Star Trek: Thread Space 9

[ReaperKK]

I just learned that Amazon Prime Video will have Star Trek: Picard videos within 24 hours of their air-date on CBS All Access.

 

The only thing I've seen is that it will be on Amazon Prime internationally.

I haven't seen anything about that happening here in the U.S.

Yea this is what I thought as well, it was on Prime for international.

[ProfessorPeart]

For those of us that still occasionally use regular ol' TV, BBC America finally got the rights to DS9 and started airing episodes today. Right now it is best battles. Guessing they will eventually move to the proper order.

Thankfully, it's aspect ratio is correct and the picture isn't too bad. Long live DS9!

[Orbert]

Interesting!  Perhaps now is the time to finally dig into DS9.  I watched it a bit when it first started up, but life is complicated.  Watching them all in order would be cool.

[ProfessorPeart]

Interesting!  Perhaps now is the time to finally dig into DS9.  I watched it a bit when it first started up, but life is complicated.  Watching them all in order would be cool.

Just saw the commercial, the official kick-off for DS9 on BBCA is Jan. 20th. Assume they will start from the beginning.

[King Postwhore]

Interesting!  Perhaps now is the time to finally dig into DS9.  I watched it a bit when it first started up, but life is complicated.  Watching them all in order would be cool.

Get on this right away.

[ReaperKK]

Interesting!  Perhaps now is the time to finally dig into DS9.  I watched it a bit when it first started up, but life is complicated.  Watching them all in order would be cool.

Get on this right away.

My god you need to do this

[DoctorAction]

Agree so hard it hurts. DS9 is the best thing ever.

[YtseJam]

I don't get what people like about deep six nine. I've tried so many times to watch it but I just lose interest quickly. The show started off weak and did get a little better but IDK. What am I missing?

[ReaperKK]

I don't get what people like about deep six nine. I've tried so many times to watch it but I just lose interest quickly. The show started off weak and did get a little better but IDK. What am I missing?

Here is my opinion as to why I think it's better

     The characters are much stronger and feel a lot more real on DS9. You didn't see as many relationships grow like they did on DS9. The character writing in TNG was thin and while there where moments of sincerity those were few and far in between. DS9 had characters that had their respective motivations and desires but were also deeply flawed and it wasn't limited to just the bridge crew. The whole cast was strong and got stronger over the course of the show. Sisko and Jake had a loving and believable bond as father and son, O' Brien and Bashir, Kia & Odo, Odo & Quark, Dax and Worf. Even the villains were excellent, you saw Dukat slowly become unhinged as the show went on. Put this into contrast with say Voyager where Harry Kim only spoke about going home and spent 7 years as an Ensign.

     The universe felt real in DS9. There felt like there were real risks with real consequences. The Dominion felt like a real threat, and I'd argue they felt more of a threatening than the Borg ever did. The show was also more serialized so there was less monster-of-the-week which allowed plot points to breath more. You can see each characters motivations and inner desires drive the decisions that they made. To this day few fictional people illicit the hate that Kai Winn did.

     The actors where better as well. Sure Patrick Stewart as JL Pipes, Johnathan Frakes, and Brent Spiner were great on TNG but there was a big gap in the quality of performances between those three and the remaining cast. This wasn't the case in DS9. Everyone had moments of brilliance on the show I can think of multiple scenes by multiple actors that really make you lost in the performance. This is coupled with some brilliant directors (Avery Brooks) made for some powerful performances. Even the supporting cast was top notch.

     There is a lot more consistency to DS9. Where TNG and VOY had some unique episodes ("Sarek", and "The Inner Light" for TNG, and "Year Of Hell" for Voyager) from time to time DS9 was able to pump out a lot more quality episodes with a lot more depth.

     This is all very much my opinion and I don't want to make it sound like I hate TOS, VOY, ENT, or TNG. Those are great shows in their own right but I think that DS9 is Trek with all cylinders firing.

[Adami]

I don't get what people like about deep six nine. I've tried so many times to watch it but I just lose interest quickly. The show started off weak and did get a little better but IDK. What am I missing?

I actually agree with you. Deep Six Nine was sexy, but pretty weak.

[Orbert]

I missed a lot of the 90's, including Deep Space Nine.  We'd moved halfway across the country for my new job in 90, our son was born in 92, then in 94 we moved again.  We had a VCR of course, with four program slots we could set.  Remember those days?  By time you figure a couple of weekly shows you always watch, and try to leave at least one or two open to record a movie or something, that's it.  TNG ended around then, and we watched DS9 when we could, but we never dug into it like we had dug into TNG.  Priorities had changed.  By 95 when Voyager started, things had settled down a bit.  There have been reruns of Voyager episodes on H & I that I have no recollection of, so I guess we missed some.

ReaperKK, your comments echo a lot of what I'd heard before.  DS9 is the one with the grand character arcs.  Some of Voyager's characters had some growth over seven years, but Ensign Harry Kim was Ensign Harry Kim for seven years.  Maybe that was by design.  If they're the only humans, as far as they know, for bazillions of miles, what difference does rank make?  Harry gets a field promotion to full Lieutenant at some point.  Paris becomes a Lt Commander.  And so on.  They had already faced the idea that it would take about 70 years to get back to Federation space.  All officers except Janeway would eventually be a Commander, since a Captain cannot give someone a field promotion to Captain.  It kinda made sense that there were no field promotions (or were there?)

Anyway, they'll hopefully run all of DS9 in order.  That would be cool, since it's the only way that makes sense.

[YtseJam]

Deep Six Nine was sexy

lol

ReaperKK Thanks for the perspective, I appreciate the feedback. Maybe I'll try watching it again but I never felt the way you do about TNG. I felt that the characters in TNG evolved a lot, especially if you watch the 1st season, you can laugh at the low budget and corny acting. I know you can pick apart all of them but I  TNG and the characters. As far as the Borg goes, I always felt like they were the solution when they had writers block. I tend to skip most of those episodes.

[El Barto]

DS9 also had excellent secondary characters. They had Dukat/Damar, Kai Ratched, Weyoun, Martok, Gowron, and Garak.  TNG had Guinan and Obrien.    That made a lot of the lesser episodes better. Some of the TNG episodes were great for the guest actors they brought in. The Defector, or Drumhead are obvious examples. A lot of them would have been a whole lot better with an interesting recurring character and a good B story, though.

[Orbert]

I'm usually fine with episodic television, since it's what I grew up with, but I also appreciate story arcs and character arcs in long-running shows.  Sometimes it's fun to just sit and watch an adventure of the week, but it's nice when there's continuity and references to events in the past.  I think my favorite shows do a bit of both.  Each week has something introduced and solved by the end of the episode, but also stuff connected to longer-running arcs.  I want character growth, and it has to make sense.  Relationships between characters should not be the same as they were three seasons ago.  Doing that, while keeping the essence of the characters and what made the show work, can be tricky.  There are shows that literally are meant for you to binge, watch every episode in order, or you're gonna be lost.  A season isn't 13 episodes of the show; it's a story presented in 13 one-hour chapters.  I'm not sure I want it that extreme, either.  That's how I felt when I tried to catch an episode of DS9 later on, maybe try to get back into it.  I felt like I was dropped into the middle of a story with no idea what was going on.

[Samsara]

Deep Six Nine was sexy

lol

ReaperKK Thanks for the perspective, I appreciate the feedback. Maybe I'll try watching it again but I never felt the way you do about TNG. I felt that the characters in TNG evolved a lot, especially if you watch the 1st season, you can laugh at the low budget and corny acting. I know you can pick apart all of them but I  TNG and the characters. As far as the Borg goes, I always felt like they were the solution when they had writers block. I tend to skip most of those episodes.

YJ - try watching some of the story arcs. I know a lot of the Trek series have these snapshot arcs of episodes to watch if you're only interested in one element or storyline of the show, and DS9 is no different. I mean, as a DS9 fan, I think some of the best episodes are some of the quirky ones without ties to the Dominion War, but maybe look into what specific episodes to watch that focus in on that, and see if you come around a bit.

I fully agree with Reaper, but sometimes small chunks are necessary to "get it" and then if you do, you won't be so easily bored by some of the "weaker" episodes. For the record, some of the episodes in Season One and Two were hard to to get through. But all shows are like that.

[ProfessorPeart]

Looked ahead on my satellite guide and looks like BBCA is going to be slamming wall-to-wall DS9. Looks to start at 5am on Monday and I think I saw 20 episodes airing that day. Tuesday and Wednesday were chalk full as well. Looks to be all in order, but also almost all at once too.

[Orbert]

Whoa, that actually kinda sucks.  I was planning on recording the whole series and watching in order, but figured on an episode a week, or one per day, tops.  My DVR and I won't be able to keep up with them going through the whole thing non-stop.

[ProfessorPeart]

My guess is that they are going this route to kick it off and then it will be more like TNG, a few per day once or twice a week. They usually maintain the order. Might need to wait out the initial blowout.

[Orbert]

Hopefully it will be something like that.

[Dream Team]

Wished I found out sooner, Shatner is at the Flynn Theater in Burlington, VT tonight which is only 25 miles from my house. He's hosting a screening of Wrath of Khan. Guess it's kind of a tour.

[Samsara]

Wished I found out sooner, Shatner is at the Flynn Theater in Burlington, VT tonight which is only 25 miles from my house. He's hosting a screening of Wrath of Khan. Guess it's kind of a tour.

My wife and I went to see Shatner on a tour a few years back where he was talking about his life and career. Just for the hell of it. It was hugely entertaining. We had a great time.

[hefdaddy42]

Caught the first episode of Picard.

Anyone else?

I must say that I was pleased.

[gmillerdrake]

Caught the first episode of Picard.

Anyone else?

I must say that I was pleased.

Haven't had the chance yet but will do so very soon. Encouraging sentiment though.....

[lonestar]

Just watched it on my way to work.


I'm very, very, very, very happy.

[Adami]

There a way to watch it without CBS all access?

[jingle.boy]

The premiere is tonight on Sci-Fi in Canada.  I had tried to power thru some of the most important TNG episodes for the past couple of months... only got up to mid-Season 5.  So, I skipped them (for the moment) and have binge watched the TNG movies over the past 3 days.  Still got 1/2 of Nemesis to finish.  These movies have aged fairly well.  Insurrection was a good storyline, but I cared not for the extended / non-TNG characters.  Soran and the Borg Queen as antagonists were very good (coupled with excellent performances by McDowell and Krige).  Hardy is quite excellent in Nemesis as well.

[ReaperKK]

I'm looking forward to watching it tonight when I get home.

[Samsara]

I haven't purchased CBS All Access. All I want is this show, which sucks because I am probably going to be out of the loop until they release it for sale on 4k blu-ray. SUCKS.

[jingle.boy]

That was very satisfying.

[lonestar]

That was very satisfying.

Seriously....they just crushed it in the feels department, and in the process set up an outstanding world and story to play in. This is going to be the TV series of the year.

[ProfessorPeart]

Watched Picard and, yeah, loved it.

Then I went and saw some 'professional' reviews and the first one I see complains about how slow and tentative it starts out. SHUT UP! So tired of people just wanting wall-to-wall mindless action. God forbid, we also get intellectually challenged and have to use our brains.

Whew, that set me off. Anyway, really looking forward to how this plays out.

[jingle.boy]

Watched Picard and, yeah, loved it.

Then I went and saw some 'professional' reviews and the first one I see complains about how slow and tentative it starts out. SHUT UP! So tired of people just wanting wall-to-wall mindless action. God forbid, we also get intellectually challenged and have to use our brains.

Yeah, that's ridiculous.  They had to do SOME setup for the story to fill in the almost 20 year gap since Nemesis. I thought the dreams and interview was a clever way of doing it.  Quick and to the point as well. 

Also, I knew instantly as they started panning back from that final scene that it was going to be a cube.

[Adami]

Watched Picard and, yeah, loved it.

Then I went and saw some 'professional' reviews and the first one I see complains about how slow and tentative it starts out. SHUT UP! So tired of people just wanting wall-to-wall mindless action. God forbid, we also get intellectually challenged and have to use our brains.

Whew, that set me off. Anyway, really looking forward to how this plays out.

Looks like I'll sign up for a few months of CBS to watch this. Ugh.

But as far as your complaint goes.....well, Star Trek has only itself to blame. For the last 11 years or so, Star Trek has actively rebranded itself as a fast paced action explosion fest franchise. While I, and most actual Trek fans prefer the slower more character based stuff, I'm not shocked newer fans are disappointed with something that might resemble actual Trek.

[Polarbear]

I heard good things about the first episode!

I'm dying to see Picard, but I don't have any way of seeing this, since there is no CBS All Access in my country!

Guess I'll have to wait for Netflix to pick this up..

[jingle.boy]

I heard good things about the first episode!

I'm dying to see Picard, but I don't have any way of seeing this, since there is no CBS All Access in my country!

Guess I'll have to wait for Netflix to pick this up..

Outside of US and Canada, Amazon Prime was supposed to be streaming it 24 hours after the US air dates