Star Trek

[Chuckanut]

57 years ago today, Star Trek premiered on TV.

For those of you finding the current Star Trek shows not up to your expectations, may I recommend The Orville. Seasons one and two were descent but had a bit too much of the silly stuff going on. But season 3, which still had its fair share of silliness, was much more like serious science fiction. I personally found Season 3 to be superior to any and all of the current ST series offered by Paramount/CBS, etc. So while you need to watch Season 1 and 2 to understand Season 3, don’t judge it until you get to Season 3. My 2¢. YMMV.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Orville

 

[JoeWras]

I turned off season 3 after a few episodes. I actually liked the earlier seasons better. I think the fan base is split on this.

 

[Qs Laptop]

Re: Orville. I was entertained by S1. Season 2 was starting to delve too much into the personal lives of the characters and was getting away from mission oriented episodes. The stories revolving around Isaac got way out of hand. I also thought the blatant rip-off of Star Trek in general should make the producers feel like pirates. I haven't watched Season 3 and don't plan on it.

 

[Pellice]

I discovered that ST Deep Space Nine, and possibly some of the others, are free on Pluto TV (with annoying and ill-timed ads, but, hey). I thought that Paramount had reeled in all the older series into their for-pay site. But I'm enjoying some free DS9 on Pluto!

 

[Chuckanut]

I discovered that ST Deep Space Nine, and possibly some of the others, are free on Pluto TV (with annoying and ill-timed ads, but, hey). I thought that Paramount had reeled in all the older series into their for-pay site. But I'm enjoying some free DS9 on Pluto!

Great! I enjoyed that series, especially Garak the Tailor. I do wish they had followed up after the end of the series with something regarding the ultimate fate of Captain Sisko after he got upgraded to a higher plane or whatever they called it. Avery Brooks did a great job as Sisko. And then there was Odo another interesting character. Dr. Bashir wasn't bad either.

Jeffrey Coombs has the record of being in four ST series: DS9, Voyager, Enterprise and Lower Decks. He also played two unrelated characters in one episode of DS9, along with assorted characters in other ST series. He is perhaps one of the most forgotten and underrated actors in the ST world.

Today is also Star Trek Day.

 

[MuirWannabe]

Star Trek is dead. Strange New Worlds drove a stake through its heart. It ends not with a bang, but a whimper.

 

[JoeWras]

I discovered that ST Deep Space Nine, and possibly some of the others, are free on Pluto TV (with annoying and ill-timed ads, but, hey). I thought that Paramount had reeled in all the older series into their for-pay site. But I'm enjoying some free DS9 on Pluto!

CBS/Paramount owns Pluto so they let some stuff leak to the FAST service.

 

[JoeWras]

Been letting Star Trek: TOS run in the background on Pluto.

Man, I miss some of the classic Star Trek. The interplay between Kirk and Spock is really exceptional and hasn't been duplicated. Seeing Nimoy slip out of his Spock persona on rare occasions when he is infected or altered just shows how good of an actor he was.

But all is not roses. Some of the sets are so bad, I feel like I'm watching a 6th grade play. More 60-isms crept in than I remember.

Yesterday they started playing season 2 and I forgot just how good "Mirror, Mirror" was. It inspired one of the best episodes of "Enterprise" too.

Unfortunately, right after "Mirror, Mirror," we get "The Apple." What a laughable dud. How many red shirts go down? Some people laugh at the lizard god. I thought it was kind of cool, and besides, it is for simple people anyway.

But what it is with Hippies on TV shows? Here's a test: which is Star Trek, and which is Dragnet?

 

[KarenC]

[…]

Unfortunately, right after "Mirror, Mirror," we get "The Apple." What a laughable dud. How many red shirts go down? Some people laugh at the lizard god. I thought it was kind of cool, and besides, it is for simple people anyway.

[…]

I always think of The Apple when I happen to hear stock market reports referencing "vol". I guess that's shorthand for "volume", but I'm never sure, so what goes on in my mind is that I think "What is 'vol'?" and then this guy pipes up with "Vaal is Vaal!"

 

[JoeWras]

I always think of The Apple when I happen to hear stock market reports referencing "vol". I guess that's shorthand for "volume", but I'm never sure, so what goes on in my mind is that I think "What is 'vol'?" and then this guy pipes up with "Vaal is Vaal!"

Goes along with "Brain and brain, what is brain!"

I just linked a random episode picture and it turns out this is Makora, who is played by David Soul. I didn't know that.

David Soul had a top 40 hit in the 70s, "Don't Give Up On Us" and of course was famous in Starsky and Hutch.

 

[explanade]

I've drifted away from ST since my youth. So I haven't watched all the movies or all the various shows, just as I haven't watched everything having to do with Star Wars either.

Never been to a convention for either, probably never will.

So a casual sci fi fan.

But ST has been blessed by talented actors (Stewart) and storytellers over the years.

So always interested to cherry-pick those that are received well.

I've seen season 1 of Picard but not season 2 or 3 yet. Sounds like season 3 at least is worth viewing.

Didn't watch ST Discovery, the reviews seemed poor.

But the reviews for ST SNW and the ST Lower Decks cartoon seem strong, though Lower Decks doesn't get a lot of review coverage.

At some point going to try to get to SNW -- nice that it's in 4K too.

But it's just one of the items in the pile ...

 

[Texas Proud]

Well, got a whole 15 minutes (including commercials) of a recent ST show on regular TV... was thinking they were going to bring the whole series but alas not...


I was not that impressed with the short amount that I saw... maybe if I were able to watch more it would be interesting... not willing to dish out money for another streaming service..

 

[Qs Laptop]

I got an email from ST:SNW and I'm not supposed to talk about it. If anyone else got this email and you're not supposed to talk about it, please let us know.

You don't need to tell us any details about the email, just that you got it and you can't talk about it.

 

[Pellice]

Been letting Star Trek: TOS run in the background on Pluto.

Man, I miss some of the classic Star Trek. The interplay between Kirk and Spock is really exceptional and hasn't been duplicated. Seeing Nimoy slip out of his Spock persona on rare occasions when he is infected or altered just shows how good of an actor he was.

But all is not roses. Some of the sets are so bad, I feel like I'm watching a 6th grade play. More 60-isms crept in than I remember.

Yesterday they started playing season 2 and I forgot just how good "Mirror, Mirror" was. It inspired one of the best episodes of "Enterprise" too.

Am I right in saying that TNG never had a mirror universe episode? DS9 dove deep into it.

As I've said before, while I like SNW, I don't like the focus on Spock's human side. I've read comments that "the writers can tell more stories this way," but I think it's just laziness. They want to tell the same old stories (sex and violence). They can't seem to imagine the persona and reactions of an alien. Much easier for them to transform an alien into a human.

Speaking of Spock and Kirk (and McCoy), I think that those trios were somewhat of a trope in television and radio of the period. I'm thinking of Matt Dillon, Doc, and Chester/Festus, or Steve McGarret, Danno Williams, and Chin Ho Kelly. Any other examples?

 

[pb4uski]

I received the following email today. I usually ignore surveys... should I respond?

 

[11522914]

I received the following email today. I usually ignore surveys... should I respond?

If I get it I will respond.

Let them know that although I liked season 2, I enjoyed season 1 a lot more.

 

[Texas Proud]

I received the following email today. I usually ignore surveys... should I respond?

Why not respond?


I try and be honest with surveys... they cannot make it better if they do not know what they are doing wrong in the first place...

 

[JoeWras]

I received the following email today. I usually ignore surveys... should I respond?

I probably got it but I signed up to P+ with a junk email so it is ended up in the bit-bucket somewhere.

 

[DrRoy]

Still late on SNW, just got to the musical episode. I don’t like it. Also, in general there seem to be too many inconsistencies with TOS for my taste.

 

[Tetto]

Still late on SNW, just got to the musical episode. I don’t like it. Also, in general there seem to be too many inconsistencies with TOS for my taste.

I agree completely. In TOS they had solid beam phasers always, and in SNW it’s not so. There are many small things like this, I guess It is what it is, just wish it was a bit better, lil too woke.

 

[DrRoy]

I agree completely. In TOS they had solid beam phasers always, and in SNW it’s not so. There are many small things like this, I guess It is what it is, just wish it was a bit better, lil too woke.

I think they are just doing what they want to for the story or the look of it, and ignoring continuity issues.

 

[JoeWras]

I've been watching a little bit of TOS and TNG as background noise on PlutoTV of late.

After absorbing the mood of both, something strikes me about SNW: everything is frenetic.

TOS had a lot of "chess game" kind of episodes. TNG had a few too, although "Q" was probably a sign of things to come. You play chess with Q and he decides he's going to turn the board over and smash the game table.

In keeping with today's gamer generation, SNW presents everything as crazy fast, nick-of-time, end-of-the-world. Discovery presents everything as end-of-universe, and that is not an exaggeration. Conversely, Discovery's dialog is almost always in whispers, which is weird.

I guess I'm old. I miss the calmer, clear dialog centric episodes.

 

[Chuckanut]

In keeping with today's gamer generation, SNW presents everything as crazy fast, nick-of-time, end-of-the-world. Discovery presents everything as end-of-universe, and that is not an exaggeration. Conversely, Discovery's dialog is almost always in whispers, which is weird.

I guess I'm old. I miss the calmer, clear dialog centric episodes.

Take a look at the TOS episode Balance of Terror where the crew of the Enterprise first encountered the Romulans. It’s the show where they find out about a cloaked Romulan ship that fires powerful plasma balls. The Romulans have been taking out Federation watching posts in the Neutral Zone. (Mark Lenard played the Romulan commander and later Spock’s father).

Kirk, Spock and the rest of the command staff sit at a table and spend a few minutes discussing whether to warp back home and warn Star Fleet, or ensure that the Romulan ship is destroyed so as to make the Romulans think twice about attacking the Federation. They weigh the pluses and minuses.

Today, that would be a 30 second discussion at best, with all sorts of shouting, quickie analysis by the show know-it-alls, psychological issues, and general insubordination being more important than deterring intra-galactic war.

 

[JoeWras]

Today, that would be a 30 second discussion at best, with all sorts of shouting, quickie analysis by the show know-it-alls, psychological issues, and general insubordination being more important than deterring intra-galactic war.

Exactly!!!!

 

[O2Bfree]

^^^
We watched a SNW episode recently and thought the same thing. The acting just has too much sass!

Another thing I found lacking was the musical score. The TOS scores are far and above superior, IMO. I felt like listening to the score from the "Gentlemen, I suggest you beam me aboard" scene in "The Doomsday Machine", and came across this video from musician David Page analyzing the score:

It's part of his series "Scoring Star Trek", and I thought it was pretty good.