#with only one season of disco that leaves lower decks and SNW

[timelord-of-the-moon]

okay what the fuck paramount plus? not only is there still not a mention or statement about prodigy season 2, their star trek day celebration that was supposed to heavily focus on animation did not even mention prodigy, and they list all of the treks at the end... but not prodigy. Basically trying to erase it from existence?

they gave up on it after one season, did it just fail that badly? they didn't even give it time to find it's audience... so disappointing

[starrybouquet]

I realized today that we have very few episodes left of Lower Decks and that after that comes Discovery. I was... surprised by how much I am scared of Disco s3, and how said I'll be to see LWD go (for the time being). In general, I'm not anti-New Trek, but BIG WARNING IN RED LETTERS: I am rather critical of Disco and especially Picard here. I'd put it under the cut, but I'm on mobile, sorry.

I wasn't alive when most of Trek aired and so this is kinda my chance for actual current Trek during my lifetime, so I feel like I have possibly more of a right to be upset about this than someone just wishing for "the good old days". However, if even a bit of anti-New Trek is not your thing, don't bother reading this. I just needed somewhere to rant, and if I can't rant on my fandom blog on this godforsaken site, then it's not serving its purpose 😂

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Thoughts in bullet form, cause that's how I roll:

I want to like New Trek. I want to like it so, so desperately. I'm too young to remember anything about Voyager/Enterprise airing, and I didn't enjoy the reboot movies (too actiony). This is my chance for real, new Trek content, and I love TNG and Voyager to bits, like DS9 and TOS and ENT well enough, and I want to feel like I'm watching "current" scifi for once. Also ideally sci-fi that does not put one of their main women cast members in a bodysuit. Thanks.

So I was very excited about Disco. I liked the first episode. I liked how Burnham was portrayed, and I liked Georgiou, and Saru, and I thought, this is promising.

And then (spoilers ahead)...Georgiou died. And then we did this whole mirror universe thing which seemed to have a lot of violence for shock value and a lot of Burnham soliloquizing and that's it

I love Picard's soliloquies and Janeway's soliloquies and Sisko's soliloquies and I'm even okay with Archer's. But it was just wrong to me to have Burnham soliloquizing when she *wasn't the captain*. She's a crew member, rank stripped, and she's standing here taking up all the airtime? Everyone else just listens to her? I like the concept of doing a show not centered around the captain. But in practice, it's...tough. Especially when you aren't focusing on the XO, which I think is possible.

So I suffered through s1 because it was Trek, and I didn't love it. There were some good parts. But not enough to outweigh the bad. But I tried s2, because hey, maybe it would be better.

And you know what? I loved Pike. I liked it better overall. I wished it had been slightly more episodic, more character-driven, less plot-driven, but I liked it. Especially because of Pike. Burnham still had an inordinate amount of power for a science officer, and also randomly decided to leave the ship, but okay. I was okay with it.

So, the funny thing is, I actually think Discovery is okay. So why am I dreading season 3?

I don't know. I mean, Pike is gone. I'm worried about how they'll portray our future--it looks like the Federation is in shambles, from the trailer? To be very honest, though I'm happy to see trans and NB rep, I'm afraid of that plotline overshadowing all the characters we already have who already don't get enough character development. I'm afraid of the plot overshadowing that char development in general, I guess.

But the saddest thing is that this dread is new, and I'm pretty sure it's because of Picard. It's not Disco's fault.

I'm sorry. Yes, there were some redeeming qualities. Yes, I really dislike Picard.

As y'all know, I am a HUGE fan of TNG. I can't say Picard was my favorite, because four TNG chars are tied for that spot, but he was one of my favorites. And I hate--HATE--how Picard the show has changed my view of him.

I don't really dislike Picard himself in Picard. He's okay. Maybe not exactly the character we remember, but I could have lived with that, IF HE HAD A GOOD SUPPORTING CAST.

And here is where it starts to get really ranty, I'm sorry about that, but these thoughts have to go somewhere. Scroll past if you don't want to read this, I won't be offended.

Mostly, there's a bad case of "show not tell" and also a lack of redeeming qualities with all the characters.

Let's start with Jurati. Why, exactly, am I supposed to care for her? I just...she betrays them, betrays everyone, and never shows that she's changed. We're told all about her brilliance, how she feels. She never shows that to us. I so wanted her to be a good character, because he's a scientist and a woman and I'm a scientist and a woman, but I ended up hating her. Sigh.

I actually like Rios. I find his character well fleshed out and likeable and let's face it, he's exactly my type. So, why oh why is he with Jurati?! He deserves better...

Raffi. Ah, such potential. And some good background. But her self-pity routine is way overdone, and we are only told about her friendship with Picard, not actually shown that. Sorry, but I'll accept someone who calls Picard "JL" when even the TNG crew all calls him Captain or Jean-Luc only when I actually *see* why they're close.

I liked Dahj a lot. But Soji was somehow...so unlikable in contrast. I don't know why? And I have so many questions plot-wise, so many holes that I feel got cut out in editing and were never fixed. Anyway.

I LIKED ELNOR. HE WAS NICE AND A GOOD CHARACTER AND WE SAW A GOOD BSCKSTORY AND THEN HE JUST DISAPPEARED. WHAT.

Oh, and killing Icheb for shock value was totally cold-blooded and pure malice and evil and God clearly the producers didn't care about Voyager. Even though Beyer was one of them.

And unfortunately, this has not made me feel better. Just more upset about Picard. There are so many other things I want to pick at. The plot, the weird editing, the weird pacing, killing an Imzadi kid for a completely stupid reason. Ugh.

I'm sorry for subjecting you all to this.

On a more positive note, I've loved Lower Decks and am really hopeful and excited for SNW? So there's that. Hopefully I don't have my hopes dashed.

It should also be noted that despite all this, I'm still going to watch every show, probably, which explains why CBS doesn't care if I like it or hate it. Gotta love that. Take my money, CBS.