Early Criticism: What’s Unfounded and What Isn’t

[Rahul]

I have a NEW - maybe not criticism, but - observation?

SFA looks comparatively "cheap" by now.

The opening episode burned through vfx budget like crazy - every single shot had robots flying around, hundreds of extras in the background, crazy alien masks, redux like Coruscant, everything was glowing, moving or materialising, every scene a vfx shot.

But by now, even in a "big" episode like ep. 6, everything looks very much like an old tv show. Everything takes place on the same three corridors. It's always the same three aliens in the background (the black/white one, the Orion, and the Fake-rengi). There's barely any extras in any of the scenes, and certainly I haven't seen a flying robot in a long time.
The "furies" had cool face masks. But we haven't seen any other alien designs and definitely not visited any alien worlds since a while.

It really feels like the VOY/ENT era, where the budget goes into one or two nice vfx shots per episode (e.g. the ships in the nebula) - but that's it. The rest is just filmed with a handful actors on a standing set.

SNW spread their budget out way more efficiently, with new costumes, locations, aliens every other episode. They never had as much at once as SFA in the pilot. But they always have something new and shiny every episode.
SFA really blew their budget early, and now can't deliver on a weekly basis. A problem DIS also had a lot. Who knows. Maybe we'll get a big budget finale?

 

[tenmei]

Ake probably revoked student access to the DOTS after Caleb programmed one to bring him lunch.

 

[Firebird]

But by now, even in a "big" episode like ep. 6, everything looks very much like an old tv show.

To which I say good! It's about time TV Trek feels like a TV show rather than having to always chase the cinematic dragon. I was so happy to see they're just using standard TV widescreen aspect ratio instead of anamorphic widescreen.

 

[Fateor]

I have a NEW - maybe not criticism, but - observation?

SFA looks comparatively "cheap" by now.

The opening episode burned through vfx budget like crazy - every single shot had robots flying around, hundreds of extras in the background, crazy alien masks, redux like Coruscant, everything was glowing, moving or materialising, every scene a vfx shot.

But by now, even in a "big" episode like ep. 6, everything looks very much like an old tv show. Everything takes place on the same three corridors. It's always the same three aliens in the background (the black/white one, the Orion, and the Fake-rengi). There's barely any extras in any of the scenes, and certainly I haven't seen a flying robot in a long time.
The "furies" had cool face masks. But we haven't seen any other alien designs and definitely not visited any alien worlds since a while.

It really feels like the VOY/ENT era, where the budget goes into one or two nice vfx shots per episode (e.g. the ships in the nebula) - but that's it. The rest is just filmed with a handful actors on a standing set.

SNW spread their budget out way more efficiently, with new costumes, locations, aliens every other episode. They never had as much at once as SFA in the pilot. But they always have something new and shiny every episode.
SFA really blew their budget early, and now can't deliver on a weekly basis. A problem DIS also had a lot. Who knows. Maybe we'll get a big budget finale?

Might not be from choice, a friend of mine in the industry has mentioned how the move to 6-10 episode steaming seasons 2ish years apart has functionally killed the Day Player job market.

 

[Bornin1980something]

Might not be from choice, a friend of mine in the industry has mentioned how the move to 6-10 episode steaming seasons 2ish years apart has functionally killed the Day Player job market.

What was a Day Player?

 

[tenmei]

What was a Day Player?

From Backstage.com

A day player is an actor hired on a daily basis and not on a long-term contract. Day players usually live up to their moniker and are usually only on set for a day or two. They only have a few lines, which places them in the space between background actors and the main cast.

 

[Nerys Myk]

What was a Day Player?

IIRC, Takei, Nichols and Koenig were day players.

 

[Rahul]

I find it pretty funny that the "big" episodes of SFA are "oh no, the students are in danger! One of them DIED".

And then the "small, personal" episodes are universe-shattering politic events - Bethazed goes directly into an alliance after 100 years of isolation because the leaders daughter got laid. Dozens of Klingon ships directly battle the Federation and claim a new homeworld. The prince of the fish people abdicates his throne and let's a girl rule alone, because he prefers to stay at college.

 

[CT_Phipps]

I find it pretty funny that the "big" episodes of SFA are "oh no, the students are in danger! One of them DIED".

And then the "small, personal" episodes are universe-shattering politic events - Bethazed goes directly into an alliance after 100 years of isolation because the leaders daughter got laid by a human. Dozens of Klingon ship directly battle the Federation. The prince of the fish people abdicates his throne and let's a girl rule alone, because he prefers to stress at college.

The princess divorced him and he backed down. Darem notably didn't make the decision but had it forced on him.

I have the alternate character interpretation she was REALLY hoping he'd pick up the hints she didn't want to go through with this.

 

[CT_Phipps]

I swear to God, I'm very confused by this show's reception because, yes, I hated the 3rd episode but I don't hate any of the other episodes. I really liked the 2nd episode, I really enjoyed the 4th. I loved the 6th. The 5th? Ehh, no, not really. This episode? It's like a bad episode of TNG where Wesley dates a werewolf.

Like, people are acting like this is consistently terrible and I'd say its well above Picard Season 2 and SNW Season 3.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I swear to God, I'm very confused by this show's reception because, yes, I hated the 3rd episode but I don't hate any of the other episodes. I really liked the 2nd episode, I really enjoyed the 4th. I loved the 6th. The 5th? Ehh, no, not really. This episode? It's like a bad episode of TNG where Wesley dates a werewolf.

Like, people are acting like this is consistently terrible and I'd say its well above Picard Season 2 and SNW Season 3.

It’s what people do these days.

 

[tenmei]

The princess divorced him and he backed down. Darem notably didn't make the decision but had it forced on him.

I have the alternate character interpretation she was REALLY hoping he'd pick up the hints she didn't want to go through with this.

On a pure technicality, they didn't get divorced. The marriage was annulled.

 

[tenmei]

Why does it feel like as soon as I block one hater video channel on YT, YT suggests another. I've watched a few clips of these channels and what isn't entirely shocking is how several of them are using the same script, practically verbatim, and lock themselves up in their own hypocrisy and contradictions.

 

[Detached Nacelle]

Why does it feel like as soon as I block one hater video channel on YT, YT suggests another. I've watched a few clips of these channels and what isn't entirely shocking is how several of them are using the same script, practically verbatim, and lock themselves up in their own hypocrisy and contradictions.

They are an invasive hive mind species that propogates endlessly to spread the will of its controller.

 

[Elaise]

I swear to God, I'm very confused by this show's reception because, yes, I hated the 3rd episode but I don't hate any of the other episodes. I really liked the 2nd episode, I really enjoyed the 4th. I loved the 6th. The 5th? Ehh, no, not really. This episode? It's like a bad episode of TNG where Wesley dates a werewolf.

Like, people are acting like this is consistently terrible and I'd say its well above Picard Season 2 and SNW Season 3.

I would disagree. I find this show almost pretty even with Picard season 2, maybe slightly above. I also find SNW S3 definitely above this one SFA. It certainly not the best and its below the previous 2 season, but it had more interesting stories and better character writing.

Hate seems like a strong word, I would use cringe, or laughable. That is the category that best describes this show.

The princess divorced him and he backed down. Darem notably didn't make the decision but had it forced on him.

I have the alternate character interpretation she was REALLY hoping he'd pick up the hints she didn't want to go through with this.

I thought she was just giving him a way out or something.

 

[tenmei]

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[Michael]

I’m glad Karim seems to be able to handle the hate online, and with admirable grace, one might add. Although the fact that’s he’s handling it well doesn’t of course mean it’s right that he should have to deal with stuff like this in the first place.

In many ways this was to be expected; an awkward, shy Klingon who’s gay and wears skirts just hits differently for a certain kind of viewer than a married gay couple on Discovery did, for example. For more conservative viewers it was probably easy to either accept Culber and Stamets or just outright ignore the fact that they are gay, because their gayness was mostly confined to private moments and they were often presented as almost “straight-passing”. (Don’t get me wrong, I love the characters and their relationship!)

But with Jay-Den you have a member of an alien species that has traditionally been coded as strong, manly, straight chauvinists, that I’m sure for many anti-gay viewers it’s almost impossible to compute. With Jay-Den they outright flaunt his soft, emotional and traditionally female-coded side — he watches birds, has an interest in clothes and “sees the beauty in things”, as his mother taught him. And now they even have him be gay, and not even in a repressed, self-hating way, but full-on “I’m attracted to men and I love it!” gay.

To be honest, I’m a little surprised, but also really relieved, we have been spared this kind of hatred so far on the Trek BBS. It does appear to mostly be concentrated in online places where moderation is basically non-existent or where people are able to post more anonymously.

---

On a very superficial level I want to say that I wish they would have allowed Karim to play Jay-Den with an appearance that closer matched his actual look. Karim Diané is a drop-dead gorgeous young man with a beautiful voice, and I hate that their idea of making him more Klingon is to give him a rough, dark voice, light-blue (?) contact lenses, a fake beard and multiple scars. I honestly think it would have been better to just give him the forehead and maybe the hair. But the rest I find really distracting.

 

[Uncle Sock]

shy Klingon who’s gay

Not to nitpick, but we don’t actually know that for sure. He seems to be into Kyle right now, but his sexuality has never been explicitly defined—and honestly, I’d love for it to stay that way.

I might be a little sensitive about this because I’m "one of them letters" myself and personally don’t like labeling my own sexuality too rigidly. So I tend to feel that not every character needs to be clearly categorized either. Just because he’s in a relationship with another man doesn’t automatically mean he is or has to be defined as “gay.” To me, that feels like simplifying something the story has (intentionally) left open.

Of course, everyone is free to interpret him however they like. I just prefer sticking to what’s explicitly been shown, and so far the show hasn’t given him a specific label. I actually appreciate that ambiguity rather than locking him into a category the narrative hasn’t confirmed.

And I'm saying all of the above with love and not to correct or educate, if that wasn't clear already.

 

[tenmei]

Not to nitpick, but we don’t actually know that for sure. He seems to be into Kyle right now, but his sexuality has never been explicitly defined—and honestly, I’d love for it to stay that way.

I might be a little sensitive about this because I’m "one of them letters" myself and personally don’t like labeling my own sexuality too rigidly. So I tend to feel that not every character needs to be clearly categorized either. Just because he’s in a relationship with another man doesn’t automatically mean he is or has to be defined as “gay.” To me, that feels like simplifying something the story has (intentionally) left open.

Of course, everyone is free to interpret him however they like. I just prefer sticking to what’s explicitly been shown, and so far the show hasn’t given him a specific label. I actually appreciate that ambiguity rather than locking him into a category the narrative hasn’t confirmed.

And I'm saying all of the above with love and not to correct or educate, if that wasn't clear already.

To be fair, as one of them letters too, Karim has been talking a lot about playing Treks first gay Klingon, so I don't think there's an issue with interpreting him as such.

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[SatrianiRules]

"over the past few weeks since this show premiered, I’ve received countless messages from LGBTQ+ people around the world… people who feel seen, validated"

I'm not sure this statement applies in current times. Maybe it did 20 years ago when these characters were still somewhat rare or when they were still portrayed as caricatures. But if you look at any show that has aired in the past, say, 10 years...is there one without at least one gay character?
It's the norm now.