Do we all love Lower Decks because we don't take it seriously???
- Thread starter ED-209
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Correct, he has an excutive producer credit but Mike McMahan has free reign to do what he likes.
The point I was trying to make is not that Kurtzman has a an active role in Lower Deck day to day, but that he did sign off on it and is obviously happy with the job that Mike McMahan is doing. A weird thing for someone hellbent on destroying the franchise to do.
Agreed. I'm right there with you in that I don't quite understand the excessive fixation of a certain group of fans on a singular person like Kurtzman. What we see on screen is so much more than just the result of one man's influence, obviously. And I'm actually really happy Kurtzman trusted McMahan, took the chance on him and hired him to produce LD.
At the same time, for me personally Lower Decks is quite a bit more entertaining right now than either Discovery or Picard. It's kind of comparing apples and oranges a bit, because the shows and what they are trying to do are so vastly different. But just on an entertainment level I do understand those that prefer Lower Decks over the other shows right now, because I'm in the same camp. And even taking Kurtzman aside, there seems to be quite a bit of creative overlap between the live action shows, whereas Lower Decks' creative team seems to be an entirely separate animal.
So I think I can only agree to a certain extent with your argument of a cognitive dissonance with these fans. People enjoying Lower Decks but disliking and criticising the live action shows doesn't mean they can't recognize they have been greenlit by the same guy.
I'm not talking about general fans who have a preference for Lower Decks over the live action shows because the don't like the characters or the visual style or the writing etc. That is absolutely normal and People like what they like. There are plenty of people on this board who dislike live action trek but love lower decks, who's opinions I respect. I would never accuse them of having cognitive dissonance, because they express their dislike factually and rationally
As I said in my initial post I'm talking about some fans, and to be specific I'm talking about that 'certain group of fans' you mention who have an irrational hatred of Alex Kurtzman. To be even more specific I'm talking about segments of the fanbase who hang out on reddit and say Lower decks if great but then buy into youtube conspiracy theories such as Mike McMahan taking over trek, or the greatness of lower decks proving what a mistake hiring Kurtzman was. Not sure how much clearer I can make it.
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Don't worry, I think I get you now.
And I agree with a lot of what you are saying. Internet communication is a weird thing sometimes; you can try to make sure all you want that a point you are making isn't misunderstood, but more often than not that's just how it's going to be. Generalized statements can sometimes make people feel like they're lumped in together with a group they don't see themselves belonging to. But I appreciate your clarifications.
Alex Kurtzman cameoed on Lower Decks as the guy in the Pike Wheelchair in "An Embarrassment of Dooplers". I imagine that's exactly how he feels, running the Trek franchise
Alex Kurtzman doesn't write or showrun any of the shows. He's always been a hands off guy, who will collaborate on occasion, and helped "right the ship" into Discovery Season 2, but other than that, he's been an odd choice for the supposed mastermind behind all of Star Trek's evils of late. The simple truth is Star Trek is a composite of several different showrunners' visions, and each show has to be judged by its own merits. And, in the case of Discovery and Picard, each season, it seems.
You sure? Because Memory Alpha has him as the writer for several key episodes of Discovery and one of Picard, also mentioning he's the “showrunner” for Discovery (not that that seems to be a particularly well-defined position).
I think some of it is confusion due to Berman/JJ/Kurtzmann Trek being terms and many people not knowing how a s how is actually made. I for instance don't have a clue what the Ex. producer does and never look at who writes individual episodes
Well, he's a writer by trade, but every thing he's written has been collaborations (and Remembrance was an episode by committee, with no less than five people writing the story (including Kurtzman) and two writing the teleplay (not including Kurtzman).
Michelle Paradise has taken over most of the showrunning responsibilities for Discovery since Season 3.
I'm not saying he doesn't do anything (he's the guy in charge and collects the biggest cheque), but I think he gets blamed for almost everything he had no hand in. He didn't even develop Discovery, that was Bryan Fuller's baby, and he just came on as a production bridge between the Abrams films and the new era.
well he made a cameo on it this season
I take it just as seriously as any other Trek. It is all spacemen going around in pajamas having wild adventures.
IIRC, Kurtzman did fill in as showrunner for the remainder of Disco's second season after Harberts and Berg left.
LD feels like a reward to all Trekkies for the many years of dedication we've invested in the Trek universe. One of the reasons for its success is the extreme attention to detail, which undoubtetly implies that the show's creators have a great deal of affection for Roddenberry's incarnations.
I think I see what you are saying about seriousness. And although it clearly is a lot goofier than the rest, I believe the reason it hits home so well, is because of our very serious love for Star Trek. IMHO.
I think I see what you are saying about seriousness. And although it clearly is a lot goofier than the rest, I believe the reason it hits home so well, is because of our very serious love for Star Trek. IMHO.
All Trekkies? Interesting.
I think the answer to the question is yes. You could not do this on the more serious shows because it would undercut the drama and the universe would not feel credible. In the same way a cop show needs you to believe the cops are acting like real cops you need the Trek setting to feel real within the rules and limits you establish for that universe. If your saying their is something like the Federation and they are exploring space then you got to treat it in away that makes sense and not just, anything goes like in a show for little kids. Since this show is more spoof and parody the stuff you see doesn't always have to feel like it would happen in the way it would on TNG,DS9 and Voyager. Would Picard Sisko and Janeway put up with Mariner like her mom Captain does. Not even a second but for this show it doesn't matter as long as it's funny.
It is what a 'valentine to fans' actually looks like.
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier is a live-action "Upper Decks" movie. And far too many people hate it.
In TNG, VOY and DS9, you often would have different writers putting together different parts of the story.
The head writer puts down the synopsis or the treatment, and the staff turn it into a teleplay. Often an assistant writer would go and do an uncredited rewrite to polish it up before shooting.
No idea how it works on modern 10-13 episode shows when you usually have a bit more lead time between writing and production.
The head writer puts down the synopsis or the treatment, and the staff turn it into a teleplay. Often an assistant writer would go and do an uncredited rewrite to polish it up before shooting.
No idea how it works on modern 10-13 episode shows when you usually have a bit more lead time between writing and production.
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