Star Trek: General Discussion

[MisterWaffles]

Well, some good news for Star Trek fans, or bad news for "real" Star Trek fans, the ball is rolling on Star Trek 4 again (14 depending on your point of view).

JJ Abrams Announces New ‘Star Trek’ Film, Shooting Set to Begin This Year

Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and the entire reboot cast is set to return with Matt Shakman directing

www.yahoo.com

I'm glad the movie appears to be out of development hell at least. Despite other's opinions, 2009 is in my top 3 for best Star Trek movies, and I absolutely love Beyond as well. I think both movies have a great soul to them and I hope this movie can recapture that to some degree. The Kelvin timeline movies are 2 for 3 in terms of hits for me, so I hope this can make it 3 for 4.

Looks like the director on board now is Matt Shakman, responsible for Wandavision, another thing I absolutely adore. The majority of the reboot/Kelvin cast should be returning as well if JJ is to be believed.

 

[Famine]

Nichelle Nichols has died aged 89 - the fifth original cast member after DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, and Leonard Nimoy (unless you count Grace Lee Whitney, as the fifth, in which case the sixth; or Jeffrey Hunter, as the first, in which case the seventh) to die.

 

[sirjim73]

Nichelle Nichols has died aged 89 - the fifth original cast member after DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, and Leonard Nimoy (unless you count Grace Lee Whitney, as the fifth, in which case the sixth; or Jeffrey Hunter, as the first, in which case the seventh) to die.

 

[MisterWaffles]

No idea who needs to hear this, but if you're a fan of Star Trek at all, you need to support Prodigy or at least give it a chance. The show is way better than it has any right being and it just keeps getting more and more interesting after each episode. I'll be sad if it underperforms and ends up being cancelled because you can tell the people working on it took care in crafting the best show they could that can hold children and adults' interests alike.

 

[sirjim73]

No idea who needs to hear this, but if you're a fan of Star Trek at all, you need to support Prodigy or at least give it a chance. The show is way better than it has any right being and it just keeps getting more and more interesting after each episode. I'll be sad if it underperforms and ends up being cancelled because you can tell the people working on it took care in crafting the best show they could that can hold children and adults' interests alike.

I enjoyed the first half of season 1 when it was shown in the UK on (I think) a Nick channel. But they showed all of it in about a week and then there was a 6 month plus gap to watch any more! That is almost guaranteed to kill any show with any kind of running storyline. How are kids (or adults) supposed to get involved in a show when it is treated like that?

Not that scheduling madness is anything new.

 

[MisterWaffles]

I enjoyed the first half of season 1 when it was shown in the UK on (I think) a Nick channel. But they showed all of it in about a week and then there was a 6 month plus gap to watch any more! That is almost guaranteed to kill any show with any kind of running storyline. How are kids (or adults) supposed to get involved in a show when it is treated like that?

Not that scheduling madness is anything new.

Yeah, as far as the broadcasting schedule for the show goes, that's pretty dumb and both Nick and Paramount are shooting themselves in the foot with it. I wasn't even aware it was happening though because I get the series here in Canada on Crave which is a streaming service, so the actual air dates for the episodes are a little different. There was still a large delay between the episodes but we get about one new episode a week for each chunk they put out.

Really strange they cut up the first season the way they did, but the show itself is excellent. The characters are great and this show perhaps out of any other recent Star Trek production really captures what the series is all about. Even more than SNW which is already really good imo.

 

[TheCracker]

Having recently subscribed to Paramount+ due to the missus wanting to watch a series that we were half way through before Paramount made it an exclusive to their (new to the UK) streaming service, i've ended up with access to all the Star Trek stuff as well.

Lower Decks - Seasons 1-3 - Quite entertaining, but aimed at a younger target audience to this Gen-Xer.

Strange New Worlds - S1 - Really good! Despite the (early seasons) Discovery crossover, it comes across very much like the original series rather than say Next Generation or Enterprise and is set in a timeline between the two. Anson Mount makes for a charasmatic Captain Pike, like a prototype James T Kirk, which makes perfect sense. Like most other Star Trek series in that its socially 'of our time' without pushing it down our throats. Which leads me to...

Discovery - Season 4 - I'd moaned about this not being shown on UK TV, unlike S1-3, in the Discovery thread last year before Paramount+ was available with them eventually backing down due to fan pressure and showing it on some crappy obscure live streaming service which no doubt satisfied no one. I almost gave up after 3 episodes of this season due to it's overt, dare i say, 'wokeness' which is just so heavy-handed and sentimentaly cloying. Now Star Trek has always been socially awake for its time, but its always been done in a matter-of-fact way. Yes we have black female bridge crew, so what. It's the 23rd century for gods sake, of course we do, but Discovery has to make such a huge deal over everyone being anything other than a straight, white male charcter - of which, off the top of my head, by the time the 900-years-into-the-future season 3 started, there were none. Zero. Which of course is completely fine, but they are, as a group, very notable by their absense, even in the diverse world of Star Trek. Many of the main characters are far too earnest for their own good - Captain Burnham in particular stands out for this. Not only is she from 900 years in the past by this point in the timeline, but she's surrounded by Star Fleet's greatest contemporary scientific minds yet always manages to come up with the winning solution to an issue. Star Trek crews are all about the collaboration. The joint effort of the greatest minds in their fields. People working together under great pressure, but this captain seemingly needs no one, she can do it all herself - but she does it without the bravardo of other Star Trek captains. She does it all with an annoying level of humility which is at odds with the fact that she rode roughshod over her crew's suggested solutions in the first place.

Having said that, as the series rolled on and the main story thread started to really kick in, it just got better and better and has probably ended up as the best season so far. Certainly the most cohesive and least confusing to follow. The last few episodes borrowed heavily from some other well known scifi films, but can be forgiven since it was done so well. The production values continue to be amazingly high as they use similar tech to the Mandalorian's 'volume' video wall which makes the sets appear seemless with the CGI used to make alien enviroments so vast and varied.

Had it not been for the xmas break, i'd have probably given up on s4 Discovery after the slow and irritating first few episodes but i can't wait for season 5 now. But i guess there'll be a season 3 of Picard before that though and i might have to give Prodigy a look too!

 

[MisterWaffles]

Having recently subscribed to Paramount+ due to the missus wanting to watch a series that we were half way through before Paramount made it an exclusive to their (new to the UK) streaming service, i've ended up with access to all the Star Trek stuff as well.

Lower Decks - Seasons 1-3 - Quite entertaining, but aimed at a younger target audience to this Gen-Xer.

Strange New Worlds - S1 - Really good! Despite the (early seasons) Discovery crossover, it comes across very much like the original series rather than say Next Generation or Enterprise and is set in a timeline between the two. Anson Mount makes for a charasmatic Captain Pike, like a prototype James T Kirk, which makes perfect sense. Like most other Star Trek series in that its socially 'of our time' without pushing it down our throats. Which leads me to...

Discovery - Season 4 - I'd moaned about this not being shown on UK TV, unlike S1-3, in the Discovery thread last year before Paramount+ was available with them eventually backing down due to fan pressure and showing it on some crappy obscure live streaming service which no doubt satisfied no one. I almost gave up after 3 episodes of this season due to it's overt, dare i say, 'wokeness' which is just so heavy-handed and sentimentaly cloying. Now Star Trek has always been socially awake for its time, but its always been done in a matter-of-fact way. Yes we have black female bridge crew, so what. It's the 23rd century for gods sake, of course we do, but Discovery has to make such a huge deal over everyone being anything other than a straight, white male charcter - of which, off the top of my head, by the time the 900-years-into-the-future season 3 started, there were none. Zero. Which of course is completely fine, but they are, as a group, very notable by their absense, even in the diverse world of Star Trek. Many of the main characters are far too earnest for their own good - Captain Burnham in particular stands out for this. Not only is she from 900 years in the past by this point in the timeline, but she's surrounded by Star Fleet's greatest contemporary scientific minds yet always manages to come up with the winning solution to an issue. Star Trek crews are all about the collaboration. The joint effort of the greatest minds in their fields. People working together under great pressure, but this captain seemingly needs no one, she can do it all herself - but she does it without the bravardo of other Star Trek captains. She does it all with an annoying level of humility which is at odds with the fact that she rode roughshod over her crew's suggested solutions in the first place.

Having said that, as the series rolled on and the main story thread started to really kick in, it just got better and better and has probably ended up as the best season so far. Certainly the most cohesive and least confusing to follow. The last few episodes borrowed heavily from some other well known scifi films, but can be forgiven since it was done so well. The production values continue to be amazingly high as they use similar tech to the Mandalorian's 'volume' video wall which makes the sets appear seemless with the CGI used to make alien enviroments so vast and varied.

Had it not been for the xmas break, i'd have probably given up on s4 Discovery after the slow and irritating first few episodes but i can't wait for season 5 now. But i guess there'll be a season 3 of Picard before that though and i might have to give Prodigy a look too!

Watch… Prodigy…

Please…

Aside from that I really do have to agree with you. I refuse to watch Discovery not because of the visual reboot or the politics or anything, but because nobody knows who the hell the bridge crew even is in that show. They all get nothing to do and that’s literally the main point of a Star Trek show, a diverse cast of interesting and resourceful crew members who collaborate to solve problems. But all Discovery does is just have Burnham solve literally every issue ever by herself and I refuse to watch because we always know what’s going to happen. She has a bridge crew guys, use them for gods sake. I feel bad for any actor playing those roles honestly, they’re basically all just named extras.

 

[Famine]

Another death in the TNG family, as Patti Yasutake - who played Nurse Alyssa Ogawa, in mostly small parts but with the occasional storyline - has died aged 70 after a long battle with T-cell lymphoma.

Excluding Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (as the computer; she had six episodes as Lwaxana in TNG too), I think she's the actor with the most appearances in TNG to have subsequently died.

 

[Liquid]

Lower Decks - Seasons 1-3 - Quite entertaining, but aimed at a younger target audience to this Gen-Xer.

As a 1991 Gen Yer, I think I'm just on the upper edge of the Lower Decks demographic. I really enjoy it, I think it finds that balance between honouring the series and poking fun at the dumb stuff.

That said, I absolutely despise Beckett Mariner. She's absolutely horrible as a professional contrarian know-it-all who never learns a lesson. I get that she's supposed to be The Ace™ but she just comes across as an aloof, insufferable 🤬. The other three, and T'Lyn, are so much more interesting and funny.

 

[Famine]

Another death in the TNG and VOY family, as the least-seen but most important Jeri - Jeri Taylor - has died aged 86. She was a producer and writer on TNG, writing one of the best episodes in The Drumhead, and a writer, executive producer, and probably most significant influence on the creation of Voyager. Taylor effectively wrote Janeway, as an idealised version of herself (and born in the same town).

Mild oddity: she died 33 years after Gene Roddenberry, both on October 24.

 

[Famine]

Old Jake Sisko, the Alpha Hirogen hunting Species 8472, and Kurn, son of Mogh, all died today.

And that was just one guy: Tony Todd, one of very few actors to appear in all three of TNG, DS9, and VOY.

 

[TheCracker]

In a vain attempt to try and steer this ship away from RSTDs (Recent Star Trek Deaths)...

Season 3 of Strange New Worlds has just dropped on Paramount+. Not had chance to watch it yet, but this spin off series has been one of the better Trek's IMO.

 

[sirjim73]

In a vain attempt to try and steer this ship away from RSTDs (Recent Star Trek Deaths)...

Season 3 of Strange New Worlds has just dropped on Paramount+. Not had chance to watch it yet, but this spin off series has been one of the better Trek's IMO.

Somehow I have to avoid Season 3 spoilers all weekend, which is going to be difficult, to put it mildly...

The good news is they're currently filming season 4. The bad news is Babs can't get away from filming to fly to the UK. Thankfully, Jess Bush is flying out tonight especially to see me (well, not just me, but a man can dream )

It will be weird having 2 Dax's in the same building (and presumably doing joint talks together)

Looking forward to meeting the other guests too. Ed Speleers was great as Jack.

Warp 1 - A Trek Convention - Starfury Conventions

Meet the cast of Stargate at Starfury: Ascension! A three day convention featuring autographs, photos, and Q&As with the cast.

seanharry.com

Edit - lol at the sub heading for the website

EDIT 2: Apparently there's 2 weeks filming left of season 5 of SNW and then they are done! Jess Bush hasn't seen the final 2 scripts yet, I don't think anyone has (possibly trying to avoid leaks and/or they are still being written).

Personally, before the series started I had hoped that the last episode would be a remake of The Cage as that would feel, to me, that they had come full circle to the original series, although I am not sure how that would work now without retconning a few characters (which I think would be very unpopular with fans).

I've changed that now to feel it needs to include Pike's accident as that seems the natural endpoint to the series since the vision of the accident was discussed right at the start of season 1. With that leading into the main plot of The Menagerie, as that is, effectively, the end of Pike's story. [With no disrespect meant to the other leading characters who are important as well, of course]

My photo shoots are tomorrow. Now to decide what to wear...

 

[sirjim73]

Sorry for the double post, however a little feedback from the weekend which might bore you to death but here goes...

The event, as with all Starfury events was excellently organised. Compare that with the stories I hear about Basingstoke...

Jess Bush landed at Heathrow 11am Saturday, main talk at 2pm, signing at 3pm, photos were all done on Sunday (sensibly).
flew back yesterday and is filming again today! (Tuesday). Along with the auto and photo (Jess looks completely different without white hair!), I also paid for the fan meet on Sunday and spent 20 minutes sat next to Jess

I was one of the surprisingly few attendees who already knew that Jess is Australian...

Terry Farrell told a moving story about struggling during the DS9 pilot and being "told off" by Rene Auberjonois, but then later he realised what she was going through and apologised and after that they were good friends. She was trying to organise a get together of their families before Rene passed, but sadly it never happened (one of several moments of tears over the weekend, almost the whole group of actors were on the edge of tears at the closing ceremony).

Terry and Nicole de Boer really got on. They joked that they are trying to hook up their son and daughter

Ed Speleers was written out of Downton Abbey because he was left hanging for ages for a casting interview with JJ Abrams for Star Wars Episode VII. He didnt name the part but it must have been a significant one, my wild guess is that he would have suited Poe.

It was between Ed and Theo James for the lead on The Gentlemen. He is currently practicing his American accent for an interview. He couldn't believe Peyton List hadn't had any coaching for her British accent in Picard season 1.

Mia Kirshner was asked about taking on the part of Amanda Grayson (Spock's mother) but I have already forgotten most of her reply 😳

The older guests who used to attend the smaller Trek conventions in the 90s (before I did conventions although I did meet Jeri Ryan loooong ago) REALLY enjoyed being at an event with only 500ish people again and were in tears at the final ceremony) so I think there will be no shortage of actors wanting to be involved with future events in the UK.

And here's the only spoiler from the weekend. Peyton List has already completed some filming as Tim Bradford 's sister for season 8 of The Rookie

PS one of the dancing Klingons in season 2 is Hemmer!

PPS in season 3, the episode directed by Jonathan Frakes, when they all run forward to look at the body Babs kept corpsing and it took many takes (apparently he has a high pitched laugh like hee hee).

Easter Egg - Jonathan Frakes is crouched behind the pot plant behind them in that scene.