Making the Federation a cooler place.
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The General Star Trek Thread of Earl Grey Tea, Baseball, and KHHHAAAANNNN
- Thread starter The Librarian
- Start date
Making the Federation a cooler place.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Kirk didn't get his crew stuck 80 years from home due to his own incompetence.
It's also basically an oxymoron. In the navy it's a flagship because of a flag officer commanding it.
Rhomega Beta
Member
Took nearly a year, but SF Debris has honored my request for a review: VOY S6E3: Barge of the Dead
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
He's going to put my Neelix episodes off forever.
Out of curiosity, why "Barge of the Dead"?
Rhomega Beta
Member
I've always been morbidly curious about stories where characters go to Hell or whatever equivalent there is.
AnotherNils
Member
Rewatched First Contact last night. I'm sure everyone could come up with a long list of ridiculous parts of the movie, but the most ridiculous might be when Data is overcome with lust and makes out with the Borg Queen who taunts him because he hasn't gotten laid in a while. I mean, jesus.
Someone posted this design over at the STO forums. Love how he's blended classic Starfleet design with the Vulcan aesthetic from Enterprise:
http://supersampled.deviantart.com/art/U-S-S-Recalcitrant-436682030
http://supersampled.deviantart.com/art/U-S-S-Recalcitrant-436682030
A lot of ths tuff people get worked up over in First Contact never bothered me. Data's case always seemed hard to criticize because he is Pinocchio and the Borg do offer him a way towards being "more real" and giving him experiences he would otherwise never seem able to have. It'd be like taking a deaf and blind person sight and sound, and then asking if they wanted to go back to how they were before. The point at the end that by our estimates Data immediately rejected the idea and played along, yet for him that was such a long and agonizing decision, was a great coda.
I know people also hate the idea of a Borg Queen, but it always made sense you'd have some sort of hierarchy. I suppose the totally flat power structure people envisioned seemed more alien, but I think it added a nice bit of dimension to the Borg (that Voyager later turned into a weakness where somehow the Queen doesn't know what's going on in her own Hive, but that shouldn't be made FC's fault.)
SeventhSon
Member
The Borg should have been retired after The Best of Both Worlds.
The only way the Borg Queen makes sense is that you have to have a face for your villain in a movie.
The only way the Borg Queen makes sense is that you have to have a face for your villain in a movie.
GameplayWhore
Member
I don't know about that. "I, Borg" was after that, and I think it was the right direction for the kind of individualism vs society story that you can make using them as plot drivers. It's just that the story after that had the Borg as almost an afterthought to the actual plot, and then after that they decided to junk the one thing that made the Borg unique in televised science fiction*.
And that's not even needed. Half of First Contact was essentially a zombie film, and while it's often better for those to have a villain, it is not required for the story to be effective. The film would have been grittier and far less hokey but probably far better in payoff without the character, even though I enjoyed her there.
* something something Cybermen
Darkmakaimura
Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
I just popped in to say it's nice to see 'Q' still getting work.
The Borg Queen after First Contact was a cool concept that worked well I thought. Pretty much every kind of organized group of organisms have some form of a hierarchy whether it's something complex like the Federation or more simplistic (like The Borg). Voyager came along and ruined most things about The Borg though.
First Contact is a movie I still enjoy despite it's faults, because the parts it does well it aces. Plus it's such a standout superior movie compared to the rest of the TNG films.
Bolded is exactly why it's not a cool concept. The borg were much cooler and threatening when they had no single point of failure for their entire species.
Well, I don't think the queen was ever designed as a point of failure, necessarily. Might throw the hive for a loop temporarily but you just create a new one, or create an ad hoc hivemind like they did in Unity. The only reason the drones in FC went kaput (aside from "let's wrap this up" story reasons) probably had something more to do with their separation from the collective as a whole due to the time travel thing.
Where Voyager started getting messy with the concept was by doing stupid things like the Queen countermanding the collective in stupid ways (why is she talking out loud and making gestures when she can communicate nonverbally to every drone) and somehow linking the transwarp stuff to her.
It doesn't really matter if disabling the queen disables the whole collective, there are a lot more ways an independent actor in a distributed system can be a point of failure than that. If you don't feel that the Queen's actions/abilities in Voyager follow from what she is or what she was presented as in FC, I'm not sure what you feel she actually added. Either the collective doesn't need her, and she may as well not exist, or they do need her, and she significantly weakens the threat the Borg pose.
Once in a rare occasion I browse Trektoday.com for Trek news. Doing so tonight makes me realize just how much I miss Star Trek on tv. Other then the JJ Abrams movies, I haven't seen anything Trek related in well over 5 years. Might be time for me to watch some classic Trek sometime soon. Really wish they would develop a new TV series...
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I feel sad because I used to be stupidly active on TrekBBS, but once the shows went off the air, I haven't really had much reason to check in all that frequently.
Henchmen21
Banned
Took long enough but they finally announced Season 6 of TNG on Bluray.
D
Deleted member 102362
Unconfirmed Member
I can see SFDebris getting a kick out of the Troi/Scotty cut scene.
Here's a link to both the S6 trailer and the Chain of Command standalone release.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
I suppose Chain of Command is the only thing that makes sense to release on its own.
S7 has to be All Good Things.
S7 has to be All Good Things.
SpoonyBard
Banned
Has The Measure of a Man been the only extented episode so far? I have been holding off buying the later season sets, because the lack new stuff. Even commentary tracks might make me buy them, but they have been rare.
D
Deleted member 102362
Unconfirmed Member
Yep. All other extra footage for other episodes has been relegated to the deleted scenes sections.
firehawk12
Subete no aware
Yeah, there haven't really been any director's cuts. You're basically paying for HD versions and the commentaries.
I still think it's shit that they make the commentaries exclusive to those separate releases though.
I still think it's shit that they make the commentaries exclusive to those separate releases though.
Davey Cakes
Member
The best season of the show, now in brilliant HD.
SpoonyBard
Banned
Huh, the prices of all Star Trek BluRay season boxes had dropped to 26.90 euros @ verkkokauppa.com (Finnish only, sorry). Ordered seasons 3, 4 and 5, I'd even have bought last two seasons of Enterprise for that, but looks like they only had the first two. Anyway, that's a good price point for the box sets, hopefully it's permanent.
SeventhSon
Member
Wendy Hughes, who played Lt. Commander Daren, Picard's brief gf on TNG, passed today.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/09/wendy-hughes-award-winning-actor-dies
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/09/wendy-hughes-award-winning-actor-dies
Wendy Hughes, who played Lt. Commander Daren, Picard's brief gf on TNG, passed today.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/09/wendy-hughes-award-winning-actor-dies
I... cannot read that text at all.
I think that episode's an underrated one though. It also offered us a chance to actually get some continued payoff from "The Inner Light".
SpoonyBard
Banned
I'm watching TNG season 3 on BluRay for the first time. I can't believe I'm saying this, but these new uniforms look worse than the first ones. Too many seams and the zipper aren't well hidden. They looked better in SD.
And I just finished reading I Am Spock. I had no idea Nimoy was so involved with the story and production of ST IV and VI. Interesting stuff, altough there's not that much written about individual movies or episodes. But Nimoy makes it pretty clear why he was unhappy with tve direction the third season of TOS was going, and I can't blame vim for being relieved when the show was cancelled for the second and last time.
And I just finished reading I Am Spock. I had no idea Nimoy was so involved with the story and production of ST IV and VI. Interesting stuff, altough there's not that much written about individual movies or episodes. But Nimoy makes it pretty clear why he was unhappy with tve direction the third season of TOS was going, and I can't blame vim for being relieved when the show was cancelled for the second and last time.
Well, that's the problem with showing television shows at a resolution they never expected people to see them at. Plenty of smudges and seams.
Wendy Hughes, who played Lt. Commander Daren, Picard's brief gf on TNG, passed today.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/09/wendy-hughes-award-winning-actor-dies
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foUNdwrceGo
Lessons was such an underrated episode. RIP
Sir Walter Taffy
Member
Yeah I remember really liking that one. RIP
GungHo
Single-handedly caused Exxon-Mobil to sue FOX, start World War 3
Wendy Hughes, who played Lt. Commander Daren, Picard's brief gf on TNG, passed today.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/09/wendy-hughes-award-winning-actor-dies
Why is Picard playing his flute. Shouldn't she be playing his flute?
SeventhSon
Member
Escape Goat
Member
Has there been any news on a DS9 bluray? Last I heard it was a wait and see if TNG did well in sales.
BrokenEchelon
Banned
Finishing up my third full run of DS9 with my girlfriend (her first, hence the re-watch).
My feelings are still pretty much the same: Sisko sucks. I'm pretty sure Avery Brooks isn't aware he has muscles on his face that are capable of manipulation in order to show emotion. The only thing that man can actually fucking alter is the pitch of his voice. Like dude, I get that you're super into theater, but you're not fucking doing theater on this television show. Snap out of it. That scene on the beach is still fucking cringecore as hell.
Space Jew story arc and characters are awful, all components of it. Quark is awesome, does anyone else feel like he gets a bit too pessimistic and even nihilistic towards the end? What's up with that? Granted, he does go through a lot of shit.
Odo is great, the founders are not and the deeper his character becomes involved with them, the less I give a shit about him.
Jeffrey Combs is a great actor, but I hate the Vorta design so much.
The Dominion War drags on for far too long. Ezri is still awful and Jedziah is still hot as hell. Jake is bearable after puberty and before becoming a journalist.
O'Brien and Bashir grew on me at the same pace as last time. Michael Dorn got so much more room to actually do something with Worf this time.
Gul Dukat is awesome, until the end when they revert him to Cartoon Villain. Garak is probably the GOAT character on the show.
Somewhat related: Was that episode of TNG (The Price, I think?) where Picard holds negotiations for the first "stable" wormhole a dual test-pilot for both Voyager and DS9? I can't believe I never noticed how much it has in common with the two premises of the latter shows.
My feelings are still pretty much the same: Sisko sucks. I'm pretty sure Avery Brooks isn't aware he has muscles on his face that are capable of manipulation in order to show emotion. The only thing that man can actually fucking alter is the pitch of his voice. Like dude, I get that you're super into theater, but you're not fucking doing theater on this television show. Snap out of it. That scene on the beach is still fucking cringecore as hell.
Space Jew story arc and characters are awful, all components of it. Quark is awesome, does anyone else feel like he gets a bit too pessimistic and even nihilistic towards the end? What's up with that? Granted, he does go through a lot of shit.
Odo is great, the founders are not and the deeper his character becomes involved with them, the less I give a shit about him.
Jeffrey Combs is a great actor, but I hate the Vorta design so much.
The Dominion War drags on for far too long. Ezri is still awful and Jedziah is still hot as hell. Jake is bearable after puberty and before becoming a journalist.
O'Brien and Bashir grew on me at the same pace as last time. Michael Dorn got so much more room to actually do something with Worf this time.
Gul Dukat is awesome, until the end when they revert him to Cartoon Villain. Garak is probably the GOAT character on the show.
Somewhat related: Was that episode of TNG (The Price, I think?) where Picard holds negotiations for the first "stable" wormhole a dual test-pilot for both Voyager and DS9? I can't believe I never noticed how much it has in common with the two premises of the latter shows.
SpoonyBard
Banned
Luckily the uniforms got a bit better looking after early season 3.
Battersea Power Station
Member
I'm currently going through DS9 for the first time. Season 3.
Sisko built a ship.
That is all.
Sisko built a ship.
That is all.
Darkmakaimura
Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
I rewatched Into Darkness last night and I think I liked even more the second time. Pretty damn fun movie and I'm of the blasphemous opinion that I love the new approach Abrams went for. Probably the only thing it needed is a little more Karl Urban. He's genius as Bones.
I don't think most people are complaining about the casting or even the style. It's that they ripped off a much better movie and did shit with one of the most iconic villain the series had.
Darkmakaimura
Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?
I've seen plenty of people here and elsewhere rip on it for having too much action and not being "like Star Trek".
Granted, I wish they went with something original instead of retreading old ground. Ricardo Montelkhan was more convincing and definitely a better Khan all around.
SpoonyBard
Banned
As a Wrath of Khan rip off, it's much better than Nemesis. But what was weird, that they also ripped off ST3 and Voyager even. It was damn weird. And for Kirk and Spock being friends at this stage, we have to accept that they somehow know what has happened to their characters in an alternative timeline... Even Lost didn't go that far.
Nemesis wasn't really a WOK ripoff. Thematically it went for a pretty straightforward "nature vs. nuture" plot, which I thought was odd because they didn't really do anything compelling with it at all.
SpoonyBard
Banned
Shinzon's character is so poorly realised that it's easier to think him as a kind of mix between Khan and Dr. Evil. I'm not seeing any Picard in him. Data and B4 is more interesting pair, but it was too obvious that B4 was there just so Data could dump his memory into his head and then sacrifice himself, so we could have Data dying and being revived without going full on Search For Spock.
You can now visit the Voyager bridge using Oculus Rift:
http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/21/...-in-unreal-engine-4-oculus-rift-faceboook-vr/
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD03O6xT0cE
http://www.engadget.com/2014/04/21/...-in-unreal-engine-4-oculus-rift-faceboook-vr/
Video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vD03O6xT0cE
SeventhSon
Member
I've been on a TNG novel reading kick recently. Are there any post-series finale stories that are actually good? I've read two, Q&A and Before Dishonor, and I'm very disappointed. Even the great Peter David has let me down. I've been curious about New Frontier and Titan series, but I'm feeling pessimistic.
Very cool. I personally loved Voyager's bridge design and the cooler metallic style of the ship's interior design in general.
Yeah, Data dumping his brains into B4 seemed less motivated and more "this will be important for later" plot point, akin to Bones' "let's poke this dead tribble with Khanblood" in Into Darkness. Anyone actually watching knows what the hell they're doing.
But I think "poorly realized" is the main fault with the Next Generation movies in general. At its worst, TNG suffered from blandness and feeling rote, and that's something they never really addressed in most of the movies, especially Insurrection and Nemesis. Shinzon doesn't really ever come into his own as a villain, and compared to Khan or even Nero, his thirst for revenge isn't enough to turn him one-note. He's sort of a pale shade that's sort of pushing things along but doesn't really seem that engaged in it. The movie could have done all this political intrigue on the side too but that got killed as well. Personally I think the blandness is why I rate Nemesis far lower than The Final Frontier--the latter had some pretty core flaws, but at least it's enjoyable to watch in its steps to groan-worthy badness. Nemesis just feels like going through the motions and that's more objectionable to me.
I've read three or four of the New Frontier books and really enjoyed them at the time, but that was when I was still in high school. Maybe they're dreck, but I generally enjoy Peter David's stuff, especially as for the books he liberally uses Star Trek canon but doesn't feel straightjacketed into telling the story of the Big Damn Heroes from the television series.