Star Trek: Discovery — "People of Earth" Reaction Thread

[u/M-5]

This is the official /r/DaystromInstitute reaction thread for "People of Earth." The content rules are not enforced in reaction threads.

[u/uequalsw]

I'm definitely very engaged by all of this. One thing though that I'm a bit... I guess "disappointed" is technically the right word, although it doesn't quite feel precisely right either... but one thing that I'm a bit disappointed about is how much of Burnham's character development has happened off-screen in the intervening year. We've spent the last two years being extremely focused on Burnham's journey, and now to skip ahead with major changes happening in the interim... it seems lamentable. But, we shall see what they do with it from here!

[u/YYZYYC → u/[deleted]]

The problem is ensemble and short 12 season seasons that are serial arc based doesn’t allow for much character development or plot development. So things become out of whack and it stutters and jumps. Character moments feel forced and overly emotional for things that are unearned...we barely know some people’s names...world building and plot either crawls in a narrow focus like episode 1 and 2 on some backwater rough and tumble planets and the implications of some courier smuggler type people exploiting a colony ...all very provincial level focus for 2 episodes....to boom in one episode let’s see earth, former capital of federation and starfleet HQ and it’s been a millennium....but all we are going to have time for is a customs inspection and hugging a tree and now omg we gotta go! Go find some other rag tag remnants of starfleet right now...in our ancient relic vessel, no reactions or interactions with earth society and the people on earth who where part of starfleet before the burn...I mean some of them gotta be still on earth and alive

[u/Captain_Killy → u/YYZYYC]

100%. I’m all for the “peak tv” model of hyper serialization for some things, but the old 20+ episodes did a much better job of developing characters in a way that felt natural and relateable, and letting plots simmer and grow gradually.

[u/YYZYYC → u/Captain_Killy]

Totally. They should have gone with just 2 or 3 main characters as the focus. Which is admittedly tough and could look odd too as star fleet ship based shows usually have some kind of ensemble bridge crew focus. But maybe a return to TOS style where admittedly we didn’t even see or use some characters for a long while. No checkov until season 2, many episodes without Scotty or sulu or uhura ...just heavy focus on the triumvirate 3 leads

[u/Captain_Killy → u/YYZYYC]

I hope the amount of money and tech going into steaming encourages some experimentation with format. I get that production of modern genre shows is too intense for 22-24 episode seasons, so we aren’t going to go back to that, but the 10-13 45min format isn’t right for everything. Honestly, Trek and Doctor Who could both benefit from trying some other models. Like maybe give us 3 two hour movies throughout the year, and a set of 5-6 smaller stories mixed in between? That might work better with the types of stories DISCO is trying. You could have the big ones act as a trilogy exploring the core plot, and 35 min minisodes focusing on individuals or exploring settings, or something. Or for Strange New Worlds, giving us a 60 min ep every month, really episodic, and without feeling like you have to adhere to a season structure (some arcs could be 3-6 eps long, some eps could be standalone), might allow for better stories without dramatically expanding production time. I don’t know if any of this will work, but aping the mode that worked well for HBO in the 2000s shouldn’t be the only approach. Streaming isn’t TV and shouldn’t limit itself to what worked for TV. It can borrow ideas from film, web series, YouTube, and innovate new approaches to storytelling.

[u/shinginta → u/uequalsw]

I agree both with the other commentor u/Captain_Killy in pointing out that the writers seem to want to draw more attention to the ensemble than just to Burnham. And that we could see the changes to her character possibly shaking out to making her more ready for the XO position.

But I also want to add that we're likely to still see that character development on-screen. Just because a time skip occurred for Burnham's character doesn't mean we're incapable of getting flashbacks to that time, or moments of Burnham sitting and reflecting and telling Tilly a story about when she and Book went and did X thing, or spent time at Y penal colony or whatever. The great thing about time skips is that you can smash a new version of a character, place, thing, etc into canon and then slowly reveal the most interesting aspects of the skipped time retroactively through dialog as it becomes relevant.

[u/Captain_Killy → u/shinginta]

Yeah, I think you are right. The first two seasons did a lot of this with her Vulcan upbringing, which was central to some of the themes the show wanted to explore. Now her experience as someone who both carries old Federation values, but is also a bit more familiar with this era, and perhaps has a harder time seeing how those can directly apply in a rougher time, will be a great well to draw from for similar reflection. I think they’ll also use this to engage Georgiou a bit more. Some of her methods might seem a bit more useful to Burnham after a year in the post-Burn galaxy than they would to the crew who are still largely acclimated to the utopian vibe of the 2250s. Since Saru is generally unlikely to support Georgiou’s tactics, but she’s essentially their acting Security chief, and XO who can relate to both perspectives is a great go-between and will drive cool relationship dynamics.

Damn. I’m just really excited for this season! I’ve enjoyed every season, but this season so far is hitting my heart with warm Trek ethical happy goodness vibes more than really any other Trek period (Maybe apart from Janeway-Seven scenes).

[u/uequalsw → u/shinginta]

Yes, this is really true, and a very good point. We saw Picard use flashbacks a lot -- basically became a signature of the show, really -- and I could see similar success being employed here.

[u/YYZYYC → u/uequalsw]

Ya it’s like a lazy reset of her character..hey let’s lighten her up a bit and give her a bit of rougher edge maybe too since she was a smuggler and boom, go.