I have mixed feelings about Disco ending. I really dug the first season's look at a Federation at war, and following the person who arguably set that war in motion dealing with her culpability. Add to that a ship that is part weird science lab, part haunted house. And yeah, I could live with the Klingon redesign.
It was inventive, it took risks and broke some moulds — and not always successfully, mind you. But I stuck with it from the hopeful "First three seasons are for growing pains" Trek paradigm.
Then the show took some odd turns. Rather than focusing on the crew's adventures in space and science, season two constructed a cosmic conundrum around Burnham and her family. I was still on board for the characters, even bearded Spock no matter how shoehorned in he felt. The show's unapologetic optimism was still a big selling point, too.
With season three came the time jump into a future that absolutely does not feel like it's a thousand years ahead of the previous season. The jump in technology should be proportional to a Viking longboat rocking up to the ISS, but it felt like a step back. And at this point, the extended crew of the Discovery was thoroughly sidelined: Burnham's personal relationships took priority over everything else.
For one example: As great as Michelle Yeoh is, the show basically redeemed a murderous space despot because... she reminded Burnham of her Starfleet counterpart?! I'm going to stop you right there, Captain "This is Starfleet" — this is a person who kept rubbing in Saru's face how familiar she was with the taste of his species' flesh.
I'll keep watching Disco through to its end because I'm invested in the remaining characters, but this isn't the show I apprehensively fell in love with anymore. Its strengths are all but gone, its faults enhanced, and its commercial(?) failure seems to have convinced the Powers That Be that future Star Trek needs to be grounded in nostalgia for previous eras.
I will miss the first season's promise of new, daring Trek shows writ large, and as much as I liked Pike and his crew in season two, SNW leans too heavily and knowingly on the franchise's campier canon for my taste (I know I'm in a minority with that opinion, and I'm not here to argue for or against). With peak TV fading, I'm afraid we won't see anything as bold as TNG, DS9 — or early Discovery — again.
Here's a controversial opinion for y'all: The season of Discovery with the broken remnants of the Federation examining how and if to bring back the Federation is the best season of Trek ever made, to date.
@MajorHavoc @halm better than season 7 of DS9? Or (most of) S4 of Enterprise? Ok, to each their own. It was better than the previous two seasons of Disco, the story was better planned and the episode quality more consistent, but why do you think it's the best ever?
After careful thought...I'll yield to season 7 of DS9. You pulled out the big guns. Haha.
@MajorHavoc so did the Breen 😍
But I'm honestly biased against Discovery anyway. I wanted to like it, wished I could love it, or even just enjoy it, but I just couldn't. I do appreciate that they did take on feedback and improve it, it just isn't for me. And neither is Picard S1 or S2.
Hold up now, no need to draw the objectively impeccable DS9 into the matter! I have genuine affection for large parts of Discovery, but no other Trek can hold a candle to Deep space nine.
@halm DS9 is the best series and seasons 4 to 7 are the best Trek ever made.
When you put it that way, yeah. That would have been interesting to watch. It wasn't really my experience of where the season's focus lay, though.
It’s not my favorite but it’s up there. I think the premise of all the dithium exploding and seeing “the far future that feels less future” that the OP described was actually really cool to me. The previous season where Burnham has the magic flying angel rocket suit was pretty stupid and made it feel like there were no stakes.
Premise was great, buildup was okay, outcome and resolution were awful.
I liked the big reveal, but I can see how it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.
Partial Spoiler
Normally when Trek is going to do a Trelane or Q story, it's introduced early in the story. This was a weird left turn at the end, and leaves us wondering if any plotline later will also do so.I didn't mind it in this season, because the season was so focused on about values and tradition, so I wasn't expecting a hard scifi conclusion. Realizing they were 'doing a Doctor Who', wasn't too shocking to me.
But as much as I thought it fit here, it's a weird way to resolve a Trek season, and I hope we don't get that approach often.
I'll give you points for controversial. I actually liked that season a good bit, but that is a pretty bold statement.
Yeah. Maybe too bold...I'm reconsidering my stance after some points were made about later seasons of DS9. Later DS9 seasons were fantastic.
Late ds9 is my absolute favorite so clearly you are an individual of profound taste.