Tuesday, January 07, 2020

Star Trek: Discovery -- Season 2 Episode 1 (Brother)


It took me a while to watch the first season of Star Trek: Discovery.  I refused to subscribe to CBS All Access.  So, I had to wait for it on DVD.  I then had to reserve it at the library and wait for it to become available.

I still refuse to pay for All Access just to watch the one show, but when the second season became available, I didn’t have to wait as long.  It turns out that Netflix has the DVDs available to rent.  So, I was able to get the first disc of the second season pretty quickly.

The story starts out where last season ended.  Captain Christopher Pike has assumed command of the USS Discovery, leaving the Enterprise to be repaired.

What happened to the Enterprise?  The ship detected seven red signals.  When the ship attempted to scan one of them, many of the ship’s systems blew out.  Pike is now taking emergency command of the Discovery to complete his mission.  Pike has brought with him two officers to help.

What they find is a collection of debris.  It has abnormally high gravity…and the wreckage of a Starfleet vessel, complete with survivors.  A rather large sample of the debris is brought onboard for study, the survivors are rescued and the crew of the Discovery has a new mystery on its hands:  What are these mysterious signals?

You might be wondering where Spock is in all of this.  After all, he is the chief science officer of the Enterprise and Michael Burnham’s foster brother.  That’s discussed more in the next episode.

This episode is more concerned with setting up the next story arc.  I wouldn’t say that this season is less ambitious.  Instead, it would seem that the series has found its footing.  I suspect that it’s going to go for a more even pace.

Last season, we had a war with the Klingons and a prolonged venture into the Mirror universe.  (I had issues with both.)  From what I’ve seen, the writers decided to stick with one main story and use Burnham’s relationship with Spock to move it along.

The show would also seem to rely more on a new story than canon, which is odd considering that the first episode has two established characters, one of which will be sticking around for the remainder of the season.

My only issue is how to abbreviate the name of the series.  ST:D never really sat well with me.  ST:Disco isn’t an option, either.  Has anyone used ST:DIS yet?


 

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