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Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

Been catching up on SNWs, and while I'm not as negative as some, I do agree the show has seen a significant downturn since the 4th episode. I can't even really put words together that feel like a good explanation for why.

It's just gotten kind of humdrum. There's some good. Some bad. Nothing that really stands out honestly. It's all just... meh.

Haven't seen episode 9 just yet. Apparently that one goes for a few doozies.

EDIT:

And wow was that an understatement. I can see why there's so much love/hate for it. It one of the most well-put-together episodes on the show. It's really well done. It's just unfortunately insanely derivative, and distractingly so. Really really distractingly so. Which is a shame because the episode is great. It just apes Alien so hard its hard to appreciate it.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/07/03 20:28:00


   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut





The Battle Barge Buffet Line

It's totally different. They borrowed the predator heat vision. I'm surprised that Hemmer didn't have his flesh peel away to reveal a cool blue metallic endoskeleton too.

We Munch for Macragge! FOR THE EMPRUH! Cheesesticks and Humus!
 
   
Made in au
Owns Whole Set of Skullz Techpriests






Versteckt in den Schatten deines Geistes.

They really did just do an Alien/Aliens mix, with a bit of Predator thrown in for fun.

Industrial Insanity - My Terrain Blog
"GW really needs to understand 'Less is more' when it comes to AoS." - Wha-Mu-077

 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Haven’t started on SNW yet, as I Paramount+, in its infinite wisdom, only allows you to watch in the country you signed up in (slow clap).

And since I’ve been up for around 26 hours, and can’t really go to sleep until 8pm (6 hours away), I’m super tired, so gonna try Prodigy.

   
Made in us
Secret Force Behind the Rise of the Tau




USA

Prodigy ain't bad honestly.

If nothing else, at least it's fun and not pretentious beyond its merits. Something to be said about a show aimed at kids not feeling the need to try too hard and kind of turning out better for it.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/07/04 13:10:40


   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






There’s a definite feel of Star Wars Resistance to it in the first couple of episodes.

Now, I enjoyed Resistance for what it’s worth, so that’s not a backhanded compliment.\

And please no spoilers for me!

   
Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord






Prodigy is weird because it just drops a single Star Fleet ship, with no crew, into a Galaxy that’s never even heard of Star Fleet. So it’s just the kids finding it and figuring it out with the help of the hologram teacher. Kind of almost tangentially a Star Trek show than an actual one so far. It is rather fun though. The worst part of it has been the release schedule. Five episodes, a several month hiatus, five more episodes, and now it’s been like a five more month hiatus and counting and it’s still the first season.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/07/04 14:51:35


 
   
Made in ca
Preacher of the Emperor






The first episode of Prodigy is really, really strong - I want to steal most of it for a far-future Star Wars campaign.

That's not to say the later episodes are weak, it's a solid kids adventure series.

   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Have now switched to SNW. Nothing against Prodigy, but I think I’m just too far removed from being a kid for its target demographic.

   
Made in gb
Preparing the Invasion of Terra






 AduroT wrote:
Prodigy is weird because it just drops a single Star Fleet ship, with no crew, into a Galaxy that’s never even heard of Star Fleet. So it’s just the kids finding it and figuring it out with the help of the hologram teacher. Kind of almost tangentially a Star Trek show than an actual one so far. It is rather fun though. The worst part of it has been the release schedule. Five episodes, a several month hiatus, five more episodes, and now it’s been like a five more month hiatus and counting and it’s still the first season.

Just to be picky, it's not a different galaxy, it's the Delta Quadrant hence Janeway being attached.
   
Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord






So not Literally another Galaxy, but it might as well be.

 
   
Made in gb
Preparing the Invasion of Terra






Not really cos we've done the Delta Quadrant before with Voyager. It's not explored as well as the Alpha and Beta Quadrants but there's established species and stuff there. Like Neelix.
   
Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord






Granted it’s been quite awhile since I saw Voyager, but how many of these alien species we meet in Prodigy were from that series?

 
   
Made in gb
Ridin' on a Snotling Pump Wagon






Onto the early minutes of SNW e2.

Yep. I get it. This is Good.

   
Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord








Orville: This one felt more like previous seasons. Maybe not quite as slapsticky, but not just an hour of depression.
Spoiler:
So yeah, time travel. I get where Ed is coming from, but can’t blame Gordon at all because he’s also right. Thankfully we know from a previous episode and the comics that his family doesn’t cease to exist because Orville operates on divergent realities of time travel, even if “our” ship’s crew hasn’t figured that out yet. I liked Issac’s side adventure with the other gal as well. Some character growth there perhaps, or at least new insights into them.


Strange New Worlds:
Spoiler:
I have no knowledge of exactly what happened in the original episode this one is giving us an alternative of, but I can guess from context. I liked the Romulan dude and Pike’s attitudes towards each other and it’s a shame they weren’t able to work that out. I was briefly really confused when the Star Fleet armada showed up until they explained that. It was cute to see the “actual” Kirk show up, and we can’t complain about the continuity of it since it was explicitly an alternate time line. Scottie’s cameo was amazing as well.

 
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka







 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
And since I’ve been up for around 26 hours, and can’t really go to sleep until 8pm (6 hours away), I’m super tired, so gonna try Prodigy.

...you're a firestarter, twisted firestarter?

2021-4 Plog - Here we go again... - my fifth attempt at a Dakka PLOG

My Pile of Potential - updates ongoing...

Gamgee on Tau Players wrote:we all kill cats and sell our own families to the devil and eat live puppies.


 Kanluwen wrote:
This is, emphatically, why I will continue suggesting nuking Guard and starting over again. It's a legacy army that needs to be rebooted with a new focal point.

Confirmation of why no-one should listen to Kanluwen when it comes to the IG - he doesn't want the IG, he want's Kan's New Model Army...

tneva82 wrote:
You aren't even trying ty pretend for honest arqument. Open bad faith trolling.
- No reason to keep this here, unless people want to use it for something... 
   
Made in au
Anti-Armour Swiss Guard






Newcastle, OZ

 AduroT wrote:


Strange New Worlds:
Spoiler:
I have no knowledge of exactly what happened in the original episode this one is giving us an alternative of, but I can guess from context. I liked the Romulan dude and Pike’s attitudes towards each other and it’s a shame they weren’t able to work that out. I was briefly really confused when the Star Fleet armada showed up until they explained that. It was cute to see the “actual” Kirk show up, and we can’t complain about the continuity of it since it was explicitly an alternate time line. Scottie’s cameo was amazing as well.


It riffs on "Balance of Terror" (TOS) which starts with a wedding of two Enterprise crew members and involves a Romulan bird of prey with a cloaking device and plasma weapon blowing gak up - only it was KIRK as captain of the Enterprise, not Pike.
The reaction to the Romulans looking like Vulcans and their doubting looks at Spock all mirror that.

I'm OVER 50 (and so far over everyone's BS, too).
Old enough to know better, young enough to not give a ****.

That is not dead which can eternal lie ...

... and yet, with strange aeons, even death may die.
 
   
Made in ca
Preacher of the Emperor






 chromedog wrote:
 AduroT wrote:


Strange New Worlds:
Spoiler:
I have no knowledge of exactly what happened in the original episode this one is giving us an alternative of, but I can guess from context. I liked the Romulan dude and Pike’s attitudes towards each other and it’s a shame they weren’t able to work that out. I was briefly really confused when the Star Fleet armada showed up until they explained that. It was cute to see the “actual” Kirk show up, and we can’t complain about the continuity of it since it was explicitly an alternate time line. Scottie’s cameo was amazing as well.


It riffs on "Balance of Terror" (TOS) which starts with a wedding of two Enterprise crew members and involves a Romulan bird of prey with a cloaking device and plasma weapon blowing gak up - only it was KIRK as captain of the Enterprise, not Pike.
The reaction to the Romulans looking like Vulcans and their doubting looks at Spock all mirror that.


Having seen the previews I took the time to re-watch Balance of Terror to see how close they stuck with it.

Short answer is: A lot, they worked really hard to line up Pike's version of Balance of Terror with the one from TOS:

Spoiler:
Right down to the dialogue, context clues tell us Pike was in the middle of making the exact same speech at the wedding that Kirk was in the episode opener, the dialogue about the starbases going quiet intermittently (though who and why is saying what is different, given the different bridge composition, save Spock and Uhura) and the outpost commander worked especially hard to mimic the somewhat hammy performance of the original actor, "It's on my screen now... Can you see it Enterprise?!"


Major script elements of that episode are also present and accounted for in the order they're accounted for in TOS, the comet, the encoded signal bounced off the comet tail, the plan to catch the bird of prey by waiting for it to diffuse the comet's tail and bracket it with phaser fire, the romulan commander realizing thats what they plan to do, evading and getting the drop on them, etc. all elements from Balance of Terror, paced a little different because we don't cut to the Romulans to get their perspective on things during these events in the Strange New Worlds version.

Then we see something interesting... Pike is never made aware of the exact point his presence causes things to go differently, but we do if we've seen both episodes:
Spoiler:
In TOS: The Enterprise runs from the plasma weapon, and is severely damaged but able to limp back and continue fighting.
In SNW: The Enterprise needs to lend aid to the Faragut, and is still hit by the plasma weapon at extreme range, but is flying towards it when it happens. This damages the Enterprise's weapons at a different time and in a different way than in the original episode. (And coincidentally, kills the weapons operator instead of her fiancé)

This leaves Pike needing to offer a ceasefire to the Romulan warbird because neither of them know how damaged they are - It's clear though that this is something Pike would prefer to do and is basically looking for any excuse to do - which is the real key difference between him and whoever else would be there in his place (Kirk, who he meets, but doesn't know would be the one commanding the Enterprise here). The Romulan sub-commander uses that opportunity to signal for help to the Romulan Empire (now not detected because they're not bouncing signals off the comet) and Pike realizes his showing mercy has sparked off a war, and gets the message that he needs to accept the fate he's been so scared of in order to avert catastrophe.


Except... there's another point of divergence, one the episode takes time to point out...

Spoiler:
The Romulan sub-commander, the second in command who sends that distress signal back to the Empire sparking off the war... he's not supposed to be there in that position. In Balance of Terror the sSub-commander is an old grey-haired man who served with the commander on multiple campaigns, they're both tired of war but disagree on to what extent that can factor in to their sense of duty, and he ends up dying to save the commander during the fight around the comet...

Except he's not there, the Commander takes his sub-commander aside when he questions him in front of the crew and talks to him about his 'uncle' who served with him on many campaigns and died during the 'Reman Campaign'. Because he's dead, we have a new sub-commander, one who's younger, more hardline, and goes behind the captain's back to send a signal to home, and he's more directly responsible for sparking the war than Pike is.


Now...
Spoiler:
they also point out Pike's fated accident still happened, but no one was there to be killed by it, meaning he's spent seven years or so prepping everybody for it to happen, so who's to say this didn't cause ripple effects could have spread out enough to cause a Romulan sub-commander to die fighting Remans who he might have otherwise not have fought, but there's something FuturePike says very explicitly: Every change, every other timeline he looks at, Spock dies.

Is there a chance we have someone else monkeying around with the timeline?



   
Made in us
Decrepit Dakkanaut





The Battle Barge Buffet Line

The original was better though this version wasn't actually bad either though. I'm a bit biased though as, like many, Balance of Terror is easily in my top five TOS episodes.

I liked the addition of a new but old ship that reminded me of the old FASA and SFB kitbashes of the 80's and surprisingly the new uniform on the unexpected visitor with a gift. It makes me feel that the WOK+ era (not technically TMP... maroon cotton always trumps pastel polyester jumpsuits!) is a missed opportunity for nutrek. Plus they got some extra use likely recycling an existing 3d model and textures from Picard for the adversary.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/07/07 18:53:36


We Munch for Macragge! FOR THE EMPRUH! Cheesesticks and Humus!
 
   
Made in ca
Rampaging Carnifex





Toronto, Ontario

Balance of Terror is one of my favorite episodes of not just TOS but all of Trek, so watching that SNW finale was an absolute delight. I'm sure it was a fine episode for those who haven't seen the original, but my god there was so much to appreciate for fans that remember Balance of Terror. The conversation with the outpost commander, the design of the war bird, the shot of it decloaking, how the weapon fires - it's all ripped straight from TOS but with all of the oomph of modern SFX. Hell, even the music! I whooped for joy at the tune they played when you first see the Romulan commander. It's such a beautiful homage to TOS. The twist they throw on the episode is so good. It presents a very sensible alternative to the decisions Kirk makes in the original.

It's such a well done finale. They saved the best for last IMO. I even really liked the guy they got to play Kirk. I thought he did a great job mimicking Shatner's presence. I can't wait for season 2!
   
Made in gb
Fixture of Dakka







Quick question there on SNW - was this a mid-season break, or is it an actual end-of-season finale?

2021-4 Plog - Here we go again... - my fifth attempt at a Dakka PLOG

My Pile of Potential - updates ongoing...

Gamgee on Tau Players wrote:we all kill cats and sell our own families to the devil and eat live puppies.


 Kanluwen wrote:
This is, emphatically, why I will continue suggesting nuking Guard and starting over again. It's a legacy army that needs to be rebooted with a new focal point.

Confirmation of why no-one should listen to Kanluwen when it comes to the IG - he doesn't want the IG, he want's Kan's New Model Army...

tneva82 wrote:
You aren't even trying ty pretend for honest arqument. Open bad faith trolling.
- No reason to keep this here, unless people want to use it for something... 
   
Made in gb
Moustache-twirling Princeps




United Kingdom

 Dysartes wrote:
Quick question there on SNW - was this a mid-season break, or is it an actual end-of-season finale?
Actual end-of-season - but they've already filmed S2.
   
Made in es
Inspiring SDF-1 Bridge Officer






Well, that was really nice. Not as good as literally one of the top five episodes of Trek ever, but close. And they were QUITE faithful to it.
   
Made in us
Grim Dark Angels Interrogator-Chaplain






A Protoss colony world

 creeping-deth87 wrote:
Balance of Terror is one of my favorite episodes of not just TOS but all of Trek, so watching that SNW finale was an absolute delight. I'm sure it was a fine episode for those who haven't seen the original, but my god there was so much to appreciate for fans that remember Balance of Terror. The conversation with the outpost commander, the design of the war bird, the shot of it decloaking, how the weapon fires - it's all ripped straight from TOS but with all of the oomph of modern SFX. Hell, even the music! I whooped for joy at the tune they played when you first see the Romulan commander. It's such a beautiful homage to TOS. The twist they throw on the episode is so good. It presents a very sensible alternative to the decisions Kirk makes in the original.

It's such a well done finale. They saved the best for last IMO. I even really liked the guy they got to play Kirk. I thought he did a great job mimicking Shatner's presence. I can't wait for season 2!

I was going to chime in, but your comment pretty much sums up everything I was going to say. I, too, cheered when they played the music cue as the Romulan commander appeared, just as I did for all the other things they copied extremely faithfully. Even the Romulan uniforms looked like they should, as did old Pike's WoK-era uniform. And I'd swear they just used James Doohan voice clips for off-screen Scotty. A nice touch since we never actually saw him. And in true Trek style, they threw in a hook at the end to make sure we'll all tune in for the next season. Not quite a cliffhanger like TNG's "Best of Both Worlds, Part 1" ending, but one that we're still gonna be waiting for the resolution of.

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 Mr_Rose wrote:
Who doesn’t love crazy mutant squawk-puppies? Eh? Nobody, that’s who.
 
   
Made in gb
Preparing the Invasion of Terra






I really liked that Orville episode and it always feels a bit weird to see people who do shows like Family Guy and American Dad do drama stuff. Then I remembered Scott Grimes (the guy who plays Malloy) was in Band of Brothers and it makes more sense as to why the scenes were that good.
   
Made in ca
Preacher of the Emperor






So having given the dust time to settle (and Rogers time to get their gak together) what's the consensus on season 1?

Spoiler:
Personally, I think they did pretty damn good. About on par with Lower Decks in terms of being able to take its premise and run without stumbling, which personally I think is harder to do with an earnest live action show than an animated parody.

Is it the best first season of any live action Trek show? Maybe, depending on how you measure such things. On the one hand, at 10 episodes it's a mere third the length of TOS's first season, and two fifths of TNG's, but I dare say it has more good episodes in a series than TNG has in its entire first season. More importantly, it's consistently good, with even the weaker episodes (Ghosts of Illyria, Serene Squall) only really seeming bad by comparison.


I'm looking forward to season 2.

   
Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord






Strange New Worlds may be done for now but Orville carries on! Another good episode this week. We get to see the Kaylon’s back story play out. Pretty much what you would expect. Lot of good character growth. More jokes and humor sprinkled thruout.
Spoiler:
I was disappointed when Issac took the emotion chip, because I feel he’s already got nascent emotions despite his denials and thought the chip was a dumb shortcut. Glad it didn’t pan out. The thing with Claire continues to be really weird and she’s quite manipulative.

 
   
Made in in
[MOD]
Otiose in a Niche






Hyderabad, India

Started on Strange New Worlds and a minor thing keeps bugging me, (even more than the Gorn), everything is too darn BIG. The bridge is like twice what it was in TOS, Sick Bay and Engineering are the size of K-Marts, and the shuttle looks like it's triple wide.

Now most sets in TOS were already too big, the Enterprise is advanced but it's still a ship, a starship at that. Space it as a premium. Air, light and heat all take power. But none of the SNW sets convey they are in a ship, they're all the size of auditoriums.

Having Jo from Facts of Life as the helmsman is unexpectedly growing on me.

Enjoying it otherwise (but does everyone need a deep dark secret?) will definitely keep with it.

This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2022/07/19 02:38:49


 
   
Made in gb
Decrepit Dakkanaut




UK

Federation Starships never really go for the whole "space is a premium" aspect. Heck the Enterprise D has families on board and pretty open corridors.

I think they approach it from the view that those exploratory ships are supposed to be far from base for extended periods of time and thus comfort, eg in the form of ample space, is worth the extra investment in construction.


You notice it over other races, eg Klingon ships are often very tight on space. Everything is very packed in tight, the Commander is hardly an inch from the rest of his crew on their bridge; meanwhile Federation ships have a lot more room.


Though I can certainly agree that its strange seeing an older ship with more space when the ship itself is supposed to be smaller overall than something like the Enterprise D

A Blog in Miniature

3D Printing, hobbying and model fun! 
   
Made in us
Nihilistic Necron Lord






Well have Seen how much vast open space they have inside the walls for turbo lifts to travel thru?

 
   
 
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