xenomorphs from Aliens, with the ultra-violence and creepy intelligence and gestating within humans and growing to full size in a few days etc.

I kind of agree; however, it seems clear that they planned this ahead of time. That "when to die" bit in an earlier episode wasn't just random, I could sense Chekov's Gun[1] being cocked... And now it seems likely that's all to make way for a new Scotty.

[1]Or perhaps Ensign Chekov's Phaser, in this case?

 

[dcheesi]

EditGoneWrong: Also agree on on the XenoGorn... just makes it even harder to reconcile them w/ the slow, lumbering brute from their original TOS apperance (not that that was ever not going to be problematic).

 

[krumgrinder]

The time crystal jazz was in STD and not something from TOS. If you watch it from the beginning of Disco or at least the season were Pike comes into picture (I believe S2:E1 is where you should start), you'll see what I was referring to and already spoiled earlier.

I liked Disco for awhile but boy... season 4 with the DMA and all was seriously lackluster. You won't need to watch S4 of STD for the Pike time crystal stuff.

Ah, that makes sense, since I haven't watched the STD series yet. Thanks!

Anyone else ambivalent about the Number One character? Interesting that they made her an Illyrian augment (not human?), but seemed to stop there in terms of character development. Even the one episode where her history is revealed seemed like the character was never really fleshed out, and she's generally just a 'Mom' character to the rest of the crew (no disrespect whatsoever meant to Moms here. ) And, now she's gone for a while, it seems. Looked like they were going for some possible romantic tension between her and Pike but couldn't quite decide if they wanted to go there, almost a Mulder/Scully thing? And then the final scene in the transporter room with the current love interest, (Captain Batel?) going cold... perhaps they are doing this purposefully. Hmmm.

 

[Rob Helmerichs]

As somebody noted earlier, it's easy to see the Gorn in the same light as the Klingons...60s technology just wasn't up to the challenge of portraying them accurately.

 

[doom1701]

Ah, that makes sense, since I haven't watched the STD series yet. Thanks!

When I watched the first episode with my family (who hasn't seen Disco), I prefaced it with "In another show Pike touches a Klingon time crystal and sees that he's seriously injured in the future. It's dumb and it probably won't come up again, but you should know that he's aware of what will happen."

I think that explanation still holds up even with the season finale, and means that they don't have to be subjected to Discovery.

Anyone else ambivalent about the Number One character? Interesting that they made her an Illyrian augment (not human?), but seemed to stop there in terms of character development. Even the one episode where her history is revealed seemed like the character was never really fleshed out, and she's generally just a 'Mom' character to the rest of the crew (no disrespect whatsoever meant to Moms here. ) And, now she's gone for a while, it seems. Looked like they were going for some possible romantic tension between her and Pike but couldn't quite decide if they wanted to go there, almost a Mulder/Scully thing? And then the final scene in the transporter room with the current love interest, (Captain Batel?) going cold... perhaps they are doing this purposefully. Hmmm.

They did really well with the Pike/Number One dynamic based on what little we saw in The Cage. I wouldn't expect there to be any kind of relationship between the two of them. The character (or the actor) did feel like they never quite knew what to do with her beyond what little we saw in early Trek, though. On the one hand I want to see some justice for her, but on the other hand, this would be a good way to phase out a character that's never mentioned again in Trek canon.

 

[Guy Fleegman]

Are the Short Treks canon?
Did Spock and Una not do it in the turbolift?

 

[getbak]

Are the Short Treks canon?
Did Spock and Una not do it in the turbolift?

No, they didn't. She unzipped her uniform slightly because it was too warm and they sung a show tune.

 

[Guy Fleegman]

Thus smiles all around as they stepped out of the turbolift

 

[TonyD79]

We jumped right from this episode to Balance of Terror. The Romulans looked so much like Vulcans, the commander could be Spock's father.

Not to mention that T’Pring may have found one of the Romulan officers to be a Stonn cold fox.

 

[smbaker]

What really made this episode was the casting of James T Kirk. Never have I seen a better casting choice. This guy was indistinguishable William Shatner. Bravo!

Wait... no... I can't say that with a straight face. What were they thinking? I'm guessing this guy is intended to play a 7-years-younger Kirk in subsequent season. The fresh-out-of-the-academy Kirk. He probably won't pull that off very well either, but it would be better than this performance. Every time I saw the guy, it pulled me back out of the episode a little bit. Plus, there was the "oh half my ship was blown up but I can't pull a sadface or an angryface".

Other than that, this was by far my favorite episode of the series, and the first one where I feel like they actually captured the feel of a TOS episode. About 10 minutes in, I had to pause and refresh myself on the plot of "Balance of Terror". The episode managed to produce tension, drama, and emotion, even though you knew that there was going to be a reset by the end of it.

One place where I will disagree with most people is the subject of Number One. I like the concept of a strong female first officer, but this one just doesn't work for me.

 

[PJO1966]

Not to mention that T’Pring may have found one of the Romulan officers to be a Stonn cold fox.

I did catch that one as well.

 

[smak]

To be fair to the actor playing Kirk, I think it's up to the director/showrunner to get him to a place where he acts more like other versions of Kirk.

If he's acting this way, and nobody says anything about matching it to other Kirks, or whatever, then I think it's more on them, not him.

Or they want him to be like this for a specific reason we don't know yet.

-smak-

 

[Shakhari]

It's always tricky stepping into a role made famous by someone else. Ethan Peck nails it week after week. Paul Wesley whiffed.

 

[Saturn_V]

It's always tricky stepping into a role made famous by someone else.

Tricky only in that the internet is loudest when it doesn't agree. There have been five actors that have played the Batman villain Joker (live-action) in the past 50+ years. Cesar Romero, Jack Nicholson, Heath Ledger, Jared Leto and Joaquin Phoenix. Every time there was a change, there was resistance; almost an allergic, don't-like-this-new-vegetable reaction. And every one of those actors made iconic performances in their own right. (even Jared Leto)

Guess I'm not stuck to any actor's specific performance or interpretation of a character. Again, I didn't find anything objectionable to Paul Wesley's Kirk. It's sans swagger that's for sure- but that's not a neg in my book.

 

[hapster85]

Watched all 10 episodes this week and thoroughly enjoyed them all. Absolutely love Anson Mount in this role. The whole cast has done a great job. Very much looking forward to next season.

 

[TonyD79]

What? No one gonna make the obvious joke about a Wesley wrecking Star Trek?

 

[hapster85]

What? No one gonna make the obvious joke about a Wesley wrecking Star Trek?

Lol. He wasn't the best Kirk, for sure. But he did ok. The only other thing I've seen him in is The Vampire Diaries. He does angst very well. Not so much with the swagger.

A certain piece of fan fiction notwithstanding, I was never a Wesley Crusher hater. He wasn't my favorite character, but I didn't hate him. Maybe because I was only a few years older than the character, I could more really identify with him.