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[strange headache]

NuTrek in a nutshell

 

[STARSBarry]

I don't know why people are hating on Picard S2 so much.

I haven't watched a single episode of it yet but god damn these red letter media videos have me in stitches, its some of the best entertainment in years.

 

[Yoshi]

wE fIxEd StAr TrEk, It Is ePiSoDiC nOw...


That is the least of Nutrek's problems.

It *is* a significant part of the problem, because maybe one in 10 ideas the writers have is half good. It never is the main plot. So when you make it episodic, that one episode might actually be good because it is not dragged down by the overarching story that is dreck. However, the terrible character writing and development may still pull the one okay idea down in the end...

 

[ManaByte]

Damn it, Wesley.

 

[xandaca]

I'll repost what I wrote on Reddit about the finale and season, because it was certainly... a lot. Shortest possible version: S2 was a shambles, but still an improvement on S1 and had some bright sparks. Despite endless potential for nitpicking, the finale was on balance better than expected, mainly because of how effectively it concluded the Picard-Q relationship. If S1 was nihilistic, unpleasant rubbish from start to finish, this season was mostly lousy, but with some bright spots.

Full thoughts:

I'll be the contrarian. The season might have been largely crap outside the opener and with enough story material for maybe three episodes at most, but as far as how such a season could have ended, this finale was fine, or at least acceptable.

Yes, there was indeed a lot of crap. Soong's plot was a non-starter, and a badly conceived and written one at that, and the 'two Renees' thing a waste of time. The 'Khan Project' (urgh) folder was an embarrassing wet fart of a way to cap it all off. Kore was completely useless outside the writers' desire to tie together Gary 7 and the traveller(s), for some reason, and give Wil Wheaton a cameo. I don't begrudge Wheaton shilling for the show or have anything against him, but by golly he's an awful actor. If Q's goal was to help Picard, why did he ask Soong to kill him? The massive galactic threat that appeared out of nowhere in the restored future that somehow nobody had noticed was also rubbish: the Borg entering negotiations with the Federation is dramatic enough, and Agnes-Queen could have warned of an impending, unknown threat - perhaps the one which led to the death of a Q, for further dramatic stakes - rather than wasting a few minutes of screentime with a bad-CGI set-piece.

BUT... despite all the nonsensical details filling out how we got to this point and how little the idea itself was explored, I love the idea of a dying Q's last act being acknowledging his fondness for Picard and seeking to help him one last time. I even liked the 'I'm going to die alone and don't want that for you' angle. Yes, I could have done without the hugging and the explicit 'you mean something to me' line: less is undeniably more. It was still a lovely idea which felt genuinely earnt by the relationship between these characters and the scene between Q and Picard in the conservatory (or whatever you call that glass room) was moving. Again, I would have loved to explore the idea of Q dying more and for it to be tied into the season arc in some way - I can think of a couple of ways, but won't bore you all with fan fiction - but for all the time-wasting, lousy plotting and general incompetence which went into reaching that moment, I'm going to say the moment itself landed well. It's a tad lazy for a second successive season to end with a beloved TNG character being killed off, but this worked as well as it could have (I didn't hate Picard's last scene with Data either, but Data's second death felt far more contrived). I also liked the scene with Picard and Guinan back at the bar, and that this finale generally placed the emphasis on characters rather than stupid action (again, lousy-CGI space disaster aside). It is indeed endlessly nitpickable, not least the idea that Picard being introverted and duty-driven could only come from trauma (nonsense) and that he was unable to love (Vash? Inner Light? Nella? The Ba'ku lady?), not to mention the general silliness that Q was saving Picard from a life-changing event that had never been so much as suggested before and makes little sense within canon. However, the conclusion of the Q-Picard relationship hit well enough that I'm going to say it didn't bother me much at all in the end.

My final thoughts on the season...

THE GOOD
John DeLancie and Q: As per the above, the Q story was the strongest part of the season by far (assassination by car aside) and John DeLancie was absolutely phenomenal in the role. Whether playing the angrier Q in the early episodes or the softer, vulnerable Q in the finale, he picked up right where he left off and always found the spirit of the character even in different tones.
Thematically cohesive(ish): There's no denying the writing this season has been astonishingly lousy and filled with vapid emotional beats and incoherent plotting, but unlike the first season, there was at least a single, clear thematic thread tying the main storylines together - finding the hope in moments of trauma. It's a mess, but in that respect a big improvement over its predecessor.
Less gratuitous violence and nihilism: Picard S1 is one of few, if any, pieces of media I actively resent existing for its complete spite towards everything Star Trek stands for. S2 had flashes of gratuitous violence (Raffi and Seven teaming up for a stabbing!) but those rotten elements were restricted to flashes, rather than being woven into the DNA of the storytelling as per S1. The season's theme emphasized hope and self-improvement rather than the previous message 'everyone is miserable and cynical and corrupt and Picard is useless and has to die'. Again, it's messy, but better.
Attractive ladies: Caveman brain perhaps, but the Laris/Tallin, sexy Mexican doctor and Renee Picard actresses are all very agreeable to look at. My patience with the Rios storyline might have held out quite a bit longer thanks to Sol Rodríguez. I'm not proud of it, but I enjoyed the show more for their presence, sooo...

THE BAD
Patrick Stewart and Picard: Patrick Stewart's performances on TNG were arguably what pushed the writers to evolve Trek out of its pulpy roots and into writing stronger stories with more complex themes, characters and relationships. There's a real argument he brought about what we now think of as Star Trek. How sad, then, that his performances throughout S1 and S2 of Picard, even outside how badly the character has been bungled, have been utterly lousy. John DeLancie is less than a decade younger yet returned with absolute gusto. Stewart is barely even a shadow of himself, leaving the character unrecognisable in both performance and writing, not to mention being sidelined in his own show.
Endless filler: It's not uncommon for these serialised streaming series to have too little story material to fill an entire season, but Picard S2 took it to a whole other extreme. There was perhaps enough material for a two, maybe three-parter here, but the overwhelming bulk of the season consisted of narrative divergences that went absolutely nowhere and made little-to-no sense. At its worst it felt like like narrative progression and more like a twitter thread unfolding - or should that be unravelling?
Abuse of canon: The saddest thing about NewTrek is how obsessed it is with Old Trek. Rather than telling new memorable new stories, all it seems to do is constantly call back to things that have gone before and try to force its own legitimacy by crowbarring itself into established canon. I suspect that NewTrek knows how bad a lot of NewTrek is and the writers are terrified of being found out if they try and create a show or story that can only be judged on its own merits. Ironically, the opposite has mostly proven true: Discovery has improved the further it has pushed away from established canon (it's still far from great, but has had its moments) and while Lower Decks relies on callbacks no end, its strongest suit for me has always been when building up its own characters or finding its own corner of the Trek-verse. The nature of Picard might mean a certain amount of looking back is guaranteed, but this season's Q story showed it can do good things when it tries to develop old characters and relationships rather than badly retconning or referencing them.
Waste of promising ideas: I actually think this season of Picard has had some promising plot threads, if only the writers would get out of their own way and notice them. The idea of how a Q might die went completely unexplored. I like the idea of the Borg coming to the negotiating table and the dramatic conflicts and philosophical challenges that might cause within the Federation. Lots of bits and pieces of great dramatic material were there to be exploited, yet what we got was, outside the Q-Picard relationship actually paying off, possibly the least interesting and coherent form of the elements put into play.
Present day and stupid politics: Trek has occasionally popped back to present day for a movie or two-parter and has had some fun doing so. Time travel is a played-out idea, though, and nobody watches Trek to spend a whole season in the de facto present, exploring modern politics in the most literal and cack-handed way possible. It stank of a cost-saving measure, which begged the question of why do the season at all if it had to be done on the cheap?
Recycling actors: Look, I like Orla Brady a lot. She's gorgeous and charming and a disarmingly delicate, subtle actor when given the material. Lumping her into a second role simply for the sake of keeping her around, though, feels every bit as overtly cheap as the present-day setting, not to mention this show's weird obsession with everyone's ancestors looking and behaving exactly like them. As for Isa Briones, or Brent Spiner when not playing Data, there's absolutely no excuse for them still being around.

OVERALL: I think I'm going against the grain here, but for its myriad flaws and stupidities, this season was still a noticeable step up from its predecessor. That's not to suggest it was in any way good, but I'll take bad, time-wasting TV above TV which actively resents and attacks the characters and shows I loved growing up. Unlike S1 which had almost no points of merit whatsoever, there was some genuinely good stuff in S2, albeit extremely widely spread out. If S1 was a 1/10, I'm wavering between 3/10 or 4/10 for S2, edging towards 4/10 if only for how much I liked the emotional resolution of the Picard-Q relationship. It's undeniably bad and a waste of time, but that's all it is, which is an improvement.

 

[ResurrectedContrarian]

The death anecdote by Mike near the end of this review is so very sad. I can sympathize.

Everything which was once magical or good in prior decades has now slid into pure trash, with obvious corporate bottom-line pandering, fake diversity/representation nonsense, cheap writing, lack of vision, a feeling of being hatched in a conference room rather than by passionate single creators, etc etc. I've watched it happen to Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, and even all the other possible franchises or genres out there outside of Sci-Fi--including gaming. Frankly I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that we live in one of the most intellectually stunted times in all of human history, right here in the 2020s, and the people who supposedly stand for progress or advancement tend to be right at the forefront of this dumbing-down of absolutely everything in the name of some fraudulent accessibility, "expanding the audience" or other mass appeal.

The somewhat limited audience for Trek was one of its greatest strengths. Most of the people who watched it and bought into it in a major way really cared about the technical ideas, the debates, the concepts. If you want to create something with depth, it is in fact somewhat directly at odds with that goal to try and make it represent or include everyone--you'll only get watered down emotional nonsense if that's your path. Sorry, but this is the truth of all attempts to move some genre out of its base and universalize it.

I also think that the ease and cheapness of technology has contributed to the problem. In the past, you had a whole group of professionals with real skills and minds working on projects like The Next Generation every week, each caring about their work and using their own creative solutions. Now everything tends to be a production-line of standard effects, filters, etc, with the quickness of getting a season onto streaming platforms and the clear lack of care for the craft of small details.

For a refreshing throw-back, watch the special effects guys from the original TNG:

 

[Oberstein]

Ok, first episode of Strange New World digested.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. We're still on the edge of pastiche of the original series, but it works for now. There is potential with these new characters, though Pike is carrying the show on his shoulders.

Anyway, this episode doesn't waste my time like Picard season 1. Three episodes for the mummy to finally go to space, while here with a few scenes, we get into the thick of it.
Surprised to see that there is a real budget, it does not look cheap and the interior of the Enterprise is gorgeous. There is still some hesitant writing and dialogue that falls flat, but everything Pike says raises the level.

Spoiler: Ep 1

Well, when they showed the planet in civil war, I was afraid to see the images of Trump's supporters at the Capitol and a subliminal message "vote Democrat", fortunately they didn't go that far. The plot around this planet is pointless, we can all agree, it just serves as an introduction to the characters.

 

[AJUMP23]

Strang New Worlds ep1..... 2 naked people in 10 minutes. Spock in love and who knows what other blasphemy they wrote.


The first episode is interesting.

 

[ManaByte]

Spock in love

Never saw Amok Time I can see.

That's his wife from the TOS episode who made Spock and Kirk fight to the death on Vulcan.

 

[AJUMP23]

I have seen but it has been a while.


I did cringe when they blamed Maga on starting ww3. It all started when some people wanted to audit the vote.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

I'll repost what I wrote on Reddit about the finale and season

Oh good a reddit cross-post I hope you got big upvotes!

I kid, but seriously though, I'm not sure what you were watching, because I thought they managed to make this episode the worst yet. Well the S1 finale might still be worse it's hard to say. I think I tried to forget as much of it as I could. But this was at least in the same league of stupid.

Spoiler: Picard S2 Finale

Picard's "time does not give second chances but perhaps people do" speech... oh god that RLM Picard speech impression was so spot-on.

What the fuck was Q even doing? That was his big "I'm dying" parting gift to Picard and the human race? Also he was surprised when his powers started failing... but this is implying that he knew the end was coming all along? Huh? Q and Picard hugging is just dumb. Sorry, no, not an effective conclusion to their relationship at all. Just a really poor attempt at rehashing what All Good Things did far better.

Hwil Hweaton showing up w/ the Traveler mumbo jumbo was one of the worst scenes in Star Trek history... I mean I've heard of fan-service, but this is just Hweaton service. Nobody liked him. Nobody missed him. Nobody needed to see his stupid smug Hweaton face. So you're not even giving the fans a wank because we're all flaccid.

And good thing we dealt with the further adventures of Android/genetic experiment lady. I mean why wouldn't the Travelers recruit her. She was so fucking compelling.

The Borg get 'provisional admission' to the Federation in like 15 seconds flat. What the fuck? DS9 spent 7 fucking seasons on the issue of trying to get Bajor in. Picard's just like yeah thank you... I guess he can swing Borg joining the Federation no problem, don't even really have to consult with the uhh... I dunno... Government?

And why do they need that in order to sit outside a space hole? Oh, and goodie, I guess Star Trek The Geriatric Generation is gonna have to deal with the big space hole. Before it destroys the galaxy. Or universe. Or all of time. Or whatever? The stakes are so comically high once again. It's just all oh-so-tedious.

But oh the Titan is real dumb and can't quite get their shields sorted let's give em a call OOOOHHHH MY GOOOOOD IT'S ELNOOOOOOR!!! BELOOOOOVED ELLLLLNOOOOOOOOR! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!!!

I'll just end on another silly nitpick.. but I guess Seven had to get her Borg implants back in the past so she could have them once returned to the current timeline, so the time travel rules could be whatever happened in the fake timeline counts, so that Elnor should be back, so that Q could give the "gift" or bringing back Elnor... *sigh*

Like, he's fucking Q, he could do whatever the fuck he wants, he could just put 'em all back like they were. It needs zero explanation. He could have given Picard a 'gift' of giving him his real body back, with his whatever-syndrome cured. Then at least this finale could have earned the distinction of undoing something retarded from the S1 finale but nahhhhhh.

 

[xandaca]

Oh good a reddit cross-post I hope you got big upvotes!

You will be delighted to know absolutely none! I think consensus is closer to your opinion than it is to mine...

 

[Pegasus Actual]

You will be delighted to know absolutely none! I think consensus is closer to your opinion than it is to mine...

Really? I thought defeating ICE would have scored big points with that crowd.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Strange New Worlds was FANTASTIC and shits on Discovery and Picard from a great height

 

[xandaca]

Really? I thought defeating ICE would have scored big points with that crowd.

I posted on the RLM subreddit. Am content steering well clear of /r/startrek...

As for Strange New Worlds, it was certainly by far the best start of any New Trek show but some familiar issues remain so I'll take pause before declaring it a success. Anson Mount is still a very likeable lead, if entirely different from the Pike I loosely remember in his TOS episode.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Strange New Worlds Ep 1 Review:

- The overly preachy climax fell flat / out of place for me.

+ Great visuals.

- Vibe feels pretty summer campy on the ship.

+ A few of the characters have the potential to be likeable. Didn't expect that.

- Writing is pretty weak. Felt particularly noticeable during the climax for me.

+ Episodic format is refreshing.

I wouldn't call it good, but it did enough for me to want to see Ep 2.

 

[ManaByte]

Strange New Worlds was FANTASTIC and shits on Discovery and Picard from a great height

 

[Kenpachii]

dam another star trek show.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

Okay, so Strange New Worlds Ep 1 was a very mixed bag... but it's obvious that it has the most potential of any of these shows (low bar to clear for sure).

But it was grating to watch... They don't seem to have anyone who knows anything about anything reviewing these scripts. And when stupid shit happens it pulls me out of the show:

SPOILERS

Warp drive is 5x5? Huh? And that happens right after they check in with Uhura... 5x5 is a communications thing, it doesn't make sense in the context of a warp drive.
Speaking of communications... Pike says "you have the comm" instead of "you have the conn". Yeah they're clearly just writing things without knowing what they are.

Plasma torpedoes! That's 21st century technology! They're like... nowhere near Warp Drive. (Vulcan/Earth First Contact is mid-21st century... and since we don't have plasma torpedoes yet and FC is 40 years away... the line just sounds stupid)

The Vulcans 'invented' First Contact... okay great but they did it in space, coming down after detecting Cochrane.... flying around... in space. So why is Una beaming down to a planet with a 'nascent' warp signature? Seems contrived. I'm not thrilled with the "Warp bomb" thing either.

So they beam down, have to have a retinal scan to get into the building. They act like the retinal scan is an alien detector. They seem to only needs retinas that qualify as being from that planet. As opposed to retinal scans being for identification, which would make way more sense since uhhh... that's what retinal scans are designed/used for. I know they beamed retina-juice right into Spock's stupid face as he was getting scanned... it's at least plausible they were replicating the guys they abducted there... but Pike and the other one certainly didn't steal anyone's retina so.... it has to just be an alien detector. Which is completely retarded.

For that matter... when they rescue Una and friends... there's literally nobody else on the floor? Nobody guarding the door? Anything? Motherfucking aliens that you caught on your pre-warp planet? What?

I appreciate they put 'zero point' < 1 LY away from this planet. Cool, that part kinda works, their telescopes lucked into seeing a big space battle or whatever. The concept of being able to reverse engineer warp technology from observing light through a 'just good enough' telescope is still pretty stupid. Especially considering the time frame of however long since Disco got the hell out of there minus 'about a year'.

Pike calls for the Enterprise to go into a 'lower orbit'. Hey effects team. Hovering a few thousand feet in the sky is not a 'low orbit'. Or possibly it was written that they look out to see the now hovering Enterprise... either way it's stupid.

This is earth now! <space architecture> This is earth in the icky past <empire state building, the Capitol, etc>. Wait a fucking second what the hell is so wrong with our architecture. Maybe show some shithole countries

The MAGA civil war was almost surprisingly subtle. Like yeah they showed Jan 6 types... but they went with kind of a neutral 'competing idea of freedom' or whatever and pushed the aliens to try compromise. That's a reasonably Star Trek thing to do. It would have worked a lot better if you showed all the other various civil unrests of our times. But grading on a NuTrek curve it wasn't that bad.

Pike hanging out at his Montana sex-house was way too Generations-Kirk-alike. But of course the chick he's banging is in Starfleet because god forbid we have Star Trek without focusing on Starfleet officers banging. And of course she has to also be a captain because otherwise I don't know... the Patriarchy. I guess they figured after Hell on Wheels it would be a shame to have Anson Mount and not have him cosplay Red Dead Redemption for a bit. I like Cowboy Anson but... I think they could have done something else with the character. But, I forget how much of Pike's backstory is actually established in canon.

 

[ManaByte]

But, I forget how much of Pike's backstory is actually established in canon.

Not much actually and he had the Enterprise for three 5 year missions.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Okay, so Strange New Worlds Ep 1 was a very mixed bag... but it's obvious that it has the most potential of any of these shows (low bar to clear for sure).

But it was grating to watch... They don't seem to have anyone who knows anything about anything reviewing these scripts. And when stupid shit happens it pulls me out of the show:

SPOILERS

Warp drive is 5x5? Huh? And that happens right after they check in with Uhura... 5x5 is a communications thing, it doesn't make sense in the context of a warp drive.
Speaking of communications... Pike says "you have the comm" instead of "you have the conn". Yeah they're clearly just writing things without knowing what they are.

Plasma torpedoes! That's 21st century technology! They're like... nowhere near Warp Drive. (Vulcan/Earth First Contact is mid-21st century... and since we don't have plasma torpedoes yet and FC is 40 years away... the line just sounds stupid)

The Vulcans 'invented' First Contact... okay great but they did it in space, coming down after detecting Cochrane.... flying around... in space. So why is Una beaming down to a planet with a 'nascent' warp signature? Seems contrived. I'm not thrilled with the "Warp bomb" thing either.

So they beam down, have to have a retinal scan to get into the building. They act like the retinal scan is an alien detector. They seem to only needs retinas that qualify as being from that planet. As opposed to retinal scans being for identification, which would make way more sense since uhhh... that's what retinal scans are designed/used for. I know they beamed retina-juice right into Spock's stupid face as he was getting scanned... it's at least plausible they were replicating the guys they abducted there... but Pike and the other one certainly didn't steal anyone's retina so.... it has to just be an alien detector. Which is completely retarded.

For that matter... when they rescue Una and friends... there's literally nobody else on the floor? Nobody guarding the door? Anything? Motherfucking aliens that you caught on your pre-warp planet? What?

I appreciate they put 'zero point' < 1 LY away from this planet. Cool, that part kinda works, their telescopes lucked into seeing a big space battle or whatever. The concept of being able to reverse engineer warp technology from observing light through a 'just good enough' telescope is still pretty stupid. Especially considering the time frame of however long since Disco got the hell out of there minus 'about a year'.

Pike calls for the Enterprise to go into a 'lower orbit'. Hey effects team. Hovering a few thousand feet in the sky is not a 'low orbit'. Or possibly it was written that they look out to see the now hovering Enterprise... either way it's stupid.

This is earth now! <space architecture> This is earth in the icky past <empire state building, the Capitol, etc>. Wait a fucking second what the hell is so wrong with our architecture. Maybe show some shithole countries

The MAGA civil war was almost surprisingly subtle. Like yeah they showed Jan 6 types... but they went with kind of a neutral 'competing idea of freedom' or whatever and pushed the aliens to try compromise. That's a reasonably Star Trek thing to do. It would have worked a lot better if you showed all the other various civil unrests of our times. But grading on a NuTrek curve it wasn't that bad.

Pike hanging out at his Montana sex-house was way too Generations-Kirk-alike. But of course the chick he's banging is in Starfleet because god forbid we have Star Trek without focusing on Starfleet officers banging. And of course she has to also be a captain because otherwise I don't know... the Patriarchy. I guess they figured after Hell on Wheels it would be a shame to have Anson Mount and not have him cosplay Red Dead Redemption for a bit. I like Cowboy Anson but... I think they could have done something else with the character. But, I forget how much of Pike's backstory is actually established in canon.

5X5 in common usage means "Its fine". Characters like Faith in Buffy the VSlayer used it all the time.

As for most of the rest, its scifi for tv, not a science documentary.

And typcially a Captain is going to "associate" with other captains (or people not in Star Fleet/Military). Going above or below your rank can cause issues, I would assume. Besides it seemed a casual thing so what. And women can't be Captains? Even in the original Trek that was dumb and they retconned it real fast.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

5X5 in common usage means "Its fine". Characters like Faith in Buffy the VSlayer used it all the time.

As for most of the rest, its scifi for tv, not a science documentary.

And typcially a Captain is going to "associate" with other captains (or people not in Star Fleet/Military). Going above or below your rank can cause issues, I would assume. Besides it seemed a casual thing so what. And women can't be Captains? Even in the original Trek that was dumb and they retconned it real fast.

Bro, I loved Buffy too, but the bridge of a Federation starship shouldn't sound like Buffy dialogue.

 

[AJUMP23]

The blonde doctor is cute. But I am afraid someone is going to tell me she is trans or something.

 

[ManaByte]

Bro, I loved Buffy too, but the bridge of a Federation starship shouldn't sound like Buffy dialogue.

 

[TheInfamousKira]

Okay, so Strange New Worlds Ep 1 was a very mixed bag... but it's obvious that it has the most potential of any of these shows (low bar to clear for sure).

But it was grating to watch... They don't seem to have anyone who knows anything about anything reviewing these scripts. And when stupid shit happens it pulls me out of the show:

SPOILERS

Warp drive is 5x5? Huh? And that happens right after they check in with Uhura... 5x5 is a communications thing, it doesn't make sense in the context of a warp drive.
Speaking of communications... Pike says "you have the comm" instead of "you have the conn". Yeah they're clearly just writing things without knowing what they are.

Plasma torpedoes! That's 21st century technology! They're like... nowhere near Warp Drive. (Vulcan/Earth First Contact is mid-21st century... and since we don't have plasma torpedoes yet and FC is 40 years away... the line just sounds stupid)

The Vulcans 'invented' First Contact... okay great but they did it in space, coming down after detecting Cochrane.... flying around... in space. So why is Una beaming down to a planet with a 'nascent' warp signature? Seems contrived. I'm not thrilled with the "Warp bomb" thing either.

So they beam down, have to have a retinal scan to get into the building. They act like the retinal scan is an alien detector. They seem to only needs retinas that qualify as being from that planet. As opposed to retinal scans being for identification, which would make way more sense since uhhh... that's what retinal scans are designed/used for. I know they beamed retina-juice right into Spock's stupid face as he was getting scanned... it's at least plausible they were replicating the guys they abducted there... but Pike and the other one certainly didn't steal anyone's retina so.... it has to just be an alien detector. Which is completely retarded.

For that matter... when they rescue Una and friends... there's literally nobody else on the floor? Nobody guarding the door? Anything? Motherfucking aliens that you caught on your pre-warp planet? What?

I appreciate they put 'zero point' < 1 LY away from this planet. Cool, that part kinda works, their telescopes lucked into seeing a big space battle or whatever. The concept of being able to reverse engineer warp technology from observing light through a 'just good enough' telescope is still pretty stupid. Especially considering the time frame of however long since Disco got the hell out of there minus 'about a year'.

Pike calls for the Enterprise to go into a 'lower orbit'. Hey effects team. Hovering a few thousand feet in the sky is not a 'low orbit'. Or possibly it was written that they look out to see the now hovering Enterprise... either way it's stupid.

This is earth now! <space architecture> This is earth in the icky past <empire state building, the Capitol, etc>. Wait a fucking second what the hell is so wrong with our architecture. Maybe show some shithole countries

The MAGA civil war was almost surprisingly subtle. Like yeah they showed Jan 6 types... but they went with kind of a neutral 'competing idea of freedom' or whatever and pushed the aliens to try compromise. That's a reasonably Star Trek thing to do. It would have worked a lot better if you showed all the other various civil unrests of our times. But grading on a NuTrek curve it wasn't that bad.

Pike hanging out at his Montana sex-house was way too Generations-Kirk-alike. But of course the chick he's banging is in Starfleet because god forbid we have Star Trek without focusing on Starfleet officers banging. And of course she has to also be a captain because otherwise I don't know... the Patriarchy. I guess they figured after Hell on Wheels it would be a shame to have Anson Mount and not have him cosplay Red Dead Redemption for a bit. I like Cowboy Anson but... I think they could have done something else with the character. But, I forget how much of Pike's backstory is actually established in canon.

"It was a very mixed bag!"

*proceeds to ream the entire episode scene by scene*

I love Trekkie culture.

 

[ManaByte]

"It was a very mixed bag!"

*proceeds to ream the entire episode scene by scene*

I love Trekkie culture.

 

[clem84]

Shes a character from the original series. You're insecure sexuality is safe.

Nothing in TOS specified she wasn't trans. None of us are safe.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

Ya know, considering it was Roddenberry's wife playing both Chapel and Number One in the 60s, it's kinda disconcerting to have them both on the new show.

Not quite as disconcerting as you people making me imagine NuChapel w/ a GirlDong... but disconcerting nonetheless.

"It was a very mixed bag!"

*proceeds to ream the entire episode scene by scene*

I love Trekkie culture.

I don't know how much you know about Trekkie culture (I'm an expert), but if it was total crap on every level my post simply would have been twice as long. So... mixed bag

 

[TheInfamousKira]

Ya know, considering it was Roddenberry's wife playing both Chapel and Number One in the 60s, it's kinda disconcerting to have them both on the new show.

Not quite as disconcerting as you people making me imagine NuChapel w/ a GirlDong... but disconcerting nonetheless.


I don't know how much you know about Trekkie culture (I'm an expert), but if it was total crap on every level my post simply would have been twice as long. So... mixed bag

Haha, touché. I only ever read about it at this point. I don't really trust "The People in Charge," to really live up to the standard set by the glory days. A lot of the summaries of the newer stuff I've seen seem like they'd make solid sci-fi, but bad Star Trek.

 

[clem84]

Aren't the sets for the ship's interior amazing?

I also thought Sick Bay had a real nice '80s sci-fi' vibe to it.

 

[ManaByte]

Aren't the sets for the ship's interior amazing?

I also thought Sick Bay had a real nice '80s sci-fi' vibe to it.

Yea kept the feel of TOS while modernizing it in a better way than Abrams did. And Engineering isn't a Budweiser plant!

 

[OmegaSupreme]

Might try a trial of paramount plus to check out strange new worlds.

 

[ManaByte]

It’s clunky but it’s better than all of Voyager. Really felt like a traditional Trek pilot introducing the crew. Loved the Kirk fake out.

And they finally showed the WWIII that so many other series have talked about.

 

[Locutus]

I’m so glad Picard Season 2 is over. I dreaded Thursdays because I knew a new episode was dropping. This show is utter shit.

I hate that I will watch season 3. Thankfully most of Picard’s crew of joyless reprobates from seasons 1 and 2 will not be returning.

I can’t wait to see an alcoholic Geordi pontificate with a clinically depressed Worf about how they were both abused by their parents. It should be great watching Troi and Crusher team up to brutally murder aliens while a geriatric Picard mumbles in the corner and pisses his pants.

Fuck this show.

 

[Pegasus Actual]

Fuck this show.

Ehehm, you are angry now and time does not give second chances... but perhaps people do? Having gotten to know your ancestor but with holographic human ears, despite my advanced years, my robot body is aroused by the pheromones you secrete due to losing your husband, that is to say my other gardener. Dare I ask do you groom yourself in parts unseen as surely as you trim the hedges of my vineyard?

I don't even know where I'm going with my shit-posting anymore.

I'm making my way through Disco S4 right now and it's true, it's not even that bad. I actually like Book and Michael is nowhere near as annoying as previous seasons.

Oh and they sent off Fat Disgusting Tilly at least for a few episodes, and immediately followed up with a scene of the lesser bridge crew fucking exercising and shit and getting ready for action. It's fair to ask at that point if it's even the same show! But I haven't gotten to Fat Disgusting Stacy Abrams yet so we'll see if they can sort of stick some sort of landing.

 

[xellos2099alpha]

So does that mean

Spoiler: spoiler

Guinan

"knew" what was going to happen and pretend she doesn't knew

Spoiler: spoiler

Picard

in the past? Also by this defination, does Picard and co was always suppose to

Spoiler

travek back to the past

?

 

[Kenpachii]

first episode of strange new worlds is really good, surprised by it actually will watch more of them.

 

[Deleted member 1159]

So does that mean

Spoiler: spoiler

Guinan

"knew" what was going to happen and pretend she doesn't knew

Spoiler: spoiler

Picard

in the past? Also by this defination, does Picard and co was always suppose to

Spoiler

travek back to the past

?

You’re thinking way harder about it than the writers did.

My reaction to Season 2: lmfao. I can’t turn away from this train wreck though so bring on Season 3.

Glad to hear SNW is apparently starting off well, I’ll have to check that out this weekend

 

[Forsythia]

So Rios, Jurati, Elnor and Soji aren't coming back for season 3. Elnor and Soji were useless in this season, so no loss there. They should've ditched Raffi first though, what a godawful character. Is it the writing or is the actress just real bad?

 

[mcjmetroid]

I'm not touching Strange new world until people can confirm the series doesn't end like shit.

I've been burnt by all of new trek.

 

[Fugitive Sex]

They're all just awful.

 

[Dr.D00p]

Why do the need wind power in the 23rd century, where is the mini 'Mr.Fusion' generator in Pike's house, being powered with the leftovers?

 

[mcjmetroid]

What does TrekGAF make of The Orville? The humor aspect turned me off from checking it out but it sounds like S2 has dropped a lot of it.

It's the best star trek since Voyager.
The Orville may have its nitpicks but it's more in the spirit of traditional star trek than any of these new star trek shows.

Series 3 out next month as well! Watch it blow strange new worlds out of the water.

 

[Slicker than your average]

What's worse Picard series 1 or 2.

I feel like Q was used to just hook trek fans in and was wasted. Just about to watch episode 10 but I have a feeling it's going to be like drinking piss.

 

[6502]

Well. I nearly miss season 1..

That was just awful.

A few ok moments but I wish I didn't waste 10 hours on that shit. They should delete this and pretend it didn't happen.

 

[6502]

So Rios, Jurati, Elnor and Soji aren't coming back for season 3. Elnor and Soji were useless in this season, so no loss there. They should've ditched Raffi first though, what a godawful character. Is it the writing or is the actress just real bad?

Let's be fair here. Nobody could act this turd into shape.

 

[Nico_D]

What's worse Picard series 1 or 2.

I feel like Q was used to just hook trek fans in and was wasted. Just about to watch episode 10 but I have a feeling it's going to be like drinking piss.

Both seasons started quite well, season 2 even better. Season 2 started the downward spiral sooner than season 1 and sank deeper too being almost unwatchable.

 

[OmegaSupreme]

I do appreciate the baritone of the guy playing Spock. It's something that was missing from Quinto.

 

[ManaByte]

I do appreciate the baritone of the guy playing Spock. It's something that was missing from Quinto.

 

[Pegasus Actual]