I can't believe it has been that long!
Twenty years since "The Jem'Hadar"
- Thread starter DS9forever
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Is it just me or has (technical) quality simply stagnated so that 20 years feel like nothing? The gap between 70s and 80s, and 80s and 90s felt way wider than the gap between 90s and, like, now.
Just saw a HD remastered episode of X Files. It looks like new. Minus the camera shaking.
Just saw a HD remastered episode of X Files. It looks like new. Minus the camera shaking.
I agree. I think when it comes to things like TV and movie technology and effects, we're reaching a point where the advances are more and more marginal.
All the Jemmies in that episode would have died of old age by now. 
It's all about what one does with the technology. Really good writing with great F/X make a great combo and go places. Great F/X alone doesn't go anywhere.
I think it's more we've gotten to the point where taking advantage of the advances are prohibitively expensive. Nothing from the 90s looks as awesome as the dragons on Game of Thrones. But cheapo network shows don't do anything more advanced than Star Trek did in the 90s.
^ Maybe, but I would argue that its actually gotten cheaper and easier to deliver good production values and effects. I think the X-Files example cited above is more about the fact that shows nowadays (and in the last decade or so) don't look "dated" as quickly as they used to.
Also true, but I think part of it is the cultural specificity of most television shows.
Most shows are designed around the exact way people are thinking at a given point in time, and the exact way they iconify family and culture. But those cultural concepts change so quickly, when you write a show like that it dates immediately.
Whereas when a show is designed around the writer's own personal feelings and experience as in the case of most scifi, it doesn't age as fast because the concepts are more universally relatable.
Most shows are designed around the exact way people are thinking at a given point in time, and the exact way they iconify family and culture. But those cultural concepts change so quickly, when you write a show like that it dates immediately.
Whereas when a show is designed around the writer's own personal feelings and experience as in the case of most scifi, it doesn't age as fast because the concepts are more universally relatable.
and that is why shows like Trek and X-files although elements of their production are dated the stories and characters still work.
-Chris
Utterly Unimportant Trivia Fun-Factoid™:
The original title for this episode was going to be, "Dominion" (the early version making it into official print in books like the first edition of Mike and Denise Okuda's Star Trek Encyclopedia) before getting changed to "The Jem'Hadar."
I remember watching the episode for the first time during its initial broadcast and being surprised by the title-change.
But yeah...can't believe it's already been 20 years. I was a junior in high school when this episode aired.
The original title for this episode was going to be, "Dominion" (the early version making it into official print in books like the first edition of Mike and Denise Okuda's Star Trek Encyclopedia) before getting changed to "The Jem'Hadar."
I remember watching the episode for the first time during its initial broadcast and being surprised by the title-change.
But yeah...can't believe it's already been 20 years. I was a junior in high school when this episode aired.
I think it's also because Star Trek truly was ahead of its time.
That was a neat episode. The shift in tone throughout the episode sure is a weird one. It starts as a light-hearted romp with Sisko and his son going on a trip with Quark and Nog coming along. Then shit gets real.
The Odyssey eating it was an amazing sequence for the show. It was DS9's own "Mr. Worf......fire" moment. And it was a clever statement that these guys mean business that even the almighty Galaxy Class is no match for them. In other words, Picard and crew could have just been easily been destroyed there instead. Of course, we later learn that just about anything can take down a Galaxy Class, sigh.
The Odyssey eating it was an amazing sequence for the show. It was DS9's own "Mr. Worf......fire" moment. And it was a clever statement that these guys mean business that even the almighty Galaxy Class is no match for them. In other words, Picard and crew could have just been easily been destroyed there instead. Of course, we later learn that just about anything can take down a Galaxy Class, sigh.
All the Jemmies in that episode would have died of old age by now.
Maybe some are elders now!
Well later in DS9 the Galaxy class weren't so weak
DS9 yes, Generations no.
It seems that way, but I think much of the research that has been conducted in the last 20 years has become closely guarded secrets, due to industrial espionage or political-military espionage. Developments have been continuing, but they aren't publicized very much.
The space of time between the 1950's Thing From Another World and Carpenters remake is the same length of time between Carpenter's film and the 2011 prequel...
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