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The General Star Trek Thread of Earl Grey Tea, Baseball, and KHHHAAAANNNN

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
general question of unease, apropos of nothing:

is "thinking man's star trek" dead forever? does the (admittedly enjoyable) movie mark a permanent detour for the series? or is it just a temporary aberration?

i know there's no right answer for this, but after really becoming ten times more passionate about how great several of the series and many of the movies are, it hurts to think the star trek that deals in ideas and ethics has been put to bed.
 

DeadTrees

Member
general question of unease, apropos of nothing:

is "thinking man's star trek" dead forever? does the (admittedly enjoyable) movie mark a permanent detour for the series?
Nemesis and Enterprise are what killed old Trek. ST'09 was the widow cashing the life insurance check for a new BMW.
 

maharg

idspispopd
Aside from Star Trek 6 (clever allegory to fall of soviet union and nixon/china stuff) and failed attempts with 1 (Oooooh look it's like 2001 but dumber and 10 years later!) and 5 (god needs a spaceship), the films have never really been very thoughtful. Even Picard was reduced to an action hero in the TNG films.
 
I've never bothered with any Star Trek EU stuff though I did for a while (YEARS AGO) join one of those PBEM writing groups. That was fun for a while, even if they did just stick to fighting Romulans.

Was clearing out some cupboards and discovered a black bag, and folder, full of old Star Trek Collectible Card Game Cards! Not sure any of them have any value, as me and my mates used to actually play the game (so you can tell the cards have been used). Not sure what to do with them now - do people still collect these?

I have this card http://www.cardcollectors.co.uk/product.php?hdnProductID=2605 had no idea it'd sell for £15!
 

benjipwns

Banned
No idea why I am watching these random convention videos I never looked at before but some of them are really great, here's LeVar and Brent Spiner in five parts, Spiner just kills it all throughout:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMFPK9IhcU8

Their microphones aren't working at all, and this girl asks Brent to sing "Blue Skies" in part three:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNX3YcdXo_U

Later, Spiner is trying to describe "Pen Pals" and this girl goes "oh yes, with THE PLANET!" and Spiner goes "The planet! The one with the planet!"
 
Spiner and Stewart are great making fun of each other:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQcammV9G1Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvJ7xR4D1ZI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8ZLwjDQ0Fw

Frakes and Sirtis is another hilarious pair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8LhXH9Xsj8

:lol at when Sirtis says she's never seen Voyager and Enterprise. And when she talks about selling her Trek stuff.

Everybodys probably already seen this with those two but just incase: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI8ezrK6Qjs


Man, you could have any of them reading the phone book and those people would piss their pants laughing.
 

beelzebozo

Jealous Bastard
Aside from Star Trek 6 (clever allegory to fall of soviet union and nixon/china stuff) and failed attempts with 1 (Oooooh look it's like 2001 but dumber and 10 years later!) and 5 (god needs a spaceship), the films have never really been very thoughtful. Even Picard was reduced to an action hero in the TNG films.

this is a pretty fair point, but i'm still curious to see if there'll ever be more trek--in film or television--that at least attempts to stab at the things tackled by the best the franchise produced.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Spiner and Stewart are great making fun of each other:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQcammV9G1Y
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvJ7xR4D1ZI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8ZLwjDQ0Fw

Frakes and Sirtis is another hilarious pair.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8LhXH9Xsj8

:lol at when Sirtis says she's never seen Voyager and Enterprise. And when she talks about selling her Trek stuff.

Everybodys probably already seen this with those two but just incase: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI8ezrK6Qjs

Wish I could find a video of a con I went to where Michael Dorn was impersonating Stewart bragging about how much more money he was making for the movies.
 
this is a pretty fair point, but i'm still curious to see if there'll ever be more trek--in film or television--that at least attempts to stab at the things tackled by the best the franchise produced.
It's inevitable it will return to TV someday, and they can't have ACTION ACTION ANOMALY every week.
maharg said:
Aside from Star Trek 6 (clever allegory to fall of soviet union and nixon/china stuff) and failed attempts with 1 (Oooooh look it's like 2001 but dumber and 10 years later!) and 5 (god needs a spaceship), the films have never really been very thoughtful. Even Picard was reduced to an action hero in the TNG films.
I don't know that I'd go so far as thoughtful in these cases, but I do appreciate some of the moral aspects of the TNG films.
*In Generations, it's not some threat to Earth or the Federation that is what the Enterprise-D and Kirk ultimately go down for, but the defense of a pre-industrial planet that thanks to the Prime Directive can't even know.
*Even in a time of war, the TNG crew find the way their government is screwing a mostly-insignificant native population for their natural medical resource despicable enough to go rogue.
 
Dont know if anyone would know but I was wondering if there is any good display stands or such that a person can buy for displaying stuff like the Diamond Art Asylum ships? They come with a display stand but I picked up the Enterprise-D for $25 and it didn't come with both display stands. Figured why not as new the ship goes for over $200. I have some other Diamond ships but the display stands for those are not compatible with the Enterprise D. So anyone know of any possible proxy options for display stands that would work with this model? Has to be something that could hold up the Enterprise D which is very front heavy model.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
Just finished watching the TNG Season 7 finale with my brother. Fantastic episode, best of the season, and one of the best of the entire series. Loved the backwards anomaly.

And thus ends my full series run of TNG. Started all the way back in April 2011 with the pilot and just moved on through. My brother joined in during Season 4. Such a great experience; up there with Deep Space Nine (which I watched previously), but definitely good for different reasons.

Seasons 3-6 were overall great in my opinion. Seasons 2 and 7 were decent and worth the watch. Season 1 was interesting because of how bad it could be, but still had its moments.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Just finished watching the TNG Season 7 finale with my brother. Fantastic episode, best of the season, and one of the best of the entire series. Loved the backwards anomaly.

And thus ends my full series run of TNG. Started all the way back in April 2011 with the pilot and just moved on through. My brother joined in during Season 4. Such a great experience; up there with Deep Space Nine (which I watched previously), but definitely good for different reasons.

Seasons 3-6 were overall great in my opinion. Seasons 2 and 7 were decent and worth the watch. Season 1 was interesting because of how bad it could be, but still had its moments.

Always argued that Star Trek has always done time travel pretty well (Few exceptions of course). And the ending was brilliant. Much as I love DS9, I thought it's finale was lacking, TNG was much better.
 

MC Safety

Member
Aside from Star Trek 6 (clever allegory to fall of soviet union and nixon/china stuff) and failed attempts with 1 (Oooooh look it's like 2001 but dumber and 10 years later!) and 5 (god needs a spaceship), the films have never really been very thoughtful. Even Picard was reduced to an action hero in the TNG films.

You forgot about Star Trek II, which was all about revenge and regret and growing old and the notion of death and rebirth.
 

teiresias

Member
Just finished watching the TNG Season 7 finale with my brother. Fantastic episode, best of the season, and one of the best of the entire series. Loved the backwards anomaly.

I still tear up when I watch the TNG finale. It was really the first show I was old enough to watch religiously and the finale really got to me.

It still annoys me that they screwed up the anomaly's behavior and had a rather large script error, though it doesn't ruin the episode.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Last ep of TNG is what got me into Trek. Had hear a lot of hype about it being the finale, so I watched the finale, loved it, and then watched everything I could get my 12 year old hands on.
 

Cheerilee

Member
Oh? Can't remember in that much detail...

They said that the anomaly was caused by three of the same scan from three of the same Enterprises from three different time periods, all on the exact same point in space (which in itself is kind of silly, because that means that if you ever turn that scanner off and on really quick like a child with a light switch, the universe explodes).

But it was actually caused by scans from two different Enterprises and Dr Crusher's Medical Ship.

And they also said that the anomaly was too small to see when they first tried with the Medical Ship, because it was just created, and it was only visible when they came back again with a third Enterprise. But the anomaly grows backwards in time, so when they came back with the third Enterprise to look again it should've been nonexistent.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
And they also said that the anomaly was too small to see when they first tried with the Medical Ship, because it was just created, and it was only visible when they came back again with a third Enterprise. But the anomaly grows backwards in time, so when they came back with the third Enterprise to look again it should've been nonexistent.
I almost want to say that this can be explained away somehow. Maybe I just missed something but did we ever actually see them fire a beam in the future? It seemed like it jumped right from them trying to detect the anomaly to them being attacked by ships. Maybe the anomaly was created in the state that it was in when the future enterprise went back to it, and we just didn't actually see this happen?

If the anomaly was generated to it's visible state, then it could shrink into nothingness from the point of the generation.

But again, maybe I missed a critical detail in the script.

EDIT: Okay, I admit that I'm confused. It was a long ep. What did they do to generate or maintain the anomaly in the future?
 

Blackface

Banned
I am into the third season of Deep Space 9, and I do not like it. So many one off episodes. There is very little semblance of a story line. Yet whenever I ask what Star Trek should I watch, I get the "deep space 9" response.
 

jaxword

Member
I am into the third season of Deep Space 9, and I do not like it. So many one off episodes. There is very little semblance of a story line. Yet whenever I ask what Star Trek should I watch, I get the "deep space 9" response.

Ah, they probably should have told you "Deep Space 9, but season 4 is when it gets good."

It gets good, trust me. I agree season 1-2 were pretty weak. Wait til the Dominion hints start.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
DS9 gets better from S4 forward but as someone who recommends the show, I rather enjoyed the first three seasons, if only for the setting and the likeable (to me) characters.
 

maharg

idspispopd
I find the first three seasons almost completely unwatchable, personally. For that part of the show all the obvious problems of setting it on a space station at the fringe were unsolved and it was quite terrible.
 

Cheerilee

Member
I almost want to say that this can be explained away somehow. Maybe I just missed something but did we ever actually see them fire a beam in the future? It seemed like it jumped right from them trying to detect the anomaly to them being attacked by ships. Maybe the anomaly was created in the state that it was in when the future enterprise went back to it, and we just didn't actually see this happen?

If the anomaly was generated to it's visible state, then it could shrink into nothingness from the point of the generation.

But again, maybe I missed a critical detail in the script.

EDIT: Okay, I admit that I'm confused. It was a long ep. What did they do to generate or maintain the anomaly in the future?
(After a visit to Memory Alpha to fact check)

Past and Present report anomalies in the Devron system, so Picard figures that's a clue, and he needs to know more about it. In the future, the Medical Ship can't find any trace of an anomaly.

Future Data suggests that they can look harder using a modified Inverse Tachyon Beam. Picard orders him to do it. Picard then orders Past and Present Datas to hit their anomalies with the same.

The Medical Ship is attacked and Riker beams the crew off and hastily retreats with the Future Enterprise, refusing all requests to investigate.

Past Data suggests they look inside the anomaly using a not-yet-available tomographic imaging sensor. Present Data says they have one. They look inside. They see three inverse tachyon beams converging on the center of the anomaly, and they're identical, which can only mean that all three beams came from the Enterprise.

Picard explains the situation to Future Data, who says that the tachyon beams probably created the anomaly (a paradox created by Q), and they should convince Riker to turn around so they can "watch it form", and at minimum the other two beams should be shut down.

Future Enterprise never used a tachyon beam. The only explanation I've seen for it is that Future Enterprise got a tachyon generator upgrade at some point and donated their old used one to Beverly's ship.
 
DS9 gets better from S4 forward but as someone who recommends the show, I rather enjoyed the first three seasons, if only for the setting and the likeable (to me) characters.

Seasons 1 and 2 of DS9 are better than the first two seasons of any Trek series (with the possible exception of TOS S1).

Great episodes galore in those seasons: Duet, In the Hands of the Prophets, first three episodes of S2, The Wire, Tribunal, The Jem'Hadar, Cardassians, Paradise, and Necessary Evil.

Episodes I enjoy to a good degree: The Maquis, The Collaborator, Armageddon Game, Past Prologue, and Rules of Acquisition.

I'm sure there are some I'm missing. Bashir is a hoot in the first season. He's so fucking annoying, but the way the crew acknowledges that and how he brushes it aside is hilarious.
 
They see three inverse tachyon beams converging on the center of the anomaly, and they're identical, which can only mean that all three beams came from the Enterprise.
I think I just figured they were all "identical" because they were all modifications on the same type of technology done for the same reason by the same person, so the results matched.

Really looking forward to some HD All Good Things... in 2018 or so, you guys.

EDIT: Here's the script if anyone else wants to pick it apart. The relevant bit, though, is:
DATA
It appears that our tachyon pulse
is converging with two other
tachyon pulses at the center of
the anomaly. The other two pulses
have the exact same amplitude
modulation as our own pulse. It
is as if all three originated from
the Enterprise.
 

FStop7

Banned
DS9 is now my favorite Trek. I didn't know that Louise Fletcher (Kai Winn) had won an Oscar for best actress. On the whole DS9 had a really strong secondary cast.

I like pretty much any episode that features Gul Dukat or Kai Winn.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
I think I just figured they were all "identical" because they were all modifications on the same type of technology done for the same reason by the same person, so the results matched.

Really looking forward to some HD All Good Things... in 2018 or so, you guys.

EDIT: Here's the script if anyone else wants to pick it apart. The relevant bit, though, is:
Hmmm. That allows me to suspend my disbelief a bit more, I guess. It's an unfortunate potential inconsistency but whatever.
 
DS9 is now my favorite Trek. I didn't know that Louise Fletcher (Kai Winn) had won an Oscar for best actress. On the whole DS9 had a really strong secondary cast.

I like pretty much any episode that features Gul Dukat or Kai Winn.

I think you can reasonably argue that DS9's secondary cast was better than the main cast of every single Star Trek series – including DS9.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
Seasons 1 and 2 of DS9 are better than the first two seasons of any Trek series (with the possible exception of TOS S1).
Agreed. Seasons 1 and 2 are as good or better than Season 2/3 of TNG and obviously they completely obliterate TNG Season 1. This may even sound like I'm underrating them, but I actually liked TNG Season 2.

It's an enjoyable show from the outset and has a gradual quality hike, where TNG for example starts pretty bad then suddenly jumps to being twice to three times as good.

The reason I'm only comparing these two series is because they're the only ones I've seen all the way through.
 
Dax01 said:
I think you can reasonably argue that DS9's secondary cast was better than the main cast of every single Star Trek series – including DS9.
I know when I try to think of who my favorite character is from DS9, it's names like Rom and Garak popping up rather than O'Brien or Worf.
 
I know when I try to think of who my favorite character is from DS9, it's names like Rom and Garak popping up rather than O'Brien or Worf.

Just to be clear, I say you can argue it, not that it's right or anything, but the argument is weakest when you compare to DS9's cast.

DS9 made O'Brien and Worf fuck-awesome characters.
 
I once tried to come up with a list of people important enough or in enough episodes to be part of a full DS9 group image--something that would make a good poster, perhaps. I ended up with a list of about 40; more if including some Mirror counterparts.

EDIT: And even more if including Before and After shots of people who'd changed appearance a lot in the show's run, like Ben and Jake Sisko.
 

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
Quark ..Garak... Weyoun.. Martok and Dukat amazing characters and actors that portrayed them..
All good enough to be primary characters in a series.
 

dalin80

Banned
If TNG had DS9's worf in it then the average episode would only be 5 minutes long.

Troi- 'oh noes its badguy of the week!'
Picard- 'we shall try diplomatic contact'
[BANG!]
Riker- 'well that didn't work, mr worf please skull-fuck that guy'
worf- 'aye sir'
Badguy- 'oh god, oh god please mercy, please no!! blauughgh of fu...blugh.'
[SPLAT]
Picard- 'should have answered the hail bitch.'



character growth in a sci-fi? it may involve the really weird and overblown 'honour' thing but its better then nothing.
 

Davey Cakes

Member
I definitely have a soft spot for O'Brien.

Nothing beats an "O'Brien must suffer" episode. The one where he's in prison for 20 years in his mind was quite good.
 

teiresias

Member
Hmmm. That allows me to suspend my disbelief a bit more, I guess. It's an unfortunate potential inconsistency but whatever.

The whole thing with Data saying all three tachyon pulses could have originated from the Enterprise can somewhat be rationalized away since Data apparently bases it on amplitude modulation, but that's such a generic way to describe any kind of waveform that using that to identify the pulse as being from any one starship seems like something Data wouldn't do UNLESS he knew Starships had specific modulation frequencies for some reason. It's just a logical leap that Data shouldn't make IMO.

The bigger issue is the anomaly. If it "grows as it moves backwards in time" then the anomaly should have been present when they first arrived at its location with the Pasteur (Crusher's ship) and it should have been shrinking, and the point in the show's script where they see it form while on board the future Enterprise should have actually been when they see it disappear.

Still, "Where's your mommy? Well, I don't know . . ." makes up for it.
 
The bigger issue is the anomaly. If it "grows as it moves backwards in time" then the anomaly should have been present when they first arrived at its location with the Pasteur (Crusher's ship) and it should have been shrinking, and the point in the show's script where they see it form while on board the future Enterprise should have actually been when they see it disappear.
Yeah, that's just messed up. The proper way could've worked well visually, too. They show up, see it shrinking away to nothing, and initiate their scan to try and find what happened to it.
 
Quark ..Garak... Weyoun.. Martok and Dukat amazing characters and actors that portrayed them..
All good enough to be primary characters in a series.

Probably the best character in Star Trek and he hardly features! Just enough teasing and humming, and a few episodes that look at his story. Blew my mind when I was watching Hellraiser and realised he was the guy in that!
 
Probably the best character in Star Trek and he hardly features! Just enough teasing and humming, and a few episodes that look at his story. Blew my mind when I was watching Hellraiser and realised he was the guy in that!

The teasing of his character was purely intentional though wasn't it? Bashir is driven demented early on trying to figure him out and later Odo and the audience is along for the ride as well.

Awesome characters in DS9, fingers crossed for the Blu-Rays like TNG is getting! :D
 

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
The teasing of his character was purely intentional though wasn't it? Bashir is driven demented early on trying to figure him out and later Odo and the audience is along for the ride as well.

Awesome characters in DS9, fingers crossed for the Blu-Rays like TNG is getting! :D

I'm temped to buy the TNG blurays just as a +1 in hopes that will contribute to them green lighting my real desire, which is the DS9 Blu-rays..
 
If any of you are in Canda and feel like going to a con...

http://trekmovie.com/2012/01/29/entire-star-trek-tng-cast-to-reunite-at-calgary-expo-in-april/

Full TNG cast reunion.

Katherine_Pulaski.jpg
 
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