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

Walshicus

Member
What didn't you like about Holodoc? I thought most people were generally happy with him.

Hi voice was horrible and grating, almost as bad as Janeway's. I didn't mind him so much in the first series when he was more dour, but as soon as he started with the "chipper"-ness I couldn't stand him any more.

I think I just don't like the actor.
 
Homefront was an idea that was good but it's not executed superbly. It's still fine, but I think the budget and constraints of episodic TV harmed it.

So after watching it, I have to agree. Good concept, but not the best execution. It would have benefited from the extra length and production values a feature-length movie would have allowed. Sort of similar to Insurrection.
 
I always found it odd people talk about new Trek series'. Abrams has a put a halt on any tv series for the near future and intends to keep it film only for now. Bob Orci says the only possibility of a Trek show in the near future would be a animated series in the Abrams timline.
You make things much more clear-cut than he does.

From a story 1.5 months back:
Today TrekMovie clarified with Orci that subsequent to the initial discussions about an animated series, the team has also talked about a potential live-action Star Trek TV series.

and then this last month:
TrekMovie.com: Is there some kind of handshake – or possibly written – agreement between Paramount and CBS for CBS to not do a live-action Star Trek TV series while there is a feature film in development or until after JJ Abrams produces three movies?

Roberto Orci: I don’t know how specific that is. I do know there is an conversation where all parties agree to do what is best for Trek. And sometimes that means leaving space for the movie and it may turn into "maybe we can do both." I don’t think there is a hard and fast rule where if there is a movie you can’t do it. It means let’s be aware of whether or not we are cannibalizing Trek. Let’s be aware of not saturating the audience and having them not be tired of it but hungry for it.

TrekMovie.com: But do you agree with me that an animated series is…

Roberto Orci: Yes. It is less cannibalizing. I would like to see an animated series the most. When I think about it, it is the most different than what we are doing and still in the most in line with it. So I would like to see an animated series.
 
So what else is there for us Trek fans? I've watched everything(Even the horrid movies), I've watched all the reviews on sfdebris, agony booth. What else is there?!
 
sfdebris.com does reviews of all the trek and other sci-fi shows. He can be kind of shrill sometimes but I enjoy his humor and scathing reviews of Voyager.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Starship engagements in Star Trek always seemed ridiculously close range to me, but it wouldn't make for very engaging TV if all you saw were points of light shooting each other.

DS9 has several episodes where the Jem Hadar suicide attack Federation/alpha quadrant ships by ramming them, so by my thinking the fighting is occurring at naval distances or closer.
 

B.K.

Member
DS9 has several episodes where the Jem Hadar suicide attack Federation/alpha quadrant ships by ramming them, so by my thinking the fighting is occurring at naval distances or closer.

And with the way ships are able to move in the Star Trek universe, long range attacks really wouldn't work. The ships are able to move so quickly that at a long enough distance, the ships would be able to easily evade each other's attacks.
 
And with the way ships are able to move in the Star Trek universe, long range attacks really wouldn't work. The ships are able to move so quickly that at a long enough distance, the ships would be able to easily evade each other's attacks.

Methinks the longer distance your phaser has to travel the more energy it loses. But I'm no rocket physicist.
 

Jackpot

Banned
And with the way ships are able to move in the Star Trek universe, long range attacks really wouldn't work. The ships are able to move so quickly that at a long enough distance, the ships would be able to easily evade each other's attacks.

I wouldn't try to rationalise it. With space being so empty and propulsion systems being so efficient you'd think torpedoes could never lose a lock on. Or why ships don't attack by firing torpedoes whilst travelling at warp speeds. Or use mass drivers.

And Trek rightly compromised accurate scales of distance for a nice shot of two ships facing off. When a BoP was 40,000km away from the EntD it was only about 5 ship-lengths away.
 
And with the way ships are able to move in the Star Trek universe, long range attacks really wouldn't work. The ships are able to move so quickly that at a long enough distance, the ships would be able to easily evade each other's attacks.

Nine of which is portrayed well on screen. Ships often look like they are floating in molasses slowly linking away at each other. Targeting computers and such should have no problem hitting these targets with beam weapons which travel faster than projectile weapons.
 
Nine of which is portrayed well on screen. Ships often look like they are floating in molasses slowly linking away at each other. Targeting computers and such should have no problem hitting these targets with beam weapons which travel faster than projectile weapons.

In some episodes photon torpedoes are long distance weapons that are moving in high warp speeds, and sometimes they move so slowly that it is possible to evade them in impulse speeds. It doesn't make much sense... And phaser weapons are moving in light speeds, but sensors are FTL, so with longer distances (say, a light second or more) phasers should be easy to evade...
 

maharg

idspispopd
Starship engagements in Star Trek always seemed ridiculously close range to me, but it wouldn't make for very engaging TV if all you saw were points of light shooting each other.

You know, there's actually a lot of drama to that view of a space battle I think. Look at the distance views of the Battle of Endor in Return of the Jedi from the emperor's throneroom for an example. Really powerful shots that give perspective to a massive space battle. B5 also did some long shots of battle, particularly in season 4. Earlier on with the Battle of the Line as well I guess.
 

Magnus

Member
Restarted Voyager for the first time since it aired, as nightly fall-asleep bedtime viewing. It's making me so happy, even though I know it's occasionally terrible and a step down from DS9. Something to do with it being my first Trek, naturally.
 

Rinoa

Member
603457_521704824512694_1888468275_n.jpg

Dem cast reunion photos make me feel old

lot of funny quotes
http://www.startrek.com/article/star-trek-las-vegas-day-3-recap

Burton: barrel-roll (and then he did one)
 
In some episodes photon torpedoes are long distance weapons that are moving in high warp speeds, and sometimes they move so slowly that it is possible to evade them in impulse speeds. It doesn't make much sense... And phaser weapons are moving in light speeds, but sensors are FTL, so with longer distances (say, a light second or more) phasers should be easy to evade...

Phasers are also shown being used all the time during Warp speeds as well, ships don't seem to evade much at all at such speeds, if anything very evasive manuevers are not possible at such high speeds since all the times we've seen these warp battles, the ships essentially just fly straight in place trading shots.
 

Cheebo

Banned
Hopefully it's not as dumb as the first one.
First one was already better than most other Trek movies. All the other odd numbered ones at the very least. Easy hurdle to climb.

Not to mention it has Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain. Basically the best British actor around these days.
 
First one was already better than most other Trek movies. All the other odd numbered ones at the very least. Easy hurdle to climb.

Not to mention it has Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain. Basically the best British actor around these days.
I disagree that it's better than all the "odd ones" (TMP and STIII), but just because it's better doesn't mean it's smarter. TMP, even with its faults, entertains the brain far more. It's fine to be fun, but if all we get is more ST09s without new Wrath of Khans, The Undiscovered Countrys, or First Contacts in certain ways, then franchise will be more like ZombieTrek.

I don't have much hope with that writing staff.
 

Cheebo

Banned
I'd rank Trek '09 around the middle. I'd go:

1. The Wrath of Khan
2. The Voyage Home
3. The Undiscovered Country
4. First Contact
5. Star Trek
6. The Search for Spock
7. The Motion Picture
8. Generations
9. The Final Frontier
10. Insurrection
11. Nemesis

Just ranking them reminds me how mistreated TNG was when it came to film. They deserved more than 1 good movie.
 

maharg

idspispopd
I'd rank:
1. The Wrath of Khan
2. The Voyage Home
2. The Undiscovered Country
3. Reboot
4. The Search for Spock
5. Nemesis
6. First Contact
7. Generations
8. The Final Frontier
9. The Motion Picture
10. Insurrection

Voyage Home and Undiscovered Country are polar opposites so it's hard to rank them, but I'd consider them both close seconds to TWoK.

I know, I'm weird for ranking Nemesis highly. I give it credit for being the only one of them to succeed in replicating the tension of TWoK, even if almost everything else about it is pretty bad. I also like the *concept* of Picard's (potential) greatest adversary being a mirror image of himself, because I think that's essentially what the series built up in his character. It was telegraphed a little too literally though.

That said, everything below Search for Spock for me is the 'bad' half of Trek. I don't really ever feel compelled to watch any of them again, except maybe TFF for a laugh (its one saving grace is that it has some of the best Kirk/Spock/Bones moments in all of Trek -- Also, Scotty + bulkhead = laugh every time). Insurrection is so much worse than the rest that it's painful.
 
I like ranking these movies as much as anyone, so here goes:

1. The Wrath of Khan
2. The Search for Spock
3. The Undiscovered Country
4. The Voyage Home
5. The Motion Picture
6. First Contact
7. Reboot
8. Generations
9. Insurrection
10. The Final Frontier
11. Nemesis

The Search for Spock probably wouln't be as high, if it didn't work as well as a sequel to Wrath of Khan. And I like The Motion Picture, I don't care if it was a bit slow moving, at least it wasn't as bloody stupid as the last two...
 

flyover

Member
I'd rank Trek '09 around the middle. I'd go:

1. The Wrath of Khan
2. The Voyage Home
3. The Undiscovered Country
4. First Contact
5. Star Trek
6. The Search for Spock
7. The Motion Picture
8. Generations
9. The Final Frontier
10. Insurrection
11. Nemesis

Yeah, that's probably exactly how I'd rank them, though the bottom four are all interchangeable, to me. Bad is bad.
 

maharg

idspispopd
I don't mind that TMP was slow moving, I mind that it wasn't very good heh. 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of my favorite movies of all time and it's so slow it can put me to sleep (and did the first 5 or so times I watched it). But it's gorgeous and innovative and powerful in its message.

TMP wanted to be 2001 but wasn't as cutting edge for its time (2001 looks better and it came out 10 years earlier), and it wanted to be Star Wars but it wasn't fun enough. It was basically a cash-in on the resurgence of SF in the wake of Star Wars.

Also, the costumes. Oh god the costumes. Whoever designed those uniforms should be shoved out an airlock.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
First one was already better than most other Trek movies. All the other odd numbered ones at the very least. Easy hurdle to climb.

Not to mention it has Benedict Cumberbatch as the villain. Basically the best British actor around these days.

I think JJ and co should just come out and tell people whether or not they are making a "Star Trek" film or a pew pew action film. I don't mind either way, but the reason I was disappointed in the first film is because I was basically sold a false bill of goods.

If we're doing rankings of the various films as "Star Trek" films:

1. The Wrath Of Khan
2. The Search For Spock
3. The Voyage Home
4. Galaxy Quest (teehee)
5. The Undiscovered Country
6. The Motion Picture
7. First Contact
8. Generations
9. Star Trek
10. The Final Frontier
11. Insurrection
12. Nemesis
 
I don't mind that TMP was slow moving, I mind that it wasn't very good heh. 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of my favorite movies of all time and it's so slow it can put me to sleep (and did the first 5 or so times I watched it). But it's gorgeous and innovative and powerful in its message.

TMP wanted to be 2001 but wasn't as cutting edge for its time (2001 looks better and it came out 10 years earlier), and it wanted to be Star Wars but it wasn't fun enough. It was basically a cash-in on the resurgence of SF in the wake of Star Wars.

Also, the costumes. Oh god the costumes. Whoever designed those uniforms should be shoved out an airlock.

Well, yeah, I don't really want to compare TMP to 2001, it's just not fair. TMP may be heavily influenceed by 2001, but it was still a Star Trek movie, with FTL ships, transporters and mind melts. And I think Star Trek unverse has room for bit more realistic takes as well as mindless action pieces (Reboot).

The Directors Cut version fixed most of the effect problems, and now I think the movie looks rather good. The Enterprise model especially has always looked fantastic. And TNG season 1 & 2 uniforms were only slighltly better than TMP ones :)
 
My Rankings would go

VI > II > Reboot > IV > Generations > First Contact > III > V > TMP > Insurrection > Nemesis

Yeah I know, weird ranking. I still have a lot of nostalgic love for Generations (seeing TNG on the big screen for the first time and seeing Picard and Kirk working together was mindblowing to me as a kid)
 
I think insurrection gets a certain amount of unfair hate. If it had been a 2 part trek episode or even a tv movie I bet it would be rated higher.

Having said that, there's a lot of 'er what?' moments in it. Really it needed another rewrite.
 

maharg

idspispopd
I think insurrection gets a certain amount of unfair hate. If it had been a 2 part trek episode or even a tv movie I bet it would be rated higher.

Having said that, there's a lot of 'er what?' moments in it. Really it needed another rewrite.

That's exactly its problem. It is so utterly unambitious as to be, basically, a 2 parter of the series. It's not worthy of being on the big screen.
 

firehawk12

Subete no aware
I think insurrection gets a certain amount of unfair hate. If it had been a 2 part trek episode or even a tv movie I bet it would be rated higher.

Having said that, there's a lot of 'er what?' moments in it. Really it needed another rewrite.
That's exactly its problem. It is so utterly unambitious as to be, basically, a 2 parter of the series. It's not worthy of being on the big screen.

The problem is that it was two movie concepts mashed together because of script troubles. I find it hard to talk "bad" about it, since it is Michael Pillar's last Trek project (and it's nice that they finally let him have a chance after Moore and Braga took the reigns), but iirc, it was supposed to be a Heart of Darkness riff before they scrapped that idea and decided to make it a Seven Samurai riff.

I think if the film had focused on Data going insane and Picard having to travel through the (space) jungle to find him, it would have been a much more interesting film. That probably ended up being way too high concept for what is supposed to be a PG-rated Trek film though.
 

Htown

STOP SHITTING ON MY MOTHER'S HEADSTONE
Not even like a GOOD two-parter, like Best of Both Worlds. Like one of the average ones they started doing after season ending cliffhangers were expected instead of new.
 

maharg

idspispopd
The problem is that it was two movie concepts mashed together because of script troubles. I find it hard to talk "bad" about it, since it is Michael Pillar's last Trek project (and it's nice that they finally let him have a chance after Moore and Braga took the reigns), but iirc, it was supposed to be a Heart of Darkness riff before they scrapped that idea and decided to make it a Seven Samurai riff.

I think if the film had focused on Data going insane and Picard having to travel through the (space) jungle to find him, it would have been a much more interesting film. That probably ended up being way too high concept for what is supposed to be a PG-rated Trek film though.

That's the problem with the production. I'm talking about the problem with the result. Why it was unambitious is kind of unimportant. Prior to Insurrection even the bad films were still ambitious. TMP was trying to be high concept, TFF was trying to be profound, Search for Spock was trying to undo something really big, Generations was trying to pass the torch.

Insurrection is just kinda there.
 

flyover

Member
My Rankings would go

VI > II > Reboot > IV > Generations > First Contact > III > V > TMP > Insurrection > Nemesis

Yeah I know, weird ranking...

While VI isn't first on my list, I think it's a great number one pick. It's the one Trek movie that I could watch start-to-finish at just about any given time. If I were flipping channels and found it on, I would probably keep it on to the finish.

Generations, well... It's bad, but I can understand how seeing Kirk and Picard together makes some people happy.
 

Cheerilee

Member
I think insurrection gets a certain amount of unfair hate. If it had been a 2 part trek episode or even a tv movie I bet it would be rated higher.

Having said that, there's a lot of 'er what?' moments in it. Really it needed another rewrite.

IIRC from reading Michael Pillar's explanation of what happened behind the scenes, it was the victim of too many rewrites.

Pillar tried to write a movie that maintained the essence of TNG that the movies somehow forgot, yet was better than any two-parter, worthy of being a true TNG movie. And he really thought he did it. And then everyone and their dog told him that he was the most useless and replaceable part of the production and demanded that he change bits and pieces to their liking.

Insurrection is the Homer-mobile made by the cast and crew of TNG.
 

flyover

Member
IIRC from reading Michael Pillar's explanation of what happened behind the scenes, it was the victim of too many rewrites.

Pillar tried to write a movie that maintained the essence of TNG that the movies somehow forgot, yet was better than any two-parter, worthy of being a true TNG movie. And he really thought he did it. And then everyone and their dog told him that he was the most useless and replaceable part of the production and demanded that he change bits and pieces to their liking.

Insurrection is the Homer-mobile made by the cast and crew of TNG.

Yeah, I just started reading Piller's manuscript on the writing of Insurrection. I'm very interested to check it out, because I generally like Piller.

In the end, Insurrection became so watered-down that its final product was barely as ambitious as some of the standalone episodes Piller wrote. Comparing it to the double episodes almost gives it too much credit. For me, it's the most forgettable of the movies.
 
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