Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 132

Star Trek: Discovery 2: Tour de Force Story and Characters

I endeavored in my reviews of Star Trek: Picard and the first season of Discovery to keep them free of specific spoilers. But it is not possible to review the tour de force that is the second season of Discovery without them, so expect plenty of spoilers in what follows.

First and foremost, as what was hinted at/promised at the end of Discovery 1, the emergence of Spock and his self-transformation from a troubled young man/Vulcan to the Spock we came to know, blue Star Fleet uniform and all, was one of the main and most gratifying themes of Discovery 2.  There is a great call-back in "If Memory Serves" (2.8)  to the two-part classic TOS episode "The Menagerie" (which incorporates the unseen pilot for the series, "The Cage") in which Spock violates Star Fleet quarantine (an unfortunately apt word in our current, real world) to help his former Captain, Christopher Pike, reunite with the love of his life on Talos.  Spock's defiance of Star Fleet for a greater good was a rare occasion in TOS, but in Discovery 2 we see that this is a fundamental part of his nature, which as a younger person is much closer to the surface.  Meanwhile, "If Memory Serves" shows some actual clips from "The Menagerie" - meaning "The Cage"actually figured, literally, in two Star Trek episodes, more than fifty years apart - and it was great to see Melissa George as Vina (originally played by Susan Oliver) and Anson Mount as Pike (originally played by Jeffrey Hunter and Sean Kenney) who, in a later episode in Discovery 2, palpably sees his future in a wheelchair, courtesy of a time crystal in a Klingon monastery.

About Mount, last time I saw him was in the lead role in Hell on Wheels, where he was outstanding.  If anything, he was even better as Pike in Discovery, with the result that Pike has now become, at least in my opinion, one of the most memorable Captains in all of Star Trek, second only, I would say, to Kirk and Picard.  And that's after just one season.  It's not clear how much more we'll be seeing of Pike, since Discovery 2 ends with Pike on the Enterprise - with Spock, beard shaven, his science officer - on the way (in some near-future date) back to Talos, and the story in "The Menagerie".  The Star Trek: Discovery series is of course about the ship Discovery, which is last seen hurtling into the future, following Burnham the Red Angel's lead, with Saru in the Captain's seat.

Time travel, indeed, plays as important a role in Discovery 2 as space travel (which, as readers of this blog will know, makes me very happy, since I'm a fan and a writer of both kinds of travel stories).  Spock even mentions the "grandfather paradox" (which could also be "grandmother" or "parent" or any recent or remote ancestor), noting that future Burnham has no choice but to save her younger self (but Spock missed the point that any member of the crew could also have saved the younger Burham). And in a nice sprinkle of humor, Tilly mentions "time bend"; Pike replies "time bend ... I like that"; and Tilly comes back with "everything sounds cooler when you put time in front of it". I completely agree.

There's also some unintentional humor afoot or onboard.  The Ba'ul, the predator species on Saru's world, is pronounced by most of the crew, including Saru, who should know, just the way it's spelled.  But at least one crew member referred to the species as "The Bowel," and I'm pretty sure I heard another call them "The Bowl".  On the plus side, it was good to see Pike have some of the subtle mannerisms of Kirk, including the way Pike stands when he's at the helm and delivers the truth to difficult-to-pronounce species like the Ba’ul.

But Discovery 2 evokes a wide range of emotions, including tears, sense of wonder, edge-of-your-seat excitement, and deep satisfaction in following a story not only very well done, but fitting in beautifully with not only the past Star Trek corpus, but ongoing new series, such as Picard, which addresses the same AIs wanting to destroy all organic sentient life as Discovery 2 confronted in the epic space battles at the end of the season.

Count on me to be back with more after I see Season 3 whenever it airs this year.

See also: Star Trek: Picard: Non-Pareil ... Discovering Star Trek: Discovery




 

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Paul Levinson virtual concert (video) at HELIOsphere 4 April 2020

And here's the video of my complete 1-hour virtual concert at HELIOsphere, April 4, 2020.

I sing songs from Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time (Old Bear Records, Light In the Attic Records) and from Twice Upon A Rhyme (HappySad Records, Beatball Records, Vivid Records, Whiplash Records), and several new songs not yet on any album.Set list:"Cloudy Sunday" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by Linda Kaplan Thaler)"I Knew You By Heart" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal)"The Lama Will Be Late This Year" from Twice Upon A Rhyme (words by Paul Levinson, music by Ed Fox)"Tau Ceti" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio)"Picture Postcard World" from Welcome Up (words & music by Paul Levinson)"Samantha" (from Welcome Up) (words & music by Paul Levinson)"If I Traveled to the Past" (from Welcome Up) (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio)"Lime Streets" (words & music by Paul Levinson)"Looking for Sunsets (In the Early Morning)" from Twice Upon A Rhyme (words by Paul Levinson, music by Ed Fox)"Alpha Centauri" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal)"Welcome Up" from Welcome Up (words & music by Paul Levinson)"The Soft of Your Eyes" from Twice Upon A Rhyme (words & music by Paul Levinson)"Pictures on the Phone" (words & music by Paul Levinson)====Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time tracks produced by Chris Hoisingtonall lead vocals by Paul Levinsonbacking tracks: Chris Hoisington (harmonies), Jeremy Thompson (guitars, stand-up bass, mellotron, etc), Steve Padin (keyboard, drums), Anthony Hoisington (piano on Tau Ceti), Don Frankel (accordion on If I Traveled to the Past & Tau Ceti), Peter Rosenthal (guitar on Cloudy Sunday and Twice Upon a Rhyme tracks), Barbara Krupnick (piano on Cloudy Sunday), Paul Levinson (piano on Pictures on the Phone)Welcome Up recording engineer: Ronnie ShrockWelcome Up mixed and mastered: Evan Sielingfor HELIOsphere: Marc Grossman and thanks Liz Crefinlisten to complete album, free, on Bandcamp https://oldbearpaullevinson.bandcamp.com/album/welcome-up-songs-of-space-and-timeand on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/4S1oaV75qF6tRFfdDwDczE?si=WYXs2mRITdqQMEgMF3gxFwCDs here: http://paullev.com/product/welcome-up-songs-of-space-and-time-cd/->  lyrics to all of the songs on the album on the CD page  Light In the Attic vinyl Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time https://lightintheattic.net/releases/6371-welcome-up-songs-of-space-and-timeTwice Upon A Rhyme on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/5wWMm7Q8SSRTvvIJ1GLiRYand on Bandcamp https://paullevinson.bandcamp.com/album/twice-upon-a-rhymeTwice Upon A Rhyme original sealed 1972 vinyl HappySad Records http://paullev.com/product/twice-upon-a-rhyme-vinyl-original-1972-album/
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Killing Eve 3.1: Whew!

[Huge spoiler ahead, so, if you don't want to know, don't keep reading).

But here's the story of Killing Eve 3.1:
We're catching up with everyone.  Villanelle's being drawn back into it, by someone I think is a new woman we haven't seen before (but I could be wrong), and whom Villanelle has had a long relationship with, though Konstantin's still around, too.

Meanwhile, Eve is working in the back end, almost literally, of an Asian restaurant. (She wasn't killed in that last scene last year.)  She's still trying untangle the relationship with her husband, who looks even more disheveled and irritable than last season.  Carolyn's in her same position.  Kenny has a new job, as a journalist in "an online publication".  His mother's not overly impressed.

But, apparently, she should be.  Because he's looking into the Twelve.  And-  it gets him killed!  As in, thrown off the roof killed.  Just as Eve, who has come to see him, is looking out of the window.  He was a major and much loved character, bringing a stabilizing dollop of humanity to the often frenetic, insano storyline.  And he's killed in the first episode?

Since Killing Eve is not science fiction or supernatural, yeah, Kenny has been killed.  But who did it?  The only person we can be 100% sure did not throw Kenny of the roof (or maybe out a high window) is Eve, because she saw his body falling.  Well, I guess, two people. Carolyn didn't kill her son.  Ok, three - Eve's husband didn't do it.  I mean, he looked somewhat crazy, but not likely homicidal.

So that leaves the Twelve, and, more specifically, Villanelle.  But wouldn't that be too obvious?  Yes, and no.   But I've got a feeling it's not Villanelle.  We'll just have to see.

See also Killing Eve 2.1: Libido and Thanatos ... Killing Eve 2.2: Villanelle as Victim ... Killing Eve 2.3 Lipstick ... Killing Eve 2.6: Billie ... Killing Eve 2.7: Death and Sex ... Killing Eve Season 2 Finale: Possibilities After the End

And see also Killing Eve: Highly Recommended (Season 1)


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The Plot Against America 1.5: Involuntary Transfer

Another powerful, deeply infuriating episode - 1.5 - in the 1940s alternate American history which has Lindbergh as President and anti-semitism rising that is The Plot Against America.

The main theme is the transfer of Jewish residents of Eastern cities to rural mid-America that Rabbi Lionel Bengelsdorf kept insisting was voluntary.  He and we learn the truth when he sees the rabid-anti-semite Henry Ford, a member of the Lindbergh cabinet, give his definition of voluntary.  If you want to keep your job, you agree to move your family.  What does the Rabbi need, to get him see how blind he is and has been?  The Lindberghs don't even attend his wedding.  And yet he continues to promote Lindbergh as the greatest thing since sliced bread in America.

As an example:  when Walter Winchell finally denounces the Rabbi's pet transfer program on Winchell's radio show with his breathless, patented voice, Bengelsdorf gets Winchell fired from his radio show.  I don't even know if there's an FCC in this alternate reality.  I do know that in our reality, I've frequently denounced the FCC and its regulation of broadcasters as a blatant violation of our First Amendment (see, for example, my Flouting of the First Amendment).

In The Plot Against America, the government being forbidden from abridging freedom of speech and press isn't the only egregious violation of the First Amendment.  Before the hour is over, we see a Winchell rally - he's starting a Presidential campaign - broken up by fascist thugs, with the local police and the FBI looking on and doing nothing.  So much for the right guaranteed in the First Amendment of people to peaceably assemble.

Next week is the finale, and I regret this series being so mini.   There's a lot more story to tell in this rise of fascism in America which almost happened - in the attack on the press by the President's minions which bear such resemblances to our own time.  I'll be back here next week with some parting thoughts on this all-too pertinent series.

See also The Plot Against America 1.1: Yet Another Alternate Nazi History, with Forshpeis ... The Plot Against 1.2: The 33rd President ... The Plot Against America 1.3: Corrosive Anti-Semitism ... The Plot Against America 1.4: Close to Home

 
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Westworld 3.5: Ground Control

Let me just say that this third season of Westworld is so different from the first two that it seems more like a new sequel series than the third season of a single series.  The tableau certainly isn't the same.  Even the recurring characters, especially the multiple Dolores, are different.  But this new series is provocative and altogether excellent.  But you already knew that.

Tonight's episode 3.5 featured some great music and some notable, even crucial reveals.  Let's start with the reveals.

Serac's erstwhile bodyguard - his body now inhabited and animated by a Dolores - tells Bernard, "You're the only one we can't replace".  That's an extraordinarily important point.  Why is that?  Bernard's a host, so why can't he be replaced?  Because there's no master file of his mind or soul or whatever you want to call it?  I'm trying to recall if we've ever seen Bernard replaced in earlier seasons?  Were a bank of Bernards wiped out at the end of season two?  I'm not sure - perhaps the machines that control the world wiped out that part of my memory.

Then there's what that dying guy says to Caleb: "You did it".   Did what?  Of all the new characters this season, we still know the least about Caleb.  Was his running into Dolores the accident that it seemed to be?  Caleb apparently is an innocent, but also seems to have a reflexive understanding of the world around him.  The answer to who Caleb is will likely also explain why Dolores trusts him.

Third and last reveal I'll mention now: Serac saying that, although the super-AI machine his brother created and Serac now controls has immense and detailed power over people's lives, we humans still have a "bubble of agency" to do on occasion what we want to do. When those bubbles present themselves is of course not clear.  But they mean that anyone and everyone still have modicums (or modica?) of unpredictable free will.

Just like every time you sit down or stand up to play or sing a song.  Which brings me to the music in this episode.  It was especially good, via the "genre" Caleb was experiencing.  But I especially liked the violin instrumental rendition of David Bowie's "Space Oddity".  Can't get much better than that in depicting a world veering out of control.






See also: Westworld 3.1: The Great Outside ... Westworld 3.2: Dolores' Enemies ... Westworld 3.3: Cyberpunk World ... Westworld 3.4: The Man in White and Multiple Doloreses
And see also Westworld 2.1: Maeve's Daughter ... Westworld 2.2: "Narcissus Narcosis" ... Westworld 2.3: The Raj and Guns of the South ... Westworld 2.4: Questions Pertaining to Immortality ... Westworld 2.5: Telepathic Control ... Westworld 2.6: The Dangling Conversation ... Westworld 2.7: Maeve vs. Dolores ... Westworld 2.8: The Wrong World ... Westworld 2.9: Fathers ... Westworld 2.10: The Realist World

And see also Westworld 1.1: Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick Served Up by Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, and J. J. Abrams ... Westworld 1.2: Who Is the Man in Black? ... Westworld 1.3: Julian Jaynes and Arnold ... Westworld 1.4: Vacation, Connie Francis, and Kurt Vonnegut ... Westworld 1.5: The Voice Inside Dolores ... Westworld 1.6: Programmed Unprogramming ... Westworld 1.7: The Story of the Story ... Westworld 1.8: Memories ... Westworld 1.9: Half-Truths and Old Friends ... Westworld Season 1 Finale: Answers and Questions 

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Homeland 8.10: Carrie vs. Saul, as Never Before

With just two more episodes to go after tonight, Homeland checked in with episode 8.10, which managed to set up Carrie vs. Saul in a way we and they have never been before.

The two have been on opposite sides of an issue any number of times over the years, not a likely situation, given that they basically want the same thing, a sane world in which the United States is safe without unduly imposing on other countries, peoples, and their cultures.  But now near the very end of the series, we get them on opposite sides of an issue which just couldn't be more fundamental: Carrie's on a path to betray an agent in Russia, who has been feeding us crucially valuable information, and whom Saul has been protecting to the point of not even admitting to the agent's existence, for years.

This is the price that the Russians want for return of the flight recorder that Yevgeny took from Carrie after knocking her out with an injection in the neck and a "sorry baby" last week.  And with the Taliban under new leadership blowing up the bus filled with the American team on the edge of returning to American safety, the stakes couldn't be higher.

It's a tribute to how tightly the characters and the plot has been drawn this year, not to mention in previous seasons, that it's all but impossible to predict how this will turn out.  Will Carrie really betray Saul to avoid a nuclear war?  Logic says she would.  But Carrie runs deeper than logic.

I'm guessing/betting/hoping that Carrie will figure out a way to have both - both the flight recorder and the agent in Russia not killed.  I have no idea how she'll do it, but I can't see her so badly betraying Saul, for whatever the undeniably good reason.

But I'm an optimist.  And I'll see you back here next week.

See also Homeland 8.1: Lost Time ... Homeland 8.3: Ohio ... Homeland 8.4: Helicopter Down ... Homeland 8.5: Is Carrie Another Brody? ... Homeland 8.6: Carrie vs. the World ... Homeland 8.7: The Vice Tightens ... Homeland 8.8: The Black Box ... Homeland 8.9: The Red Box and the Black Russian

And see also Homeland 7.1: The Worse Threat ... Homeland 7.2: Carrie vs. 4chan ... Homeland 7.3: Separating Truth from Hyperthinking ... Homeland 7.4: Fake News! ... Homeland 7.5: "The Russian Angle" ... Homeland 7.6: Meets The Americans, Literally ... Homeland 7.7: Meets The Americans ... Homeland 7.8: Evenly Matched ... Homeland 7.9: Franny vs. the Job or the U.S. Hacks Twitter ... Homeland 7.10: President Trump and President Keane ... Homeland 7.11: Carrie in Action ... Homeland Season 7 Finale: The President
And see also Homeland 6.1: Madam President-Elect ... Homeland 6.2: Parallel Program ... Homeland 6.3: Potentials ... Homeland 6.4: "A Man with Painted Hair" ... Homeland 6.5: The Attack on Carrie's Brownstone ... Homeland 6.7: The Arch Villain ... Homeland 6.8: Peter's Problem ... Homeland 6.9: The Tide Begins to Turn ... Homeland 6.10: Fake News! ... Homeland 6.11: Quinn and Dar ... Homeland Season 6 Finale: Chilling - and True to Life
And see also Homeland 5.1: Moving into the Age of Snowden ... Homeland 5.2: Who Wants to Kill Carrie ... Homeland 5.3: Carrie and Kerry ... Homeland 5.5: All Quinn ... Homeland 5.6: Saul Wises Up ... Homeland 5.7: Tough to Watch ... Homeland 5.9: Finally! ... Homeland 5.10: Homeland and Homeland ... Homeland 5.11: Allison as Primo Villain ... Homeland Season 5 Finale: RIPs
And see also Homeland 4.1-2: Carrie's State of Mind ... Homeland 4.3: Quinn and Carrie ... Homeland 4.4: Carrie's Counterpart ... Homeland 4.5: Righteous Seduction ... Homeland 4.6: The Biggest Reveal ... Homeland 4.7: The Manifestation ... Homeland 4.8: Saving Someone's Life ... Homeland 4.9: Hitchcock Would've Loved It ... Homeland 4.10: The List ... Homeland 4.12: Out of this Together
And see also Homeland 3.1: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 3.3: Two Prisons ... Homeland 3.4: Twist! ...Homeland 3.6: Further Down the Rabbit Hole ... Homeland 3.7: Revealing What We Already Knew ... Homeland 3.8: Signs of Life ...Homeland 3.9: Perfect Timing ... Homeland 3.10: Someone Has to Die ... Homeland 3.11: The Loyalist ... Homeland Season 3 Finale: Redemption and Betrayal
And see Homeland 2.1-2: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.3-5: Sneak Preview Review ... Homeland 2.6: What Brody Knows ... Homeland 2.7: Love Me Tinder ... Homeland 2.8: The Personal and the Professional ...Homeland Season 2 Finale: The Shocker and the Reality
And see also  Homeland on Showtime ... Homeland 1.8: Surprises ... Homeland Concludes First Season: Exceptional


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Outlander 5.8: Breaking Out of the Silence

Outlander was back with episode 5.8 tonight, a fine, painful, tender episode, done up right with a recurring silent movie clip which Roger, having been hung but not killed in the previous episode, must break out of.

I predicted in my review of 5.7 that Roger had not been killed, but I didn't know this was the way he survived death.  By inserting a hand he got free, between the rope and his neck.  His windpipe was damaged, but Claire was able to bring him back to good health, if not speech.  That was something Roger was unable to do, until he worked through the trauma that still thundered silently in his head.

Fortunately for Roger and our story, young Ian returns with a mohawk haircut and a profound trauma of his own.  We don't know what that is, until Roger and Ian go surveying, and Roger stops Ian from taking his life and finds his voice.   We get the signal that he'll be speaking again when we see the old black-and-white silent clip in color and sound.

So all in all, a good narrative with a good cinematic rendition.  I also enjoyed the very ending, under the credits, in which Brianna and Roger do a reprise of "My Darling Clementine".   That snippet in itself would have a made for a great ending of the season.  But I'm glad it didn't.

There's a revolution coming - the American Revolution - and we still don't know what happened with Bonnet.   A lot more story to tell.   A lot more than can be reprised in a song.  But that's what television series are for. 

See also Outlander 5.1: Father of the Bride ... Outlander 5.2: Antibiotics and Time Travel ... Outlander 5.3: Misery ... Outlander 5.4: Accidental Information and the Future ... Outlander 5.5: Lessons in Penicillin and Locusts ... Outlander 5.6: Locusts, Jocasta, and Bonnet ... Outlander 5.7: The Paradoxical Spark

And see also Outlander 4.1: The American Dream ... Outlander 4.2: Slavery ...Outlander 4.3: The Silver Filling ... Outlander 4.4: Bears and Worse and the Remedy ... Outlander 4.5: Chickens Coming Home to Roost ... Outlander 4.6: Jamie's Son ... Outlander 4.7: Brianna's Journey and Daddy ... Outlander 4.8: Ecstasy and Agony ... Outlander 4.9: Reunions ... Outlander 4.10: American Stone ... Outlander 4.11: Meets Pride and Prejudice ... Outlander 4.12: "Through Time and Space" ... Outlander Season 4 Finale:  Fair Trade

And see also Outlander Season 3 Debut: A Tale of Two Times and Places ...Outlander 3.2: Whole Lot of Loving, But ... Outlander 3.3: Free and Sad ... Outlander 3.4: Love Me Tender and Dylan ... Outlander 3.5: The 1960s and the Past ... Outlander 3.6: Reunion ... Outlander 3.7: The Other Wife ... Outlander 3.8: Pirates! ... Outlander 3.9: The Seas ...Outlander 3.10: Typhoid Story ... Outlander 3.11: Claire Crusoe ...Outlander 3.12: Geillis and Benjamin Button ... Outlander 3.13: Triple Ending

And see also Outlander 2.1: Split Hour ... Outlander 2.2: The King and the Forest ... Outlander 2.3: Mother and Dr. Dog ... Outlander 2.5: The Unappreciated Paradox ... Outlander 2.6: The Duel and the Offspring ...Outlander 2.7: Further into the Future ... Outlander 2.8: The Conversation ... Outlander 2.9: Flashbacks of the Future ... Outlander 2.10: One True Prediction and Counting ... Outlander 2.11: London Not Falling ... Outlander 2.12: Stubborn Fate and Scotland On and Off Screen ... Outlander Season 2 Finale: Decades

And see also Outlander 1.1-3: The Hope of Time Travel ... Outlander 1.6:  Outstanding ... Outlander 1.7: Tender Intertemporal Polygamy ...Outlander 1.8: The Other Side ... Outlander 1.9: Spanking Good ... Outlander 1.10: A Glimmer of Paradox ... Outlander 1.11: Vaccination and Time Travel ... Outlander 1.12: Black Jack's Progeny ...Outlander 1.13: Mother's Day ... Outlander 1.14: All That Jazz ... Outlander Season 1 Finale: Let's Change History

   
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Unorthodox: Less and More than Shtisel

How to start this review of Unorthodox?  If you liked Shtisel, you'll love Unorthodox.  Or maybe, if you loved Shtisel, you'll like Unorthodox.   The distinction gets at the intersections but significant differences between these two outstanding series.

Both Netflix series are wonderfully drenched in all manner of Yiddishkite, especially the language that my grandparents (born in Europe, moved to New York City) spoke fluently, my parents spoke on occasion in the hope that my sister and I would not understand it, but we both nonetheless learned a passing dollop of, and passed on to our children.  Both series deal with the bumping of Orthodox Jewish communities into the rest of the world, and their struggle to succeed in this world while maintaining their own identities.  Both have a superbly talented young star in Shira Haas.

But there the overlap ends.   Shtisel has much more humor along with its angst.   Unorthodox is usually cutting-edge serious.  Shtisel has 24 episodes in two seasons.  Unorthodox's complete single season consists of four episodes.  Shtisel tells multiple stories, all fictional.  Unorthodox tells a single story, of a young, pregnant wife (powerfully played by Haas) who gets on a plane to Berlin of all places to escape her orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn.  And that narrative is based on a true story.

Come to think of it, art figures prominently in both series.  Painting plays a major role in Shtisel, as does music in Unorthodox.   In both cases, a central character has talent not exactly encouraged by Orthodox community.   I won't say anything more about the music in Unorthodox, except that the best episode features a breathtaking and determinative performance.

I will say, on behalf of Jewish Orthodox communities, that they arose and continue as a response to the very real discrimination and deadly attacks that Jews have been subject to over the years.  In a memorable scene, the rabbi in Brooklyn recounts how Jewish integration into the larger world didn't stop the Nazi holocaust.  As I said, there's far more suffering than humor in Unorthodox.

But you'll nonetheless be greatly uplifted if you watch it.




 




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Discovering Star Trek: Discovery

One of my favorite lines in any movie or television show is Jake Houseman (played by the inimitable Jerry Orbach) lamely apologizing to Johnny in Dirty Dancing - "when I'm wrong, I say I'm wrong".  That's what I have to say about not watching Star Trek: Discovery until the past few days.  I wasn't in the mood for another Star Trek series, I didn't like paying for or even just watching yet another streaming service.  But I was wrong.

I saw Star Trek: Picard on CBS All Access and loved it (here's my review).  But I of course was already very well acquainted with the character, so how could I resist not viewing his further adventures and tribulations?  Most of the characters in Star Trek: Discovery are new - the series takes place about ten years prior to Star Trek: TOS - and I wasn't eager to meet yet another whole new group of people in this saga.  But I did enjoy the new characters in Picard, and I figured, ok, it can't hurt to watch a least the first few episodes of Discovery.  I watched the whole first season of 15 episodes in three days.  And as soon as I finish this review, I'm going to start watching the second season of Discovery.

In case you haven't yet seen Discovery, I'm going to avoid specific spoilers.  I can tell you that time loops, alternate universes, Klingons, new modes of faster-than-light travel, and characters with all kinds of surprising true identities figure in this first season.   One major character from the original series plays a major role in Discovery, and at least one minor but memorable character pops up.  If you think about it, a narrative that takes place just a decade prior to the original Star Trek series has an enormous burden, to get it just right. The "it" is a story that is captivating and satisfying in its own right, while both setting up and not disrupting or contradicting what we know is coming next - what we know, and, in the case of me and many other people, have loved and treasured now for some fifty years.  I'd say Discovery by and large succeeds in this, admirably.

There's some distracting burlesquing and caricature - especially in a few of the Klingon scenes - but this is balanced by a winning subtlety, as when we get confirmation of the time in which this story takes place with a list that's called up of the greatest Star Fleet captains, which ends with Christopher Pike.  The science is by and large ok, though I caught a gaff from one of the new major characters, who reminisces that "I was in a wonderful cafe on Alpha Centauri" (Alpha Centauri is a star not a planet).  But speaking of the new major characters, they all were excellent, and more than enough to make me want to see what happens to those who survived.

I'll tell you what I think of their story when I post my review here of the second season of Discovery, likely within the coming week.

See also: Star Trek: Picard: Non-Pareil




 
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Paul Levinson virtual concert (audio) at HELIOsphere 4 April 2020

audio of the entire 1-hour virtual concert I did via Zoom at HELIOsphere: Beyond the Corona on the afternoon of April 4, 2004.  (You can get the video + audio of my concert here.)I sing songs from Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time (Old Bear Records, Light In the Attic Records) and from Twice Upon A Rhyme (HappySad Records, Beatball Records, Vivid Records, Whiplash Records), and several new songs not yet on any album.Set list:"Cloudy Sunday" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by Linda Kaplan Thaler)"I Knew You By Heart" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal)"The Lama Will Be Late This Year" from Twice Upon A Rhyme (words by Paul Levinson, music by Ed Fox)"Tau Ceti" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio)"Picture Postcard World" from Welcome Up (words & music by Paul Levinson)"Samantha" (from Welcome Up) (words & music by Paul Levinson)"If I Traveled to the Past" (from Welcome Up) (words by Paul Levinson, music by John Anealio)"Lime Streets" (words & music by Paul Levinson)"Looking for Sunsets (In the Early Morning)" from Twice Upon A Rhyme (words by Paul Levinson, music by Ed Fox)"Alpha Centauri" from Welcome Up (words by Paul Levinson, music by Peter Rosenthal)"Welcome Up" from Welcome Up (words & music by Paul Levinson)"The Soft of Your Eyes" from Twice Upon A Rhyme (words & music by Paul Levinson)"Pictures on the Phone" (words & music by Paul Levinson)====Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time tracks produced by Chris Hoisingtonall lead vocals by Paul Levinsonbacking tracks: Chris Hoisington (harmonies), Jeremy Thompson (guitars, stand-up bass, mellotron, etc), Steve Padin (keyboard, drums), Anthony Hoisington (piano on Tau Ceti), Don Frankel (accordion on If I Traveled to the Past & Tau Ceti), Peter Rosenthal (guitar on Cloudy Sunday and Twice Upon a Rhyme tracks), Barbara Krupnick (piano on Cloudy Sunday), Paul Levinson (piano on Pictures on the Phone)Welcome Up recording engineer: Ronnie ShrockWelcome Up mixed and mastered: Evan Sielingfor HELIOsphere: Marc Grossman and thanks Liz Crefinlisten to complete album, free, on Bandcamp https://oldbearpaullevinson.bandcamp.com/album/welcome-up-songs-of-space-and-timeand on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/4S1oaV75qF6tRFfdDwDczE?si=WYXs2mRITdqQMEgMF3gxFwCDs here: http://paullev.com/product/welcome-up-songs-of-space-and-time-cd/->  lyrics to all of the songs on the album on the CD page  Light In the Attic vinyl Welcome Up: Songs of Space and Time https://lightintheattic.net/releases/6371-welcome-up-songs-of-space-and-timeTwice Upon A Rhyme on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/5wWMm7Q8SSRTvvIJ1GLiRYand on Bandcamp https://paullevinson.bandcamp.com/album/twice-upon-a-rhymeTwice Upon A Rhyme original sealed 1972 vinyl HappySad Records http://paullev.com/product/twice-upon-a-rhyme-vinyl-original-1972-album/ Paul Levinson's books ... Paul Levinson's music