What are they doing to make you more interested? Thus far hearing something is the best ever has not won me over.
How do the new Star Trek shows compare to The Mandolarian?
- Thread starter The Overlord
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Not much of a story. I trust the opinions of the people who like The Expanse, not just here but in general, because their tastes are closer to mine.
Also, The Orville is pseudo-TNG, so I read the rivalry those fans want to have as just another version of "TOS vs. TNG". Or "Other Trek vs. TNG". I had enough of that when I was a kid. Don't want to deal with it in my 40s. And The Mandalorian is, of course, Star Trek vs. Star Wars by another name. The Expanse doesn't have any of that nonsense attached to it. At all.
The Expanse is good, but it does take some time to keep track of everything going on. It’s a little bit like GoT in that way. That said, I really like it and it’s a beautiful production.
I like Mandalorian too, but I watch that with my two young sons and I very much see it through their eyes.
I don’t care about either as much as I care about PIC or DSC.
The last two episodes are wonderful.
DIS is good to great.
Burnham is wonderful.
That sounds about right.
It's fine. It's derivative of spaghetti westerns. It's basically Star Wars Meets The Good The Bad and the Ugly.
I'm sorry, but no television program with the kind of budget and low level of originality in the Stargate franchise ever deserved the title of "greatest action-adventure show ever."
Look at the stuff in big franchises that people almost universally like. It’s pretty obvious what is going on.
If you look at Star Wars, for example, people hate anything in the main “Skywalker story” that was made after 1983. But, they seem to love Rogue One and Mandalorian.
It’s not because these are the best things ever. Quite the opposite in fact. But as productions they just stay far enough away from the main (sacred) story to avoid any expectation backlash.
Rogue One is a movie with no characters, no surprises whatsoever, and no risks. It has just enough fanwank to make SW fans happy, and it looks amazing. But there’s no risk. None. It doesn’t mess with anything that anyone is going to care about. Nice, safe, and inoffensive. Mando is basically the same. It’s entertaining and fun (more so than R1 for certain), but it doesn’t offend anyone because it’s Mac and Cheese.
Look at Star Trek. Same thing. Anything that takes risks or messes with established characters draws polarizing lines. But everyone loves a bag of Doritos like Lower Decks.
Personally, I prefer the risks. But genre fandom is driving sci-fi franchises into safe mode worse than ever before.
Well, The Mandalorian is a competent, well-crafted piece of entertainment overseen by Jon Favreau, who's wrote and/or directed a number of critically-acclaimed / beloved films going back decades, and Dave Filoni, responsible for the highly-regarded Clone Wars animated show, which reached a commendable level of quality in its later seasons. The live-action Star Trek streaming shows, on the other hand, are overseen by Alex Kurtzman.
FunFact: Favreau's worst film, Cowboys & Aliens, was co-written by Alex Kurtzman! (Favreau has no writing credit for the picture.)
FunFact: Favreau's worst film, Cowboys & Aliens, was co-written by Alex Kurtzman! (Favreau has no writing credit for the picture.)
Ah, that makes more sense. No strings attached on the Expanse. Might try it.
That comment made me wonder what I would call the "greatest action-adventure show ever." And I realized that I don't know what show I would describe that as.
That sounds about where my thoughts are at for the franchise. Rogue One was a lot better than I expected it to be, largely because I figured it would be a fairly simple story. And, you're right-no risks, lots of pretty eye candy and no larger impact on the greater world. Mandalorian feels right in the that vein-expanding the overall world in turns of locations and inhabitants but leaving the rest untouched.
Lower Decks is funny to me because it gets praised but also held a bit at arms' length because it is a cartoon so we can't take it seriously as canon. But, it's safe and looks familiar so we'll allow it.
Which, I guess is fair for many. Star Trek has become that comfort food franchise, as has Star Wars. It's a safe escapist fantasy that allows us to avoid to real world for a while.
That’s because The Expanse is the greatest sci-fi show of all time and anyone who doesn’t love it is, obviously, a moron.
Wouldn't be the first time I've been called a moron.
Go with the flow!
I don't know that there can really be any such thing as the greatest sci-fi show -- or the greatest action-adventure show -- of all time, because inevitably shows that fit into those boxes are all chasing after wildly conflicting creative goals that make qualitative comparisons difficult.
But The Expanse is an excellent show that uses the lens of plausible science fiction to ask what kind of future we're building in the world today. Vivid, three-dimensional characters divided plausibly along sociological lines, with each faction chasing after its own, understandable agenda. And all of them haunted by the shadow of oppression and scarcity. And yet all of them still somehow chasing something better. It reminds me a great deal of Game of Thrones in space, but in a good way.
Speaking just for me as a democratic socialist, I would say that Star Trek's Federation is broadly the kind of society I hope we build, but The Expanse is the kind of society we're probably more likely to build.
I'm sorry to hear that. I thought they were wonderful meditations on the nature of death, grief, and finding meaning in life, with moving performances from every actor, especially Sir Patrick. My grandmother had died only three or four months before those episodes were released, and they genuinely helped me process my grief over her passing, so I'll always love them. 12 out of 10.
But The Expanse is an excellent show that uses the lens of plausible science fiction to ask what kind of future we're building in the world today. Vivid, three-dimensional characters divided plausibly along sociological lines, with each faction chasing after its own, understandable agenda. And all of them haunted by the shadow of oppression and scarcity. And yet all of them still somehow chasing something better. It reminds me a great deal of Game of Thrones in space, but in a good way.
Speaking just for me as a democratic socialist, I would say that Star Trek's Federation is broadly the kind of society I hope we build, but The Expanse is the kind of society we're probably more likely to build.
I'm sorry to hear that. I thought they were wonderful meditations on the nature of death, grief, and finding meaning in life, with moving performances from every actor, especially Sir Patrick. My grandmother had died only three or four months before those episodes were released, and they genuinely helped me process my grief over her passing, so I'll always love them. 12 out of 10.
I can appreciate this. I personally found the ending of Picard very nice and meditative and suitably mythic in its exploration. While Data and Picard are not characters I personally find enjoyable that scene, Picard's overall arc in the last two episodes was quite enjoyable. From a character point of view it was well done. From a science fiction point of view it was a reasonable expansion of given technology in Star Trek.
It was very much a sci-fi version of "Orpheus descending into the Underworld for a lost loved one," but to say goodbye instead of trying and failing to drag them back.
As is, sadly, IMHO, The Orville (and again, IMHO, McFarlane may have made a mistake in how he handled Alara Kitan that may have caused Halston Sage to quit the show similar to how Denise Crosby quit TNG because she felt her character wasn't doing much.)
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I am thinking mostly in terms of action. We got better drama's in the genre but when it comes to pure action I think it is best. Jason
I don't watch enough current shows to know. Nor does action impress me. I think Daredevil or Cobra Kai was the last time I felt impressed.
When it comes to pure action shows I would go with
1 The Mandalorian
2 Clone Wars
3 Stargate Shows
4 Band of Brothers
5Nikita.
6 Battlestar Galatica
7 Daredevil
8 Arrow
9 Walking Dead
10 The Expanse.
Of course the list when switched around to drama it would be
1 The Expanse
2 Battlestar Galatica
3 Band of Brothers
4 Clone Wars
5 The Mandalorian
6 Daredevil
7 Stargate shows
8 Walking Dead
9 Arrow
10 Nikita
Jason
1 The Mandalorian
2 Clone Wars
3 Stargate Shows
4 Band of Brothers
5Nikita.
6 Battlestar Galatica
7 Daredevil
8 Arrow
9 Walking Dead
10 The Expanse.
Of course the list when switched around to drama it would be
1 The Expanse
2 Battlestar Galatica
3 Band of Brothers
4 Clone Wars
5 The Mandalorian
6 Daredevil
7 Stargate shows
8 Walking Dead
9 Arrow
10 Nikita
Jason
I guess I don't break shows apart like that.
I don't always do it but sometimes it can be fun to. I just know that when the action is happening in The Mandalorian it feels almost movie quality to me. Something I think will start to happen more in other shows as well as technology gets better and likely even more money is being invested in tv shows , what with movie theaters in the situation they are in.
Jason
Jason
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