• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

News Kurtzman: Criticism Is Useful

I agree about the Romulan foreheads that were added and served no real purpose. I think they have been used okay for the most part and have been part of some very good episodes and maybe the greatest episode in "Pale Moonlight" but they always feel like their is more you can do with them and they haven't been overexposed in the same way Klingons and I would say the Borg and Vulcans have. I feel like the Carddissians also have lots of life in them especially if you don't white wash what happened to them at the end of "DS9" just to turn them into stock bad guys again.

Jason
 
The Romulans are the biggest missed opportunity in Trek, IMO. They haven’t been used really well since TOS. Tons of untapped potential. (No huge shoulder pads or unnecessary forehead makeup, pls.)

Particularly because the antagonists in the TNG Episode Ensign Ro were supposed to be Romulans, and were only switched to Cardassians late in the writing process. If Bejor ended up being occupied by the Romulans, they would have been the "feature antagonist" for DS9.

Honestly, the show probably wouldn't have been that different, aside from the makeup being cheaper.
 
The Romulans are the biggest missed opportunity in Trek, IMO. They haven’t been used really well since TOS. Tons of untapped potential. (No huge shoulder pads or unnecessary forehead makeup, pls.)

Plus most of them are one-note. Other than Jarok, aren't there any GOOD Romulans? Every damned one was treacherous. Very annoying. And the forehead that differs from Vulcan (shouldn't be) foreheads should go. Plus the upholstered outfits.

If they're going the old route, keep them the hell out of Disco please.

As for Spock and his family. I LOVE them being there. I love the interaction between Spock and Michael and Amanda just rocks. Pike is excellent. This doesn't take away from Saru and all. Hell, both Saru and Michael have had some excellent stories lately. And there is real potential with Stamets and Culber, and Tyler, and ... well you get the point.

Part of my problem is that I'm spoiled. They should have just made Michael the captain. I'm used to the Captain being the center of the show, not another senior officer.
 
Plus most of them are one-note. Other than Jarok, aren't there any GOOD Romulans? Every damned one was treacherous. Very annoying. And the forehead that differs from Vulcan (shouldn't be) foreheads should go. Plus the upholstered outfits.

If they're going the old route, keep them the hell out of Disco please.

As for Spock and his family. I LOVE them being there. I love the interaction between Spock and Michael and Amanda just rocks. Pike is excellent. This doesn't take away from Saru and all. Hell, both Saru and Michael have had some excellent stories lately. And there is real potential with Stamets and Culber, and Tyler, and ... well you get the point.

Part of my problem is that I'm spoiled. They should have just made Michael the captain. I'm used to the Captain being the center of the show, not another senior officer.

There were some nice Romulans among the underground unification/logic movement. But most of them didn't get much screentime.
 
Other than Jarok, aren't there any GOOD Romulans? Every damned one was treacherous.

My favorite Romulan is Commander Donatra.
I like to think she went drinking with Picard post-Nemesis and they become pals - or at least diplomatic partners. But yeah, good Rommies are few and far between.
 
My favorite Romulan is Commander Donatra.
I like to think she went drinking with Picard post-Nemesis and they become pals - or at least diplomatic partners. But yeah, good Rommies are few and far between.

Which is ironic, since she was originally part of the conspiracy to attack Earth.
 
I think Nero was proably a good guy until he lost his life and turned to revenge out of anger.

Jason
 
Given the timing, and what I think I remember about TOS Balance of Terror, I’m not sure how the Romulans will fit it to Discovery at this time. Then again, we see tribles and the Mirror Universe years before Kirk encounters them.

That’s another subject, as this is about Alex Kurtzman responding to fans and tweeking the show. When are we going to see Kirk on Discovery?

Forgive me if I haven’t found a thread on that subject yet.
 
There's definitely room for creative criticism.

Discovery for example isn't perfect, now that's an opinion that can get you into real trouble with certain fans.

But I think they could have made one or two minor visual changes based on fan reaction which would have not hurt the story of the show and also not alienated as many fans (Klingons visual design as an example)

I mean I don't care about the design but can anyone who is a fan of discovery truly sat they'd like it LESS if the Klingons were TNG Klingons? Whereas I KNOW a sizeable number would have preferred it if they were.

That's just an example of how listening to your fans can be helpful.

I think it's good that Kurtzman is willing to listen, I mean if there are things an OVERWHELMING majority aren't happy with they can change and adapt.

The networks are always on the lookout for the fans opinion in the form of ratings, well healthy interaction with the fanbase can make a difference before things ever get to that stage.
 
sad. i fear kurtzman should learn from the past. he should not be taking criticism lessons from ''fans'' on the internet,, the last time he took criticism from ''fans'' on the internet. he went into star trek into darkness with those criticisms said about star trek 2009 by ''fans'' and just made things worse.

As much as I may not agree with everything he does, I think he is better off sticking to his gut feeling as a writer than looking at what people (''fans'') say online and have it influence him. that is not what a real artist is.

He's creating a commercial product, he has customers, he can't afford to ignore his customers objections.
 
I can't believe people are whinging and bitching about being listened too....


And live writer's are genius gods......remember children "processional" writer's came up with gems like code of honour, move along home, profit and lace, threshold, spocks brain, startrek 5, star trek nemesis need i go on?
 
Yes. You missed the other 700 episodes that professional writers also came up with.
Muse, these are the Voyger, a night in sickbay, times orphan, shades of grey, fair haven, meridian, sub Rosa......

My point is there is no such thing as a "processional" writer. Just writer that don't get paid and writer's that do get paid.

Only difference between a official writer for startrek and a fan fic writer is the former gets a pay packet and their idea on screen.
 
I really hope we won't see Kirk at all.
I hope we do see Kirk but he needs to be the last character of the classic TOS cast to be introduced. I hope we see Bones, Chekov, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu and Chapel first.
 
The problem with "listening to criticism" in a fanbase as splintered and un-unified as Star Trek has is that you're never going to get it right, because there is no right. Everyone has a different perspective on what it should be, who should be in it, what it should look like, etc.

So, the moment you react to something/make a change to appease some blowhard random people on the interwebs, you upset another group of people and now you get the same level of bitching and moaning, just from a different quarter. There's literally almost no way to win, other than to make minor course corrections via a "continuous improvement" mindset, and keep telling your stories in your way as the professional who is in charge.

Honestly, reading around boards like this for years, Star Trek fans mostly have really shitty, amateur ideas about characters, series, movies, etc that they think should be developed. They're generally horrendous and give me gas just to look at them. It's the whole reason that they get paid to write and produce, and we do other shit with our lives.

If DSC was tanking and CBSAA was spinning down a dirty toilet bowl, then you do your "listen to the fans and overhaul" drill because you have nothing to lose. But, we all know that's not the case here.

Kurtzman's focus should be entirely on tightening up the writer's room, bringing consistency, and driving a more clear and focused narrative style/pacing to the individual scripts and overall arcs. That's where he should be 100% focused. If he's focused on whether there's too much blue in the color palate, TEH CANNON, square vs. round nacalles or whether the Klingons should have frigging hair or not (or whatever else the fans generally bitch about), then we're dead. Because ultimately that shit doesn't matter. Continuous improvement in the quality and consistency of the writing is what matters.

If there's "constructive fan criticism" on how to do that, then that's fine. But most of it is bullshit that, frankly, if he is listening to, he's not doing his job.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top