Hi all! Long time Star Trek fan here with my first post. I’m gonna start out by saying that I promise I’m not a hater of Discovery at all. It just has done nothing for me and from what I read, has not made any changes that would have solved my personal issues with it. I’m fine with others liking it and honestly wish that I did too. I would love to be in on the discussion but… it’s just not my cup of tea from what I’ve seen.
Anyway, my question is, do I need to have caught up with Disco to watch SNW? I have heard from other people who are like minded to me (who couldn’t get into disco, but aren’t straight up haters either) that they enjoyed SNW despite not really liking Disco. That makes me excited, I would love to have a new trek show that I can enjoy. But I don’t want to jump in and not understand certain things because I haven’t kept up with Disco.
I’d appreciate any feedback. Also, if you feel I should give Disco another go, let me know. Even if it’s just certain fan-favorite episodes, I’d be willing to give them a shot. Like I said, not a total hater, just not into it. I wish that I was!
I don’t think you need to watch Discovery to enjoy Strange New Worlds. There might be a few things established in the lore/backstory from Discovery, but any “confusion” from those references will quickly dissipate. SNW makes it easy to see it as a distinct show in a new/expanded telling of a known crew/time.
I will add that there will be stylistic choices in the production that will take a little getting used to, but remember that just about every Star Trek show has done this. Enjoy the story!
No, there’s an offhand mention or two, but nothing impactful. The most important tie is Pike being aware of his fate, but they recap that pretty thoroughly.
Absolutely not. SNW stands on its own quite well. Sure, watching Disco will fill in some details for you, but SNW covers the key points by itself. You will not be left scratching your head if you watch SNW without watching Disco.
Not only do you not need to catch up with Disco, but the end of season 2 of Disco doesn’t dovetail to the beginning of Strange New Worlds super-well when you watch them back-to-back; if anything, they feel like they lightly contradict each other.
Though if I were to recommend a single episode it would be “Through the Valley of Shadows” from season 2, which is probably the only “important” episode as far as Strange New Worlds goes, though the key stuff gets recapped in SNW.
The Short Treks episode Q&A gets some references in the series too, though if you don’t watch it you likely won’t realize you missed anything.
I started watching SNW with having only finished S1 of Disco. After a couple of episodes, I decided I wanted to know the references.
I enjoyed S2 of Disco much more than S1 and that was 90+% because of the SNW cast being introduced.
Everything I didn’t like about Disconwas still there, but less of it.
In retrospect, I would have appreciated your advice. There were some good episodes but most of it was unnecessary.
