Spoilers Strange New Worlds General Discussion Thread

[mattman8907]

Do you guys think the pilot will be a two-parter (with both parts airing the same night? or they'll air Part 1 on May 5 and Part 2 on May 12?) or do you guys think it will be just your typical pilot episode that stands on its own and is a regular episode that acts as the pilot.

 

[Mudd]

Regular length pilot.

These shows don't really have "pilots" in the old sense anyway. They just have first episodes.

 

[mattman8907]

Regular length pilot.

These shows don't really have "pilots" in the old sense anyway. They just have first episodes.

man do i miss the good ole days. Two-Part pilots, actual cliffhangers. mid-season two parters.

 

[Tuskin38]

Discovery had a two parter

2x03 is filming
https://twitter.com/AmandaMRow/status/1506512054034829316?t=Jv96mGAeZLOflmYWoU9uCA&s=19

 

[The Wormhole]

man do i miss the good ole days. Two-Part pilots, actual cliffhangers. mid-season two parters.

Two-part pilots are actually somewhat rare, only the Star Trek of the 90s were the ones where that sort of thing was the norm, and even then, TNG's two-part pilot was at Paramount's insistence over Roddenberry's objections.

Cliffhangers are still a thing on TV, though mostly just on network shows and even so are declining in popularity due to a wish these days for a season to be its own entity with a very clear beginning, middle and end.

Midseason two-parters are only a relatively recent development from within the past ten to fifteen years and their decline has more to do with shorter seasons becoming en vogue.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, and the two- or three-part arcs midseason in ENT Year 4 didn't have identical episode names with numbers to tell you which part it was. They just had completely different titles and it was up to viewers to remember which part was which.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Two-part pilots are actually somewhat rare, only the Star Trek of the 90s were the ones where that sort of thing was the norm, and even then, TNG's two-part pilot was at Paramount's insistence over Roddenberry's objections.

TV shows launching from pilots originally aired as TV movies was pretty common in the '70s.

 

[Mudd]

TV shows launching from pilots originally aired as TV movies was pretty common in the '70s.

Yeah, sometimes the TV movies produced for the networks were "back door pilots." During the first discussions about a Star Trek revival in the 1970s, I believe Roddenberry mentioned that producing a two-hour episode as a TV movie that could be aired regardless of the network's decision on a series was something that Paramount liked because a pilot for such a series would be unusally expensive.

NBC had a series called The NBC Mystery Movie that rotated three or four separate productions, to try out various formats for series. A segment that got "promoted" might be replaced in the rotation by a new once-a-month show. Columbo was originally one.

They were called "wheel" series.

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[DaveyNY]

Yeah, sometimes the TV movies produced for the networks were "back door pilots." During the first discussions about a Star Trek revival in the 1970s, I believe Roddenberry mentioned that producing a two-hour episode as a TV movie that could be aired regardless of the network's decision on a series was something that Paramount liked because a pilot for such a series would be unusally expensive.

NBC had a series called The NBC Mystery Movie that rotated three or four separate productions, to try out various formats for series. A segment that got "promoted" might be replaced in the rotation by a new once-a-month show. Columbo was originally one.

They were called "wheel" series.

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I absolutely loved those shows ...
McMillian & Wife
McCloud
Columbo
Hec Ramsey
Banacek

Oh the memories ...

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I had a secret crush on George Peppard for the longest time.

 

[cooleddie74]

The Snoop Sisters. Amy Prentiss. Even Quincy M.E. began as a rotating series in the NBC Mystery Movie package and aired under that umbrella.

 

[dupersuper]

I can see people tiring of the writers constantly leaning on elements over and over. Though the log cabin motif likely fits Pike and Riker (who we know is an outdoorsman who grew up in Alaska) far more than it did Kirk or Picard.

How so? Kirk grew up on a farm in Iowa, and the chateau is literally Picard's childhood home.

It's not a matter of doing things like the 90s series. It's a matter of a return to the familiar. Klingons, Enterprise, Spock, Kirk, Uhura, etc. This is not creating something new or different but relying on familiar touchstones that will not offend people.

As much as I want a Pike show this trend seems very apparent to me, to create a safe Trek check list so that it feels familiar.

As many issues as I've had with Discovery and Picard, this isn't one. The new Trek shows - while not as exploration based as I might like - have all added new characters/species/worlds/settings/elements as well as using the old standards. Also, getting mad at them for using the old standards seems odd; you may as well get mad that they're making a Star Trek show set in the Star Trek universe. This is the established universe in which the shows take place.

I recall reading somewhere they were writing around the Romulan supernova at one point and making sure not to feature it because they had issues doing so.

Why would a show set in the 2250s reference an event from 2387? They may have in the past two seasons, but only when Nivar first came up. It's in the future in the first two seasons and ancient history in the second two.

 

[N-121973]

I absolutely loved those shows ...
McMillian & Wife
McCloud
Columbo
Hec Ramsey
Banacek

Oh the memories ...

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I had a secret crush on George Peppard for the longest time.

I've been watching some episodes of Banacek recently. In fact I watched one last night from its 2nd season featuring a stolen coach which featured the actress who played T'Pring.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Why would a show set in the 2250s reference an event from 2387? They may have in the past two seasons, but only when Nivar first came up. It's in the future in the first two seasons and ancient history in the second two.

Was speaking of Picard season 1.

 

[Mudd]

NBC apparently had a bunch of wheel shows:

• The Name of the Game
• The Bold Ones
• Four in One
• The NBC Mystery Movie / NBC Sunday Mystery Movie
• NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie / NBC Tuesday Mystery Movie (1971–1974)
• Search
• The NBC Friday Night Mystery

 

[ChallengerHK]

NBC had a series called The NBC Mystery Movie that rotated three or four separate productions, to try out various formats for series. A segment that got "promoted" might be replaced in the rotation by a new once-a-month show. Columbo was originally one.

Columbo started with two pilot movies. I'm not sure if the plan was to include the show in the wheel format all along or if that outcome was just happy circumstance.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Columbo started with two pilot movies. I'm not sure if the plan was to include the show in the wheel format all along or if that outcome was just happy circumstance.

Actually [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Columbo_episodes#Pilot_episodes]:

Bert Freed played the character in "Enough Rope", a 1960 episode of The Chevy Mystery Show, a TV anthology series. In 1962, that episode became a stage play titled Prescription: Murder (starring Thomas Mitchell as Columbo, Joseph Cotten and Agnes Moorehead as Roy and Claire Flemming, and Patricia Medina as Flemming's mistress[5]).

[...]

5. Lachman, Marvin (2014). The villainous stage : crime plays on Broadway and in the West End. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-9534-4. OCLC 903807427​

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chevy_Mystery_Show:

Title: "Enough Rope"
Directed by: Don Richardson
Written by: Richard Levinson, William Link
Air date: July 31, 1960​

 

[Mudd]

Actually [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Columbo_episodes#Pilot_episodes]:

Bert Freed played the character in "Enough Rope", a 1960 episode of The Chevy Mystery Show, a TV anthology series. In 1962, that episode became a stage play titled Prescription: Murder (starring Thomas Mitchell as Columbo, Joseph Cotten and Agnes Moorehead as Roy and Claire Flemming, and Patricia Medina as Flemming's mistress[5]).

[...]

5. Lachman, Marvin (2014). The villainous stage : crime plays on Broadway and in the West End. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-9534-4. OCLC 903807427​

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chevy_Mystery_Show:

Title: "Enough Rope"
Directed by: Don Richardson
Written by: Richard Levinson, William Link
Air date: July 31, 1960​

Interesting, thanks!

I knew the character had a pre-Falk stage history and wondered about it. I'm pretty sure that disconnected fact has been floating in my head since long before the Internet.

This is why I love the Internet.

I also hate the Internet.

Pretty sure my sense of curiosity suffers from Stockholm syndrome. Thanks, DARPA!*

*And Al Gore, of course.

 

[fireproof78]

. Also, getting mad at them for using the old standards seems odd; you may as well get mad that they're making a Star Trek show set in the Star Trek universe. This is the established universe in which the shows take

Well, given the reaction I have received for my opinions it is probably very odd but it is where I am at. But, I will attempt to explain further.

It's not I am bothered by it using elements of Star Trek in a Star Trek show. It's how many are being brought in to a show that already had several to begin with. It feels less organic and more check list oriented to assuage people "This is Star Trek. Please like us."

It's a delicate balance to be struck and I feel they went too far and too safe. Star Trek by committee. A fan film.

People get mad over Klingon make up and angle of pylons or nacelle shape. I'm not allowed to be angry about this?

 

[cooleddie74]

Columbo started with two pilot movies. I'm not sure if the plan was to include the show in the wheel format all along or if that outcome was just happy circumstance.

The latter. The 1968 TV-movie with Gene Barry was so popular they commissioned the second one in 1970 co-starring Lee Grant. Then that one was popular enough to make Columbo a part of the upcoming NBC Mystery Movie rotating format.

 

[plynch]

You can set a show in the Star Trek universe and not have it be rife with the same characters.

I was disappointed enough when DSC had to make Burnham Spock-related. I wanted it to be a new thing, but ok. Then it went Spock-Pike heavy in S2. Thank goodness those elements worked. Even PRO is heavy into VOY.

It is very small universe.

DS9 imported Worf, I know, but it and VOY seemed more ok being their own thing. Is LD off doing its thing or is it heavily tied into legacy characters? Aside from the many Trek in-jokes.