Reminder: ‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Season 2 Episode 1 “Brother” Debuts Tonight

| January 17, 2019 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 276 comments so far

Preview: “Brother”

Star Trek: Discovery – Season 2, Episode 1

The crew of the U.S.S. Discovery is on their way to Vulcan, but change course after answering a distress signal from the U.S.S. Enterprise. They join forces with Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) on a new mission to investigate seven mysterious red signals.

The episode will be available in the US on CBS All Access at 8:30 pm ET (5:30 PT). In Canada it airs on the Space Channel at 8:00 pm ET (5:00 pm PT).  And it will be available on Netflix outside the USA and Canada on Friday at 8 am BST.

CBS promo trailer

Red carpet premiere live stream

This evening a season two premiere event is being held in New York City. It is expected to start at 7:00PM ET/4:00PM PT.  The live stream will be available to those outside of the USA as well. Go to http://facebook.com/cbsallaccess to watch.

TrekMovie has staff there and will have articles tomorrow. In the meantime be sure to check our Twitter feed @trekmovie (also on the sidebar of our home page) for periodic updates from NYC.

Social media buzz from the cast and writers

Photos

What say you?

TrekMovie will be posting a full review of “Brother” tomorrow. But you don’t have to wait to offer your views in the comments below.

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I haven’t seen The Escape Artist yet. Going to watch before the premiere.

Soon, you’ll be sipping jippers on a beach!

A cudgel? Is that some sort of kitchen implement?

Jippers on a beach!

Jippers on a beach!

Rather weird name for a program.

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo EXCITED! Engage!

Good for you! Bye!

Episode length is 61:32! Sweet!

61:32? If this were Doctor Who, they’d call it a feature-length special!

Finally fully taking advantage of not having time constraints. Not that longer is always better but it’s nice that they can tell the story in whatever length of time they need

Sadly, it turned out the extra 3-4 minutes were for a recap of season 1.

Love the new Doctor.

This feels like a mini movie. I’m loving it and those who had issue with the tone should love what’s going on here. The addition of Pike gives it a totally fresh feel.

Agreed. Felt like a movie. Loved

I just finished watching…and I’m smiling. I enjoyed it a lot. No spoilers here.

Loved

Loved it too. Still hoping by chance they make Saru captain of the the Discovery. He happens to be my favorite character. Besides, it’s time for an alien captain. Not another human.

No spoilers. Yes, it did seem like a fresh start. With commercials up here in Toronto it ran about 76 mins. Will wait until tomorrow’s review before saying anything further but I hope most Trekmovie.com readers liked it.

This one LOVED it!

Me too. Loved it

*That* felt completely and utterly RIGHT. I’m smiling from ear to ear.

I hope Tig Notaro stays as long as possible. She brings a ‘je-ne-sais-quoi’ that was missing.

I hope she’s more than a one-episode wonder, myself.

Agreed! I have to say it was just FUN! Thats what this show need a LOT more of and I smiled through a lot of it too. And Tig’s character was great! I really liked her a lot with her zany one liners and deadpan humor. I hope we see her again??

I almost forgot. What about After Trek???

It’s dead, Jim. They’re replaced it with something on Facebook.

Such a shame. Loved having that right after

That’s too bad. I liked After Trek and I’m long done with Facebook. Guess I’m going to have to depend upon TrekMovie for my Discovery talk. 😁 Loved tonight’s episode by the way!

They also streamed the red carpet premiere on Facebook and I could watch it without an account.

That was… unhatable. Not remotely perfect, but insanely greater than the sum of its parts.

Ok the Discovery team blew it out the park with this premier episode!

Yep

Star Trek is BACK

Star Trek hadn’t gone away.

been about a year SA

Loved it, It was beyond expectations

Kudos to Kurtzman on directing and the Special effects and different views. Damn the turbo lift from the outside? I loved so much about this episode

He did a very good job. It seemed so epic for just one hour. The whole tone was a breath of fresh air. I’m excited about everything they introduced. Everyone was on there A game.

That turbolift sequence was startling and oh so cool. The Discovery is gargantuan… all that hollow space!

Absolutely loved the premiere and I am now super psyched for season two. (Minor spoiler alert!) Did anyone else notice the switcheroo on Commander Airiam? I actually noticed it when the first trailer came out months ago (during the “This is the power of math, people!” scene)… Airiam didn’t look quite right in that scene, and now I know why: new actress! Sarah Mitich is now playing a human officer — she’s the one who yelled “clear!” while setting up the gravity thing in the hangar bay. I wonder why she’s not playing Airiam anymore?

This is Anson Mount’s show now. Hopefully Pike and the Enterprise get their own series or at least a two hour special.

Yes he’s too good to just disappear After this season

I still miss Lorca. He was like a competent trump.

“Competent Trump”

An oxymoron if ever there was one!

I know. Thank god trump isn’t competent.

Trump is just a standard, everyday moron.

Does he even achieve that standard?

Everyday moron, liar and corrupt.

They REALLY screwed the pooch on Lorca’s potential character development after they got to the mirrorverse.

I agree. He was the best thing about the show last season. It would have been far more interesting to see if Lorca could have evolved into more than what he initially was.

I’m pretty sure Prime Lorca will show up soon.

@A34 — I still haven’t ruled out Mirror Lorca

“Now this is more like it”
-Janet Maslin

Great episode!

Yeah, I was thinking of the TWOK review too! Was it Maslin? I was thinking Pauline Kael.

No, you’re right. Anyway, that was exactly my thought when the episode ended!

Amazing! Amazing! Amazing episode! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO amped about the rest of the season. Disco is my FAV Trek so far. So glad this team (Kurtzman et al) is making the Picard and Secton 31 shows and more. What a great time to be a Trek fan.

It was like watching a movie. Loved every minute of it!

Yes, it did. Watching it again with a friend tomorrow.

No wonder this episode went over budget. The money was well spent.

AMEN. Well spent indeed.

I think the fortune cookie was a message from the Talosians to Pike. Do they know what his fate will be? My husband and I just watched TOS The Menagerie yesterday to prepare for Pike’s return… If it is a message planting a seed for Pike know what awaits him, it seems very loving… like how they embraced him and gave him the illusion of being able-bodied again at the end of that TOS two-parter. OR………. maybe they keep harassing him with little illusion messages and “signs” kind of like stalking him… maybe he sees these things and they “haunt” him in a way but he doesn’t tell anyone. So maybe someone else will see that fortune cookie message and it will say something else than what Pike saw????? So excited to go more in-depth into Trek lore this season. We’re in good hands.

Oh I like that. I knew it was a reference to them but didn’t consider it was from them. Nice. And sorry about spoiler hints

I am thinking that they are haunting him in some erie way. Super creepy. He will see things that are not there that they are sending him. Let’s see!

I don’t see why they’d be taunting him. It’s clear, from “The Menagerie,” that the Talosians care about his welfare.

That’s an intriguing thought, but was there ever any indication that the Talosians could see the future? If they had this ability, wouldn’t they have foreseen the fate of their own species? On the other hand, it’s hard to think of the use of the word “cage” as sheer coincidence. The lost and found line could refer to Spock, to Culber, or really to many of the characters. Time will tell.

See, THIS THIS THIS is the kind of discussion I LOVE about being a Trek fan, and the kind of talk i’ve missed the last 2 years with all of the negativity.

Postulating theories with deeper meaning, finding little gems in the details. There is no right or wrong, but fun speculation about more than why technology and make up don’t look like TOS.

Or it was just a fortune cookie.

Lorca had a bowl of ‘em (which they showed again in “last season, on…”

Yes, and it’s LORCA that’s trapped in a cage right now… trapped somewhere in the mirror universe. (I’m talking about Prime Lorca, who we’ve technically never seen on the show.)

Good point, but it raises a question about the mirror universe (to quote Rom again) “just doesn’t make sense.” When people shift between universes sometimes their mirror doubles exchange places with them (as in “Mirror, Mirror”) and sometimes they don’t (those times on DS9 when Kira met the Inetendant face to face). Maybe it has to do with how they traveled inter-universe? It does seem that Mirror Discovery exchanged places with Prime Discovery and got destroyed by the Klingons. I dunno.

I see some sort of ambiguity here. Discovery had a huge bunch of it already in season one. It surely hints to Pike, who is seeing it. But it also is a thought about the return of Prime Lorca.

Also, the title “Brother” is in this direction:
Michael has one, Saru is one, Stamets lost a lover who was also like one and Pike treats his crew like one ;D

NoMad — Mirror Lorca could be trapped in a cage as well, like Stamets, and perhaps Culber —

A fortune cookie for Pike that references a “cage”? And the episode makes a point to give a close-up on it? Probably not *just* a fortune cookie.

My guess is that there is no hidden meaning other than a nod for the fans, but if viewers want to GIVE it a deeper meaning, I think that’s cool as heII!

Also, crazy excited to see where little Spock goes. His passive-aggressive making the holo-dragon and slamming the door was perfect.

Loved it and I love that the show is on Thursday now. The only thing I didn’t like was that it was only an hour. So well done. #myStarTrek

Wow! (In the immortal final word of Rom.) What a great first episode! Eagerly awaiting more. Now to enjoy watching for things missed the first time.

Just epic……….I’ve seen it said but it really felt like a mini movie. Can’t wait to watch again on the 60″ screen later. No complaints.

Already twice and want to go again

It was so good and intense that I’m going for a run because it pumped me up about the state of Trek and what’s coming with Disco and the other series that have been announced… and then I’m gonna watch it again. Pinch me. Is this reality or a Talosian dream-like illusion???????

@KennyB — I definitely never had the urge to watch a Season 1 episode again (not that I wouldn’t if it was on), kind of like LOST which I enjoyed immensely. But this first episode definitely has me interested to re-watch immediately. However, as to watching it on a 60″ TV — I don’t know what size screen you saw it on, but I watched it on my 65″ and was disappointing in their choice of this new aspect ratio. Zooming it to fill the screen really helped with my immersion into it. Watching it letterboxed, even at that size created a sort of detached quality. 2.39:1 is just way too small for exhibition on TV, not to mention CBSAA which is a streaming platform designed to be watched primarily on mobile devices. And for those who argue zooming and cropping the sides destroys the directors original intent, I’d argue they’re framing everything centered, most likely to ensure when it’s zoomed and cropped it will retain its artistic integrity.

I loved every minute of this ep! Great job Discovery crew!

Minor Spoilers ahead….That was so bad. Wow. I don’t know what’s worse…a soapy drama that is totally devoid of fun, or that same forced soapy drama, trying way too hard to be fun..and failing. On the positive side, I enjoyed Pike, despite some horribly trite dialog…which stands as a testament to the talents of Anson Mount. But the bad, forced acting continues…the bubble ships and “instant helmets” from the 1998 Lost in Space movie were horribly out of place….music was the wrong tempo for many scenes…signaling peril and danger, .while standing in a crowded, peaceful turbo lift with nothing happening…Tilly talked way too much and too fast… that whole, tripping-over-my own-words bit has already grown stale…the new engineer’s “funny” sarcastic barbs got old real fast and the less said about that horrific chilld-Spock, the better. This thing was all over the map, misfire after misfire. It has to get better, can’t get much worse.

^^^ Hahahahaha! What a comedian!

I literally dislike you jonboc. You are a silicon life form. Crawl out

Spiked Canon,

That you are admittedly prejudiced against silicon life says more about your lip service to ‘trek values’ than anything else you might write. I thought silicon life bored its way through things, but it turns out you are the bore. Mean post from you.

nope ,he’s a guy with a fat ego that can do it all.Of course he’s has a option but at least offer a better way to do the show.

You dislike me, and you love Discovery. This, more than fitting balancing of the scales makes me very happy! lol

Um, nope. It was awesome. From start to finish. Loved the helmets. Loved the engineer. Loved the acting. Loved little Spock. Maybe the best season opener… EVER. Must really hurt to try and be a negative hater on this one as it was so dang good. But keep tryin’! It wouldn’t be the comments of TrekMovie without haters vomiting nasty stuff ;)

…and about wigged-out little Spock…who becomes Ethan Peck-Spock. I guess Vulcans and humans grow at the same rate now in this delightful abomination. After the ridiculous astral-projecting Sarek of season 1, I’m not at all surprised.

So funny! Best parody of a psychotic rage-filled “fan” I’ve ever seen!

No. In my opinion, “psychotic rage-filled fans” go into some length to insult other fans they do not deem worthy or attack the producers etc. personally, without initially going into detail in their reviews.

Jonboc merely stated his opinion and gave quite some detail (with which I for myself do not agree entirely – I liked some parts and disliked others, but felt quite entertained mostly).

To personally insult others for a different opinion is more in line with “psychotic” and “rage-filled” ;)

Yes but he comes off as a guy who can do it better then the people that actually work on the show.So ok write the show and try to get a job working on the show.This a Trek fan that you cant please no matter what.If the producers listened to the fans the show wouldn’t get off the ground.It’s easy to point out flaws of any show once it’s out there. But try working there as a writer actor and all the things that go into a show and then see how you end up when fans start bashing you. I bet he crawls in a hole,locks his doors.

I don’t envy the writer’s trying to create art by commitee, it has to be a thankless, sometimes head-pounding exercise. But a cursory glance at other modern serialized dramas on the air right now tells me it can be done better. But it’s going to require less paint-by-numbers “ok, insert high-five-fun scene here…” or “…we need a pretentious starfleet moment here.” These moments shouldnt be bullet points…they should unfold organically and naturally otherwise they come off as staged, forced, insincere and over-the-top. This episode looked staged and over-the-top. They still have a lot of work to do.

Jonboc doesn’t seem to have a strong grasp of Star Trek, writing, or Hollywood. Pay him no mind.

Enjoy a lot of syfy original movies, do you? lol That’s ok, Land O’..admittedly, sharknado was a lot of fun!

A well-measured and welcome response, German Trekkie. Thanks! 🖖

I actually agree with what you had to say Jonboc. Lots of things don’t feel right.

Why was the Enterprise left out of the war? Their explanation was lame. If they were on the sidelines, why & how did they get the new uniforms and why do the Discovery folks have uniform envy? Disabled Enterprise is lame, also. If you bring her on board, use the damned ship! Mikey Spock is once again the hero in a Wesley Crusher sort of way….this happens over and over. What’s up with brooding, rude, young Spock? I guess he’s always been an unlikable character. Thanks CBS All-Access for setting me straight on that. Discovery’s Spock likes to use leave time? When did Spock EVER do that? The show still has the gratuitous same sex scenes, swearing, and forced fall flat attempts at humor as well.

Mr. Mount is a breath of fresh air and did the very best he could. However, if you put a diamond on a bracelet filled with many other fake jewels, it’s still 90% fake. Or…..if you put whipped cream on a pile of crap….it’s still crap. Mr. Jones and Mr. Mount need to get off this lame pizza cutter ship, jump on board the USS Enterprise, go find the REAL Spock and start up a new series with all new writers and producers.

….and, let the attacks begin. “Red alert!”

‘ Discovery’s Spock likes to use leave time?” – so a character can never be different or change?

@JJordan — why was the Enterprise left out of the Borg attack on Earth? Picard I understand, but the Enterprise? It makes no sense. Relieve Picard temporarily, just like’ve done several times before, and get the Federation flagship into the battle. Unless, the Enterprise was being kept in reserve, just in case.

Opinions are one thing and constant negativity is another. We have been reading this guy for over a year and it is just grating

Just watched “Affliction” from Enterprise the other day. What do you know? Trip and T’Pol have telepathic communication light-years away. Maybe you’re blaming the wrong producers… IT IS CANON. :-D

They’ve shown Vulcans to have this ability since TOS “The Immunity Syndrome,” if not earlier.

Funny how the whining fanboys often “forget” about stuff like this when they see something they don’t like. It’s sad, really. Not much of a life.

Kinda like fans who forget the stuff they say “fanboys” forgot. The incident with the Intrepid was a “feeling”. He just knew. As he sensed Vger. He did not project an apparition to converse with Kirk to find him in Gamesters of Triskellion…in fact, he never had a light-years away, distant conversation with anyone. Discovery is reinventing the wheel, only theirs isn’t round just yet. But they’re trying. lol

Spock had telepathic abilities from day one. But it was something sensed…a feeling…be it V’ger or the demise of the Intrepid. But he never conversed with Sarek via full body, 4k Vulcanvision. You’re welcome to enjoy it all day long, but, for my money, Its was a corny “look how clever we are” plot device handled poorly.

Sometimes I feel really bad for you Jonboc and I mean that. Only because I remember how excited you were about this show. You were convinced it was going to be the next TOS Trek for you. I was much less confident about it (and I DON’T want more TOS) but I also was prepared for it to be totally different anyway, which it clearly is. Obviously the issue for many like you is its just too different I guess.

I have to say I really did enjoy the premiere but this show isn’t going to win over everybody and it still has tons of work to do. But do you think its at least an improvement from the last seasons premiere? At all? There are 13 episodes to go, maybe it will still surprise you?

Agreed,all these fans want is more of the same, no ground breaking stuff.It’s funny because TOS series wasn’t trying to do anything beside telling great stories. And next gen was different as was DS9 as was Voyager as was Enterprise. I’m done with TOS ,it’s over baked done.Move on.I hope this series doesn’t tie itself to much with TOS after this season.That to me would be the beginning of the end for this series. Disco needs it’s own voice not more of the same.

Agreed. I don’t want a TOS redux at all and why I was not happy with the time period it was set in. Not that I’m against seeing that era again, just that I didn’t want it to be an excuse for it to be a back door for TOS characters to randomly pop up. And sadly yes that is what’s happening. THAT said I do like Pike and happy he’s there (and the guy was only in one episode in the series so he doesn’t really count I guess). I’m excited to see Spock too. But I really hope they go all in this season but then season 3 have Discovery be its own thing. So I’m keeping an open and to prove I’m not trying to just be a ‘hater’ since I never was one, but yes this does slightly bother me still.

It’s not that the series is different…loved most of JJ Trek….now, the aesthetics are rather insulting, given the time frame and the historical acknowledgment of the 23rd century that TOS, TNG, DS9 and Enterprise presented us. But I just chalk it up to a being a complete reboot and move on. No, my issue…from the standpoint of, not just a Trek fan, but a TV/movie fan in general, is the show really isn’t very good. Watching other serialized dramas like House iof Cards, Breaking Bad…Game of Thrones…even Babylon 5…if you want to see brilliance in developing interesting characters in a science fiction story-arc…. the talent to craft intelligent stories with interesting people, worthy of investing your time, is there. But Trek…for whatever reason… can’t seem to lasso these people and make it work. Their flagship series, Trek. And deserves the best, CBS should have searched the globe for the best. They’ve clearly settled for less-than-Best, and that’s too bad as they had YEARS to assemble the right talent for the job and get it right. . And yes, I’m going to stick around for the whole run…while the inner turmoil on this series is constantly turning the show upside down…just maybe one of these shake-ups will turn things right-side-up. Production values are top-shelf…just waiting for the creative side to catch up!

OK I hear you of course. And I know for a lot of people out there the aesthetics is what mostly bother them, especially if you are mostly a TOS fan. They don’t bother me as much but I always stated its a bit ridiculous to totally ignore the TOS era look but then tell people its suppose to be in the same era. Not everyone is going to buy that argument. And I’m sure you read one of my many posts where I said they should call it a reboot and I still feel that way.

And I was pretty disappointed with last season as well and I still may be with this season. I did HONESTLY like the premiere, even more then I thought I would. But I’m not jumping on the bandwagon yet until we get a few episodes in and see how the other plots shakes out. That said though, for me at least they did hit it creatively with the episode. Its at least getting back to more traditional Trek. And I would’ve been fine with UNtraditional Trek which many feel DS9 is and is my favorite show. So I have no problem shaking up the status quo. I just didn’t think it was very good on how it was presented here.

But this feels like a decent turning point. I don’t know what you are looking for creatively and everyone is different, but I just want a show that is about exploration and science again with a little hopefulness. Its not to say the stories will be good as Voyager did that nearly every week and many people were still disappointed. But at least its on the right right track IMO.

Amazing, I am absolutely amazed at how that can be anyone’s impression. This episode was a complete slam dunk.

OK, so…. I hear what you’re saying about 1998 Lost in Space because I had the same exact thought.

It was a solid hour but, yeah, I wasn’t quite as blown away by it as many were tonight.

Your opinion is your opinion but I have to say that I firmly believe that you are simply being negative for the sake of it. We get it: you don’t like Discovery because you don’t want to. Might I suggest that you don’t watch it anymore? It might save you some time and stop us from having to endure you tearing down the female cast members (as you did in a wildly sexist previous post) and your relentless negativity.

Nah, people like him will keep watching for no other reason than to come in to places like this and attempt to bring others down, and lower the discussion because of their own resentment that the show isn’t what they wanted it to be.

They are debbie downers who can’t stand to see other people enjoying Discovery.

..um…ok, then. afterburn…do you always take critiques on movies, food, books etc. so personally?? lol. but no doubting the passion is there! Rock on!

You think i’m taking it personally? You’re doing an awful lot of projecting. I’d consider some self-reflection, it’ll do wonders for your attitude.

…I’m only negative when it’s bad lol

don’t you understand that we know that? We KNOW how you feel about the show. Why do you continue to beat it into us? You stated your opinion. Be done with it!

I wished all of us would be able to respect each other despite differences in personal opinions – and WITHOUT personal insults.

I didn´t find the premiere awful, but did not love it either – I guess I land somewhere in a quite neutral middle. I also question some of the more “rule of cool” tech tropes (which are not even new ideas). But I liked some of the more quiet character moments.

BUT I am also happy for those who enjoyed and outright love it. And for the ones who dislike it – at least we can try to understand where they come from (as long as they don`t get into personal insults ;)

Your right and wrong.Ad Astra Per Aspera is right these are people that just like to hear themselves talk and tear down anybody that likes the show because they don’t.It’s been going on forever at this site,and people get to a point where they have had enough and push back. Any tv show or movie have there flaws. Ok let’s talk about that ,but they won’t,because if they don’t like something about the show they want everybody to agree with them.This is the times we live in ,in this country. For Star Trek to be successful like TOS was (because that seems to be the standard,not mine)it has to move forward with new ideas and tell some new stores other series have hinted at but was never shown. But fear not Star War fans are just as bad.

Exactly. There is a difference between voicing an opinion and… whatever those people are doing. Pick apart it’s flaws, fine. But being nothing but negative, and behaving like a debbie downer is not constructive. I don’t subscribe to the phrase “if you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything at all” but at the same time, if you have nothing nice to say EVER, at some point you need to move on. Not just for other’s sakes, but for your own good. It’s very unhealthy to be wallowing in negative thoughts and experiences all the time.

I learned a long time ago, experiences that offer nothing positive are to be avoided when possible. Why anyone would continue consume a show that they hate and makes them miserable to watch and talk about is truly confusing to me.

Theres always one in the bunch. I guess you could write ,direct, and compose the music better, yep you can do it all,.Ego as big as ever.

I don’t subscribe to this line of thinking either. If I hate a movie, I can voice that opinion even though I couldn’t make something better. By all means if you think Kurtzman is a hack, your opinion is valid whether you are an award winning filmmaker or a cab driver.

Agreed. I loved the premiere, but I don’t subscribe to the tired “you are just a fan and not someone who works on the show, therefore your opinion is not relevant” line of thinking. It’s as trollish on a fan website as those who find every little thing to nitpick.

Jonboc, why are you even here? It’s clear you’re not a fan.

Land O’, don’t you mean, why am I here, if I don’t agree with you??

No, that’s not what he means. But it’s clear you’re enjoying whatever you’re doing. Whatever gets you off, I suppose.

Afterburn, I was going to question why you think you can answer for another poster…in this case, Land O…but I think I get it. It’s easy for you to answer and explain what another poster “means”…since you’re clearly cut from the same cloth….open to dissenting opinions, as long as they mirror your own.

I dunno man, maybe you slept wrong.

Did anyone notice that Sarah Mitich was playing a human instead of Airiam. In the scene where they pick up the asteroid you can see her standing next to the new Airiam.

Yes. For whatever reason Airiam is now played by Hannah Cheesman. She was at the red carpet premiere and implied some big things are going to happen to Airiam. She said she’s playing “Airiam 2.0”

Not sure why Sara Mitich isn’t playing Airiam this season, she does have some stuff on her IMDb which she could have been off filming while Discovery was in production. Also possibly she got tired of having plastic glued to her face week after week.

At least the actresses have similiar bone structures.

I’m guessing the makeup didn’t agree with her. Thanks for the info.

Wow that’s crazy! So the actress isn’t playing the part (at least at the moment) but another role on the show? Nuts! I REALLY want to know about Ariam and it was nice the bridge crew got a bit more to do (the name call scene was perfect, I literally forgot all their names lol).

Shazad Latif was first announced to be playing a Klingon, then recast as Tyler. We all know how that turned out ;-) I’m kidding, of course. There are a number of possible reasons for the switch.

They came out swinging. Best episode of the show thus far, in my opinion. Really looking forward to this season. My only complaint…not enough Tyler in the season 2 teaser.

Now THIS is Star Trek!

OMG, this premiere was sooooo much better than first season. It wasn’t perfect but it was generally good. A lot of great character moments (check), actual exploration (check), great action set pieces (check) SCIENCE (check, check), humor (check) and just a FUN ride!! (BIG CHECK)

Minor spoilers below

Way less brooding, no plodding war stuff or bloody orc Klingons! Just a simple fun adventure of rescuing a ship. Oddly enough I don’t think there were many surprises as its obvious most of the trailer footage came from this episode but that’s fine. I didn’t expect too many reveals and it was just nice to have new Star Trek again. :)

LOVE Pike! This is someone who is closer to the Picard model of starship Captains (although less brainy lol) but very by the book and BELIEVES highly in Federation values and the preservation of all life. But fun and open as well (which is NOT Picard lol, at least in the beginning). I knew he was going to be a good addition, this episode sold it. And I liked the flashback moments of seeing Birnham and Spock. That kid had issues lol.

But honestly the mystery is what really intrigues me the most. Star Trek has done tons of scientific anamolies stories and mysteries but this will be a first it stretches beyond an episode. The very little they have revealed so far is a great set up.

Can’t wait for more!

My only issue was the way that gravity sling thing unfolded. Other than that it was fun, it was Trek.

A Federation OSHA inspector would have had a heart attack. Sarah Mitich barely jumped out of the way before that thing unfolded like a giant reverse bear trap! LOL

I really really wonder how all the Tech in the new Picards Series will align with the Discovery Tech AND the TNG era tech.

I am somehow able to redcon TOS into being visually updated in my head canon… but the style of the TNG era, being a 100 years after Discovery, gives me headaches.

I dunno, I figure with as spread out as society is in space and with how short 100 years can be seen as, there’s no need for the TNG era to be all that different technologically. 100 years is long time for us now since a handful of inventions introduced life-altering changes in the present day, but that’ll plateau eventually before whatever the next quantum leap is. I feel the same way about a “Third Generation” down the line 100 years after TNG. It doesn’t necessarily need to be all that different. Politically, the landscape will be altered, and that’s more what I’m interested in. Technologically? I personally don’t need miles of advancement.

Man how many more hologram tech could Discovery have lol. I mean it was a little over board with some of it but overall fine. But if DIS is any indication I think they are going to go NUTS on the technology with the Picard show and I can’t wait. But yeah I too wonder how much more can they distinguish it? TNG and TOS truly felt like a century apart from the looks of the show to how the technology was presented. And the shows were made 20 years apart as well so it really helped that technology and society in real life had changed. These shows will only be a two years difference in actual production. And most have said Discovery looks miles beyond where TNG was at so it seems like its going to be a lot harder to make that stark difference as TNG and TOS did.

But I can’t wait to see what they come up with! And if its not a HUGE difference I’m not too bothered either because as said they are already going the extra mile with Discovery. As long as its cool looking on its own and some of its own new tech I’m good. Maybe we will see more A.I. tech beyond Data and the EMH which would be amazing IMO.

Co-sign, Tiger2. This is the best Trek *movie* in 20 years!

LOL true! Probably the best since First Contact!

Oh and I had ZERO streaming issues!

At most it buffered for a few seconds one or two times but the episode ran smooth the entire hour. Even the commercials (which oddly I usually have the most issues) ran smoothly as well.

Love that Geordi La Forge made a cameo.

And JJ’s lens flares.

With all of the extra bits, I think it was a sensor web (From “Is There in Truth No Beauty?” ), not a prototype VISOR. At least that’s the argument I’m preparing for when people start screaming that it’s a century too early for the VISOR and seeing it in Discovery is ruining their lives. 😁

Jonboc is shook.

Lol Certainly shaking my head, if that’s what you mean! Still torn between what is worse, a series that just doesn’t get it, or a series that just doesn’t get it, but thinks that they do.

I can’t figure out what’s worse: a commenter who doesn’t get it, or a commenter who doesn’t get it but thinks he does!

Afterburn, I see what you did there! Clever!!

Wasn’t Geordi’s visor old and out of date? He could have gotten those eye implants years ago if he wanted to.

I used to think that filling Leonard Nimoy’s shoes was a thankless undertaking but I’m starting to think it’s Mark Leonard’s shoes.

Agreed.

I think James Frain is doing very well with the part. I had a hard time believing him last season and was critical, but I think that was after having watched him for so long on Gotham. I rewatched season one recently and now with the premiere, I’m thinking after a few months without, I have a fresh view on Sarek.

Kinda like I had a hard time disconnecting Archer from Sam Beckett the first time around.

But was there any Linus in this episode? lol

Can’t wait, refreshing Netflix,…

Am I on a Star Trek site? 79 comments so far and only one person whining. I’m very confused now!

It’s wonderful. Feels like a real community of fans and not negative trolls flossing the comments. :)

Trolls? What trolls? After less than a day I’ve just come to enjoy this peaceful agreeable atmosphere. I’ve almost forgotten about the guys who’ll complain that the pattern on soles of the boots they’re wearing isn’t consistent with canon and Star Trek is now ruined for them and their life is over! *Slams the bedroom door and throws himself dramatically on the bed*

DISCO haters among the fanbase are few and far between. Always have been. Which makes me grateful for a production team that sees the fans as allies and not as something to throw under the bus for PR purposes.

Sadly though, it’s the haters who make their voices the loudest! Just watched it and really enjoyed it!

I agree, most people aren’t ‘haters’ they are simply giving their honest opinion, ie, they aren’t looking to just put the show down for nothing. They actually want to like it and give the show a real chance. Yes, there is always going to be a vocal group who thinks something just sucks, especially online, and can never be redeemed. But I have always said Discovery is new, its just going to take time as they ALL have. And I have also stated many times if the producers acknowledge the show isn’t perfect and try to make some legitimate changes then most fans will respond if those changes are for the better. And look at that, they DID make changes and fans are responding positively about it. None of this is rocket science and is playing out practically every Trek show has played out.

Now it doesn’t mean Discovery is going to suddenly be loved by everyone, but this is the perfect example that fans actually want to embrace the show when it feels like its doing more things right then wrong. Maybe the next one will suck and it will fall right back to the same bitterness lol. But looking at this thread and how universally praised this episode is proves the point, fans WANT to love it. Stop taking it so personal or that they are out to attack it simply because its new or different.

Agreed. I’ve been back and forth at times, but this episode was the best Trek in years! I watched it twice back to back.

And think of it: Even on trekcore, where vitriol usually abounds in the comments section (not to demean that superbly curated site, mind you!) , there’s a whole lot of capital-letter YAYs to be found today.
Maybe we witnessed something big. Maybe we witnessed the moment when Discovery hit its stride (just as TNG did almost 30 years ago, when the magnificent third season went on the air).

Haha! True about Trekcore – commenters there are about a step away from the crazy YouTubers declaring Disco’s about to be cancelled etc

Thats pretty funny because every time I look on that site they claim its THIS site that is full of nothing but bitter haters and trolls lol. Just proves people really do see what they want.

I wasn’t actually trying to produce an argument for or against any other site here. Maybe I should clarify: “Usually” was a bad choice of words! It has just occurred to me that over the last year or so the environment on that site has become increasingly toxic. It hasn’t always been like that, but read the comments under DISCO and Short Treks reviews and you will see that there’s a rising sense of “Bah, NOT MY TREK!” there – and it’s most definitely more prevalent than on this site.

No I know you weren’t and I have nothing against that site at all, I just prefer to be here because I found this one first, they have more content and more posters in general for discussion even if its still pretty small.

And people saying bad things about Trek is just par for the course. I actually like Reddit the most because that seems to be the most balanced then all of them or at least the ones I been to. Yeah they have extremists there for sure but the conversations are generally pretty well balanced given how many people there are. And they are a lover of ALL Star Trek (but mostly love the TNG era overall which I do as well), not just one or two shows which it mostly feels like here. But fans complaining is about as old as art itself, I don’t think its that big of a deal but I do a lot of the complaining as well lol. And you can say that about any major franchise today…unless its Marvel. Those guys seem to have the most loyal fans since the original Star Wars movies lol.

The 2.39:1 aspect ratio really didn’t work for me. It seems like a gimmick. I watched some of it zoomed, and it was much better. As far as I can tell, they’re not really using the full frame, centering most of the action so that nothing is lost in 16:9, which is exactly the frame height zooming on my TV hits. Even watching on a 65” TV the ‘Scope’ ratio reduces the size of the image too much to be immersed in the picture. Zooming to fill the screen really brought the image into the room. I still think it was a mistake to produce an entire series like this, where the original exhibition medium is TV, and the average screen size is probably 40”.

The good news is, that’s the worst thing I have to say about it. Wow what a premiere.

Maybe they are not thinking about TVs but phones which do have a wider ratio than 2:1 now ;-)

Well you need a TV that is 2:39 which they have so it fills the screen ,but then a then a 16×9 image has black bars all around it. My suggestion view with the lights out in total darkness and you won’t notice it at all.

@Thomas P Vinelli — It’s not about that. It’s about the size of the image. From my typical viewing area, which is 8 feet from my 65″ screen, the size of the images is so small as to sacrifice detail. They aim to be cinematic, but on a weekly TV series shown on a standard home TV, it loses a lot of impact. If I had an 85″ or 100″ TV it might be a different story. But that’s far from common.

Another major issue is that this is a 1080p production. So I’m losing about half the vertical resolution, something like 540p, which is not much better than my old CRT resolution. It would be a different matter if this were 4K, since I’d actually have more resolution and detail even with the letterboxing than I would with 1080p.

The suggestion of watching in a completely black room might work for an OLED, but for that vast majority of viewers on LCD that’s not really going to work, as there’s a lot of light bleed. Add to that CBSAA poor compression and it’s obvious there’s black bars. Higher resolution and HDR/DV would help mitigate somewhat. But it’s made worse with recommended bias lights that help make the blacks seem darker. Again, not my main objection.

Finally, there’s the fact the targeted audience is streaming to mobile devices. Letterboxing is the worst way to watch a movie on such a device. Painfully small on a 4:3 tablet, better on a 16:9, but horrific on a phone, no matter what the native ratio. Most new phones are using 18:9, which is approx. the same 2:1 ratio DISC used last season, which is still letterboxed, but not so tiny.

worked for me. I felt like I wasn’t missing what was going on around them. I agree with Thomas suggestion.

Now that was some kick ass Trek, and I’ve seen ’em all! Well done Kurtzman and Co.!

This was AWESOME!

That was definitely fun. Probably the most cinematic Star Trek TV episode I’ve seen since ever. It felt like a one hour feature film.

If they were able to maintain this quality of writing through the staff shakeup of this season then I think the series has found itself.

That’s my feeling as well. And I’m starting to think most of the things I didn’t like in Season 1 were Bryan Fuller-influenced.

I’m thinking so too. The best parts of season one were Lorca, Mirror Universe and Mudd, definately Mudd. I’d just skip the Klingon episodes if I rewatch. I think they were Fuller influenced. Originally I was looking forward to his involvement and was upset he was forced out. Maybe he was just a scapegoat, time will tell with how season 2 goes!

Perhaps the best hour of Trek since….? A long time ago. Tho I especially liked the Mudd ep last year too. Can they keep it up? If so, blockbuster…

Felt less like they were trying to shoehorn deepness into every scene, which was good. Star Trek does need those moments, but they must come naturally. Someone like Pike should always be front and centre too. Due to him the show now has more of a balance between the light and dark. Something that was missing previously. Tig seemed fun also. In short: a promising start.

I liked the episode, but your comment on the “Pike should always be front and center” – I think that they will have an issue of balance. Unlike Lorca where you still have the show be centered about Burnham, because Lorca was not our hero… But with Pike, and in particular this Pike – you can tell (at least I could) – that you’re not going to get enough Pike, that the show needs to have Pike at center.
Unfortunately, I think they may have overshot with Pike. With Bruce Greenwood, you can still have the story be about Kirk & Spock with Greenwood in the background. But Mount, like Jeffrey Hunter, the look and the presence is almost so demanding that he’s got to be in the center.

good comments. I agree with both of you

Eh, it was ok. On track for typical JJ-crew content (flashy engaging start, abandoned plot points, unfinished ending). Really like the new engineer and Pike. Not so keen on Tilly and the Spock thing.

Having Burnham talk about the African story felt a bit weird. I get that she is African American but unless the character has a connection to that particular tribe or region it feels like they are trying to equate Africa into a cultural monolith, or a assume that a black character must have an African connection instead of just being American.

I am not picking on you here, but it is ironic that the two things that seem to be universally praised even by those who were not won over by this episode are Pike and Tig Notaro, two additions that were heavily criticized by those same people when they were announced.

As for your criticism of Burnham and Africa, remember Sisko did quite a bit of opining of his African ancestry as well, to the point of explicitly calling out a tribal mask he hung in his quarters. He also, to your point, spoke often about the plight of African Americans in our contemporary (or relative contemporary) times.

I’ll freely admit that I did criticise Pike when he was announced but took it back after seeming a clip of him. Maybe I’ll do the same with Spock after I see an episode with him. I guess the idea of more Spock just seems tiring and I have no issues with the actor himself.

You’re right about Sisko and Africa. He seemed to have more of a connection with Africa and being African American that was built up though. Hopefully this isn’t just a one-off thing for Burnham and the start of some family backstory.

I don’t think her character was explicitly defined as African-American so far, she could be from anywhere in the world, including Africa proper.

That build up happened slowly over time. I urge you to be patient, this is a development in the character of Burnham that could play out well, or wind up feeling contrived.

After all, Picard’s close connection to the vinyard’s of France was sudden too. Before that I recall a lot of discussion amongst the fans over his ancestry– was he British, French, or something else?

In the 24th century, might it have even felt a bit stereotypical for a french character to have grown up on a vinyard?

GQMF I think you missed what Burnham was saying about the story. She started by saying 1000 centuries ago and then mentions the tribe in Africa where the story originated from. She also mentions not understanding the story when she first heard it. And when she tells the story it’s about a girl who scoops up *something* and sprinkles it into the sky to create the universe (I’m paraphrasing). I think the significance was more about how it’s what made her think of pulling the information from Spock’s pad to find the clues he left at the end of the episode. I don’t think it being an African girl or African tribe was supposed to be any kind of direct connection to Burnham.

Didn’t Africans look more like the KhoiSan all those years ago, people rather than the Equatorial ‘Black’ African offshoot?

How does that relate to what PEB said?

She scoops up ashes from a fire, I think.

LOL. She’s not African OR American! Technically, she’s not even Terran. But obviously she’s black, so she is likely making a connection with her ancestral roots.

Memory Alpha says “born on Earth” and she has an American accent.

What does her accent have to do with it? All African Americans can trace their lines back to Africa. That’s what it means to be African American.

She wouldn’t be African American if she wasn’t born in America, but on a different planet.

This thread is a really dumb subject to argue about. An African American actress happened to tell a story about Africa. The point was supposed to connect to the end when she created the galaxy using Spock’s art tool.

I agree, but I do find ancestry and labelling interesting. For example, if she was born on another world (Vulcan for example), is she still even an African American? Is she just Vulcan? Or is she a Vulcan of Terran descent? It’s the same questions I often have contemporarily.

My ancestry goes back to Eastern Europe– Poland, Germany, Russia. But the last FOUR generations are American. I am also Jewish, so no doubt if i traced my lineage far back enough there’d be a heck of a lot of middle eastern.

Just interesting. Ultimately, we’re all just human. And I think it would be fun, in Star Trek, for them to stop referring to people as Earth nationalities, considering they’ve been part of a bigger galaxy of planets for more than two centuries at this point (in Discovery).

I thought you were going to say it felt weird because the show opened with an introductory dialogue which I agree with. I’m not sure what Africa had to do with it. What if it was a Native American story would it still be weird?

I thought it was good, but not great.

It certainly looks good and was mostly well directed but the whole pod segment didn’t work for me.

Pike looks to be a solid addition to the Discovery. Same for Reno. Really enjoyed Stamets’ scenes.

The menagerie reference was my favourite bit, super cool.

Stamet is too nice now, I liked him more when he was a prick.

@FrostUK — I’ll admit that the pod sequence was pretty much a rip off of the space dive from ST09, where the cocky engineer bit the dust, and Sulu had to rescue Kirk. But otherwise, that’s the kind of thing Star Trek needs more of to attract audiences. It always did really, but they never had the budgets to do it correctly.

Still waiting for the review but I will throw in my cents worth. IMO, very good start for S2 of Discovery. If it were a movie (which it looked and felt like at times especially running over 78 mins with commercials), I’d give it a B+ or 3.75-4 stars. To be honest, even though I liked Disco’s first season, yes I think this did feel more like the Star Trek I am used to. Mount looks like he will be an excellent Pike and it was great to see most of old cast back for episode 1. Not only was the episode more positive, but I am also heartened by the initial response on Trekmovie.com. Of the 100 plus initial comments, easily 95 percent seem to be cautiously optimistic or very thumbs up. Mainstream media reviews also seem to be mostly positive. Hopefully that bodes well for a nice long run by Discovery as well as all the other Trek shows in the pipeline. The producers seem to be building on the great parts of the first season while listening to SOME of the constructive critiques. Trek fans for the most part seem to be happy. Hats off to Kurtzman and the writing team.

Up here in Toronto, we didn’t get a preview of next week’s episode. Did CBSAA provide one at the end of last night’s first episode? If so, how does it look? Also, too bad After Trek is gone. As someone said, it was a little too hokey at times but I thought it was fun to watch right after each episode. I guess I will have to check out the FB show later.

They should do what Game of Thrones did and have an “Inside the Episode” 10 to 15 minute short that talks lore and story specifics with the show runners.

There was a broader preview of what to expect on season 2, so there was no episode specific trailer, just one encompassing the rest of season 2.

Thanks, hopefully they will have episode trailers going forward.

They should. Season 1 was the same way, after the two part premiere they did a “this season on Star Trek Discovery” too, and then started in with regular episodic promos with episode 3.

So I expect a normal “next episode” promo at the end of next week’s episode.

I’m one of the skeptics who was disappointed last year. I’ll admit it looks like they’ve taken some of the fan feedback and are making an effort, and I do like Anson Mount as Pike. Still some stuff (and characters) that I find annoying, but things are looking up.

I’m with you. I’m not a hater, but I didn’t love season 1 either. While there were things I didn’t like, I still found things I did, and I enjoyed them, and accepted it for what it was. But season 2 is off to a much better start, and it does feel like a different show. Granted, it’s just one episode, but I’m an optimist and have high hopes for season 2!

As someone who enjoyed Season 1, even I found the Season 2 premiere to be much stronger. Not the best episode of the series, but close, and the addition of Pike changes the tone considerably in the right direction.

This is precisely why I preached patience to those who disliked season 1. Imagine if we had written off TNG after the first TWENTY SIX episodes? Heck the first TWO seasons were largely unwatchable.

Same. I had MANY issues with season one. And in fact rewatched the season finale the day before the premiere which I had never watched again since it originally aired and sadly it sucked as much as I remembered the first time. Some decent character moments here and there for sure but the story just felt really dumb and lackluster to me.

But watching that season opener, man what a HUGE difference that felt. Yes its just one episode so I’m not going to over state it but if the rest of the season is in this tone which it sounds like it mostly is, then that’s a huge benefit and plus. This is a return to real Star Trek IMO, where its about science, exploration, team work and problem solving. Its amazing how much so much of those things lacked in season one. I have been excited about season 2 since I saw that first trailer and was praying that we see a real change and it looks a lot of us got our wish. Hopefully the goodwill stays.

I never did like the premiere. A smarter choice would have been to make Episode 3 the premiere, and sprinkle Ep1/2 throughout the whole first season as flashbacks. Make the audience wonder what horrible thing Burnham had done to deserve her punishment, and slowly reveal it over the course of the season.

Culminating with showing her getting Phillipa killed when she has her final fight with Mirror Georgiou. Think of how powerful a reveal that could have been.

I agree about the premiere as well. I didn’t hate it but oddly it put a bad taste in my mouth. I know the point was to see Burnham’s downfall but killing off Georgiou made me less excited for the season and not more. I agree they should’ve went that way and done it in flashbacks as we slowly get to know more about Burnham.

Okay, I am comfortable with Anson Mount as Captain Pike. But the more I see pictures of Ethan Peck as Spock, the more I don’t like it. I still hold to the point of that he doesn’t even resemble Spock. Sybok yes, Spock no. Zackary Quinto did at least. But I will give Ethan Peck a fair chance.

Funny, I thought Quinto didn’t look at all like Nimoy, and feel that Peck has a much stronger phyiscal resemblance. We’ll see how he portrays him as the season progresses.

Frankly, I don’t think anyone should be cast based on the physical resemblance, nor even how well they can copy a performance. I can appreciate that Quinto put his own spin on the character, and expect Peck to do the same… as long as the spirit of Spock is there.

I never understood the statements about how “similar” Quinto looks like young Nimoy either. Peck’s voice though is so far much closer in timber to Nimoy

Yeah Peck has the voice that Quinto seriously lacked IMO. I’m really excited to see him on the show now. I think he’s going to make fans more happy then many were with Quinto’s portrayal, at least based on the little we seen of him.

Hopefully we’ll get a more reserved Pike show out of this. Then I won’t have to watch Discovery. The kids can have Discovery.

Even if we do, that will probably be a few years away. I mean they have FOUR shows in development right now (maybe five if the Academy show is happening) and based on their own timeline it sounds like the Section 31 show won’t show up until the middle of next year the earliest but could be later. I know people want a Pike show and it could happen but even if it does Discovery could be in season 4 or 5 before it happens.

Just a nitpick/observation…

“Sound off. And skip your ranks. They don’t matter. Clockwise from science:”
“Michael Burnham.”
“Evan Connollly.”
“Gen Rhys.”
“Keyla Detmer.”
“Joann Owosekun.”
“Lieutenant Commander Airiam.”

Maybe it’s intended as a character moment? She slips up and says her rank anyway, and Pike is kind enough to not correct her. Though it does raise the question of whether she has a first name that she omitted or if she’s like “just Saru.” (Could be the writers were trying to avoid stepping on Saru’s beat there too.)

Either that or her first name is “Lieutenant.”

Maybe she’s a protocol droid, and she can’t skip rank

It was intentional by the creative team to start personalizing and involving the bridge crew more. They hinted at this in some interviews. I doubt we see that again.

I appreciated it. We really don’t know them like in other series. I’d like to see the bridge crew more involved.

I don’t think this is a spoiler. And it’s not necessarily a criticism but if someone can shed some light on this for me I’d appreciate it because it really bothers me…

1. At the start of the episode, the crew cannot communicate with the Enterprise and has to use morse code. Both the viewers of this episode and the crew of the Discovery are made to assume that the ship is disabled and unable to communicate

But they are quickly able to beam Pike and some officers over and he promptly tells everyone that he is taking command of Discovery under authorization of Starfleet and that they are aware of his mission to go investigate the first red signal

Doesn’t this seem overly dramatic and confusing? I don’t understand why Starfleet would not have advised Discovery of this in advance so they don’t do something rash when they encounter the Enterprise stranded in space

2. Now at the close of the episode I have the same logistical confusion about protocol. Why in the world is Burnham able to enter Spock’s private quarters and go digging through his logs???

It seems to me like an incredible violation of privacy and against every regulation that would exist seeing at This point Spock is not considered officially missing or in trouble

So on either of these two points… If I missed a key piece of dialogue or there is an explanation missing please fill me in because I’m willing to accept I’m overlooking something

I just find those two plot points hard to get over at face value from my perspective

I think the device she was using in his quarters was a childhood computer. So it probably recognised her.

Using TNG as reference, they didn’t get locks on their doors until 3rd season, so that made sense to me!

1. I think that it’s a Trek trope. But Saru brings up Starfleet protocol to make sure he’s doing things by the book.

2. A lot could have happened between leaving Discovery and going to Enterprise. Pike could’ve given her access to his quarters but they do the transition in a flash so there’s so much that you literally don’t see. I had an issue with that bit of editing/storytelling but that’s just me.

#1 I agree, but can’t help. Maybe they communicated Morse code with star fleet too?
#2 family member protocol? Some concern about his welfare would warrant it?

I enjoyed that a lot but I would like this anti white male stuff to just stop. Connelly was literally just a “toxic masculinity” insert and that would be fine if he was meant to be a bad guy but he’s the god damn Science Officer on the Enterprise. Surely this show should be focusing on what these people WANT people to be, not using them as strawman inserts for modern day grievance culture distractions?

I didn’t see him as anti white male. To me his character is the same kind of know-it all jerk that you would see going back to 80s movies and before. You were never supposed to like that guy and to be honest it reminded me of how we first met Stammets before he eased up. I hated Picard in the first season. But we have other white males on the show that are amazing for this to be far from an anti white male thing.

Know-it-all women outshining know-it-all men. The women may as well say “Zip it” every time a man talks on this show.

That’s almost every show on TV these days. Hardly representative of real life (mine, anyway – my wife and I are equals), but media would have you believe so.

You guys are imagining things. Strong, smart, female characters do not equal weak, ineffectual male characters.

They do to the loser incels.

Mr. Limpopo, just because the women in your life are constantly saying that doesn’t mean it’s needed on Discovery.

Assuming I’m straight.

Objection sustained.

You’re ruling ‘Objection sustained’ over your own comment? You must be a real Don Juan with the ladies.

There was a lot of the usual insecure Feminist tropes.

toxic masculinity comment aside, the story didn’t have much morning for the character. I guess Trek never really has unless they were a main cast member.

I didn’t see that way at all, I saw him more as a jab at Burnham via Spock. She prides both herself and her brother as being superior, and his mere presence was the first thing that rubbed her the wrong way: she resented that Spock refused to board Discovery and thus there was immediate friction. I’m sure Connelly knew Spock was her foster brother, and was trying to show off to prove he was every bit as good as our favorite Vulcan. Not to mention i’m sure Burnham’s reputation as a good science officer AND as a mutineer and instigator of the war preceded her.

I think frankly there’s a lot of odd assumptions being made, and that you viewed him as an embodiment of “toxic masculinity” that says a lot more about you than anything.

Nicely said, Afterburn.

I don’t think the sensitive males are being that paranoid in this instance- because of the line Connelly says before he dies, about another female who tried to tell him business and he told her to “relax” and then BOOM- Connelly explodes. Have to think this was intended as a mini-lesson on the perils of sexist arrogance (and more generally the perils of arrogance). The only thing that bothered me was that such an insufferable twit would have that high a rank on the Enterprise, which cheapens Pike’s ship a bit. But not a major issue, and yes, a well-worn trope of bit jerks getting their comeuppance.

You have issues.

This was a essentially a retread of the “arrogant jerk ends up paying the ultimate price for his arrogance” character from the orbital parachute sequence in Trek 2009 (a better action set-piece in spite of my overall loathing for that film). Don’t think ethnicity or gender had anything to do with it, frankly.

If anything, I thought the redshirt was going to buy the farm, but surprise – it was him instead.

I’m pretty sure that was intentional. He even called out her red shirt just before the mission.

I thought that’s where they were headed, but as the conversation went a bit further you could see that asteroid coming :)

I am a white male. And I didn’t see that science officer as anti-white-male. I think a lot of people’s opinion’s in media are being coloured as a result of all the movements in the news that past 2 years. So we’re calling foul where none is warranted.

However… on a STAR TREK related note… I sure hope they stop having officers continually disobeying direct orders.

Pike’s science officer onboard the Federation flagship… hurtling thru an asteroid field… and he’s disobeying direct orders and advice. C’mon.

And I hope they can retire the trend in the recent movies and TV shows of these perpetual “skydiving” scenes (first 2 Abrahms movies… E01s of both these Discovery seasons)

After watching this episode all i can say is…anh. *Shrugs* It was ok. I still don’t like discovery.

If I hated discovery i’d have given up midway through season 1. I’d have given Season 2 a shot if reviews said there was a positive change, but if i still disliked it, i’d stop watching, and I certainly wouldn’t come in to a discussion to announce that I still hated it.

That would just be childish.

And that’s perfectly fine. Not everyone is going to love it just like everyone hasn’t loved every show in the past. But we’re 16 episodes in, few Trek shows were great 16 episodes in. How many Trek shows can you say you loved by then? That said if don’t like it, you don’t like it.