Oh gawd, this thread is gonna end up as a burning wreck in a few days, isn't it? :smile:
Oh, well here we go now:
Soooo, did you watch it?
If you are a Trekkie, do you even care to?
WARNING, CONTROVERSIAL VIEWS will be expressed here!!! Also, those are actual spoilers there!
As someone who Enjoyed the first "new alternative universe generic action adventure with a Star Trek skin" movie, I found this show to be more of the same.
Kinda interesting, action packed, about the same wibes as a Pirates of the Caribbean or similar movie, just with all the humour taken out. If you like those sort of movies but with way darker tones, these first two episodes (basically your usual 1,5hour double ep.) will be entertaining to you.
But it's not traditional Star Trek. If you want that, go back and rewatch TNG for the 17365th time, like I do!
I find this kinda refreshing. I do enjoy a good "winning by moral high ground" presentation from Capt. Picard any day, but I think it's okay to look beyond that and make Star Trek entertaining in other ways.
Visual quality is outstanding, the CGI visuals and animation are well beyond your usual Sunday afternoon TV shows.
I'm not quite sure about the designs though! The Federation ships and stuff looks fine, but the rest is rather chaotic. Small Spoiler warning: The
makeup sucks! They remind me of some boring generic lizard men! With all the seemingly random spikes and stuff on their face, painted black, they lost their identity. Their ships are also chaotic as F. While they look great on their own, and the lighting and models are topnotch, the designs lack in visual identity.
The same goes for the alien crew members. They look totally forgettable and uninteresting to me. Or rather, unidentifiable. Oh, and the crew member with the robot helmet, was outright stupid in every single possible way. Why would you have 3 screens on a chrome helmet, and 2 of them switching to saying Red Alert ?
Don't get me wrong, I really liked what I've seen, quality and detail was amazing, if this was it's own ip, or generic sci-fi show. But it's called Star Trek, and apart from the Federations ships and guns, nothing really conveyed that.
Actors are... okay I guess? With all TV shows, the first few episodes are always a bit rough, it will get better I hope. I don't mind them, especially that we will get to see a bunch of new ones from the 3rd episode onward.
I found the Story to be mediocre. Ignoring all my previous knowledge from the proper Star Trek universe, I think it's an interesting place to start. Although I'm told this is supposed to play in the same universe as the original Kirk's Star Trek and TNG and DS9 and the rest, I think it works fine regardless. Also as far as I know, the story will jump ahead in time a lot next week, so who knows...
There were some strange decisions made though. Some things the characters done felt uncharacteristic. The question is, whether these were intentional or not. If these actions, one in particular really, will have consequences, then it's good writing. If they will be ignored and were done to move along the plot, then it's shoddy writing.
Also, they seemed to be ignoring some well known conventions (see spoiler below), I'm curious to see if it was by mistake, or intentional dumbing down for the sake of keeping up the pace or even to dumb it down for the masses.
I'm not sure if the writers intended it to be, but it's kinda dark and grey in some places, and that is a good thing. Unless they go overboard and turn it into dark like BSG or GoT or such. I don't think I need that in my Star Trekish weekly adventure show, thank you.
Editing, camera work, and the rest was fine I think? No over the top lens flares, thank god, so you can actually see some of the set, but lighting was a bit on the dark side to accentuate the high-techness... Btw, I know there's a lot of hate for the last TV show effort, called Enterprise I think, with the guy from Quantum Leap? I kinda liked that by the end. By look and feel, this reminds me of that show.
Also, if you watched Stargate SG1 through SGA to Universe, it kinda reminds me of Universe. That was way too dark and human-emotiony for it's own good. I hope this turns into something like SGA, somewhere halfway between the "family friendly adventure show" and "dark human feels" stuff.
Oh, almost forgot. I was reminded of the Enterprise show mentioned above cos of the god awful title/intro sequence! The images and "handdrawn" style are lovely and all, but my god the MUSIC is Terrible! A TV show needs a title music you can hum or sing, or at least remember!
This is non of those! It's a mess of some random sound bites from previous sci fi shows, quiet and very short elelments taken from all around the place (bit of BSG alien chorus, Firefly guitar, SG1 instrumental, original Trek music), mixed with some very loud modern sounding bass, and thrown over a really nice CGi demo reel.
It has ZERO identity! This needs to be changed! I only watched the 2 episodes, but by the second one I took the time to put down what I was doing, grab the damn tablet and scroll the thing through the intro video so I wouldn't have to watch and listen to it again!
(also, it needs a theme tune, but that may develop later)
TLDR:
It's not Star Trek. It's kinda Star Trekish like the new movies with lots of action, but non of the jokes, with a darker feel and story. Awesome visuals, just not for Trek fans. Okay actors. I kinda liked it, let's see where it goes.
Oh, well here we go now:
Soooo, did you watch it?
If you are a Trekkie, do you even care to?
WARNING, CONTROVERSIAL VIEWS will be expressed here!!! Also, those are actual spoilers there!
As someone who Enjoyed the first "new alternative universe generic action adventure with a Star Trek skin" movie, I found this show to be more of the same.
Kinda interesting, action packed, about the same wibes as a Pirates of the Caribbean or similar movie, just with all the humour taken out. If you like those sort of movies but with way darker tones, these first two episodes (basically your usual 1,5hour double ep.) will be entertaining to you.
But it's not traditional Star Trek. If you want that, go back and rewatch TNG for the 17365th time, like I do!
I find this kinda refreshing. I do enjoy a good "winning by moral high ground" presentation from Capt. Picard any day, but I think it's okay to look beyond that and make Star Trek entertaining in other ways.
Visual quality is outstanding, the CGI visuals and animation are well beyond your usual Sunday afternoon TV shows.
I'm not quite sure about the designs though! The Federation ships and stuff looks fine, but the rest is rather chaotic. Small Spoiler warning: The
Klingons'
The same goes for the alien crew members. They look totally forgettable and uninteresting to me. Or rather, unidentifiable. Oh, and the crew member with the robot helmet, was outright stupid in every single possible way. Why would you have 3 screens on a chrome helmet, and 2 of them switching to saying Red Alert ?
Also, what the hell was that blue vs green laser battle?? where are my red phasers? At least that was kinda unique to Trek, now it's generic blue and green streaks? c'mon... that's just lazy design!
Actors are... okay I guess? With all TV shows, the first few episodes are always a bit rough, it will get better I hope. I don't mind them, especially that we will get to see a bunch of new ones from the 3rd episode onward.
One thing I found really bad was the EVA sequence. The suit looked strange on the actor, like it was 3 sizes too big, and she was totally lost as to how to move, and what to do.
I found the Story to be mediocre. Ignoring all my previous knowledge from the proper Star Trek universe, I think it's an interesting place to start. Although I'm told this is supposed to play in the same universe as the original Kirk's Star Trek and TNG and DS9 and the rest, I think it works fine regardless. Also as far as I know, the story will jump ahead in time a lot next week, so who knows...
There were some strange decisions made though. Some things the characters done felt uncharacteristic. The question is, whether these were intentional or not. If these actions, one in particular really, will have consequences, then it's good writing. If they will be ignored and were done to move along the plot, then it's shoddy writing.
Also, they seemed to be ignoring some well known conventions (see spoiler below), I'm curious to see if it was by mistake, or intentional dumbing down for the sake of keeping up the pace or even to dumb it down for the masses.
I'm not sure if the writers intended it to be, but it's kinda dark and grey in some places, and that is a good thing. Unless they go overboard and turn it into dark like BSG or GoT or such. I don't think I need that in my Star Trekish weekly adventure show, thank you.
Spoiler: I don't think any original Star Trek captain would have ordered what was basically a terror attack, after the battle was over, to bomb the last enemy ship just sitting there collecting their dead!
Originally, Klingons would find that very dishonourable, and other captains would know that it would only escalate things even more. Yet the writers ignored these facts, and went ahead what is a typical human dick move. If this was done on purpose, it's good, I guess?
Maybe I don't give them enough credit, but I bet the writers only wanted to convey that the Captain was pissed off, and wanted rightful revenge for her losses ( as well as to stop the war by killing more ppl to capture one) and to portray it as a heroic act, and never thought that it would come over as a controversial decision to those with a bit of sensibility or with a memory of what Klingons are supposed to be about.
Originally, Klingons would find that very dishonourable, and other captains would know that it would only escalate things even more. Yet the writers ignored these facts, and went ahead what is a typical human dick move. If this was done on purpose, it's good, I guess?
Maybe I don't give them enough credit, but I bet the writers only wanted to convey that the Captain was pissed off, and wanted rightful revenge for her losses ( as well as to stop the war by killing more ppl to capture one) and to portray it as a heroic act, and never thought that it would come over as a controversial decision to those with a bit of sensibility or with a memory of what Klingons are supposed to be about.
Editing, camera work, and the rest was fine I think? No over the top lens flares, thank god, so you can actually see some of the set, but lighting was a bit on the dark side to accentuate the high-techness... Btw, I know there's a lot of hate for the last TV show effort, called Enterprise I think, with the guy from Quantum Leap? I kinda liked that by the end. By look and feel, this reminds me of that show.
Also, if you watched Stargate SG1 through SGA to Universe, it kinda reminds me of Universe. That was way too dark and human-emotiony for it's own good. I hope this turns into something like SGA, somewhere halfway between the "family friendly adventure show" and "dark human feels" stuff.
Oh, almost forgot. I was reminded of the Enterprise show mentioned above cos of the god awful title/intro sequence! The images and "handdrawn" style are lovely and all, but my god the MUSIC is Terrible! A TV show needs a title music you can hum or sing, or at least remember!
This is non of those! It's a mess of some random sound bites from previous sci fi shows, quiet and very short elelments taken from all around the place (bit of BSG alien chorus, Firefly guitar, SG1 instrumental, original Trek music), mixed with some very loud modern sounding bass, and thrown over a really nice CGi demo reel.
It has ZERO identity! This needs to be changed! I only watched the 2 episodes, but by the second one I took the time to put down what I was doing, grab the damn tablet and scroll the thing through the intro video so I wouldn't have to watch and listen to it again!
(also, it needs a theme tune, but that may develop later)
TLDR:
It's not Star Trek. It's kinda Star Trekish like the new movies with lots of action, but non of the jokes, with a darker feel and story. Awesome visuals, just not for Trek fans. Okay actors. I kinda liked it, let's see where it goes.
