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I think I'm going to try and watch Voyager again. Picard has given me, if nothing else, some new perspective on the character of Seven of Nine. I watched the first four seasons or so before finally giving up and returning just to watch the finale (which was kinda garbage) but maybe time has been a little kinder to the show. I know it was a very troubled production that led to the firing of the original showrunner and there's at least one episode, if not a few, that fans qualify as the worst ever.

Speaking of Voyager, I watched footage of the original Captain Janeway and holy shit did they dodge a bullet on this one. Lady has the charisma of a baked ham.



I was unfamiliar with Rick Berman's interview before. I just thought she up and left after a couple days filming. Turns out, Berman and his cohorts essentially sabotaged the hire and convinced her to leave. Watching the footage...can't say I blame them. Keep watching for bonus footage of Kate Mulgrew (and Berman) making fun of her accent at a convention appearance.

Incidentally, forgive my ignorant American ass for saying this but...what part of Quebec is Genevieve Bujold from!? That is the most purely "French" Francophone accent I've ever heard. Usually when I hear a Quebecois accent that's rather thick they sound more like Patrick Roy or Martin Biron.

Not the first time Star Trek nabbed an Academy Award winner. They previously hired Louise "Nurse Ratched" Fletcher to play the role of Kai Winn in DS9. That particular get worked out perfectly.

Genevieve is from Montreal, but did conservatory training back then, which probably beat the joual out of her.

She seemed like an attempt to recreate the Picard mold.

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Here’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it image from the new season preview of Strange New Worlds—we will be seeing a crossover with Lower Decks, with at least two of the voice actors playing their roles in live action. Should be interesting.

Here's a link for an updated trailer for SNW, sure enough that's Jack Quaid as Ensign Boimler, purple hair and all.

https://ew.com/tv/star-trek-lower-decks ... y-newsome/

Still gonna give this show the benefit of the doubt--it's been (so far) the very best of the Nu-Trek shows.

Here's some more super-nerdy shit, in the background of the Athan Prime Fleet Museum, the "original" Enterprise is docked, the one featured in the show "Enterprise," a show I couldn't really get into and was canceled about four seasons in.

For years the showrunners said had they gotten at least one more year the ship would've gotten a big redesign. The designs were leaked but it wasn't ever officially seen on screen...until this year.

The single best theme from Picard's three seasons--the First Flight of the Titan. I wonder if the budget was increased or if they've just gotten better with electronic simulation of a full orchestral suite, but Picard's score was every bit as good as any of the films (except Jerry Goldsmith's Wrath of Khan/Search for Spock soundtrack, that remains unsurpassed).

Season 2 of STSNW finds itself under impulse through the morality sector of the galaxy.......Episode 2 was particularly difficult to weather.

We can call it the Few Good Men episode. Its no secret I have no soft spot for lawyers. While I appreciate those that have dedicated their life to upholding the backbone of our society there are far too many that have disregarded their morality. Instead choosing to exploit loopholes, twist meaning, and manipulate the guidelines in the name of financial prosperity, unified agenda or individual ego. Like anything else they can't all be painted with the same brush....but I have general unwariness of those that possess that much power (sorry Gramps!).

That being said..this episode attempted to dance the line between blind justice and the ability to evolve beyond law. A grand thing to try in under an hour but one can only take too much court drama (at least for me).

Let's hope this series gets better and Captain Pike returns to lead us out of this sector.....so far we've had the enterprise get stolen yet again and a full hour of court.

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Though it did get a little heady I did quite enjoy the courtroom episode. Pike threatening to die in a waiting room in order to see the lawyer was a nice touch.

I especially like the new spin on the classic Starfleet dress uniform.

I will admit the “steal the Enterprise” schtick has gotten old but the season premiere was fun. Apparently the actor who plays Dr. M’Benga is an expert in Jiu-Jitsu so they wanted to find an excuse to put him in a massive fight scene.

If nothing else, it’s good to see the Klingons returned to normal. The new take was interesting but it just didn’t feel right.

In other news, the continued collapse of the streaming bubble as well as strikes by the WGA and SAG has some decidedly bloody results.

Just days after Paramount Plus announced Star Trek: Prodigy was axed (even though they had previously announced a second season), Disney Plus has put the kibosh on Star Wars: The Acolyte.

https://cosmicbook.news/star-wars-the-a ... ired-rumor

What’s really infuriating about these sudden cancellations is that a lot of these shows have a season in the can ready to go and the studios would rather just take the tax break than air it. And in addition to that they’re yanking these shows off the streamers to shop them elsewhere.

I stopped caring about Star Wars after Episode 1. But I am getting bombarded with ads for The Empire Strips Back while it's in NYC. Seems amusing/interesting. Look it up if you're not familiar. Although the NYC version is getting bad reviews because the couldn't get the Jabba the Hut sculpture onto the stage and they're not allowed to use the flame throwers.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Strange New Worlds serves up another time travel tale, this time with yet another Captain Kirk from an alternate timeline. I felt this one was a little uneven at times but it still delivered. Most interesting is that the characters travel back in time to modern-day Toronto and here, the infamous Eugenics Wars, which were invented way back when Khan was introduced in the original series, have not yet taken place, even though they were SUPPOSED to have taken place in the nineties. They gingerly step around this obvious contradiction/retcon and I’m fine with that. It’s pretty much how ST has retconned a lot of things from the original series that didn’t age well while trying to keep the good stuff.

Interesting that Captain Pike has sat out nearly two entire episodes out of three so far. Is Anson Mount filming a movie or something?

I will give episode 3 a pass due to the following.....Toronto, Poutine, and Vermont. Seems like alternate time lines are going to become a thing here......oh well.

At least they didn't CG Shattenkirk like Indiana Jones.

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SPOILERS AHEAD

Interesting that they did indeed explain the time paradox with Khan and what not, since there’s been sooooo much time travel and manipulation of the timeline, certain events have now been delayed. So now instead of Ricardo Montalban already done and gone into space right around the time Nirvana was a new band, he’s now just a kid trapped in a lab in 2023 Toronto. The showrunner came out and said they did this because they still want Star Trek to represent the future, not some weird alternate reality from our own. He also acknowledged they can’t do this forever but they’re going to as long as they can. Makes sense.

Couple fun Easter eggs—The Office of Temporal Investigations first showed up in the DS9 episode “Trials and Tribulations,” and Kirk mentions being in a Denobulan prison. That’s a reference to Dr. Phlox’s species from Enterprise.

Newest episode is a throwback to a planet (Rigel VII) that got serious time in the very first episode (filmed, not aired) of Star Trek, “The Cage.” And it really felt like a classic episode without being a watered down rehash. I really, really like this show. Even when they’re not clicking on all cylinders they’re still having fun.

Interesting to note that this younger version of Spock is being allowed to fuck up from time to time.

Yeesh....episode 4 the "tinnitus" episode. In this episode Pike and company attempt to channel the method acting of William Shatner in his early years. I am not sure if they meant to do this on purpose as a tribute or if pretending you can't remember who you are is just that hard and uninspiring.

I don't know....this is just not a good season so far....so far not as bad as Enterprise but perhaps Voyager level. Let's just blame it on the writers strike!

Let's recap the 1st 4 Episodes....

1. Spock Steals Ship
2. Court (ugh)
3. Time Travel
4. Amnesia

Ok...I guess its time for Mudd or Tribbles......

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Season was in the can long before the strike, so you can't blame any shortcomings on that. I'll have to disagree with you on the quality though, it's still enjoyable to me despite some of the usual Trek tropes that you've listed. It's far superior to Discovery (I'd argue it also blows Voyager outta the water but I really didn't like Voyager) and also outdoes Picard (the first two seasons at least). I at least have an idea of who these characters are, whereas Discovery I got no clue beyond Burnham, Saru, and Stamets.

I'm also all the way through season one of Enterprise (just can't bring myself to do Voyager yet, I had way too many problems with that show). Even though it went only four seasons it still had a ton of episodes. Season one alone has twenty-six (!!!!!), which is unheard of now. You're lucky to get 10-12 with streaming and cable basically serving as the model. So far it's kept my attention despite the fact that it's a bit dull and the writing is uneven to say the least. My biggest gripe is that it feels way, way too much like TNG/DS9/VOY, which makes sense since Berman and Braga were in charge of the show. Berman should've brought in new blood to do that one, or just stepped aside. The decision was made for him after Enterprise got cancelled.

I also very much dislike this whole "Temporal Cold War" storyline. Immediately going for the time travel crutch with a prequel show was IMO a huge mistake. I suppose they realized this because I think they ditch that particular storyline after season two. And I know we'll be seeing the "Enterprise-J" which is funny in hindsight because now, twenty years later, we're already up to "G." I'm guessing in future installments the future that was shown to us just plain never happened, Discovery is already a century past the supposed events depicted in that particular storyline.

Just got done with the Beagle in Sickbay episode. Meh.

Two things I definitely dislike about the show, one being the weird-ass “space sauna” where they disinfect themselves. That’s obviously just an excuse to get the cast to strip down and oil each other up. And hey this is not a bad looking cast but surely there’s a better way to show how hot Jolene Blalock is.

Also, it’s still ridiculous that Trekkies went to the effort of putting together a petition to convince Berman to switch the theme to a more traditional symphonic aria, but “Faith of the Heart” is sooooo sickeningly maudlin, thank heavens for the “Skip Intro” button.

On a side note, they could easily put a couple of these cast members on Strange New Worlds if they wanted. T’Pol should still be alive and well in the 23rd century, and according to rumored production notes, Captain Archer lived long enough (barely) to see April’s/Pike’s/Kirk’s Enterprise launched.

Latest SNW was a bit of a silly episode (Spock is accidentally turned fully human for a time) but I still found it enjoyable.

I feel like this season is dealing with some budget reductions. Most of the episodes have been lower-key than season one, with fewer big space battles. Also, the ongoing plot thread from the previous season setting up the Gorn as this show’s Big Bad hasn’t been referenced at all. I was hoping we’d finally see an updated version of a Gorn warrior. Apart from a guy in a rubber suit from the original series and some rather frightening looking Gorn babies trying to eat the Enterprise crew, we have yet to see them.

On a side note, Mia Kirshner is still hot AF.

Side SIDE note, I read an interview with John Billingsley. Does not look like Dr. Phlox will be making an appearance on Strange New Worlds anytime soon even though his character should still be alive a century later. He said they offered him a minor role on SNW (I assume not Phlox) and he turned them down. Also, while he said he loved the character he has no desire to undergo the hours-long process to recreate the Dr.‘s appearance.

Right on, two episodes dropped in the same week, including the long-awaited SMW/LD crossover episode.

I quite enjoyed both of them, especially the little Easter eggs dropped in reference to Enterprise and the final segment where we get to see the SNW crew in animated form.

On that note since I’ve been dealing with a restless newborn the past six weeks I’ve been able to binge the living hell outta Enterprise and am now on the fourth and final season. I must say I’ve enjoyed it far more than I thought I would. And since this show has found new life on streaming, two former cast members started their own podcast (The Shuttlepod Show) and it’s been very insightful as to what went right and what went wrong behind the scenes, also just the process of creating television and in general.

Coming up…the musical episode? Oh boy this one could suck but I applaud them for having the balls to do it.

Been trying to care about SNW season 2 but finding it hard. I think the problem is that I can't develop a bond with the characters with only 10 episodes a season. I don't yet care about the character enough to watch a whole episode about them. It's a continuing problem with NuTrek - it assumes you care about the characters because of what Star Trek accomplished, and it just doesn't work for me.

That said, I thought the LD crossover was fun and I don't even watch LD

-> it also just occurred to me that there's a big difference between peeking in on the crew of the Enterprise every week for about 7 months (or daily wrt syndication) vs 2.5 months

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What would Mad Max be like with EVs?

I saw on IG that Jack Quaid (Ensign Boimler) ad-libbed a line in that episode that stayed in. As he was mounting that saddle he said "Rrrrrrrriker!" And since Riker himself was directing, he was right there in the room!

I dunno, I don't think we really need 20+ episodes in a season anymore. I found myself exhausted after getting through just one season of Enterprise. And I'd argue SNW has done more in just a handful of episodes with characterization than Enterprise did in four 4X20-plus hours of TV. I still don't know much, if anything about Travis Mayweather and Hoshi Sato. Kind of a problem when your two non-white characters are given the least amount of love in the writer's room...just sayin'.

I don't feel like I don't know these characters due to smaller screen time, each of them has gotten at least one episode centered around them, and even when it's not we occasionally get snippets in others that give us some insights. It's a testament to the SNW team that they've done this, meanwhile I still don't know a damn thing about a vast majority of the Discovery crew because it feels like waaaaaaaaaaaaay too much screen time has been given to Michael Burnham (a problematic character IMO, but that's a post for another day), Saru, Mushroom Dude from Rent, and Book.

If anyone has taken a backseat this season, it's Pike.

Also, the tradeoff with shorter seasons appears to be a bigger budget. These new shows make the previous iterations look wildly out of date, especially in terms of SFX. I maintain though that TNG has aged remarkably well. Enterprise is actually newer and, ironically, it's that show that looks and feels way more dated (not just because it takes place in the 22nd Century either).

The Shuttlepod Show podcast has been remarkably insightful. Jonathan Frakes was on there as a guest and said the 2009 Abrams film inspired the TV folks to be more ambitious in terms of storytelling and what kind of shots to pull off. Apparently when Berman ran Trek he was old-school in the extreme and restricted what directors were allowed to do. Also they NEVER allowed actors to go off-script, and now they do. Berman himself was on and said the budget for the four Trek movies he headed was the same as the food budget for today's Marvel films. Don't know if that's necessarily true but he made it clear he was quite disdainful of Marvel films.

And now...the musical episode is coming up. We'll see if it works. I'm skeptical.