All Things Star Trek

[Ordnael]

the (crappy) first season

We have a point of discord here
Although Maya's is a great character, she still can't overshadow my perception that the writing got way worse in the 2nd season...also Tony kindda sucks for me, maybe I dislike him mostly mostly because he reminds me wow much I missed the previous Command Center personnel and the "cleaner" look!
The 2nd season is so weird I like to believe the fan theory that the Moonbase Alpha from the 1st season did split into two universes. A theory summed up by the producers website:

Space 1999 - A Tale of Two Moons | Season 1 vs Season 2

How can we reconcile the differences between season 1 and season 2 of Space 1999? Our Tale of Two Moons might help you with that...

gerryanderson.com

I can't recall memories from Thunderbirds Are Go! but I still remember vague images from the Stingray and pretending to play with the titular ship out of a random submarine like toy...I believe I also went as far as attempting to build my image of the ship out of base legos. I think I still have my lego God Phoenix from Gatchaman somewhere in the house

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Just saw this on Facebook. That's Catherine Schell, the Maya actress - you might recognize the man.

I'll defend the hill that the first season was bad, just no comparison intended - Maya and the second are 50 year-old memories. First season definitely had better -far more iconic- opening theme music.

It's important to note that beggar can't be choosers, and TV SF was still a vast desert in the 70s, with a rare oasis here and there. The not-much-later examples of Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers -we geeks all watched, not having much choice- were hardly paradigms of Trying To Do Good Work --- Space: 1999 could be an exception, for all I know. There were definite signs the show took itself seriously, and they simply may not have had any good writers involved....

 

[Arakhor]

I have both series of Buck Rogers on DVD, which does have a few genuinely good episodes, even if the second series was clearly heavily inspired by the Star Trek revival.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

The Princess Arda actress was often quite good, not merely hot - a very funny lady. The lead, Gil Gerard, was fine as the Buck they intended. Erin Grey as Wilma Deering, I liked better in the pilot, a hard edged military woman w/ hair up in a bun, not the glammed-up version of the series in blue satin she didn't really have the figure to fill out - but yo, Erin Grey, Geek Goddess - you had to love her.

The show was sorta dumb-by-design, not unlike Star Wars in that they were trying to do fun high adventure, not disguised political commentary in the frequent vein Star Trek and The Twilight Zone mined. The show very much succeeded on its own terms. It was fun. -Much of all the same could be said of the original Battlestar Galactica.

I note that all this is not really off-topic to this thread. Capsule drive-by reviews of TV SF of the fifties, sixties and seventies provides context to improve younger fans' understanding of where Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds are coming from, and what they're riffing on...

 

[Ordnael]

First season definitely had better -far more iconic- opening theme music.

There can still be peace among us then
I can't recognise the man without the "mirror" goathee...btw isn't it neat and utterly funny that the goathee has reappeared in both Entreprise's and Discovery mirror universe episodes?
Catherine Schell's Maya is what makes season 2 worth a watch for me, and I don't mean the transformations or her looks, her character is genuinely interesting and well written!
I watched some reruns of Battlestar Galactica somewhere in my teens and it looked interesting. Before that I had only seen Dirk Benedict in the A-Team in copious amounts.
Buck Rogers is no an alien name for me, but if it ran here it didn't leave an impression on older folks, from whom I've learned about Space 1999.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

It was all about Maya for me at 12, yes. I remember that much.

And yes, evil goatee is Iconic. Yes, of course.

 

[Patine]

I have both series of Buck Rogers on DVD, which does have a few genuinely good episodes, even if the second series was clearly heavily inspired by the Star Trek revival.

One of those series was a classic example of an awesome first season, then the lead actor lets it go to his head, demands a LOT of changes for the second season to suit his ego, and quality and ratings plummet.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Ordnael, a thing you ought to know about me is that I feed my semi-feral cats at sunset - and for the roughly half the time the moon is visible in the still-blue sky at US east-coast twilight, I whistle the first season Space: 1999 theme as I walk down the hill; this has been going on for nine years straight, so the show is a big part of my life.

 

[Ordnael]

Ordnael, a thing you ought to know about me is that I feed my semi-feral cats at sunset - and for the roughly half the time the moon is visible in the still-blue sky at US east-coast twilight, I whistle the first season Space: 1999 theme as I walk down the hill; this has been going on for nine years straight, so the show is a big part of my life.

In case you haven't seen this before I'll leave here for you

 

[Buster's Uncle]

 

[Ordnael]

I finished DiscoTrek season 3 and...I am still enjoying...but the destination of this ride sucked immensely, however I did enjoy the rest stops of most of the episodes. A shame for the early leave of Michelle Yeoh but at least it was, somewhat, well written.

Funny story. So the day I, last Saturday actually, watched the Philippa leaving episode at night, my wife happened to catch Michelle's magnum opus "Everything Everywhere All at Once" as we got out of bed that morning. It was our second time watching it, but it's such a peculiar movie that I happily devoured it again. And so late at night after such a dose of Michelle Yeoh I had trouble sleeping, as she was everywhere in my mind

Anyway about DiscoTrek Season 3, love the fights scene's I can see and appreciate that Sonequa did a real effort to play those scenes with sincere intensity, she actual does a WWE "forbidden" Triangle Choke on a bad guy while she's on an injured leg...nice touch!

Tilly grows some more, as well as other, farther from the spotlight, minor characters...maybe Owo and Detmer aren't such minor characters anymore by the end of this season...and it's great to see this. Wish I had more to watch about them then all that Adira nonsense, "teen" prodigy, although I do find the Trill episode a real highlight of great writing following with established lore and still managing to enrich it. It makes no sense Grey got the symbiont after a Starfleet admiral carried it, although I guess that episode does explain it there just weren't enough trills to go around...the exact opposite of what was going on centuries before during Jadzia's time

But my tru major gripe is the season finale including previous episode...not even Akira Toryama dared of writing a screaming over the top of his lungs Goku straining to achieve super saiyan 3 form to cause such massive loss of life and desctruction across the galaxy that was The Burn. I find it very silly writing below MCU current levels of silliness.

Also Picard's Entreprise established in various episodes that turbolifts run inside shafts, and however omnidirectional they might be I don't think the original vision behind this concept never imagined these devices travelling unhinged on an almost absent rails across hangar sized somewhat busy, somewhat empty places inside a starship...that is not bigger then Kirk's/Pike's Enterprise.
Oh and I like Booker, a lot, good acting, good writing (except the finale) and not to sound racist but I really like the black british accent, remind me of an Idris Elba...it's just cool you know

 

[Arakhor]

I liked Discovery much more than I disliked it, but the whole "a single person caused a galaxy-wide event" thing was very silly indeed. Even Star Wars wouldn't have pulled something that wild and there were some absolutely bonkers uses of the Force over the years.

 

[Patine]

the whole "a single person caused a galaxy-wide event" thing was very silly indeed

Golan Trevize, "Foundation and Earth."
Paul Atriedes, "Dune."

 

[Ordnael]

Don't about that Golan dude, is this Foundation that Isaac Asimov novel? Got to give it a read eventually.
But about Paul Atreides...I don't know how well versed in you are in Frank Herbert's masterpiece but I happen to know a thing or two...
Paul Atreides is a culmination of a "derailed" multi generation master plan by the Bene Gesserit, he didn't became prescient just because! And although prescience is something of the paranormal realm, it's way more believable, for me at least, then what the Discotrek writers came up with.
In the end it's all fictional, loveable bs

 

[Buster's Uncle]

I believe you'll find things like the Foundation books -the first three, the rest aren't as good- and the Dune series -only the ones by Frank Herbert himself- worthwhile for themselves, and required reading to hang in there in literate geek conversation. Foundation you'll find very 50s, because that's when they were written, and Dune is a masterpiece that holds up, today, though not super-easy to follow. Read the first Dune even if you read none of the rest, or any of Foundation.

 

[Ordnael]

I like Brian Herbert's book as well, kindda like an expansion of the original universe. Besides Frank's Dune books I've also read Brian's House series as prequels to Dune and now I am waiting for my order to arrive of the Legends of Dune Series expanding on the Butlerian Jihad concept/idea/plot device from original Dune. Can't wait to sink my teeth in these books

 

[Arakhor]

Golan Trevize, "Foundation and Earth."
Paul Atriedes, "Dune."

I haven't read either of those, but it's still without precedent in Star Trek.

 

[Ordnael]

Dear trekkies as I've started to plod through DiscoTrek season 4 - "never thought I would dislike more a character than Jake Sisko but Adira Grey Tal tweens double jeopardy take the cake...and that's after careful consideration if Reno shouldn't take the spot...man it makes me happy these shows don't have enough commissioned episodes to commit to character stories like all old trek had...Wesley's episodes I forgive you" - I've been worrying I am running out of fresh ST to watch... which is not all that bad, I've been thinking about getting a proper torrent of DS9 (how I wish it would have the same visual treatment of TNG before getting to rewatch it but alas it will probably not happen this decade)...yes there is Strange New Worlds...but it's not finished so I would rather give it a twirl once I can gobble it up without year interruption. SO my question is this...knowing that Disco until season 3 is "essential" for a proper watch do I also have to see any of STN to better understand Philippa's Section 31 movie? Thank you for your input.
...
Have we ever ran a dream team quizz here on this threa? I don't know if this is a thing, I've been thinking about it since watching ST Enterprise but I am fairly sure this is a thing. Anyone wants to start? Maybe we need to establish what bridge positions there are first. @Valka D'Ur probably has experience on this since she was neck deep in ST forums.

 

[Arakhor]

The Section 31 film is entirely stand-alone if you've watched up to Discovery season 3. There are references to other things, but nothing essential.

 

[Ordnael]

So for some reason, discotrek season 4 episode 4 went full grey's anatomy in space (the show not the insufferable character, although both are bad imho), wife got pissed at me always getting pissed at what was on screen other then small scenes with the mc (at least I think she's still the mc, maybe the writers forgot about it) - Michael. The n'vair leader and the federation's president are interesting, but this is going downhill too fast...How can they go from 3 overall good seasons, some problems yes, but the whole affairs are still very much digestible to "you know what...maybe kid picard in a cellar calling for mummy is fine". Sorry for the rant...but I was really enjoying this and I am now feeling betrayed and doom scrolling my phone everyone Adira and Grey are on, I am somewhat OK with the very in your faced forced nonsense flavours, but did they had to make them so uniteresting as well, is this representation!?...if Adira was a Klingon and Grey a Nausiccan there would at leat be some visual comedy...but this is just a boring waste of film!!!