Topic: Ten Forward - The Star Trek Topic

@FullbringIchigo Might be worth a look-see, but then it also might simply be a bunch of Big Bang Theory episodes starring Wil Wheaton.

Meanwhile, I'm super-excited because tomorrow evening, Lalaland Records are (FINALLY!!) releasing their second four-disc soundtrack to Star Trek: Voyager, this time including the entire score to "Endgame" as well as a bunch of other important episodes missing from the previous album. They've been promising it for years. Can't wait to properly hear all this incredible music!

@RogerRoger I hope your time with STD is, well OK! As you've already noted, Pike is the absolute highlight. Spoke and the red angel story is dross. Really incredibly lazy/boring and trope-laden. It is incredibly messy, and gets worse as it plays out. The overarching Spoke/Burnham story line is tiresome (as the whole Spock/Burnham concept) and feels like watching 'Deal Or No Deal'; y'know, the game show that could be over and done in about 3 minutes if they just cut out the waffle.

Good news on the Lalaland Records release. You've recommended them to me before but I'm yet to take the plunge!

EDIT: Oh! And the finale! I can't wait for you to get to the season finale!!
@FullbringIchigo I expect E4 will put a bunch of films on or something.

@KALofKRYPTON Yeah, I didn't get around to watching any yesterday. I had the chance to squeeze in an episode late last night, but couldn't really bring myself to do so because the whole "Let's get Spock, oh wait, we've been delayed, okay, let's get him now, wait, that's not him, let's go over here instead, what do you mean he left three days ago?" is making me wanna binge it in chunks; at least that way, there's more of a chance of finding some actual plot in amongst the (admittedly pretty and well-acted) filler.

So excited to place my Lalaland Records order later. There's a bunch of soundtracks on their website I've been holding out on, because I thought "as soon as I order them, they'll release the second Voyager album and I'll have to pay for shipping twice" so hurrah for patience, I guess!

Will obviously return with Discovery thoughts the further I get (or when I'm done).

@RogerRoger
I actually can't wait for you to get to the finale. Please post your reaction to it as quickly as possible!

@KALofKRYPTON Should I be worried? I should be worried.

@RogerRoger no you shouldn't be worried at all BUT what goes on doesn't make a whole lot of sense, it suffers from having to tie everything up and sort out as much of the mess Fuller and his crony's caused during their run before they basically soft reboot the entire series, which is something they was never going to be able to do

on the plus side we do get to see a actual TRADITIONAL Klingon, just one and it's a blink and you miss it moment but there is one there

@LN78 Will do!

@FullbringIchigo I shall keep my eyes peeled, then. Seeing the new Klingons with hair, talking about the D7 like it was a revolutionary piece of tech (despite the fact that we saw a K'tinga-Class in the third episode of Enterprise, but whatever), was a little jarring.

@RogerRoger To sum it up succinctly without spoiling too much; it is pap!

The story is pap, the direction is utter pap and leads in to some rather jaunty ideas of battle continuity and on top of that - well... It's just shiny pap!

@RogerRoger yeah they did a lot of backtracking in this season

@RogerRoger @KALofKRYPTON @LN78 a sad day

@FullbringIchigo Very sad indeed. May she rest in peace.

I was gonna come here and make a few sarcastic comments about my continued experience with Discovery, but I think I'll hold them back for now.

@FullbringIchigo That is a shame.

In remembrance - I'm more than happy to acknowledge all of her work, but especially for being a key part of making TNG what it was. I know season 1 isn't everybody's favourite, and the show and cast definitely matured to greater things - but pretty much all of season 1 sticks in my mind to a higher degree than most; Especially 'Encounter at Farpoint'. I'd always enjoyed every bit of sci-fi I could consume as a kid - I'm not sure when it was I first saw TNG, I do recall that it was my uncle who came along one day with 'Encounter at Farpoint' recorded on a VHS tape - we sat and watched and I remember being convinced it was a film, a TV show couldn't look like this, it was too big, too grand (just grand) too amazing. And it continued to be so, and became 'my Star Trek' - because from then on I got to watch it as it aired (well, I'm sure there was some transmission delay between the US and UK).

@KALofKRYPTON There was indeed some yawning chasms of transmission delay in UK terrestrial airings of all Star Trek shows, but it helps that the genuine timelessness of Berman-Era Trek fell into that sweet spot where British television production was ambitious, but still a little shoddy. I'm not surprised you thought "Encounter at Farpoint" was a movie, what with the ILM visual effects, stirring soundtrack and epic, thought-provoking storyline. We might look back and want to call it equally shoddy by today's standards, but I was equally transfixed by The Next Generation and the subsequent spin-off shows throughout the 90s.

The way Leonard Maizlish treated Dorothy Fontana (and everybody else, but particularly her) during those early years of The Next Generation was inexcusable; I'm glad she was able to return and write "Dax", one of the stronger episodes from the first, somewhat-uneven season of Deep Space Nine. I also love how Kay Eaton (Nana Visitor's character in "Far Beyond the Stars") was a blatant homage to her.

Didn't realise she wrote the stories of Star Trek: Bridge Commander, Star Trek: Legacy and Star Trek: Tactical Assault (which I really should finish someday). That's pretty cool.

Random thoughts ahead of the two-part finale of Star Trek: Discovery, which I'll watch this evening.

I swear to God, if there's even the slightest hint that Control is an origin story for the Borg, even if it's the vaguest of possibilities, with no definitive conclusion and / or total destruction of the technology, I'm gonna freakin' riot (okay, I probably won't but, y'know).

Giving Spock dyslexia is insultingly bad writing for three reasons. Firstly, it reflects the misguided rush to have all things represented in modern entertainment by assigning them to pre-established characters, rather than creating new and interesting characters who don't need extra layers forced upon them (see Sulu's husband in Star Trek Beyond, Lando's fluid sexuality under Disney, and so on). Two, the idea that dyslexia "made him special" is a patronising, childish take on an extremely complex condition, one that we understand more about day by day; the idea that dyslexia would still have a negative stigma attached to it in the 23rd Century betrays everything Star Trek stands for with every doe-eyed, head-tilting reaction shot given to the news. Three, why the heck does Spock (the centre around which the entire galaxy seems to revolve) need it? He already has struggles and issues and character depth, thanks to his mixed heritage and life choices. Giving him yet another "look what I had to overcome" element to his backstory is lazy, self-projecting fan fiction.

Each episode's structure has fallen into a pattern which reminds me of modern Doctor Who, in which there's a lot of padding and set-up for a big, contrived crescendo of emotion (whether it be a death, or a sacrifice, or a farewell, or a whatever) which ends up defining the episode moreso than any other element. Sometimes this works, but other times it falls flat, and leaves me wondering what the entire point was, as we shuffle awkwardly towards some kind of resolution.

Otherwise, no complaints, and it's been pretty good overall.

@RogerRoger so this was unexpected

basically it means you can pay a one off fee ($25 U.S no news on a UK price yet) and it unlocks everything for you, all skins, emotes, voice lines and victory poses

full info is here https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/starwars/battlefront/star-wars...

@RogerRoger
All perfectly valid thoughts. I'm very much on board with your assessment of the perceived need to afflict established characters with extra 'representation' points. It's such an odd demand (if it even exists) that people see themselves (or at least, very specific traits) reflected on screen.

I'm actually rather excited for you. I sat mostly eye-rolling and muttering expletives to myself, and later at the television in disbelief (soaked in complete belief that this was actually all done on purpose) at what I was watching.

@KALofKRYPTON Given my already-fragile tolerance for inflating the importance of the Spock character before this season even began, I remain convinced that returning to that well, over and over, is only gonna hurt the franchise. I'd quite like Spock to never be mentioned again at this point... like, ever.

Every time they feel like reaching for Spock, they should just get Tig Notaro instead. Alongside the ever-reliable Michelle Yeoh and "the novelty is starting to wear off a bit now, but he's still awesome" Christopher Pike, she's been the only thing I've genuinely loved about the season; an original, interesting breath of fresh air. That's how you do it. No offence to everybody else, who've acted their socks off in a desperate effort to be likeable. Maybe they're trying too hard.

@RogerRoger well given how the season ends i doubt we will see Spock ever again

@RogerRoger It's an interesting thing that I find swathes of the core characters a rather unlikable bunch. Give me a goody-two-shoes (Tilly) or a black-hearted-villain (... I don't have a STD example) and I can cope with meandering, under-cooked writing to a point; but going to absolute pains to try (so very hard) for meaningful dialogue for several incredibly dull, attempted morally ambiguous characters and I'd rather just watch something else.

I find the Section 31 thing massively overplayed too, right down to the edgelord black leather!

Do you have a selection of calming treats or beverage that you could deploy for the finale? I feel you may need them

@FullbringIchigo Oh I doubt they've finished flogging that horse!