Spoilers Starfleet Academy General Discussion Thread

[Noname Given]

For a show liked Star Trek, scrapping a script two weeks before shooting would have caused budget problems.

And of course they wanted to build new sets for the finale, the season opener and finale are the two episodes people remember most unless you get lucky with a banger script.

So could not having scripts ready to film - which happened in the 2nd half of TNG S1, and hell with TOS. a couple of times they completely rewrote whole sections of episodes the same day they filmed AS they were filming.

Welcome to TV production. This kind of thing is nothing new for the Trek franchise.

Nobody 'screwed up' - it's often the nature of the beast.

 

[The Wormhole]

The only time you get that is with new or unskilled Showrunners who dont know how to manage their shows budget.

Skilled and experienced Showrunners go the opposite direction, making an episode or two before the finale into "bottle episodes" so they can save money for the big finale.

Nah. "Oh god, we've spent the entire budget before the finale" finales are quite a common occurrence in television and always have been. Likely always will be.

 

[Firebird]

You're just trying to find things to complain about but can't, so you're making shit up.

Nah. "Oh god, we've spent the entire budget before the finale" finales are quite a common occurrence in television and always have been. Likely always will be.

Yup, TNG S2's Shades of Gray (also driven by the WGA Strike), Evangelion's original TV finale, The Prisoner was also quite threadbare at the end, Community's finale was a bottle episode.

 

[Fateor]

So could not having scripts ready to film - which happened in the 2nd half of TNG S1, and hell with TOS. a couple of times they completely rewrote whole sections of episodes the same day they filmed AS they were filming.

Welcome to TV production. This kind of thing is nothing new for the Trek franchise.

Nobody 'screwed up' - it's often the nature of the beast.

Not having scripts finalized is distinctly different from throwing out the script entirely.

You're also ignoring that modern filming is distintly different then it was in the TNG era. Significant lead up time is actually a necessity for volume use since the graphics designers have to design and assemble the backgrounds, a task that can take upwards of a month if you want to avoid the "easily noticable" issues.

Yup, TNG S2's Shades of Gray (also driven by the WGA Strike), Evangelion's original TV finale, The Prisoner was also quite threadbare at the end, Community's finale was a bottle episode.

So your examples are what may be the worst episode of TNG, an episode so panned the creator literally retconned it out and has spent the decades since trying to fix things, a critically panned episode, and a sitcom finale.

 

[tenmei]

Not having scripts finalized is distinctly different from throwing out the script entirely.

So TNG was worse because at least Academy had a script, then.

 

[Noname Given]

You're also ignoring that modern filming is distintly different then it was in the TNG era. Significant lead up time is actually a necessity for volume use since the graphics designers have to design and assemble the backgrounds, a task that can take upwards of a month if you want to avoid the "easily noticable" issues.

With respect to Scripts no it really isn't that much different. Prep time is prep time; and like I said, TNG often didn't have a full script to film during the later half of their first season; and was writing stuff as they went along during filming.

It's not that TNG change something 2 weeks ahead of time; it's something they didn't have at the time they were filming.

Alex Kurtzman didn't do anything on Starfleet Academy that other Star Trek producers haven't done during their tenure With The Star Trek franchise.

 

[HotRod]

For an episode that was apparently rewritten and filmed in haste, they sure had some pretty detailed concept art prepared months before they finished filming the season.

 

[Tuskin38]

For a show liked Star Trek, scrapping a script two weeks before shooting would have caused budget problems.

And of course they wanted to build new sets for the finale, the season opener and finale are the two episodes people remember most unless you get lucky with a banger script.

Except the concept art for the Athena courtroom is dated a few months before the episode was filmed, not weeks.

 

[Firebird]

So your examples are what may be the worst episode of TNG, an episode so panned the creator literally retconned it out and has spent the decades since trying to fix things, a critically panned episode, and a sitcom finale.

I wasn’t speaking to the quality of the episodes, I was providing actual examples and evidence to back up what was being discussed.

And Anno has never said the original ending to Evangelion has been retconned or banished from the continuity. It is as legitimate of an ending to the series as End of Eva is.

 

[Detached Nacelle]

What does this mean? Could it be that certain groups on the internet are just making things up with no evidence or believing rumours without fact checking simply to push an agenda to discredit a show they decided they didnt like before it even had its first trailer? Tell me advocate, isnt it possible?

 

[BillJ]

“Arena” was written in a weekend when they had ran out of scripts.

 

[Michael]

“Arena” was written in a weekend when they had ran out of scripts.

Just trying to fact check you on that: According to Memory Alpha the story outline was written over a weekend (with a similar story published in 1944 that Coon was unconsciously basing it on). It took another three weeks for the final script to be finished, though. With additional rewrites while they were already filming.

 

[BillJ]

Just trying to fact check you on that: According to Memory Alpha the story outline was written over a weekend (with a similar story published in 1944 that Coon was unconsciously basing it on). It took another three weeks for the final script to be finished, though. With additional rewrites while they were already filming.

Obviously, they would have to have time to set up filming and other such things, and writing would continue throughout that process. The point being, they were in a bad spot where filmable scripts were concerned and they had to adjust on the fly. I'm sure that the same thing happens in the streaming-era, but outside of franchise fare we largely don't know about it.

 

[fireproof78]

What does this mean? Could it be that certain groups on the internet are just making things up with no evidence or believing rumours without fact checking simply to push an agenda to discredit a show they decided they didnt like before it even had its first trailer? Tell me advocate, isnt it possible?

Unfortunately, it's very common because just ignoring a show thru didn't like is not enough.

 

[BillJ]

Unfortunately, it's very common because just ignoring a show thru didn't like is not enough.

The biggest problem for the show is that way too many people ignored it.

 

[fireproof78]

The biggest problem for the show is that way too many people ignored it.

And yet people keep talking about it. Like, just let it go if it is the tragedy that is damaging the brand.

 

[BillJ]

And yet people keep talking about it. Like, just let it go if it is the tragedy that is damaging the brand.

Interesting failures are things that can be learned from and are probably far more worthy of discussion than things that are all agreed upon to be great from the peanut gallery.

 

[fireproof78]

Interesting failures are things that can be learned from and are probably far more worthy of discussion than things that are all agreed upon to be great from the peanut gallery.

Completely disagree. My classes on art and media were not about the failures of artists and I find the focus on failures to be not attempt to learn but just bash, more often than not. Not saying you are, and certainly don't discussion on failures is somewhat interesting but I don't think it's more worthy.

 

[BillJ]

Completely disagree. My classes on art and media were not about the failures of artists and I find the focus on failures to be not attempt to learn but just bash, more often than not. Not saying you are, and certainly don't discussion on failures is somewhat interesting but I don't think it's more worthy.

I've always found that I learn far more from my failures in life than I do my successes.

 

[fireproof78]

I've always found that I learn far more from my failures in life than I do my successes.

That's on a personal level. What are fans learning?

I learn from both. Building a house meant having both.