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OT: Calling All Star Trek Fans


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Been very happy with Discovery Season2 after I felt Season1 was TERRIBLE and very "un-Trek", so I'm optimistic. This latest trailer made me squee on a personal level. Being from Alaska, I've always wanted to see Riker in his natural habitat but we never got anything other than a casual mention in TNG. They really nailed the Alaskan aesthetic with Riker/Troi's home. Looks like Girdwood, where ironically Patrick Stewart has a house and used to toke up with skiers on the slopes. As a kid, Patrick worked as the face of the Alaska Telecommunications Network, right in the middle of his heyday with TNG. Was always strange to know Riker was supposed to be from Alaska, where we saw Jean-Luc on Alascom commercials during the breaks!

 

Anyway, I'm very excited. Slightly concerned by this trailer that Data is just going to be a memory/dream, as he's obviously one here. However, we saw his disassembled body parts revealed in the last trailer, so I'm optimistic we will bring him back properly, somehow. I actually never watched Nemesis. I was late to the game, and all my friends told me it was awful, so I avoided it (only Trek movie I never saw). I'll probably see it before Picard comes out.

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Hmm. Spiner has been evasive about his return as Data, which he has in the past stated that he is too old to play.

 

Ah, the days when everything was on (or would eventually be on) Netflix....

 

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Looks awesome, can't wait! I finally bit the bullet and signed up for CBS all access a few weeks ago. I've been bingeing on Discovery and have been pretty impressed with it too. Much more than Enterprise or even Voyager.

I binge-watched Discovery 2 months ago and am now rewatching Enterprise whenever I have nothing else going on. I"m liking it a lot more the second time around. And it reminds me again that T"Pol is the most beautiful woman to ever appear on any Star Trek. Jolene Blaylock pretty much retired from acting after this series, raising a family instead.

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I actually never watched Nemesis. I was late to the game, and all my friends told me it was awful, so I avoided it (only Trek movie I never saw). I'll probably see it before Picard comes out.

It"s not terrible. Much better than Insurrection, which was basically a two hour episode rather than a film, with the same production values. It always blows me away that the villain in Nemesis, Shinzon, is played by Tom Hardy. When you see him remember that he"s also Bane in The Dark Knight Rises. The guy is a physical chameleon, and a helluva actor.

The fact there's a Highway To Hell and only a Stairway To Heaven says a lot about anticipated traffic numbers

 

People only say "It's a free country" when they're doing something shitty-Demetri Martin

 

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Insurrection reminded me of "Search for Spock"... nothing particularly wrong with it, but it felt slow and plodding. And yes, it was exactly like a 2hour episode. But I dunno, I didn't have a real problem with it like Generations, which was multiple-legacy-ruining filth.

 

That said, "Search for Spock" is probably the most important film in my wife's linguistic field. It was the first major Hollywood motion picture to create a full language (Klingon) and hire a professional. It, along with the Lord of the Rings adaptations, paved the way for Game of Thrones and now pretty much every SciFi/fantasy film has a linguist on the pay-roll.

Puck Funk! :)

 

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Insurrection reminded me of "Search for Spock"... nothing particularly wrong with it, but it felt slow and plodding. And yes, it was exactly like a 2hour episode.

 

Insurrection gets a bad rap. I've seen it a few times... there's really more there than you might think, and the music is top notch.

 

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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Watched this with my wife this weekend, and we both jumped up from the couch when Riker showed up. A pleasant surprise.

 

A Trek latecomer, I never finished watching all the way through TNG (got bogged down when Worf's son started making more regular appearances, and dear god, that episode that focuses on him and Troi's mother), but I feel like I need to at least hop skip and jump through the last couple of seasons before I dive into this.

 

That will have to be after we finish re-viewing Breaking Bad in preparation for the El Camino movie's release this weekend. The world's a crazy place right now, but boy, is there some good television.

Samuel B. Lupowitz

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A Trek latecomer, I never finished watching all the way through TNG (got bogged down when Worf's son started making more regular appearances, and dear god, that episode that focuses on him and Troi's mother)

 

Yeah, TNG has its ups and downs for sure. I liked season 6 the best.

 

When an eel hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's a Moray.
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I love everything about this.

Regarding the overall franchise,

 

I am an original Star Trek Fan, and TNG fan! The subsequent series did nothing for me.

 

I'm also the same person for whom Star Wars begins and ends with the original trilogy (pre Lucas messing with them) I saw all three in the theater as they were released way back when.

 

So, I am really looking forward to this new series with Picard, Riker, Troi, etc...

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I must admit it got dusty in here a little bit when Riker showed up.

 

As for the series. I will have to wait and see. I wish they could have kept just a little more of the TNG aesthetic. Not that interested in the inside of the ships looking like something out of a Marvel flick. Okudagrams would be a sight for sore eyes.

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A Trek latecomer, I never finished watching all the way through TNG (got bogged down when Worf's son started making more regular appearances, and dear god, that episode that focuses on him and Troi's mother)

 

Yeah, TNG has its ups and downs for sure. I liked season 6 the best.

I should add that the reason I often still enjoy TNG even at its worst is because Patrick Stewart is Acting SO HARD, and seeing him give the same level of depth, subtlety, and nuance to his performance even in the most lackluster episodes is a testament to his craftsmanship. It's like hearing a truly great musician play a terrible piece of music -- occasionally a performance can be of higher quality than the work being performed.

 

So on that note, I'm sure I'll enjoy the Picard (mini?)series very much, even if it's not breathtaking.

Samuel B. Lupowitz

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I should add that the reason I often still enjoy TNG even at its worst is because Patrick Stewart is Acting SO HARD, and seeing him give the same level of depth, subtlety, and nuance to his performance even in the most lackluster episodes is a testament to his craftsmanship. It's like hearing a truly great musician play a terrible piece of music -- occasionally a performance can be of higher quality than the work being performed.

Yes, it was the truly awful episodes of TNG that convinced me of what a great actor Patrick Stewart is. Because somehow, no matter how bad the episode was, even when the other character's lines were falling flat, he somehow always found a way to make his lines work. Any half decent actor can give a good performance if something is well written and well directed. It takes a great actor to give a good performance when the writing sucks.

 

And as long as I'm here... I think Insurrection was much better than Nemesis. Sure, it was a glorified TV episode, but so what? I'd rather watch a well-written TV episode than a badly written movie.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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I should add that the reason I often still enjoy TNG even at its worst is because Patrick Stewart is Acting SO HARD, and seeing him give the same level of depth, subtlety, and nuance to his performance even in the most lackluster episodes is a testament to his craftsmanship. It's like hearing a truly great musician play a terrible piece of music -- occasionally a performance can be of higher quality than the work being performed.

Yes, it was the truly awful episodes of TNG that convinced me of what a great actor Patrick Stewart is. Because somehow, no matter how bad the episode was, even when the other character's lines were falling flat, he somehow always found a way to make his lines work. Any half decent actor can give a good performance if something is well written and well directed. It takes a great actor to give a good performance when the writing sucks.

 

And as long as I'm here... I think Insurrection was much better than Nemesis. Sure, it was a glorified TV episode, but so what? I'd rather watch a well-written TV episode than a badly written movie.

 

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I should add that the reason I often still enjoy TNG even at its worst is because Patrick Stewart is Acting SO HARD, and seeing him give the same level of depth, subtlety, and nuance to his performance even in the most lackluster episodes is a testament to his craftsmanship. It's like hearing a truly great musician play a terrible piece of music -- occasionally a performance can be of higher quality than the work being performed.

That's why I also have to give MAJOR props to Marina Sirtis. Everything about her roll was terrible: awful conception, awful writing, and (it's really obvious) awful direction. Yet, she stuck with it through thick and thin, and slowly made something of the character. Heck, she didn't even audition for the part, she went in expecting to play the badass security chief but was switched because Gene thought "she was too pretty". People give Marina a bad rap, but if you listen to the lines she's given... can you think of any way of delivering them without sounding awful? She was also the one who forced them to put her back in a uniform and develop her into a more commanding roll. She had to wait for Gene to die and for the deck chairs to get re-arranged, but she did it. By First Contact, she's one of the best characters on the show. I hated her when I was a kid, but seeing all the shit she swam through to make Deanna into a legit character took A LOT OF WORK. Patrick Stewart is a god, but he got handed all the best lines on a silver platter.

 

Also, besides Patrick, she's the most active member of the cast. Needs to be a main character on Doctor Who so hard (one of her big wishes).

Puck Funk! :)

 

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That's why I also have to give MAJOR props to Marina Sirtis. Everything about her roll was terrible: awful conception, awful writing, and (it's really obvious) awful direction. Yet, she stuck with it through thick and thin, and slowly made something of the character.

 

I agree. Frankly I think the acting by most of the cast is pretty great.

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That's why I also have to give MAJOR props to Marina Sirtis. Everything about her roll was terrible: awful conception, awful writing, and (it's really obvious) awful direction.

 

I agree. She is a fine actress.

 

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I am an original Star Trek Fan, and TNG fan!

 

I'm also the same person for whom Star Wars begins and ends with the original trilogy (pre Lucas messing with them) I saw all three in the theater as they were released way back when.

 

My wife and I are in this club, too. ST fans all the way back to TOS, all the way thru Enterprise. I've never quite crossed the line into costumes and ComiCon, but one of my prized possessions is a real, 24ct gold, Jostens-made, Starfleet Academy graduation ring. My wife and I have always told our kids that SW is fine science *fiction*, but ST is *real*. :) Our very first date, 33 years ago, was "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home".

 

We liked the first season of "Discovery" (waiting for our season 2 discs from Amazon) with all the feature-film production values, but found it a little too dark and a shade overwrought. Hoping that things lighten up a little and have more fun (our favorite TOS episodes are "Spectre of the Gun" and "A Piece of the Action"). Thrilled that Patrick Stewart is back, and my wife is over-the-moon for Jonathan Frakes (her ST "crush"). "Discovery" was not enough to shake loose a CBS:Access subscription from our wallet -- maybe "Picard" will be.

 

As to the ST movies, I always tell folks who have never seen the pre-Abrams films that the even-numbered ones are the best:

 

1: The Movie (TOS "The Changeling" episode, retold lamely)

*2: Wrath of Kahn (TOS "Space Seed" episode, revisited fabulously)

3: Search for Spock (Christopher Lloyd - great; story - meh)

*4: Voyage Home (here's a 2-hr TV episode script that *works*; joyous)

5: Final Frontier (the "Spock's Brain" of the movie franchise)

*6: Undiscovered Country (Plummer out-Shatners Shatner; an over-acting fun-fest)

7: Generations (the "Nexus" ?)

*8: First Contact (TNG crew in top form; rivetting)

9: Insurrection (dumb)

*10: Nemesis (Tom Hardy - yes!)

 

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I look at ST2 and ST3 as a single 3-hour movie, I think it works great like that and is really a more complete story.

 

Nemesis is a 2nd-rate remake of Wrath of Khan. The crew must stop the villain with the super-weapon who has a personal obsession with the captain, and in the end they are saved by the sacrifice of Spock/Data, right down to their laying the groundwork for a possible kind of "rebirth" of the character.

Maybe this is the best place for a shameless plug! Our now not-so-new new video at https://youtu.be/3ZRC3b4p4EI is a 40 minute adaptation of T. S. Eliot's "Prufrock" - check it out! And hopefully I'll have something new here this year. ;-)

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I look at ST2 and ST3 as a single 3-hour movie, I think it works great like that and is really a more complete story.

 

Totally agree; I would add ST4 to that, as well -- 2-3-4 is a trilogy with Spock as its primary character arc.

 

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This may be beyond heresy, but I quite enjoy Star Trek 5, and believe it always gets a lot of bandwagon hate. Come on, it's not that bad. For one, it has one of the best soundtracks in the series. And it has some GREAT comedic moments between the characters. Honestly, it feels like the prototype for a Simon Pegg/Nick Frost buddy movie with Kirk/Spock/McCoy and their weird dynamic. Yes, I know Shatner's ego is all over the walls, and the overall story is CRAP, it's not high art, but it's got some fun moments. I can sit back and be entertained by it more than some of the other movies that try too hard (Generations), or try too little (TMP).

 

Intro scene with Kirk being a dipshit in Yellowstone is worth it in of itself.

 

Who's gonna come out and admit that they enjoyed it too?

Puck Funk! :)

 

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I likes all the original Star Trek movies, but Rick Berman himself said the whole conceit of Star Trek doesn"t really work for movies, especially today"s action (that is, explosion) driven ones, which sf like Star Trek has to be. That"s why the return to TV is such a great thing.

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... and the overall story is CRAP, it's not high art, but it's got some fun moments....

 

My opinion of ST 5 is almost exactly opposite yours. I thought the story was brilliant, but the execution was ruined by too many silly attempts at humor. Admit it... who didn't know Scotty was going to hit his head before he did right after he said "I know this ship like the back of my hand..."? Uggh.

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⦠I've never quite crossed the line into costumes and Comicon...

 

I'm afraid my wife & I are much worse than that. Both of our kids got their names from Star Trek characters. They weren't named after actual characters per se, but in both cases, we had not found a name we agreed on looking thru baby books or from friends' suggestions. And in both cases, while watching either TNG or DS9, one of us said something like, "ooh, that's a cool name..."

 

 

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