Random Star Trek thoughts

[Totenkindly]

I would rather have 10 incredible episodes versus a 24-26 episode slog through mostly garbage. Lost would have benefited from tighter seasons, and Waking Dead, etc.

I also tend to like arcs too. Otherwise I will only watch the good episodes, if there is no arc to follow.

Pretty much with the shift to streaming and not being on such a pattern as network series orders for Fall and Spring drops, and advertising not necessary involved in streaming, yeah, it's probably a thing of the past.

 

[The Cat]

I would rather have 10 incredible episodes versus a 24-26 episode slog through mostly garbage. Lost would have benefited from tighter seasons, and Waking Dead, etc.

I also tend to like arcs too. Otherwise I will only watch the good episodes, if there is no arc to follow.

Pretty much with the shift to streaming and not being on such a pattern as network series orders for Fall and Spring drops, and advertising not necessary involved in streaming, yeah, it's probably a thing of the past.

Lost and Walking Dead became their titles. There's such a beautiful symmetry to that. I love it.

 

[Totenkindly]

 

[The Cat]

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

 

[The Cat]

Ok so here I am again going through Deep Space 9 again. Move along Home always feels like the price I have to pay for watching season one. We do not enjoy this episode. We suffer it to happen unto us. The sin we must eat to pass into the next leg of the journey.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Ok so here I am again going through Deep Space 9 again. Move along Home always feels like the price I have to pay for watching season one. We do not enjoy this episode. We suffer it to happen unto us. The sin we must eat to pass into the next leg of the journey.

I liked that one. It was very TOS.

 

[The Cat]

I liked that one. It was very TOS.

I don't dislike it. It just feels like a price I have to pay to cross the river.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

I really want to punch Wesley and Riker whenever I watch “Hollow Pursuits”. I love how Picard refuses to transfer Barclay and scolds Geordi and Riker for calling him Broccoli. The look on Riker’s and Geordi’s faces says it all. They are ashamed. I wish there were more Picards in management. I also love it when Data basically calls Geordi and Wesley out on spreading the nickname, and how Data sees the others trying to lift Barclay up and makes his own effort to lift Barclay. This episode brings tears to my eyes, even if it kind of fails to directly address social anxiety by muddling the message up and making holo addiction the focus. Barclay’s issue isn’t his holo addiction—the addiction is a symptom of a deeper issue and the episode sort of skirts around it and then never really resolves anything. Although I guess it felt more true to life in that sense

Lots of people can’t stand Barclay but he’s probably the most human, believable character on TNG.

 

[The Cat]

Hot take: Alexis staged the crash that led to the colony in Paradise. She didn't have faith in her own ideals and yet she felt confident enough to lead a cult into space.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Hot take: Alexis staged the crash that led to the colony in Paradise. She didn't have faith in her own ideals and yet she felt confident enough to lead a cult into space.

Of course she didn't have faith in her own ideals. That's why she had to control everyone else. I wouldn't put it past her to do that.

 

[The Cat]

Of course she didn't have faith in her own ideals. That's why she had to control everyone else. I wouldn't put it past her to do that.

Don;t mistake me, I think she believed in her ideals. She would have to to be able to inspire people once the shit hit the fan. She doesn't have bad ideals per say, but she has no faith in them, hence the works she puts into them have no conscience, so "whatever it takes" becomes acceptable in service to the mission. She is a bad shepherd sacrificing the flock in her charge. She has forgotten the face of her father. Her need to control everyone else seems less born out of a need to control others as much as she feels she needs to control everything so that others will make the right choice. I understand the sentiment, but I find her means and execution rather gauche.

DS9 takes this approach with Eddington, and those poor horny repressed fellows who tried to take over rhysa because the citizens of the federation dont have enough abs and arm definition, or whatever their cover story was also. Subtle messaging that the only people who dont want to live in the Paradise of the Federation are terrorists, repressed ideologues, and fringe cult lunatics.

I just find it interesting and amusing. I'm a bit like Weyoun that way.

 

[The Cat]

Demona is always on fire.​

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

They really got their money’s worth out of that one cave set that seems to reappear throughout next gen era trek shows.

Need a place for Garak or Odo to secretly meet with an old spy contact? Use the cave set.

Not to mention the number of alien planets throughout trek history that bear a striking resemblance to Vasquez Rocks.

 

[The Cat]

They really got their money’s worth out of that one cave set that seems to reappear throughout next gen era trek shows.

Need a place for Garak or Odo to secretly meet with an old spy contact? Use the cave set.

Not to mention the number of alien planets throughout trek history that bear a striking resemblance to Vasquez Rocks.

The sheer amount of alien planets that look like Vancouver in Star Gate franchise reminds me of this aspect of Star Trek.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

yeah, it just felt like crappy B-TV writing to me pretty much, and like they wanted to try new ideas and be edgy but had no idea what to do with them and it ended up being silly. Discovery Season 1 had this problem too, although overall I thought it far better; there, they had 4-5 really cool twist / edgy ideas that they tried to ram through and resolve way too quickly, versus being patient and building up to them.

But I guess TNG was wildly inconsistent -- they had episodes that were top-notch TV drama, then episodes that were absolutely terrible.

The mixed bag of the old 26 episode season format. You get great episodes followed by obvious bottle episode costsavers. I’ll still take it over current Trek. I think the constraints of a lower budget forced the writers and production designers to be more creative within their limitations. I remember reading how the crew of DS9 were using micro machines and Ertl model kits for some of the big space battles in the dominion war episodes.

Of course there was a really solid stretch in season 3 of TNG where they were just firing on all cylinders and nearly every episode was good to great. It was pretty solid up through season 5, but it’s apparent they were running out of ideas by season 6. I think season 7 is the weakest since season 2. But in the days of weekly airings, it did suck when you got a stinker episode. They tended to come later in the seasons, I think. Start strong, save your weakest for last, then end on a high note with one solid standalone for the penultimate and then an action packed cliffhanger for the season finale.

My biggest complaint is that the supporting characters we were introduced to (Barclay, Ro, Guinan, Lwaxana, etc) were underused. They were the usually the most human and relatable characters too. I would have like to have seen Ro and Barclay made full cast members but they appeared for a handful of episodes and then were just dropped.

 

[Kingu Kurimuzon]

I don't dislike it. It just feels like a price I have to pay to cross the river.

Season one of DS9 was a lot better than I remembered it being when I rewatched. But that episode is definitely a slog. Otherwise season 1 did a pretty solid job of establishing each character and world building

 

[The Cat]

The mixed bag of the old 26 episode season format. You get great episodes followed by obvious bottle episode costsavers. I’ll still take it over current Trek. I think the constraints of a lower budget forced the writers and production designers to be more creative within their limitations. I remember reading how the crew of DS9 were using micro machines and Ertl model kits for some of the big space battles in the dominion war episodes.

Of course there was a really solid stretch in season 3 of TNG where they were just firing on all cylinders and nearly every episode was good to great. It was pretty solid up through season 5, but it’s apparent they were running out of ideas by season 6. I think season 7 is the weakest since season 2. But in the days of weekly airings, it did suck when you got a stinker episode. They tended to come later in the seasons, I think. Start strong, save your weakest for last, then end on a high note with one solid standalone for the penultimate and then an action packed cliffhanger for the season finale.

I don't dislike New Trek over all, dispite a few things I think show they didnt read the source material before deciding what does or doesnt count when it comes to what is a culture, but thats for another day, I also think they rushed Lorca's reveal, that should have been a season 3 mid season reveal, but I get the feeling Discovery didnt believe they were gonna get a season 2. I think Star Trek is falling victim to the idea that big budget effects sci fi is what the fans want and that's just not true for the most part, its cool and all, but we've literally been into this shit since it was a bunch of theater geeks and western actors in shiny suits. I think they're missing a lot of opportunities in favor of a lot of pointless risks.

 

[The Cat]

Season one of DS9 was a lot better than I remembered it being when I rewatched. But that episode is definitely a slog. Otherwise season 1 did a pretty solid job of establishing each character and world building

It really is much better as I get older. Season 2 is a lot of fun too, I didnt remember so much happening in season 2 but its really where they decided that this was gonna be how they were gonna get away with not being sued to death by babylon 5

 

[Totenkindly]

The mixed bag of the old 26 episode season format. You get great episodes followed by obvious bottle episode costsavers. I’ll still take it over current Trek. I think the constraints of a lower budget forced the writers and production designers to be more creative within their limitations. I remember reading how the crew of DS9 were using micro machines and Ertl model kits for some of the big space battles in the dominion war episodes.

That's true, and it's something that needs to be considered for older series that were adhering to the 22-26 episode seasons on an inflexible calendar schedule for network TV. LOST had the same problems as well, and time constraints + budget will impact how well a particular season might go.

I think that is one thing the current streaming-style approach does a bit better, the stories are generally confined to 6-12 episodes (depending on story needs) and a budget is easier to allocate and each episode also gets a larger piece of the budgetary pie. Even cable (the precursor to streaming) was better able to deal, since it was covered by subscription, so prestige series like Breaking Bad were able to handle smaller season lengths and just make them extremely solid.

... it's kind of wild remembering TV in the 70's and 80's. Every week having to read through TV Guide and plan out my viewing list for the week. Finally in the early/mid 80's, VHS recorders were a thing and then it was, "Which shows do I have to program this week to watch later?" I only knew a few friends with cable or satellite, and only one person who had laserdisc.