Look at the course correction on the Klingon heads, or at least some of them. I still think they look ridiculous.
The only un-Trekian thing in Discovery Ive accross so far so far is that the season-long, continuous story line and story telling. From ToS to Voyager that just wasnt the case. Well, Voyager had the "voyage home" determining the story line and motivation of characters while DS9 had the Dominion War but this did not reflect in stories developing over several episodes or so. TNG had stories getting told in 1 or 2 episodes at best. New star system, new race, new story every episode. Taste and expectations of viewers have changed since then. As un-Trek as it may be, I still like it as Im part of todays viewership almost expecting long, complicated, intertwined story lines. As a reader of Trek books Im used to it anways. If they reduce the action and light effects part for a little more in-depth philosophical "Trek stories" Ill be totally fine with this show.
Tilly's ghost is by far the most annoying character so far in the show. If she wanted something done, she should just say what she wanted done. If you she wanted to manipulate Tilly, she should have done that. Instead she kept saying she had a plan, but never did anything to bring it about; kept saying she needed trust, but never did anything to deserve it nor demand anything with it. It was all very JJ Abrams. Not that the crew took any opportunity to communicate with it. Do you need reminding what your 5-year and/or continuing mission is, Star Trek show? And we're no closer to finding out the season's mystery, except that it's becoming more ridiculous. This was a wasted hour. Star Trek Klingons have always been shown as male-dominated. They wouldn't accept a woman chancellor, let alone anyone without a house or battle honors. I really hated all the swooping, rotating cameras. The fight scene had good choreography, but it was almost impossible to tell because of the darkness, blinking lights, and terrible cinematography. And why were so many new weapons invented for this episode? Yeah, a dual paralyzer that requires both opponents to be on either side of your clenched fist is really useful.
I kept wondering that too. Isn't this a really male-dominated society? Maybe there will be a further explanation.
On a political level it is. On a personal level it is more equal: in Worf's relationships - and even in the TOS episode "Day of the Dove" - Klingon wives are equal partners, and women are still warriors, trusted advisors, and mission leaders (like Azetbur in The Undiscovered Country, or K'Ehleyr in TNG). But a couple times women were denied the ability to lead a house (Lursa and B'Etor in TNG, Grilka in DS9), and we have seen no women governors, no women members of the High Council, no women generals, and no women judges. However, Azetbur was made chancellor at the end of Star Trek VI, the only woman chancellor we have seen until now.
Azetbur immediately became the acting chancellor upon her father Gorkon's murder in the middle of The Undiscovered Country. Did she remain in that position for much longer after the end of the film? Also, interesting little tidbit: Rosana DeSoto (who played Azetbur) is from San José (California, not Costa Rica) and graduated from San José State University. -G
Azetbur was voted as Chancellor by the High Command, she was a full Chancellor by the end of the movie.
There were exigent circumstances in-universe in Star Trek VI - they needed a new chancellor right away who was familiar with the negotiations. But more importantly, the basic idea for VI was set before the Star Trek: TNG episode "Sins of the Father" was shown, and a lot of development of Klingon society was done in the series after. Discovery doesn't have the movie's excuse being written somewhere no one has written before - they are on solidly trodden ground. I'm not against things being different, and there isn't any reason why the founding of an empire has to create the same government system used a century later (certainly Germany wasn't the same between its 1871 unification and 100 years later, to give one example). What I want is recognition of a continuity. We had a TNG-style Klingon Empire and High Council in Star Trek Enterprise, which takes place before Discovery. If something happened to the Klingons between those shows, they should at least mention it. And they should someday say something about how the Empire goes from L'Rell's religious autocratic dictatorship to the council of houses seen afterwards. Maybe L'Rell does something horrible and is the reason why women are not placed in high positions.
I know there was a lot of weird stuff in this latest episode, but to name just one: Tilly's favorite song is almost three hundred years old? That'd be like if I asked someone nowadays what their favorite song was and they sang something written in the first half of the 18th century.
I totally was thinking the same thing. But maybe her hobby is 20th century pop/rock music? All ST series have this obsession on 20th century culture. It's laughable at times. Just an excuse for the writers to highlight their own personal attachment to a song or cultural item.
Captain Pike suddenly speaking French was nice. Others speaking French, Spanish, Klingon and Russian too. Oh and I fell in love a little with her so I want the adventures of Number One starring Rebecca Romijn in the next Trek series.
Some Italian, Arabic and Tau Cetian as well. Just as Burnham and Saru were finishing the very last of the Universal Translator repairs. Not to mention that she likes the occasional cheeseburger, fries, habañero sauce and shake as well. -G
"Heeft iemand een idee?". That's the line. The problem with non-native speakers (especially in movies and on TV) speaking Dutch is that it's usually so heavily accented it's hard to understand even for native Dutch speakers. There are some exceptions, like most notably the girl in the western "Brimstone". She was so good that I was sure she must have had a Dutch-speaking parent, but she didn't.
The same is true for German. Native English speakers are never so much exposed to other languages that they would be able to work out the tiny nuances in melody and rhythm of a language. It's not that they dont care but they simply cant work out the difference because they dont hear it. The only exception for this is possibly Spanish cause Mexico is around the corner. Native French speaking Canadian actress, different outcome: Oh, I just wanted to add to my initial statement that Im not willing to accept American English as "Federation standard". Unerhört!
I've noticed that often times, American productions will hire a French-Canadian to play a French person on TV. Likely because it's more convenient and cheaper than to hire an actual Frenchman or Frenchwoman. The interesting thing is how the results vary. Some do an effort to actually sound more genuinely French, emulating a local French accent. Others just use their own accent, which is how no actual French person sounds. On the subject of Americans who are great at other languages, Jodie Foster might be the greatest I'm aware of. Her French is perfect, the only thing that gives her away is that she doesn't really have a local accent, which a person who has grown up in France would have.
Stamets' husband is actually not his husband at all, but the equivalent of a clone who shares all of his memories and personality. I do hope as they move ahead they acknowledge all of the emotional and ethical repercussions this reality holds.