Three seasons in, and I still consider Star Trek Discovery to be dreck.

Lower decks is kind of interesting, but I don't go out of my way to watch it.

And now, the new season of Star Trek Picard has begun, and against my better judgement I took a quick look, and to my surprise, was drawn in. I might even say I was impressed.

If they can keep up what they did on this first episode, I would say it's worth a look....

If.....

(Warning warning warning! Spoilers Galore!

 

 

 

Edited March 9, 20224 yr by HiFlyer

5 hours ago, HiFlyer said:

Three seasons in, and I still consider Star Trek Discovery to be dreck.

 

You aren't the only one. There are legions of us. I embarrassingly admit that I do watch it, because occasionally you get acceptable bits, and Its science fiction. But yes, its trash.

 

Quote

If they can keep up what they did on this first episode, I would say it's worth a look....

 

Agree, but what worries me is that the first episode of season one was okay too. We will need to cross our fingers that lessons have been learned. That Kurtzman guy isn't involved so that's a very positive thing. 

I guess we could say that bringing back Q and the Borg is lazy writing, but I'll forgive them that if the standard of writing is high. And I guess the Borg always work. 

Crossing fingers. 🤞

4 hours ago, martin-w said:

That Kurtzman guy isn't involved so that's a very positive thing.

Hmmmm? Isn't he still the executive producer?

 

4 hours ago, martin-w said:

You arent the only one. There are legions of us. I embarrassingly admit that I do watch it, because occasionally you get acceptable bits, and Its science fiction. But yes, its trash.

I think the fact that three seasons in, the vast majority of people still can't even tell you the names or pretty much anything about the people standing around on the bridge all these years kind of says a lot about the character development, or lack of same, on the show.

At least the useless deadweight of Tilly seems to be gone, hopefully permanently, since her story never went anywhere at all during the show, even though she was supposedly a main character...

Anything is better than the latest news , thanks for the heads up . 

47 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

Hmmmm? Isn't he still the executive producer?

 

I thought he was out of the picture? Oh well, maybe he's reconfigured his neurons. 

 

49 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

think the fact that three seasons in, the vast majority of people still can't even tell you the names or pretty much anything about the people standing around on the bridge all these years kind of says a lot about the character development, or lack of same, on the show.

 

Yep, true enough. And of course there was all that controversy over the bonkers "Spore Drive". Not sure what the outcome was of the court case.

I'm hoping the new series with PIke will be decent. Strange New Worlds. 

 

One thing about these shows, and the people producing them is the lack of a sense of empathy.

Three seasons in, how many can say they actually care about anyone on Star Trek discovery?

The black lady with the dreads and unpronounceable name? What do we even know about her?

The whiney engineer?

The eternally conflicted doctor.

Burnham the invincible.... (block of wood)

If the ship abruptly blew up, killing all of them, who would miss the show?

For me, this is one of the main differences, being that I was simply never offered a reason to actually care about anyone on Discovery, or a reason to root for them or even particularly wish them well. They all got lost in the mangled plots, shaky-cam, Splosions' and special effects that made no sense (Miles of elevators inside a huge apparently open space that could not possibly exist on a ship of that size, etc.)

Discovery became a show about space-magic.

Even during the painful first season of Picard, it was hard for me to care about this character purporting to be JL, yet acting like the one we spent years getting to know.... in not a single way.

The newly introduced characters were all hollow sci-fi tropes on wheels, and the gratuitous sex (up-to-and-including-incest) that was intended to shock and be edgy..... was actually just an eye-rolling way to make existing Trek fans go offensive initials not allowed?

We won't even talk about the stomach churning closeups of peoples eyes getting ripped out, and then the silliness of deadly, laser-spewing space flowers...

I could only stand about 3 episodes before I ran away, screaming, pretty sure Star Trek was dead.

And yet...

One single episode of the new season has shown enough of a hint of a return to humanity... and fan-service galore... (some times a bit heavy handed) in something that was abruptly/suddenly and recognizably Star Trek.

Lets see if that was a fluke.

Used to like Star Trek. As a kid I absolutely loved the original series and then the next generation (although I remember being less impressed with the episodes involving 'Q'). For some reason I had a bit of a hiatus and didn't follow DS9 and Voyager. What ultimately turned me off (I think) was the almost parodical representation of the factions. The federation was the epitome of pompous goodness and the 'enemies' not so much. 

Then I found the 'wonderful' universe of 30K. And almost fifty books in to the Horus Heresy I feel that the Star Trek universe is kind of bland in comparison. 

 

7 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

Even during the painful first season of Picard, it was hard for me to care about this character purporting to be JL, yet acting like the one we spent years getting to know.... in not a single way.

The newly introduced characters were all hollow sci-fi tropes on wheels, and the gratuitous sex (up-to-and-including-incest) that was intended to shock and be edgy..... was actually just an eye-rolling way to make existing Trek fans go offensive initials not allowed?

We won't even talk about the stomach churning closeups of peoples eyes getting ripped out, and then the silliness of deadly, laser-spewing space flowers...
[...]
And yet...

One single episode of the new season has shown enough of a hint of a return to humanity... and fan-service galore... (some times a bit heavy handed) in something that was abruptly/suddenly and recognizably Star Trek.

Lets see if that was a fluke.

^^This!

There's more drama, more lore and just simply more to hook us into a Star Trek franchise in just a few preview reels than at any time since TNG ended. (My 2 pennies' worth).

I'm going to pick up Amazon Prime just for season 2.
 

Edited March 9, 20224 yr by F737NG

Just now, Swe_Richard said:

Used to like Star Trek. As a kid I absolutely loved the original series and then the next generation (although I remember being less impressed with the episodes involving 'Q'). For some reason I had a bit of a hiatus and didn't follow DS9 and Voyager. What ultimately turned me off (I think) was the almost parodical representation of the factions. The federation was the epitome of pompous goodness and the 'enemies' not so much. 

Then I found the 'wonderful' universe of 30K. And almost fifty books in to the Horus Heresy I feel that the Star Trek universe is kind of bland in comparison. 

 

OH!

Reminiscing about this I remember one supremely annoying thing in Star Trek namely Wesley Crusher. I am a peaceful guy but I remember wanting to smash him into the next week... 😇

24 minutes ago, Swe_Richard said:

OH!

Reminiscing about this I remember one supremely annoying thing in Star Trek namely Wesley Crusher. I am a peaceful guy but I remember wanting to smash him into the next week... 😇

Wesley.......

41 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

One thing about these shows, and the people producing them is the lack of a sense of empathy.

Three seasons in, how many can say they actually care about anyone on Star Trek discovery?

The black lady with the dreads and unpronounceable name? What do we even know about her?

The whiney engineer?

The eternally conflicted doctor.

Burnham the invincible.... (block of wood)

If the ship abruptly blew up, killing all of them, who would miss the show?

 

😁 We are on the same page.

Burnham, Sonequa Martin-Green, or whatever the actors name is, is dreadful. She has one expression that looks like she's suffering from severe IBS. She redefines what "over acting " is and takes it to a whole new level. 

Its not just bad acting and bad dialogue that's the issue though, its dodgy stuff that should have been corrected by the director. 

 

53 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

Even during the painful first season of Picard, it was hard for me to care about this character purporting to be JL, yet acting like the one we spent years getting to know.... in not a single way.

 

Exactly!

Yes, I get it, he's been through a lot, and people change but people don't become entirely different characters with entirely different personalities. 

 

55 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

One single episode of the new season has shown enough of a hint of a return to humanity... and fan-service galore... (some times a bit heavy handed) in something that was abruptly/suddenly and recognizably Star Trek.

Lets see if that was a fluke.

 

Yep, we will reconvene this Friday after episode 2 and either cry or cheer. I'm saying 50/50 either way. 

51 minutes ago, Swe_Richard said:

(although I remember being less impressed with the episodes involving 'Q'). For some reason I had a bit of a hiatus and didn't follow DS9 and Voyager.

 

Yep, never been fond of Q. The character is almost a deus ex machina to me, in that he's godlike so can cheat the plot into making sense due to the writers reverting to his omnipotent powers.

You really missed out with DS9 if you didn't see it. Fantastic, best series in my view. Awesome characters like Garak. Superb writing and acting. Andrew Robinson who plays Garak is a very good actor indeed. 

Enterprise was excellent too. And featured T'Pol. I'm sure I don't need to elaborate. ❤️

Absolutely, Discovery dreck (new word for me. Anyone know the origins?😄) 

Followed Star Trek from it beginings. Mostly Brilliant.

Best movie Wrath of Khan. Montalban hammed it up brilliantly. The spattering of Moby Dick was  inspired.

Best incarnation 2nd Generation or Voyager or Enterprise in spite of the timeline issues.
Best Captain Picard (or Kirk especially in Wrath of Khan)
Worst villains Klingon......folk that stupidly aggressive wouldn't' survive beyond their stone age.
Best Villains Borg.

Sadly the series Picard was good in the first series but alas and very, very sadly Patrick Stewart seems to have aged beyond the credibility of the part in the last couple of years IMHO.....a cracking actor in his prime. (Sejanus in "I Claudius" where he plays a very nasty piece of work). Hat off to him though.

Edited March 9, 20224 yr by GaryK
clarity

9 minutes ago, GaryK said:

Best movie Wrath of Khan. Montalban hammed it up brilliantly.

 

Was excellent. I'm a fan of Generations to be honest. And Undiscovered Country. 

13 minutes ago, GaryK said:

Absolutely, Discovery dreck (new word for me. Anyone know the origins?😄) 

Etymology

From Yiddish דרעק‎ (drek, “dirt, word not allowed”), from Middle High German drek, from Old High German *threc (in mūsthrec), from Proto-West Germanic *þraki, from Proto-Germanic *þrakjaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)terǵ-, *(s)terḱ-, *(s)treḱ- (“manure, dung; to sully, soil, decay”). Compare Cimbrian drèkh (“excrement, manure”), Dutch drek (“dung; semi-liquid filth; mud”), German Dreck (“dirt; filth”), Latin stercus (“dung, manure”).