Discovery update:
With the Harry Mudd episode we slip up quite a bit.
First, Pike is among the "most decorated captains ever" list. This list includes Robert April (the first (current?) commander of the Enterprise), Archer (of course), the captain who died in the pilot of this show (whom we know nothing about, who was in charge of a minor vessel, and who LOST that vessel), Decker's dad, and then Pike.
So, if we're going with the increasingly tenuous "ten years before The Cage" idea, then Pike hasn't even begun his five year mission yet. He's a relatively new captain as of this show's timeline.
Fan service like this is just annoying at this point.
Rainn Wilson as Mudd is great, of course. But I continue to wonder -- did we really need Mudd? This is, again, part of the "why do a prequel?" question. It's totally unnecessary. Not only would you have the same viewership if this were post-Voyager, it would be a better show all around. Why are the studios so afraid of new ideas?
Mudd's anti-Starfleet rhetoric is also from a darker time in the future. It's exactly what you would hear in later seasons of TNG, DS9, and VOY. Again, perfectly fine if we weren't in the utopian world of pre-TOS. With the timeframe in mind, and knowing Mudd's future, it's odd to hear this on-point criticism of Starfleet. I feel like, if Kirk & Co. had heard this argument, they'd just be flummoxed and it would result in a Shatner monologue.
Use of the word "fucking." After 50 years of Star Trek, it was actually alarming for a character to casually say "This is fucking cool!"
Leaving Mudd behind: This was just stupid, since we know his character arc. It made it feel like Mudd, who was pretty much just a minor guest star, was one big fan service moment. That is, entirely pointless. More to the point of the utopian pre-TOS setting -- it's shocking that they leave Mudd behind. That's something no other captain on the show would have done, with the exception of Sisko, and Sisko would have struggled mightily and gotten an epilogue to emotionally address this decision. It's not even "dark sci-fi" to have this choice be an option. Lorca leaves Mudd behind happily and never thinks twice about it. This essentially moves Lorca into "villain" territory, which is something the show seems to kinda sorta want to do. But it's just so dumb and over the top.
Of course, Lorca also confesses to murdering the ENTIRE CREW Of his previous ship to "spare them" from dying at the hands of the Klingons. Um...well...
And, finally: Name-checking the Eugenics Wars. Yes, we get it, Star Trek II was a great movie. Thanks for the CONSTANT YEARLY REMINDER, FRANCHISE!
