The Shields never went up, because no attack was made.

They never fired the torpedoes at Discovery.  Watch again.  She warned them before the command was made.

Why isn’t there a Data on every ship by the end of TNG? How come there aren’t genetically engineered geniuses mandatory on every ship by the end of the Dominion war like Bashir? Why didn’t Janeway use the Equinox’s drive to get back to the Federation?

According to its specs, the Stratolauncher is capable of hoisting a rocked about same mass as the Falcon 9. Not the Heavy (which is about 3x the weight), but a rocket big enough to say get a crew to a space station in LEO.

I think you need a short history lesson regarding Orville fans:

Are you talking about The Orville vs. Discovery thing? I want to make sure because you are kinda vague here.

You claim that you speak for an “us” who is not here to “deny reality.”. And What reality is that you are speaking of? Is this a reality where hyperbole is a substitute for criticism? Where ‘what one wants/doesn’t want’ is the definition of good/bad?  Honestly, I’d like to know what this “us” you are speaking for.

I don’t see any reason to like something just because other people don’t.  Nor to I see any reason to hate something because it’s trendy to.  The only point in watching something is to be entertained.  

What I am saying is that Star Trek as well as all a franchises in general and Discovery in particular have particular approaches to the material they are working with. And the best way to properly judge whether they are any good is how well they handle their approach. Yes, Discovery doesn’t spoonfeed its audience.…

Both Reno and Burnham got the same vision from the crystal.

I don’t stalk anyone.  I read what people have stated in their post and what they are saying.  There could be a dozen different davidcgc’s. And in this case, it sounds like this davidcgc hasn’t watched much star trek.

Brightness is not what makes the Orville look cheaply made. It looks cheap because it production design is intended to be visually faithful to series it is aping, a show made in 1987.

I got all the eps and short treks just fine and I am not in either the US or Canada.

Exactly how is the capability for bad guy monologuing any proof of sentiency? Any computer program can be written to be able to do that.

Only if you’ve got Seth MacFarlane writing the script, which thankfully he didn’t this ep.

No to mention adding some gravitas via F. Murray Abraham.

“I know the show only has a finite budget”

Everyone I know who’s watched Disco has told me the Short Treks have been available for them to watch, whether it is CBSAA, Netflix or even Canadian TV. If people miss them that’s their own choice.  They aren’t hidden away as far as I know.

“Leland. Sounds Swedish.”

This comment sounds like the impressions of someone who skimmed the second last chapter of the second book in a series and expects everything to be explained to them by that limited bit of skimming. Maybe try watching the rest of the show and actually pay attention to the ep you are watching. A lot of your questions…