Star Trek Discovery Season 3 Review | GROWING DISCOVERY'S BEARD
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- Star Trek Discovery has finally reached the end of the it's third season... and with that we have to look back and see if Discovery's trip to the 32nd Century boldly explored new worlds... or crashed down to Earth.
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Just one thing I wanted to point out. When Georgiou is leaving Discovery, Tilly gives her a hug. The look on Georgiou's face to me is beyond description. She goes from maybe a little shocked at the contact to a slow smile that shows the depth of feeling she has for Tilly. I think this is an important scene to show before that memorial scene they have for Georgiou because it shows how she was close to others besides Michael.
Aww!
I missed that.
Yes before y'all comment, I forgot that Riker technicaly did grow his beard in Season 2. But really, we all know it gained it's sexy juju in Season 3. We all.... know it. ;)
It is known. ;-)
Hmm. OK, you've convinced me. Great vid by the way.
Watching the finale I kept waiting for Owo and Detmer to become a thing, because damn chemistry there
I agree that it was troubling that Michael was so cosmically important. In Ds9, Sisko was important but for 1 reason that got paid off after in universe years. Michael, on the other hand, feels like the center of the universe. She started a war, immediately after said war, is the red angle, and “the savior of Star Fleet”. She is all these things with massive ramifications. Yet, she doesn’t where the wait of the crown. Either she would/should feel like it’s too much (why is it always me), or she should become a huge megalomaniac. The fact neither happens is probably the most unbelievable thing ever.
I agree so much on the passage of time thing. DS9’s interpersonal relationships work well because we get to understand that these are people who, after a bit, have known each other for years. I also like how in the early seasons not all the main cast are friends in universe. It took time for them to become closer.
Your commentS on Burnham were good. If she were an Einstein or a Lincoln or a Churchill or a Elon Musk so just GENIUS SMART OR SUPERLEADER then her personality makes sense, but no offense but she is not as smart as Spock or as crafty as Kirk, she is a LaForge with skills but as mid-officer where she deserves to be in the hierarchy. If Riker or Wesley did the stuff she does we would hate those guys, she just seems too agressive to MAYBE MAKE A REPUTATION OR FIX SOME DADDY-ISSUE it seems UNhealthy person to avoid as friend or crewmate. We have a not-healthy personality as someone we should look up to, I guess this could be FASCINATING to have a tortured person rather than a confident Kirk or gullible Luke Skywalker. ... Star Trek really is about rules and being part of the group, a military, she would be great as a Indendent Space-Elon-Musk then her CRAZY drive is fine ... And she should be Betazed, B is so emotional it almost hurts my brain to see her get too emotional about tactics and science as she shouts at her Captains,,,, BUT NONE OF ALL THIS IS BORING SO ITS A GOOD SHOW.
Adira was my absolute highlight of the season. Forget Me Not made me cry and I'd put it up there with The Inner Light and The Visitor
Is it shallow of me that i wish that discovery would get more alien characters on the main cast? After ditching nhan and saru and vaporizing ryn the crew ended this season looking completely human. I know book isn't human and adira isn't completely human due to the symbiant, but they still look indistinguishable from humans. And the only character from the emerald chain (an organization mostly made up of non-humans) that might be carried over to season 4 is aurellio. Also, all the major star fleet personel introduced this year. I know the real world diversity is more important, and discovery hit that out of the park, but i can't help but want a few more aliens with non-human features. I guess there is potentially hologram gray...
Starfleet itself should have had far more aliens there since they’ve been separated from Earth for a century. It actually makes more sense now that Disco has more humans but you’re right, that doesn’t excuse this oversight.
@@gateauxq4604 yeah, starfleet is weirdly human, it kinda bothered me all season. I hope that next season we get some non-humans on the cast that stick around. Preferably species that haven't received much attention. Like what have the breen been up to?
I just wanna have the Saurian back. His absence was noticeable in the finale.
Completely agree!
What we need is more Linus.
YES!! Thank you for eloquently showing the difference between, "That was a bad idea/ending," & "That was not set up well AT ALL when it's supposed to be a major driver of the story."
It’s would be interesting to see some Xindi again
The surprise MVPs of the show outside of the stars Michael and Saru was definitely Culbert and Gorgiou. The newcomer awards go to Adira and Vance.
Adira and Vance were great.
Thank you for the shoutout to the Black and Brown experience and even the Muslim and differently-abled experience. As a member of the Black community, yes, this season definitely made me feel included in a way that watching Jake and Sisqo side when I was a teen.
That was nice!
A weird patchy neckbeard no-one really wants to look at....bahahaha!! I loved Disco this season, as you know, and I reckon 4 will be even better! Love ya work, Jessie, as always, LLAP 😘🖖
I'm 4 minutes in and the inclusion of "Disco Inferno" has already earned a standing ovation and shouts of Brava from me!!
All half a million viewers it's just not good at all. That has nothing to with any of that more people are not watching this show. OH by the way Wanda Vision got over a billion viewers. Let's just say it it's garbage.
@@jameskirk8539 Huh?
@@augustjsb let me explain only half a million viewers watch STD I'm not sure but that doesn't seem like much. While Disney plus had over a billion viewers for there shows. I'm not trying to be negative but TNG average 10 million viewers. You have a admit STD is not very popular with the fans. Does that make sense now
@@jameskirk8539 what does this have to do with my excitement at her inclusion of a song in her video?
@@augustjsb Go on and have a party enjoy yourself. The rest of us don't share your thoughts on STD. And don't post anything if you don't want feedback from others.
I also hope the relationship between Detmer and Owo gets fleshed out more. I totally ship them. :) For me, Owo was the standout in this season (Alongside Culber). She simply does exactly what is needed at a given moment. . . beit managing Detmer, or taking the lead on blowing up the warp nacelle. . .
It's still very much the Michael show, but I was glad Detmer and Owo got a bit more screen time this season.
Now they need to promote Nilsson (Sara Mitich) from her current role as set decoration.
I really think discovery would greatly benefit if they went the enterprise season 4 route with their storytelling. 4 or 5 self contained mini arcs throughout the season.
THIS THIS THIS! Kind of reminiscent of classic Dr Who I would watch when I was a kid: sometimes 4 episodes per story, sometimes 1, sometimes 3 or 2 or 6. it was fun in that you never knew what you were going to get, and it kept it lively too; if you weren't too interested in a particular story, another one would be coming soon. Best way to do any series [like this] in my opinion
Yay! I just set my reminder. You have quickly become my favorite Star Trek reviewer.
I seriously believe that modern Trek suffers significantly from the very short seasons. They don't have time to have side stories that setup those payoffs or character interactions like previous shows.
To be honest with you. That type of story telling is dead in general. It is very difficult to make very good side stories when you can take 1 good side story and expand it out to a season. But they still some what revisit some of those side stories and some times those side stories can become seasons themselves. I honestly like it but I agree with you there needs to be a balance of side stories with the main story. There is a interview with Patrick Steward where he said they were brain storming for Star Trek Genesis, and they kept going back to the drawing board because the concepts they were thinking of, they already did them in a episode of TNG. So having a series based episodic show really makes it difficult for long term story telling.
Regarding your "Utopias should be more open w/their emotions than we've seen before," comment, it mirrors nicely what Picard said to Soji abt Data. (Forgive the paraphrase) "Data did not have the ability to express complex emotions. He & I had that in common, I'm afraid." Even Picard himself presents it as a weakness, which puts TNG in a very different light. Not a BAD light, but tinged w/a regret that I wouldn't expect.
Ha....kind've like Sadness from Inside Out touching a core memory. ❤️
I completely forgot about that lullaby thread. I originally thought it had to do with mind control or something profound.
You are absolutely fabulous. Your corniness is so earnest it's utterly endearing. You're becoming such a compelling RUclipsr. Your argumentation is always grounded and you don't patronize either side of an issue, and acknowledge the silliness of both ends of our political discourse at times when it comes to entertainment and media, while also very firmly establishing your skin in the game without resorting to condescension. And somehow you're a bigger Trek nerd than me.
I love your analysis here. It's the same for me: it's a mixed bag. I agree with so much here. There's a lot of real Trek in the show, but i can't shake the feeling that the writing room isn't as competent as previous teams. They get the whole "infinite diversity in infinite combinations" thing, but their narrative chops fall short when it comes to the craft of storytelling. Unearned emotional moments. Illogical character beats. Unexplored characters or characters that could be great but the writing lets them down, and in turn the actors performances.
As Steve Shives put it, i like the characters, even if the storytelling falls short at times. And i WANT to like them, but Kurtzman's team doesn't develop the build up, so the payoffs don't land. It ends up feeling hollow.
And it's not because Trek is too 'woke.' T'was always thus. The diversity was a given, and wrapped around a foundation of good storytelling. This is a formula that always works. You can show the progressive sensibilities that Trek has always taken pride in when you ground them in good writing FIRST. This has been the hallmark of Star Trek from the beginning.
Thank you so much for this comment, it’s honestly so wonderful to read ❤️
@@JessieGender1
Definitely nails what bugs me about this show
Sadly mediocrity is the Star Trek norm.
OMG, the use of the "Inner Light" theme had me in tears.
Adira's coming out scene actually reminded me a lot of Jake telling his dad he didn't want to go into Starfleet in DS9. Idk if it was intentional or not, but there's some neat parallels.
I've had several friends tell me Discovery grew the braids.
I feel that this season has actually raised my opinion of Discovery as a whole. I liked the 1st season, but had a while raft of issues, the 2nd season was a vast improvement but still stumbled a bit. But the 3rd season has only a few issues most of them fairly minor that I can easily that it is one of the stronger sessions of Trek. Certainly not at the heights of the greats but definitely near the top of the mid tier seasons. I eagerly await the 4th season
This season of DISCO be like "you get a space dad! And you get a space dad! And you! And you!"
Excellent video!
Discovery is no longer just a prequel to me
It has its own ‘voice’ now - and yea, that voice is more female centric, it is more ‘inclusive’, and it’s unapologetically ‘progressive’ in that regard - and it’s what gives Discovery its own identity - what makes it its own thing
Discovery represents the here and now - not 1964 - in my opinion, that’s the way it should be and that’s what I’m wanting from this show
Loved Season 3 overall - I’m hopeful it will be more episodic next season - I think more self contained episodes will help to keep the storytelling more simple and satisfying overall
They need to concentrate on these characters and this future world
One last thing - it makes sense to me these characters would be more emotional than prior crews - they left their lives behind by going into the future - of course their more clingy with each other and feel their more of a family
Voyager was ‘lost’ but was making its way home
For the Discovery crew - their never going home - their home now is the one they make
I was really hit by Hugh saying to Saru in episode 4 that if they all died right now - no one would know and no one would care
That’s harsh - and that’s their new reality
That’s my 2 cents worth
🖖
Star Trek was originally intended to be diverse. There’s of course the first interracial kiss but also a lot of people forget that it was made at the front end of the Cold War so having a Russian on the bridge was A Really Big Deal. They also had an actual Asian man playing an Asian character-yellowface was still common in the 60s. And don’t forget that it had been only 20 years since the actor had been in an interment camp while anti-Japanese sentiments still lingered from WWII. If Gene could have stuffed a gay character in there he probably would have but he was already pushing the studio to it’s limits with how successful they thought the show could be.
Thank you Jessie , it was a pleasure riding with ya this season
The Georgiou funeral felt more like the crew sharing nice stories about her for Burnham's sake. Like they were lifting her up after trauma. That's why it didnt bother me.
Yes, that's how it looks. LLAP! 🖖🖖🖖
@@Donnagata1409
Michael pretty much adopted Georgiou as her mother after her actual mother became a Romulan nun.
I think part of my main issue with the show thus far, is that each season arc could have been much explored as a several season, perhaps series long, arc.
Each season they try and rush through material that DS9 spent several years on.
This comes with less time for subtler character development, as there is no fat left to trim. But fat gives meat its taste: we didn't cry for Spock in the Wrath of Khan because the music told us to. Or feel our guts shrivel when the Enterprise went down because of the detailed model work. (Looking at you JJ) It was because we spent years and years and years with them. We FELT the Enterprise was their home, even after all those years away. We grieved for Spock right along with Kirk cuz we uttterly believed their relation, through years of minutiae. That's why we didn't care, but appreciate Scotty playing the pipes, even though it could not have been further removed from Spock. Because even though we never saw them being that close, we knew they spent years as basically housemates: you understood it was for him and you knew that he needed it. And Spock would never, could never object to that.
I-can't-believe-it's-not-Borg-chick from season two was a great example, as was Lorca's "betrayal" in season one: imagine if Lorca had been perotrayed as a decent but scarred war vet, with hints of hidden darkness (kinda like Sisko was tbh). Not a neon sign flashing "do not trust: EVIL ADMIRAL WANNABE". Or those scenes with ariam spread out in the background over those two years (like they are FINALLY doing with Detmer and Oh-oh).
These blunt force moments are currently carried by the strength of the acting.
Butt...
Isn't it great to have a Star Trek series where the main complaint is "they are trying to put in sooooo much"?
And when you compare it to the first few seasons of TNG era series, it is allready so much better in its writing, with writers who actually take honest criticism as things to improve and try to do better (again, Owo and Detmer... Though I would prefer them as 'just' close friends: I like that display of friendly care and intimicy without it needing to become sexual or romantic. It is too often used to illustrate will they or wont they, which creates an expectation of that outcome IRL, hence "goodguys" and the prevailing idea that you can not be friends with people of the gender you are physically attracted to...)
,,,, good comments about discovery . it is good to have too much action and plot, beats boring. But the writing in parts is terrible, they never said how many Fed planets there were or what the Fed did for income or who they were fighting if not the Chain, and they had the Burn isolate and stop Warp and radio till then Burnham could phone her mom and the Vulcans could zip in hours to see them - these are vital points to understand but writers got these parts wrong .. But the writers were bold, it is almost funny how bold, they was nothiing they wouldn't try. . . . As a plain white guy they should have more white guys, my friends would watch it more, I sound like a jerk but we are 3/4ths of the scifi audience and we could help ratings - I do sounch like a jerk but still it is bit weird in cast of 20, but yes I admit we deserve to be missing for once ha.
I went in going "Hell yeah series review... oh wait" so Imma see you in 3 days Jessie!
I just wanna say I pretty much loved this season, my only complaint is that after seeing the Mandalorian I wished they would have showed some more of the planets in the future, we barely got to see anything except some forests, gardens and from orbit. Oh that and the elevator scene bugged the hell out of me there's wayyy too much open space in that ship xD
Writing and acting was great this season, I loove that the bridge crew got some more spotlight. Like I actually know their names now! Detmar and Uwo are my favs.
Yeah; definitely an improvement and good new start for modern star trek going forward. My only technical critique is that the Orion Makeup looked really bad; which is weird given DIS costume and makeup work tends to be top notch usually.
I hate the elevators in Discovery where the ship is a TARDIS and has an infinite amount on interior space that they only use for machinery apparently.
That turbo lift scene was poorly written and/or designed. Another whimsical sci fi Dr. Who moment.
But you are right about Michael. As a Black woman, I totally love her, but Michael is such a huge character ,that once she shows up, shes like the sun, she blots out all the other characters in the room. And I like those other characters, and want to see more of them, but Michael is so focused on by the writers, that her presence kind of sucks all the oxygen out of the story, and doesn’t leave any of the other characters room to expand! This also contributes to my criticism of Michael as having a savior complex which doesn’t sit too well with me as Black women are often stereotyped as these self sacrificing saviors of everyone but themselves (witness peoples reactions to black women during the recent US elections.)
... Burnham to me wasn't sacrificing, she just was obsessed with finding the Big Answers for her own obsession and not cause she cared about doing good, and she selfishly forced the crew into dangerous spots against their wills and against orders, she is opposite of sacrificing . . . i am being a bit unfair, ,,,,, I also think Discovery ship was the 1 Spore ship that could have chance at winning the war or solving the big puzzle, and Pike himself came onboard so it wasnt just B but maybe the whole crew who felt they were the Best Ship and only ones to win the big fights.. . . . Burham however was just soooooo pushy it is hard to see all this. . .. Remembering other fiction, I can only think of Priests and Missionaries who would be so confindent and yell at Captains to get their way, so B definitely aint a normal crewmember and maybe she should literally been a Minister of some weird religion or a save-the-world-billionaire who came on and pushed around the crew with her insane zeal to fix adn solve things.... Burnham is interesting. Thinking about it for 5 minutes, I personally would NOT want to work with her or trust her to not get me killed for her missions, so that is pretty unattractive..... T Starfleet is full of nerds and military and people in those fields all tend to be boring, so B just is sooooo different. ... . Burnham we are told was Raised by Vulcans and wore Vulcan clothes, I never thought over her as from Earth or black -- they made her alien. Hmmm. They also should not have made her Vulcan-raised, Sonequa emotes way too much she is great but not Vulcan. Hmmm, I guess I am liking Burnham more, I can't imagine a Riker or Geordi doing even 1/2 as many crazy capers ha. ... I could be all wrong, I haven't figured out this show...
Yes, we damn well need a Star Trek West Wing show. Articles of the Federation is one of my favorite Trek novels, and one thing I loved about The West Wing is that it almost felt like a spiritual cousin to TNG.
Love "Articles of the Federation"! It's fantastic.
Also, Riker grew his beard in season 2. Sisko got his in season 3. Season 3 of Next Gen was when they ditched the spandex.
Are you sure about sisko? I felt he was switching back to his hawk look by season 2, but i haven’t seen ds 9 since its original airing.
@@christianemden7637 he grows the beard in Explorers and the next episode he also shaves his head. Took them almost 70 episodes to get his look right
@@poomar thank you for the clarification, i really had thought the look had changed earlier, but I live to learn.
By bernam becoming the captain this should allow room for the focus of the other characters because her story arc is in a good place creatively. Great job sonequa.
S4 Mystery Box is just as frustrating, if not more. This review is outstanding Jessie!
Imagine if the music from early in the season was actually a lullaby that Su'Kal's mother sang to him. Su'Kal emerges from the hologram environment to find his mother relaying a last emergency transmission - dying. Instead of finishing the transmission she sings the lullaby to Su'Kal to soothe him before dying. Cue the burn.
Due to ship glitches / radiation the lullaby is looped forever. Saru hears the lullaby and recognizes it as a kelpian song. They manage to find/decode the emergency transmission also playing underneath the song and find out about the child.
I had high hopes for the "song" element and I'm sad it was just a throw away piece.
I think that the fact that you're clearly coming from a place a good faith, your criticisms are really well put and make a lot of sense to me. I noticed a lot of the same things. As always, excellent analysis.
Also, does anyone else want to see a Twitch stream of Jessie playing the old TIE Fighter game from the mid 90s? I can't be the only one, right?
I think your point that the third season of Treks (or any show really) is where the magic begins is something that more people need to hear. I see too many people looking back with very rose-tinted glasses saying ‘thats not my Trek!’ but forgetting TNG’s bad uniforms and Dr Pulaski or DS9’s uneven handling of the characters and not understanding AT ALL how to write a black lead. We also can’t forget that TOS had a trash third and final season because their budget had been reduced excessively, William Shatner got a bit of a belly and wore that weird green shirt to hide it, and much of the good in the first two season was replaced with several corny episodes.
Disco definitely grew its beard-it was Admiral Vance!! (OMG Jessie how did you miss that?? Oded Fehr’s beard is a thing of beauty 💜 also he’s from the Middle East so technically not a white guy. Sorry white guys!)
You dare insult Pulaski - they should have begged her to stay on as main cast, at least recurring guest star. She was incredible..
I know this is an old video but I just wanted to comment anyway. I think you are 100% correct that the show could do with more focus on the other characters. I am also someone who really likes Michael Burnham, but ironically, I actually think that HER character is the one that suffers the most from this lack of time spent on side characters. It's difficult to truly imagine her as a character that exists in the universe of the show as we are not really allowed to see other characters at all, which would allow us to really ground Michael's character. As humans we are defined by our actions and interactions with others. It's difficult to really see the whole of a character when we are not allowed to truly appreciate their social environment.
Imagine how much stronger Michael's character would be if we as the audience are truly allowed to connect with the characters to which her decisions affect the lives of. Similarly, I think her character would feel so much more exceptional, a required trait of Starfleet captains in my personal opinion, if we were able to contrast her with other characters in the universe.
This is why I appreciate Saru SO MUCH in the show. The Saru/Michael dynamic is excellent and so necessary. It honestly reminds me of some of the great dynamics of old, like Spock/Kirk. Two characters with vastly different approaches but who both respect each other and listen to each other's opinions. I find Saru to be a very refreshing character in the context of current TV/Film where it feels that most, if not all, main characters are very similar to Burnham (head strong and stubborn, self-sacrificing, individualist etc).
tl;dr while I love Burnham I think that some focus on her ensemble cast would only serve to expand and ground her character, I think the show should have trusted itself to show more of the other characters.
I think I commented this on a previous video, but Paul's relationship with Adira was my favorite part of the season because it shows how far he's come as a person. He no longer keeps his crewmates at arm's length (This is now Reno's job).
I don't think Tig Notaro is back for next season. It's a pity because she's a natural replacement for Michelle Yeoh as the snarky character (the McCoy role, you could say).
Glanced at the still and had to do a double take, thought it was Mirror Universe Spock.
How would you tell the difference? That disguise is on a "Clark Kent's glasses" level.
owo and detmer are in love like its basically canon already
This was nearly an hour - it literally flew past without me even being aware of it. Good, engaging content and discussion, Jessie 👍
Hey, now I remembered it! Sahil's gesture was not islamic, but buddisth. The islamic salute would be touching your belly on the side of your liver, then your heart, then your forehead, then gesture with your hand onwards. Right? (Please somebody correct me if I'm wrong).
EDIT: Another comment. I read the scene at Georgiou's funeral differently. It doesn't seem like they really feel all those things they're saying; it seems more like they're saying them for Michael, to comfort her. They're saying nice things they don't really feel and she sees through it; that's why she suddenly comes out with a mock-disparaging, honest comment about Georgiou, to stop the flow of "hypocrisy" (well meant, of course).
I GOT IT! Michael Burnham is like a song they play too much on the radio. The song is perfectly fine but they play it so much that you start to get sick of it!
If I could go backwards in time I would have made Tilly the man character. Burnham would be Han Solo to Tilly’s Luke Skywalker!
You made excellent points in your review. I agree with all your points. I would just like to add that it seems odd how Discovery has never had any problem pulling Burnham in and out of the Science crew over the seasons, but Tilly seemingly had no place in the crew as soon as Adira came along. Also, it bothered me how it didn‘t occur to anyone until the end of the season that Book has the necessary ability to operate the Spore Drive, especially considering that many, if not most, of the Discovery crew knew how Stamets could operate it. I do hope that Discovery‘s writers would master plant and payoff in future seasons. I really do love the show, and would love for it to succeed on its own merits.
Great review Jessie, I particularly agreed with your comments about Burnham coming across as arrogant as she is not at the rank where that would be appropriate. I like Discovery but yeah the Character of Burnham comes across as insubordinate and even when she is punished and loses her rank of first officer, I didn't feel like it actually made any difference to her actual rank (in terms of how she was reacted to/actions she would take), in fact it seems like alot of characters rely on Burnham to "okay" what they want to do. Tilly will only be first officer if Burnham allows it, saroo will only become captain if Burnham allows it, the burn will only get resolved if Burnham resolves it and Osira can only be defeated if Burnham does it. even the Admiral gives her a pat on the back and a promotion after clearly being unhappy with her episodes before. It all just rings a little hollow to me, but absolutely agree that if she was Captain then her actions and the regard that the crew have would be appropriate. I think I miss the ensemble nature of other treks and what makes me miss it more is that I think the supporting cast of discovery are excellent and I am often more invested in their scenes and development, even where its less "epic".
This is one of those moments that makes sense if you remember episode 1 of the series and that Most of the crew served under Burnham when she was the first officer under Georgiou. But it’s never mentioned again and just ends up being weird
@@adorabell4253 that's a really good point, the show starts with her losing her rank, but because they didn't really establish it for long at the start and don't reference it throughout (I feel like some flashbacks showing Burnham being an effective leader under Georgiou would have been great for a number of reasons), I totally forgot.
@@TheoAndHisPedals If they had done that it would also explain why everyone forgave her so quickly. It's likely they knew her for a long time and were good friends. It would also show why there is a divide between the bridge crew and the native Disco team, at least in terms of hanging out and stuff. Beyond plot needs, of course.
In a regard of the third Season of Discovery, yes, the Burn's reveal was quite a let-down, but in the end I did not care about it that much, because, as I watched on, I got interested much more in something else and people do not seem to bring it up much as they review the given Season.
You, Jessie, have, however, touched upon it to a moderate extent.
The arguably most crucial detail about the Season 3 of DSC, which I have not heard enough of, was its encompassing theme of GAINING TRUST and FINDING COMMON GROUND.
Owing to the aftermath of the Burn, the worlds/nations of the 32nd century, including the remnant of the UFP and Starfleet, became jaded over the decades and were not trusting one another to various degrees, with most Pre-Burn societal ideals and achievements either having already fallen apart or being in a process of slowly crumbling down.
The arguably most important episode of the whole Season 3 of DSC was Ep.07, Unification III, where certain DSC crewmen proceeded to properly re-introduce the "old" 23rd century ideals and to convince the UFP and Ni'Var to reach out to and trust each other again.
That is some of the most "StarTrekkian" things out there and it has been a firm part of the franchise since its inception.
Variations on this theme of 'breaking of mutual barriers and finding ways of how to communicate' was heavily featured throughout basically the whole season.
When Burnham and Book first met and had to painfully learn to co-operate.
The Ep. 'People of Earth' featuring the paranoid and hermit UEDF.
The episode with, again, disenchanted and short-sighted Trills.
The Ep. 'The Sanctuary' with Book's brother.
The astonishing double-parter Terra Firma (to me, this was the pinnacle of the Season) and cathartic conclusion of Georgiou's story arc.
All episodes, or more specifically most sequences and scenes, with Su'Kal, to whom the others had to find their way... the RIGHT WAY and not to force it.
A great science-fiction should strive to reflect via allegories and/or analogies the ailments of its day and time.
We, the people of Earth's early 21st century, are becoming more and more divided and polarized and struggle to establish a sound dialogue, which consequently becomes more and more detrimental to our society and environs. Lots of things are degrading these days and the need to RE-GAIN TRUST to one another is becoming more and more urgent.
Discovery's third season has reflected this quite perfectly and this reality thus makes it a good sci-fi fare in the least, if not better.
THIS... IS... STAR TREK ! ! !
I think Discovery is largely hurt by the amount of character development and story arcs they attempt to be squeeze into the small episode count. I think this is why we see so much that doesn't feel deserved.
Due to the delays caused by Covid, the entirety of Picard Season 2's scripts have apparently been finished before the show will go back into production. I think this is a good chance to see if that makes a difference in the style of storytelling and writing.
Can't get a lot worse than PIC season 1 ;)
@@Reggie1408
I'm expecting a considerable improvement.
Speaking to the "too much emotion" on Discovery. It's not that displaying emotion is a bad thing, it's when it's used too much. "Old Trek" didn't overuse this, so when it did happen it came off as really meaning something. Discovery has waterworks in seemingly every episode.
Just a few extra comments:
I do wish we get more character focused episodes beyond Michael but I can't help but think that the structure of the show with only 13 episodes don't really allow for the same style of solo episodes that we used to get in past Trek shows, especially when there is also a season plot that needs to be served as well. The story space is already shortened with only 13 hours that I think makes solo character focused episodes not very feasible. The middle ground I can think of is maybe do more "away team" missions with other characters if they can't just have an episode where they hang out and play around on the holodeck. That way they could forward the plot and give some more character development. But again, if there is less focus on Michael as the central protagonist, I also can't help but feel like you run into the issue of the show feeling like it's diminishing its Black female lead because "there is pushback" and how some might view that as giving into "racist/sexist" influences, that a show that was created with her at the center has become less about her. I've seen this criticism levelled at Discovery Season 2 where people have felt that Michael ended up playing second fiddle to Pike and Spock in her own show. It would be like if a Captain Marvel movie became more about Nick Fury than Carol Danvers. And it's hard to ignore this feeling when Star Trek Picard is never really criticized on the same level for focusing too much on Picard at the expense of other characters. I don't know if this issue can be solved with Michael as Captain or even if the show changed its name to Star Trek Burnham. It's a rather complex issue of how do they give more space to others while still making sure the show is undeniably Michael's, especially without people who feel represented by her character feel like her own show is being snatched out from under her.
Also for me, I actually did feel like the Burn mystery had urgency, especially once we saw how The Burn and the responsibility of it affected Ni'Var and the way it drove people into isolationist thinking. It's why Michael's line about how if they didn't solve the Burn, then she believes the Federation can't come together, because she's kinda right. While The Burn has been a century long mystery that maybe it's put in the back of people's minds why it happened, it still clearly effects planets' ability to connect and trust one another. Earth left the Federation because they didn't know if it was an attack and basically sat there for a century on preparation for an invasion. The Federation couldn't connect to worlds because they don't know if they were the target. And Ni'Var felt responsible, that it was their fault, so they broke away and stopped trusting the Federation. Knowing what happened with the Burn and how it happened gives all those different factions the freedom to connect to one another. Ni'Var knows that it's not responsible and considers rejoining the Federation. The Federation and Earth knows that it's an accident and therefore it no longer needed to keep that kind of guard up. It's not an immediate issue, but that mystery hanging over all their heads is part of the reason why they couldn't trust each other to truly reunite the Federation back to its old strength. Giving the answers allowed all of these planets and groups to move forward.
I Agree on your analysis of the Burn - but I think the authors could have made better use of the Outside Perspective of the Discovery crew in overcoming the focus on the day-by-day struggle keeping the fragments of the federation from putting the big picture together. It is all there, but it's not shown clearly enough.
How about having a season long arc where almost every episode needs the unique touch of one of the characters to solve the central problem? Like when Pike and Burnham brought Owo to thay luddite planet, but didn’t actually use her in it.
OH AND LET ME JUST SAY now that the season is over, the "everyone subconsciously knows this one particular song" thing makes absolutely no sense, shouldn't have been a thing at all, and didn't end up mattering or meaning anything anyway.
EDIT: oh you talk about that in the video lmao xD
guess I should stop commenting part way though
The true reason Ni'var thought it was their fault (also never explained) is that an elderly Vulcan studying the burn heard that sound and was suffering from the Vulcan version of dementia where they become telepathic projectors.
One night they walked into the wrong wing of the science institute and found a telepathic resonator weapon in the Romulan archaeology department and broadcast the song across the galaxy into people's subconscious.
Ni'var wanted to hide their secret shame at creating a telepathic earworm and that's why they refused to share their probe data with the Discovery.
There were many "never minds" in the stories this season. Way more than usual.
@@michaelkenner3289
Makes sense.
As much as anytime in this show does.
Here's the thing about Michael being the main character while still a Commander. She was ALWAYS intended to be in the Captain's Chair. That's always been the point of the show, watching her go through the trials and tribulations of ultimately earning that seat. Think of Lt. Commander Shelby in TNG's Best of Both Worlds, she's a hard charger, she makes decisions on her own but ultimately Riker picks her as his own Number 1 - while Picard is in the hands of the Borg - because she's the best person for the position. Yes, she's Entitled - but she Fucking EARNED it. Just as Burnam has by being the only human to graduate top of her class from the Vulcan Science Academy in Episode One. It's like if we got 2 or 3 seasons of Picard as Captain of the Stargazer before he became Captain of the Enterprise, or a season of Kirk before he got the chair. We understand her now, we know what's she's been through, she's had issues, she's made mistakes - from here on out - with all that prior experience things get interesting. She's always been the boss, now she gets the title.
nobody would want a show centered around shelby..she was as bad as mikey burnham..
nobody would want a show centered around shelby..she was as bad as mikey burnham..
nobody would want a show centered around shelby..she was as bad as mikey burnham..
nobody would want a show centered around shelby..she was as bad as mikey burnham..
nobody would want a show centered around shelby..she was as bad as mikey burnham..
I thought that the first season did the best job of really showcasing that trek could be interesting if it focused on someone other than the captain. Burnham's relationships with Captains Georgiou and Lorca were wonderfully complex.
What about that Admiral from the last couple of seasons? She was awesome and even sacrificed herself! Discovery definitely has stepped away from the evil Admiral standard of previous Trek
It seems to be a general Nu Trek shift to a new paradigm, the douchey admiral who's really a good guy. Clancy, Cornwell, and now Vance.
Jessie, you've been my go-to right after each episode of Start Trek: Discovery. I appreciate your thoughtful and balanced point of view without being Pollyanna about the show. I'm a big fan of critical thinking and mature criticism.
You've outdone your self with this review and critique of season 3. Thank you for digging deep, pointing out some I had trouble putting into words and things I did not see, but do now. It is obvious you love Star Trek and all it stands for. Keep up the good work and I look forward to your critiques of season 4 when it drops.
You know what would have helped the burn feel important. You know how there was that scene where Sa'kul almost caused a second burn where the wave is thrown out and it disabled the ships for a second. I wish they had those waves happening slowly because Sa'kul was starting to see the broken ship through all of the malfunctioning holograms.
They could've had the Sa'kul ship crashing in the beginning of the season with no explanation. Throughout the season we learn about these small shock waves from black boxes of ships surrounding that nebula, but this is before that main burn wave.
Then once that holo-world begun to breakdown he has to deal with the past trauma of his family dying. Him refusing to deal almost creates another burn. The federation tracks these small waves. Saru comes in and helps and trys to help save Sa'kul.
You then have one of Osiraa's (I LOVE HER NAME!) Captains Is there as well. This captain comes in because the EC has been tracking the disturbances too. They let Saru try to help, but they then kill Sa'kul. Preventing a second burn, but causing a bit of a riff between the EC and the Federation.
Season 4 is a quasi cold war between the Federation and the EC. I'd introduce the designs of a deadly tech in Picard, have Philipa confiscate the plans in the first season of her show, mention it as some kind of far fetched joke of a rumor in Lower Decks and have the Federation have to decide if they're going to deploy it in the season finale of Disco season 4. It gives the burn a reason to be solved immediately, gives the burn weight, ties in the shows, allows cracks to show through Saru's behavior, provides an objective to the section 31 show that creates an call back for disco that isn't from "classic trek"
The answer to the aurelio character being made a separate being (hologram) has been seen before in ST.. They previously explained it as being identified by seperate Mental Engrams in one body. It was seen in TOS, Voyager and i believe TNG.
one thing that confused me about the ending of s3 was where is Saru going to be from now on? is he going to work at starfleet command with Vance? Is he staying on Kaminar? Is he captaining another ship? The show was so excited to get Michael in the captain’s seat that it even acknowledged in the narrative itself that they were rushing things by not having the conversation between her and Saru about what he felt about it. I doubt they’d write him off the show bc he’s so wonderful, but if he’s being relegated to a more minor role I think we deserved some in canon explainations for it
One hell of a review! That was a super quick hour packed full of goodness. Adira and Culber were the highlights for me this season.
Season three is also the season where they found the tiny remote used for opening and closing the shuttle bay: turns out it was in one of Lorca's old uniforms that they'd put in storage. 😀
I feel like my biggest criticism of the character Michael Burnham dates all the way back to the first season, more specifically the pilot episode. When they find the Klingon probe, Saru argued for assuming a cautious/defensive stance in the situation when talking to the captain and Michael. Michael immediately jumped on him saying something to the effect of "just because we don't understand it doesn't mean we should assume it's intentions". Later on in the pilot, she then proceeds to turn into the biggest bigot against Klingons ever and assume that all they know is violence basically and went so far as to betray her captain and friend's trust by stunning Philippa and effectively contributing to the gas fire that was the start of the Klingon aggression.
I thought that whole character flaw and aspect of Michael's story and personality were going to be something that would be touched upon later in the season as some kind of learning experience or element of personal growth by having her confront her own mistakes of hypocrisy in that instance, but when the season ended and it seemed like they never even touched on it again after that pilot episode like it was just some kind of incoincidental throwaway, That really disappointed me because I thought it could have had potential. I don't think Michael Burnham ever learned about her hypocrisy in that instance. I hope this is viewed as a genuine criticism and not some bad faith bullshit because I can't stand those people either.
Yes! You are so right! The Terran 2-parter on PG is my most favourite part of Season 3, because they finally allowed a story to focus outside Burnham. Even Voyager had episodes fully centered on characters outside Janeway and 7o9.
I've only just recently subbed to Paramount and got the chance to binge-watch Discovery in full. For years, I took a lot of the criticism seriously & assumed that even though I wasn't getting to watch Discovery, that I wasn't really missing much because it was such a heel-turn from the prior elements of the franchise. But... erm... what the heck? I LOVE Discovery! Even some of the weirder parts of the first couple seasons.. to me, they just seemed to make the series even more of a throwback to the TOS era.
First, Iˋm from Brazil so english isnˋt my native language. You speak very clearly. Great rewiew, very interesting points. My five cents are those uniforms seem a bit loose fit, so it seems better for any kind of body type fans. This is great, I guess, not having only skinny sexy outfits that look bad at other body types fans will use.
The haters are circulating a rumor that Discovery has been confirmed cancelled. Their only "proof" is that Season 3 did not end on a cliffhanger "like the endings of S1 and S2". Those weren't cliffhangers, they opened new ground, and S3 opened the way for the return of the Federation. Like the Star Wars haters are raving that the next movie will have Luke going back in time and erasing the sequel trilogy. They're projecting their wishes on reality is all that is.
I have to say Discovery Season 3 was probably one of my favorite Trek watching experiences since when I was little and watched Deep Space Nine with my mom every week.
My favorite part of the season though was finding your channel Jessie. Your reviews are balanced, you have a positive view on Trek, and you're just fun. Star Trek + Jessie = a great week. Reminded me of the heydays of watching BSG and listening to Ron Moore's podcast each week.
I found your What the Frell Farscape podcast today when I was at work, too. Can't wait to listen to that because I've been wanting an excuse to rewatch Farscape for the 12th time haha. Keep up the amazing work Jessie!
Love your critiques of Discovery's unearned moments and feel validated in lots of the things I've enjoyed about this series and especially the third season. From someone who's just getting into Trek, thanks for the essay!
I have so little critique, I loved this season even with the issues that you brought up so clearly & so well. Gotta say my fam truly hated the new uniforms (they were annoyingly yelling) but I was cool with that too. If outfits are the main problem, this show did a great job. I’m really looking forward to “exploring new worlds” which seems hopefully to be the next theme. That has gotta be great, with loads of options for secondary characters to shine. Looking forward.
I loved this season - Couldn't wait every week for the next episode.
For me, I think a fix to the series would have been to restructure things, with two ways of going about it.
Option 1; Pull The Burn to the front, give it a reason to be key and driving as you say, and in doing so push the Emerald Chain stuff back a bit. Have them be a threat, one that builds slowly, and don't reveal Osyraa until the very end of the series. That way you've established something for next time out, cemented the threat, and kept a mystery of "who is this Osyraa we hear about who is so feared?" present. Then into the next season you can pull the Emerald Chain forward and have them be a major antagonist while Discovery is bouncing about the galaxy, dropping off dilithium, and doing a 'planet of the week' solve/convince them to come back to the Federation.
Option 2 is pretty much a flip on that. Use the Emerald Chain/Osyraa plot line and leave the burn in the background and maybe have that ramp up in some way, such as discovering that dilithium is starting to go inert slowly, and then doing the whole 'find the reason?' combined with jumping about the place/planet of the week style stuff.
My personal preference, as you might be able to tell from the detail, would be for Option 1 - the burn would need a bit more reason to be 'urgent' but I feel it has the better story potential. It would also potentially allow more time to delve into the other aspects which were, as you say, handled in a more 'told, not shown' manner this time out. (For example, it would have been nice to see a bit more of Stamets/Culber/Adira so that the whole 'family' aspect could have had a bit more impact)
As much as I love Star Trek, and have enjoyed (and I'm sure continue to enjoy) Discovery, I think this longer term story telling is where other shows do outshine it. Going back to the classic example of Babylon 5 which set the standard for long form arcs in TV Sci-fi (imo), and more recently The Expanse which has the advantage of a book series to draw upon, but does mean it can do things like setting up things for the next series via a B-plot as they have a clear path of what is coming.
That all said, I'm looking forward to the next series; it feels like a setup for a 'planet of the week' series ("Your dilithium delivery is here; btw how do you feel about signing back up with the old Federation?"), with Burnham now in position to be more like a modern (future?) day Kirk in command style - and if it goes in that direction I'm here for it all day.
I like the second option bc it could’ve meant being forced to work together with the Chain against a larger threat (loss of dilithium) and could’ve used the fact that the Discovery crew doesn’t have personal issues with the Chain vs the Federation and Booker who had years of hatred blinding them against working together with the Chain. It would let Discovery’s outsider status (and more peaceminded) pitch them against the newer austerity focused Federation whove lost too much to take a risk and wouldn’t have required making the Chain Clearly Evil and give the Chain’s argument more validity.
After falling out of Star Wars, seeing it trapped in a nostalgia cycle that it probably won't be released for a very long time, watching Season 3 of Discovery has converted me to the Trek side. I don't love all of it (I feel like Osyra got defeated anti-climatically and I wonder if Michael really earned the captain's chair), maybe Star Trek has it's own issues with nostalgia, but I like how Discovery has been pushing forward, setting the story in the future has been a boon for creating an interesting new story with unique challenges to overcome. I like Picard for similar reasons even if I get why it can be divisive in some elements.
For better and for worse, I feel like Star Trek is committed to going forward now. I like that.
The reset to The Federation does provide lots of opportunity for TNG style diplomatic missions.
God even the weeks after it aired, the scene where Culber holds Gray DESTROYS this emotional straight CIS meat popsicle. I'm doing a rewatch of all 800ish missions in chronological order (the Prime 2230s are my starting point). Already I'm seeing SO MUCH connective tissue between all the series and films in this nearly 6 decade old franchise. I'm currently on the Menagerie and wondering if the Talosians knew Pike's ultimate fate. I can't wait to get back to this season after the rest of the franchise(I'll split it up between Picard and Discovery season 3 on one side and Enterprise to the Kelvin films on the other side)
One of the things that really confuses me with this episode was that at the end, Burnham was selected as Captain (or Acting Captain as I have heard it suggested). I have always felt that the entire series was her (Burnham) “earning her way back” into Star Fleets good graces after be the “first” mutineer (and causing the Klingon War) in it’s history. I thought it would happen, and the would be the big emotional payoff as the series finale. The fact that she just a few episodes earlier was demoted from X.O. back to “just science officer”, to me make it even more confusing that Star Fleet would just give her the Captaincy. But you make a good point to say that by making her the Captain, you make it more logical that she would be making these decisions and the focus of the show. One of my complaints has been that none of the rest of the characters have gotten a whole lot of development. I feel, by the time season three of the previous Trek shows started, more of the “secondary” characters were more developed than in Discovery. I really hope that they continue to focus not just no Burnham in the following season, but on the rest of the crew in order to development them more. I also still have a little “heart burn” with Telly being promoted from cadet/Ensign to X.O. Again, that just seems like a huge jump. . Even a Lt. (looks like a full Lt., and not a Lt(j.g.) as an XO seems like a pretty big jump. Seems most of our X.O.s have been at least Lt. Commanders or Commanders, not “just” Lt. or Lt. (j.g.s).
3:33 As I caress my own whiskers, all I can say is you're not overusing it enough.
They should have had more of a roost for Georgio. They could have talked about what a witch she was and then rose their glasses to her.
"roast", sorry.
I really liked Lorka, then they turned him bad and got rid of him. Then
Lt Cmdr Arium was neat and I wanted character development w/her, then
they killed her off. Then I liked Nan as a favorite, then they got rid
of her. OMFG, just stop!
I just want to say I already love this video. Hahha
I wonder if, with Grey, the ship scanned and found two lifeforms: host and symbiote. Then it just projected one outside the body. Wish we would have found out if that was true.
I think the next season will introduce many familiar races from the old Federation as they go through the rejoining pains from ditching the chain. I can see politically much truth and reconciliation from the haves and the have nots of the local Galaxy.
It is logical to assume that much off the story telling will be Alpha and Beta quadrant based.
Also Grey showing up as a hologram at the end of the season is actually explained by Star Trek: Picard where the ship had as a default option, scanned Captain Rios' brain and produced all the various holograms of him for the ships systems. Grey is another version of Adira's consciousness going through the same process. Potentially all of her pervious Alter's could be recreated in Holographic form.
Grey is shown in the final scene with Burnam taking the Captains chair, presumably, as a hologram so that issue is solved.
So many fans tossing so much excrement at this show, feeling that it isn't just a stain on the Roddenberry universe, but a crime. I enjoy the series. It ain't perfect. And it's certainly 'different', maybe too different. The complaint I might put forward is the notion that so little (in relative terms) has changed over 900 years. Even if you take the past 900 years on Earth for us and chop it in half, then half again, you still have massive changes in our world over the two-plus centuries. But I'm not losing sleep over it.
@@fred7883 "However this is only found by a small minority and is clearly _not found in the upper portion of the IQ curve_ ..." Congrats. You just shut down this conversation.
@@fred7883 "and is clearly not found in the upper portion of the IQ curve"
No one who thinks IQ means anything useful or worthwhile is worth talking to.
Wait, Georgiou is getting a sping off?! :O If that's so, then I'm not so sad to see her "leave" the show.
I find it funny, after watching this video, that The Original Series only lasted 3 seasons.
I thought it was season 2 where Riker had a beard.
I think my real problem is they didn't have enough episodes in the the season to do justice to the story they needed to tell. 13 episodes for the story they were trying to tell felt very rushed.
I would like to get back to something like DS9 where where the plot developed over multiple seasons.
I love that you underpinned the discussion of Vance with the music from _Insurrection,_ which is my favourite Star Trek film theme, though it fights at-weight with _First Contact's_ French Horn solo.
About Adira and having to come out as non-binary - It's worth noting that Adira is living among people 900 years behind in social progress. Drop one of us in, say, the court of William the Conqueror and we're going to have a hard time finding any wokeness, AND our social signals will be a mess. (Starting with having no common language.) Stamets et al are a bit older than Kirk, so they're plausibly as "old-fashioned" as almost any main Star Trek characters.
I didn't watch you Jessie, since before chistmass. Glad to see your unique pov and to e a part of this amazing community.
Jessie, I also want to see new corners of the galaxy next season. But I also really, really, want to know what's happened to the Borg and the Dominion. Really really.
Oh yes, me too.
At this point I've just kind of given up on liking anything new coming out from Trek. The new direction they've taken it just isn't for me I guess. Hopefully the people who do like it get out of new Trek what I got out of old.
Watching Star Trek now as a newer fan. I always took the lack of emotions and physical contact just a limitation of the the time. The success of those moments require so much time and patience it’s easier if the actors can stand on their spot and read their lines. I think modern tv allows for more ambitious sequences and better on screen energy.
Archer's theme in the end😍
Also where did you get that beautiful earing?
Discovery hater here (ok, critic), and I just wanna say that yeah, that show has gotten much better. But I would like to see more of that salty engineer woman and an explanation of how Discovery is now a TARDIS!
Love the engineer character and her relationship to stamets
@@TheFerrett3 she’s awesome! I wish they’d show more of her instead of feeling this strange need to put Michael Burnham in practically every scene.
@@trekjudas
I fear we'll see even less of her in season 4.
One good thing about Michael being captain is that someone else will need to lead the away missions.
@@alanpennie8013 That would be normal. Kirk may have been the center of every TOS episode but the Trek shows since then would focus on other characters. They were more of an ensemble.
By its 3rd Season I was sure Discovery would finally hit its stride and have a consistent tone and story especially now thats its a clean slate for the writers since they're in the future but it still felt like they're unsure where they wanna go with this show and its characters. Such a shame. I think I even enjoyed Season 2 more!
Does Dilithium power warp drives? I thought it only focused and regulated the matter/anti-matter reaction, which generates the actual power? I know it doesn't really mater but it really bugged me throughout the season.
I believe you're right.
It's a bit like the carbon rods in a nuclear reactor.
The Burn needed to be solved to begin to save the Federation. It was broken, it was crippled, it was hobbled. Without fixing the problem of the Burn, without replenishing the Dilithium supply they would stay broken, they'd stay crippled. They had to resolve that issue to get Star Fleet off it's back and onto it's feet again for Season 4. It was an absolute necessity. Period.
Kurtzman is well versed in the Mystery Box style of story telling from his time with JJ Abrams. That's his thing, it has the risk of failing on the payoff, but it can also work out well. I had no problem with Su'kal being the source of the Burn, it makes the event part of personal trauma which, frankly, was something they explored this season on multiple levels.
Also, stop trying to re-write the show to your preferences please.
Not rewriting the show, I’m critiquing the show as I see it as it is. You’re welcome to disagree but it’s not about rewriting but offering constructive criticism
@@JessieGender1 I'm gonna bet to differ Jessie. You specifically gave your version, ala fan fic, of how you wanted the Burn story told. I'm an frankly not sure what people were expecting the Burn to be caused by. It was either going to be technological or biological. Deliberate or accidental. Making it biological and accidental grants the possibility that it could happen again, which is a stronger plot position than some evil mustache twirler using a thingamajig. It's also more "Star Trek" ala Charlie X and Gary Mitchel
Another great job jess. Damn you're awesome.
Discovery being more emotional makes perfect sense in the context of where the characters come from because they went into Starfleet at a time when it was at its least militaristic apart from perhaps the first two years of Enterprise. The Romulans wars were over. Starfleet was expanding and everywhere they went they just said "We come in peace" and everyone was cool with that barring perhaps the occasional Orion pirate. Or minor skirmish. Then the Klingons come in force and the War happens and Starfleet trains for war as well as exploration from that point on.
Geordi: Did you damage your face, Data?
Data: It is a beard, Geordi.
TNG S2E06
Just been reminded I went to a lecture by the Chief Engineer of the Discovery 3. The Land Rover car, that is.
It was very depressing to my young engineering-student mind. Lots of cleverness in the design, but the entire point of the project was to sell a car to people who wanted to project the image of living an outdoorsy, kayaking-at-the-weekend lifestyle, but never actually leave tarmac at any point. A three-tonne fashion accessory.