Despite the publication date, I wrote this before watching “Choose Your Pain.” Check out my reviews for "The Vulcan Hello"/"Battle at the Binary Stars" and "Context Is for Kings." Spoilers follow (duh).
Now this is the Trek that I remember.
Coincidentally (or not), this is also the best "Discovery" episode yet.
We have a title that would fit right in with the Original Series. We have noticeably fewer lens flares. We have some familiar themes. And finally, despite the show's darker veneer, we have some of that famous Trek idealism starting to shine through.
10.17.2017
10.10.2017
"Star Trek: Discovery" Review: "Context Is for Kings"
Despite the publication date, I wrote this before watching “The Butcher's Knife Cares Not for the Lamb's Cry.” I hope to make this a little less scattershot than last week's edition, but spoilers still follow (duh).
Michael Burnham emerged from the disastrous Battle at the Binary Stars resigned to a life behind bars (or force fields), but only six months later, she gets a chance to publicly repent. Her old captain's death clearly still weighing on her, she apologizes to her old comrade Saru. She tells her new captain that she believed she was acting in Georgiou's best interest, even in attempting a mutiny against her.
Despite the thriller feel of much of "Context Is for Kings," those two conversations are clearly the fulcrum of the episode. We get a look deep into Michael's psyche: her emotional state (her feelings of guilt, that she needs to atone, perhaps to the point of self-flagellation) and her conscience. Even so, these scenes highlight a familiar narrative shortcoming: Just as in the two-part pilot, we find the show's writers taking shortcuts to poignancy.
Michael Burnham emerged from the disastrous Battle at the Binary Stars resigned to a life behind bars (or force fields), but only six months later, she gets a chance to publicly repent. Her old captain's death clearly still weighing on her, she apologizes to her old comrade Saru. She tells her new captain that she believed she was acting in Georgiou's best interest, even in attempting a mutiny against her.
Despite the thriller feel of much of "Context Is for Kings," those two conversations are clearly the fulcrum of the episode. We get a look deep into Michael's psyche: her emotional state (her feelings of guilt, that she needs to atone, perhaps to the point of self-flagellation) and her conscience. Even so, these scenes highlight a familiar narrative shortcoming: Just as in the two-part pilot, we find the show's writers taking shortcuts to poignancy.
10.03.2017
“Star Trek: Discovery” Review: “The Vulcan Hello”/“Battle at the Binary Stars”
Despite the publication date, I wrote this before watching “Context Is for Kings.” Spoilers follow (duh).
I went into “Star Trek: Discovery” with extreme prejudice.
Bias came easily for me. A new Trek after a lengthy hiatus offered the opportunity for a reboot that would focus on a new setting, with new conflicts to resolve — something audacious like the abandoned Bryan Singer project “Star Trek: Federation” or, for that matter, “The Next Generation.” For all that show’s faults in its early going, it should be admired for the creative chances it took. Put yourself in the producers’ shoes 30 years ago. Which villainous races do fans of the Original Series best remember? Well, one is now a Starfleet ally, and the other we’re not even going to put on screen. What alien species did we get to know best on the Original Series? Don’t expect to find one of them on the bridge.
Instead, I learned that this new show would have the warmed-over setting I should have expected — comfort food to die-hards, perhaps, or maybe a way to draw in fans of the film reboot, but not a great deal of grist for something genuinely new, nothing that would inherently challenge the audience. This decision also set up a tense relationship with franchise canon. At the very least, jumping to, say, the 2400s would have assuaged fan concerns about the level of technology being featured in relation to that shown on series set further in the future.
I went into “Star Trek: Discovery” with extreme prejudice.
Bias came easily for me. A new Trek after a lengthy hiatus offered the opportunity for a reboot that would focus on a new setting, with new conflicts to resolve — something audacious like the abandoned Bryan Singer project “Star Trek: Federation” or, for that matter, “The Next Generation.” For all that show’s faults in its early going, it should be admired for the creative chances it took. Put yourself in the producers’ shoes 30 years ago. Which villainous races do fans of the Original Series best remember? Well, one is now a Starfleet ally, and the other we’re not even going to put on screen. What alien species did we get to know best on the Original Series? Don’t expect to find one of them on the bridge.
Instead, I learned that this new show would have the warmed-over setting I should have expected — comfort food to die-hards, perhaps, or maybe a way to draw in fans of the film reboot, but not a great deal of grist for something genuinely new, nothing that would inherently challenge the audience. This decision also set up a tense relationship with franchise canon. At the very least, jumping to, say, the 2400s would have assuaged fan concerns about the level of technology being featured in relation to that shown on series set further in the future.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)