So Mark, you're not the one and only Chosen anymore. Just gotta watch TV like a person. How's that feel?

🎶EEEEEDWARD LARKIN!!!!🎶

Context is For Kings

Michael Burnham gets picked up.

It took us 3 episodes to get to the actual USS Discovery, a ship that seems very unlike any we’ve seen in the Trek canon. It’s seemingly a research vessel, but shrouded in secrets, starting at the top. Gabriel Lorca, for reasons that Michael can’t understand at first, has taken her aboard his ship and has given her an alternative to a nice life sentence in Federation prison.
The problem is, no one wants to work with her. Landry almost sneers at her, Stamets dismisses her, and even Cadet Tilly, who may literally be a Cinnamon Roll, wants to keep her distance. Even former Shenzou shipmates Saru and Detmer can’t look her in the eye.
What is all this for?
It turns out, It’s for a form of space travel never before seen in Star Trek. Not warp drive, not wormholes, not trans warp conduits or the like…
This way of traveling is alive.
The Mycelial Network almost reminds me of Outlaw Star and its Galactic leylines, whereby if one could access it, you could go…anywhere. That’s the promise of Discovery, says Lorca, while secreting away the beast that was the doom of Discovery’s sister ship

What if Lorca is the actual Big Bad?

Hey, It’s…!

Jason Isaacs (Capt. Gabriel Lorca) Mark Watchers and Readers will recognize Isaacs as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter series of films. His CV goes back quite a ways, with lots of notable film, TV, and voice roles (Zhao in AtLA! The Skeksis Emperor in Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance! The Judge in Castlevania! Dick Dastardly in Scooob!!)

Anthony Rapp (Paul Stamets) is known for originating the role of Mark in the musical Rent and reprising the role in the film version. His first role as as Daryl in Adventures in Babysitting.

Mary Wiseman (Cadet Sylvia Tilly) has had roles in Longmire and Baskets. She is also a delight. The end.

The Battle at the Binary Stars

Michael Burnham loses everything.

The consequences of Michael’s turning on her captain and crew in the previous episode spiral out of control in this second part, where Federation and Starfleet ships clash violently. This, as the man once said, escalated quickly!

We learn that the whole point of this, from T’Kuvma’s standpoint, was to unite the houses and the Empire against a common enemy next door, and that his death has in fact made him a potential martyr, could ripple throughout the empire.

And at the end, Michael stands in judgment, broken, and bound for life imprisonment.

This is episode TWO.

Hey, It’s…!

Emily Coutts (Helm officer Detmer) is a Canadian actress who had a number of guest appearances in film and television, including starring with Doug Jones in Del Toro’s Crimson Peak.

Chris Obi (T’Kuvma): Mark Watches readers might recognize him from Doctor Who (George in “Closing Time”). He’s also had roles in American Gods (as Anubis), Roots, Ghost in the Shell, and as the voice of Lith Saborian in 3Below, Tales of Arcadia (another degree of Guillermo Del Toro!)

Mary Chieffo (L’Rell) while has some minor film and TV credits, also stars in Iago in Operation Othello, a new interpretation of the Shakespeare play.

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On a personal note, while I'm wistful that this is the beginning of the end of Mark Watches, it has been a delight to have someone to share these shows with. I loved Star Trek. I loved Doctor Who. I loved Buffy and Angel. I loved Steven Universe. And to not only share these things with a first-time watcher, but with one with a keen eye and lens through with to watch it has been fantastic.

Thank you. Let's take the final voyage together.

The Vulcan Hello

Michael Burnham does a mutiny.

HNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!!!! STAR TREK: DISCOVERY, LET’S FUCKIN’ GOOOOOOOOO!!!!

…ahem.

to be honest, the twists and the turns of the inside baseball of the creation of Discovery is a bit more than I can convey succinctly, so I’ll leave that for other posters.

in the wake of ST: Enterprise and of the three JJ Abrams produced movies, this has the feel of a synthesis of the aesthetic of Berman-Trek and JJ-Trek. The visuals are extraordinary, feature-film quality, and the look is entirely 21st century, what the kids will call ‘NuTrek”.

The story, as well, is very much a departure from Berman-era Star Trek. Especially in those tense last few minutes of the episode where Michael and Georgiou are going back and forth, both with compelling arguments. We see glimpses of Michael Burnham’s past, a tragedy that killed her parents and brought her into the orbit of Sarek of Vulcan. We don’t know more about their relationship at this time, but it was clear that he was a mentor to her, just as Phillipa Georgiou has been to her in the seven years they served together. The show makes it very clear that the two are close which makes Michael’s betrayal even more shocking.
The look of the Klingons for this new show are once again revised, to the ire of fans, forgetting how many times the look of Klingons have changed over the years. I’ll leave that discussion to others as well.
The episode lands on a Cliffhanger (Kliffhanger?) with several Klingon ships responding to the lighting of the Klingon beacon.

Hey, It’s…!

Sonequa Martin Green (Michael Burnham) is also known for playing in The Walking dead and recurring as Rhonda in New Girl.
Doug Jones (Saru) also known as Guillero Del Toro’s Muse, has been in Hocus Pocus, Hellboy and Hellboy 2, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water, and was Mac Tonight in a particular McDonald’s ad campaign. Mark Watches readers may recognize him (probably not) as one of the Gentlemen in the Buffy episode “Hush”.
Michelle Yeoh (Capt. Phillipa Georgiou) is a legend in Hong Kong martial arts cinema, also performing under the name “Michelle Khan”, and is in the same echelon as Jackie Chan and Chow Tun-Fat, whom she co-starred in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Her first western film was in the 007 film “Tomorrow Never Dies” with Pierce Brosnan.
James Frain (Sarek): Mark Watches readers may recognize Frain from his appearance in Agent Carter as Leet Brannis. he’s also had recurring roles in 24, True Blood, Grimm, True Detective, Gotham, and more.

Star Trek Discovery S01E01-2-3
http://markdoesstuff.fetchapp.com/get/970ffdbc

What’s this? A Ranger caught off his guard?

Betcha that tentacle dish isn’t on Garibaldi’s approved food list XD