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CBS Won't Allow Any Reviews of Star Trek: Discovery Before It Airs

L

LordOfLore

Banned
Link.

Welcome, friends, to the story that never ends: it’s Star Trek: Discovery and the flaming nightmare pile that has been every bit of PR for this show. It could be great, it could be bad, it has been impossible to tell. And it will remain impossible to tell, since CBS has reportedly made it a condition of seeing the show early that no reviews be released until Discovery airs.

The Ain’t It Cool News reviewer who goes by Hercules shared this information via Twitter yesterday:

EMBARGO!! CBS is prohibiting publication of reviews of #StarTrekDiscovery prior to airing.
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And that’s usually a bad sign.

For movies, this is an established technique that’s often done to prevent critics from trashing a bad film before it’s released in hopes people will see it if they don’t hear the reviews; recent examples include The Dark Tower and The Emoji Movie. But it’s by no means a guarantee of badness—many horror movies don’t show screenings, which don’t traditionally get good reviews well, even if audiences ending up loving them. But it’s still hard not to see a refusal to allow early reviews as a lack of confidence in its quality.

And a Star Trek show, done at all well, should review well. A good cast and effects will get the show halfway there, and Discovery looks to have both in spades. And a serious contemplation of important topics in Star Trek’s usual allegorical-bordering-on-pretentious manner is the kind of stuff that gets attention and rave reviews these days. This isn’t fare that doesn’t fare well with critics—at least it shouldn’t be.

Given all the problems Star Trek: Discovery has had since it was first announced, I don’t know whether if the show is actually bad or if this is just another misstep on the part of CBS. I suspect, unfortunately, it’s probably just my wishful thinking that says it might be good. Maybe in the Mirror Universe, there’s a version of Discovery that came out on time, with Bryan Fuller as showrunner and its original vision intact, and had normal PR.

We’ve reached out to CBS for comment and will update if we get it.
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J

jelly

Member
Well, the trailer didn't fill me with much hope. I'll watch a few episodes and see how it goes though.

Did Inhumans get reviews?
 
Wag

Wag

Member
Hoping they'll get a lot of subscriptions for their streaming service before the reviews leak out?
 
D

Dynomutt

Member
Whether it turns out well is one thing but from a business standpoint I'd want fans watching it blind instead of relying on a reviewers stance. Why put food on their table at my expense.

Not saying it's good or not but it makes sense. Many Trek fans will watch because it's been a while since we've had a Trek show and many will stick just cause. The embargo will help to stem off any fence sitters or those who wait for reviews and maybe get them in before the reviews can come out.

Now we wait and see

Wag said:
Hoping they'll get a lot of subscriptions for their streaming service before the reviews leak out?
Click to expand...

Yup. Can't blame them. Entertainment is the one place where "fuck you got mines" is ok by me. If I'm the only person who like something hey they did their job.
 
S

Sho_Nuff82

Member
vsaintlo said:
Whether it turns out well is one thing but from a business standpoint I'd want fans watching it blind instead of relying on a reviewers stance. Why put food on their table at my expense.

Not saying it's good or not but it makes sense. Many Trek fans will watch because it's been a while since we've had a Trek show and many will stick just cause. The embargo will help to stem off any fence sitters or those who wait for reviews and maybe get them in before the reviews can come out.

Now we wait and see.
Click to expand...


Ah, the Iron Fist approach.
 
D

Dynomutt

Member
Trojita said:
It's going to be bad.
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Probably. Star Trek OG was good. TNG was good. DS9 was alright. Voyager meh and Enterprise was Enterprise.

Really 2/5 and I liked the campy nature of Voyager. Scientific Method was a great episode as when Tuvok told Neelix to live long and prosper with the toe wiggle.

We all know Darmok during TNG was really the best episode lol!
 
B

Blader

Member
vsaintlo said:
Whether it turns out well is one thing but from a business standpoint I'd want fans watching it blind instead of relying on a reviewers stance. Why put food on their table at my expense.

Not saying it's good or not but it makes sense. Many Trek fans will watch because it's been a while since we've had a Trek show and many will stick just cause. The embargo will help to stem off any fence sitters or those who wait for reviews and maybe get them in before the reviews can come out.

Now we wait and see



Yup. Can't blame them. Entertainment is the one place where "fuck you got mines" is ok by me. If I'm the only person who like something hey they did their job.
Click to expand...

If it was good, they'd want the reviews out there to drive up subscriptions. Why would they intentionally want to tamp down positive word of mouth?
 
Z

Zeshile

Member
It's probably going to be bad but I'll most likely end up watching it anyway.

It can't be any worse than Voyager/Enterprise, right? Or Into Darkness?

Oh god, what if it's even worse than The Orville?
 
M

Morts

Member
Ugh please be decent.

You'd think they would want every bit of press to remind people to sign up for All Access.
 
D

Dynomutt

Member
Blader said:
If it was good, they'd want the reviews out there to drive up subscriptions. Why would they intentionally want to tamp down positive word of mouth?
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Because the vocal minority is the loudest on the internet. That's not the word of mouth you want. CBS woulk probably be satisfied if only Trek fans committed to this.

Sho_Nuff82 said:
Ah, the Iron Fist approach.
Click to expand...

Yup. A lot of people watched it just on assumption and it's connection to the Netflix MU.
 
K

Krev

Unconfirmed Member
hidys said:
Are there examples of networks doing this for good TV shows?

Because this sounds worrying.
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The new Twin Peaks season had such an embargo, but it also had a massive secrecy campaign around it, with barely any footage and no plot details released before it went to air. The embargo was reportedly to maintain that level of secrecy before it aired. It makes sense too, since the show went in crazy directions no one could have predicted.
Star Trek Discovery has lots of footage and details out there, so this is probably a bad sign.
 
S

Sgt. Kabukiman

Banned
I choose to still be excited.
But I'm nervous. Please, be good! It's been so long since DS9, I need a good Trek show in my life.

And shit... Goldsman is in on this? This man's ability to get hired on every fucking thing in existence despite his track record continues to amaze me.
 
B

Bobby Roberts

Banned
Spider from Mars said:
Fuller leaving killed any of my excitement for this project and the trailers have looked terrible.
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Fuller was going to make an anthology show that hopped ships, eras, and stuck closely to the visual aesthetic of those eras as established by the existing films/tv shows.

It would have cost more, though.

So they chucked him and basically handed everything over to Alex Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman, who installed new showrunners and set about making a Kelvin-verse prequel in everything but name.

Which looks great! Those uniforms are really fuckin' good.

But this is not a great development.
 
Dice//

Dice//

Banned
I wonder if movies are going to do this more what with rotten tomato 'ruining' the film industry and all that.
 
C

captjohnboyd

Member
Bobby Roberts said:
When you chose Kurtzman/Goldsman over Fuller?

THAT'S WHEN YOU LOST
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God I was so excited for Star Trek being show run by Fuller in all his now unencumbered glory. I couldn't care less now. What could have been?

Edit: I see now from Bobby's post above what could have been and it sounds even more amazing then the early talk I'd heard. I would have been all over that.
 
B

Blader

Member
vsaintlo said:
Because the vocal minority is the loudest on the internet. That's not the word of mouth you want. CBS woulk probably be satisfied if only Trek fans committed to this.
Click to expand...

Sorry, not sure I'm following this: are you arguing that if there was no embargo and the show opened up to a wide array of positive reviews ahead of the premiere, that all that buzz would be drowned out by a vocal minority of Trek fans who don't like the show (based on, I assume, what they had read in reviews and not on the show that they couldn't have watched yet at that point) and harm the show's potential for finding a big audience?
 
J

JdFoX187

Banned
The trailers that I've seen look good, so I'm still on board with watching -- though not with subscribing to the damned CBS streaming app. I know a lot of people are upset about the designs and it looking more Kelvin-esque than Prime, which I agree with. But if the show itself is decent -- aesthetics and canon aside -- I'll figure out a way to watch and enjoy it.
 
T

TheXbox

Member
Randolph Freelander said:
The cost of entry is waiting a week or three or however long it takes for a consensus to build. Not high at all, depending on how that goes.
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$40 for a sub to CBS All Access v. $10-$12 for a film? You're describing a barrier to entry, not a cost. And I think it kinda blows that Trek fans will have to wait three+ weeks before it becomes clear whether or not they should pay to watch the new show.
 
H

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
if the show was good, wouldn't you want to have good reviews out there so people would be willing to subscribe to your streaming service?

The performance of Beyond should have taught them that the name "Star Trek" isn't enough on its own anymore.
 
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