Will You Take My Hand?

DVD, Star Trek: Discovery S1 (Will You Take My Hand?)

Honestly, I don't know where to begin. I'm very sorry to have lived to see what has become of 'Star Trek' in these last few years. It means so much to me and to see it abused and pulled apart to suit the tastes of those that wouldn't care for it otherwise is more than disheartening, it's positively cruel. Waiting so long for it to return to its TV roots has ultimately proved futile, for although the appetite may have grown, I have also become more discerning. At one time I'd have happily accepted anything Trek that claimed to be in the original universe, at one time there wasn't even that distinction to be made, it was just 'Star Trek.' But the modern films changed that, and they did more harm to Trek than I even realised at the time, for they set the precedents, tone and style that 'DSC' has chosen to run with. I was always going to be interested in a series, even if they made it in what has become known as the Kelvin Timeline, those three JJ Abrams films that were all the new Trek additions that I had for so many years - I wouldn't have been happy that it was in a universe I didn't care for, where the events had no real connection to what had come before, that rich, rich history that made Trek so appealing, so real, so deep, but I would have watched and tried to enjoy it for being more of what I like. But it wouldn't have been the same as the so-called 'Prime' universe where things actually matter. 'DSC' promised something that possibility couldn't. Except that it may as well have been in that alternate universe for all the true Trek I found within its highly stylised halls, and that is far more damaging than doing a complete reboot and ignoring the hallowed canon that makes this history tick.

They were intent on throwing in as many references to aliens, planets and history as they could, this final episode featuring a glut of such comfort crumbs, but nothing can save a poorly written, melodramatically acted, illogically thought out mess as this was. I had some tiny hope that they'd somehow pull the season out of the mire that it had sunk into, to redeem all the poor decisions and worse writing, the bad characterisations and the illogic, but it only rammed home forcefully the complete lack this series has demonstrated repeatedly. There's no need to hold back now - although I have been harsh in my criticisms and vocal in my disappointment over the course of these reviews I've tried to temper it with at least some level of understanding that this is a serial and some things may not become clear until the every end. But the conclusion was as poor, if not poorer than all the other decision-making and 'story' telling throughout the season. If something is well written, engaging and impresses then you can get past much of the canon issues, much of the arbitrary changes made for no reason other than because they want to put their own imprint on this highly thought out and structured universe. It's like they rampaged in, tore around the family home grabbing pieces here, knocking over bookshelves there and collapsing in the middle of the room with their whirlwind of chaos strewn around them, satisfied they'd caused a stir.

My point is that nothing in the series really impressed beyond the knowledge of canon that showed if they chose to they could recognise it, which makes the bizarre choices and awful writing even more bewildering. If there had been no mention of other races, Captains, ships or any other aspect of Trek history it would have made sense because from the writing and plotting it seemed as if these makers were making something else entirely. Again, if the stories had been compelling, if I hadn't forgiven the choices they made I might at least have found great drama and inspiring, uplifting character work. But there never was that, they relied on stupid, unthinking idiocy to win the day. This Klingon war idea wasn't bad in and of itself - it could have been a great excuse for some thrilling battles in the 23rd Century, but there was so much opportunity they threw away. I really don't know what they were trying to achieve, other than make Trek appeal to the lowest common denominator of comic book filmgoers! It's not like they packed in thrilling action sequences to impress visually like the Kelvin films. They had plenty of what would be called character moments, but they fell flat, and I don't know whether that's the fault of the acting, the Directors not knowing Trek (as if 'Nemesis' Director Stuart Baird had been recalled from enforced retirement to take the reins!), or the poorly thought out writing that was skewed heavily towards contemporary speech and ideals. More than likely a combination of all three and other issues such as the behind the scenes problems that were rocking things right from the start.

The big end-all is how they can finish the war. Did we see Klingons and humans meeting together and finding common ground? Were there signs of peaceful cooperation or understanding? Nope, but then they were already hamstrung by the fact that we know in ten years there's a cold war between these combatants. If, and this is what I have to believe, this war was the cited event in history that had been referred to in 'TOS' that was supposed to be part of the series then it was hugely disappointing and misguided - I don't think there ever was mention of it, and yet things like that were talked up as fact. There was literally no point to this serial because there isn't going to be peace, just an end to the unremitting hostility. It was as far divorced from existing history, both in terms of everything about the Klingons that we know, as to be utterly perplexing in the choice of it. It seemed like a ripe ground for exciting CGI battles and the kind of tense war drama only 'DS9' was able to pull off before. It neither gave us that nor anything else of consequence - if it had all been action, then it would be easy to slate it for being mindless, but the mindlessness was far more evident in the failure to carry a story. Countless times there are questions left hanging about this course of action a character took, or this piece of dialogue, and the trick with this kind of drama is that it keeps you hanging on because there's the inherent promise that it will all make sense by the end, when in reality they were just covering lazy writing with a wait and see attitude that never came to fruition.

I've been re-watching 'Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles' during my first viewing of 'DSC' and they could have taught the writers a thing or ten about exploring concepts and making good stories, because those characters actually were written well. The mysteries were there, but most episodes had a certain amount of satisfaction to them and the characters were believable and fascinating. 'DSC' was running on fumes where shock value was more important then telling a good story and the hanging mysteries were there to keep speculation up. It's designed as a 'water-cooler' series that is supposed to become talked about and eagerly anticipated, and that isn't where Trek's, or really, any narrative's strength lies. It's a kind of fobbing off, avoidance of responsibilities to the audience, that can only be undone by creating a high-level ongoing story that is clever and intelligent and deftly weaves its parts together. The writers of this series didn't have that skill and were about as deft as the Klingon surgeon chopping up Voq! 'Terminator: TSSC' reminded me that it is possible for me to enjoy this form of storytelling, so it's not me that's the problem, and even granted they had more episodes, the whole idea of shorter seasons was supposed to curtail the filler material so that only the cream was left to rise to the top.

I saw no evidence for that model by watching 'DSC.' If anything it quickly became generic fantasy TV whose every move alienated me, a dedicated Trek viewer: can salt remain salty if it loses its saltiness? More than ever I feel that this is Trek with the Trekness bled out so as not to bore people, but ironically Trek didn't become popular by trying to be something else. For a long time it was really counter culture, doing its own thing, and that's what bought it so many dedicated followers that were willing to go from series to series, year after year. It ploughed its own furrow, but in this century it has largely been a follower of trends and has tried to fit in. Perhaps this is more to do with a wider issue about studios and franchise owners becoming the behemoths and the quest for more viewers and more money has leapt up to a new level. I'm not going to go into that here, but it's enough to say that so many things have become more generic in order to appeal more widely instead of being their own thing. It's all about the brands and eyes on, and less about honing and crafting a universe. It's all very sad and distressing, but perhaps it was inevitable? Even more sad is that the more I listen to podcasts about this series, the more disappointed I feel: I've learned that series creator Bryan Fuller wanted the uniforms to be closer to the correct ones that we know exist at this time, but the studio didn't, which is strange considering the desire to set a series in this period seems to be all about cashing in on the variable success of the Kelvin films and their 'TOS' re-imagining that got Trek above the parapet and into younger viewers' consciousness again.

It's like they really wanted to do this specific era for the recognition, then back-pedalled away from it when that meant trying to fit into a series from the 1960s. If they were relishing being in this particular period they'd be taking advantage of period specific tech to show how it differs from later stuff, but they're not interested in the world they've inherited, they're lazy, don't care about this being a historical drama set in the future, only in quick fixes, sheen and mystery drama to keep the audience guessing, losing so much reality. So they stole from all eras, failing to realise that the very thing that made this era worth exploring were its limitations. So we had the Holodeck that was there for no other reason than one quick gag. And that holo-communicator 'DS9' pioneered and quickly dropped during its fifth season, we'll have that cuz it looks cool. And those pesky little details like intra-ship beaming supposedly being dangerous and rarely used, well we'll do that cuz it looks cool. Scant regard was paid to the limits of the time, it looked entirely different, the attitudes were different - everything about it was off! They chose to be highly selective about what they recognised as canon, carefully adding in deep level references from non canon novels and 'The Animated Series,' while distancing themselves from the hallmarks of the era. They were far from discerning in this regard, only serving to further alienate me. I've probably said it before, but production memory can be an advantage and a disadvantage: in the times when Trek was sometimes feeling tired, new blood can inject vitality, but the flaw is that they haven't the surfeit of specific experience to know which paths end up in blind alleys so mistakes recur.

What else? Oh yes, Cliff Eidelmann, the composer of the terrific score for 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country' was originally hired to do the theme and music for the first episode. How cool? Nick Meyer was hired as part of the writing staff. How cool? Tony Todd to have a recurring role? Michael Dorn asked to play his ancestor? No Mudd in Fuller's version? Too many 'what ifs.' Again, if the series had been strong in and of itself I wouldn't be questioning what might have been, but it was just so constantly illogical and poorly thought out. To get back to this episode, the war ends with L'Rell making a speech to her Klingon brethren on Qo'noS, suggesting she be their leader. Rightly (and thankfully), she's laughed at. We know that even in the 24th Century a female isn't allowed to lead her House, another forgotten piece of canon that defines Klingon attitudes and behaviour. Anyway, she then threatens her brethren with the Starfleet bomb that is whizzing around in the underground lava tunnels of the planet (how small Qo'noS is made to seem - it only has seven chimneys on the whole planet through which this drone bomb can be dropped?), suggesting she'll destroy the planet if they don't end the war. Wow! Did they really think she'd blow up her own planet? What was her motivation for wanting the war to end so keenly? She's been a prisoner on Discovery for a number of episodes, and in this one she gets mercilessly kicked around her cell by Mirror Georgiou and all she wants is peace?

She seems to still be a follower of T'Kuvma and he was all about distrusting the 'other' and a full-on hatred of the Federation, so how can she still be a follower of his ways and yet go so far to try and end the war? It doesn't make any sense, and she was one of the good characters of the season. We never did get the promised deep exploration of Klingons and their culture, but she at least made the Klingon scenes watchable and it seemed as if her goodness and shrewdness were going to be integral to finding some kind of understanding, yet that isn't what happened! It's really bizarre. It's the same way I felt about Captain Lorca being killed off, except then I thought there was a chance we hadn't seen the last of him and that it was a ruse he'd devised to escape, and he'd pop up again by the end. Nope! That really was the writers' endgame for him. I will say that the series' content was nowhere near as offensive as I was expecting from the fuss they were making before it was released. They occasionally pushed the boat out on bad taste, again for shock value and nothing more, like naughty schoolboys, but what I found more unpalatable were the majority of the characters, and if not them then the talent behind it: I was surprised how after taking to Burnham initially I found myself being less and less impressed by her and I think they really lost her arc as well as everyone else's.

Tilly I never liked and she was just as irritating in this episode as before. Ho, ho, she's forced (by none other than Clint Howard), to take drugs, how funny. Why did Georgiou want her on the Landing Party (at least they got one piece of terminology of the time correct), other than because she reminded her of Mirror Tilly and reminds us of the level of stupidity of the series by calling her 'Killy'? Mirror Georgiou was about the worst thing of these last few episodes so it makes no surprise to me that she's going to get her own series! That's the level that these people think at, and Michelle Yeoh was one of the major disappointments of the series. Even as the true Georgiou I felt she was stilted and not very realistic, but flashing her dark eyes and tossing her head about as the very caricature of an evil villain took away any credibility whatsoever. She was a truly awful addition to these last episodes and even when the writers came up with an interesting concept, namely having her in command, they failed on all counts to explore it. The story boils down to Georgiou chucking a bomb into the volcanoes of Qo'noS because Starfleet have decided they need to be that genocidal to win the war. We're still, confusingly, in a later time since they returned to our universe months later. I always assumed we were going to go back in time since the Klingons had taken over almost everything. Nope. The time jump isn't even mentioned again.

Georgiou was awful - she could barely pose as the good and famous Captain for minutes before riling up the crew and being in every way an objectionable character. Burnham gets so emotionally compromised (whatever happened to her Vulcan training - that slipped by the wayside almost from the beginning of the season, and was the most interesting thing about her!), she tries to trap the Captain and uncover her to the Bridge crew. Which is again bizarre! She's still not got the idea of following orders and so often she just does whatever her flaring temper dictates. She couldn't be less Vulcan and just as Tyler was a poor approximation of a Klingon, so she is of a Vulcan. Mind you, with this awful version of Sarek that is so open and emotional himself, or utterly stilted and unconvincing in the extreme, maybe that explains it: she thinks his behaviour is Vulcan! Really, that last scene on Earth (umbrellas? How much more unrealistic and contemporary can you be, not to mention the ugly, overpopulated future Paris they show, crammed with buildings - Trek always showed us that space and the environment were the future of Earth, but this looks much more like the hated Kelvin films' depiction of 'Star Wars' skyscrapers dominating everywhere). And when Sarek is eager to get back to Vulcan. Oh so many problems with oh so many things in this episode and this series, it almost makes me hold my head in my hands and certainly has dropped my anticipation of the Picard series. They've demonstrated they don't know how to do Trek right and I believe them!

I'd forgotten Clint Howard was to be in an episode, the only actor to have been in a Trek from the previous regime as he was in 'TOS' as a child, playing Balok, and showed up in both 'DS9' and 'Enterprise' as other characters. Here he plays a green Orion drug dealer. This whole sequence on Qo'noS was a mistake from beginning to end and made no sense to me: that the Klingons even allow embassies of other races on their xenophobic homeworld was the height of idiocy, but that the Orions would even have an embassy at all… Maybe that was the intended point: the Klingons like having Orion slave girls, so they allow this equivalent of an embassy which is really just a dump of drugs and the gutter pursuits. I couldn't help laughing when Burnham talked of seeing this place as a home, even though these people are different to us: tattoo parlours and exotic dancers, shady street vendors selling rare animals for consumption, and drugs all around! Her idea of home is severely twisted and was a clear and obvious failure on the part of the writers that have no clue what they're actually doing! For seconds I thought it might be interesting to see Orions again, since they'd really only been done in 'Enterprise' (aside from a couple in 'TOS'), but then none of it made sense. They were a very pale and pasty variation as if they were slightly embarrassed to be showing green people, and as with so much, many of them just looked like ordinary people, like the vendors, as if colour correction was off in a contemporary crime drama!

I thought Stamets couldn't jump any more after his experiences? I must have missed something, probably because it had been a few weeks since I last saw an episode due to the series not making me desperate to get back to it, because he spore jumps them to Qo'noS where it seems anyone can come and go as they please. How were they not detected? Was that something to do with where they jumped to? It's hard to care when they don't really place much stock in story logic - whatever goes, man, that seems to be the approach. At least it wasn't as simple as L'Rell giving a speech with the sweeping music rising as she's finally accepted, but if they didn't do it there they did do it with Burnham at the very end. Was it supposed to be Starfleet Headquarters? She gives some tired, trite speech about our values as if that makes everything alright and everyone's happy ever after. I mean Sarek even admits to going along with the plan to destroy Qo'noS, but it's all swept under the carpet. The map with all those Klingon symbols covering the galaxy, what happened to that? There's literally no regard for how Klingons, or even people in the real world, act - look at 'DS9,' they did a whole season where the Klingons made a tentative peace after all out war, but many parts of their newly formed empire refused to give up colonies, it didn't all end pat and easy. Not that we really know what happened as they don't see fit to show us so much of what goes on!

What was that tiny fleet of Klingon ships supposed to be doing? Were they heading for Earth, I didn't get it? And then after L'Rell's threat to destroy Qo'noS they just peel off and head back home? The hotheaded Klingons? Who seem more like animals in this series than ever before? Where is your logic, where is your sense? Nothing was intelligently mapped out and I hope Fuller was distraught at what they made of the setup he gave them because I can't imagine he'd have sanctioned anything quite as ridiculous as what they did. And it's all 'worthwhile' because of Burnham's little speech at the end. It seems like she's the guiding light of Starfleet, as if no one else like Georgiou (the real one), with wisdom and experience exists to counter anything stupid! It's not like Burnham is very sensible, either, she's often overly emotional and not the character we first met. Oh, but that's the point they're supposed to change, right? What changed, except negative things? Okay, so she wanted to die back then and then found a place, a false place I should add, on Lorca's staff. There's just so much to unburden myself of now that it's all over that I can't even get it all out there. There was no remedy for it all at the end, no explanation of why things don't look right, which they said would happen by end of season, but then you have to take what's said in the light of people selling you something so they're going to say whatever they can to get people onboard.

Tilly's constantly flippant dialogue, that also extended to Georgiou and Burnham, really annoys, just further cementing how modern this feels, so very far from being the period piece, the formal world that Trek portrays. Everything is just so wrong about this series and as much as I wanted to like it and was at one time excited for it, it has disappointed on just about every level. That they were unable to conclude the story in a satisfying way that made sense shouldn't have been a surprise, and I suppose it wasn't. They don't even keep to their own internal logic: Tilly eating a Gormagander which is supposed to be so rare. Granted, it's never really confirmed that's what it was, it could have been a more common space whale species and Tyler was having a joke with her, but it was not in keeping with the seriousness of that episode's suggestion of rarity. Molor is mentioned, some kind of cult whose temples are over the site of the volcano, but it's all so sloppily plotted - Tyler saunters over to chat to them. That's the other thing: the Klingons wouldn't be allowing humans on their world! And if they met them they'd be beating them to within an inch of their lives! Nothing makes sense. Other references chucked in are Georgiou talking about wiping out the Betazoids and Mintaka III in the Mirror Universe, the Ceti eels frying in a pan, Nausicaans mentioned, a Trill getting a tattoo, Georgiou saying they're not here for 'bread and circuses,' a 'TOS' episode title… That's about the level of intelligence going on, that she references a title so you can go 'ooh, ooh, I know that one!' and it's so pitiful and poorly thought out. And what did Saru do to deserve the Medal of Honour?!

It was like that from day one, though, from the moment they walked around to create a Starfleet delta symbol in the sand, to the moment Burnham began a war by somehow accidentally killing the Torchbearer, to being blamed for it all, to… oh, it's too much to go back over, I just can't believe I felt relieved when I watched the first episode and felt it was Trekky enough. Trek generally has a troubled first season, so it's not like I'm giving up on the series and will refuse to buy and watch the next season (especially as I've heard one or two positive things about the writer's room settling down and Captain Pike being commended), but my anticipation has dropped drastically over the last few months and not even Patrick Stewart gives me faith to believe Trek from here on out won't always be a painful experience, a depressing, angry and distressing experience. Like 'Star Wars,' like 'Dr. Who,' like Middle-earth, I can no longer say I love Trek without any caveats. It's been that way since 2009, but they were only two hour films and now the canon has been more substantially eaten into, its success proving that this is what the world wants now and so we'll probably get many more episodes, whether it be 'DSC,' 'Star Trek: Picard,' Georgiou's 'Section 31,' some dumbed down (or grossed up), cartoons, and whatever else they have in mind to pervert and flaunt the diseased Trek name. A bit strong? Maybe, but coming off the back of this episode that's how I feel. It was to be an experience writing reviews about new Trek on an episodic basis, but it was far from the experience I was expecting. What else to say but the biggest thumbs down!

There is one more thing to comment on: the grand appearance of the Enterprise NCC-1701. It had already been spoiled for me, but I hadn't had a good look at the ship, I just knew it was coming. Far from the white swan gliding into view it was a strange metallic grey as if even the classic, iconic images of 'TOS' must be altered now. It was meant to be a final hurrah for those that had breathlessly been pulled delightedly along by the series and were fully enjoying it. Oh wow, now there's the classic Enterprise, whoopee! For me it was like one final kick in the teeth to say this ain't your Trek, man. Because it was spoiled I didn't have to get over it, so that was good, and it may be that they do it justice next season and that I can't see it properly so maybe it did look more 'TOS' than it seemed. But once again it's that desire to keep you on the hook, come back for more because there's something else here, only for it all to fall apart like a house of cards. I have little real belief they can recreate the Enterprise when they've shown such disregard for the period and almost everything about it, but I'll try to keep an open mind. It didn't work doing that for Season 1 so maybe I'm just a sucker. I'll even re-watch Season 1 again because I need to see it in quicker succession to see if it makes any difference, but I doubt it. They highjacked the 'TOS' music for the end credits, just as they did with the Kelvin films: I wonder if they can rub off some of the same 'TOS' spirit, drama and wonder that that music conveys? Just don't ask me for an answer.

**