All Things Star Trek

[Smellincoffee]

Am I the only one who really does not like the esthetic of the new movies. Things are just too clean and rounded and for lack of a better term Iphonish. And there is far too much milky white plastic. To me, TOS and DS9 were the ones to really got it right with making the starships look like starships and not accessories.

Like, just look at the background in that gif in the post above me. It's a metal door frame that looks so industrial and real. Like a real door you would find on a real place that's lived in as opposed to a showroom.

I miss when SF looked that way.

I've heard contemporary Trek set design described as the Apple Store esthetic. May have been restricted to the Abrams movies.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I've heard contemporary Trek set design described as the Apple Store esthetic. May have been restricted to the Abrams movies.

Basically from my perspective TOS and DS9 looked just right. They looked just the right combination of well worn and used and futuristic. TNG lacked the used part but still looked nice. Especially the monitors. The displays really look like something you might find in a game today. So it kind of works.

The new movies though look more like something you might expect to see in a showroom rather than actual use. Like, I can see that design being the prototype you show the magazines to get the funding. But when you actually start mass production you end up with TNG.

 

[Smellincoffee]

Basically from my perspective TOS and DS9 looked just right. They looked just the right combination of well worn and used and futuristic. TNG lacked the used part but still looked nice. Especially the monitors. The displays really look like something you might find in a game today. So it kind of works.

The new movies though look more like something you might expect to see in a showroom rather than actual use. Like, I can see that design being the prototype you show the magazines to get the funding. But when you actually start mass production you end up with TNG.

DS9 is especially interesting because it was supposed to be set on an "old" Cardassian mining station, and then later gained a Federation starship with its own, pared-down, martial aesthetic that was still related to the TNG-movie/VOY aesethetic.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I think a large part of what makes the new stuff feel wrong is just how many white and glossy and just generally well finished surfaces there are. Like, unless you are WW2 Germany you just don't do that for something that is supposed to be a military thing. That's the sort of thing reserved for luxury goods and consumer products. A machine of war is supposed to feel like it is built to be used and not admired. Know what I mean?

 

[Ordnael]

Rewatched this rough gem of a TNG episode yesterday with the missus

Conspiracy (episode)

After Captain Picard receives a dark warning from an old friend, the Enterprise-D returns to Earth to stop an alien invasion from taking over Starfleet Command. The USS Enterprise-D is en route for the planet Pacifica for a scientific mission. Commander Riker, along with the rest of the crew, is...

memory-alpha.fandom.com

It's so silly it's good, it's like an obscure sci-fi horror b movie...the parasite props and stop motion are adorable!

 

[EgonSpengler]

Rewatched this rough gem of a TNG episode yesterday with the missus

Conspiracy (episode)

After Captain Picard receives a dark warning from an old friend, the Enterprise-D returns to Earth to stop an alien invasion from taking over Starfleet Command. The USS Enterprise-D is en route for the planet Pacifica for a scientific mission. Commander Riker, along with the rest of the crew, is...

memory-alpha.fandom.com

It's so silly it's good, it's like an obscure sci-fi horror b movie...the parasite props and stop motion are adorable!

Unresolved semi-cliffhanger ending, though, iirc. But yeah, I remember liking that episode.

 

[Ordnael]

Well, according to Memory Alpha the parasites go on living in Star Trek novels and they even fight against the Trill!
Still, I am glad the TNG producers decided to discard the whole parasite thing in favour of our favourite Swedish furniture named villains!

 

[warpus]

I would love a sort of anthology Trek show that jumps around locations, characters, time periods, and even timelines. One episode could be a follow-up to Conspiracy.

Of course one of the difficulties would be no returning characters, which modern TV just might not tolerate. ARE there any anthology-like shows out there these days? Or is every TV series these days basically a long movie?

 

[Ordnael]

I haven't watched it yet, saving it for after rewatching TNG with the missus, but I think The Lower Decks kinda bridges all 90's Star Trek in terms of themes and locations.

 

[EgonSpengler]

I would love a sort of anthology Trek show that jumps around locations, characters, time periods, and even timelines. One episode could be a follow-up to Conspiracy.

Of course one of the difficulties would be no returning characters, which modern TV just might not tolerate. ARE there any anthology-like shows out there these days? Or is every TV series these days basically a long movie?

The closest thing I can think of are the crime and medical procedurals, in which the ongoing characters are a framing device to have a different crime or medical drama each week. In those shows, you have a balance between the story-of-the-week and the ongoing story of the doctors or detectives. These shows are on a range: Law & Order focused heavily on the case of the week, and we learned very little about the attorneys and detectives, even over several seasons; meanwhile Grey's Anatomy focused heavily on the ongoing relationships of the recurring characters, and the medical cases were sometimes barely there.

Poker Face with Natasha Lyonne is a throwback to the ol' "wandering ronin" type of show, which was another framing device to enable a new story every week with new characters. I never saw it, but back in the 1960s, there was a show called Have Gun, Will Travel about a rootless gunfighter wandering around the Old West lending a hand to people in need (the character's name was "Paladin" - a little on the nose ). There have been numerous shows that followed in Have Gun's footsteps since then. One of my favorites when I was a kid was The Incredible Hulk, with Bill Bixby wandering the country trying to stay out of trouble and inevitably getting drawn into it, week after week. Every single episode ended the same way, with Our Hero heading off down the road alone, again, leaving behind the friends he'd just made. (It was a pretty maudlin show, considering it was a superhero story.) Of course, in something like Poker Face, there's still the ongoing story about why our traveling swordswoman is traveling, even if there are some episodes where it never comes up.

 

[Smellincoffee]

I think a large part of what makes the new stuff feel wrong is just how many white and glossy and just generally well finished surfaces there are. Like, unless you are WW2 Germany you just don't do that for something that is supposed to be a military thing. That's the sort of thing reserved for luxury goods and consumer products. A machine of war is supposed to feel like it is built to be used and not admired. Know what I mean?

Yep -- more Defiant, less Apple Store.

 

[Plotinus]

Rewatched this rough gem of a TNG episode yesterday with the missus

Conspiracy (episode)

After Captain Picard receives a dark warning from an old friend, the Enterprise-D returns to Earth to stop an alien invasion from taking over Starfleet Command. The USS Enterprise-D is en route for the planet Pacifica for a scientific mission. Commander Riker, along with the rest of the crew, is...

memory-alpha.fandom.com

It's so silly it's good, it's like an obscure sci-fi horror b movie...the parasite props and stop motion are adorable!

I happened to watch this for the first time just a couple of weeks ago. It started well enough, but went insane as it progressed. I think it’s safe to say I did not expect to see Picard and Riker phasering someone so hard his head exploded.

I was particularly struck by how Picard doesn’t do his usual thing of negotiating with the hostile alien but just shoots to kill without a word. I like to think this is because he bears a grudge against Remmick from the earlier episode in which he appeared, so I imagined alternative versions of the scene like this:

Parasite queen: We mean your species no harm. As a sign of good will I am restoring the mind of this human. He will be unharmed.
Remmick: Where - where am I? What’s been happening? It feels like a terrible dream. Captain Picard, is that you?
Picard: SET PHASERS TO KILL!

 

[Samson]

I watched DS9 S03E09 Defiant the other day. At 29:08 - 30:18 Kira and Tom Riker have an argument about who is the best sort of terrorist.

 

[Ordnael]

Kira can be so good, but I dreaded Kira focused episodes I found them mostly uninteresting, never really liked they she played the terrorist/freedom fighter haunted by her past, maybe she played it good but I didn't like it much.

Thanks for your alternate ending for Conspiracy @Plotinus it gave me a chuckle!

 

[Arakhor]

I had no idea that Remmick gets killed so spectacularly until I saw the episode on DVD, as the BBC always edited it for their 6 pm slot.

 

[Ordnael]

The thing is Remick kinda finishes the episode that initiates this arc on a good tone with Picard, like he was being forced to be that obtrusive and thorough when questioning senior officers. His death as the parasite mother host is both anticlimactic, silly, and spectacularly stupid.

Coming of Age (episode)

As Wesley Crusher faces the Starfleet Academy entrance exam on Relva VII, representatives from Starfleet Command conduct an exhaustive investigation into Captain Picard and the Enterprise-D crew. Wesley Crusher runs through a corridor to catch up with his friend Jake Kurland and tell him he's...

memory-alpha.fandom.com

 

[Plotinus]

I don't know, look at Picard's face when Remmick says he plans to request a transfer to the Enterprise...

 

[Patine]

I've heard contemporary Trek set design described as the Apple Store esthetic. May have been restricted to the Abrams movies.

Basically from my perspective TOS and DS9 looked just right. They looked just the right combination of well worn and used and futuristic. TNG lacked the used part but still looked nice. Especially the monitors. The displays really look like something you might find in a game today. So it kind of works.

The new movies though look more like something you might expect to see in a showroom rather than actual use. Like, I can see that design being the prototype you show the magazines to get the funding. But when you actually start mass production you end up with TNG.

There are three people I ALWAYS dread it when I here they are doing a remake of an old popular IP I enjoyed from my youth - Kevin Smith, Michael Bay, and J.J. Abrams.

 

[Laurana Kanan]

I don't know how many people this would interest...

Last year Fanhome had picked up the license to produce die-cast Star Trek ship models in the same vein as the now defunct Eaglemoss company. They have finally announced the initial lineup and the subscription purchase option is now live. Individual ships can also be purchased around a month after release at a slight markup.

Star Trek Starships

www.fanhome.com

It looks like initially the ships will come from newer properties - Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy.
The first six ships (20 are already planned) are:

• U.S.S. Titan NCC-80102-A from Star Trek: Picard Season 3 - Ships in November
• U.S.S. Stargazer NCC-82893 (Sagan class) from Star Trek: Picard Season 2 - Ships in December
• U.S.S. Farragut NCC-1647 from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 1
• U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-F from Star Trek: Picard Season 3
• S.S. Eleos XII NAR-59019 from Star Trek: Picard Season 3
• The Shrike from Star Trek: Picard Season 3

 

[Smellincoffee]

I would have a look at them, at least. Love that they named ship class Sagan.