What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?

[at Quark's]

Both look dated, but TNG doesn't look more dated than TOS. I can't buy into the argument that it does.

TOS looks like a show from 1966-1969. TNG looks like a show from 1987-1994. I'll never think of either show, "That could pass for something made Today!"

To me the difference is that I was around 13 when TNG aired, so I remember living in that time and how hyperfuturistic the series looked back then. A look that has long since been become obsolete, so, yes, TNG looks dated to me.

TOS, on the other hand, was made before I was born, and that series already looked 'old' to me the first time I saw it.

The side effect of that is that its look never started to 'age' on me or started to look 'dated' to me because it was already old. So to me TNG has dated badly and TOS just is what it is, and I think I simply don't evaluate it on the aspect of 'datedness'.

 

[Lord Garth]

To me the difference is that I was around 13 when TNG aired, so I remember living in that time and how hyperfuturistic the series looked back then. A look that has long since been become obsolete, so, yes, TNG looks dated to me.

TOS, on the other hand, was made before I was born, and that series already looked 'old' to me the first time I saw it.

The side effect of that is that its look never started to 'age' on me or started to look 'dated' to me because it was already old. So to me TNG has dated badly and TOS just is what it is, and I think I simply don't evaluate it on the aspect of 'datedness'.

I wasn't watching it at the time, but I was 8 when TNG started. I didn't catch TNG until mid-way through. And this is where the five years between our ages makes a difference.

The '80s were a decade that technically I was around for, but I only remember half of it, and what I do remember first-hand is from a child's perspective. Most of anything from the '80s that wasn't a cartoon (or geared towards kids), I didn't discover until after the fact. It didn't help that I had parents who wouldn't let me do or watch a lot of things. By the time I had my own musical tastes or my own sense of style, it was already the '90s. So, by the time I was watching something or listening to something from the '80s that was geared towards teens or adults, it was already "old" to me too. It was always old by the time I was aware of it. I didn't have a feeling of, "I remember that!" I had a feeling of, "So this is what I missed out on!"

So, I always thought the first half of TNG looked old. The second half didn't, but it still carried over from the first half. The whole, "I thought it looked new at the time, but now it looks dated!" feeling other people have with TNG, doesn't fully hit me until with DS9 and VOY.

It's one of the two main ways I'm out of synch with a lot of people here. The other main way is how when they talk about how SNW is "the best Star Trek in decades!" I've had that same type of feeling too, so I understand the sentiment... except it was with Discovery! Five years and two live-action series earlier! And that momentum I felt carried over into Picard. So, when people are like "SNW is the best ever! Star Trek is back!", in the back of my mind I'm always thinking, "Where the Hell have you been?" It's always at the tip of my tongue.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

But the 60s was also full of hokey dialogue and odd pronunciations that wouldn't fly in the 80s or today

Like I said, YMMV.

 

[Tallguy]

The other main way is how when they talk about how SNW is "the best Star Trek in decades!" I had the that same type of feeling too, so I understand the sentiment... except it was with Discovery! Five years and two live-action series earlier! And that momentum I felt carried over into Picard. So, when people are like "SNW is the best ever! Star Trek is back!", in the back of my mind I'm always thinking, "Where the Hell have you been?" It's always at the tip of my tongue.

There is something about Discovery that also followed on to Picard that does not feel real to me. I also think the SNW bridge has some of that as well and the rest of the sets (that were not inherited from Disco) do not. (While I agree we would never have gotten anything like SNW without Disco to react to, I wonder what the bridge would have looked like if it had been designed with the rest of the sets.) Maybe I just don't like black shiny sets.

But Disco was certainly the most expensive Star Trek has looked in forever, so I can see what you mean.

 

[fireproof78]

It's one of the two main ways I'm out of synch with a lot of people here. The other main way is how when they talk about how SNW is "the best Star Trek in decades!" I had the that same type of feeling too, so I understand the sentiment... except it was with Discovery! Five years and two live-action series earlier! And that momentum I felt carried over into Picard. So, when people are like "SNW is the best ever! Star Trek is back!", in the back of my mind I'm always thinking, "Where the Hell have you been?" It's always at the tip of my tongue.

Indeed, and I feel a similar way.

I guess it comes down to feels. I remember watching a lot of fan films around the same time as Discovery and many fan comments were about the feel of the episode; this is how Star Trek should feel. And I'm like, but Discovery feels that way to me. It connects. These are real characters, struggling against real threats and having real emotions in a real place. It feels deep, like the first time I watched Balance of Terror.

But, that's me. The characters resonate more than the sets.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

It’s not for fans to say what is and isn’t ‘real’ Star Trek.

 

[cooleddie74]

Real Star Trek is whatever Paramount produces for the screen. And Axanar.

Have you tried its coffee?

 

[Richard S. Ta]

But, that's me. The characters resonate more than the sets.

So much this. I couldn’t give two shits about the rooms that characters are standing in. I’m there for the story and characters.

 

[Weyoun 251]

I think set design and scenery matter somewhat in films due to the shorter running time and the need, therefore, to do a lot of universe building via "showing" rather than having 10s of episodes (or even 100s) to slowly build it up more and more through snippets of dialogue or the general vibe.

So First Contact - the Borgified Engineering section shows you right away that this is a horror film (well horror-adjace), and the Ent-E tells you how snazzy and new it is by kicking the Borg's arse and looking cool and all that.

If you watched that as a non Trek fan you know very quickly who is who and how to feel about it based on set design etc and you get an idea of how far humanity has advanced etc without the need for speeches or anything

With a TV series though we can have a full episode about how totally sick the Ent D's warp engines are when the creator comes to visit and our chief Eng has a crush on her.

This isn't a hard and fast rule but I'd say TV is more weighted towards people whereas there is far more reliance on visuals to make a film work

 

[MikHutch]

It’s not for fans to say what is and isn’t ‘real’ Star Trek.

But I and I alone gatekeep the fandom! WHO ARE YOU TO TELL ME OTHERWISE!

 

[Oddish]

If you're the Gatekeeper, who's the Keymaster?

 

[cooleddie74]

MANY SHUVS AND ZUULS.

 

[Vger23]

MANY SHUVS AND ZUULS.

Wait for the sign, and all our prisoners will be released. YOU WILL PERISH IN FLAMES!!

 

[MikHutch]

If you're the Gatekeeper, who's the Keymaster?

I am both

 

[cooleddie74]

YES, PLEASE!

 

[FormerLurker]

"I pity the Space Fool!"

"I ain't getting in no Transporter!"

This is why he wasn't cast as McCoy in the Abrams films.

Axanar.

The longest thread is about how this bozo ruined fan-filmmaking for the rest of us.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, thanks to his bullshittery none of my fan films have been allowed to exceed about 17 minutes. The Axanar debacle hamstrung independent filmmakers who never had an inkling to profit off the IP. Alec's behavior could have torpedoed the entire Trek fan film industry.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Real Star Trek is whatever Paramount produces for the screen. And Axanar.

Have you tried its coffee?

Didn't their coffee people end up in a lawsuit with them too?

 

[Mytran]

Didn't their coffee people end up in a lawsuit with them too?

Alec Peters eventually sues everyone he's involved with.

And yet somehow he's always the victim

 

[Nerys Myk]

Alec Peters eventually sues everyone he's involved with.

And yet somehow he's always the victim

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