I do. I would have liked to see a series of cerebral, high-concept actual science fiction films that didn’t depend on action, even if having some. But that just wasn’t (and isn’t) going to happen in the post-Star Wars landscape, at least not with a high budget and for a major name IP.Anyway, does anyone else wonder about what we might have had if they had continued in the TMP era?
TMP continued…
- Thread starter Warped9
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Exactly, thinking of the time and not retrospectively, TMP was rightly an event, where event movies definitely had different stakes. With television episode quality rising, it's not terribly surprising that big screen movies would feel lesser, if the TV shows on a screen 1/10th the size were as engaging, especially with the production value of effects. Are audiences so different today that low budget TV fare are no longer "accessible"? (Then again, in 1997, a former lover introduced me to a movie made in 1936 in glorious mono B&W and it was no less engaging, but it's an individual thing when all is said and done.)
I suspect a lot of the box office returns were due to repeat moviegoers rather than all-new audiences.
Niiiiiiice.
To this day, when popping in the disc, and the opening credits with that music and "In the 23rd century", the tone is set for some adventure of a dark sort and it's just as fresh as on day one.
I recall the Siskel & Ebert review with both of them giving it a thumbs up. I do wonder how many audiences were repeat fans vs newcomers, piqued by what S&E had to say.
It did find the cultural zeitgeist in ways TMP had not, ripe with character developments and a theme about middle age stuff that's impossible to properly replicate, unless there's another show that introduced a character then, 15~20 years later, is now seeking revenge. Then again, TUC managed General Chang as the best baddie by far since TWOK and the bar is set higher than just Kirk, with enough deft handling to not make it feel like a corny gimmick, as it was being heralded and paraded as "the fall of the Berlin wall, in space".
A reboot that's softer than a baby's bottom, even if TWOK has more gore and guts than anything preceding it. The movie's overall content makes up for it, but - when looking back - I'm glad I didn't see any until TSFS. TWOK is arguably rated R.
It's a nice piece of continuity. The Fleet Admiral (I forgot his name) mentions the ship is 20 years old, which is technically impossible as "The Menagerie" confirms, via footage from discarded pilot "The Cage", that the ship had been around longer and - based on looks - also had some refits between Pike and Kirk. So it's closer to 30~35whatever, but the minutiae aside, despite it being "an almost new Enterprise" (technically true), it was still deemed x-decades old. Which suggests not even all the refits could handle newer technologies, perhaps even the baseline engine that Excelsior had (independent of Transwarp) so it then became standard that older ships would be discarded and new ones be fully up to date with a new baseline.
How Kirk destroyed it, as defense against rogue Klingons, all while being a rogue because he's risking everything over a belief that Spock teleported a backup copy of his marbles into McCoy (but still able to deliver a nice violins speech to Kirk on cue before slumping, in what is still the greatest tear-up scene IMHO), is sooooooo good that all the nitpicks I'd placed into a bucket and set it next to Odo to have as a snack between naps. TSFS really did write a lot of itself with ease and the philosophical playing has generally been a strength.
Can't disagree. I liked the humor in 4 at the time, but in every rewatch, the Klingon scenes in the courtroom had whetted my appetite for more of these developments, and having a whale of a time just felt increasingly lame. Any old sitcom could do that shtick, but it does provide a glimpse into the form of human arrogance that TNG also developed from in turn.
That, and if only Commodore agreed to lend out the computer instead of the Apple Macintosh, Commodore might have lasted longer with their more innovative hardware, but it's not 1986 anymore either and most hardware-based technologies can be superseded in software subroutines upon an abstract layer...
The Director's Cut had some improvements, but replacing the proper klaxon with the wimpy noise was a considerable drawback and the feel was important. But I prefer the extended TV cut (fantastic remastering job for the 4k!!), and if only they added the VGer exterior shot to it as they did put in the matting around Kirk for the spacewalk...
Also, without my glasses on, "Flash" reads as "Flesh", and as Retinax (no relation to Retinox the antioxidant) hasn't been invented yet...
Sadly true. I think it might have been received better as the deleted scenes and bits do help the story, and lack of proper VGer ship exterior did hamper a reference point.
Plus, as the Klingons were mentioned, how might have they been used instead of TSFS-onward? (Never mind the other hiccup, in TFF, as TVH alone sidelines them, but now there's a big segue to where Klingons and Romulans and Humans (oh my!) set up a planet of galactic peace, which nobody bothered to keep up so no wonder it fell apart (sad how deleted material not shown on screen helped added needed backstory too.)
Those would be fun to read!!
Anyway, does anyone else wonder about what we might have had if they had continued in the TMP era?
Not as much as such, only that - prior to TWOK, the timeline had a ton of potential. To recapture the feel of that bottled era would be some doing.
And Data also owes much to Questor of "The Questor Tapes".
The first few years of the "LA Times Syndicate" daily comic strips made great use of the new alien races of TAS and TMP, both as Enterprise crew and visiting dignitaries, and the new tech.
Perscan medical monitor by Ian McLean, on Flickr
LA Times Syndicate's kzinti in "The Wristwatch Plantation" by Ian McLean, on Flickr
Rec deck aliens to appear in "Ex Machine" by Christopher L Bennett by Ian McLean, on Flickr
I'm still hoping after Strange New Worlds ends that we get a sequel series of sorts with Paul Wesley and Ethan Peck set after TMP and Kirk commanding the refitted Enterprise on a second Five-year mission and they could even forgo the pajamas uniforms and go straight into the Monster Maroons. (I mean There's what a period of 12 years between the events of TMP and TWOK?)
It's shorter than that but there are enough timeline threads at the moment, so sure, 12 years.
I can't imagine a post-TMP TV show would actually happen but there is a weird part of my brain that keeps waiting for it.
And the nostalgic nerd in me would greatly enjoy seeing that as well. Honestly, it would basically be the fulfillment of something I had hoped would happen, following the release of TMP.
And I'm not even picky about which uniforms they'd wear, the PJs or the MMS.
Throwing some fuel on the fire of the PJ's being a more logical (if less beloved) extension of the TOS uniforms, I could see a better looking SNW-ified TMP uniform than the Quality of Mercy Mangled Maroon.
I can't imagine that they would have the number of variants that the TMP uniforms had. Has there ever been an era of Star Trek with SO MANY versions of the uniform? Just give me the short sleeve uniform and nobody has to get hurt.
I agree that the PJs would be more logical then the maroons for two reasons: it fits the period of post-TMP better, and in general, I would think they would be more comfortable for day-to-day use on an extended voyage.
And by the short-sleeve uni, you're referring to what Kirk was wearing shortly after they got underway in TMP? Again, good choice.
I am indeed. Possibly my favorite Star Trek uniform of all time. Sulu wears one too. (Does Sulu get more costume changes than Kirk?)
I don't think so. We first see Kirk in his admiral's uniform, then the standard, long-sleeve pale blue outfit, then the short-sleeve shirt. And then let's not forget the field-jacket when they went outside the ship, to find the Voyager probe.
I think we just see Sulu in the long-sleeve and the short-sleeved unis.
I think we just see Sulu in the long-sleeve and the short-sleeved unis.
And the robe thing in the first scene. Does he have the same outfit on the rec deck?
I'm sure you're right, but Sulu has a surprising number of outfits. He would have had more but Shatner got them cut.
why did he do that?
That's a little joke. Takei has long complained that Shatner got his scenes cut like the line in Wrath of Khan saying he would become captain of the Excelsior.
I hadn't really in the past but lately I've been thinking about what a TMP sequel would look like that was like a hybrid between the film and the series. Everyone in the TMP uniforms but doing landing parties or a TMP era shuttle mission. The TMP Enterprise still operating at the height of it's potential; no training ship cruises or decommissioning on the horizon. A wonderful adventure film with ideas and action, sorta like the TMP equivalent of a cross between "A Private Little War" and Beyond.
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I really like mattman8907's idea about a series that would star Paul Wesley, Ethan Peck and the others, set immediately after the events of TMP. At this point, only McCoy, Sulu, Chekov and Rand have yet to be introduced and likely by the end of SNW, they will have had their introductions.
I could envision the new series being called either Star Trek: The Human Adventure or Star Trek: The Adventure Continues.
It'll never happen, but it's fun to think about.
I could envision the new series being called either Star Trek: The Human Adventure or Star Trek: The Adventure Continues.
It'll never happen, but it's fun to think about.
It would be fun to see adventures in that period between the first two films with today's production budgets and special effects, and the SNW cast! I wasn't quite sold on Wesley at first, but he's grown into the role now that we've seen more of him in the prime timeline after those first two alternate timeline stories.I really like mattman8907's idea about a series that would star Paul Wesley, Ethan Peck and the others, set immediately after the events of TMP. At this point, only McCoy, Sulu, Chekov and Rand have yet to be introduced and likely by the end of SNW, they will have had their introductions.
I could envision the new series being called either Star Trek: The Human Adventure or Star Trek: The Adventure Continues.
It'll never happen, but it's fun to think about.
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