Star Trek

[jimbee]

I'd also like to hear why writers insist on ignoring the fantastical universe of science fiction and write a holodeck story set on earth. The writer literally has the entire universe to concoct whatever story desired and goes for the safety of the holodeck. It doesn't make any sense.

It saves production costs.

 

[Qs Laptop]

It saves production costs.

Yes, I can see that. But in today's production environment with CGI and animation?

For example, this is not a set.

 

[harllee]

Just finished the latest Strange New Worlds. I have mixed feelings, I like a good fantasy story and this was certainly one. But in Star Trek I am usually looking for alien adventure stories. Of course this one involved an alien but I like aliens I can actually see. In any event I really like both the doctor and the engineer. They are great characters.

Regarding the holodeck, I really liked the nightclub holodeck in Deep Space Nine. I thought Vic Fontaine was a great character. I am rewatching Voyager and so far I am not really impressed with the holodeck episodes on Voyager. To me the best thing about Voyager is the wide variety of aliens and also Seven of Nine (who is like an alien).

 

[MuirWannabe]

Just finished the Serene Squall. Just a terrible episode in my opinion. Not very interesting. Behavior from the main characters that is erratic, insubordinate, foolish, and just plain dumb. The captain’s behavior is like his hair…outrageous. The main antagonist was a boring villain. Just a weird villain. Not intimidating. Not even entertaining. Please let’s not see that character again.

And how come it was gonna take 2 days to get a message to Star Fleet since they were so far on the edge of federation space, yet Spock could FaceTime his Vulcan girlfriend no problem?

I don’t know. Episode 4 I really liked. The others much less so. I keep giving it a chance perhaps out of misguided loyalty. It may soon be time to pronounce RIP on SNW.

 

[CaptTom]

...And how come it was gonna take 2 days to get a message to Star Fleet since they were so far on the edge of federation space, yet Spock could FaceTime his Vulcan girlfriend no problem?

...I keep giving it a chance perhaps out of misguided loyalty. It may soon be time to pronounce RIP on SNW.

Yes, all of Star Trek is inconsistent about space and time, in many different ways. There can time delays in "sub space" communications, or not. It seems to depend entirely on what's needed for each episode's plot line.

This last episode was just plain stupid. Laughable in a clownish sense. But it did resolve the issue of the doctor's daughter, giving them another character with some depth that they can re-visit some day.

As you say, we keep giving it a chance out of loyalty. Or is it just familiarity?

 

[Qs Laptop]

Yes, all of Star Trek is inconsistent about space and time, in many different ways. There can time delays in "sub space" communications, or not. It seems to depend entirely on what's needed for each episode's plot line.

Back in the 60's and 70's my dad was an electrical engineer for Honeywell avionics. He was on the team that designed power supplies for the lunar landers. Many, many times when I was watching reruns of TOS as a teen he would derisively comment, "they're always running out of power on this show. Every time they need to create plot tension they disable some critical system with a power failure. Bah!"

And guess what--he wasn't wrong. In fact, to this day it is a worn out trope on any iteration of Star Trek. Start noticing it if you haven't already.

As you say, we keep giving it a chance out of loyalty. Or is it just familiarity?

I went through this with the Star Wars franchise when it was rebooted by Disney. It seemed like a sense of duty or loyalty that I *needed* to watch them. However, in a literal endless universe the writers continually visited the same characters and it got stale. They kind of tried to break out of this rigid mold with "Rogue One." For this reason I thought Rogue One was a great movie and was the last Star Wars production I've seen.

 

[JoeWras]

I get it. Fantasy stuff is way out there.

But let's also not take TOS off the hook. "The Naked Time" had Sulu sword-fighting, nurse Chapel clawing at Spock, Spock crying, Riley going off on full Irish* tropes and creating dangerous chaos, groovy 60s graffiti on the walls, and of course, men ready to grab and claw at Yoeman Rand.

All this from an unseen alien, an alien virus.

* - The Irish are picked on again in later series.

 

[harllee]

Well I think there are only a couple of Strange New World episodes left this season. I plan to watch. As compared to most of the junk on TV now I think SNW is pretty good and I have overall enjoyed it.

 

[MuirWannabe]

I’ll probably keep watching as well. At least through the end of this first season. I just wish they would take themselves seriously. If they can’t be serious realistic characters then why should we take them serious?

 

[CaptTom]

..."they're always running out of power on this show. Every time they need to create plot tension they disable some critical system with a power failure. Bah!"...

Good point. No doubt I'll notice now, too. But there are a thousand other tired tropes they keep dragging out. I won't even begin to list them here. I might never finish.

But one that resonates with the latest episode is the "body snatchers" trope. There's always some force, some alien, some god-like power, some DNA-altering virus, some parasite, some transporter malfunction, or whatever, which transforms the crew's bodies and/or minds. Personally, it never works for me. Time to find a new plot line.

 

[MuirWannabe]

Holy cow. Just watched this latest ‘fantasy’ episode. Sets new standards for bad Star Trek. It’s such a bummer. Strange New Worlds? Maybe just Strange.

 

[swakyaby]

I found the latest episode 5 of The Oroville, A Tale of Two Topas, very enjoyable on an emotional level.

 

[Pellice]

On the positive side, I generally like the episodes where the Federation has a First Contact with some new species and struggles with figuring them out. I liked most TOS episodes where they ended up concluding that they COULD indeed violate the Priime Directive because the species wasn't developing fast enough for Federation standards - those were pretty hilarious and echoed US policies at the time. Then TNG overcompensated and the characters were constantly jabbering and agonizing about WHETHER they were violating the Prime Directive.

I also liked encounters with new situations - or "anomalies" if you prefer. I liked the step-by-step puzzle solving that sometimes went on.

I liked internal divisions in the Federation and overcoming them. Enterprise could have been very good at this (proto-Federation) if it had been allowed.

And overall I enjoyed the whole filling in of context and background slowly, over 50 years - the development of a coherent history and expansive depiction of the Star Trek universe, with room for more. I guess I've grown up and aged with this potential [good!] future for us, and it's actually influenced my outlook on the present, now that I think of it.

Tolkien's depiction of a long lost past is also expansive, and even more coherent, since it is the vision of one man, but there's something to be said for the multitudes of fans who, officially and unofficially, have created a world with languages, histories, technologies, and physical features with an attempt at faithfulness to Roddenberry's vision. It's why I get annoyed at writers who simply must show their contempt by disrupting this voluntary and unorganized endeavor to tell their tired old soap opera and worn out mystery plots.

 

[DrRoy]

Fantasy episodes are a Star Trek tradition, right from the start with a few in TOS. TNG relied on the holodeck a bit much.

I did not favor the holodeck stories. They seemed to be away from the core of the series for me.

 

[CaptTom]

I did not favor the holodeck stories. They seemed to be away from the core of the series for me.

Even more broadly, I never understood why star ships and space stations didn't have circuit breakers.

How many times do you have to see a holodeck run amok before someone figures out that you need an "off" switch? The same can be said for all kinds of systems. Self-destruct comes to mind. Sometimes it takes an elaborate ritual, with master and first officer physically manipulating something. Other times it can be easily initiated with one voice command. Cancelling it is inconsistent, too.

I could go on. Yeah, I'm that guy.

 

[sengsational]

I can be that guy too, but it's much more enjoyable to adjust your mind set and let the show wash over you. I remember an intro to a Dickens tale on PBS where, in doing great justice to the book, the screen writers made it so watchers needed to be advised not to noodle too hard about each character and their motivations, but instead just let it happen. That might be good advice for the marginal stories in TV sci-fi nowadays. How's that for a unicorn "emitting" a rainbow, lol!

 

[Davidhelp]

Forgot the password

Just once I would like to see a self destruct password A) not accepted at the last moment or B) forgotten

 

[JoeWras]

Yeah, you gotta let go, otherwise there's no enjoyment.

If you think about artificial gravity that all these ships have, you'll go nuts.

And warp drive, arghh! Battlestar Galactica does warp differently with their FTL drives. To me it is a bit closer to reality, if FTL is reality (which it isn't). Lots of calculations and the possibility of ending up embedded in a planet or next to a star, etc. Star Trek TNG had an episode where a ship ended up partly embedded in a planet. That's an interesting concept.

 

[harllee]

Just once I would like to see a self destruct password A) not accepted at the last moment or B) forgotten

I think there was one episode (can't remember which series) when the auto destruct stop code had to be repeated more than once and there was a lot of anxiety.

 

[JoeWras]

The latest SNW episode is....

Well there is little I can say without spoiling. You will probably get irked at a derivative story, and then the writers play hardball. Wow.

Gotta stop there, maybe we can discuss in a few days.

 

[harllee]

I liked the latest episode of SNW--lots of action and aliens, even Captain Pike's hair got mussed. I am sorry that one of my favorite characters is gone. This is the next to the last episode of the season and I guess that actor wanted to move on.

 

[CaptTom]

OK, looking past all the logic and science flaws, and the inconsistencies, it wasn't a bad episode. Aliens were at least a little different, not just bumps on foreheads. Still using the old "body snatchers" trope, which seems to be required every few episodes in every Star Trek series.

 

[JoeWras]

I liked the latest episode of SNW--lots of action and aliens, even Captain Pike's hair got mussed. I am sorry that one of my favorite characters is gone. This is the next to the last episode of the season and I guess that actor wanted to move on.

We'll, since you went there... No, it was part of their contract from the beginning. They were told at audition. My favorite. I'm pissed.

 

[swakyaby]

Episode 9 of SNW makes you realize that in this series, even the regular characters are not always guaranteed to stay. I do find I enjoy the scenes with Spock—the actor has a great voice, and the way he shows vulnerability around nurse Chapel is refreshing compared to the Spock in TOS.

 

[CaptTom]

... the way he shows vulnerability around nurse Chapel is refreshing compared to the Spock in TOS.

Yes, but it really made me wonder what happened to Spock between SNW and TOS to revert him back to the more Vulcan demeanor. Maybe a future episode will elaborate. Still felt out of character to me. Every Star Trek seems to need a robot-like character who seems emotionless but really isn't.

As for offing main characters, it's sort of refreshing. All the extras dying on every away mission, which TOS was famous for, is getting old.

Speaking of turnover, it looks now like another main character who was thinking of leaving at the beginning of the episode had a change of heart, and is staying. In real life, there would be a lot more routine crew rotation. But I guess viewers get attached to the main characters.