Star Trek: Thread Space 9

[BlobVanDam]

There is absolutely no way anyone can convince me that STD is prime universe. It was full of lens flares, stupid holograms, dumb space action, technology that shouldn't exist yet, random aliens, Klingons that looked nothing like Klingons, it bore no resemblance to the prime universe.

[Adami]

So I'll check out the first episode.



............where is it? Keep in mind I only watch stuff legally. Is it on Netflix or Hulu?

[Polarbear]

CBS All Access is the only place to watch the show, as far as i know. Not that it matters to me since it's not available in my country.

STD has been getting mostly positive or glowing reviews so far! I did not see that coming.

I'll wait until the whole thing is on Blu-Ray or Netflix or something, since i have no way of watching it right now...

[BlobVanDam]

STD has been getting mostly positive or glowing reviews so far! I did not see that coming.

Ummmm from who? I'm guessing people who never watched Star Trek pre-JJ?

[Polarbear]

STD has been getting mostly positive or glowing reviews so far! I did not see that coming.

Ummmm from who? I'm guessing people who never watched Star Trek pre-JJ?

I think, most of this show's audience is going to be people who have only seen JJ Trek.

Variety was cautiously optimistic, and that's one of the most trustworthy outlets on the internet. Some youtube reviewers were giving the pilot glowing reviews..

The reactions have been for the pilot alone, so it could take a massive nosedive after that..

[BlobVanDam]

I guess it also depends on whether you're judging it as a standalone show, or as part of the Star Trek universe. If you don't care about continuity or consistency with the past, I guess I could see how someone might enjoy it, although personally, I found the first two episodes incredibly bland.

[Polarbear]

I think they should just label it as a "Star Trek Anthology", or something like that. Basically as a standalone show.

The backlash wouldn't have been nearly as bad imo..

[BlobVanDam]

That wouldn't have made a difference at all imo, however, had they admitted this is JJ universe instead of trying to pass it off as Prime universe, then I'd have been more receptive.

[Adami]

I thought they did?

Well if this is only available on the CBS streaming whatever, guess I'm not watching it.


How will I ever live?

[BlobVanDam]

How will I ever live?

Very easily. Trust me.

I have a few points-
Where the hell did all of those lens flares come from?
How does a hologram interact with desks and stairs in the room it's being projected in?
Why were there holograms in a Star Trek series set in 2256 anyway?
Since when did a Vulcan's katra offer long distance calls?
A human female should not be able to do the Vulcan nerve pinch, as ineffective as it ultimately was.

[Adami]

Picard did the nerve pinch at one point I think.

[BlobVanDam]

Yeah he did, and that was a stretch too. To be fair, in this case the character was basically raised Vulcan and probably had much more training with the technique, and at least it only managed to subdue the person for a minute or so. I don't like the entire idea of having a human raised Vulcan in this era.

[soupytwist]

I watched the first episode this morning before heading to work (we get it on Netflix here in the UK).  I'll watch the second episode tonight.   

Early impression was it actually not bad at all, tentatively optimistic.   I'll write more when I've seen both episodes.

[rumborak]

I watched the first two episodes yesterday, and I actually quite liked it. Good plot overall, even already a plot twist.

[BlobVanDam]

What part was a plot twist? The only thing I can think of that qualifies is the very end, but that's really just setting up the basic premise of the show, since she's not even on the titular ship yet. I don't feel like anything counts as a plot twist yet.
Also, did anyone else find the dialogue really painfully forced a lot of the time?

[gmillerdrake]

is it a free stream at CBS? If so, is it planning to charge at any point?

[soupytwist]

Also, did anyone else find the dialogue really painfully forced a lot of the time?

There was a fair bit of exposition, but as it was the pilot I'm willing to accept that for now. 

[BlobVanDam]

Also, did anyone else find the dialogue really painfully forced a lot of the time?

There was a fair bit of exposition, but as it was the pilot I'm willing to accept that for now. 

I'm not talking about the exposition, just the way they conversed felt very forced, like sometimes it felt like they were trying to be funny or include personality, but it just felt really unnatural and flat. The conversations didn't flow, and I didn't believe these people were actually interacting. There wasn't that much exposition when you consider how long it was stretched over, so that was fine enough for what it was.
The acting was probably also a factor. The captain's acting was particular bad, even by Trek standards. The only actor I thought was good was Doug Jones, and they didn't give him much to work with.

[Samsara]

I'll be honest -- I wasn't interested when it was announced, and then got less interested the more I learned about the show. Frakes getting an episode to direct was nice, but I totally forgot about it until hearing the limited promotion of it over the last week.

I fully intended to watch it last night, and...forgot. And I don't feel I am missing much. I was a hard core trekker through DS9. I felt Voyager was trying to re-hash TOS, and I thought Enterprise was kind of lame. I watched about half the episodes of each series. And I have seen all the alt universe reboots -- not the same feel.

It may be that I'm getting nostalgic in my old age, I fully admit that. But it just feels like Paramount is grasping at straws to make something NEW happen, where, IMO, they needed to embrace the past. The entire Next Gen and DS9 casts are still with us. Not that all of them would be willing to do TV again, but some would, in a limited role, with a limited number of episodes.

If FOX brought X-Files back on a limited run, they can do the same with Next Gen/DS9 in a crossover role to get those stories told. I know they want to move forward, but it's pretty clear, at least to me, that interest in Trek has waned. I really feel they should have embraced the past FIRST, ensured of popularity with those that watched in the 90s, before trying to branch out again.

[BlobVanDam]

I think setting the series close to TOS was their attempt to "embrace" (or in this case cash in on) the past, it's just been done the wrong way from day 1, bearing no actual relation to TOS at all, and more specifically cashing in on the new movies which in turn cashed in on TOS.
In particular, it was really sad to me to see a whole bunch of random generic Starfleet ships, and Klingon ships, not one of which bore any resemblance to what we saw in TOS at all, and even sadder the thought that they probably couldn't even if they wanted to.

[Samsara]

What kills me, Blob, is that you have a guy like Michael Dorn who has said on multiple occasions that he'd play Worf again in a heartbeat.

Don't tell me you couldn't center a Trek series on Worf and his Starfleet career, with a few TNG and DS9 starts having recurring roles. Of course you could. And people would watch. Imagine the attention an episode that has "Admiral Picard" starring in it.  It'd be huge. But you could base it around Worf, who I feel had the most interesting story to still continue to tell following DS9's ending.

Paramount fumbled, and instead of seeing the answer (IMO) that is staring them in the face, they keep trying to do something different.

[BlobVanDam]

The even sadder part is that Michael Dorn was offered a role on Discovery, but it was such an abysmal sum that he turned it down.
CBS doesn't understand the long time fanbase, they want to bring in all of the casual fans who are familiar with the new movies. They assume the diehard fans will pay up and watch whatever they dish out simply because it bears the Star Trek name.
Maybe the time has passed for the TNG/DS9/VOY era, but it still would have made more sense to me to do something fresh and move forward in the timeline with full creative freedom, than to half-ass a prequel.

[Samsara]

The even sadder part is that Michael Dorn was offered a role on Discovery, but it was such an abysmal sum that he turned it down.
CBS doesn't understand the long time fanbase, they want to bring in all of the casual fans who are familiar with the new movies. They assume the diehard fans will pay up and watch whatever they dish out simply because it bears the Star Trek name.
Maybe the time has passed for the TNG/DS9/VOY era, but it still would have made more sense to me to do something fresh and move forward in the timeline with full creative freedom, than to half-ass a prequel.

Wow, they lowballed Dorn? Man..

Well, they certainly don't understand THIS long time fan. I've been with Trek for 32 years. I remember getting into the movies a couple years prior to Next Gen. Then Next Gen sealed it. And I fell in love with the political intrigue and unique setting of DS9. And while that ended long ago now, they've been disappointing me ever since. Such a bummer.

The prequel shit has to stop.

[jammindude]

I watched the first half and it was OK.   My wife *INSISTED* that we pay for the service just so she could watch it. 

She's been a Trekkie for a very long time, but she's not quite as picky as most.   She likes everything except maybe a few of the more annoying episodes of Voyager.   (well....she mostly didn't care for Enterprise, but she would watch it if they showed it in reruns as often as they did the other shows)

She said she really liked it.  A few of my online geek friends say they liked it.   There were no "OMG AMAZING" reviews...but most of the feedback I've seen has been positive. 

[FracturedMirror]

What kills me, Blob, is that you have a guy like Michael Dorn who has said on multiple occasions that he'd play Worf again in a heartbeat.

Don't tell me you couldn't center a Trek series on Worf and his Starfleet career, with a few TNG and DS9 starts having recurring roles. Of course you could. And people would watch. Imagine the attention an episode that has "Admiral Picard" starring in it.  It'd be huge. But you could base it around Worf, who I feel had the most interesting story to still continue to tell following DS9's ending.

Paramount fumbled, and instead of seeing the answer (IMO) that is staring them in the face, they keep trying to do something different.

A Worf show would be great!

Wesley Crusher is probably captaining a ship by now.  That could be a way to do a show that connects with other TNG cast part of the time.

[ReaperKK]

Just started watching Season 3 of TNG. Season 2 wasn't so bad, I actually quite enjoyed it.

[Dr. DTVT]

I'm trying to watch this first episode with an open mind, but it's not clicking for me yet.  A lot of it has to do with how this ship has better visuals than the Enterprise D, DS9, and Starship Voyager.  I understand CGI and special effects have come a long way since 2001, but that's all the more reason to create a series 50 or so years after DS9/Voyager.  There is still plenty of known factions to look at in the future: Romulans, Cardassians, Klingons (maybe), The Dominion, Borg; as well as ones that got glossed over like the Breen.  And a well developed new nemesis would probably be welcome too.  I know the look of the Klingon changed from TOS to TNG, but this new Klingon seems to be pretty bastardized in looks and culture (I'm only half way through the first episode, so if I don't have the complete picture yet forgive me).

[Polarbear]

Just started watching Season 3 of TNG. Season 2 wasn't so bad, I actually quite enjoyed it.

Season 3 is my favorite from TNG! So many great episodes. Yesterday's Enterprise and Sins of the Father anyone?

[soupytwist]

Having watched both episodes I think the show shows promise, although I'm not sold on everything.

- Not keen on the new look Klingons and really hope they don't continue the subtitles, but I actually found their storyline quite interesting, like all good Trek the issues can be reflected back to our current society - and this episode came on the same weekend as the German elections where the far right party 'AfD' made huge gains on a very similar premise.

- Sonequa Martin wasn't as bad as I feared.  I didn't like her much in TWD, but here she was good enough and in the '7 years ago' flashback she did quite a good vulcan impression - although why 'Michael'?  WTF is that about.   Michelle Yeoh was awful though as the Captain, but I guess thats not really an issue now (unless we get more flashbacks).

- The only other cast member who got any time was 'Saru' who seemed like he could be interesting.  I presume we are going to meet the rest of the proper cast soon. 

- The time line setting is a issue, it's going to be hard accepting the new effects, technology in an era set before TOS.   Lets try and pretend someone time travelled from the future (something that happens in Star Trek all the time!) and left some tech behind!

- The Star Trek spinoffs were full of bland no risk showrunners - Jeri Taylor, Micheal Piller, Brannon Braga (Ira Steven Behr was the best by a mile).   I hope this show takes risk and won't just hit the reset button at the end of every episode. 

So yeah it was OK.  Potential to go either way, as far as Pilots go it pisses all over Farpoint that's for sure

[rumborak]

What kills me, Blob, is that you have a guy like Michael Dorn who has said on multiple occasions that he'd play Worf again in a heartbeat.\
Don't tell me you couldn't center a Trek series on Worf and his Starfleet career, with a few TNG and DS9 starts having recurring roles. Of course you could. And people would watch.

I can't be the only one who would find this awful. It would be an implicit admission that they got nothing, and have to cling to the old storylines.

[Logain Ablar]

I watched the first episode tonight. Overall, not impressed at all so far. It felt very amateurish. Dialogue was very clunky, and the Captain and Number One characters are just totally off. "Michael" appears desperate to start a war with the Klingons for barely explained reasons.

The spacewalk scene where she accidentally kills the Klingon with his own bat'leth was completely ridiculous. I lol-ed at that, and not in a good way.

The tech and timeline stuff I could overlook if I could warm to the characters, but at the end of Ep 1 I wasn't buying it.

I'll give Ep 2 a shot to see if it improves, but it's not looking good so far.

[Orbert]

What kills me, Blob, is that you have a guy like Michael Dorn who has said on multiple occasions that he'd play Worf again in a heartbeat.\
Don't tell me you couldn't center a Trek series on Worf and his Starfleet career, with a few TNG and DS9 starts having recurring roles. Of course you could. And people would watch.

I can't be the only one who would find this awful. It would be an implicit admission that they got nothing, and have to cling to the old storylines.

A lot of people like Worf, and ST: The Adventures of Worf could be pretty cool.  You can call it clinging to the old storylines, or just sticking with an established character and universe.  Giving the people more of what they want, rather than taking a chance on some unknown thing and possibly botching it.  For me, it was kinda weird seeing O'Brien on DS9, and then later Worf and others, but hey, same characters, same universe, why not?  I think that this many years later, it doesn't make sense any more for Worf to get his own spin-off, but ten years ago, I would've checked it out.

[soupytwist]

What kills me, Blob, is that you have a guy like Michael Dorn who has said on multiple occasions that he'd play Worf again in a heartbeat.\
Don't tell me you couldn't center a Trek series on Worf and his Starfleet career, with a few TNG and DS9 starts having recurring roles. Of course you could. And people would watch.

I can't be the only one who would find this awful. It would be an implicit admission that they got nothing, and have to cling to the old storylines.

A lot of people like Worf, and ST: The Adventures of Worf could be pretty cool.  You can call it clinging to the old storylines, or just sticking with an established character and universe.  Giving the people more of what they want, rather than taking a chance on some unknown thing and possibly botching it.

Two points.  Firstly why bother with the Next Generation back in 87?  Why not stick with the original crew, as they were having a resonance in the cinema at the time (Voyage Home came out in '86).   Secondly unlike the TOS films in 87' the last TNG film (Nemesis) completely bombed back in '02, so I don't really see why they'd be much appetite for continuation in '17.   Also Enterprise struggled and was ultimately axed, putting the final nail into the Rick Berman style Star Trek.

[Adami]

That's a strange argument. Because the ToS crew had two great movies (in 1986 and 1991), we should just ignore 7 years of a TV show?

And yes, both Nemesis and Insurrection did poorly, but I doubt it had anything to do with people not liking the crew. They were just poor movies, much like several of the ToS movies.

So I'm not sure what you're getting at.



Not that I think a Worf show is a good idea. I think they should do a whole new crew etc, but have some cameos from other shows, just like they all had.

[soupytwist]

That's a strange argument. Because the ToS crew had two great movies (in 1986 and 1991), we should just ignore 7 years of a TV show?

No that's not what I mean.
Orbert is suggesting instead of a making Discovery they should make the new show focusing on the old cast.  What I'm saying in turn is they could have done this in '87 sticking with the TOS crew and we would never have got TNG (which imo would have been a bad thing).