Re: star trek thread

[Forest Shepherd]

Interesting. I don't care about Star Trek at all, but the Red Letter Media guys talk about it a lot. They've been reviewing Picard lately and absolutely demolishing it. They mentioned Strange New Worlds, but are so disillusioned with ST in general that I don't think they're even going to bother watching it.
Glad you liked it, but neither will I, lol.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Well in comparison I gave up on Discovery after halfway through its first series, I gave up on Picard twice, I tried watching it originally but was too awful, and I tried the new one and made it through three episodes.
The fact I watched this entire series, and enjoyed most of it therefore is somewhat of a miracle. }}

[halfwise]

For me Deep Space 9 was the last of the watchable Star Trek, mainly due to the writing. I did watch a little of Enterprise because I liked the lead, but didn't feel caught up in it.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ When it comes to Trek, I like the original series, though plenty terrible episodes there, TNG is good from about end of series 3 till series 6- and then the finale of 7- lot of filler though throughout, DS9 is by far the most consistent in quality, but again doesnt get watchable until about series 3 and the last series is a car crash.
I'd say, for me, Strange New Worlds is the best single series in terms of consistency of any modern Trek- but having said that its not yet got an outstanding episode, does have good though- it just doesnt have many bad ones in comparison to all the others. }}

[chris63]

Just watched the new Star Trek serves. Expected something better. Surprised if they make a series 2.
Very disappointed. I prefer Star Trek Discovery to be honest.

[chris63]

Episode 8 was absolute rubbish. Me and the wife was laughing it was that bad
Reminded us of a school play.

[chris63]

This guy certainly doesn't like it.

[Forest Shepherd]

Feels good to not care about Star Trek.
Perhaps this is how non-Tolkien fans feel?

[chris63]

Am I the only one looking forward to The Rings of Power?

[Pettytyrant101]

Episode 8 was absolute rubbish.- Chris

{{"and has the fewest outright unwatchable awful episodes (1 by my count"- yeah thats the ep I meant. Though its no worse than most of the entire first series of DS9- or the appalling 'African tribe' aliens that steal white women in TNG-

On balance I'd say it was off to abetter start in terms of consistently that any other modern ST. Voyager was awful its first series, first few series in fact and only got so-so afterwards, TNG and DS9 were pretty unwatchable garbage in their early series. And Enterprise first series was ST soft porn! }}

[halfwise]

That Tasha Yar clip is pretty cringe worthy, you'd think they'd have learned from a similar episode in the original Star Trek.

It did take a while for TNG and DS9 to find their footing. The original series had some episodes that felt off among the more peripheral characters like Sulu and Uhura, but the main trio was solid from the beginning.

[chris63]

The last episode was actually very good.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Yes it was, and risky too to take on one of the most beloved and iconic episodes from the original ST- Balance of Terror. I also liked their Kirk- he looks, sounds and acts pretty much nothing like Shatner, but they nailed Kirk's personality in the writing. Also a nice reversal of the expected- peaceful overtures and giving the other side the benefit of the doubt being fatal.

Nice vid this comparing the original episode and this one, lets you appreciate where they have lifted camera moves, or what actors are doing from the original- also the use of classic Trek music was great as was the subtle but period use of the classic bright light bar across the eyes when lighting the actors - }}

[halfwise]

Am I the only one looking forward to The Rings of Power?

Oh, I want to see it. It's just a question of whether it has enough to offer to outweigh how much they efface of what Tolkien actually wrote. Watching hot young elves scamper about in nice landscapes might do it for me as a guilty pleasure, but it probably won't help me relive favorite parts from the books.

[Forest Shepherd]

Am I the only one looking forward to The Rings of Power?

Yes.

[chris63]

[halfwise]

Oo - youthful feel-good vibes, fist bumps, youth lingo....um, no.  Can't stomach that.  If that's what they want to do, fine.  But they need to make up their own show, not call it Star Trek. That looks as bad as Rings of Power.

[Pettytyrant101]

{ watched first three episodes of series 2 of Strange New Worlds, its stil the best ST of recent memory, but this series is, well odd so far.

Episode 1 was decent, not brillaint or anything ground breaking but an entertaining enough slice of Trek. But had the first thing struck me as odd, mainly Captain Pike is not in it, well he is but its basically a cameo at the start of the episode then gone for the rest. Now its not unusual in ST for episodes to be focused on different characters and not always the main crew members, but to open a series without the Captain even in in the story? It seemed odd.

Episode 2 isnt so much odd as it is dull. Now its got a lot of praise, some even sayingits thebest episode of ST for decades, and thats I suspect for its subject matter, but thats the problem I have with it. Not the message itself; racism bad, be nice to each other. That is a fine ST sentiment, but I dont like court room drama and this is one and worse for me, ST has done this story before and much better in episodes like TNG'S the Measure of a Man. These humanitarian storylines cant just keep repeating the same old stuff over and over, its boring as hell (and did they really have to make the 'humanitarian' lawyer also a black woman? Seemed a bit over driving the point to me, and its ST why couldnt she just be a persecuted alien race? The whole point of sci-fi is that you dont address issues from a human only persepctive. So yeah worst episode so far for me, not incompetent just box ticking, predictable and not as well done as ST has done the subject before.

Episode 3 and were back to odd again. Its another decent slice of ST, a time travel yarn, but again the bulk of the main cast isnt in it, and Kirk is (well an alternative version but its Kirk) which means Kirk, who isnt a 'proper' character yet in the timeline or even Captain of the Enterprise has had far more screentime this series so far than Pike the actual Captain of the Enterprise at this time, and that seems odd to me.

So far then, 2 decent but run of the mill ST episodes and one well intentioned but ultimately done to death St story.
Its still had a better start mind you than TNG (awful for 3 series pretty much) DS9 (also awful for at least 2 series, arguably 3), Voyager, (awful throughout with occasional gem hidden in it), Enterprise (awful, then figured its shit out just in time to get cancelled for having been awful), and the stuff like Discovery doesnt even warrant more than that mention, its the TV equivleent of something nasty you aoid stepping in.
So if you like a slice of ST I can recomend it overall. }}

[chris63]

Series 2 is absolutely garbage. Episode 1 was barley watchable. Episode 2 was rubbish. Turned it off half way through. Episode 3.was probably the worst episode of any Star Trek series I've ever seen. Again half way through it I said to the Mrs, this is rubbish. She agreed. We turned it off
Never to go back.

[halfwise]

I could tell all that just from the teaser.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{I think folk forget how unwatchably bad previous ST was in all its early series, for some reason after OG ST, ST shows never hit the ground running, or even close to walking often. TNG and DS9 both have largely completely unwatchable series 1, 2 and arguably 3 before they get going to anything resembling good. Time Squared is the only TNG ep I can bare to rewarch from the first 3 series, and its not even great its just the first out and out weird deliberelty odd episode, and offers no explanation for itself which I like. But at 22-25 eps a series thats 1 just about watchable episode out of about 70?!

On comparisons to previous ST this is way better at the same point in development. And thats with a score from me this series of ok but odd, poor and better done before, and ok but average, out of the 3 Ive seen so far. And thats still miles better than anything in TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise or Discovery by this point in their runs. All of which are pretty unwatchable.
For me individual weekly stories with through character arcs and an ensemble cast with different characters focused on is a big step in the right direction for ST given recent series and a return to a better format for ST used by OG and TNG when it was good and DS9 when it was good. }}

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Well at about I think halfway point in Strange new worlds and um the latest episode is to see the least odd in conception and execution. And also more copy and paste stuff ST has done better before.
This series feels tonally quite off from the first series, I thought at start there would be some overall narrative reason for this but at this point I doubt it, it just feels incredibly disjointed (I don't know if the writers strike has effected it at all).

If I had to sum up series 1 of TNG it would be, 0 meh, 1 decent episode 23 bad ones.
DS9 2 decent episodes, 0 meh, 22 bad ones.
SNW 2 good episodes, 2 decent ones, 5 meh and 1 bad.

But series 2 is so far is all meh and now veering into bad. And this is the worry, TNG and DS9 both started terribly, it took both till at least their 3rd series to fully form and find an identity of their own but they did and developed their themes and characters. SNW has started better than either of those, but it doesn't feel like it's doing anything with that start, in fact it's throwing it away byt not building or developing on what season 1 did well. Characters feel like they are going backward, becoming less interesting and less developed. Stories dont feel new or fresh but recycled and poor for it. It doesnt feel like there is an idea behind this series, an overall theme or purpose, it feels random.
It may recover in the seasons second half but at this point it feels like it will be meh all the way to its end at best. }}