Some general Trekkery to report. First, itâs well worth checking out TOS or TNG on Netflix. Both series are the ones with upgraded effects. I learned that Star Trek Discovery plans to use the TOS episode Balance of Terror as a âcultural touchstoneâ. Not a bad choice. Itâs the first appearance of the Romulans, in which Kirk plays a deadly game of cat and mouse against a cloaked Romulan prototype.
The TNG stuff is well worth checking out. Damn, you forget how well Patrick Stewart can act.
Watched a documentary by Shatner called Chaos on the Bridge, which concerns itself with TNGâs chaotic birth. A big part of the problem was trying to reconcile the mercurial Gene Roddenberry with the show heâd created. Possessed of considerably more utopian views than he held in the sixties, or sci-fi in general, one of the biggest problems was the lack of conflict between humans. There was also a heavy focus on plot, whereas post season three, the show was more concerned with characters. Still invented tons of stuff for TNG though.
My favourite Roddenberry story involves the moment he finally decided on Patrick Stewart as his captain. The network execs are freaking out. âYouâre about to make a bald English guy the lead of your showâ.
âHair doesnât matter in the 24th centuryâ.
Apparently there was no arguing with him on those sort of points.
I enjoyed Chaos on the Bridge, Shatner also did a documentary interviewing all the captains of the Star Trek tv series, (canât remember the name) which was interesting as they had all had similar downfalls in their personal relationships as a result of the show.
Edit: The documentary was called âThe Captainsâ. Canât blame me for forgetting thatâŚ
Good job they released the trailer months early. Will give the frothers time to get over the new look Klingons. Iâm alright with them generally. My view that is that the Klingons have always been as complex as the budget allows.
Just showed Juvenile Unit #2 the trailer for both Star Trek and the Orville.
She liked both.
I got around to explaining the Holodeck from TNG era. The Holodeck is an interesting old thing. Show wise, it was an cheap way to go when the showrunners didnât want to spend a lot of money on expensive spaceship battles. Iâd like to be an apologist for the concept, and say that it allowed writers unconstrained creative freedoms (and there are some very good Holodeck episodes, admittedly), but I really canât. Not today, not knowing what we know and not doing what I do.
Why is it that the first things to crash on the Holodeck are its safety protocols? Not social media notifications. Not graphics driver crashes.
Will be interesting how they portray Klingons especially after watching the DS9 episode where they go back in time & get involved in the legendary ToS Trouble with Tribbles episode & even comment on their appearance (hispanic with Goaties)
Itâs starting to sound as if Star Trek Discovery was ruined by committee and some weird rights holding situations between CBS and Paramount.
No-one seems overly sure what universe in. They havenât got any of the original makeup people from the old Prime series, which may explain why the Klingons look so different, and theyâve reportedly pitched the look of the show to appeal to the JJ Abrams fans.
Contrast with Orville, which pretty much nails the TNG era Star Trek look, has plenty of cast and crew from the series, including DS9âs Kasidy. I genuinely think Orville might be better received by traditional Trekkies.
Taking a busmansâ holiday from our quest to watch everything Star Trek before Discovery hits the screens, Mrs D_P discovered something on Netflix last night that we actually found cringeworthy AND interesting at the same time.
Captains. A 2011 âDocumentaryâ by William Shatner.
Basically he flies around to have a chat with all of the Captains from the Shows & Kelvin Timeline.
Itâs a bit gooey letâs face it. It also seems a bit flim flam - letâs face it - a bit of an editorial/scripting mess as he cuts from Scott Bakula to Patrick Stewart to Kate Mulgrew to sitting on a pavement with Chris Pine.
But as it gets into its depth, dear old Bill has a revelation, we learn the true human cost of what it meant to actually MAKE those shows and, it became interesting.
Some parts were painful. It comes across as if Avery Brooks has become totally barking mad, but one shocking revelation comes about when âBillâ Shatner talks about his early acting career and he was actually âdiscoveredâ doing Shakespeare appeared in a Shot in the dark with Walter Matthau & Julie Harris.
It got a bit deep with talk of Death and rememberance etc.
But actually what was âsweetâ was the moment Old Bill finally accepted that despite the lack of respect he got for his acting skills, he was an actor who âchanged the worldâ
Overall if you are a trekkie and can avoided chundering it was a REALLY interesting watch. And Patrick Stewart is still a legend
As you know weâre plodding through all things Star Trek, currently on Enterprise.
SO the failure of Enterprise - our review - Wooden Acting, Wooden Characters, that you simply can (could) not get to âempathiseâ with, lack of any form of chemistry between the crew.
The lighting, the lack of âconversations and personality developmentâ walking through the corridors of the ship, and of course the stupid plot twist of the Temporal Cold War when the audience was looking for the joy and risks of exploration.
What can we determine from that teaser trailer?
A distinct Enterprise feel in the uniforms and, in a way, the images of the ships, but they seem to have sorted out the lighting thank gawd
They also went to film âlocationâ shots in Jordan, rather than the producersâs back yard / garden, and so far imho, they seem to have found a way to stop making their actors seems âwoodenâ - perhaps someone is using Cinema Tech rather than a 4MP early Sony DIgital Video.
Some key comments for Pap from the panel discussion
So this means that yes, Spock has a human, adopted sister weâve never heard about â the producers say to âstick with [them],â and that this new family dynamic will be explained in the upcoming series. âYouâll see where itâs going,â says Alex Kurtzman, âbut we are staying consistent with canon.â
Alex Kurtzman continued to implore fans to stick with the series throughout its first year, promising that there will be âbig reveals at several points though the course of season⌠a lot of surprises along the way.â
On the changes to, producer Alex Kurtzman reiterated that the production and writing team are âall huge fans of the original series and obviously want to be accurate⌠we are within canon. Itâs a little bit larger⌠in scale but we are very consistent with our origins.â
Martin-Green reiterated previous comments about diversity being a central tenant of Star Trek, with Martin-Green saying that if viewers âsay they love the legacy of Star Trek but donât love [the diversity], then youâve missed it. I encourage you to come on that journey with us.â
Producer Gretchen Berg said that the Klingon cast will be speaking Klingonese in the new series, and that âyouâll have to get out your glasses, you will be readingâ â meaning lots of subtitles for the warrior race! She continued, âweâve gone to great lengths to be accurate with our Klingon language.â
She did also go on to say that they donât want Klingons to be portrayed as âthugs of the universeâ and that the team is working to âexpand the cultureâ of the species. âThe Klingons have their own pride, interests & talents,â said Berg.
