Tried watching Star Trek: Orville but couldn't get into it. Struggled through Discovery for the first couple of seasons but gave up at season 3. Watched the odd episode of Strange New Worlds but often feels like a parody and too comedic. The Picard series was mostly just depressing mainly due to the fact Stewart was clearly too old and frail for the role which impacted his performance. The new Academy series doesn't really appeal from watching the trailers.
Have you ever given up on a Trek series? If so, what was the last straw for you?
It's kind of sad to hear about people giving up on DISCO...though I understand it...mostly because I think S4 is probably the best of the bunch. It's certainly the most true to Trekkian ideals of the entire show and arguably much of the (at least more recent) franchise, and I'd say you don't even have to know much about the show prior to that point.
What's even more sad is that two seasons is only like 20 episodes. Imagine if the seasons were longer like is often demanded.
Honestly, I think one of the few downsides of S4 is that the plotline of it isn't really sustainable over 10-12 episodes. If it had been 8, that might have been perfect. But the bloat isn't too bad, and the good stuff is really good.
Well now you're making me feel like I need to go back to it. (I've already gone back to check out Strange New Worlds, so I might as well.)
Good.
Seriously, I think it's worth a go. There's a bit of a lull in the middle, but the rest is worth it. My opinion, of course.
I gave DSC 3 seasons to impress me. No redemption arc for Burnahm. She's just back, everybody's happy. So I was done with that show. Academy, I'm giving it it's 3 seasons to impress me. So far it has, except for having Caleb {Sandro Rosta} showing how muscular he is every few episodes. Yes, we could see from day one he is good looking.
A 10 episode season can be limiting; while a 24 - 26 season is too long. The writers shouldn't confine themselves to a set number of episodes a season. They're planet side after all. Shooting cheap, character episodes, would save money and add in a few episodes. However, I can see the 10 episode season each episode about a full hour is like 3 - 4 movies. If you can't tell your story over 3 - 4 movies you're doing something wrong.
A 10 episode season can be limiting; while a 24 - 26 season is too long. The writers shouldn't confine themselves to a set number of episodes a season. They're planet side after all. Shooting cheap, character episodes, would save money and add in a few episodes. However, I can see the 10 episode season each episode about a full hour is like 3 - 4 movies. If you can't tell your story over 3 - 4 movies you're doing something wrong.
The writers usually don't. Episode count is a decision made by higher ups.
The bloat really works against S4, because those middle episodes lag really hard. Dragging out Tarka’s backstory especially made me not really give a shit about his character. He was underwhelming and the humanizing details about his history came too little, too late.
This is my experience with almost every streaming show so the magnitude is negligible to me, because it's just streaming at this point.
I managed to watched Picard all the way through. While I enjoyed it, it was difficult to watch at times.
I could not finish Discovery: as I said before.
I really enjoyed Lower Decks. I don’t understand why they ended it so soon. It was a just of fun fantasy.
As for Starfleet Academy, I am enjoying this show. Even though parts of it don’t make sense.
I find each episode interesting. They may not be what some consider “Star Trek”, but I enjoy it.
I could not finish Discovery: as I said before.
I really enjoyed Lower Decks. I don’t understand why they ended it so soon. It was a just of fun fantasy.
As for Starfleet Academy, I am enjoying this show. Even though parts of it don’t make sense.
I find each episode interesting. They may not be what some consider “Star Trek”, but I enjoy it.
Cost.
I must admit, my current feelings about CBS are a factor. It certainly gave SA (SFA?) less rope than I otherwise would have given it. I just was like "I am giving CBS my money for this? Really?"
I will give it a watch when SNW is back. But probably not until it is over. I will watch them both in 1 month. Want to minimize CBS' profits from me.
FWIW, I often find Trek better (or less disappointing) on the rewatch. Once my expectations have been reset (or my hopes that it will be really good dashed), I do tend to enjoy it more.
I bought the ENT Discs recently and S1 is far less horrific than my memory said it was. About halfway through and enjoying it.
I had no real expectations for LD or PRO, and ended up liking both a lot.
Maybe it is just expectations. TNG was really the only pre-streaming show I watched pretty religiously as episodes came out. That took a while to warm up to, S1 was not the strongest. Ditto for DS9. I was there for it while it and TNG were overlapping, but then I faded out.
I didn't necessarily "give up" on the show, I just didn't watch that much TV. I'd miss chunks of episodes.
I dialed back in for the VOY/ENT premieres and for a bit after, but then faded away again. I wasn't actively not watching it, but it was sporadic. And I'd catch reruns.
After ENT/Nemesis, and it went away, I missed it. Reruns were still there, thankfully.
When the streaming era hit, I finally decided to watch them all, in order. DS9 was way better than I remembered. ENT as well (especially S3 & S4). VOY got to be a slog late on, but had real high notes as well. When it was good, it was real good.
Been watching all the streaming shows as they come out. Was excited to have Trek back with DISCO. The conclusions of the arcs in S1-3 disappointed, but I thought the lead ups were very good. S4 was the inverse. S5 was kind of meh. Fewer highs & fewer lows.
S1 of PIC followed the early DISCO pattern. S2 was a mess, but I thought it started and ended well. S3 was really strong, though not perfect. But I felt great about the sendoff the TNG crew got and am still disappointed we did not get Legacy.
I thought LD & PRO nailed the landings every season (and half season, in PRO's case) and were excellent overall. I loved SNW S1 & S2. S3 faded a bit, but it has still been very good overall, IMHO. And I like that they are taking big swings, even though some did not land with me, and 1-2 whiffed (4.5 Vulcans).
But I hate CBS with a red hot passion now, I don't want to give them any more $$. I own all the completed series on disc now (except DISCO), and I will just get my Trek that way.
Anyway, just wanted to say my giving up on SFA wasn't totally limited to how I feel about the show. I cancelled Paramount after Colbert, re-subscribed to check out SFA. But after Ep 5, and after CBS spiked the Colbert/Talarico interview (and the 60 minutes story), I bailed.
I did not like the show enough to overcome my moral/ethical revulsion for CBS.
Maybe when/if CBS has new management I will be back. Maybe for a month strategically to get SNW4 and the rest of SFA1. But that is as much as I can do.
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I refuse to watch CBS now. Every day is more fascist enabling from them. Why would I trust them? ABC and NBC lost my eyeballs, too. Complicit Corporate Catamites, all of them.
I was turned off the by the season 2 finale of Discovery. I'd thought the first season had imploded spectacularly halfway through their mirror universe arc (they kept the wrong evil captain!) and the ending was nonsense, topping of with a last-second stunt-casting cliffhanger that didn't even actually cast anyone for the stunt. Season two seemed to reset, but it got even more incoherent even faster, to the point where I just threw it aside. I waited for the reviews for Picard, and saw its first season had the same issue with a lousy ending, so I didn't even start with that. I don't think I even gave LDS a chance for a few years just because of the ambient bad feelings. I got back on the Trek train with SNW, then Prodigy during it's first midseason break, and Lower Decks at some point I don't specifically remember. I kept up with tie-in novels up to where I'd left off, though.
I did end up bingeing the first two seasons of PIC before season 3 came out, since it had so much positive pre-release buzz. A little while ago, I finally watched the last three seasons of Discovery so I'd be primed for SFA. I did end up enjoying them more than I was expecting. Maybe because I'd already been inoculated against all the obvious issues they had, so I could just let them wash over me. I did still think Mirror-Georgiou sucked the life out of the show whenever she was on-screen (though I was delighted that as soon as she was written off, give or take a bizarre funeral where everyone talked about how much they loved the murderer who was needlessly cruel to them all the time, Saru and Michael started talking about how much they loved the real Georgiou and they seemed to memory-hole her counterpart entirely), but then she was gone and that stopped being a problem.
I also thought Rayner was a great addition to the cast in season 5; Star Trek needs a hard-ass from time to time, and usually different characters take the mantle in different situations, but Discovery season two retconned that its entire allocation of hard-assed-ness went to Lorca, and once he was gone, the ship was a fun, vibey hangout (partially a hangover from the original lower-decks concept of the show; they managed to go five seasons without making it clear if Culber and Reno were department heads, or if there were unseen chief doctors and engineers they reported to as was the original intent).
As someone who enjoyed Lorca, I liked that a character of his type made it back on to the show. I did realize near the end of the show that, despite painting Lorca as a drag on the crew in season 2, they did still do that everyone-says-aye-together thing he drilled into them. I wish they had incorporated some more callbacks in the final season. Maybe Tilly or Stamets muttering something about "all that's missing is the fortune cookies" when Rayner was handing out his get-to-know-you bollockings in Lorca's old ready room, and it struck me as bizarre that Tilly and Michael had a whole adventure involving a footrace to the death without ever mentioning when Michael was coaching Tilly on improving her running times in season one.
The Calypso tie-in was awkward, but given they'd already blown two better opportunities (setting it on a different ship, or incorporating it into the time-jump at the end of season two), I'm not sure what alternative they could've had, especially with only a few minutes of bonus post-cancellation screentime to do it, preventing them from developing any elaborate explanation for why Discovery had to be reverted and parked in space indefinitely.
I did end up bingeing the first two seasons of PIC before season 3 came out, since it had so much positive pre-release buzz. A little while ago, I finally watched the last three seasons of Discovery so I'd be primed for SFA. I did end up enjoying them more than I was expecting. Maybe because I'd already been inoculated against all the obvious issues they had, so I could just let them wash over me. I did still think Mirror-Georgiou sucked the life out of the show whenever she was on-screen (though I was delighted that as soon as she was written off, give or take a bizarre funeral where everyone talked about how much they loved the murderer who was needlessly cruel to them all the time, Saru and Michael started talking about how much they loved the real Georgiou and they seemed to memory-hole her counterpart entirely), but then she was gone and that stopped being a problem.
I also thought Rayner was a great addition to the cast in season 5; Star Trek needs a hard-ass from time to time, and usually different characters take the mantle in different situations, but Discovery season two retconned that its entire allocation of hard-assed-ness went to Lorca, and once he was gone, the ship was a fun, vibey hangout (partially a hangover from the original lower-decks concept of the show; they managed to go five seasons without making it clear if Culber and Reno were department heads, or if there were unseen chief doctors and engineers they reported to as was the original intent).
As someone who enjoyed Lorca, I liked that a character of his type made it back on to the show. I did realize near the end of the show that, despite painting Lorca as a drag on the crew in season 2, they did still do that everyone-says-aye-together thing he drilled into them. I wish they had incorporated some more callbacks in the final season. Maybe Tilly or Stamets muttering something about "all that's missing is the fortune cookies" when Rayner was handing out his get-to-know-you bollockings in Lorca's old ready room, and it struck me as bizarre that Tilly and Michael had a whole adventure involving a footrace to the death without ever mentioning when Michael was coaching Tilly on improving her running times in season one.
The Calypso tie-in was awkward, but given they'd already blown two better opportunities (setting it on a different ship, or incorporating it into the time-jump at the end of season two), I'm not sure what alternative they could've had, especially with only a few minutes of bonus post-cancellation screentime to do it, preventing them from developing any elaborate explanation for why Discovery had to be reverted and parked in space indefinitely.
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A shame one has to wade through three seasons of incredible incompetence to get to anything worthwhile.
I’m no longer interested in waiting three or four years for Trek to “get good”. The live-action needs to figure out how to hit the ground running like the animated shows did.
Yeah, I'm watching Academy and greatly enjoying it, but let's just say that I'm using a resource that's being borrowed with permission. As much as I love Star Trek itself, I simply cannot support the IP holder. I won't even spend money on the novels or comics anymore, preferring to use the library instead. Didn't even buy a 2026 Star Trek calendar.
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