Thoughts on Star Trek Discovery 4

First, I just want to say I loved Star Trek Discovery Seasons 1 to 3. Season 4 isn't bad, but it just didn't measure up to the other seasons. I didn't feel nearly as hooked as before. The mid-season break seemed to have killed the momentum, but I eventually got back to it. 

I think the main problem is the character, Michael Burnham. She was awesome in the previous seasons. However, it seems like once she finally became a captain, her character arc had peaked. By season three her personality had changed. She had fallen in love, and she was happy. They still had a mission to restore The Federation, and prove themselves to the skeptical admiral, so that kept the conflict going. By Season 4, everything is going great in the beginning. Michael is a captain and glowing with happiness. Her career goal is achieved. She seems more like everyone's friend instead of a captain. Burnham comes across as really soft against crew members that go against orders no matter what disasters they have caused. Overall, there are a lot of feelings and hugging in many episodes. 

In Season 4, they face a new threat that could destroy Earth and other populated planets. It's a good challenge with high stakes, but this happens to be one of the most common plots in science fiction. This made things predictable. The theme became more interesting as the season went on. It pretty much says that you should negotiate with the enemy, even if they have attacked you first. Especially when the enemy is way more powerful than you and you don't know why they attacked. Not every character agreed, and they went against the Federation. However, the point of the theme was proven and resolved by the end. 

Also, there were some unique bits here and there. The world building still has a lot of creativity. The finale was very good. While Season 4 isn't as amazing as the other seasons, I still think it's worth watching. They did some things that Star Trek hasn't done before such as going through the galactic barrier. 

One thing we know for sure about Star Trek is that they always come back to be more amazing than ever. 

Star Trek Discovery Paused Mid-Season

Star Trek Discovery will take a mid-season pause after episode seven. The other episodes will start up February 10th. I was like "What?" followed by a big eyeroll. I've never had this happen with any show yet, but I recently read that it's not uncommon. Episode seven is supposed to be a "mid-season" climax. However, I wasn't able to find out how many episodes there will be all together, but the average for a Discovery season is about thirteen episodes.

Some have speculated that this has something to do with all the other Star Trek shows that are coming out soon. It seems they don't want Star Trek Prodigy and Picard overlooked. 

Yet, for the fans this puts us in a situation. Like me, I'm sure many of us have a lot of shows we want to watch among several streaming services. It gets expensive and choices have to be made. My first thought about this was to not subscribe to Paramount Plus until the entire season was dropped. This includes any streaming service since we don't know how much of a season they are going to release. 

I also understand why people binge shows. It's not my favorite way to watch a season, but I finally get it. There are many reasons to binge. Time and money. Perhaps you like a show and have a day off. You don't know when you might get that much time, so you binge it. 

In general, there are so many great movies and shows now, that in order to watch them all binging is the solution. It can also help reduce cost. You binge shows on that streaming service, then cancel and move onto the next. Binging is the fastest way to know the entire story. It makes one feel like they aren't missing the latest and greatest show. 

The downside to binging is that it's not healthy sitting that long. It's also isolating, and it uses up time for other activities. These are the reasons I find binging impossible, but for others I get it. 

As for Star Trek Discovery, the first episodes are interesting, but it wasn't until episode five that I felt hooked. 

Anyway, I will probably check out Star Trek Prodigy and Picard season two. I've already seen season one of Picard. 

You can consider this to be my mid-holiday blog post. :)

Two Shows I love, but some people Hate. Star Trek Discover and Alaskan Bush People.

Star Trek Discovery

I love Star Trek Discovery, but if you follow the Star Trek page on Facebook, you will find that many people hate it. Some say it's not "Star Trek." Others say they will not watch the next season. To me Discovery has really good plots with twists that you don't see coming. I consider that to be great writing. It also brings in new creative ideas like the spore drive. However, I wonder about the reasons that some people don't like it. 

It is kind of a big change compared to Star Treks of the past. For those who cling to the TOS, it may just be too much at once.  For one, women have more leading roles than men. Including, the main character Michael Burnham. However, there are still men in leadership roles. Then you have two gay characters in a relationship. There are a few others that could be gay or bisexual. I'm not entirely sure, nor do I care. To me, it's no big deal. However, I know some people who just aren't comfortable with those characters.   

Just recently I watched "The Wrath of Kahn." I hadn't seen it in years. I found my self laughing a lot. Mostly at the acting, but there were other issues too. However, back in 1982 it was considered a good movie. At that time, I thought it was good too, but now, it's just out of date.  

The thing I truly believe is if Star Trek wouldn't have evolved over the years, it would have died out. It's only because of the new ideas that it continues. It's just a like a business. A business has to change to keep up with the competition. If not, it goes out of business. The ability to adapt and innovate means life. 

Alaskan Bush People

Okay go ahead and laugh. Yes, I like Alaskan Bush People. However, there is even a Facebook group dedicated to hating them. The main reason is they say they are fake. Such as....they don't really live in Alaska or have as many problems as they claim to have. Those are fake just to get ratings. Some people seem jealous that they make money from something fake. They don't believe the danger is real because the TV crew can step in and save them. Some people didn't even believe that the mother had lung cancer because it went into remission. The family members are rather odd and these haters just love to make fun of them. So in a way, they still get some entertainment from the show. 

One complaint I agree with is that most of the episodes have recycled content to fill in the blanks. The film editors are rather skilled at taking old comments and scenes from previous episodes and blend them in with some new stuff. It seems they struggle with getting new scenes from the family. Most likely because of the poor health of the parents.  

As for the fakeness, most reality shows have to inject conflict at some point or it wouldn't be interesting. So I feel that this show has a mix of both real and exaggerated problems for the family. Regardless, there are people who really love the show. This seems to be because no matter what tragedy comes along, the family "Never gives up, never surrenders." They try to be positive no matter what happens. 

So why do I like it? First it's the characters. They make me laugh because they are different. I like to see the ideas they come up for living in the bush. There is a part of me that would love to live off-grid. In general, I like the outdoors and often feel cooped up working inside all day. 

Also, I understand the difficulties. The health of their parents made it impossible to live off-grid. Recently the father, Billy Brown, died of a seizure. A problem he had been struggling with for years. Some people would accuse him of making his kids do everything. Well, it's because he couldn't do it because of health reasons.

They try to live off-grid and that's the important thing. I believe it's real that they have done it before on and off. Also, I tend to learn things from the show (like how to make a bear proof storage room) and the Discovery Channel is about learning new things and this show does fit in with learning. In general, I have learned a lot about Alaska and their new location Tonasket, Washington State. They couldn't stay in Alaska because the mother (Ami) had lung cancer, which is in remission. The family is still trying to live off-grid. I want to see them achieve it. 

Star Trek Discovery Achieves Original Standards and More!

When they created Star Trek Discovery, they made sure it covered all the qualities of the original. 

The original Star Trek is known for coming up with new technology that sometimes becomes a reality. As we all know, the communicators in the original series look similar to flip cell phones. The ship's computer used voice recognition just like Alexxa and Siri only better, of course. 

Discovery has also new technology. What impressed me early in the series, was the spore drive. I thought it was creative to come up with something different to power a warp drive engine, other than dilithiam crystals. The spore drive turns out to be important to the plot throughout the three seasons. 

From the first series, Star Trek has been known for its diversity. With Discovery, the main character (Michael) is a woman to begin with and there are more women main characters than men. The admiral in season one was a woman. I also like how Michael wasn't a captain. Discovery, also has a mix of races, white, black, etc. There are also some gay characters that I thought were really interesting and necessary to the plot. They weren't just there and suddenly "Oh yeah, he's gay." kind of thing. Paul Stamats, the chief engineer who happens to be gay was the only one who could operate the spore drive. I found myself hoping his strained relationship with the crew's doctor would work out too. 

I've noticed in one thing that writers are doing well these days is that they are sure to make that connection with a previous older series (if it's available) With Discovery, Michael's parents were killed and she ended up adopted by Sarek at an early age. Spock happens to be her little brother. The whole thing just works because fans remember and love Spock. We like to see him come back to life, and it's great because it's even about of phase of his life that was untold. There are some other things from the old series too. A quick example is we get to see more about Christopher Pike, and those aliens on Talos Five. 

Then there are the twists. I won't mention them, but there are so many amazing twists. The stakes are also high. This is another way to win over fans. In Discovery, the whole existence of mankind is in danger. 

  
When the series first came out, there was a lot of debate if one should pay a streaming service to watch it. At that time, not too long go, it was less common to subscribe to any sort of channel. I didn't like the idea of paying more on top of cable. Three years later, I've had Netflix, Disney, Amazon Prime and Paramount. 

And YES, Star Trek Discovery is worth it. 

Great News! Season 4 is coming in 2021. I can't wait.