So far I’ve only seen the first season of Disco and the first episode of Season 2, but I echo almost all of Chris’s thoughts on the pilot with the exception of Michelle Yeoh. While I do see what Chris means about the way she delivers her lines, it feels more like she’s just one of those actors that tends to over-enunciate every syllable, which makes it sometimes sound scripted. I have found her to be quite wonderful in every project I’ve seen her in, and I think her strengths as an actor are what enable me to overlook that particular aspect of her delivery. The “eye-roll” shot and dizzying camera angles unfortunately seem to be the norm in many modern-day productions. I don’t know why this is a thing either, but it’s damn distracting. One of the biggest things that disappointed me with Quantum Leap 2022 was the generic sets and CGI leap effects that somehow looked worse than the traditional SFX we all knew and loved. Even the familiar sound effects oftentimes got lost and drowned out in the generic score. Like Chris said, everything in this pilot was so busy and distracting. The visuals of Classic Trek and Berman-era Trek felt alive, vibrant and colorful. Everything in Disco looks bland and sterile, not unlike QL 2022. Again, not sure why this type of dark and gritty procedural environment is so appealing to general audiences, but it’s a bit alienating to us older fans when something we love becomes unrecognizable. Regarding Michael Burnham, I can’t stand her. Nothing against Sonequa, I just totally agree her character is written terribly. And don’t even get me started on the fact that she’s supposed to be Spock’s adopted human sister that we conveniently never heard about for the first 50 years of Trek lore. That type of retconning very rarely works unless you’re a really good writer that can pull it off organically. Didn’t we already go down this road with Sybok? It was stupid then and it’s stupid now! There just seemed to be no good reason for this other than for the producers to say, “Hey look, she has a connection to one of the most beloved characters in TOS. So what if she’s self-righteous and insubordinate, Sarek raised her, so Trekkies are gonna automatically love her, right?” As much as I did like Quantum Leap 2022, this was the biggest issue I had with it: giving us characters like Magic or Janis that could literally be anyone, but we’re supposed to have a nostalgic or emotional connection to them because a “legacy” name is attached to them. Why even pull on that thread if you’re not going to do anything with the connection other than to say, “Hey, remember this character?” Or, “Remember this happened? Yeah, that was something, wasn’t it? Now let’s forget about it.” Wink wink, nudge nudge… It’s sort of insulting to your baseline audience who want that connective tissue to be meaningful. I had no reason to care about Michael’s character because she was written as someone who consistently came across as self-righteous and sort of smug because she was “smarter” than everyone else. In fact, the only two characters I really got on board with for the first season were Lorca and Tilly. Tilly was the sole ray of hope and optimism in a setting that lacked both. The second half of Season 1 was where I actually really liked what Discovery was doing. Up until then, it seriously felt like it was going nowhere. Quite frankly, the Mirror Universe arc was the only thing I remember from Season 1. Like I said in my previous feedback, the first two episodes of Disco felt more like a prologue or a backstory that should have been explained in an actual pilot episode where you introduce ALL of your main characters. Anyway, those are my thoughts on “The Vulcan Hello.” Great discussion as always and looking forward to more! ~Damon
So far I’ve only seen the first season of Disco and the first episode of Season 2, but I echo almost all of Chris’s thoughts on the pilot with the exception of Michelle Yeoh. While I do see what Chris means about the way she delivers her lines, it feels more like she’s just one of those actors that tends to over-enunciate every syllable, which makes it sometimes sound scripted. I have found her to be quite wonderful in every project I’ve seen her in, and I think her strengths as an actor are what enable me to overlook that particular aspect of her delivery.
The “eye-roll” shot and dizzying camera angles unfortunately seem to be the norm in many modern-day productions. I don’t know why this is a thing either, but it’s damn distracting. One of the biggest things that disappointed me with Quantum Leap 2022 was the generic sets and CGI leap effects that somehow looked worse than the traditional SFX we all knew and loved. Even the familiar sound effects oftentimes got lost and drowned out in the generic score. Like Chris said, everything in this pilot was so busy and distracting. The visuals of Classic Trek and Berman-era Trek felt alive, vibrant and colorful. Everything in Disco looks bland and sterile, not unlike QL 2022. Again, not sure why this type of dark and gritty procedural environment is so appealing to general audiences, but it’s a bit alienating to us older fans when something we love becomes unrecognizable.
Regarding Michael Burnham, I can’t stand her. Nothing against Sonequa, I just totally agree her character is written terribly. And don’t even get me started on the fact that she’s supposed to be Spock’s adopted human sister that we conveniently never heard about for the first 50 years of Trek lore. That type of retconning very rarely works unless you’re a really good writer that can pull it off organically. Didn’t we already go down this road with Sybok? It was stupid then and it’s stupid now! There just seemed to be no good reason for this other than for the producers to say, “Hey look, she has a connection to one of the most beloved characters in TOS. So what if she’s self-righteous and insubordinate, Sarek raised her, so Trekkies are gonna automatically love her, right?” As much as I did like Quantum Leap 2022, this was the biggest issue I had with it: giving us characters like Magic or Janis that could literally be anyone, but we’re supposed to have a nostalgic or emotional connection to them because a “legacy” name is attached to them. Why even pull on that thread if you’re not going to do anything with the connection other than to say, “Hey, remember this character?” Or, “Remember this happened? Yeah, that was something, wasn’t it? Now let’s forget about it.” Wink wink, nudge nudge… It’s sort of insulting to your baseline audience who want that connective tissue to be meaningful. I had no reason to care about Michael’s character because she was written as someone who consistently came across as self-righteous and sort of smug because she was “smarter” than everyone else.
In fact, the only two characters I really got on board with for the first season were Lorca and Tilly. Tilly was the sole ray of hope and optimism in a setting that lacked both. The second half of Season 1 was where I actually really liked what Discovery was doing. Up until then, it seriously felt like it was going nowhere. Quite frankly, the Mirror Universe arc was the only thing I remember from Season 1. Like I said in my previous feedback, the first two episodes of Disco felt more like a prologue or a backstory that should have been explained in an actual pilot episode where you introduce ALL of your main characters.
Anyway, those are my thoughts on “The Vulcan Hello.” Great discussion as always and looking forward to more!
~Damon
Trust me dont watch this show