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Should I Give It A Punt?

"Now" is the key word. I've been noticing this with Star Trek for 20 years. Why do you think I distanced myself from ENT Bashers in the early-2000s? It wasn't for my health. I didn't like it because I thought it was dull and stale. They didn't like it because of "canon" and raised all kinds of Hell because of it. No one sane would want to be associated with that.

These people are like the boy who cried "Wolf!" They say everything is terrible. Without fail. Then one day something actually will be terrible, but there's no way I'll listen to them if I haven't seen it first, because I'm not going to believe anything they say.

Neither will anyone else. We'll think, "They'll hate it no matter what, so why should we take any of what they say into account?" If they turn out to be right, that a Star Trek project actually sucked, it's not because they're right. It's because they just got lucky. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Not because of anything they thought, but because it was a coincidence.

I dunno. I think it's a dangerous assumption to presume that it's all the exact same people who hated ENT, hated the Kelvinverse, and hate Discovery/Picard. Undoubtedly there are some, but they might have all just been polarizing and alienated different groups of people.

To the extent these people "exist" - some of them may genuinely just be trolls. I seriously wonder with some of the 'tubers how many are overstating their dislike of the newer Treks for clicks.
 
Maybe those people just recognize substandard writing when they see it?
My thinking in regards to them:

"I don't like it because of poor writing." = Okay, I don't agree but I understand. As I've said before, I had similar feelings about VOY and ENT.

"I don't like it because that model looks out of place in 2257, that should be 2294! And what they're doing contradicts my interpretation of this line from that other series here!" = Give me a fucking break. This is ridiculous. Use your imagination to explain it away.
 
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I dunno. I think it's a dangerous assumption to presume that it's all the exact same people who hated ENT, hated the Kelvinverse, and hate Discovery/Picard. Undoubtedly there are some, but they might have all just been polarizing and alienated different groups of people.

To the extent these people "exist" - some of them may genuinely just be trolls. I seriously wonder with some of the 'tubers how many are overstating their dislike of the newer Treks for clicks.

ENT: I was just unreasonable at the time. All the suit meddling put me off. And they repeated everything i didn't like about every post TOS show and threw in Archer getting beat up all the time. Looking back, there are a lot of things I like and if they made a fifth season Id watch for sure.

DISC: Hate it hate it hate it.

KELVIN: I found the first two movies very enjoyable. But felt they stripped the franchise for parts and lost interest.

PIC: Loved it except for the last episode.
 
"I don't like it because of poor writing." = Okay, I don't agree but I understand. As I've said before, I had similar feelings about VOY and ENT.

"I don't like it because that model looks out of place in 2257, that should be 2294! And what they're doing contradicts my interpretation of this line from that other series here!" = Give me a fucking break. This is ridiculous. Use your imagination to rationalize it away.

Well i would if they gave me something to latch onto. * As it was they just gave me a bunch of ships that didn't seem to have any rhyme or reason, from a distance with no narrative cohesion going 'blipblip blipblip" Thats my DISC complaint.

Compare with PIC when they had small scale battles and it was a complete 180. Good sound, good tactics, narrative cohesion.

The final ep was an utter failure though. Not just because of copy and paste but also absolutely piss poor direction.
 
I'm wondering what the general feel is for Picard?

After being so utterly horrified by Discovery I've not even bothered with Picard as yet, though from screen shots I've seen the aesthetics aren't immediately off putting and I've read snippets of episodes and reviews leave me with mixed feelings. Whilst it is Sir Patrick and they do seem to be doing some interesting things with Seven, as well as some more development of the Romulans (about time), it could mean having to fork out for Amazon Prime (on top of Netflix and Disney+)--admittedly, I could go for a 30 day free trial and try the first episode, see what kind of taste it leaves in my mouth, then could binge from there or forget about it and get caught up with The Expanse.

Rambling, I know, but solo lockdown is slowly rotting my brain :lol:
It’s not 80’s - 00’s Trek. And like DSC, PIC is a more modern TV drama. I think that’s all you need to know.
 
ENT: I was just unreasonable at the time. All the suit meddling put me off. And they repeated everything i didn't like about every post TOS show and threw in Archer getting beat up all the time. Looking back, there are a lot of things I like and if they made a fifth season Id watch for sure.

DISC: Hate it hate it hate it.

KELVIN: I found the first two movies very enjoyable. But felt they stripped the franchise for parts and lost interest.

PIC: Loved it except for the last episode.
TOS: :techman:
TNG: :shrug:
DS9: :mallory:
VOY: :borg:
ENT: :shifty:
DSC: :adore:
PIC: :beer:

TOS Movies: :drool:
TNG Movies: :thumbdown:
Kelvin Movies: :alienblush:
 
Before I make the main point of this comment, I like Disco. It's not perfect, but I like Tilly (sorry), Saru, Stamets and Culber. Burnham sometimes is a tough pill for me, but I don't dislike her. I think the SMG is great with what she had been given. In short, I don't mean to crap on the show.

All that having been said, I rewatched Such Sweet Sorrows part 1 last night and I found myself really having a hard time with everything. The dialog, Burnham speechifying, the leaps (let's take Disco to the future as opposed to jumping to a different Galaxy), the save everything living thing - basically all the stuff fans have been complaining about. I couldn't bring myself to watch part 2.

Picard was not perfect, but I think I enjoyed the writing more. I am worried I am going to have a hard time watching the third season if they don't up their game in the writing department.
 
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I'm wondering what the general feel is for Picard?

After being so utterly horrified by Discovery I've not even bothered with Picard as yet, though from screen shots I've seen the aesthetics aren't immediately off putting and I've read snippets of episodes and reviews leave me with mixed feelings. Whilst it is Sir Patrick and they do seem to be doing some interesting things with Seven, as well as some more development of the Romulans (about time), it could mean having to fork out for Amazon Prime (on top of Netflix and Disney+)--admittedly, I could go for a 30 day free trial and try the first episode, see what kind of taste it leaves in my mouth, then could binge from there or forget about it and get caught up with The Expanse.

Rambling, I know, but solo lockdown is slowly rotting my brain :lol:

What horrifies you about Discovery?

I'm with those who felt that Picard was a mixed bag. It was great seeing Patrick Stewart
and some other Trek vets again
, but I felt the writing was uneven. And the first season had too many characters and didn't utilize or develop them well enough. I'm watching Doom Patrol Season 1 and comparing how much depth they pack into their characters each episode, perhaps too much as it's starting to drag down the story, but Picard's Season 1 story line was pretty slight and there's little excuse for them not to have done more character work, to sell us on the new cast more.

The main story line was slight and been-there/done-that. Because they only had 10 episodes it didn't leave it open to dedicate an episode to each character to establish them. It perhaps could've been done with the limited number of episodes, but as I said above I don't think a good enough job was done parceling out character development and the truncated time they had left some important parts of the story to just be dumped in exposition or glossed over. I think some of the more interesting aspects of the Picard universe (
the state of the Romulans/Romulan Empire, the Borg xBs, and the rest of galactic politics)
, was pushed to the side for a boring story that I can imagine CBS/Chabon/Kurtzman all thought was 'now' and cool.

I didn't care for the 2390 Trek uniforms (though I did like the 2380 ones, just that they weren't tailored well for Picard and Raffi; the 2390 uniforms looked ill-fitting at times as well). Also wasn't a big fan of the Picard: Season 1 starship design, and the civilian clothing looked too much like garments we wear today, and I say that while still not being a fan of the often garish civilian garb that was on TNG, DS9, and VOY. And while I thought a lot of that fashion was hideous it made it feel like it was a different time period.

Compared to Discovery, I think DISCO had a stronger first season from a storytelling and production value standpoint than Picard. The two mini-arcs in Discovery Season 1 were stronger. I also feel that Picard tread some of the same water that Discovery did in both its seasons so far
(For Seasons 1, both Burnham and Picard are seeking redemption and they both using 'rousing' speeches or exhortations at the end to shift the Federation back to its idealism. Season 2 of Discovery and the first season of Picard also grapple with fear of technology, I'll leave it at that).

What Picard has over Discovery, for me, is well, Picard himself, who is still my favorite Trek captain. It was also good to see
Riker, Troi, Data, Seven, and Hugh again. Or to get another look at the Enterprise-D,
little stuff like that, wish I wish there had been more of. I also was both happy and disappointed that the Romulans were a focus,
but turned out not to be the real focus.
I liked what Trek Lit. has done with Romulan culture more than Picard did, however I have to give them some credit for making the effort to take the Romulans out of stock villain category and adding the most to their culture since TOS.
I was also very glad that Picard didn't do to the Romulans what Discovery did to the Klingons. Though I got to say I wish that the creativity shown on Discovery had been saved until Picard so we could see more interestingly designed starships and uniforms.

I also was not a fan of the foul language on either series, however I was more okay with it on Discovery,
same with the violence and gore
. It just felt out of place for Picard. Certainly, they told us Picard was different from TNG, but that still doesn't mean you couldn't keep some tonal similarities. It's like I have to see Picard: Season 1 as being more of the TNG movie Picard and not the 'actual' Picard from TNG. Even while reading the prequel novel The Last Best Hope, I sometimes imagine that "Picard" as being played by Vincent Cassel instead of Patrick Stewart to accept the tonal changes to the character. It's strange, but that's how I cope sometimes.

I didn't have that issue with Discovery because it was mostly new characters. That being said, I never warmed to James Frain's Sarek. Ethan Peck's Spock I'm iffy on, but no problem with Amanda and I liked Pike and Number One (though I think the Short Trek focused on her was a bit too much, but good actress choice). Overall Discovery has had the benefit of mostly new characters, and I was glad they started exploring more of the ensemble cast in Discovery: Season 2.
 
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I never felt the need to re-watch Discovery. That's the only Trek series I feel that way about. I haven't even finished Picard yet but I spoiled myself on all the details. That's something I've never done with any series before. I don't know what's happened but I don't feel the need to finish it right now. And I grew up with TNG so this makes me extra sad to say.
 
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