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Star Trek: Picard - Amazon Prime [** POSSIBLE SPOILERS **]

1404143454673

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,367 ✭✭✭JimmyVik


    Ive just finished.
    Loved it. Cant wait for more.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 18,691 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    pixelburp wrote: »
    I tried watching that author's videos before, but his style is cynical and abhorrent. In fact it feels rich that he'd comment on this more dystopian view of Treks world, when its channels like his that perpetuate the cycle of negativity within the pop culture zeitgeist. Negativity sells. YouTube is awash with "critics" or outrage merchants who get off on slamming everything, screaming about SJWs, picking holes, pulling up supposed "plot holes" or what have you. There are about 2, 3 channels I'll watch re. pop culture criticism who have decidedly sober, thoughtful approaches like Lindsey Ellis or Patrick H Willems. The rest is just screeching white noise as unpleasant as any number of Trek admirals saying "F*ck". Picard has its problems, but so has the wider world of entertainment.

    Sorry. If that sounds like a rant, then good; it was absolutely meant to be one :D

    you can be critical of the critics, but the shows are giving them the material. While there might be a market for these shows and if they are generating $$$ thats all that matters to Netflix and the rest, but its also legitimate that a lot of viewers who grew up on 80's to later SiFi find this modern Star Trek soulless.
    If I had to choose between a lost episode of Next Generation and the next series of Picard, I'd pick the lost episode in a heartbeat.

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 28,400 ✭✭✭✭blanch152


    JimmyVik wrote: »
    Ive just finished.
    Loved it. Cant wait for more.


    Finished it earlier this week. Mostly loved it too.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,759 ✭✭✭Inviere


    JimmyVik wrote: »
    Ive just finished.
    Loved it. Cant wait for more.

    Same. My only gripe with it was what the finale really.

    I wasn't a fan of:
    The amount of seemingly sentient androids that had been created (cheapens them imo)
    The way Data's simulation was worse than death for him, just meaninglessly existing in a grey room for god knows how long
    What they did with Picard - I felt the brain abnormality was a defining part of his age & mortality, they just erased that & gave him an android body. I'd have preferred if this abnormality was kept, and continued to be a haunting presence in his life for as long as the show continues, with him not backing down to it, and fighting on as a human being.
    I know this tech was shown to us in early TNG (Ira Graves), but the way it was shown in Picard makes just feel like they've created an immortality device.
    All the Federation ships being the same model, hmm, bit weird.

    But yeah, overall, I really enjoyed it (so so much more than I did Discovery). I'm already looking forward to a rewatch.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,607 ✭✭✭pah


    Inviere wrote: »
    But yeah, overall, I really enjoyed it (so so much more than I did Discovery). I'm already looking forward to a rewatch.

    Fascinating.

    I can't see myself ever rewatching this.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 465 ✭✭Ballso


    pah wrote: »
    Fascinating.

    I can't see myself ever rewatching this.

    Me neither, thought it was terrible, I didn't recognise this as Star Trek at all. Maybe it appeals to non-Trek fans?


  • Registered Users Posts: 197 ✭✭Mr Meanor


    I thought the writing both for Picard and Discovery was terrible, even bordering on amateurish.
    The fan fiction short films had better narratives

    Even the special effects, put loads of things on screen at the same time, keep it very dark, big flashes, rinse and repeat.

    Second season Discovery- AI out to kill us all
    First season Picard - AI out to kill us all

    So Picard ends with a 'come and help us' signal sent to an AI society millions of years ahead of us, they start to come through to help their desperate artificial brethren fight the organics and all of a sudden the signal is cut off!!
    So..like, wormhole closed, Young Ai's are on their own, planet encircled by organics !..... that's going to end well for us then the Ai's come to our galaxy for revenge.

    A story similar to that was published in 1948
    Whoever is writing all that unoriginal-plot holed rubbish that has been star trek Discovery and Picard really needs to exit the building.
    Remember these are multi million dollar shows that can hire the best of the best and these are the only guys and girls they could get to write for them!


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,094 ✭✭✭Rawr


    Ballso wrote: »
    Me neither, thought it was terrible, I didn't recognise this as Star Trek at all. Maybe it appeals to non-Trek fans?

    Personally I wouldn't go so hard as to say that it was not Star Trek, and although there were bits that were deeply disappointing, there were parts I did actually enjoy. I looked forward to the end of a given week to watch a new episode.

    But rewatch? No...I don't see myself wanting to alas. The entire show was built upon several season-long arcs that ultimately fell very flat at the end, making a rewatch hard to enjoy I feel.

    -Soji's arc was full of mystery and promise until they just diluted her into being little more than a plot device at the end.

    -The Artifact teased us with a big-bad Borg comeback...that just never happened.

    -I had hoped for better exploration of the Romulan's relationship with the Borg...instead they're just Middle-Earth Elves on a mission...because robots bad...

    There was an awful lot of that...build up for the season...and then just fizzle out.... There have been some suggestions that this would have worked better as a movie (or some kind of large multi-part special). That might have actually been better, and I think I'd be more likely to re-watch something that didn't just tease us for most of a season and then fail to deliver.

    Picard was a disappointment. It had loads of potential, possibly the most I had seen in a recent Trek project since I watched Axinar, but it just failed to cross the finish line alas. It was Trek, but it was disappointing Trek.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,559 ✭✭✭DublinWriter


    Ballso wrote: »
    Me neither, thought it was terrible, I didn't recognise this as Star Trek at all. Maybe it appeals to non-Trek fans?

    ST as a franchise is dead. No studio will take a risk so any future series will be re-boots and re-heats involving existing characters.

    Remember that although TOS and TNG were critically the best series, they were very risky ventures to begin with.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 36,711 CMod ✭✭✭✭pixelburp


    Ballso wrote: »
    Me neither, thought it was terrible, I didn't recognise this as Star Trek at all. Maybe it appeals to non-Trek fans?

    Look, it's plain as day not everyone enjoyed this show, but don't pull any One True Scotsman routine either. Oh, only non-Trek fans must have enjoyed it eh?

    :rolleyes:


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,759 ✭✭✭Inviere


    Ballso wrote: »
    Maybe it appeals to non-Trek fans?

    I've been a fan of Star Trek since brand new eps of TNG were still airing weekly on Sky. So that theory is out the window. For me it's explained by differing tastes and expectations, simple as that. Some really enjoyed Discovery, I found it excruciating to watch (more so Season 2), some people hated Picard, for me it felt like a proper continuation of the Picard's life...his mistakes, his legacy, and his ageing potential.


  • Registered Users Posts: 465 ✭✭Ballso


    Good breakdown of why this differs so much to previous trek.

    https://youtu.be/jsgnyxpzlfY


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,404 ✭✭✭Justin Credible Darts


    pixelburp wrote: »
    I tried watching that author's videos before, but his style is cynical and abhorrent. In fact it feels rich that he'd comment on this more dystopian view of Treks world, when its channels like his that perpetuate the cycle of negativity within the pop culture zeitgeist. Negativity sells. YouTube is awash with "critics" or outrage merchants who get off on slamming everything, screaming about SJWs, picking holes, pulling up supposed "plot holes" or what have you. There are about 2, 3 channels I'll watch re. pop culture criticism who have decidedly sober, thoughtful approaches like Lindsey Ellis or Patrick H Willems. The rest is just screeching white noise as unpleasant as any number of Trek admirals saying "F*ck". Picard has its problems, but so has the wider world of entertainment.

    Sorry. If that sounds like a rant, then good; it was absolutely meant to be one :D


    I agree. I never will let some know it all on youtube running his mouth dictate to me what might or might not be good.
    In fact all these people craving attention by giving reviews I have no interest in.

    I recall people slating DS9 as dark, enterprise as awful etc.
    I watched those shows and the "dark"DS9 was my favorite show of them all.
    The so called awful enterprise was better than voyager.


    I prefer this format of people together on a forum discussing a show than some attention whore lecturing on youtube as if they were an expert on taste.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,180 ✭✭✭nyarlothothep


    Mr Meanor wrote: »
    I thought the writing both for Picard and Discovery was terrible, even bordering on amateurish.
    The fan fiction short films had better narratives

    Even the special effects, put loads of things on screen at the same time, keep it very dark, big flashes, rinse and repeat.

    Second season Discovery- AI out to kill us all
    First season Picard - AI out to kill us all

    So Picard ends with a 'come and help us' signal sent to an AI society millions of years ahead of us, they start to come through to help their desperate artificial brethren fight the organics and all of a sudden the signal is cut off!!
    So..like, wormhole closed, Young Ai's are on their own, planet encircled by organics !..... that's going to end well for us then the Ai's come to our galaxy for revenge.

    A story similar to that was published in 1948
    Whoever is writing all that unoriginal-plot holed rubbish that has been star trek Discovery and Picard really needs to exit the building.
    Remember these are multi million dollar shows that can hire the best of the best and these are the only guys and girls they could get to write for them!

    Not only that, why do the higher dimensional AIs still use metal as a material? Surely they would have evolved beyond that and why were they just tentacles? As a design, it was completely unoriginal. It would have been more interesting if the AIs emerging from the wormhole were holographic patterns or something like a tesseract or even something similar to the Leviathan from Hellraiser, which was genuinely spooky because it just a rotating diamond but also extremely evil.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,318 ✭✭✭✭AMKC
    Ms


    Inviere wrote: »
    I've been a fan of Star Trek since brand new eps of TNG were still airing weekly on Sky. So that theory is out the window. For me it's explained by differing tastes and expectations, simple as that. Some really enjoyed Discovery, I found it excruciating to watch (more so Season 2), some people hated Picard, for me it felt like a proper continuation of the Picard's life...his mistakes, his legacy, and his ageing potential.

    Actually I found season 1 of Discovery excruciating to watch except for the first two episodes with the shenzoe. All the fake Klingon and how they acted and all was just against everything we know of Klingons. That's why to me they are not and never will be Klingons. The show should have been based on a modern version of that ship called the Discovery not the horrible lego like ship we got. I thought however that season 2 was better if not perfect but would watch it again.
    I liked a lot of Picard but still don't think that Picard would just sit around and whiter away for 20 years. He would use all the resources and friends he has and made over his many years as a Captain and Admiral to do what it was he wanted to get done.

    Live long and Prosper

    Peace and long life.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,759 ✭✭✭Inviere


    AMKC wrote: »
    Actually I found season 1 of Discovery excruciating to watch except for the first two episodes with the shenzoe. All the fake Klingon and how they acted and all was just against everything we know of Klingons. That's why to me they are not and never will be Klingons. The show should have been based on a modern version of that ship called the Discovery not the horrible lego like ship we got. I thought however that season 2 was better if not perfect but would watch it again.
    I liked a lot of Picard but still don't think that Picard would just sit around and whiter away for 20 years. He would use all the resources and friends he has and made over his many years as a Captain and Admiral to do what it was he wanted to get done.

    I enjoyed the mysteries of the first season, that what-if's, the intrigue, where will they go with it, etc. It kept me watching. Season 2 though, christ almightly...it should be used when lecturing aspiring writers & producers how NOT to make a tv show


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,094 ✭✭✭Rawr


    AMKC wrote: »
    I liked a lot of Picard but still don't think that Picard would just sit around and whiter away for 20 years. He would use all the resources and friends he has and made over his many years as a Captain and Admiral to do what it was he wanted to get done.

    I had that feeling too, and possibly yet another missed oppertunity in that show. The Admiral Picard we were shown in the flashbacks appeared to be a driven as the Captain Picard that we remember. His resignation would not have stopped him from travelling out to various corners of the Federation to cash in favors with various friends and allies.

    With hindsight I would set up Picard's situation differently. He's still at Chateux Picard, but he's there because Starfleet have had enough of his meddling and have put him under house-arrest (or planet-arrest...the point is he's not allowed off Earth). They've put a tracker on him so he can't travel off-world unless he's part of a Starfleet mission.

    So he's pissed and miserable. He's given refugee Romulans a new home at the vinyard because it's all he can do to help at the moment. Then suddenly the events of the show start up and Picard beams over to Starfleet.

    "Look! I need to be on a Fleet mission! We have to solve this mystery and save these androids!"

    Starfleet are still pissed with him from before his house-arrest, and will not let him off world. Picard then turns to Raffi, not just to get a ship but to use her security know-how to deactivate his tracker.

    Raffi: "If I do this...they'll be alerted, and they'll never stop hunting you"
    Picard: "Luckly, I won't won't need to run for long...."

    The tracker is deactivated and there's a mad dash to escape Earth. Starfleet troops storm Chateux Picard but are stalled by his Romulan friends while Picard & Co just about get away on La Serena. Out in Earth orbit a scene kind of like from Star Trek 3 is played out where several Starships begin to persue La Serena.

    Suddenly the Enterprise F appears:
    Capt Worf: Admiral. We have orders from Starfleet Command to detain you. Please lower your shields and prepare to be boarded.
    Picard: Captain. I would never ask you of all people to not do your duty. But I must also follow my conscience...and do what honor demands of all of us.
    Capt Worf: ..... are we in tractor range?
    Crewman: Ay sir.
    Worf punches a neayby console.
    Capt Worf: How about now?
    Crewman: Tractor controls....offline?
    Capt Worf: Kahless smiles on you today Admiral...but tomorrow I must hunt you.
    Picard: Goodbye old friend.
    Capt. Worf: Qapla!

    La Serena warps off. The rest of the show has Picard & Co on the run from Starfleet with various near misses.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,035 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    AMKC wrote: »
    Actually I found season 1 of Discovery excruciating to watch except for the first two episodes with the shenzoe. All the fake Klingon and how they acted and all was just against everything we know of Klingons. That's why to me they are not and never will be Klingons. The show should have been based on a modern version of that ship called the Discovery not the horrible lego like ship we got. I thought however that season 2 was better if not perfect but would watch it again.

    Opposite way round for me. Thought the first two episodes of season 1 were garbage. Most of the time was spent on boring exposition dialogue and Georgiou fell flat as a captain imo. Episode 3 onwards was a massive improvement with the intrigue and mystery elements introduced and Captain Lorca was a million times more interesting than Captain Georgiou.

    Season 2 was a bit of a mixed bag. Some high points but overall I felt the show lost its confidence while trying to please the people who criticised season 1.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,318 ✭✭✭✭AMKC
    Ms


    Rawr wrote: »
    I had that feeling too, and possibly yet another missed oppertunity in that show. The Admiral Picard we were shown in the flashbacks appeared to be a driven as the Captain Picard that we remember. His resignation would not have stopped him from travelling out to various corners of the Federation to cash in favors with various friends and allies.

    With hindsight I would set up Picard's situation differently. He's still at Chateux Picard, but he's there because Starfleet have had enough of his meddling and have put him under house-arrest (or planet-arrest...the point is he's not allowed off Earth). They've put a tracker on him so he can't travel off-world unless he's part of a Starfleet mission.

    So he's pissed and miserable. He's given refugee Romulans a new home at the vinyard because it's all he can do to help at the moment. Then suddenly the events of the show start up and Picard beams over to Starfleet.

    "Look! I need to be on a Fleet mission! We have to solve this mystery and save these androids!"

    Starfleet are still pissed with him from before his house-arrest, and will not let him off world. Picard then turns to Raffi, not just to get a ship but to use her security know-how to deactivate his tracker.

    Raffi: "If I do this...they'll be alerted, and they'll never stop hunting you"
    Picard: "Luckly, I won't won't need to run for long...."

    The tracker is deactivated and there's a mad dash to escape Earth. Starfleet troops storm Chateux Picard but are stalled by his Romulan friends while Picard & Co just about get away on La Serena. Out in Earth orbit a scene kind of like from Star Trek 3 is played out where several Starships begin to persue La Serena.

    Suddenly the Enterprise F appears:
    Capt Worf: Admiral. We have orders from Starfleet Command to detain you. Please lower your shields and prepare to be boarded.
    Picard: Captain. I would never ask you of all people to not do your duty. But I must also follow my conscience...and do what honor demands of all of us.
    Capt Worf: ..... are we in tractor range?
    Crewman: Ay sir.
    Worf punches a neayby console.
    Capt Worf: How about now?
    Crewman: Tractor controls....offline?
    Capt Worf: Kahless smiles on you today Admiral...but tomorrow I must hunt you.
    Picard: Goodbye old friend.
    Capt. Worf: Qapla!

    La Serena warps off. The rest of the show has Picard & Co on the run from Starfleet with various near misses.

    That's so much better than what they done and makes more sense too and would have been far better. A pity you were not a writer for it. What or how do you think they should do season 2 of Picard?

    Live long and Prosper

    Peace and long life.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,094 ✭✭✭Rawr


    AMKC wrote: »
    That's so much better than what they done and makes more sense too and would have been far better. A pity you were not a writer for it. What or how do you think they should do season 2 of Picard?

    Thank you, you are for too kind :D

    I don't think there should be a Season 2. This should have been Picard's swan-song and alas I don't think Season 1 would have been a appropriate send off for Picard.

    But if I bring out the crayons, I guess this is what I would do for Season 2 based on the Season 1 we got.

    ===============
    The events of Season 1 have now become common knowledge across the known galaxy. The Artifact has a become the object of a political tug-of-war between the Federation, Romulan Free State and the new Ex-Borg Collective. What had looked like situation where the Romulans would actually join the Federation is now looking like the beginnings of an open war.

    Picard & La Serena continue Picard's earlier work of trying to help out refugee Romulans settle on various Federation outposts, at the same time they are trying to act as good will ambassadors for the android race. In a world in what used to be the Neutral Zone, Picard uncovers something familiar, a piece of Iconian technology. With the help of some others, Picard learns he's found an Iconian Time-Capsule and that only a Posatronic brain can sync with it. Picard uses his knowledge of Iconia and his new android brain to access the data.

    The Romulan Sisters had read their information wrong. They too had accessed the Iconian message, but they were not equipped to understand what it really meant. Nor were the androids. Only someone like Picard, born natually, but transferred to an android...only he could hope to receive the message properly.

    I was an Iconian log, their last log. They were the most powerful empire the galaxy had ever seen, with gateways in all 4 quadrants. But they had grown arrogant, they started to believe that they could cheat death. Thousands of years before Data, they created their own Posatronic brains, to house their own minds, and to live forever.

    But a lack of death had warped the Iconian's sense of reality. Jealously they guarded their new ability from other species. Factions began to form and rivalries that might have calmed down after due to time or death just grew greater. Whole sections of Iconian society tore itself apart, leaving behind the Gateways and scraps of their technology for others to find.

    The microscopic probes they used to mend their bodies fell into the hands of a Delta Quadrant species who learned how the Iconian probes could repair bodies. Their whole society swapped out these probes for most medicines, but it was too popular...the probes were everywhere and had linked together....by the time they had realised their mistake....they had become Species 001. They would repair....everything....

    The robot arms that had been summoned by Soji were not some kind of robot race arriving to wipe out organic life. They were the remaining living Iconians...driven mad by their eternity in the void between gateways. The message had been a cry for help, they had wanted to get out but they were extremely powerful and were insane. Now mostly robotic, they looked nothing like their original selves.

    It was essential to avoid war in the Neural Zone at all costs. Not just for the sake of peace, but to prevent the insane Iconians from being unleashed onto the Alpha and Beta Quadrants...and possibly even the entire Galaxy. Classified logs from the Earth Romulan War show them that this nearly happened once before.

    Picard Season 2 would cover Picard & Co's attempts to stop a war from happening in this part of space while others would be trying to make it happen in order to gain the Iconian technologies for themselves.

    In the end of all of this...Picard should somehow die in one last *genuine* sacrifice to save everyone from the Iconian disaster (and not just to "convince" the androids that people can be OK).

    ==============
    So, that's what I sort of threw together there :P


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,318 ✭✭✭✭AMKC
    Ms


    Rawr wrote: »
    Thank you, you are for too kind :D

    I don't think there should be a Season 2. This should have been Picard's swan-song and alas I don't think Season 1 would have been a appropriate send off for Picard.

    But if I bring out the crayons, I guess this is what I would do for Season 2 based on the Season 1 we got.

    ===============
    The events of Season 1 have now become common knowledge across the known galaxy. The Artifact has a become the object of a political tug-of-war between the Federation, Romulan Free State and the new Ex-Borg Collective. What had looked like situation where the Romulans would actually join the Federation is now looking like the beginnings of an open war.

    Picard & La Serena continue Picard's earlier work of trying to help out refugee Romulans settle on various Federation outposts, at the same time they are trying to act as good will ambassadors for the android race. In a world in what used to be the Neutral Zone, Picard uncovers something familiar, a piece of Iconian technology. With the help of some others, Picard learns he's found an Iconian Time-Capsule and that only a Posatronic brain can sync with it. Picard uses his knowledge of Iconia and his new android brain to access the data.

    The Romulan Sisters had read their information wrong. They too had accessed the Iconian message, but they were not equipped to understand what it really meant. Nor were the androids. Only someone like Picard, born natually, but transferred to an android...only he could hope to receive the message properly.

    I was an Iconian log, their last log. They were the most powerful empire the galaxy had ever seen, with gateways in all 4 quadrants. But they had grown arrogant, they started to believe that they could cheat death. Thousands of years before Data, they created their own Posatronic brains, to house their own minds, and to live forever.

    But a lack of death had warped the Iconian's sense of reality. Jealously they guarded their new ability from other species. Factions began to form and rivalries that might have calmed down after due to time or death just grew greater. Whole sections of Iconian society tore itself apart, leaving behind the Gateways and scraps of their technology for others to find.

    The microscopic probes they used to mend their bodies fell into the hands of a Delta Quadrant species who learned how the Iconian probes could repair bodies. Their whole society swapped out these probes for most medicines, but it was too popular...the probes were everywhere and had linked together....by the time they had realised their mistake....they had become Species 001. They would repair....everything....

    The robot arms that had been summoned by Soji were not some kind of robot race arriving to wipe out organic life. They were the remaining living Iconians...driven mad by their eternity in the void between gateways. The message had been a cry for help, they had wanted to get out but they were extremely powerful and were insane. Now mostly robotic, they looked nothing like their original selves.

    It was essential to avoid war in the Neural Zone at all costs. Not just for the sake of peace, but to prevent the insane Iconians from being unleashed onto the Alpha and Beta Quadrants...and possibly even the entire Galaxy. Classified logs from the Earth Romulan War show them that this nearly happened once before.

    Picard Season 2 would cover Picard & Co's attempts to stop a war from happening in this part of space while others would be trying to make it happen in order to gain the Iconian technologies for themselves.

    In the end of all of this...Picard should somehow die in one last *genuine* sacrifice to save everyone from the Iconian disaster (and not just to "convince" the androids that people can be OK).

    ==============
    So, that's what I sort of threw together there :P

    I agree totally with you on season 1 and also that it should have been at least 3 seasons before Picard was to die but it is the way it is now.

    That's really good. You should get in contact with CBS and try and get on the writing staff of Picard. Even if they only used a little of what you have typed there it might be much better than what they come up with.

    Live long and Prosper

    Peace and long life.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,094 ✭✭✭Rawr


    AMKC wrote: »
    I agree totally with you on season 1 and also that it should have been at least 3 seasons before Picard was to die but it is the way it is now.

    That's really good. You should get in contact with CBS and try and get on the writing staff of Picard. Even if they only used a little of what you have typed there it might be much better than what they come up with.

    Thank you again :D
    Like any Trekkie, even the hint of an idea to actually write some of Trek of be mind-blowing. Although I have a strong suspicion that you need to get past a load of gate-keepers to even get as far as putting in an idea or even the scrap of a suggestion.

    I had a quick look at Star Trek.com about this: https://intl.startrek.com/Pitching
    Looks like they wouldn't be interested in anyone giving them a draft story pitch for a Season 2 (At least not via this path).

    Also you've got the problem that CBS don't actually produce Star Trek at the moment, Secret Hideout do this. They themselves don't appear to have much of an online prescience (so I guess they kind of live up to their name :D)

    So although I would jump at the chance to write any Trek, I haven't the foggiest idea where I would start :P


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,705 ✭✭✭BrookieD


    It's a shame really as back in the TNG era there was an open door policy for script submission and a few writers got a break from that approach.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,094 ✭✭✭Rawr


    BrookieD wrote: »
    It's a shame really as back in the TNG era there was an open door policy for script submission and a few writers got a break from that approach.

    My guess is that the current online world of emails etc. makes it now very easy for any Tom, Dick or Harry Kim to submit ideas and spam their collective inboxes. Back in the day you had to put the effort into a proper paper mail-in submission, which I'm guessing would deter all but the very committed story pitches.

    There's also the ever-present microcosm of the LA / Burbank TV production world which I feel has just gotten more insular over time. I can't help but wonder if there is a protectionist sense of group-think within the entire industry which will defend the many hacks who make a living within it, while treating outside creativity with hostility, while only occasionally letting some of it in (and only then if it can further their own aims).

    There are many commentators who decry that franchises like Star Trek are becoming too "woke" or focused on "virtue signalling", whereas I feel that a lot of that is very superficial. I feel that the biggest problem with these shows lies beneath the surface within production environments, where they often look exclusively within their own ranks for increasingly bland and uninspired direction. These shows won't die out for having a female lead, they'll die out for lacking any real sense of adventure or fun...they will die for being bland and boring.

    I mentioned before that I do consider Picard to be a Trek show...just a disappointing Trek show. Expanding on that; although I was disappointed by how they wrote the story...I was also disappointed by it not being all that much fun. TNG was fun, and when the serious moments came it provided some contrast to the fun moments. "The Borg are here....this is serious now....." Even shows like DS9 had that balance. In later Trek I don't get that feeling. They have injected some brevity whereever they could, but I don't get a sense of people who know how to make a fun show about a space adventure. "This is all serious...with a joke here or there....but don't forget....it's serious..."

    They should certainly be more open to new ideas and fresh perspectives, and if there was a way to do it I'd be delighted to share my bones of a Season 2 with them. But there's so much protectionism going on in these studios, they would be instantly hostile to the idea of a random Irish fan setting up the direction of their show :D


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,805 ✭✭✭Evade


    The more mundane reason is if you submit a script with a particular element or plot and later they make an episode with a similar element or plot you can sue for a story credit even if the coincidental elements came from a different submission.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,941 ✭✭✭De Bhál


    I finished Picard Friday evening. Really enjoyed it overall. Last two episodes went downhill for me with the last one just too heavy on morality chatter. First time in the season I started complaining about some of the stuff on the screen. But overall twas enjoyable, moreso than Discovery anyway (for me).


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,404 ✭✭✭Justin Credible Darts


    De Bhál wrote: »
    I finished Picard Friday evening. Really enjoyed it overall. Last two episodes went downhill for me with the last one just too heavy on morality chatter. First time in the season I started complaining about some of the stuff on the screen. But overall twas enjoyable, moreso than Discovery anyway (for me).


    agree with most of that, especially on the preachy ending to picard, the hand holding between 2 women.


    Thought that discovery finished better, after a miserable start, for me Pike was the standout star of the show


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,759 ✭✭✭Inviere


    Thought that discovery finished better, after a miserable start, for me Pike was the standout star of the show

    Says it all really, the best thing about Discovery is a temporary character :o Completely agree, he was quite well done in it.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,404 ✭✭✭Justin Credible Darts


    Inviere wrote: »
    Says it all really, the best thing about Discovery is a temporary character :o Completely agree, he was quite well done in it.



    The star of season one was Lorca..another temporary character.
    Pike for season two.


    Truth is this whole concept of basing the whole show on one individual in Burnham has been awful.
    The character is suppose to be part of the show...not the show about her, and this is why it has needed others to help carry it.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,759 ✭✭✭Inviere


    I'm still not sure I could name five characters form the show (Lorca, Pike, & Burnham aside). As you say, the whole approach has been a disaster. Star Trek only ever truly shone, when the characters came to life. It's pretty much Burnham, whoever the Captain is that season, Saru, Tilly, & a bunch of extras.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 36,711 CMod ✭✭✭✭pixelburp


    Inviere wrote: »
    I'm still not sure I could name five characters form the show (Lorca, Pike, & Burnham aside). As you say, the whole approach has been a disaster. Star Trek only ever truly shone, when the characters came to life. It's pretty much Burnham, whoever the Captain is that season, Saru, Tilly, & a bunch of extras.

    I wonder would people's opinions be different if Discovery's lead character wasn't so polarising: that were Burnham a more charismatic character, more would be forgiven. Outside of Burnham, you could take Saru, Lorca, Stamets, Tilly at a stretch but appreciate she hasn't been everyone's flavour. So approximately 4 fairly well defined characters (let's include said polarising Burnham). Arguably, that's on a par with TNG, Enterprise & Voyager. Maybe even TOS.

    Nostalgic goodwill is doing a lot of heavy-lifting: I'd argue old Trek had its fair share of non-entities whose names only embedded themselves through time, fandom & the fact many of the actors were themsevles engaging, decent folk by their own right. LeForge was (IMO obviously) a terrible non-entity - as bad as Discovery's own - yet LeVar Burton endeared himself in the intervening years in being a thoroughly Good Egg. Sulu had zero characterisation in TOS. He ... uh, liked fencing? yet George Takei has been such a larger than life, magnetic individual, Sulu basically being Takei (to the extent the actor's sexuality retrofitted into the character's own personal history).


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,759 ✭✭✭Inviere


    pixelburp wrote: »
    I wonder would people's opinions be different if Discovery's lead character wasn't so polarising: that were Burnham a more charismatic character, more would be forgiven.

    I actually like the character, and I think Green does a fine job with her too all things considered. The issue isn't so much Burnham, it's the absence of any effort in relation to character development outside of Burnham. Would that issue go away if Green were a better actor? Not for me anyway, as I said, I think she's not doing much wrong - the issue here is, as has always been with Discovery, the writers & producers.
    Outside of Burnham, you could take Saru, Lorca, Stamets, Tilly at a stretch but appreciate she hasn't been everyone's flavour. So approximately 4 fairly well defined characters (let's include said polarising Burnham). Arguably, that's on a par with TNG, Enterprise & Voyager. Maybe even TOS.

    None of those shows, were so solely centered on one character as Discovery is. They might not have been successful in their attempts, but they at least tried to develop non-main characters. Even if they were, the landscape of TV has changed since those shows were airing, so there's really no point comparing what Discovery is doing to shows from the 80's & 90's....the writers, producers, and network should know better by now.
    Nostalgic goodwill is doing a lot of heavy-lifting: I'd argue old Trek had its fair share of non-entities whose names only embedded themselves through time, fandom & the fact many of the actors were themsevles engaging, decent folk by their own right. LeForge was (IMO obviously) a terrible non-entity - as bad as Discovery's own - yet LeVar Burton endeared himself in the intervening years in being a thoroughly Good Egg. Sulu had zero characterisation in TOS. He ... uh, liked fencing? yet George Takei has been such a larger than life, magnetic individual, Sulu basically being Takei (to the extent the actor's sexuality retrofitted into the character's own personal history).

    Of course it had its fair share of non-entites....La Forge, Crusher, Troi, Kim, Chakotay, Sulu, Chekov, the list goes on. We know all that.

    Where Trek shone, is where it got characters right. Not only that, but how those grand characters interacted with others and with the world around them...y'know, basic storytelling and such. It's as if those at the helm of Discovery have ignored ALL of the things Star Trek got right and wrong over it's ~60 year history, said "be grand", and expected it to work. I say that as someone who was initially hopeful of Discovery, and who by the end of the second season, felt the entire show from start to finish so far (a few standalone episodes aside), has been a total waste of potential from everyone.

    You can't debate if Green is the issue, whether nostalgia is the problem, and argue that Trek has always had bad characters....the production has been riddled with well publicized problems in several areas....that's what's wrong with Discovery, not the actors, not Star Trek fans, but ultimately, the people writing for and producing the show.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,805 ✭✭✭Evade


    pixelburp wrote: »
    Nostalgic goodwill is doing a lot of heavy-lifting:
    I'd be fascinated to see a group of people who have never seen Star Trek before watching season one of each series, except Picard, and see what they thought of them or which one they would most like to keep watching.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,035 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    I think of the 20th century Star Trek series, TOS had the strongest first season by far. Pretty much hit the ground running and followed the reverse of every other series's pattern with a strong Season 1 and 2 and a weak Season 3. Whereas TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise didn't find their feet until Season 3. I would easily take Discovery's first season over TNG/DS9/Voyager's tbh. Not sure how I feel about Picard after reflecting on it. Was enjoying it but it built up a lot of promise, on which it failed to deliver by the time the season finished.

    I've spoken to quite a few non-Trekkies and they all loved Discovery's first season. TOS is probably too dated now for a newbie to love.


  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,404 ✭✭✭Justin Credible Darts


    pixelburp wrote: »
    I wonder would people's opinions be different if Discovery's lead character wasn't so polarising: that were Burnham a more charismatic character,


    got nothing against the actress, and she could play the greatest role, but it is still just one character.
    My favorite show is was and will always be DS9, in part because of the depth of the characters.
    Even TNG that had the awful cardboard cut outs of Geordi, and the Crushers, at least had Picard, Riker and Data, 3 characters at least, discovery having just one main, and its guest stars wont work, no matter how good the character is or talented the actress may be.


    Pike will be a huge loss for season 3, as said he was the star of the show, even if he was not meant to be.


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  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 36,711 CMod ✭✭✭✭pixelburp


    Evade wrote: »
    I'd be fascinated to see a group of people who have never seen Star Trek before watching season one of each series, except Picard, and see what they thought of them or which one they would most like to keep watching.

    Impossible to be sure given we're all bias here, but if we're spitballing about modern TV audiences, I'd be surprised if any of the series received much patience. Watching TNG, DS9 and Enterprise kinda depends on the viewer knowing "they get better", so if folks are coming at the show utterly cold - without those caveats - the garbage First Seasons would likely scare folk off. In fact, TNG might come off the worst given its infamously inert season. TOS would probably get a pass for being so completely out of time, while Voyager? Dunno, weirdly it might get the longest leash, having the most straightforward premise ("Lost in space"!)


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,805 ✭✭✭Evade


    pixelburp wrote: »
    Impossible to be sure given we're all bias here, but if we're spitballing about modern TV audiences, I'd be surprised if any of the series received much patience. Watching TNG, DS9 and Enterprise kinda depends on the viewer knowing "they get better", so if folks are coming at the show utterly cold - without those caveats - the garbage First Seasons would likely scare folk off. In fact, TNG might come off the worst given its infamously inert season. TOS would probably get a pass for being so completely out of time, while Voyager? Dunno, weirdly it might get the longest leash, having the most straightforward premise ("Lost in space"!)
    I'm not so sure. The only objectively superior things about PIC/STD are the quality of the special effects and the sets and costumes were made with HD/4k in mind.


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 36,711 CMod ✭✭✭✭pixelburp


    Evade wrote: »
    I'm not so sure. The only objectively superior things about PIC/STD are the quality of the special effects and the sets and costumes were made with HD/4k in mind.

    You did say excepting Picard, and I intentionally ignored Discovery initially. Whatever else about the latter's flaws, it was more intentionally plot / arc focused than any other Trek so it might hold this theoretical Viewer than the older, more episodic shows - if only because it has a "what happens next??" quality.

    We live in a different era of television, with different expectations, tastes & competing TV dramas. Once off, episodic TV is dead, for all intents and purposes. I don't believe a typical viewer would have the patience to stick with something so aggressively episodic, and as hamfisted and clumsy as TNG Season 1.

    We can debate til the cows go home about a total hypothetical but old Trek requires a certain flexibility and appreciation of context.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 21,035 ✭✭✭✭Stark


    I would never have stuck through DS9's first season had I not been emphatically promised that "it gets better".


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 36,711 CMod ✭✭✭✭pixelburp


    Stark wrote: »
    I would never have stuck through DS9's first season had I not been emphatically promised that "it gets better".

    Same here with TNG. I had read enough that season 3 marked an upswing in quality but ye gods those first 2 seasons were rough to push through. If it wasn't Trek I'd have laughed it off as some awful drek from the bowels of network TV archives, moved on to something better. Don't believe a casual TV viewer in 2020, without those caveats, would stick with TNG. Not least because of the absence of a "plot".


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  • Registered Users Posts: 465 ✭✭Ballso


    pixelburp wrote: »
    You did say excepting Picard, and I intentionally ignored Discovery initially. Whatever else about the latter's flaws, it was more intentionally plot / arc focused than any other Trek so it might hold this theoretical Viewer than the older, more episodic shows - if only because it has a "what happens next??" quality.

    We live in a different era of television, with different expectations, tastes & competing TV dramas. Once off, episodic TV is dead, for all intents and purposes. I don't believe a typical viewer would have the patience to stick with something so aggressively episodic, and as hamfisted and clumsy as TNG Season 1.

    We can debate til the cows go home about a total hypothetical but old Trek requires a certain flexibility and appreciation of context.

    The Mandalorian gave us some episodic style eps, alongside a series long story arc, similar enough to how DS9 did it. Mandalorian was MILES better than either of the recent Trek shows


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,759 ✭✭✭Inviere


    Ballso wrote: »
    The Mandalorian gave us some episodic style eps, alongside a series long story arc, similar enough to how DS9 did it. Mandalorian was MILES better than either of the recent Trek shows

    Couldn't agree more, it really was excellent imo. An example of how to expand within a franchise, in a fresh, all new direction. Discovery isn't even remotely of the same caliber of tv as The Mandalorian.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,759 ✭✭✭Inviere


    pixelburp wrote: »
    I wonder would people's opinions be different if Discovery's lead character wasn't so polarising: that were Burnham a more charismatic character, more would be forgiven...

    Nostalgic goodwill is doing a lot of heavy-lifting: I'd argue old Trek had its fair share of non-entities

    Just going back to this, why are you set on suggesting that a polarising character and people's own nostalgia is the cause of the issue, while ignoring the fact the the many many on set issues might be the cause of people's problems with the show?


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 36,711 CMod ✭✭✭✭pixelburp


    Inviere wrote: »
    Just going back to this, why are you set on suggesting that a polarising character and people's own nostalgia is the cause of the issue, while ignoring the fact the the many many on set issues might be the cause of people's problems with the show?

    I'm not ignoring anything; we were talking about characters and so only suggested that were Burnham an all round more charismatic, less obnoxious lead character, people's goodwill for Discovery might have been a little longer. That a shítty supporting cast isn't a new flaw in Trek. We're all aware of the production issues, it's a wondering Season 1 came together at all.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,759 ✭✭✭Inviere


    pixelburp wrote: »
    I'm not ignoring anything; we were talking about characters and so only suggested that were Burnham an all round more charismatic, less obnoxious lead character, people's goodwill for Discovery might have been a little longer. That a shítty supporting cast isn't a new flaw in Trek. We're all aware of the production issues, it's a wondering Season 1 came together at all.

    I see, cheers. Again though I don't know, hell I think if Patrick Stewart was playing Burnham the show would still be a mess. I don't feel there's many on-screen issues with Discovery (except perhaps the odd shaky-cam episode, and I'm not a fan of dark 'cinematic' lighting on tv shows...but that's just personal preference), for me the root of the issue is off-screen. Disjointed arcs, cramming to into too few episodes, lack of character development, amongst other issues, come well before we get into any on screen issues.

    I'd love if the show found some stability in its direction, but we're about to have a third soft-reboot for its third season. I'm not sure how the show can ever be salvaged now and carve out its own niche spot in the Trek universe. Is it a prequel, is it a sequel, what is it?


  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 36,711 CMod ✭✭✭✭pixelburp


    Inviere wrote: »
    I'd love if the show found some stability in its direction, but we're about to have a third soft-reboot for its third season. I'm not sure how the show can ever be salvaged now and carve out its own niche spot in the Trek universe. Is it a prequel, is it a sequel, what is it?

    A sequel: hard to be 100% given we've had one trailer and that was it, but that promo made it explicit enough the third series will be a fresh start: Disco thrown into the far-far future and trying to rebuild the Federation (again, reading between the lines there). I'd honestly be very surprised if the writers actually let the ship return to its original time; especially if the rumours of a Pike series are true. The production issues appear to have been resolved and being in literal new canon territory for the franchise should give it the space it needed.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,759 ✭✭✭Inviere


    pixelburp wrote: »
    A sequel: hard to be 100% given we've had one trailer and that was it, but that promo made it explicit enough the third series will be a fresh start: Disco thrown into the far-far future and trying to rebuild the Federation (again, reading between the lines there). I'd honestly be very surprised if the writers actually let the ship return to its original time; especially if the rumours of a Pike series are true. The production issues appear to have been resolved and being in literal new canon territory for the franchise should give it the space it needed.

    Yeah your assessment of the trailer & what we know so far seems fair. So if there's going to be a Season 4, it's a safe assumption then that it'll have to remain in the future (this also ties into the Short Trek that suggested the ship developed a highly advanced AI at some point, and ultimately sits abandoned). The production issues seem resolved thankfully, so all that's left are the writing issues....can they carve out a decent story that involves more than 2/3 main characters at this point, and allow the show to truly grow & mature?


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 16,318 ✭✭✭✭AMKC
    Ms


    Inviere wrote: »
    I see, cheers. Again though I don't know, hell I think if Patrick Stewart was playing Burnham the show would still be a mess. I don't feel there's many on-screen issues with Discovery (except perhaps the odd shaky-cam episode, and I'm not a fan of dark 'cinematic' lighting on tv shows...but that's just personal preference), for me the root of the issue is off-screen. Disjointed arcs, cramming to into too few episodes, lack of character development, amongst other issues, come well before we get into any on screen issues.

    I'd love if the show found some stability in its direction, but we're about to have a third soft-reboot for its third season. I'm not sure how the show can ever be salvaged now and carve out its own niche spot in the Trek universe. Is it a prequel, is it a sequel, what is it?

    Don't forget that it took TNG, DS9 and Enterprise 3 seasons before thy finally got good. Maybe this will be that turning point for Discovery.

    Live long and Prosper

    Peace and long life.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 36,711 CMod ✭✭✭✭pixelburp


    Agree. Fundamentally Discovery was a show in search of a premise. The usual problem of prequels in that arsing about Discovered Countries could only go so far. Obviously same caveats again but if season 3 becomes the magic number again it'd be rather apt.

    And weirdly, Burnham's previous central position in the narrative could yet work within the realms of a "rebuild the Federation" storyline - given she and the Discovery would presumably become the point of rallying. Trying not to get over excited but the potential is there.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,759 ✭✭✭Inviere


    AMKC wrote: »
    Don't forget that it took TNG, DS9 and Enterprise 3 seasons before thy finally got good. Maybe this will be that turning point for Discovery.

    While that's certainly true, don't forget that while those early seasons were meandering a bit...we got some sustained character development, which meant those seasons weren't a complete waste of time. By the time said shows actually got good, we were very familiar with the characters, engaged with them, and that meant anything that happened to them subsequently actually mattered to us - the viewers.

    Similarly, those shows didn't undergo several soft-reboots by the time they hit their stride. TNG was all about the 'classical' Trek experience, moral dilemmas, exploration, diplomacy, etc etc. DS9 went beyond that, and raised the bar for character development (still hasn't been rivaled 20 years on in the franchise), war, loss, and everything in between. Both shows stayed true to their roots, and that is what allowed them to actually grow into the staples that they still are today.

    Discovery started out well. While it redesigned the Klingons and this caused some major issues (I personally enjoyed the new take on them), it gave us the backdrop of the Federation/Klingon war...why it started, the dangers it posed to the Federation, and so forth. Then it wasn't about that anymore, and we were suddenly watching the crews escapades with a pantomime villain version of Georgiou in the Mirror Universe. Then it wasn't about that anymore, and it was about Section 31 and the Red Angel, so saving the Federation from that. Now it looks like it won't be about that anymore, and it'll be about saving the future of the Federation....ALL of that crammed into less than 30 episodes!

    ^^ The show hasn't been given space to actually breathe (on the rare occasion we get a standalone episode, I feel the show fares MUCH better). To me, the show comes across as frantic and desperate, with each arc having to be bigger, better, faster, with less and less emphasis on enriching the quality.

    Season 3 might be the one that sticks, but it would have stood a higher chance of sticking if the show was less panicked about what it's trying to be, and if we were more at home with the characters. Let's wait & see, though subjectively speaking, I'll have to fight my cynicism going in....we've seen Burnham save the Federation in the past, now we'll undoubtedly get to see her save the Federation in the future too. Fingers crossed for a more balanced approach this season.


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