Some random thoughts:

• I like that this current era of Star Trek tries out new styles instead of simply copying the “7-ish crew members stand around on the bridge of a Starfleet ship and go on weekly adventures” formula. Some of those new styles work, others don’t. Section 31 unfortunately didn’t work. But this TV Movie format could be a neat way to try out new things.
• As a lifelong Star Trek fan I liked the species they’ve brought back (Deltans! Cherons!) and giving the tricorders the TNG sound effect was neat too. Also, I’ll have a closer look on the Federation map. I always love those canon tidbits.
• Speaking of canon tidbits, at the end of the movie they go on a mission on Turkana IV. That’s Tasha Yar’s home planet on which the government breaks down sometime in the 2330s. And judging by Rachel Garret being a Lieutenant Commander she’s probably still a decade or so away from commanding the Enterprise-C, so the Section 31 movie is set in 2330s. That means that Section 31 could have a hand in Turkana IV’s government collapse (either causing it or trying to prevent it).
• The characters in this movie behave just as nonsensical as the DISCO characters. They condemn Georgiou for being Literally Space Hitler but in the end they all hug and become best friends. WTF?
• Other than that, this is a generic sci-fi action movie. If it weren’t for the couple of species and namedrops, this wouldn’t have any connection to Star Trek.
• If I had a bar of gold-pressed latinum everytime they produce Star Trek movie featuring Section 31, and that movie then became the worst Star Trek movie at the time, then I had two bars of gold-pressed latinum. Which isn’t a lot but it’s still weird that they made that mistake twice.

My favorite little easter egg is that the LOWER DECKS font in the title card now has those blue streaks in the background. Because it’s the 5th season. Just like TNG added those blue streaks in its 5th season.

One thing that the current era of Trek does right is giving each series a unique vibe. Remember when everyone complained that Voyager was just TNG 2.0? Definitely doesn’t happen nowadays.

Of course that means that not every series appeals to every Trekkie. And that’s okay. Just pick the ones you like.

I’m all for trying new things within the Star Trek universe!

I’m usually in the same boat. Because IDIC, you know? I like it when new shows expand the Trek universe and try something new. Just look at DS9. It got a lot of backlash in the 90s (“too dark”, “not Gene’s vision” etc.) and nowadays it’s very popular and often ranked somewhere around TNG.

But this Section 31 movie… I don’t know. Nothing about seems appealing. The main role is basically Space Hitler. It was already nonsense how they tried to redeem that character on Discovery while she had no redeeming qualities. Compare that to other Trek “villains” like Gul Dukat who at least had some sort of moral compass, even if it was a bit skewed. But Georgiou? There’s nothing. She’s just one-dimensionally evil. Do we really need a movie with her in the main role? 😕

And your cellphone even costs less. (unless you’ve bought a flagship phone)

Thankfully TOS never did any fantasy stuff like galactic barriers, Trelane, massive green hands in space, or Abraham Lincoln. That wouldn’t have been true to Gene’s vision.

I’m not a fan of Disco either, but tardigrades and time bugs are really low on my list of complaints. Star Trek did lots of even whackier stuff over the last 60 years (or did everyone forget the “Fun with DNA” episodes of the 90s?). In fact, that time bug episode was probably the best 32nd century Disco episode. Which is a low bar, but anyway.

This was … a DISCO episode.

Lengthy but meaningless action sequences? Check. Shaky cams all the damn time? Check. People talking about their feelings at the worst possible moment? Check. No apparent command structure and people just doing whatever they want? Check. One-dimensional villains? Check. Flamethrowers on the bridge? Check. (although, to be honest, those are so absurd that I’ll actually miss them)

I liked the future scenes because they were noticably slower and cerebral than pretty much anything that Discovery did during its five seasons. I wish they would have done something like that more often.

But yeah, that’s it. I’m somewhat glad it’s over. I liked the first two seasons of the show. Despite their flaws I appreciated that they’ve tried something new in the Star Trek franchise. And ultimately that led to Strange New Worlds, so I’ll have to give them credit for that. Anything after the season 3 time jump was not my cup of tea though. There was never enough worldbuilding for my taste because so much screentime was devoted to Burnham and Book, and that meant that the 31st century never really felt “real” to me.

Maybe I’ll rewatch seasons 1 and 2 somewhere down the line but I have no interest in watching seasons 3-5 again. I’ll just treat them as Burnham’s fever dream or something like that.

Will this be an international release or USA only?

They’re both cartoon villains. It works for a comedy movie, not so much for a serious TV show.

For a split second, when they looked at the paper with the list of scientists, I had hope that the Discovery would fly to Denobula. That would have been so much more interesting than what we’ve gotten. Although I give them credit for doing a more traditional Star Trek episode with a bunch of technobabble, prime directive shenanigans and the obligatory human-like pre-warp civilization.

Our thinking was the Breen as sort of a natural species were bifurcated in the sense that they can be both gelatinous and solid in that sense. But the solid state takes an intense amount of focus and concentration in order to maintain. […] And then as they developed the refrigeration suits, they lost the need for that both evolutionarily and culturally, and it became a sort of cultural anathema. You don’t show people your solid face because that means you’re weak. It means you’re stupid. It means you’re slow.

I still don’t get it. It doesn’t really make sense to me. If it takes a lot of focus and concentration to maintain the solid form, why is one considered weak for doing so?

Breen ship! We’ve never seen the inside

Technically we’ve seen a holding cell inside a Breen ship in DS9.

I think I haven’t enjoyed Disco this much since season 2. This was a great episode in the tradition of whacky time travel episodes. And I really liked seeing the old uniforms, set designs, and Discovery exterior. Mainly because I like those designs much more than the 32nd century upgrades. The sort-of tie-in to the “Calypso” Short Trek also worked really well. And Linus was great as usual.

As a DS9 fan I appreciated the many references to the Zhian’tara, Dominion War and Tzenkethi.

I wasn’t too impressed by the first two episodes. There were some good parts in it – most notably the actor who played Fred – and I liked the more upbeat tone compared to previous seasons. But ultimately it felt like watching Star Wars. I was bored by the prolonged action sequences in both episodes. They are just a showcase for the talent of the VFX people but the scenes feel empty and meaningless.

I’ll keep watching but only because I know it’s the final season. There are just too many of the same old Disco tropes for me to really enjoy this show. A prime example was the scene aboard the Romulan ship: Burnham beams over with Rhys and Owo…only for them to be incapacitated so that the main character can continue on her own. I know, I know, Disco is not meant to be an ensemble show and that’s okay. But it just doesn’t work for me.

…thanks.

The mention of >!Rachel Garrett!< in the Section 31 movie points to a time travel storyline, doesn’t it? Or at least some holodeck stuff. (Maybe the movie ends with “Computer, end program.” 😄)

Hopefully this means that the episodes in season 5 really are distinctive. My problem with Discovery (and Picard) is that all the episodes of a season blend into each other. It’s super difficult to remember individual episodes because each of them is just a tiny puzzle piece of a larger story.

So there are several special Riker action figures but no “regular” Riker action figure with a proper uniform? There’s only the one with the torn uniform top.

Weird decision.

Excerpt regarding the story:

!While plot details haven’t been shared, we do have an understanding of when the movie will take place decades before the original 2009 Star Trek film. This is very confusing, as the 2009 star trek film takes place across multiple years, and multiple timelines. This might mean decades before the main events of the movie. The main events of 2009 take place in the Kelvin Timeline in 2255. However the Kelvin timeline only started in 2233. So if this takes place anytime before 2233, it would be canonical to both the Kelvin and Prime timeline.!<

!The other option is that it takes place decades before the events of the movie in the prime timeline, in 2387. An option this movie has is to tie into the backstory of Star Trek: Picard, and possibly even explain why the Romulan Sun went supernova in the first place! I doubt this will be the case, as it will probably be set in the Kelvin Timeline, sometime after the Narada destroys the U.S.S. Kelvin.!<

Sounds to me like it’ll be >!taking place in the prime timeline either way!<.

This sounds pretty good actually because it addresses my main concern with DISCO after the time jump. There has been almost no world building in the last two seasons. The 32nd century still feels like a blank canvas and a wasted opportunity. Particularly season 4 could have taken place during any other era without needing to change anything about the story.

And that they don’t drag out the mystery is a huge plus too.

I’m much more optimistic about season 5 now.