((off topic and maybe some slight spoilers))
Instagram Post - November 9, 2017:
I do not like public speaking - actually “do not like” is putting it mildly....I fall apart. So I was extremely anxious when my friend over at Autism-Mom asked me to do a pod cast with her about the new #StarTrekDiscovery or #SDC.
Now I do understand that it is recorded and not going out LIVE so it would not really be considered public speaking, but knowing that the public would hear it at some point had me pacing the floors - a lot; an awful lot. Then there was the whole 'hating to hear my voice' issue. The first couple of pod casts were shaky (only on my part) but I got used to it and had a good time.
If you’d care to listen (spoilers!) you can go to Moms Going Boldly at ewbautismmom.podbean .
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The first half of the season is over now and just about all of the episodes are up on the link. I have been told more than once (by friends that have listened) that I have to speak up and I will try to do that, but really I already feel as if I am yelling while recording and the hating my voice issue has not gotten any better. That voice issue could possibly get worse due to some dental work that does not allow me to say S's properly anymore. My pod cast "career" could be coming to a screeching halt after only half a season; but we shall see.
Autism-Mom has already written a post about the show and I assume she be writing another now that the mid-season finale has aired. So I, being the TV addict that I am and have always been, am going to write about the things I had a hard time swallowing and the things that are not necessarily Star Trek related that we do not discuss in the pod cast because ...... they are not always Star Trek related.
I suppose one could say that like DC, when it comes to television, everything is related in my mind too..
I have mentioned in earlier posts that I always seem to have a hard time warming up to a new Star Trek series and this time was no different. Let's just say (as you will soon see) that I am also easily distracted by the actors or situations, how they might relate to other shows or characters and a truck load of other useless information that I carry around in my head. I will say that by the last episode I was/am all in, but the first two episodes were a struggle for me.
My first distraction was that Sonequa Martin-Green (Michael Burnham) played Sasha on The Walking Dead. I had a hard time separating the two characters at first.
I have been a huge Walking Dead fan since day one, but have let it fall by the wayside lately. Remember how long they made us wait to find out if Glen was alive and under the dumpster? At the time I predicted that they were making us wait too long for it to go any other way than to have him survive the dumpster ordeal only to be killed a few episodes later.
They killed Glen and then there was a Tiger..... Seriously.
That is as far as I got. I had to imagine that the casting of Sonequa Martin-Green in #SDC could only mean that she did not survive on The Walking Dead. I have since been told that she did not survive but they gave her a fabulous death. I will at some point try to catch up.
My second distraction was Anthony Rapp (Daryl from Adventures in Babysitting) playing Lt. Paul Stamets, still looking very much like Daryl to me. Now I know that he has been in plenty of other movies, television shows and theater productions, but he will always be that annoying kid, Daryl. His character on SDC, at first seemed just as annoying to me. It took me a few episodes to warm up to him and I do enjoy his character now.
Fun Fact: Did you know that Stamets is a brand of mushrooms?
Having finished watching the first half of the season, I am hoping that somewhere along the way there will be some sort of explanation for the technology that they should not have considering this series takes place 10 years prior to The Original Series.
They changed the Klingons....... again. Why? We were not told. I am hoping for some explanation about this as well at some point.
The Klingon scenes are just too long and slow. Most of the time they have us reading subtitles. I really enjoy the Kilingon-free episodes.
So being the biggest dork in the world, I always love when a character gives a shout out to a character that they previously played.
*Castle was a good show for doing that - quite often. There were continuous call outs to Mal and Firefly during the run of the show. Nathan Fillion went so far as to wear his 'Brown Coat' at the beginning of their Halloween episode and declaring himself a 'Space Cowboy'.
*When Tony DiNozzo made a joke that he would "have a better chance at hooking up with Jessica Alba." on NCIS (Micheal Weatherly and Jessica Alba met while they both were starring in Dark Angel. They were engaged for a time before NCIS hit the air)
*Or the episode when the boys on Supernatural took a studio tour that just happened to go through the set of Stars Hollow (Sam played Dean on the Gilmore Girls before Supernatural hit the airwaves).
*When Dean walked into the opening shot in this season's Supernatural carrying a bloody baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire declaring just how much "Dad" would have loved that weapon (Dad, being the deceased John Winchester; Jeffrey Dean Morgan who now plays Negan on The Walking Dead. Negan's weapon of choice is a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire that he named "Lucille".)
I was always disappointed that they did not dress David Boreanaz up as a vampire for the season one Halloween episode of Bones. (David Boreanaz played Angel on Buffy and then spun off to his own show, Angel)
I also love when actors end up together again in an entirely different show.
Jayne Brook and Wilson Cruz:
Jayne Brook who plays the character of Admiral Cornwell and Wilson Cruz as Dr. Culber both appeared together in an older NCIS episode "Cover Story" where Jayne played McGee's publisher and Wilson her assistant. Even though the episode aired 7 years ago, I remember it perfectly; originally because Mark Harmon, Jayne Brook and Lauren Holly (Director Sheppard) were all previously regulars on Chicago Hope but then there was Wilson Cruz's running scene...
(Fun Fact: Rocky Carroll, also from Chicago Hope would replace Lauren Holly a little further down the road)
But I will always think of Ricky Vasquez dancing with Delia in "My so called life" when I see Wilson Cruz or hear this song...
Then there are characters that I have seen before that I do not find distracting to the story but distracting because I feel the need to talk about this useless information.
Mary Wiseman as Cadet Tilly.
I did not realize until I stated watching the latest and final season that Mary Wiseman played Ferg's girlfriend in Longmire. She was only in a few episodes in the season before, so I did not remember her but she had much more of a presence in the 6th and final season.
Shazad Latif as Ash Tyler:
Shazad Latif was a cast member of one of my favorite shows, MI5 (or Spooks, depending on where you live).
He played Tariq Masood, for two seasons toward the end of the series run. If you haven't seen it - I highly recommend it.
"The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, and the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a highly secure suite of offices known as The Grid."
If you watch very closely, his face appears at .06.
There are plenty of shout outs to The Original Series which is always fun.
The first officer asks the computer to supply him with a list of the most highly decorated captains to date, living or dead (keep in mind that we are 10 years before The Original Series, so Kirk would not have been a Captain and possibly would not have even joined Starfleet yet and of course, Picard, Sisko or Janeway would not have been born).
The Computer gives him:
- Jonathan Archer from Enterprise (set approximately 100 years before Discovery) I was glad that Enterprise was included on this list.
- Robert April - The Animated Series (I had no idea who this was. I suppose this means that the Animated Series should be on my list of what to watch next.
- Christopher Pike - The Original Series who timeline-wise would be alive and captain of the Enterprise. I wonder if this character will make an appearance on Discovery at some point. If so, that could mean an appearance from Mr. Spock who served with Captain Pike before serving with Captain Kirk. I have my fingers crossed for that.
- Matthew Decker - The Original Series and obviously before he lost his mind in "Doomsday Machine".
- Philippa Georgiou from Star Trek Discovery and Captain of the USS Shenzhou
There is a Tribble on board. But only one..... hmmmm.
We hear Lt. Stamets and Dr. Culber discussing the opera La Boheme, from which the musical RENT is loosely based. Both actors have appeared in RENT either on screen or on stage - I am not certain that they have ever appeared together in the same production.
Not to give anything away, but I did read somewhere that the writers were considering using Five Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Six Hundred for a certain scene as an additional shout out to RENT, but decided to go with a smaller number. Let me say that I am certainly glad that they did! Not that it would not have been cute, but we would still be watching that episode.
We see a Gorn skeleton.....
And...... We have Harry Mudd! That alone should be enough incentive for any Original Series fan to watch.
I did not listen to any pod casts or search the Internet before recording any episode of the pod cast. I did not want anything to distract me or alter my views about what I was watching.
I started listening to a few pod casts since the mid-season finale and found myself getting very annoyed at everything they seemed to be missing or not picking up on because of course our (Moms Going Boldly) theories have to be correct. :) - I did not get through any of them.
(Updated: As I said above, I started listening to a few but they really did not hold my interest. Not long after I wrote that post, I happened upon "Discovery Debrief - A Star Trek Discovery Pod Cast" (I will give them a shout out here) and I really did enjoy it - I will give you no spoilers about their theories, but do check it out. I think I listened to it all over a two day period (maybe three).
I did try a few times to watch the After Trek program. I do not believe I made it though a complete episode, though. From what I did see, there was not much information to be found there. Unlike The Talking Dead, the only guests were the actors and others connected with the show (writers, directors....); people who cannot give away story lines or discuss theories.
Although the Talking Dead does feature the actors, directors, creators and writers they also use other celebrities who have nothing to do with the show other than their own fandom. As the people associated with the show have to keep a bit closed mouthed about the story lines or theories, the others can and do just go there.
As for the series.... It took me a few episodes to get used to a new Star Trek and there are many things that need an explanation, but I love the cast and even got over the actors who at the beginning were distracting me with their previous roles. I still have a hard time thinking of it as a prequel, but overall I have to say that I enjoy it. It just got better and better as it went along.
The burning question, moving into the second half of season 1 (without giving away too much)?
Is the character that we theorize is actually "another" character, really who we think he is?
Or....
Was this just an elaborate ploy set up by the creators of the show to throw us all off track?
1.As I understand it, there was an IMBD page that listed the character in question as playing the "other" character. It has since been removed but of course not until quite a few people had spotted it.
2.The actor now listed as playing the "other" character has no photos or credits to his name other than Star Trek Discovery.
I had heard about #2 earlier on but I had not heard about the IMDB page until just the other day. That would be a very BIG mistake for someone to make which almost leads me to believe that it was done purposely to create and foster this theory.
Hmmmm...
We shall see.
Stay tuned - Part 2 of Season 1 will begin on January 7, 2018.
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I have finally made it through my re-watch of the entire Next Generation series.
We will talk about that another time.
For now, LLAP
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