The shenzou is faithful the ENT, not TOS which is 50 years old and very dated. The cage uniforms were also fugly as all get out, they left hints of those uniforms, but really went with more of what Trek became later. TOS is always the odd duck out, its uniforms and ships look little like anything that came after.
We shouldn't be able to tell. The current state of 3D rendering for hard surface objects is pretty incredible. Cars in car commercials are a great example. But what we've seen so far from DSC is not that good.
That's because TOS is the only "True Trek" and the rest are just rip offs I am surprised that they decided to have a phaser rifle though. Really wasn't that much use of it in either ENT or TOS.
If they made it, they plan to use it. I can see a need for such a weapon as it will have more range, power and charge than a hand phaser. Maybe more attack options as well. Really trek has so long lied to itself about not being "a military" that they did not handle hand weapons well at all.
"Need for such a weapon?" Of course, but there are a lot of things that a Star Trek world "needs" (vehicles especially) that are never presented. I won't argue against the practicality of such a weapon, but I am surprised by its appearance.
To me, the cage uniforms are the TOS aesthetic. All the color came later was not a design choice, but a mandate to show off color TV. I just meant using them as a jumping off point for an updated look instead of total teardown. The Cage design mostly survived the series (neckline and fabric changes mostly) and has one aspect that's way ahead of the series; The women dressed like the men. They understood the bridge wasn't the best time to show the captain how great one's ass looks in that less-than-mini skirt. Off duty they wore clothes to attract and showed that as Pike passed crew in the hall. I found this way more evolved than the series' take and more in tune with rising feminist movement of the time.
It was a thift store look from a 50 year old TV show. They kept the colors and played them in modern uniforms, or at lest a more modern look. The TOS is the one trek series whose look does not flow with the rest, it was first and so looks like what it is, a 50 year old TV show. Once ENT came out, any hope of the TOS look being revived died.
I I agree about ENT shutting the door on TOS design. The uniforms scream ENT next gen to me and I hated those ENT uniforms more than Kirk's bra shirt. However, the phaser pistol (with detachable hand phaser) and the communicator are like a fanboy's reimagining of TOS. Maybe this is their way of honoring that aesthetic just a bit and I shouldn't read too much into it.
I disagree on the ENT uniforms, they screamed NASA and US Navy to me. If you look for images, they are pretty close. The only issue I had, was the same one I had with almost all trek. They wore the damned things for everything and the dress uniform sucked. Although ENT at lest had a few other outfits. I think they are gonna keep some aspects of TOS, I am glad they are as not everything needs tossed. But the Uniforms did not fit, the same goes for the one ship we saw. She needs an update( not the fugly Kelvin thing, frak that) because she now looks more primative than any other ship, because she is. Or they can just not show her at all. Look on the bright side, the uniforms are not TMP level of fugly.
My idea of how the lasers fit in, is that Starfleet in this era fields a variety of weapons like lasers and phasers side by side, each with specific situational benefits. Perhaps a laser cannot stun, so the Federation wants to phase them out on humanitarian grounds - but Starfleet crews are briefed on phasers, disruptors, lasers, plasma guns and slugthrowers as other species still use them all.
I personally hate weapons, but I agree that the these people just had a disproportional reaction. As far as I know, "gun porn" requires real guns. Imaginary Energy Rifles are still Imaginary. It's like saying that people that love the Bat'leth are somehow White Weapon enthusiasts. I mean, the Bat'leth is so impractical you can't even cut butter with it. And, yeah, those Twitter trolls missed the point entirely. Those promos weren't about guns or communicating devices. They were about Sci-Fi Props.
Is communicating device porn a thing? ...probably, this is the internet. (I have some crazy iPhone pics if anyone is interested, and some LG stuff if you're into that kind of thing.)
well, we all know that Starfleet is a military because that is not a controversial stance at all, so of course they need heavy weaponry
Well, I consider the Yota Phone to be "communicating device porn". A Smartphone with a conventional touchscreen AND an E-Ink screen ? Hell yeah! And now I just realized how easy it will be for them to pass a Kindle as a TOS Padd. Stick some glowing jellybean buttons to it and you have ready-to-go prop.
Modern 3D really is that good. Keep in mind though: car commercials cost a shitton of money. Money they don't have for small promo snippets for a tv-show (see the early Discovery-render from last year). Those prop videos are real videos. Probably in front of green screen that is swapped to a black background (to make the wires disappear) and CGI lens flares. Produce as cheap as possible, make it look as expensive as possible. They're doing a good job with that Yeah, those are not "trolls". Within context - all these other prop videos - there's nothing to critizise with that phaser rifle video. But as others have already pointed out, this one looks really f-*-ing realistic. And the tagline "lock and load" doesn't make it any better. Note that there aren't any comments like this on the video of the new phaser, because that's clearly recognizable as a sci-fi prop. If this rifle video would stand alone - without the other props - it would indeed come too close to gun porn for my taste. Not a matter of 'trolling', just 'taste' and 'missing context'. Not a mistake by the producers or marketing - they're doing a really good job with those prop videos - but the other side here is really understandable as well.