#like I wasn't even interested in discovery even though spock is in there a little

[bardicious]

No, but seriously, I love how EVERYONE falls in love with Jim Kirk. Like, La'an ain't a one off. He's captured the hearts of Pike, Uhura, SPOCK, god knows who else, in the span of a day or two. Like???? YES. HE DESERVES IT. <3 Lovely little man.

[space-blue]

Star Trek SNW review through SW lens

So I finished season 1 of Strange New Worlds (Star Trek), and it's such a bitter sweet thing.

I mean, the show is sweet. It has incredible trope use, adorable characters who have rich dynamics, cool set designs even if they don't aim for hard core realism (maybe precisely because of that).

More importantly, I feel like it perfectly managed to mix "adventure of the week" with overarching plot and character arcs.

The bitterness is because I'm a Star Wars fan.

I wish SW creators would look at SNW and learn a few things. They had it going in Mando season 1, until the easter eggs morphed into the plot itself.

This show didn't feel trapped by its legacy. It wasn't afraid to recast, and to tell its own story. I'm not a big trekkie (I watched the OG series on TV reruns as a child, missed a lot of episodes. I owned the Wrath of Khan tape though, and then saw the recent trilogy. Abandoned Discovery in season 1) so there's plenty of details that flow right over my head. I'm also conscious of the people being on tumblr saying "This isn't the Spock I know".

So I'm both unlucky (for the lack of depth) and lucky (because I loved that Spock, unbothered by other interpretations of the character).

I know how being too sauced in a fandom can really impact enjoyment. Re: being a SW fan. But I feel like the approaches have been incredibly different.

Can you imagine a SW show having fun with itself? Using tropes like Body Swap or Time Travel visions in a fun and thoughtful way? Even season 1 of Mando was an endless video game fetch quest, with the odd homage to movies like Seven Samourai. It worked fine then, but season 2 really devolved into a forever-fetch-quest, only for it to be completely invalidated/made pointless by BoBF.

I was positively giddy when the body swap happened, and the following shenanigans were GOOD. Well written, not too tropey, and genuinely useful for the characters.

Also, FUCK ME but it had FOOD. It had warmth and characters bonding. But the food really got to me. It's just *never* a thing in SW. They eat bland stuff or aren't shown to eat at all. You can go an entire film without a single meal. Meals are important!! People bond over food! Food is culture! A single shot of sawdust turning into beef stew isn't interesting. Characters having a moment over a shared meal is! There's a reason you see Spock and Pike giffed in the scenes where they talk about drinking tea or finishing the dishes. Those were fun dynamic moments that highlighted the character's relationship on a simple level we all understand deep down.

Fuck, I WISH SW would just try and bother to have people keep track of some internal culture, and make us relate a little more. The fashion is so bland, the food not present. Religions never mentioned. Politics dumbed down and pushed aside. It's no wonder they have nothing left but self cannibalising and Easter Eggs all the way down.

I'm this fucking close to dropping everything I'm doing to watch all of next generation and discovery. Like, maybe trekkies are better treated as fans than us. I certainly didn't spot any rabid toy marketing in SNW!

Okay okay I'll calm down. Basically, even if you don't know anything about any of the characters, go watch SNW. It's fantastic, the characters clearly had fun with their roles. The odd stiff acting or shoddy CGI is much more excusable, the world feels deep and well realised. You don't need background knowledge to enjoy yourself. Even if Pike has stuff going on that refer to another series, they never made me feel out of the loop.

Go watch it. It's the best scifi fun I've had since the Expanse.

[10moonymhrivertam]

So umm I know nothing about Discoery yet save what I've had to Google for this story, but.... (excuse assumptions I've made about Michael's possible speech patterns and Vulcan-inspired touching habits please)

The first shore leave after Spock's pon farr forced them to detour to Vulcan was...interesting, to say the least. It was a leisure planet of the sort that meant it wasn't odd to see another ship in orbit and to find other officers there.

Though Spock would deny anything like affection or anxiety, he had stayed as close to Jim as he could get away with whenever he could get away with it. Most of the time, Spock would not deign to enter a bar - but Jim had joined Bones and Scotty, so Spock was there as well. They weren't there too long before another officer sidled up, nodding politely at them. She quickly turned her attention to Spock.

"You owe me one hundred twenty credits."

"I owe you no such thing, Commander." Spock's coworkers looked up, wary. That was always a good way to start a bar fight.

"No, come on, I /said/ -"

"What you said was vulgar and inexact." That caused some raised eyebrows, mostly from Bones.

"No, it was exact. It was just wrong, in the end. But you agreed, I have it on my tricorder back on the ship."

"It is an old recording. Who is to say it has not been corrupted by now?" Which, of course, caught the attention of Spock's coworkers. That was surprisingly shifty, coming from their Vulcan first officer.

"/I/ say. And even if I did not say, I remember. What I said was -"

"Commander Burnham, please -"

"If you did not want this to happen in front of your friends, you should have given me my credits."

"You were incorrect. Nobody won."

"What I said," the commander plowed on, "was 'I bet you one hundred twenty credits that even when you are properly married, she will be fucking Ston behind your back.'" The tips of Spock's ears tinged green as Bones choked on his drink. "And she dumped you for Ston. It's close enough, and you owe me."

"Mr. Spock, I believe this would be a good time to introduce us to your friend here." Jim finally said. The look on Spock's face was about as close to sour as one would ever catch it.

"Captain, this is Commander Michael Burnham of the Discovery. Michael, this is Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy, and Chief Engineer Scott."

"I have heard a lot about you." Michael smiled but didn't offer her hand. "Plenty of it as 'Fleet gossip, but largely from my mother."

"Your mother?" Jim inquired gently.

"Amanda Grayson. She's a teacher. She lives on Vulcan." Bones was leaning forward, always eager to better understand Spock - or at least get more dirt on him.

"Amanda Grayson...she's Sarek's wife, isn't she? The Vulcan ambassador to Earth?"

"That is correct." The conversation lulled and Michael rolled her eyes a little. Jim frowned. "Allow me to be blunt. Amanda is my adoptive mother, and Spock's biological mother."

"You've got a sister?" Bones blurted out- clearly he'd had time to become at least tipsy. Spock was very nearly scowling at them all.

"Indeed. And Michael was rather more astute as to where T'Pring's attention was directed than I, apparently."

They all lapsed into silence after that. Michael glanced between them both. "...You seem in good health."

This was around when Jim realized that she might have half-expected never to see her brother again - considering how private Vulcans kept pon farr, combined with her knowledge of T'Pring's true feelings.

"The koon-ut-kal-if-fee cleared my mind."

"Who did she choose to challenge?" Michael demanded, looking baffled.

Everyone's eyes slid over to Jim, who grinned roguishly.

"The rules aren't quite prepared for quick-thinking doctors," Jim explained. "And biology is, apparently, just as easily tricked."

Michael looked between them all, smiling again. "Good to meet you all. I look forward to hearing of your further exploits."

When their shore leave schedules+locations match