But no, between Archer and Kirk Starfleet must have recruited just the worst of the worst.
All good points.
But I’ve done some mental gymnastics to make it work. We actually know:
Lorca and Saru backstory Spoilers
Lorca defied orders to recruit Burnam, and keep Burnam out of space jail.
I also assume Lorca recruited Saru specifically because Saru’s native culture includes lots of putting up with inane bullshit, which was useful to Lorca after disposing of original Lorca’s body.
And I assume that the same character in my spoiler tag recruited various dysfunctional crew, while Saru recruited those crew that actually perform like Starfleet officers.
So basically, with enough mental hoops, I can assume that only Discovery, itself, is crewed unusually for Starfleet.
Edit: I also feel that Archer’s bring-my-dog-to-work leadership should also shoulder some blame. And Kirk is still a low ranking officer at this point, so we haven’t reached Starfleets prime.
I didn’t find him to be the only interesting character, but I agree. They sacrificed depth and nuance in favour of a shallow shock twist. One of the bigger missteps of season 1.
Airiam was also an interesting character. Unfortunately,
Season 2 spoiler
She was basically just Background Crewman #6 until the episode that actually featured her. The episode that finally explained what the hell she actually was, then promptly killed her off.
Agreed completely. Discovery and Picard both had an issue early on where they couldn’t plan ahead to save their life. Discovery at last had the excuse of shifting creatives behind the scenes. But all they needed to do was sprinkle that character work throughout the season and it would have made all the difference.
That part really set it astray from most Trek. A full ship, with more than a handful of people on the bridge set alone, and they only focus on maybe 4 for the full run.
It was such a relief, to me. He was interesting and compelling, but his achieving a rank of Captain in Starfleet, and then throwing it away to Mary sue with Burnam, felt silly to me.
The reveal fixes this. Although they could have been more explicit that
Spoiler S1 Discovery
It seems like Mirror Lorca killed and disposed of original Lorca, after original Lorca became a Captain. And then relied on people’s trust for original Lorca to not get run out of Starfleet before accomplishing his plans.
The mirror universe episodes of Trek are my least favorite. Making that an integral part of a show that had already retconed a bunch of crap and added the force but mushrooms was the final straw for me.
If you mean something further than that then no, but frankly I shouldn’t have to watch a dozen or more hours of a show to get to the good part.
Have you watched past the reveal of Captain Lorca’s past?
The reveal makes many of the very not-Trek first season issues suddenly feel much Trek.
I can see how that reveal might not play well to some. But it worked for me, and helped me forgive a bunch of issues I had with Discovery season 1.
I waited for the big reveal that all took place in the Mirrorverse. That would have explained a lot!
Then have them travel to our Universe and adapt to it. But no, between Archer and Kirk Starfleet must have recruited just the worst of the worst.
Could have been a cool story.
All good points.
But I’ve done some mental gymnastics to make it work. We actually know:
Lorca and Saru backstory Spoilers
Lorca defied orders to recruit Burnam, and keep Burnam out of space jail.
I also assume Lorca recruited Saru specifically because Saru’s native culture includes lots of putting up with inane bullshit, which was useful to Lorca after disposing of original Lorca’s body.
And I assume that the same character in my spoiler tag recruited various dysfunctional crew, while Saru recruited those crew that actually perform like Starfleet officers.
So basically, with enough mental hoops, I can assume that only Discovery, itself, is crewed unusually for Starfleet.
Edit: I also feel that Archer’s bring-my-dog-to-work leadership should also shoulder some blame. And Kirk is still a low ranking officer at this point, so we haven’t reached Starfleets prime.
I had the opposite reaction to the Lorca reveal. He was the only interesting character at that point and they just threw it away.
I didn’t find him to be the only interesting character, but I agree. They sacrificed depth and nuance in favour of a shallow shock twist. One of the bigger missteps of season 1.
Airiam was also an interesting character. Unfortunately,
Season 2 spoiler
She was basically just Background Crewman #6 until the episode that actually featured her. The episode that finally explained what the hell she actually was, then promptly killed her off.
Probably my biggest issue with the series.
Agreed completely. Discovery and Picard both had an issue early on where they couldn’t plan ahead to save their life. Discovery at last had the excuse of shifting creatives behind the scenes. But all they needed to do was sprinkle that character work throughout the season and it would have made all the difference.
That part really set it astray from most Trek. A full ship, with more than a handful of people on the bridge set alone, and they only focus on maybe 4 for the full run.
It was such a relief, to me. He was interesting and compelling, but his achieving a rank of Captain in Starfleet, and then throwing it away to Mary sue with Burnam, felt silly to me.
The reveal fixes this. Although they could have been more explicit that
Spoiler S1 Discovery
It seems like Mirror Lorca killed and disposed of original Lorca, after original Lorca became a Captain. And then relied on people’s trust for original Lorca to not get run out of Starfleet before accomplishing his plans.
The mirror universe episodes of Trek are my least favorite. Making that an integral part of a show that had already retconed a bunch of crap and added the force but mushrooms was the final straw for me.
If you mean something further than that then no, but frankly I shouldn’t have to watch a dozen or more hours of a show to get to the good part.
I am glad you liked it though.
Yeah. If you didn’t care for mirror episodes,
spoiler S1 Discovery
A season of “Oops! All Mirror Universe” wouldn’t be a nice reveal. Haha.