I really enjoy season 4 (except These Are The Voyages… lets not talk about that.) but I think it’s definitely fair to say that the sheer adrenaline ride that was season 3 slows down a bit after the Xindi threat is resolved. You end up with a lot of these standalone arcs that, like you said, are focused on building connections with existing Trek (the augment trilogy leading into Affliction/Divergence is a good example) or arcs designed to set up the founding of the UFP. It’s clear that if they were also leading into the Romulan war which was only ever mentioned in passing in TOS. In that context I think the slightly slower tempo season 4 would have made an excellent breather between the two.
Comment on I wasn't ready for a 28 episode sustained descent into darkness
jerakor@startrek.website 11 hours agoI see this a lot which is wild to me because I feel like S4 felt like it finally was real Star Trek but just rushed and some of the damage to some characters couldn’t be fixed. All the major plot points that make Enterprise relevant to Star Trek happen in S4.
I’m curious where you put Discovery? That is the one I struggle the most with. My primary issue there is that for me I have to actually like and want to be invested in a character but as far as I’m concerned 10 episodes in to Discovery if the ship blew up all hands lost the Federation I can’t think of anyone I’d feel sad for. Enterprise though has Trip and Phlox who are S tier, a few fantastic guest stars, and no character that is bottom bin material to me no matter how much fanfic quality writing they tried to force on T’Pol.
kieron115@startrek.website 10 hours ago
MalikMuaddibSoong@startrek.website 9 hours ago
I felt like in S4 they really hit a balance between episodic and serialized star trek. The arcs are 2-3 episodes and tightly focused. The standalone episodes seemed like a way to walk back from the whole season arc in S3.
Watching it now, S3 feels ahead of its time. I want to believe there is enough content to edit it down to a Netflix style 10 episode season of all the best parts.
Also augment trilogy deserves praise for shooting Archer out of a hatch into deep space and transporting him mid-trajectory and half-dead from exposure. He’s seen some shit.
kieron115@startrek.website 9 hours ago
Also it might be the only Trek show with 3-parters? I haven’t seen DISCO so someone feel free to correct if I’m wrong.
Linktank@lemmy.today 9 hours ago
I am needing to rewatch Discovery, it was next on my list, but I got derailed when I couldn’t even finish Enterprise.
I remember finding the concept of the ship to be ridiculous and irritating. So who knows, it may end up rating lower than Enterprise on my list assuming I can get through that one.
frezik@midwest.social 9 hours ago
I really liked Phlox in the first episode, but never felt the followup was there.
As for Discovery, Saru is great, and he has a wonderful relationship towards the end. Michael is OK. Perhaps the show’s biggest problem is that it has a big cast, but it never puts in the effort to develop those characters before it expects you to care at some chosen moment.