A new Trek series

[Nate the Great]

Birnbaum isn't Spock's half sister, she's just his adopted sister.

Cue the hecklers in the crowd shouting "why wasn't she namedropped in 'Amok Time' or 'Journey to Babel' or 'The Search for Spock' or 'The Voyage Home' or 'Unification' or..."

She's also the first human to attend the Vulcan Science Academy. Putting aside the novels saying otherwise (and there are some good examples of humans choosing to live among Vulcans among them), I find the notion ridiculous. Either the Vulcan Science Academy teaches things concerning the unique mental powers and spiritualism of Vulcans, in which case they would never let humans in since they couldn't participate fully, or else it's just a college on another planet, in which case humans would be asking to attend way before now.

Why Sarek adopted her.

So the Klingons killed her parents when they were Sarek's guests on Vulcan. The words "bad fanfic plot" keep appearing in my head, I wonder why...

[Nate the Great]

Each season will have its own plot (i.e. the Klingon War won't continue in Season 2).

Huh? I thought the Klingon clans would be fighting each other and the Discovery was going to be a team ship to prevent a war.

Plus there's the whole thing where "Errand of Mercy" should've had a line like "this war could be even worse than the one ten years ago" if such a conflict existed.

Prime Universe, my foot.

Kurtzman teases spinoffs.

Um, dude? You were hired to make DISCOVERY a good show, and it hasn't even premiered yet. Focus on DISCOVERY, remember that show? Spinoffs aren't your job, unless you want to announce that someone else is taking over your job on DISCOVERY!

[Nate the Great]

Discovery has been rated TV-MA.

I'm saving my lecture for a few days to see if the production responds by reediting the pilot for re-submission to the MPAA.

[Nate the Great]

Showrunner Aaron Harberts:

“[W]hat’s important to the creative team is the legacy of the show which is passed down from mother to daughter, from father to son, from brother to brother. We want to make sure we’re not creating a show that fans can’t share with their families. You have to honor what the franchise is. I would say we’re not going much beyond hard PG-13.”

Star Trek shouldn't even approach a "hard" PG-13. A "hard" PG-13 shouldn't have been the goal at any point. In situations like this where different groups have different standards you don't aim for "what we get away with", you draw another line to give yourself a buffer zone!

Does anyone else wonder how many All Access subscriptions they just lost with this fiasco?

[Zeke]

You guys know I try to avoid politics at the forums... but man, with them both going on concurrently, it is impossible to look at the ST:D production process and not wonder if it's being run by the Trump administration. Both of them are making every unforced error they possibly can.

I'm still gonna hope this is good, of course. It always could be, despite everything. But I'm preparing for the worst. Every franchise that goes on long enough will eventually lose its unity, even for the most dedicated fan. There's a personal breaking point where the "real" franchise ends and what comes afterwards is more like fanfic with a license. I'm not sure if I hit that point with the reboot movies, but this show may make it official.

[Nate the Great]

What has me worried is that the studio hasn't come out with a statement yet along the lines of "we're going to reedit and resubmit the pilot to reduce the rating". I wanted to give them a day to do damage control. They failed me. Not even a "please stand by while we consider our options", just a "we're surprised, we weren't aiming for that."

Quoth a fan comment:

I quote now from CBS and Paramount's own guidelines for Star Trek fan films:

7. The fan production must be family friendly and suitable for public presentation. Videos must not include profanity, nudity, obscenity, pornography, depictions of drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or any harmful or illegal activity, or any material that is offensive, fraudulent, defamatory, libelous, disparaging, sexually explicit, threatening, hateful, or any other inappropriate content...

It's good to know that CBS is so hypocritical. I had looked forward to watching Discovery with my daughter but unless CBS starts listening to the fans and stops trying to make Star Trek into Game of Thrones, I will most definitely pass.

Shame on you CBS for ruining such a great franchise!

[Flying Gremlin]

Originally Posted by Zeke

You guys know I try to avoid politics at the forums... but man, with them both going on concurrently, it is impossible to look at the ST:D production process and not wonder if it's being run by the Trump administration. Both of them are making every unforced error they possibly can.

I'm still gonna hope this is good, of course. It always could be, despite everything. But I'm preparing for the worst. Every franchise that goes on long enough will eventually lose its unity, even for the most dedicated fan. There's a personal breaking point where the "real" franchise ends and what comes afterwards is more like fanfic with a license. I'm not sure if I hit that point with the reboot movies, but this show may make it official.

Optimism, Zeke!

[Nate the Great]

A roundup of upcoming Discovery merchandise

The one that confuses me is that the first novel will be ready in time for the premiere, but you'll have to wait until next year for the second. It's not like CBS would want to strike while the iron's hot and take every dollar that they can from the viewers coming off of the premiere...oh, wait...

Someone weakly attempts to defend the TV-MA rating

"If you take a look at shows carrying TV-MA rating, it’s a broad category. Sure, Game of Thrones is on there, but so’s The Crown, and it’s not like John Lithgow’s parading around nude in that one. TV-MA is, essentially, TV shows that perhaps adults don’t want kids to see for any number of reasons, and that’s always been Star Trek to some degree. Not because it showed Vulcans Gone Wild: Pon-Farr Out or Worf proving tribbles are best eaten alive, but because of the franchise’s efforts to be socially relevant."

Huh? I mean it, huh? Since when was Star Trek unsuitable for children? Yes, a few scenes or episodes aren't suitable, but using the word "always" is really asking for guys like me to refute it as a blatant lie.

"Over time, though, people have gotten touchier about the politics of their entertainment, real or perceived. It doesn’t matter what the show is, no matter how innocuous, there are people on the internet offended by it, even if they have to contort themselves into a mental pretzel to make that happen. So, networks turn to a simple ratings system: Don’t blame us, we told you it was TV-MA."

That's called "cowardice." I don't doubt that this has happened, but Star Trek should be held to a higher standard, that was kind of the entire point of the show. Besides, last time I checked the studio wasn't assigning the ratings, the MPAA was.

And they repeat the Aaron Harberts quote I already posted. It almost seems to be him saying "I don't think it's worth a TV-MA, I think it should be TV-14, so just pretend that it is."