Man, they could not have picked a collection of less interesting ships if they tried

I usually skip the intros unless I'm really in the mood, but for LD my daughter and I always skip to the nacelle-eating alien (we named him Yum Yums), yell "YUM YUMS!", and then skip to the end.

I adore the books but I have no idea why you would put them to film. If I would characterize anything as unfilmable, it would be this series. You might as well cast a physics textbook and put it on screen.

Actually this brought up a completely buried memory for me. For a few years I lived in the same neighborhood as him – at the time, cool guy that I was, I had a Starfleet badge on my coat, and one day I was at the grocery store and had an awkward moment with him where our carts got sort of wedged together negotiating the too-narrow checkout lanes. He saw my pin and gave me a Vulcan salute as he moved into his lane. He seemed nice and a bit sheepish. The staff at the coffee shop I used to go to told me he was extremely lovely.

My kids are dying for this thing. If anyone is at SDCC and feels the desire to make some little girls happy, I will Venmo you to buy this and ship it to me so I can stop hearing about it 😂

As much as I love the new series, I haven't liked the new screwdriver, but I think I've realized it's just the colors I don't like. I do actually enjoy seeing it look and feel more like a tricorder, and having the little display that slides out does make it feel more like something the Doctor can actually interpret. For some reason, while I'm totally on board for tentacle aliens and killer candy robots and giant space eyeballs and moon eggs, the scenes where the Doctor uses the old style screwdriver and stares at the handle like he's reading it always felt a little silly to me.

Yeah, all of the recasts have been spectacular with this one exception; I'm fully stumped by Paul Wesley and his take on the character. I don't need anyone aping Shatner and I love the idea of highlighting the more bookish actual Kirk as opposed to the pop culture image of him, but Ozempic Kirk spends 90% of his time looking bored out of his mind and 10% of his time doing a terrible Han Solo impression that just comes off as creepy. I cannot understand spending so much time on him when literally everyone else on screen sparkles and he has the charisma of wet felt.

I have never seen such cursed content

Breaking the fourth wall is a Doctor Who tradition - the First, Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Eleventh, and Twelfth Doctors all directly address the camera in addition to the Fifteenth, as do River Song, Martha, Clara, and various Classic villains. I don't understand why people suddenly need some sort of in-universe explanation for it. It's a narrative technique, and Doctor Who is a goofy camp show that's always been flexible enough, playing with various tropes, that it works. Davies explains it perfectly in the link: "I mean, you would [be taken out of the story by it] if it was Pride and Prejudice, that would be odd. But there’s something showy about Doctor Who, there’s something proscenium arch about it. There’s something arch about it, full stop."

This sort of needing an in-universe explanation for every theatrical device or inconsistency is how you get garbage like Trek's Klingon augment virus.

Probably because he sucks

Oops you just explained all of Enterprise

I rank Space Babies pretty highly too, because while I really enjoyed the episode, my daughters LOVED it. They've been obsessed with Doctor Who after seeing it –– my five-year-old made me call her Captain Poppy for a full week.

It’s gratifying to see how much the fandom — however split people are about this season — has embraced Mille Gibson, because she’s truly phenomenal.

I was worried when people ran with the “she’s being replaced” story (which they thankfully clarified) and started to go with a classic sexist “she’s hard to work with” story (which turned out to be that she got tired on night shoots, being basically an actual child when they started filming) that the fandom would pile on her, and I’m glad that people are recognizing her talent. However the character turned out, she was pretty flawless in the role. Delivering a performance like 73 Yards on your first week at a new job when you’re eighteen years old is pretty impressive.

I love this show, but I do not understand how they cannot create a uniform that doesn't look like pajamas (the Cerritos-style uniforms Janeway and her crew wear look great though). The weird gray they seem to be enamored with looks so silly.

What a bizarre three ships to start with

Real M'Benga erasure here

I struggle to think of a Trek character more Star Trek than Saru. DSC has its (sometimes severe, sometimes not) flaws, but it has an impressive track record of occasionally absolutely nailing how to make some of the trekkiest Trek characters.

It's going to be interesting where the series ends up in the inevitable reevaluation once a few years have passed.

They're also paying attention to when they need to renegotiate contracts. After the strikes, studio leadership has really doubled down on not giving an inch on writers' and actors' salaries even if it means cancelling a successful show. It's more valuable to them to keep workers in a state of perpetual gig work than anything they'd make from the show.

I loved this issue. If they ever decide to canonize anything in the comics, I hope it's this one.

The shape of Hy’Rell’s head bumps resemble those of Xindi-Primates, first appearing in ENT: “The Xindi”, one of six intelligent Xindi species that were native to Xindus.

I believe it was mentioned in an interview that she's an Efrosian, which would be the first time we've seen one since TUC! The hair and the blue eyes seem consistent.

Reno partying with Hysperians –– now that is a show I want to watch

Man, you have to watch the one with Giant Spock ("The Infinite Vulcan")