I semi enjoyed it, but my expectations were low, and I watched mostly to see Ms Yeoh take a last turn as Empress Georgiou, who has a horrific background, but isn't without merit entirely, and a redemption arc could actually make this more "Trek," and maybe even add something to the history and ethos. She was fun, but yes, it was a mess, and not Trek. I didn't think it was as "not Trek" as first season Disco, but still, agreed, ... not...

What it was, was a wasted opportunity. I'm more curious now about who, between writers, directors, producers, or execs made the decisions that messed it up. Actors were fine, they just didn't have much to work with. Story writing might not have been great, but it's other peoples responsibility to decide if a script is worthy and workable. Director(s?) might not have done a great job, but the lack of coherence, for me, points to either producers, or execs. It was a huge loss of potential, and somebody, or somebodies, really blew it. It does illuminate why you hear about a promising sounding project, and then, years later, you hear it's been dropped. If they hadn't had Michelle Yeoh, I suspect this would have just quietly have disappeared, probably before filming. Instead, they just slogged forward with a poor story, poorly executed. Definitely someone who was a money person, and not, um, 'franchise oriented,' pushed. And very very likely, like with first season Disco, had no idea what they were doing, but thought they knew better, and should lose their job. (It seems to happen a lot. Someone says they know better, it's really obvious they don't, but they're good at telling folks they're better, and fools believe them. It happens at all levels, and so many fall for it again and again....)

I can't agree that some of the changes didn't affect the story negatively. The core story is an unplanned / unmanaged society will eventually rot from within and fail, and only with science and math can a better and more stable foundation (pun VERY intended) be created. Giving Seldon a second artificial life and place in the plan really takes away from the point of is the math, not the individuals, and having the continuous and aggressive clone emperor diminishes the point of strong and weak emperors not much mattering.

Demerzel being a female not a male matters not one bit to the plot, and the actress is truly excellent portraying the subtle non humanity.

The show is good. Beautiful visuals, and I'm enjoying it for what it is. Had it been an original story, I'd say it was excellent, but given that this is a treatment of a revered and influential piece of literature, i think they could have done a better job respecting and illustrating the points and purposes of the author, not just making a good series based on the characters and settings, and minimizing much of the core of what made it famous in the first place.

Good selection, and I don't think I've ever seen the spiders and slide before, so especially thanks for that one. There's few I haven't seen. That said, the literalist description and spelled out breakdown of the humor is pretty anti humor and awkward, as if you have to explain it, it's not funny.. It seems like it's writing for a high word count, not for an audience. There's a lot of that online lately.

Yes, it's one of the best, and ethically one of the most important. (And ethics is what makes star trek important...)

It does indeed have knock-on effects on our world today that other episodes don't. My family calls meatloaf horta to this day.