Television The Star Trek Thread V6.0

[sverre054]

Watched the first episode of Lower Decks. While it wasn’t bad per se it wasn’t good either. I’ll give them some credit that unlike Discovery and Picard they’re trying to stay true to the TNG to Voyager era aesthetic from the way computer screens look to the use of some classic aliens like those blue guys that use the little breathing apparatus thing (one competed against Wesley in an academy entrance exam in season 1 or 2 of TNG, another one joined the crew on the episode where Riker was first officer of a Klingon ship). That being said, I didn’t find it funny in the slightest, and part of me thought they were trying a little too hard with the fan service, in particular at the very end of the episode when the girl starts listing TOS and TNG characters. I mean come on.
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Thats fair. I would give it 7 out of 10. I am eager to see episode 2, because I have heard multiple reviews, saying it is fantastic, and by far the favorite out of the 4 reviewed

 

[sverre054]

A for effort, but I disagree with your review. Be careful not to piss off the CBS copyright bot, by playing clips too long.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

Trekmovie.com with a review, obviously full of spoilers, so I recommend you spend the 25 minutes on watching before you read this. Still some Spoiler free excerpts:



When assessing an adult animated comedy, the most important criteria is the humor, and Star Trek: Lower Decks is funny, bordering on uproarious. The humor on the show works on a number of levels, with sight gags, character moments, and witty dialog. And the jokes keep coming, with Mike McMahan trying to pack as much funny as possible into this premiere; some may even think it is too much and he should slow down the pace.

The comedy should work well with Star Trek super-fans, casual fans, and even those new to the franchise. This leaves some elements as a bit of special bonus for those in the know, although at times the show has flirted too much on the meta, dangerously tapping on the force field of that fourth wall.


(...)

A lot of attention to detail has been made to fit Lower Decks into the TNG era. The show is made to be part of the canon of Star Trek, and the creative team for this comedy are taking that very seriously. Inside and out, the USS Cerritos fits the part as a ship dedicated to the less-glamorous task of second contact, and the crew manifests the diversity that makes up the United Federation of Planets. Even in their cartoon forms, the Vulcans, Andorians, Benzites, and others are all recognizable. The episode is also worth a re-watch, as there are lots of little Trek details and gags you may not even notice your first time through.

Even the crisis-of-the-week (...) feels straight out of the Trek trope handbook. While it might have been a bit clichéd as the plot of a live-action drama, it worked perfectly as the B-story for an animated comedy focused on the ensigns.


Although it is an entirely new genre of show, Lower Decks also fits many of the conventions of the TNG era shows, including the tone, style, and episodic structure of the stories. It is ironic, but this animated comedy feels more like traditional Star Trek than the darker and highly-serialized Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard.

“Lower Decks is funny, bordering on uproarious”




My biggest critique of the show so far is that it’s not funny. If it can actually churn out some good comedy it could be the best Star Trek we’ve had in years, but so far the comedy is where it’s failing to deliver.

 

[JDragon]

“Lower Decks is funny, bordering on uproarious”




My biggest critique of the show so far is that it’s not funny. If it can actually churn out some good comedy it could be the best Star Trek we’ve had in years, but so far the comedy is where it’s failing to deliver.

I actually am with you there. The setup is actually good, but they either news less or better jokes.

 

[sverre054]

I actually am with you there. The setup is actually good, but they either news less or better jokes.

The humor is hit or miss to me, sort if like Orville. I encourage you to watch a second time, and just take notice of all the background details they have in it. The show runner also used to run the popular tng season 8 Twitter account. He's a big fan, and it's fun to be back in the TNG universe.

I did laugh at the opening credit sequence that takes the best shots from the openings of the other trek shows, but have them doing something wrong. I thought when they came to help the Romulans fight the Borg, then immediately flew after one shot was pretty funny

 

[sverre054]

On my Voyager re-watch, and it's been a pretty tough slog through mediocrity in my opinion. The season 3 finale 2 parter Scorpion, definitely signals a shift in the quality. 7 of 9 is a great character.

 

[jefferz]

Is T'Ana the same race as M'Ress?

 

[sverre054]

Is T'Ana the same race as M'Ress?

Yes Caitians, they are actually a pretty prominent race, in the greater star trek canon. Only time we see one in live-action was in ST4 as a member of the Star Fleet council

 

[SammyPops]

On my Voyager re-watch, and it's been a pretty tough slog through mediocrity in my opinion. The season 3 finale 2 parter Scorpion, definitely signals a shift in the quality. 7 of 9 is a great character.

I rewatched a few Voyager epsidoes. Some are really good. Others are lame af.

I like the Torres storylines, like when she gets a klingon horney!

Any books or anything that follows the voyager crew when they get back?

 

[Philo-Publius]

I rewatched a few Voyager epsidoes. Some are really good. Others are lame af.

I like the Torres storylines, like when she gets a klingon horney!

Any books or anything that follows the voyager crew when they get back?

I thought the Voyager series was mostly terrible. The writing was far weaker than TNG and DS9, the characters sucked and were poorly developed throughout the entire series.

That said, it's still better than the neo-Trek we are getting now.

 

[SammyPops]

I thought the Voyager series was mostly terrible. The writing was far weaker than TNG and DS9, the characters sucked and were poorly developed throughout the entire series.

That said, it's still better than the neo-Trek we are getting now.

I think I may have liked it a lot more than you. I was effected by DS9's awesomeness.

 

[GtehMVP]

Voyageur had its up and downs, certainly never reaching the highs of DS9, though I genuinely liked it, especially once 7 came aboard.

I wasn't a big Janeway fan (liked her fsr more than Archer). I had a teacher who had that stupid smirk all the time, with awful coffee breath, always leaning over your shoulder trying to prove some point. I liked her dynamic with Chakotay though. He was great for much of the series, but fizzled out.

I felt like a lot of characters stagnated, especially Torres ( liked her dynamic with Paris too), once 7 arrived. I didn't care for the ending either, it needed something epic, or at least satisfying.

I'd take it anyday over the abortions out there today though.

 

[Law Talkin’ Guy]

The humor is hit or miss to me, sort if like Orville. I encourage you to watch a second time, and just take notice of all the background details they have in it. The show runner also used to run the popular tng season 8 Twitter account. He's a big fan, and it's fun to be back in the TNG universe.

I did laugh at the opening credit sequence that takes the best shots from the openings of the other trek shows, but have them doing something wrong. I thought when they came to help the Romulans fight the Borg, then immediately flew after one shot was pretty funny

I forgot about that bit in the credits with the Romulans and Borg fighting and the ship goes “nope” and gets the fuck out of dodge. That was the closest I came to laughing and the funniest moment of the show.

 

[SammyPops]

Voyageur had its up and downs, certainly never reaching the highs of DS9, though I genuinely liked it, especially once 7 came aboard.

I wasn't a big Janeway fan (liked her fsr more than Archer). I had a teacher who had that stupid smirk all the time, with awful coffee breath, always leaning over your shoulder trying to prove some point. I liked her dynamic with Chakotay though. He was great for much of the series, but fizzled out.

I felt like a lot of characters stagnated, especially Torres ( liked her dynamic with Paris too), once 7 arrived. I didn't care for the ending either, it needed something epic, or at least satisfying.

I'd take it anyday over the abortions out there today though.

I really liked the ending. One final dance with the Borg, and they get home, their mission. Great to see Voyager with other Federation starships.

I did not need to see any sappy reunions.

 

[JDragon]

I liked her dynamic with Chakotay though. He was great for much of the series, but fizzled out.

Seven was good for the series, but bad for Chakotay.

 

[GtehMVP]

I really liked the ending. One final dance with the Borg, and they get home, their mission. Great to see Voyager with other Federation starships.

I did not need to see any sappy reunions.

I wanted fireworks, and red carpet treatment lol. I dont know, I just wanted more fanfare for the returning crew

It was certainly better than a simulation by Riker and Troi

 

[sverre054]

I rewatched a few Voyager epsidoes. Some are really good. Others are lame af.

I like the Torres storylines, like when she gets a klingon horney!

Any books or anything that follows the voyager crew when they get back?

Yeah there are quite a few Voyager novels. They actually kinda relaunched them a few years ago, with Kristin Beyer, who is one of the co-creators of Picard. Chakotay is captain, Paris first officer. Janeway is admiral, Tuvok let to join the Titian. Book currently has Voyager leading a 5 ship exploration fleet, into uncharted space.

 

[moreorless87]

Honestly though it was pretty dam obvious what it was after 30 secs of watching the trailer, a rather clichéd shrill "adult cartoon" that would use the basic TNG setting, make a few references but not actually give a crap about it.

Its the same with all this modern trek, the people at the top don't give a fuck about Trek its just fodder for them to try and prop up there hackish work. There not only incapable of making great Trek they really have no desire to do so, the expectation of anything else is badly misguided.

I think were actually entertaining Starwars like "abused partner" territory now were things have gotten so bad that standards have dropped and any point of light is overstated.



As amusing as Mike Stosa's gradual collapse watching Picard was its nice to see them going back to Trek they enjoy,some good picks as well like Deja-Q, that's how you do Trek comedy even getting a bit meta...



Nice point idea about the TNG formulas, its a show with a lot of range but as they point out there are quite a few standard setups they go back to. I'd say that's a lot of the reason it lasted so well, most shows you basically have one formula, maybe it takes awhile to be worked out but then it also quite quickly burns out. TNG stayed fresh because you had about a dozen formulas they cycled between, most of which worked very well.

Interesting the difference in watching TNG as a UK viewer dispite being almost the same age as Mike and Rich, I remember at the time it started in the US I would very much have been like Rich, albeit I was more of a fan of the movies than TOS. It didn't actually start being shown on the BBC until 1990 though and by that point I do remember there was more hype behind it so even the dodgy season 1 episodes didn't turn me away and yes the Borg were really what make it a talking point at school.

 

[Clippy]

 

[Clippy]