The Shuttle Pod Explores New Star Trek Shows, The Latest Rumors, And “Calypso”

Shuttle Pod 61 – ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’, Section 31 Rumor, Picard Show, and “Calypso”

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Brian, Jared, Kayla, and Matt make their way through the latest news and rumors about upcoming CBS Trek shows, including the official announcement of a new cartoon series called Lower Decks, and the rumors of a Michelle Yeoh show focusing on Emperor Georgiou in Section 31. We also discuss some of the comments made by author Michael Chabon about his outlook on writing for the untitled Picard show.

Finally, last week saw the release of the second Short Treks episode, co-written by Chabon, titled “Calypso.” Listen along as we discuss this rather unusual Star Trek short.

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“Calypso” lays serious shade on canonistas and hater fans… a story about the ship that’s stuck in the past. Craft spits out his response to watching the same cartoon thousands of times.

“The V’draysh, they prize things like that, relics from long ago.”
Craft then chooses to live in the present rather than be comforted by a simulation of the past.
“It’s torture.” – Craft

The accusations of “Liar” back and forth are a proxy for the ‘what is true Star Trek?’ debate: first when he says his name, then her statement that she enjoys alone time, third, when Craft declines the kiss and she says ‘it’s nothing.’ Calypso is an artistic kiss goodbye to fan film canonistas–people who’d rather paint Star Trek into a corner with canon and vintage production art.

That’s a really interesting interpretation. I don’t know how much of it was meant by the writer, but that’s the great thing about art: subjectivity.

I for one am a sucker for AI stories, and I absolutely loved the idea of an AI pleading with a human, saying she’s not alive, only to be told that she’s lying. I even loved the subtle Blade Runner aspects, in that Zora seemed way more alive than Craft.

In short, more stories like this please. Play with the time period, tell strong stories about what it means to be human, and leave the canon behind for the most part. Star Trek as a whole got a lot better to me when I stopped trying to see it all as future history, and rather stories people wanted to tell.

Zora…the name of one the replicants from “Blade Runner”, yes?(spelled”Zhora” for that film) Intriguing….

“In short, more stories like this please. Play with the time period, tell strong stories about what it means to be human, and leave the canon behind for the most part. Star Trek as a whole got a lot better to me when I stopped trying to see it all as future history, and rather stories people wanted to tell.”

I completely agree! Which ironically why so many people want the franchise to go forward in the first place. Because you’re not worried about canon or how it should stack up in an already established period. You would just have the freedom to tell not only whatever story you want but shape the universe however you want and exactly why a story like Calypso feels so fresh. Of course it doesn’t have to be a thousand years into the future or but a few decades from anything we know would go a loooong way. And yes I think people need to let go this weird idea Star Trek is suppose to be our future. Maybe in the 60s when space travel was still just a dream but it’s a different world today.

But yes I personally want Trek to think BIG and to be able to come up with any story it wants. I too want more A.I. stories, maybe we will get them more on the Picard at least. I don’t expect Data to be back but it would be nice to have advance machines like him again.

The idea that moving forward frees you from canon is the biggest misconception of all. The key is to write stories and not worry too much about the little things.

Obviously it doesn’t relieve you completely from canon. It’s still in the same universe. The point is they can reshape that universe however they want the farther you go forward like TNG did and Caplyso hinted at. Prequels don’t have the same freedom and just have more of a limit because of it. And if you retcon too much its only going to make fans upset as the last Fantastic Beast prequel movie is proving and Discovery has proved.

But post Nemesis has a ton of restrictions. Technology is at a certain point that makes it restrictive, the state of politics is in a certain place…

…noq, a good writer can find a way to set things up however they want, but it’s not really as free or open as many insist, and really just as restrictive as crafting a story and then finding the best point in Trek history to set it.

Other than Romulus blowing up they can do what they want now. They can introduce anybody they want, unlike Discovery. Technology is pretty funny since most of the stuff in Discovery could fit into the 25th century so I don’t see an issue there at all.

Setting Discovery so close to TOS did nothing other than a way to bring in TOS characters. That and the Klingon war, which again could’ve been set in the 25th century.

Absolutely correct, Tiger. Well put.

I see his point, but really can’t agree. Fresh stories (and even stories that re-interpret canon events in fresh and interesting ways, e.g. “Lethe”) can take place at any point in the timeline. They just need better writers.

Michael no one is saying otherwise. I’m not saying you can’t tell great stories with prequels, I’m only saying most of the time you have to work backwards because you are usually dealing with an established universe so that automatically limits story telling vs a sequel where you can usually take a story nearly any direction you like. It’s simple, if you want to kill Kirk off in a sequel, you can. In a prequel, you can’t because we know he will be around later. There is simply more a proverbial canon wall that limits what you can do with some characters vs others. Thats all that is being said.

We make such a big deal over the word canon, but it just means continuity. That’s important to EVERY story out there if you want to tell them to feel logical and well written. But after 50 years of it, it’s just harder to follow.

But I wasn’t trying to say it was bad because yes if you have great writers then they can come up with original stories in any period regardless. A good example of this is Enterprise fourth season. They found a lot of great stories to tie in to TOS, but it was obvious most of those stories was simply working backwards to stuff they knew happened. But a lot of the stories were still original and the tie ins is probably what made the show more appealing.

Agreed, the best example of flipping cannon on its head without blowing it up would be Enterprise episode “Bound.”

Yep.

Tiger2, Trek does have a history of very nice standalone episodes in the same general spirit as “Calypso”, but going forward and thinking big would definitely be a good idea for a full series. The priority should still be the quality of writing and acting, of course, but dialling up the scale of the saga would mean you can unleash Trek’s full potential. Ideally with an HBO-style budget.

Speaking of epic scales, some great news for you: Amazon is producing a TV adaptation of the Culture novels: https://www.theverge.com/2018/2/21/17035618/amazon-culture-series-iain-m-banks-television-show. It was announced back in February, but I only found out about it a few days ago. So you’ll get to see fully-sentient AI starships, gigantic orbital habitats with artificial continents and oceans, and all that good stuff ;) Basically the depiction of a civilisation that could easily build V’Ger’s huge spacecraft.

Wow this is GREAT news. A lot of amazing science fiction is coming thanks to streaming sites. Apple is making a Foundation show for its new streaming site as well which I’m also reading some of the other books. I only read the original trilogy a few years ago but started on others about six months ago. Its a great time to be a science fiction fan and even better if you like seeing stories that can go much farther in the future with higher technology.

Definitely good news, but I am also scared that they may change the stories too much to adapt it for more mainstream audience. Foundation novels are not really known for their big action set-pieces, they are more cerebral science fiction. Let’s hope the producers don’t dumb down the stories for bigger ratings.

Agreed.

Thanks for the link. Ringworld has been ripe for adaptation since its publication in 1970. I’d love to see it happen (though I hope they stay away from Niven’s sequel novels, which are mostly not very good).

So far as I’m concerned, worrying about Trek’s “future history” became a mug’s game after 1996.

A classic case of art being in the eye of the beholder. A very interesting and worthwhile reading of a story derivitive of the Odyssey and Bladerunner 2049. Regardless of the intentions of the writer this really stacks up.

This post is a good example of someone imposing their own beliefs onto art instead of the art provoking thought.

Art is subjective, we bring to it our life and experiences and see how it challenges or informs our preconceived notions. I for one found Jefferies’ breakdown interesting, and plausible. But as always, it’s in the eye of the beholder.

Michael Chabon doesn’t care one jot about your lil bugaboo.

Not sure I agree with all of this, but definitely one of the more interesting posts I’ve seen on these forums in some time.

It’s probably fair to say that at fifteen I was Trek canon-obsessed, though we didn’t use (or, more accurately, abuse) the word ‘canon’ at the time. By my lights, anyone over the age of thirty should probably find better things to worry about.

I was the same way. As a teenager I studied everything regarding Trek, but as an adult, I just want a good story set in the universe.

The Short Trek Episode Calypso took place in the 33rd Century I liked it it was great I like this Century cause the Best thing about it is Picard and the Next Gen Crew are all dead and Buried also it’s Post Nemesis, I read that we will see the Character of Craft again I really hope we get a Star Trek Spin off based around the Character of Craft in the 33rd Century it would be so great.

You DO realize he’s a regular on Discovery, right?

What? No, he absolutely isn’t. Are you confusing him with Ronnie Rowe Jr.? (Lt. Bryce)

What?? Where did you get Craft would be a ‘regular’? I have heard somewhere he’s going to be in the show next season as well but others have said that’s not true. And after seeing how the story unfolded, I can obviously see this is probably a one and done appearance after all. But this is still Star Trek so it doesn’t stop him from showing up again at some point but I never heard he was joining the cast or anything. That info would be everywhere by now.

Do YOU realize he absolutley isnt. AHve you even paid any attention while watching Calypso?

Ah…the rumor is about Section 31, not the fate of Trek 14, which seems to be dying on the vine. There’s more then a little speculation floating around out there (which I will admit, may be worthless) that financing for the project has dried up.

How’s that for a rumor?

Whatever happened to Tarantino’s Trek? That seems to be dead or dying as well. I’d imagine if they couldn’t reach an agreement with Trek 14 then they would have fast tracked Tarantino’s version, but he is busy with his Manson flick I guess.

Tarantino’s Trek was always supposed to be 2022, or beyond, but the same budgeting issues may bedevil that project, particularly so if the Kelvin cast is featured. If Paramount wasn’t willing to cough up more the 100MM for Trek 14, there isn’t a chance that Tarantino gets a similar budget.

My guess is that, whatever else you think of the man or his talents (or whether they’re appropriate for Trek in any case), Tarantino would be happy to make a Trek film on any budget that was remotely reasonable. And I’ll bet it would look great, too.

My guess is its still being written but if it features the Kelvin cast like everyone has said its does then it will be in the exact same place the other movie is until they can resolve the Pine problem. And I don’t think that will get made for a few years one way or the other unless someone else directs it.

Yeah I think the Bad Robot ship has sailed. They never were popular enough for the cost and now that Disco is placating the fans, there’s no guarantee the audience would even show up for a fourth outing of something completely different. It’s a shame in some respects, but I also think it’s a natural point to end the films. I think it was two years ago.

As much as I enjoyed Beyond and would love to see a sequel along the same quality lines, my Trek fix is being more than satisfied with Discovery, and further with the Picard show.

And fans who dislike DSC will probably not really enjoy another Abrams-verse film.

How is it you say everything I think?

Phil
These rumors … they make me sad. :^(

Yeah, Marja, but not entirely unexpected.

So, Zora self-emerged… then ‘created’ a duplicate Craft. If that copy has AI, then Zora is a goddess!

This Short Trek was okay. However, it wouldn’t surprise me if the hack writers of STD forget about Calypso and that the Discovery has to survive the series.

What are they doing to our beloved Trek?!

Bringing it back from the dead? Because without them, Star Trek would have died back in 2005. It was stale, and despite Manny Coto doing his best, too many viewers had been lost. Not only that, the movies weren’t making money anymore.

TNG was met with just as much hostility as Disco, but fortunately the writers and producers didn’t listen to fans and kept focusing on themselves and their work. As much as I love it, Michael Piller’s Trek won’t work in our time (the proof is Enterprise’s ratings), just like the 60’s didn’t work in 1987. It needed to adapt, and it has.

“TNG was met with just as much hostility as Disco, but fortunately the writers and producers didn’t listen to fans and kept focusing on themselves and their work.”

But you’re really skirting over history there. The problem with early TNG was with its creator Roddenberry and all the crazy rules the writers had to follow. Once he was basically gone, they were just able to write more stories they wanted and hired a lot of new people in third season as well. They clearly heard the complaints, but it was still the 80s, internet just wasn’t around like today.

I don’t disagree with you though, I don’t think Discovery is getting any more or less hate than TNG did. It’s all a process, which is why while I have a feeling with more feedback they will improve. It’s pretty clear now they are responding to feedback and why Klingons don’t look like an Alien hybrid but actual Klingons again.

That’s why I don’t get WHY people are so bothered with the criticisms? EVERY spin off show has dealt with it in some manner. VOY seem to gotten the least but it definitely got criticism more as it went on.

If DIS was in its fourth season and still this much resentment then OK, it may be a problem. Trouble with DIS was because it was also made by a creator who was use to having his way and things a certain way. Some good of course good but others bad. That guy is now fired along with the people who replaced him so now we are seeing a bit more wiggle room and a return to basics.

“That guy is now fired along with the people who replaced him so now we are seeing a bit more wiggle room and a return to basics.”

Yeah, I’m really looking forward to season 2 for that reason. Having a staff more free to tell their own story will give Disco it’s unique footprint in the franchise.

I get what you said about the criticism and early TNG. I don’t know how much of that was based on ratings/writers woes, and how much was due to the audience, but whichever was the case, they saw the problems and got rid of them, so I did misspeak there. The parallels between TNG starting and Disco starting are really interesting to see, and hopefully Disco gets better just like TNG did.

Season 2 TNG is a guilty pleasure of mine…

And yes, criticisms should be welcome. If someone loves the show, it’s good to know why someone doesn’t, and vice versa. Understanding other people is what the series are all about, and if we want make the fictional future a real one, we should live by that example.

Exactly! I don’t know if Discovery will improve but it does look like they have made some changes in order for it to improve. And you’re right about TNG, I don’t know either how much of those changes were due to audience feedback but clearly the production itself knew they had issues early on so they made changes. And they were mostly for the better and why TNG is hailed as a great show today and not the awful show no one likes to talk about that was cancelled by third season.

I just don’t understand why people take some of this so personally? Sure if you just generally like the show, I get the push back. But it’s not being treated any differently than every Trek spin off has been. They have all gone through this. Part of it is the production itself and other part is an audience that has difficulty dealing with change. Its not one or the other, it’s both. In time (hopefully) DIS will have stronger stories and feel like its own thing and the audience will accept its a different show for a different time and come around, EXACTLY like what happened with TNG.

I did find it funny some people suggested in another thread only TNG fans hate DIS because they aren’t use to change when TNG was considered blasphemy when it first came out. It wasn’t just because it was too different, it was how dare you even make a Trek show without Kirk and Spock. Once that major hurdle was gone, every show has had it MUCH easier since.

The problem [it seemed to some of us] was, the Disco haters hated it because it was “too dark” … which was a very odd complaint. All I could figure was that they grew up on TNG, and liked the “no conflicts among the crew” idea so much that they can’t stand seeing it on Disco.

Apparently none of those folks watched DS9 whose tone is indeed dark with the threat of the Dominion. [shrug] All I know is I do get tired of what I consider un-constructive criticism. Not, “I don’t understand why the Klingons look so different” but, “These aren’t Klingons! They’re changing them just to bother me!” [exaggeration for humorous effect]”What’s with the stupid science?” “Why so many minorities?” “How colossally stupid” “How stupid do they think we are?” and so on. And on.

Does it make me a silly, uncritical person if I like all Trek? Does it make me a “sap” if I enjoy Discovery? Does it indicate I don’t care about Trek’s legacy if I don’t agree with all the criticism of those I call canonistas?

As Captain Lorca says, “I don’t give a damn!”

Marja,

I get your point but I don’t understand how calling DIS ‘too dark’ is only put on one segment of the fanbase? TOS wasn’t dark either, it was mostly a light hearted campy action adventure romp. What would you consider the ‘darkest’ episodes in that show? I honestly can’t think of anything. So I don’t think its ‘TNG fans’, its just SOME Trek fans in general who could feel that way, mostly because Star Trek isn’t really dark but more positive and uplifting. And especially when you have people who are BIG fans of TOS here and still hate this show. On the opposite end you have another poster who hated TOS but loves this show. So I just wish people stop the labelling. Until someone says what shows they like or hated, no one really knows.

And MANY people accused DS9 as being too dark and yes I imagine at the time it was a lot of TNG fans since that show was a spin off of TNG and obviously a lot of them watched when it premiered. But eventually most came around, right? There are definitely people who still hate it today and calls it anti-Trek but they are clearly in the minority. Being too dark is definitely a criticism of DIS but its not the only criticism either.

And even with that, the producers have made it abundantly clear season 2 will be a lot less dark and brooding and more light hearted and fun. More proof they are listening to the fans. Why I have hope for next season.

And I like all Trek too (obviously it varies but I hate none of it), so no it doesn’t make you a silly and uncritical person. ;)

And I don’t think anyone here has accussed others of not caring about Trek’s legacy if you like this show. Maybe I just haven’t read those (I don’t read everything) but most just people seem to talk about why they hate it. But if some do talk that way, then they should be banned for gatekeeping.

Seasons 1 and 2 of TNG had an awful lot of retread stories from TOS, which seemed like lazy writing to me. It was a really good thing when they got Ron Moore in S3.

DSC is already a story about multiple universes and timelines, and there’s no reason to assume that Calypso features the Prime Discovery ship–even if the story takes place in Prime.

How is Disco a Story about multiple Timelines?

Well Disco did jump forward in time nine months, so it is in some ways a time traveling ship the same way the original Enterprise wound up being on so many occasions.

I don’t think it would make the writers “hacks” to not really get stuck on the implications of this story in the greater canon. This episode struck me more like one of those “what if” kind of short stories you’d read in an anthology as opposed to some concrete installment of Trek lore.

I really don’t expect this to tie into Discovery or Trek overall at all. It’s just a one-off piece of speculative fiction, more of a bonus feature than an installment of canon.

These shuttle pod episodes always come off SO negative

I agree. In fact I always disagree with them. I love that spock will be on disocovery. I find discovery yo he very trekm they dont. They prefer oicaed over Kirk, I don’t. They are excited to see a Picard show, and i am not. I love hearing different opinions, so i listen however, It’s also annoying how they want something new, but are ok with revisiting Picard. However some how, it’s bad Spock will be on disocovey.However the TOS hate is getting annoying. They claim Disocvery violated canon all the time, however Discoery only rarely violated canon,

I have no idea where you get the notion that we hate TOS. Quite the opposite. It happens to be Matt and my favorite Trek series.

What you interpret as hate is simply disappointment on our part. What is the point of creating a new series if all you’re going to do is attach yourself to another one? Enterprise, Spock, Pike, Number One, Talosians, etc. Don’t you want a show that explores new territory? I was hoping Discovery would find its identity during S2, but I don’t see how it can do that when it’s grafting itself onto another show. Can anyone here explain Discovery’s premise? I can’t.

And as for Picard – if that ends up retreading a lot of familiar ground we’ll be critical of that, too. Hopefully Chabon’s presence will bring a fresh perspective. Star Trek is very lucky to have a writer of that pedigree. It’s much needed.

We were very high on Disco when it was announced, and I hope the show rallies and becomes one of the great Trek series. It’s got a lot of work to do, though.

And as for the podcast itself being negative – in this episode we expressed our excitement and support of the animated show (in fact, we’re using it as a springboard to talk about amusing Trek episodes for our next pod), we gave Calypso a great review, and we criticized the proposed Georgiou/S31 series. I wouldn’t characterize that as a negative podcast. If you’re looking for a podcast that waves pom-poms about every development – and there are podcasts just like that – then maybe we’re not the show for you.

No pom-poms needed here, Mr. Drew. Keep doing what you’re doing. It’s good work, and informative, even when I disagree.

What an excellent post, Brian. Refreshing to hear some realism, ie. just because they put a product out there, that doesn’t make it automatically great (or even good). Like you, I have high hopes Discovery will turn itself around, too. Thank you for holding the showrunners to task, and for your continued efforts and great coverage of all things Trek.

Brian, while I do not always agree with the opinions of the Shuttle Pod crew, I appreciate the fact that you folks offer fair criticisms of all Trek-related stuff. I do not understand these commenters stating how the Shuttle Pod crew are always negative when you yourself raved about the high quality of the writing and directing of Calypso. But yeah, the “Starlet-branding” of popcorn bags is just stupid! As is a Section 31 show!

Anyway, keep on doing what you are doing. I love the podcast and hope you, Matt, Jared, and Kayla change nothing.

As for Disco “attaching itself” to TOS, I will wait to see. Sure, they’re trying to draw in some audience with the stunt of casting Spock, Pike and crew, but I think the reason they’ve been so careful about casting them is that they are going to do a “Pike’s Enterprise” series. I just don’t think you invest that much time in casting unless you’re planning something like that. I could be be wrong, and we’ll see.

It’s just that folks have been saying they’d like to see “Pike’s Enterprise” since talk of a new show began, Bruce Greenwood had just got done with his wonderful portrayal of Pike in the AOS movies, and people didn’t quite “get” that Paramount/CBS were divorced. I think CBSAA are waiting to see what the fan reaction is to Mount’s Pike, et. al., and if the reaction is good, they may go ahead with a series.

“What you interpret as hate is simply disappointment on our part. What is the point of creating a new series if all you’re going to do is attach yourself to another one? Enterprise, Spock, Pike, Number One, Talosians, etc. Don’t you want a show that explores new territory? I was hoping Discovery would find its identity during S2, but I don’t see how it can do that when it’s grafting itself onto another show. Can anyone here explain Discovery’s premise? I can’t.”

Wow this is exactly how I feel too and why I HATED the time period the minute I heard it because I was afraid exactly of this. That’s always been the issue for me, it just feels like an excuse to bring in TOS characters and that was confirmed when we found out the lead character of the show just happen to be the secret sibling of Spock. That told you everything of why it was even a prequel.

I will say in season one they didn’t over do it with the TOS references and story lines but in season two it just feels like they are going all in. And I guess I can’t blame them if no one is really watching the show so you have to do something but I just feel they are going too far with it. But maybe I will be proven wrong.

But yes as you said, we don’t even know the PREMISE of the show lol. That’s why I was hoping season 2 they would flush out the show and just focus on the actual DIS crew and not just be a back door for a Spock and Pike adventure.

But even with that disappointment I can’t deny season 2 looks much more appealing and fun than season 1 at least.

Tiger, if this was the middle of the 2nd season or the start of the 3rd season I would totally agree with you but all we’ve had was a first season. I think the problem I personally have is that many of those who go on and on with gripes against Discovery come off as though they were never willing to give it a chance, like they had formed their opinion since before the show aired. And thanks to twitter, podcasts and web pages like this, it’s more easy than ever to see it. Everything you just listed that frustrates you about Discovery being set in its time period was done by almost every other Trek show. TNG had episode after episode that felt like a regurgitation of a TOS episode (The Naked Now). Did we need to see ancient Admiral McCoy walking down the hall with Data? No. Did we need the episode with Spock? Not really. Scotty being coincidentally found by the Enterprise D? Then DS9 then did the same with TNG – I mean who thought it was a good idea to do a Q episode? Voyager with their Sulu episode? Enterprise ironically had the masses upset until it started doing episodes that “felt more TOS” as some fans claimed. And I say that not trying to come off as snarky but it just bugs me because a lot of the complaints I hear about Discovery were not pointed out nearly as hard for other Trek series. And I know, we all have opinions and believe me, we all have a right to have opinions, but there are times where comments sound – to me – as going from critical to disrespectful to a team of creators who I highly doubt are making any decisions to blatantly make fans mad.

And didn’t TNG get criticized back then for trying to feel like TOS early on?

As for Enterprise, they had stories that tied into TOS but they didn’t have characters popping up all the time (mainly because they couldn’t). That’s the real issue with DIS.

And I’ll make it clear I don’t mind crossovers, I generally do like that stuff. The difference you’re mentioning though were just one time episode appearances in literally just one season. And even then most of them waited a few years before we got any real stories.

DIS is going to have Pike on literally every episode next season. Spock will be on less but I won’t be shocked if at least half the season. And that’s not counting the others like Sarek or Mudd. We still have an entire crew we know little about but their story will take over the season. If this WAS fourth or fifth season, OK. But doing it this soon just feels more like desperation and not to just serve a story. These were the same people saying we would NEVER see an adult Spock and now one is showing up with his own story arc.

And I to be fair I DON’T think it comes down to the creators alone. I do feel this is CBS mandating they want to tie it into TOS to fan pander and they are just following orders. Can’t prove that but based on what they have said in the past about how we wouldn’t see any main TOS characters on this show to now I have a feeling its CBS who is making that decision.

And to make this clear, when I first heard Pike was showing up, I was genuinely excited about the idea.That’s when I thought he would only be in the first two episodes. It’s when I found out he was in the entire season that put me off to the idea.

I’m not against crossovers when they are done lightly and a nice way to bridge the franchise. But when you do it like DIS is planning, it just feels like blatant pandering to try and get people to watch (or more like pay) for the show all season. Hopefully it will be worth it though.

Why can Spock only be in this Season, like Kurtzy said…. ?
Because they will Timejump the Discovery and pick up something of Fullers Anthology Idea… eventually the Disco will end, where she picks up Craft.

It could be an interesting Idea to have an actually time traveling Ship, so that the Journey isnt forward in Space, but forward in time.

Technically they could have laid the groundwork for this scenario in Season 1 when they already timejumped 6 Months into the Future.

Something inside me wants that!

A lot inside me wants that. It would open the show up to essentially endless possibilities, and free it from the constraints of being a TOS prequel.

I thought that there should be a time traveling starship show years ago. In fact, I would call it “Time Trek.” But the CW show DCs Legends of Tomorrow already beat Star Trek to it since it is show about a starship that time travels, but with superheroes.

I think that’s exactly what they were doing when they had the nine-month time jump. It almost seems ripe for a “timeline correction” plot, but anyway, establishing that Disco can jump nine months is a precursor to some time travels in our future [or … is it …?]

Nothing wrong with Transwarp Beaming. It just means that the range for exploration just got bigger.

Except then it becomes Sliders, pretty much.

But with Transwarp Beaming, why have starships?

Cuz you can’t do science from a handheld tricorder. You still need, like, big pieces of equipment i.e. starships to get done the exploration you came to do.

AI seems to be doing quite a bit of exploration right now, from the comfy confines of Mother Earth. The only reason we would need starships would be to leave…

And, again, to do like complicated science. But if you’re being realistic then yeah, none of these starships in the 23rd century would be populated, it’d just be a big computer

This argument has never made sense. First off, a Starships job is also to help FIND new planets and civilizations. You can’t use transporters to actually discover anything, right? Secondly, Starships aren’t just used to visit planets, they have a wide variety of missions like cataloging and/or observing space phenomenon, protecting Federation borders, conducting science experiments, overseeing diplomatic missions, assisting with any ship or planet wide evacuations, investigating Federation crimes or disputes, responding to any distress calls and on and on and on.

Starships are immensely important in terms of diplomatic, scientific and rescue missions not to mention defense. It’s not just about transporting people from A to B.

Using Starships to actually find stuff in space is an incredible waste of time and resources. AI would be doing the finding and basic exploration, then a drone probe (something Star Wars got right) would only be dispatched if something interesting turned up. Then, a Starship might be dispatched only if there was something there that warranted further intervention.

But I get it, that makes for lousy TV.

Unless you had the technology of the people from the voyager episode “Prime Factors.”

Finally saw Calypso, was in no way impressed, unfortunately. Didn’t like the acting, didn’t like the dialogue. Thought some of the visuals were interesting, like with the dancing and holographic marriage. I wasn’t touched by it, but it was vaguely touching you could say. But if the show decided to do more twilight-zoney episodes like this but better, I think that’d be a really cool use of the Short Treks format. Also for some reason I had been tagged on Facebook this week in a clip of that very same Betty Boop episode, the very same scene. What kind of coincidence is that?

As a listener from the first episode, I take no pleasure in saying this. But the Shuttle Pod crew’s anti-DSC snark is becoming a bit much. When they argue that the DSC writers don’t understand that Star Trek is supposed to be about “tolerance and egalitarianism” I can’t help but wonder if we watched the same show. Tolerance and egalitarianism was the throughline theme of Season 1. It’s as if the Shuttle Pod crew heard Landry call the prisoners human garbage in the third episode and then stopped listening to what the writers were trying to communicate in every line of dialogue after that. No fan is obligated to fully embrace the show. You can disagree with certain decisions the writers made. You can argue they tried but failed. At minimum it is clear that they at least tried to depict Trek ideals, and many of us think they succeeded. When you imply that you know better than the DSC writers what Star Trek is all about, you are also saying that you know better than all the fans who see something special in what DSC is doing. Granted, unlike the typical 42 minute Trek morality tale, DSC themes are layered across many episodes. It takes some work to tie them all together, and it was easy to be distracted by canon wars, plot twists, and the modern ‘dark’ tone. But the themes are there in the episodes. They are real and as rich as they have been in Trek in a long time. There is not enough fan discussion about the themes explored on this show, and I’m just bummed that the Shuttle Pod crew seems to think there’s nothing hopeful to talk about until we can go back to the future to a TNG reboot. For some of us, the future is here and it’s pretty amazing.

For anyone interested in a conversation about DSC’s themes, here is a series of essays Im working on: http://www.justinscottsnead.com/discovery-theme-series-theme-1-xenophobia-vs-inclusion/

Can’t wait for the Empress Georgeu Section 31 Show.

I have hope for the New Picard Series Patrick Stewart did say ”He may not, and I stress may not, be a captain anymore. He may not be the Jean-Luc that you recognize and know so well. It may be a very different individual. Someone who has been changed by his experiences.
It will be, I promise you, I guarantee it, something very, very different. It will come to you with the same passion, and determination and love of the material and love of our followers and our fans, exactly as we had it before.” This gives me hope because it says this won’t be TNG Picard, It won’t be Roddenberry Picard.