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Topic: Ten Forward - The Star Trek Topic

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RogerRoger

LtSarge wrote:

I don't know anything about Star Trek but I would love to experience this franchise. I noticed that SkyShowtime has the Star Trek movies (1 to 9), The Next Generation as well as Strange New Worlds. I'm much more interested in watching something more recent, i.e. Strange New Worlds. Because the issue I have with watching older stuff is that it looks so amateurish, which was my experience with Star Wars The Original Trilogy. For that franchise, I much preferred The Sequel Trilogy because everything looked more modern.
So my question is, do I have to watch the older stuff first or can I just enjoy the more recent stuff?

This is a tricky question to answer (and I'm sorry that I wasn't around earlier in the week; hopefully you're still interested, and this'll still be of some help).

Hopefully no, you shouldn't need to watch the older shows and movies to be able to enjoy the new shows, but it'll depend on a show-by-show basis. Some of them are direct and deliberate sequels to legacy shows and act as continuations for certain characters, so your mileage with them may vary. For example, Star Trek: Picard is very obviously about Jean-Luc Picard, who appeared in 178 episodes of The Next Generation and four feature films, so knowing a bit about him helps. You might still get a kick out of watching Picard (it has its own original characters and storylines surrounding Jean-Luc) but a lot of its references, callbacks and twists will naturally fly right over your head.

The same goes for Prodigy, which is a pretty cracking CGI animation aimed at a slightly younger audience but written with depth and maturity. Some of its characters (and therefore a lot of its background and ongoing storyline) are from Star Trek: Voyager, and knowing Voyager definitely enhances the viewing experience. It does a pretty good job of explaining itself (because it obviously doesn't expect kids to have seen Voyager before) but again, any subtlety will be lost on you.

Strange New Worlds is probably your safest bet. I haven't watched it myself, but it's reportedly a pretty solid entry point to what "classic" Star Trek represents. The ship and crew featured in Strange New Worlds were introduced in the second season of Discovery, which itself is a fairly standalone show, so you might wanna go back and watch that first.

I'd avoid Lower Decks. It's an adult animated comedy show which gets a lot of its humour from poking fun at established Star Trek conventions and concepts. If you don't know those conventions and concepts, then you simply won't get the jokes.

So, to summarise the new Star Trek shows, I'd give Discovery and Strange New Worlds a shot, tread carefully with Picard and Prodigy, and avoid Lower Decks. I think that's everything!

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

LN78
I saw this and thought it was quite amusing given some of the recent discussions about time investment in this topic.

LN78

LN78

I was dubious about whether attempting to out-comedy Seth MacFarlane's "The Orville" was really the right move for Kurtzman and the "Picard" showrunners but I have no problem being proven wrong - this new direction might just be a winner, after all.

Hilarious.

Edited on by LN78

LN78

ralphdibny

Thought I'd post my star trek dvd/blu ray collection before it gets separated from it's 3 shelf long glory....

Also a pic of X files universe for good measure.

I'm not yet getting rid of anything, I am thinking I might get rid of a lot of my star trek comics/GNs though because realistically, I don't have enough years left in my life to read them.

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Oh yeah it's in chronological order and not release order. I haven't got Picard 2 or Discovery 4 yet and I also haven't watched any new trek beyond Discovery 2 yet either so no spoilers please 🫣

Edited on by ralphdibny

See ya!

RogerRoger

@ralphdibny One heck of a collection up there, buddy! And quite a nostalgic line-up for me. I love how you've included your PS2 copy of Voyager: Elite Force up there, as well as Bridge Crew. I once tried to do the same with my shelves, have them franchise-specific rather than media-specific, but alas, space became a premium. I'll try and remember to post some of my own shots!

Also hey, nice to see you posting again! Was gonna drop you a line on PSN sometime soon, once I'm back on a console with an internet connection. Hope you're okay?

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

ralphdibny

@RogerRoger cheers yeah, it's quite the collection. I have been sort of considering getting rid of it as I recently acquired a decent sized CRT TV that actually has a VGA port, so I could technically just rip/download all these old 4:3 episodes of Trek and watch them using the PC/CRT combo and still get that old timey feel when I watch them. However, not sure if I have the heart to get rid of the collection even if I suspect the cheap cases that Voyager and the movies came in will probably melt at some point and ruin all the discs, which is what happened with Enterprise up there 😨. One day I'll probably just decide Id prefer to have the space rather than the collection, that day has not yet come though.

I do like shoving the games in with the films and TV particularly if they are canon or don't contradict the core canon. I got the Lost game with the Lost box set, and the x files games with the x files set. On the other hand, the Mortal Kombat movies and TV shows are on my games shelf with my mortal Kombat games!

Cheers man. Life has been really busy for the various reasons we've discussed. It's just non stop, it's mostly looking positive though even if it's difficult and there have been some really bad days peppered in which was to be expected.

I also lost my grandfather a couple weeks ago which was a really emotional experience. I was there for his final day and his last moments and was just overcome with emotion. Not like sadness for the loss, nor happiness for the full life he led. I just felt, like a lot, if that makes sense? Like I don't think it was specific emotion, it was just the strong and intense feeling. That was a pretty surreal and profound experience.

But yeah, had a lot of family time after that and organising, buying a suit, usual funeral stuff after that but funeral isnt happening for another couple of weeks anyway. I been keeping busy with a DIY project of trying to incorporate this massive CRT into my already full to the brim life by modifying some furniture. Already cut two shelves out of a unit that the TV will sit on and now I'm cutting up one of the shelving units so I can extend the remaining two units vertically to add two shelves to both of them.

Would be great to meet up on Risa again next week if you got some time. Can catch up properly if you like?

See ya!

RogerRoger

@ralphdibny Oh mate, my sincere condolences. I know exactly what you mean, as well. I've been with folks right at the end, and it always hits differently. Best to have a project to throw yourself into whilst you process that kinda stuff, if only on a subconscious level, so I'm glad you've had your shelves to sort. I'm also pleased to see that, overall, things are headed in a positive direction, but still.

Absolutely yeah, I can always make some Risa time! Should be around from Wednesday onwards, so just let me know whenever suits you best, and I'll do my best to be there!

With regards those big ol' boxes, I quite like how much of an impact they make but you're right, you get to a point where slimming down is probably wise. I can't store my Picard steelbooks or Prodigy alongside the rest of my Star Trek collection because I've hit capacity (will try and take a snapshot tomorrow, so you can see what I mean) and those chunky DVD boxes take up so much room! They are real flimsy, too. I'm on my second Voyager set because a while back, I smashed my first by accident. As frustrated as I was to downsize my PS2 collection into a dedicated disc wallet, the convenience and neatness didn't go unnoticed, so I've been considering similar solutions elsewhere. Alas, it means I can't store 24: The Game alongside the whacking great big 24 boxset I've got, but hey!

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

LN78

I've been listening to this superb podcast:

Some of the interviewees (Michael Dorn, John Billingsley, Nana Visitor etc.) should speak to the quality of the output. Highly recommended.

LN78

ralphdibny

@RogerRoger thank you,

Wednesday should work for me, I'll shoot you a message over psn to confirm on Tuesday night though if that's ok.

Ahhh that's annoying about 24 the game!! Having done a lot of the arranging now, I am actually considered organising by media type rather than franchise. I'll probably leave Trek/X-Files/Lost/Dark Angel as is but all the game-only franchises have become a bit of a mess. I may have to use some more traditional archive methods like Platform>Alphabetical by Title or Platform>Alphabetical by Publisher>Release Date or something

See ya!

RogerRoger

@ralphdibny Please do. I should apologise, Wednesday isn't as concrete as I'd like it to be, and I might still be away from home, meaning I won't have access to PSN to tell you either way. I'm hoping to be back, but I'm real sorry in advance if I'm not. I'll definitely be free Thursday and Friday, though.

Also, as promised...

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It's definitely the franchise from which I own the most physical media, which is why I can justify setting it aside on its own couple shelves. Everything else can take up generic shelf space without being too obvious, although it's a little more scattered about than I'd like it to be.

As you'll see in the other topic, I've gone Platform > Alphabetical by Title. Works for me!

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

ralphdibny

@RogerRoger ok mate, well either tomorrow or Friday should work for me. Just shoot us a message on PSN when you know, it should pop up on my phone even if I'm not on the PS4 so I should still see it.

The trek collection looks rad! I see you have upgraded to blu rays where possible. Have you dumped the DVDs now?

I'll comment on your gaming collection in a little while. I'm balls deep in some DIY right now!

See ya!

RogerRoger

@ralphdibny Well, I clearly didn't make it back in time, and haven't even gotten to my PS5 yet. I'll belt-and-braces a reply on there when I do, but can we say Friday? With apologies again, of course. Hope that's okay, and that your DIY went well yesterday!

Thanks! In some cases, I didn't even have the DVDs to begin with. I had all of Enterprise (in an unwieldy silver collector's box, which then contained the four separate seasons in their original convoluted, multi-layered plastic packaging) and the first ten movies, but never owned The Original Series or all of The Next Generation before the Blu-Rays.

Anyway, to answer your question, yeah, I took all my DVD duplicates to CEX and sold 'em. Did the same with Star Wars and James Bond. Got quite a fair price, considering some were semi-fancy boxsets.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

ralphdibny

@RogerRoger some dvds are actually really valuable. Just low print runs, lack of availability in torrents, etc etc. Usually later seasons of British comedies become really valuable due to lack of availability. It's a bit mental really, especially as some of that older comedy will likely never get shown again on streaming.

But yeah cool, see you tomorrow (on virtual Risa)!

See ya!

GreatAuk

I loved the season opener for Picard season 3!

I already like it better than the first two seasons, it feels much more authentic and TNG style than the first two.

Hopefully it stays that way the rest of the season.

GreatAuk

GreatAuk

I would love if somehow they brought back those insect aliens from season 1 as the main antagonists of this season. It would be a good wrapup to the series.

If you remember, that was never resolved.

GreatAuk

LN78

@GreatAuk I've read a few reviews that said it's leaning heavily into the style of the "TOS" movies - "Wrath of Khan" (what a shock) in particular. Insofar as the big bad of the season goes, I don't know if you've seen the trailer, but they are bringing back something from early in "TNG" but it isn't the "Conspiracy" bug creatures!

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LN78

RogerRoger

@GreatAuk I've been really enjoying the deluge of positive reviews (all spoiler-free, of course) and can't wait to get underway with the season myself. I'll be watching it in chunks every couple weeks. Am really glad to see you adding your own enthusiastic reaction!

Good shout on the possible callback, as well. The franchise might be full of unresolved threads, but I reckon that's probably the biggest, and therefore would be the most exciting.

"We want different things, Crosshair. That doesn't mean that we have to be enemies."

PSN: GDS_2421
Making It So Since 1987

GreatAuk

@LN78 if you're referring to the "memory cube" 😉 then yes I know about that. I wonder how that will be incorporated.

GreatAuk

LN78

@GreatAuk I'm not sure but judging from the trailer (and the apparent "Wrath of Khan" trappings) there are potentially three separate "baddie out for revenge" narratives being set up. I hope it's something more interesting than that.

LN78

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