Star Trek

[Zombie_61]

I just watched the first three episodes last week on a flight to Beijing. Really good. It's not easy, I think, getting the aesthetics just right doing a prequel now to TOS, but I think they nailed it well here. I'll be looking forward to seeing the rest of this when it filters down to channels to which I have access, or at some point when we give Netflix a break again for something else.

Keep in mind, TOS was produced by Desilu Productions, later re-named Paramount Television. Broadcast television, that is, not cable or streaming. As such, the aesthetics (sets, costumes, props, etc.) are the intellectual property of Desilu/Paramount TV, so the studio producing Strange New Worlds was not allowed to replicate those designs from the original series, and had to create their own. There's a whole lot of legal nonsense going on, but, apparently, even separate divisions within an organization like Paramount are legally separated and not allowed to share their toys with the other children in the sandbox unless contractual agreements and such are created, money changes hands, and so on. That's the real reason everything looks different in Strange New Worlds--money.

 

[Edward]

Keep in mind, TOS was produced by Desilu Productions, later re-named Paramount Television. Broadcast television, that is, not cable or streaming. As such, the aesthetics (sets, costumes, props, etc.) are the intellectual property of Desilu/Paramount TV--as such, they were not allowed to replicate those designs from the original series, and had to create their own. There's a whole lot of legal nonsense going on, but, apparently, even separate divisions within an organization like Paramount are legally separated and not allowed to share their toys with the other children in the sandbox unless contractual agreements and such are created, money changes hands, and so on. That's the real reason everything looks different in Strange New Worlds--money.

Yes, I should have thought of that.... SNW has a great look, though, that doesn't feel too "new" compared to TOS, and is perfectly in line with the more recent reboot classic-Trek films. (I say recent. the last one was, what , a decade ago now?)

 

[scottyrocks]

Keep in mind, TOS was produced by Desilu Productions, later re-named Paramount Television. Broadcast television, that is, not cable or streaming. As such, the aesthetics (sets, costumes, props, etc.) are the intellectual property of Desilu/Paramount TV, so the studio producing Strange New Worlds was not allowed to replicate those designs from the original series, and had to create their own. There's a whole lot of legal nonsense going on, but, apparently, even separate divisions within an organization like Paramount are legally separated and not allowed to share their toys with the other children in the sandbox unless contractual agreements and such are created, money changes hands, and so on. That's the real reason everything looks different in Strange New Worlds--money.

Also keep in mind that today's audiences wouldn't tolerate the cheeseball sets and effects of 1960s sci-fi TV. As previously pointed out, the producers of SNW have threaded that needle very well, the balance between old and new, in all respects, imho.

 

[Zombie_61]

Also keep in mind that today's audiences wouldn't tolerate the cheeseball sets and effects of 1960s sci-fi TV. As previously pointed out, the producers of SNW have threaded that needle very well, the balance between old and new, in all respects, imho.

Lately, each time I've had a conversation with someone about the evolution of Star Trek over the years I tend to mention, "Between all of the changes necessary to continue telling those stories, and the advances in special effects technologies, now the only series that doesn't fit in with the rest is the one that started it all--the original series from the mid-1960s." The original show was wonderful in it's day, but looks rather "dated" now. So far, no one has disagreed with my observation. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Trenchfriend]

They could finally try a new movie in the main timeline to make the Nemesis crap a little more "forgotten".
I'm still hoping...
Deep Space 9 would surely be the possible scenery, that's left.

Benny Russel's alternative reality!
They never cleared, which reality is the real. I always felt, Benny Russel's must be the real one.

 

[Zombie_61]

They could finally try a new movie in the main timeline to make the Nemesis crap a little more "forgotten".
I'm still hoping...

Paramount seems to be happy with their new "streaming" shows, and Star Trek: Picard seems to have been popular enough among the fans (especially the third season) to erase Nemesis from their memories. At this point I'm not sure if we'll ever see a new theatrical Star Trek movie...or even a TV movie.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Colm Meaney still seems to me one of the less or even THE LAST character, who could bring the needed resurrection to Trek for us old 35+ farts.

Hey, where is the dry-humorous working class in space?? All dead??

Remember the great moment in DS9, when Q first time appears on the OBS and while doing smalltalk, he looks to Miles O'Brien and asks: "But you, I know you!"
O'Brien: "O'Brien..., Enterprise...."

 

[LizzieMaine]

Mount makes an excellent Pike -- I can genuinely believe that he's the same guy Jeffrey Hunter played, just older. I do miss the turtleneck sweaters though -- of all the various Starfleet uniforms. I always thought the "Cage-era" uniforms looked like the most comfortable to go bipping around the galaxy in.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Colm Meaney still seems to me one of the less or even THE LAST character, who could bring the needed resurrection to Trek for us old 35+ farts.

Hey, where is the dry-humorous working class in space?? All dead??

Remember the great moment in DS9, when Q first time appears on the OBS and while doing smalltalk, he looks to Miles O'Brien and asks: "But you, I know you!"
O'Brien: "O'Brien..., Enterprise...."

I hold out hope that O'Brien will one day return, preferably to break Bashir and Garak out of jail with no explanation of how they got there.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Now I rewatched the scene, after circa 29 years!

 

[scottyrocks]

Mount makes an excellent Pike -- I can genuinely believe that he's the same guy Jeffrey Hunter played, just older. I do miss the turtleneck sweaters though -- of all the various Starfleet uniforms. I always thought the "Cage-era" uniforms looked like the most comfortable to go bipping around the galaxy in.

I am glad that Mount's Pike is more of a 'character' though, with actual dimension and emotion, which JH had neither of in the pilot. Who is to say, though, whether or not he would have developed if that version of the series had been given the green light?

 

[Edward]

Lately, each time I've had a conversation with someone about the evolution of Star Trek over the years I tend to mention, "Between all of the changes necessary to continue telling those stories, and the advances in special effects technologies, now the only series that doesn't fit in with the rest is the one that started it all--the original series from the mid-1960s." The original show was wonderful in it's day, but looks rather "dated" now. So far, no one has disagreed with my observation. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It may well be because it was already retro when I came to it in the very late 70s / turn of the eighties, but TOS always had a sort of 'classic' look to me, retro-futurist, I suppose. On that basis, it hasn't exactly dated in my eyes, whereas early series of Next Gen now look so eighties it's painful. Coming to it late may be the secret.

Paramount seems to be happy with their new "streaming" shows, and Star Trek: Picard seems to have been popular enough among the fans (especially the third season) to erase Nemesis from their memories. At this point I'm not sure if we'll ever see a new theatrical Star Trek movie...or even a TV movie.

I'll be very surprised if (especially with the superhero fad now teetering on the brink) we don't see a lot of these properties that are huge but still niche, occasionally bordering into the mainstream, refocused much more on reaching audiences via streaming rather than traditional cinema releases going forward. I expect it'll come more like event-streaming, a la Stranger Things and such. The great unknown is how that will impact on what is available via what networks; will we see a collapse of the big brands into just one or two, or will they find an alternative approach to trying to corner popular content. I really hope it doesn't mean the end of the disk format: I am fine with streaming as a replacement for ephemeral television, but if I like something enough to want to have my own copy, I want to be able to do that. A subscription service is like relaying on the library always to maintain your favourite book, not owning your own copy. It is a brave new world indeed, and we've not encountered the half of the implications yet.

 

[Doctor Damage]

photo below was posted by LeVar Burton today

 

[Trenchfriend]

Michael Dorn has the incognito street life, every other prom envieds him and would pay all his estate to have the same life.

 

[Doctor Damage]

Michael Dorn has the incognito street life, every other prom envieds him and would pay all his estate to have the same life.

That's a good observation, quite true.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Ah, one thing, that bugs me everytime in ST: IV !

In reality, would McCoy really have given the older lady the pill for a brandnew kidney, with the risk of alternate history??

I know, Hippocratic Oath....
But the story would be written down in daily newspapers and medicine history, for sure!

 

[scottyrocks]

We watched ep3 of SNW a couple of nights ago.

I tell ya, this series gets better and better. It could be the best of the franchise. I am actually excited for each next episode, and TV generally hasn't impressed me in years.

The acting, emotion, writing, variations of what could have been stale plot devices - all excellently intertwined. Ep3 covers all the bases here. There is a complete shocker of a moment that plays into a huge emotional outpouring in the last scene. Nothing is said, but the nuances of missed, endless, and impossible outcomes are there. I was stunned by how well it was all done.

 

[Zombie_61]

Ah, one thing, that bugs me everytime in ST: IV !

In reality, would McCoy really have given the older lady the pill for a brandnew kidney, with the risk of alternate history??

I know, Hippocratic Oath....
But the story would be written down in daily newspapers and medicine history, for sure!

Surely the doctors at that hospital would report her "miraculous" new kidneys, and that information would wind up in the hands of Earth's most knowledgeable physical scientists. So, like Mr. Scott and the "transparent aluminum", how do we know Dr. McCoy's actions didn't lead to the development of that medication?

 

[Edward]

photo below was posted by LeVar Burton today

View attachment 529283

They've all aged well.... Dr Crusher still has those delectable cheekbones!

Michael Dorn has the incognito street life, every other prom envieds him and would pay all his estate to have the same life.

Ha, yes.... There's a lot to be said for having your primary fame in a mask of some sort.

Ah, one thing, that bugs me everytime in ST: IV !

In reality, would McCoy really have given the older lady the pill for a brandnew kidney, with the risk of alternate history??

I know, Hippocratic Oath....
But the story would be written down in daily newspapers and medicine history, for sure!

It's notionally consistent with him wiping out the federation by saving a life in City on the Edge of Forever! Of course he wasn't in his right mind then. I suspect, though, as ever it's one of those things where the deeper nuances of a property get a bit blurred out in the interests of a "happy ending" for Hollywood's mainstream audience that don't think about these things the way the fanbase does...

We watched ep3 of SNW a couple of nights ago.

I tell ya, this series gets better and better. It could be the best of the franchise. I am actually excited for each next episode, and TV generally hasn't impressed me in years.

The acting, emotion, writing, variations of what could have been stale plot devices - all excellently intertwined. Ep3 covers all the bases here. There is a complete shocker of a moment that plays into a huge emotional outpouring in the last scene. Nothing is said, but the nuances of missed, endless, and impossible outcomes are there. I was stunned by how well it was all done.

Yes, it really is very good. At some point I'll sign up to Paramount for a month and binge the whole series.

 

[Trenchfriend]

If Chief O'Brien would return to Trek in any way, the could make an episode, where his spider Christina is runaway and terrifying whole DS9 or they could even make a running gag about it!

Imagine, Quark has to be observed by O'Brien, not to do any "foul things" in case, that Christina would visit his bar area.
Or Worf getting nerved, because Christina is slipping "under the radar" everytime, when they think, they found her.

I would watch that, I tell you!