Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I saw this on Youtube and thought it might be appreciated (pardon the bombastic title) XD



The clip for SG-1 is from the 200th episode which was a purposeful parody satirizing of scifi tv show tropes and cliches XD

That whole episode is gold. Somewhat relevant:

I've come to the conclusion that our universe post 2016 is Q's bad fanfic.

Rather enjoyed this second episode of Strange New Worlds again as well. Random things I liked…



Minor quibble…

Premiere is up for free on Paramount's youtube channel. If it's like the others, this is temporary for a few days.

Not bad actually. Certainly, it's closer to what I miss in newer entries. This episode did make me think of the hilariously bad, bordering on stupid, Enterprise episode The Communicator. Handled the basic theme way better. I liked that the show was allowed to have actual light hearted fun in a way that Picard and Discovery just never have.

Personally, I feel the need to call out the elevator scene where the lady relates to the alien in a novel and clever way. It was a small thing but I really liked it.

It also more authentically tackles the themes of Star Trek I think. It feels way less like someone was referring to a checklist the entire script.

Less liked, at the rate they're adding hitherto unknown relatives to this franchise, they might as well make Star Trek Cousins as its own franchise entry. Sulu's sisters. Chekov's brother-in-law. Scotty's grandma. Georgi's great-grand papi. Just a whole crew of people inexplicably related to previously established characters for no reason just so we can name-drop them.

Yeah, I can't figure out what the platoon of relatives is supposed to add.

I wasn't terribly fond of the introduction, though.
Was there really nobody else to send?


Rather good Star Trek though. Coherent, clear story, and solutions in technology and diplomacy.

Though...

Voss wrote:
Yeah, I can't figure out what the platoon of relatives is supposed to add.

It has the benefit of name recognition with none of the obligation to actually have a story consistent with the original named characters.

Because rather than make actual original good story lines with original characters they'd rather just drag people in with name recognition.

It's Star Wars syndrome. Somehow its always the same characters getting dragged in in events across the entire galaxy.

It's especially bizare because La'an's relation to him seems like it would be extremely stretched, begging the question why it's there at all and why she can't stand as her own character.

Star Trek: Renegades man. I swear to god the writers loved it way more than it deserved and they keep dragging it's stupid plot points into the franchise proper :/

It's ok. Which, given the dismal to insulting premieres of STD and PIC, is still a massive improvement. Obviously subjective so add salt to taste. I hope it doesn't worsen to baseline nutrek dystopian standards/tropes as the season progresses.

It's okay, we are getting the real Star Trek back again....

... And by that I mean the Orville.

Anyone know where we can legit watch SNW in the U.K.?

 BlackoCatto wrote:
It's okay, we are getting the real Star Trek back again....

... And by that I mean the Orville.

You know its bad when a "bad" parody show is more faithful to the source material.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Anyone know where we can legit watch SNW in the U.K.?

Uh ... legit? Nowhere until P+ releases it to the UK (or use a vpn and try the USA?). I think you've got a month or two waiting ahead of you.

Piracy is great! Not just because it’s cheaper, but it’s also usually Easier than watching shows all legit like! Just finished* binging a series on D+. Why the *? Because D+ only has the first half of the final season and now I have to hit the high seas to Actually finish the rest.

 AduroT wrote:
Piracy is great! Not just because it’s cheaper, but it’s also usually Easier than watching shows all legit like! Just finished* binging a series on D+. Why the *? Because D+ only has the first half of the final season and now I have to hit the high seas to Actually finish the rest.

Gabe Newell: Piracy is a service problem.

 LordofHats wrote:

 AduroT wrote:
Piracy is great! Not just because it’s cheaper, but it’s also usually Easier than watching shows all legit like! Just finished* binging a series on D+. Why the *? Because D+ only has the first half of the final season and now I have to hit the high seas to Actually finish the rest.

Gabe Newell: Piracy is a service problem.

The biggest example I can think of is Survivor on CBS. Like the day it came out they had those episodes up on their website to view for free with ads. Except on mobile. You could not watch their shows on a mobile device, and given I watch most of my tv on my phone at work, I had to pirate a show that the makers were providing for free.

Has anyone else noticed that seemingly every character now has a traumatic back story?

Like, in the latest episode, Uhura suddenly has to bust out this super sad/tragic history and my first thought was: "Oh, so like the captain? And the security chief? And Spock?... is EVERYONE traumatized on this ship??"

I'm digging the new series actually, but it's getting kind of silly that not a single character is like: "I dunno, I always wanted to explore space and so I went to the academy and here I am! My parents are so proud of me! Have you met my darling wife?"

I'm thinking that maybe the show-writers are still recovering from the depressing slog fest of the other nu-trek and haven't adjusted completely to the new tone yet.

That being said: if next week's episode focuses on how Ortega was actually tortured for six years before she was left for dead by the Ferengi (who are now sentient mushroom people that breathe fire and look down on "mere commerce" as a merely human affectation)... I'm going to laugh rather inappropriately about the whole thing :-)

I figure people with average normal backstories just don’t really have much to say about them.

I mean tragic backstories aren't a new Star Trek thing though.

It's definitely not new but it's also become more and more a thing. 20-30 years ago a cast would have 1-2 characters with a dramatic backstory vs a broader ensemble of people who were more mundane/normal before stuff started happening.

Those characters were often the most interesting though because they weren't mundane,but now every character gets a traumatic backstory and I feel like it diminishes the stories and produces absurd pile ups of overly dramatic blarg in characters.

leerm02 wrote:
Has anyone else noticed that seemingly every character now has a traumatic back story?

Like, in the latest episode, Uhura suddenly has to bust out this super sad/tragic history and my first thought was: "Oh, so like the captain? And the security chief? And Spock?... is EVERYONE traumatized on this ship??"

I'm digging the new series actually, but it's getting kind of silly that not a single character is like: "I dunno, I always wanted to explore space and so I went to the academy and here I am! My parents are so proud of me! Have you met my darling wife?"

Reminds me of the major networks covering the Olympics. Every athlete covered had a tragic backstory. No one was 'I loved playing <sport> and turned out to be good at it.' Its all car accidents, overdoses, & dead parents.

hmm liked the 2nd episode too, thats two down and 1 to go, if its good I will be watching the whole series

Ha yeah its definitely strange (the backstories) - I don't recall the older Trek series doing that too much? Kirk maybe though I don't think his parents were killed (I recall something about a colony massacre?)

For SNW they should just totally lean into it - make every character have just horrific pasts. Yep Dad was cleanin space barnacles off the USS Cannonfodder and he got sucked into a warp intake while we watched.... want to see pics?

“My parents were worked to death at Rura Penthe.”

“I can sympathize. My father died at Rura Penthe.”

*hugs and tears*

“He fell out of the guard tower.”

 LordofHats wrote:
It's definitely not new but it's also become more and more a thing. 20-30 years ago a cast would have 1-2 characters with a dramatic backstory vs a broader ensemble of people who were more mundane/normal before stuff started happening.

Another wrench thrown into the mix after 25 years is that writers seem to be conflating what they read on the wiki page on each character with what they need to do from the get go. Yes, there were lots of tragic backstories for most of the main crew on TNG but they were invented over the course of seven seasons and not put out with their intro character episode. In season one, I think we knew about Worf's backstory, possibly Tasha's rape gang drug infested upbringing, and Papa Crusher dying. Riker's familial conflict was disagreement with his dad solved by a discount American Gladiators match. Troi never solved her mother's good natured meddling but it wasn't tragic (though I don't recall how her father died honestly). Picard's backstory was introduced iirc after Best of Both Worlds' finale so season 3. Geordi being disabled doesn't qualify as tragic in that he had a very full life with no discrimination and his disability didn't harm him in his character arc of trying to get laid. Data was tragic but only seasons later once the Soong/Lore/mama/Lal characters were thrown in. The intro to season one wasn't a collection of broken families and tragedies that I can recall although it's been decades since I rewatched them in full and likely never will again after Picard s1. Also, I may potentially be bringing in backstory elements from season 2 into season 1 above for my examples so apologies for that if I did. Everything pre-beard is a blur!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
“My parents were worked to death at Rura Penthe.”

“I can sympathize. My father died at Rura Penthe.”

*hugs and tears*

“He fell out of the guard tower.”

Lost Tarantino Trek episode plot point confirmed.

Well, Yar's tragic backstory was brought up first in the pilot, and was alluded to several times in season one before they killed her off. Worf's may have been ironed out later but the idea that he was raised by humans and that feeling of alienation from what he saw as his 'true' culture has been a part of his character since the beginning.

In TOS we had Spock's well established difficulties being half-human, the fact that Kirk survived an incident where the guy in charge executed a bunch of people to keep up supplies, any number of guest characters that were introduced first and foremost as someone who had lost someone tragically or had their career ruined because someone had hurt themselves under their watch or they'd been born a woman or something.

I'll wait and see how it shakes out but I don't think either they or Disco have an edge on DS9 for number of series regulars with tragic backstories.

 warboss wrote:
Troi never solved her mother's good natured meddling but it wasn't tragic (though I don't recall how her father died honestly).

I don't think we ever found out about Deanna's dad, but in TNG S7 there's an episode where we find out that Deanna had an older sister named Kestra who drowned as a child and Lwaxana suppressed the memory because it was traumatic and she blamed herself for it. To me, that qualifies as a tragic backstory (more so for Lwaxana than Deanna of course).

Lwaxana didn't really get a resolution to her plotline until DS9 where her episodes with Odo seemed to bring a close to her character.

So not her introduction at the top of season 1 then. That was my point. We can't compare 7 seasons worth of character backstory and development necessary to make them interesting for almost a decade with the initial introduction. It's supposed to be an elite starship crewed by the best of the best and not an FTL group therapy session. Obviously we don't know for sure if this will continue but so far we have Pike, Khan-lite, Spock, and Uhura in the broken category. I hope Number One turns out to be a well adjusted individual at least along with an optimistic M'benga.