Star Trek - Space: The Final Frontier

[Fluoxetine Man]

Nothing inside the Enterprise looked like the Enterprise, especially engineering, which looked like a water treatment plant.

Didn't JJ make a big deal about how 'cool' it was to film engineering in a brewery?

 

[ditto]

He was good at sitting in the captain's chair like a boss. I envy his chair sitting abilities, guy looks like a comfy motherfucker.

If you like comfy captains chairs, do I have the Enterprise episode for you!

 

[Flexo]

The real stars of the new cast were Pine and Urban.

Urban practically channeled DeForest Kelly to a point where it was like he was possessed by him. As a performance that was based on imitation, it was a really good one.

And Pine, who didn't imitate Shatner, still played him with confidence that made him believable as a young Kirk. I didn't like how they wrote him as a total asshole in the beginning, but Pine made it work as best he could.

Quinto's Spock having those spastic outbursts was the result of somebody in the writer's room going "How do you write a character with no emotion and make audiences empathize with him?" and decided to make some changes. What they don't realize is that what makes character's like Spock work is that when he does have an emotional moment (Say his death in Wrath of Khan II or that moment in TOS where he showed brief happiness over Kirk being okay), it connects more because those moments are so rare, they feel earned.

Its kind of like Grumpy from Snow White. Snow White's death making him cry hurts more than say Dopey or Doc because we don't expect Grumpy to be as effected by it.

Agree with Urban. That man must have visited a voodoo lady or something it was uncanny.

Pine? I never bought him as Kirk until Wonder Woman. THEN he was finally allowed to play Captain Kirk for real. Had the writing been on point for that character, things would have been much different. It's a shame that it took them 3 movies to finally give us a halfway decent prequel crew and then the whole thing ceased.

What about that time they got control of the Valiant and tried to take out that new Dominion battleship single-handed?

They were on a training exercise when the senior staff died. Their orders were to go back but they bought into the hype of "kids that save the day" and bit off more than they could chew. (Like no joke, that episode was deliberately written as a rebuttal to the cliche of scifi wunderkids.)

Everyone points to Quark as the series mascot, and that's true. But you can't easily transplant Garak into any other show, Trek or otherwise. He gets to be a full-tilt villain in "Die is Cast"; no Mirror Universe or mind control involved.

"Pale Moonlight" sees the actor at the height of his powers. It gets better every time I see it. When Garak says "I'm in" and shakes Sisko's hand, it's obvious who is getting played.

"Inferno's Light" is good because it shows a human, Romulan, Klingon, and Cardassian (Garak) working together. Klingons have always been the most magnanimous of races; Martok promising to write a song about it is very cool.

Garak best character but what made so much of DS9 work is how little of anybody there could be transplanted.

Anyway, although I'll admit there are better episodes, Purgatory's Shadow/Inferno's Light is just my personal favorite Garak outing. "The Cardassian who panicked in the face of danger would ruin General Martok's song."
"That would be unfortunate."

So mature - so well played. If it was nu-Trek, you could just see Martok giving a ten minute pep talk about how Garak is just the greatest thing ever and then bombastic music would swell as Garak swears he will not let this prison beat him and then the entire prison would stand up and clap.

Also they would all be women.

EDIT: Oh yeah! So I'm hopping over to Pluto.TV and look what it auto drops me onto:

Though I must admit I'm a bit in shock that they actually put "aka" in the title. That is NOT on anything official I've ever seen.

Now I really wish I could find their database and see what nicknames they've given all the episodes. "Cause And Effect" (aka "Enterprise go boom")

 

[SteelPlatedHeart]

What ever happened with that Lower Decks show? I never see anyone talk about it.

 

[Captain Syrup]

I like the Andorians.

Criminally underused race. Apparently they wanted to include some on TNG and DS9, but the idea was shot down for being too corny. "We don't do antennae on this show."

Nah, we do aliens with butts on their heads. What an improvement.

Then we meet their cousins, the Aenar, they have smooth features and a nice, transluscent skin. Not sure why they didn't go with that look for Shran and company. They look fake AF, and it's very distracting.

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

Tellarites are also underused considering they're a core Fed race. The only thing we know about them is that they're dicks. Would have been neat to see them as the Curtis LeMays and the lawyers of Starfleet where their disagreeable nature would actually be beneficial.

 

[Captain Syrup]

Pine? I never bought him as Kirk until Wonder Woman. THEN he was finally allowed to play Captain Kirk for real.

... holy shit, you're right.

Have we talked about Pike getting whacked by Khan, yet? Assholes, we spent the first movie trying to save him!! People complained about Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker; Disney throwing away everything they introduced. But this was just as bad.

I would have been more satisfied if Pike were the villain. He was captured and tortured by Romulans from the future. He has every reason in the world to join Section 31. Pike showing up on the viewscreen would add some depth. Maybe not the most original twist in the world, but better than what we got. Robocop had no motive.

Tellarites are also underused considering they're a core Fed race. The only thing we know about them is that they're dicks.

You know you're in trouble when Babylon Five does a better job establishing a "Federation". In 1998.

And before anyone brings up that gay shit with the "Minbari souls": I know.

My point is that ENT was totally at sea when it came to prequel stuff.

 

[XYZpdq]

It was dumb. It kinda felt like Ferris Bueller goes to Starfleet Academy, but Ferris wasn't dumb enough to openly taunt the principal over his cheating.

Chris Pine was a pretty good casting choice as Young Kirk. He's not a great actor, and nobody can fill Shatner's toupee, but he's better than the material he was given in the JJ movies.

He was good at sitting in the captain's chair like a boss. I envy his chair sitting abilities, guy looks like a comfy motherfucker.

View attachment 2034739

Unfortunately googling that picture reminded me how bad the sets were in the Abramverse. The obnoxious amount of lens flare was bad, but the amount of random blinking lights is just retarded. Nothing inside the Enterprise looked like the Enterprise, especially engineering, which looked like a water treatment plant.

yeah I was generally okay with the FlareTrek cast, especially handicapping for "this Kirk grew up without his father"
but yeah it's uncanny how on-point Bones was, like seriously getting D Kelly's ghost to possess Urban was a bigger score than Majel or Nimoy working on that

 

[AnOminous]

Jack Nicholson said it's not good for actors to talk about themselves so much, because it might spill into the work. And with Shatner, it rapidly did.

His whole schtick from the very start has been being an enormous ham, though.

 

[bifftango]

What ever happened with that Lower Decks show? I never see anyone talk about it.

Speaking of aforementioned Pluto TV Star Trek channel, I remember seeing awhile back that they were running Lower Decks episodes, which made me chortle. They seem to be giving it away for free on there and YouTube, hoping for enough (or any) artards to jump on that turd wave. The art style alone made me not want to watch it, but then I saw a "hilarious" clip and completely noped out.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

especially engineering, which looked like a water treatment plant.

Which is really ironic, when you consider that they filmed some parts of engineering not on a set, but rather inside a genuine test facility for a fusion reactor (iirc).
But yeah, Chris Pine was a perfect choice for Kirk, he really looked the part, but god damn, did the screenwriters give him sweet fuckall to work with.

 

[Miller]

What ever happened with that Lower Decks show? I never see anyone talk about it.

Pickle Trek is on Amazon Prime outside of the US. I see ads for that crap sometimes before a movie or a tv show starts.

Which is really ironic, when you consider that they filmed some parts of engineering not on a set, but rather inside a genuine test facility for a fusion reactor (iirc).

Really? I thought they shot it inside a brewery.

 

[L50LasPak]

What ever happened with that Lower Decks show? I never see anyone talk about it.

Speaking of aforementioned Pluto TV Star Trek channel, I remember seeing awhile back that they were running Lower Decks episodes, which made me chortle. They seem to be giving it away for free on there and YouTube, hoping for enough (or any) artards to jump on that turd wave. The art style alone made me not want to watch it, but then I saw a "hilarious" clip and completely noped out.

I sat through all of it. Its not as godawful as I expected it to be. Bear in mind I have such a dislike for the sense of humor Rick & Morty has that I never got into the show even before it was popular. The humor is very stupid, particularly in the earlier episodes, but what kept me watching is the sheer amount of really obscure references. Again, normally reference bait is a sign of pandering, but some of these references were just so oldschool or out there that it kept me guessing.

I disliked both of the protagonists and as time went on I started to think the writers did too. I became a lot more attached to Rutherford and Tendi since their characters, while fitting into cliches, seemed the most natural and the least shitty and hostile to literally everyone else. If I were to guess a lot of the Trek & Morty shit was promised to the suits so they could fund the show. I think Tendi and Rutherford were always intended to be the real protagonists.

TLDR, give it a chance if you can put on your jade shades and get the glare of the show's terrible humor out of your eyes. Its only 10 episodes, not hard to find for free if you don't want to pay for it, and the ending has an interesting payoff that greatly improved my opinion of the show. If you sat through any length of Picard or Discovery you clearly have nothing better to do with your time.

 

[Captain Syrup]

His whole schtick from the very start has been being an enormous ham, though.

He was a first rate actor, appearing with Spencer Tracy in Judgement at Nuremberg. It wasn't until "Rocket Man" that he leaned into becoming a parody. And only in response to fans goofing on him. He is too proud to admit that the album was sincere.

But yeah, Chris Pine was a perfect choice for Kirk, he really looked the part, but god damn, did the screenwriters give him sweet fuckall to work with.

Bringing Spock's mother into it was beyond the pale. He knows sweet fuck-all about Spock at this point.

Spock has no business serving under Kirk from this point forward. All future interactions will be fringed with hostility.

Tuvok never expressed anything but contempt for Neelix. But of course, in this happy-go-lucky franchise, they're one big happy family at the end of each episode.

 

[40 Year Old Boomer]

I sat through all of it. Its not as godawful as I expected it to be. Bear in mind I have such a dislike for the sense of humor Rick & Morty has that I never got into the show even before it was popular. The humor is very stupid, particularly in the earlier episodes, but what kept me watching is the sheer amount of really obscure references. Again, normally reference bait is a sign of pandering, but some of these references were just so oldschool or out there that it kept me guessing.

I disliked both of the protagonists and as time went on I started to think the writers did too. I became a lot more attached to Rutherford and Tendi since their characters, while fitting into cliches, seemed the most natural and the least shitty and hostile to literally everyone else. If I were to guess a lot of the Trek & Morty shit was promised to the suits so they could fund the show. I think Tendi and Rutherford were always intended to be the real protagonists.

TLDR, give it a chance if you can put on your jade shades and get the glare of the show's terrible humor out of your eyes. Its only 10 episodes, not hard to find for free if you don't want to pay for it, and the ending has an interesting payoff that greatly improved my opinion of the show. If you sat through any length of Picard or Discovery you clearly have nothing better to do with your time.

Counterpoint: I watched the first episode when it came out in order to give it a fair shake. Halfway through my fiancee walks by and asks why I looked so pissed off. Give it a hard pass, it'll be better for your blood pressure. I don't even dislike Rick and Morty because I just treat it as what it is: 22 minutes of pseudo-intellectual gross out humor. But keep that shit away from my Trek, please.

 

[RomanesEuntDomus]

I sat through all of it. Its not as godawful as I expected it to be. Bear in mind I have such a dislike for the sense of humor Rick & Morty has that I never got into the show even before it was popular. The humor is very stupid, particularly in the earlier episodes, but what kept me watching is the sheer amount of really obscure references. Again, normally reference bait is a sign of pandering, but some of these references were just so oldschool or out there that it kept me guessing.

I disliked both of the protagonists and as time went on I started to think the writers did too. I became a lot more attached to Rutherford and Tendi since their characters, while fitting into cliches, seemed the most natural and the least shitty and hostile to literally everyone else. If I were to guess a lot of the Trek & Morty shit was promised to the suits so they could fund the show. I think Tendi and Rutherford were always intended to be the real protagonists.

TLDR, give it a chance if you can put on your jade shades and get the glare of the show's terrible humor out of your eyes. Its only 10 episodes, not hard to find for free if you don't want to pay for it, and the ending has an interesting payoff that greatly improved my opinion of the show. If you sat through any length of Picard or Discovery you clearly have nothing better to do with your time.

tl;dr-version:
The main characters are crap, the side characters are barely acceptable, the humor is grating but the pandering references aren't complete horseshit, so watch 10 episodes of this show to figure out if it will give you a stroke or not.

Nah. Thanks, I'm fine.

 

[L50LasPak]

I honestly don't know how you people managed to make it a single episode into either Discovery or Picard if Lower Decks was that repulsive. I consider both live action nuTrek shows to be far worse.

 

[40 Year Old Boomer]

I honestly don't know how you people managed to make it a single episode into either Discovery or Picard if Lower Decks was that repulsive. I consider both live action nuTrek shows to be far worse.

They all have their own unique badness. Lower Drek would almost be watchable if it weren't for Mariner, who should be dishonorably discharged at best and her parents court martialed for blatant nepotism and dereliction of duty.

 

[L50LasPak]

They all have their own unique badness. Lower Drek would almost be watchable if it weren't for Mariner, who should be dishonorably discharged at best and her parents court martialed for blatant nepotism and dereliction of duty.

I hated Mariner with a passion and still found her more likeable than Michael Burnham.

 

[AnOminous]

Nah, not really. He was a first rate actor, appearing with Spencer Tracy in Judgement at Nuremberg.

It wasn't until "Rocket Man" that he leaned into becoming a parody. And only in response to fans goofing on him. (He is too proud to admit that album was sincere.)

His entire performance in TOS was scenery chewing. Top-notch scenery chewing but he definitely hammed it up well before Rocket Man. Similarly with Denny Crane, although Crane was himself an over the top personality and was supposed to be (I actually think Crane may have been his best performance).