That's a really cool take. You need to know that to write for it. Best of luck with your writing endeavors!
So according to Memory Alpha 'Mirrors' was aired in Argentina in place of 'Jinaal' by mistake. The episode description translated from spanish reads as 'Burnham and Book travel to extradimensional space after another clue to find the Progenitors. Rayner's first mission in command of USS Discovery takes place'
Some people got to see 4 screeners, others get more than 4 episodes ahead of time so it's possible they've seen more.
Ironically, You just made the case for why! That was over 55 years ago, Discovery was a monumental moment and they wanted to give it the proper weight because it was so rare and with modern vfx. So to keep score: One visit to the barrier with prototype 1966 vfx in the pilot. Described the psi effects, but focused more on the powers and "sickness", not the barrier or it's implications. 2 visits with re-used stock footage where the crossing was an afterthought. . A visit outside the galaxy where they basically jumped and avoided showing or talking about the barrier altogether, and... A whole episode exploring what it is and the effects of breaking though the barrier with A-level 2022 vfx. An exploration story on the way to finding out even more information. It was a link in a chain, not filler.
You want to keep on believing "The Galactic Barrier" was not a filler, be my guest. I've defended a number of episodes where the vast majority of people say they are terrible. "Masks", "MOVE ALONG HOME", "THRESHOLD", and a few others... looks like you are to "The Galactic Barrier" what I am to those episodes. Hell, even "PRECIOUS CARGO" has a staunch defender here on the board. (I can't recall the person at the moment.) Looks like you've joined the ranks of those "defenders of the least enjoyed".
So maybe they're not crossing over to the Mirror Universe. The ISS Enterprise just happens to be there as well.
It's my least favorite of the season(and yet many times better than some of those episodes you name), which doesn't negate that it had purpose, being less favorite doesn't automatically denote filler last I checked. Filler is what writers use to pad out long seasons, they're created for their own purpose. . They can be but are not necessarily so, bottle shows. Galactic Barrier had purpose outside of itself for both a franchise and story reason, it was an important link in the season. I also think it was a great move to make it an event: something momentous that is rare and great as opposed to in the background of bad TOS episodes.
Since one of the most common criticisms of Season 4 was that it felt dragged out, The Galactic Barrier absolutely was filler. Which is really just a smattering of reviews highlighting the overall feeling towards that episode. And while this isn't a "Fifty million Frenchmen can't be wrong" argument, I will say that if you are repeatedly being told something by your audience, as a writer you ought to listen to them.
The reviews probably were from from when it first streamed. Watch them now in a binge. It doesn't feel stretched out at all.
Actually, I just did rewatch it on "binge" with my wife and sister-in-law. Same complaint as before. Galactic Barrier is a tedious slog of an episode.
Probably the best description of that episode I've seen yet. Only thing I'd add... "tedious slog of a filler".
So now that we all agree there was no filler...moving on... It's nice to see this week's episode being recognized as a classic episode. I had mentioned that this season is touching different bases of TNG as well as some other series' episodes. Rayner's hand a callback to Picard in Timescape. Incidentally, that episode was directed by Nick Sagan, who's father's novel was the basis for: The Chase! DS9 is well represented. The media sites seem to think we're headed for a Breen showdown. Possibly in the last stages of the chase. They're also liberally dosing from Voyager: aliens, tech, etc. https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-t...XuKjUN_vI5FfeH9y1oXDTon4iRjMT8Ofwrr2pLHR_7JFW But most interesting is the tour of their Discovery's own history, the tense scene when Burnham meets Burnham, and the mention of the Temporal Wars (subject of my lost eras post in the forum) again. The series is showing they can integrate these easily without the heavy handedness of the Season That Shall Not Be Named.
Oh huh the opening credits have changed as they get new pieces to the puzzle https://x.com/gaghyogi49/status/1782091936146538880?s=46&t=GJ4lIGndtLwuph_LJO2AJw
Saying that Nick Sagan directed Timescape is as accurate as saying there is no filler in DIS! (Actually, Adam Nimoy.) At least you're consistent!
Nick Sagan did write the TNG episodes Attached and Bloodlines as well as the Voyager episodes In the Flesh, Gravity, Course Oblivion, Juggernaut and Relativity, for whatever that's worth. But he certainly had nothing to do with Timescape, which was written by Brannon Braga. Nor has he ever directed anything in Star Trek. Or at all.
Filler doesn't necessarily mean bad. It means a story element that doesn't really need to occur but is happening in order to fill out a season. For example, TNG was notorious for "Piller filler" - little interactions between the crew that Michael Piller added when an episode was a few minutes too short for standard TV runtimes. But people really liked the added depth those scenes gave, because it provided the sense the characters existed as people independent of the plot of the week. Filler has become something close to the norm in the modern era of serialized TV shows, as nearly all which are not based upon a book or similar pre-existing narrative suffer from pacing issues, as a movie's worth of plot is strung out across 6-10 hours. Broadly speaking, there are two approaches, both of which have their own issues: Completely embrace the "10-hour" movie format, where there are no real discrete episodes. This results in middle episodes often feeling like slow-paced, meandering sludge. This structure relies upon viewers binging all in one swoop to keep them interested. Embrace episodes' existence and try to have each tell its own story—meaning a reversion to semi-serialization. This is better if there are weekly releases and it is mostly what modern Trek does (though I'd argue some of DIS Season 1 and PIC Season 2 fail at this). The issue here is that often, the crisis of the week is only related in the most flimsy of ways to the greater plot, which makes it much easier to "see the seams" of the storytelling. This isn't an issue unique to modern Trek though - Enterprise's third season struggled with this a ton, as about half the episodes were connected to the Xindi only very tangentially, making it hard to keep focus on the actual stakes of the season at times.