I think people are just putting their worry into all the wrong places. The ownership of Paramount has the potential to ass-to-mouth-rape Trek harder than any season of any one show, or any episode of any season of any one show. Season 4 could have all been out-of-the-ballpark "Duet" level home runs, and if the Ellisons want to turn it into Nazi slop, all that quality wouldn't save it. Quality-ing really, really, really hard only "saves" Trek in a non-Trump world. We don't live in that world. Sorry. Star Trek movie 14 and whatever the next show are gonna be are the proof of the pudding, and we're kinda all stuck holding our breath.
I'm cautiously optimistic that Ellison and Co. won't mess with the entertainment divisions, if only because I don't think that anyone from Trumpworld really cares too too much about them. They more care about what the news divisions do, as they shape perception and directly can impact votes, etc. I tend to doubt that even Stephen Miller really cares what Trek itself does, despite him posting of SFA that it shows that the franchise is in trouble and that the solution is putting William Shatner in charge. Of course, if that comes to pass, then my cautious optimism will have completely unjustified.
Ugh. That said, the scene with Juliet and the closing one were pretty good. I can't believe how good this show was not all that long ago.
Too. Many. Gimmicks. My wife decided to nap after 10 minutes, which was an improvement over watching it. It answered a question no one had cared to ask - why had the Q put humanity on trial by TNG - and the tackling of Pike's emotions wasn't worth the squeeze of the rest of the ep. The muppet episode at least had the redemption of being fun, this was just awful.
I also don't get why we're not getting better gimmicks, as someone arrogant enough to think he can do better story drafts, but humble enough to know I could never write an episode as well, it pains me. Take the muppet one, that could have been: "60th Anniversary Special" - The planet Roden (replace with eyewink name of choice) is celebrating 60 years since archaeological evidence showed that the bronze age tale Anta Pree had some basis in fact, and they're celebrating with a muppet retelling of the tale where visitors from the far away land of Fed saved their civilisation with magic tools. A lot of voice acting to bring in actors from all series' where they can literally phone in their lines. Hell, have a watercooler scene where a runner tells two people stood there (played by Mark Hamil - he's played a greasy spoon owner in Man Down, so he's up for a laugh - and Bruce Boxleitner) who respond in unison "what do we care, it's not our show!" Other suggestions: "Face of the Enemy" - The Romulan science vessel Bane of Ignorance is doing a run to get energy from an abandoned Dyson Swarm to power the new plasma weapon being tested when the Enterprise appears to explore the system, and they have to evade detection, and even find a leak with which to view the crew. Have the cast play Romulans, and oooh, we have double meanings! We the viewer get to see the Romulans as we see Starfleet, and the Romulans get to see Starfleet and discuss Spock - amazeballs we get another mirror of Balance of Terror with the message the enemy may not be so different. "Price of Everything, Cost of Nothing" - The Enterprise responds to a disaster to a non-Federation system, that nonetheless trades with the Federation in certain rare elements post Klingon war. Find evidence of slave labour, child labour, lack of safety around workers and the disposing of the noxious waste from processing. Ooooh, we have a story that mirrors the Western hypocrisy of turning a blind eye to practices in the far east whilst navel gazing similar historical practices! Social commentary! Debate! Wooo! If I can chuck ideas at the wall all fucking day, good, bad, or indifferent, why can't the people who do it professionally? Because I refuse to believe the ones that have made it through are the best ideas that were on the table.
Oh, the one good thing from Chronitons was Ethan Peck's Sybok. I mean, I'd have cheerfully clung on to those ears like they were ponytails and ploughed that furrow, and I'm usually more attracted to the feminine side.
The soap opera episode was so bad I had to turn it off, did I miss anything important? I’m guessing no.
I will say, this episode did what other similar eps (Like The Inner Light) did not, which is acknowledge how much living a whole life in your head over a few minutes would fuck you up.
I thought about that, but the whole point of that episode was the trauma. Other eps, like Inner Light or Paradise Syndrome, just kind of ignored any residual trauma, like losing their kids fir instance.
And none of those you mentioned occurred in direct proximity to any other episode on the list. Only two of them within the same season. Part of the complaining is "gimmick of the week" more so than that any given one exists in a vacuum (except, for some of us, the puppets) For me, one and six were quite good. Two and four were fine Three and seven were flawed (IMO) but okay, taken on their own without the context of the season. But the fact that five of the seven used some gimmick ends up getting them judged as a unit instead of the random one-offs seen in other series.
The soap opera episode was great and I enjoyed all the symbolism. The soap opera premise represents how they're doing a whole season of gimmick episodes. Pike not being affected and being all annoyed and not wanting to play along represents all the butthurt Trekkers who are butthurt because Star Trek isn't exactly how they want it to be. Trelane represents the people who make the show not giving a shit what the butthurt Trekkers want because all they do is complain and even when they like an episode they still bitch about it not being perfect. Pike: "I don't wanna do a soap opera episode! Stop this nonsense immediately!" Trelane: "Make me, human." Pike: "La'an..." La'an: *Punches Trelane* Trelane: "You hit me!" La'an: "It didn't work." Pike: "That was supposed to make you run away. Why didn't you run away?" Trelane: "Picard never hit me."
All you assholes sound like Dayton and need to take a page from the Shat: Get a fucking life. It's just a TV show. And let's be real: you're all going to piss your diapers and cry like babies when this show is over, because that's it for Trek on TV. Probably for quite a while. Be thankful you got a show as awesome as Strange New Worlds.
I'm amused that the contrast is... "Holy fucking shiiiiitt!! Ohhhhhh!!! ". ...and... "Eeeeheheheheheh!! Blaahhh!! Eeeeheheheheheh!! Blaahhh!! ". Mood cycle much, guys?
Its like listening to Red Letter Media complain constantly. I have a strong feeling that fifteen years from now, we'll have 40-50somethings complaining that Star Trek: The New Shit is an insult to the memory of shows like SNW. And invariably, a fan of The New Shit will say, "Yeah, well, are you saying the puppet episode was peak Trek?" And the 50something will say "At least Trek still remembered how to have fun then!" Or something. All of this has happened before. All of this will happen again. So say we all.
I'm sure if I dug up old TV Guide reviews from the 60's, I'd find something like "'The Way To Eden' killed my whole family!! I'll get you for this NBC!!! I'll hunt you to the ends of the Earth!!! ".
Generation Beta won't be phased at all by the mixed-race trans captain with the prosthetic climb, but when they add a Dutch helmsman, they'll be all "you....woke...bastards!!! ".
It is BECAUSE Strange New Worlds is an awesome series that I expect better than goddamn puppets from it.
I reject the implication. If you were unhappy with Voyager or Enterprise as a whole, sure, you're entitled to that. But if you were bitching about "Profit and Lace" or "Q-pid" or whatever when there were 20+ "real" Star Trek episodes that season, you were a whiny bitch (and I didn't like almost any Ferengi episode of DS9 but I understood that every series had some missteps when you're churning out 26 (or whatever) a year) THAT is not at all the same thing as expressing regret that 40% of a season is wasted on fluff. Also, not your point, but a "bad episode" is also not the same thing. Anyone can judge that, say, "What is Starfleet?" was a bad episode, there are none among us who hasn't reached such a conclusion. It's an entirely different complaint to say "I wish they'd stop fucking around" For me, the noir episode was fine, the soap episode I wouldn't complain about normally, the horror ep wasn't my cup of tea (the genre in general leaves me cold) but it wasn't "bad" - the complaint this year isn't about quality (even the muppet episode was a good muppet episode) but about decision making. We came into the year with a TINY sample of 16 episodes left, what I want is to love every one of them. I know that's unlikely but don't make me feel like you're wasting them either.
Disagree. It's been a great season except for the puppet episode... which, as I said, was such a spectacular failure that only a show like SNW could make.
At this point I’ll breath a sigh of relief, unless it really picks up. Season 1 was good but that’s it.
Season 4 had wrapped before the got the news of cancellation. Also, getting the Jim Hanson Workshop onboard is not exactly a thing done on a whim, that was probably being talked about even when season 3 was filming. No, the tonal whiplash reels of interference at a higher level because fans complained about PIC being too needlessly dark and DSC being melodramatic (which...if so, why the everliving fuck would you do a soap opera episode???) whole noticing fans loved Lower Decks.
I think the issue is, what do we define as "fucking around"? What you call fluff, I call good character work. Human Best Friend, for instance, has good character moments for Ortegas, Scotty, and the Kirk/Spock relationship. We could potentially call a lot of the first season of DS9, for instance, "fluff". Most of the episodes, if not bad, were fairly forgettable. If it's not your cup of tea, I respect that. I too find this season less gripping than previous ones. But, on an individual level I've enjoyed all the episodes. None of them have irritated me nearly as much as "4 and a half Vulcans".
My expectation (one I assume is shared with a lot of people) is that a season is going to have a mix of mostly straight-up serious episodes, with a couple comedic ones mixed in. If someone assembled the best 10 comedic episodes in Trek history, reformatted them to fit SNW, and said "Here's your season 4," it would probably be discordant with those expectations and make me question that series of episodes back-to-back like that, even though the individual episodes would be great.
I went to a restaurant last month, and had a steak so good I autographed the ceiling in cum. Went again last night, steak was good, not as good as last time. That doesn't mean last night's was like maggot-dusted dogfood left in the burning sun for several hours, just means I enjoyed it less and was a little sad the quality wasn't as good. If you're that desperate for a new FF windmill to tilt at, just bring the original cockwomble back.
