#Anti-Kurtzman Trek

[shadowwingtronix]

BW's Daily Video> Star Trek's Animated Anti-Pollution PSA

BW's Daily Video> Star Trek's Animated Anti-Pollution PSA

Restored by The Topic Is Trek on YouTube “They just pointed it out and then stopped.” This may be the most unrealistic thing in Star Trek. Including what Abrams and Kurtzman came up with. 🙂 Also, I’m pretty sure those are damaged starships but I can’t pin the episode down. I did comment on the video “I forget the episode title off-hand but the footage seems to be from the episode where they find…

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Vindication... 20 years later

While I still don't care for Star Trek Discovery or Picard, I have greatly enjoyed the other Star Trek shows of late: Strange New Worlds, Prodigy and Lower Decks. Sadly, the damage done to Trek fandom by Discovery and Picard seems to be such that there are elements of fandom who can not abide by any recent-era Trek, no matter how good it might be. Indeed, SNW was not only a case of them fixing Trek, it also has taken the place of the anti-Trek, otherwise known as The Orville.

The reason I mention this is I saw an online review of a fan-made Star Trek series called Star Trek Continues in which the reviewer says it's the first "real Trek" we've had since Star Trek: Enterprise. (We'll ignore the fact the production of Star Trek Continues ended I believe before the 2017 debut of Discovery).

It's the invoking of Enterprise that made an impression on me because I was present in those dark days of 2001-2005 (ST:ENT debuted only a couple weeks after 9/11, remember) when Trek fandom was torn asunder by the Bashers vs. Gushers War, fans who either totally rejected Enterprise as not being true Trek, of being "blasphemy" - that was actual word used in the forums; this was when I realized Trek fandom had become a religion to some people, with Gene Roddenberry being the prophet, while Gushers were those who refused to recognize any criticism of the show and could be just as bad. People were banned from forums on both sides; people started petitions to get Rick Berman (then the showrunner; today it's Alex Kurtzman) fired; when they announced that the Borg were going to appear on ENT in an episode meant as a followup to the timeline changes wrought by Star Trek: First Contact, someone posted to a forum that they'd smashed their TV. I am not making this up. I've always hoped the original forum user was, however.

Maybe it's a bit of a backhanded compliment to ENT but I find it amusing and ironic that so many people who 20 years ago would likely have been condemning Star Trek: Enterprise (some gave up on it simply because they didn't like the theme song when they could have pressed Mute on the opening credits; others rejected the show as not being Star Trek because of a decision not to use Star Trek in the title for its first couple seasons) are now coming out and calling it the last "true Star Trek".

As someone who was caught in the middle ground of Bashers v Gushers (I was not in denial that the show had issues - its finale is still terrible; at the same time I didn't go around smashing my TV either and found myself often defending the show against unfair bashing) - I find it ironic and amusing and gratifying and vindicating to see Enterprise given renewed respect all these years later.

[eric-coldfire]

Talk to your Star Trek aliens about using protection to avoid contracting STD’s.

Klingons with protection:

Klingons without protection:

Orions with protection:

Orions without protection:

Trill with protection:

Trill without protection:

Ferengi with protection:

Ferengi without protection:

[stra-tek]

Thought this needed a little update with all the childish gatekeeping going on recently

[claudia1829things]

You know what I detest about the Star Trek fandom?  It took “Star Trek Voyager” to expose its sexism.  And it took “Star Trek Discovery” two decades later to expose its racism.  It’s disgusting.  Watching Season Two of “Discovery”, I was disgusted by how the fans gushed over a one-dimensional character like Christopher Pike, because he was a white man.  I might as well call it for what it was.  These same fans have been gushing over the Sylvia Tilly character since “Star Trek Discovery” began.  And when Michael ended up demoted and Tilly made Executive Officer in her place in Season Three . . . they gushed over this change like it was the greatest thing.  By that time, I felt sick to my stomach.  What I found even more sickening is that Alex Kurtzman and the Trek franchise would allow this ludicrous story/character development to happen.  

And then there is “Star Trek Picard”.  I supposed that Picard . . . or what is supposed to pass as Picard . . . will assume command of the La Sirena during Season Two of “Star Trek Picard”, despite the fact that the ship belongs to Cristobal “Chris” Rios.  I hope I’m wrong.  I’m still trying to figure out why this group is still together by the end of the season.

[ljones41]

I never thought Saru would prove to be a terrible captain in the latest episode of “STAR TREK DISCOVERY”.  After demoting Michael Burnham from the position of Executive Officer, he decided to promote Ensign Sylvia Tilly to replace her.  What experienced Starfleet officer in his or her right mind would promote an ensign with limited experience and who is also NOT a Bridge officer, as acting Executive Officer? And why would the actual Bridge officers stand around, cheering on Tilly?  They should be pissed!  Who wrote this crap? What the hell was Alex Kurtzman thinking?

I guess white feminism strikes again . . . even in a series that stars a black woman.

[quasi-normalcy]

Me (unaccountably appointed Star Trek showrunner): I'm going to move away from "NuTrek" and the Kurtzman era and return Trek to what Gene Roddenberry would have wanted!

Anti-SJWs on YouTube: Huzzah! No more "forced diversity!" Get Woke Go Broke! Hoo-rah!

My new Star Trek series: *Interspecies porn on a nudist starship with the characters pausing every so often to lecture the audience about the evils of capitalism or the non-existence of God*

Ghost of Gene Roddenberry watching from Heaven: Right on!

[biscuitreviews]

Biscuit’s Theory Regarding Seven of Nine and the Voyager Crew on Star Trek: Picard (Spoilers)

While working on my Star Trek: Picard review, I noticed one of my points was starting to become its own topic, so I decided to make it a seperate post rather than one giant large review.

This post is simply a theory on how Seven of Nine feels “alone” and how she got to where she was in the events of Star Trek: Picard.

Note that a lot of this is just guessing and surmising what we see from Star Trek: Picard, to who Starfleet is acting, to what we have observed from Seven’s actions and behavior.

Also, major spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Picard regarding Seven of Nine’s arc on the show.

Now, I’ve seen some fans on the internet react negatively to Seven saying how she’s alone and has no one. I’ll admit at first I was the same way thinking she has the Voyager crew, they’re her family. Then a theory came to my head as to why Seven would say she is alone.

Now take what I’m about to say as just mere conjecture as it’s not confirmed in any way by either the showwriters, Jeri Ryan, or Alex Kurtzman. I think it does explain a few things regarding Seven of Nine’s story. Particularly let’s first focus on the Voyager crew. As we know Captain Janeway was promoted to Admiral after the series ended. We see this in 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis. With that she is probably still continuing her career in Starfleet. Tuvok most likely retired from Starfleet after the events of Voyager. Tom Paris and B’Elanna are raising their daughter and any other kids they have also had together, Harry Kim is also probably continuing his Starfleet career as well. As for Chakotay, considering where Seven is in her life, I think they might have had a bad breakup.

There is one other character that I haven’t discussed yet I believe is the start of Seven’s change, that character being Voyager’s Emergency Medical Hologram, The Doctor. In the series, we see that Starfleet and the Federation have issued a ban on synthetic life as they believed they might pose a danger. “But Biscuit, Captain Rios has working Holograms on his ship so The Doctor is still safe right?” Actually, no, I think The Doctor is dead. 

Consider this, The Doctor is a Hologram that evolved beyond his programming, he has a passion for music, learned numerous new biological threats, treatments, and was able to take command of Voyager during an emergency situation by initiating his Emergency Command Hologram subroutine, one that Voyager programmed into him. Also, I know the Doctor is a hologram and I’m using male pronouns, but that’s because that is the Doctor’s preferred pronouns, so that’s why you’re seeing he/him.

Anyways, I think after the Mars incident, The Doctor became one of the first victims in Starfleet’s new anti-synthetic agenda. There was an episode in Voyager where The Doctor wrote a holonovel that he then sent to be published on Earth. At the end of that episode we see other Holograms talking about the holonovel. It’s possible that this event also sparked a hologram revolution that occured off-screen and hasn’t been discussed. Because The Doctor was the one that started it, Starfleet saw these holograms as a possible new form of synthetic life that was close to Data as he went through very similar trials during Next Gen’s tenure. 

These events are what caused Starfleet to reprogram these holograms before it was too late, and with The Doctor a hologram, he too became reprogramed or in his case, decommissioned as he was an EMH mark 1. The Doctor, as Seven of Nine knew him no longer exists. Therefore killing the version of The Doctor that taught Seven many lessons on being human.

I’m sure Admiral Janeway attempted to stop it, but with Starfleet’s direction, she couldn’t stop it. Seven blames Janeway for not protecting a member of the Voyager family, thus feeling betrayed by another mentor on human living. With one dead and one being of no help in Seven’s point of view, it would stand to believe why Seven feels alone, except for her adoptive son Icheb. That is, until we see him die in the events of Picard, completing Seven of Nine’s transformation into who we see today.

So why do we still see holograms today in Star Trek: Picard? Because I think they now have safeguards in place for a hologram to not go beyond it’s programming. Also, holograms can be controlled as they can’t leave past the boundaries of holo generators. So in Starfleet’s eyes, they are a synthetic life that can be controlled and contained, which is why they are allowed to still exist.

[popwasabi]

“Picard” S1 Review: Doesn’t boldly go but is nonetheless engaging

Produced by CBS All Access

Starring: Patrick Stewart, Isa Briones, Allison Pill, Michelle Hurd, Santiago Cabrera, Evan Evagora, Harry Treadaway

Many fans had high hopes for “Picard” going into CBS All Access’s continuing voyage into the Star Trek franchise.

Fans wanted to see the lore finally expanded into the future after its previous three ventures (Enterprise, Abrams Trek, and Discovery) took place in the past, bring modern themes and ideas to Star Trek’s futurist’s world view in a way that felt fresh and relevant, but most importantly continue the story of the franchise’s greatest captain; Jean-Luc Picard, of course.

(He’s the best captain. This is not up for debate. Don’t @ me!)

In some ways the new series succeeds at this. We get glimpses of the previously untouched world of Star Trek post “Nemesis,” new themes that are resonant with real world events and exploratory, even critical, of the Federation’s worldview, and of course plenty of Picard himself as he navigates the strange new galaxy he inhabits.

But Picard ultimately misses the mark due to rushed storytelling, half-baked side plots, and just plain poor execution overall. It’s sad because “Picard” and this very talented cast and production team have their moments throughout this first season’s ten episode run but somehow even with 10 episodes of content to work with fans still end up with a somewhat jumbled mess.

(Me by like the eighth episode.)

This isn’t to say “Picard” isn’t worth your time if you’re an avid Star Trek fan or just someone who likes Patrick Stewart in this role in general but the first season will leave you still hungry for more and not in a good way.

“Picard” continues the story of the titular captain, now retired admiral, many years after the events of “Nemesis” as a retired Jean Luc reflects on his life in Starfleet and of his late friend Data who gave his life for his. A synth ban has been enacted in Starfleet after a major riot on Mars some years prior and Picard is understandably sour on the idea, given his relationship with Data, while also fighting Starfleet on not helping the exodus of the Romulans after the supernova that wiped out their homeworld in “Star Trek (2009).” When a young woman comes seeking Picard’s aid after an attack by mysterious assailants, revealing that she is an android and the possible daughter of Data, and gets killed, it is up to the retired Admiral to find her twin sister before she suffers the same fate.

Before we get started let’s throw out some of the bad faith arguments on why this series wasn’t all that good.

“Picard” doesn’t suck because it has “politics” in it. At this point, if you are complaining about the existence of social viewpoints and political/philosophical discussions in your Star Trek, or let alone any series for that matter, I don’t know what the hell you’ve been watching the past few decades. Star Trek has always been more than just a show about cool-looking spaceships and laser beams, you neckbeards.

(Hell, even the other “Star” got more going on in it than that.)

It’s also not bad because of female representation or “girl power.” Again, Star Trek has always had this and frankly having a few more instances of the women of Trek taking center stage doesn’t even come close to rebalancing the scales on the overall massive representation of cis white men across the genre and even the series anyways.

Also get the fuck over the use of curse words in this series. While certainly some instances in this show felt awkward, the use of the word “fuck” does not dilute Star Trek’s overall story.

(It would have made earlier season’s funnier for sure.)

Now that that’s out of way let’s get into the real reasons that, for me at least, the series fell short of an otherwise promising goal of delivering great new Star Trek.

The main problem stems from the series overall jumping off point in its first episode. Picard is understandably still upset about the death of Data and having him deal with survivor’s guilt is a great way to bring this character into the future and reexplore the humanist viewpoints Data touched on in the older series. But also having Picard deal with his fallout from Starfleet, both from the synth ban AND the Romulan exodus, creates chasmic diverging plotlines that never quite come together. The story really needed it to be one or the other. Either Picard wanting to advocate for the continued existence of synthetic life or the rescue of the Romulans post super nova. The latter is touched on a bit through the addition of the character Elnor but doesn’t quite work given that majority of the Romulans in this series are portrayed as villains.

There is definitely a post Brexit, anti-immigrant hysteria message being told there but not enough depth and nuance is given to make it look like Starfleet was particularly wrong here to abandon them given that they do end up being spies committing espionage in the Federation and the clear villains of the first season. The showrunners could have brought these two stories together by perhaps making Soji a Romulan bent on bringing down synthetic life because maybe her twin sister died in the riots on Mars, making Picard have to choose between his commitment to both minority groups abandoned by the Federation but of course, that’s not what the series goes with.

Also suddenly shoehorning in a convoluted anti-synth worldview into the already ultra-secretive Romulan empire was muddled to say the least.

(A decent summation of the Romulans, pretty much ever. Also why is the only Asian actress in this scene in Osaka depicted as an alien, Mr Kurtzman?...)

Some of these ideas could’ve been saved through better editing and pacing though but not enough is done in this first season to mitigate these issues. Too much of plot is told through plain exposition; people sitting down and talking for five-ten minutes about prophecies and backstory instead of having the story simply show us instead. It makes the pacing often slow even by Trek standards and grinds the action to a halt even when there are lasers being shot at one another in the next scene.

Many of these plots get barely any attention too. The Borg cube, why it’s abandoned, and why Hugh is working for the Romulans through the Federation is given surface level development at best. Seven of Nine returns and at one point is momentarily hooked up to the Collective and she doesn’t really say much about it after it happens. The new character’s Rios and Raffi both have side stories given to their development that get touched on once and never brought up again. Dr. Jurati straight up murders her lover and is set to turn herself into the Federation and it’s just kind of forgotten about in the finale. And Elnor, well, he gets to do his best Legolas impression slicing and dicing fellow Romulans with his sword I guess.

(He is still best boi though :3...)

The main co-star however, Soji the perfect android, has a particularly rushed development going from a scientist unknowing of her nature, to supposed prophet of doom, to predictably the savior all in one season. Her arc needed more time to develop with perhaps her Romulan love affair with Narek being the first season’s main driving force and her realization as an android being the climax. 

Instead we get basically four seasons of Battlestar Galactica’s Sharon arc crammed into one season and it unfortunately makes the story feel half-baked.

(Ok, Boomer.)

Don’t get the wrong idea, all these new characters have great individual moments as well throughout the season but sooooo much side plot is shoved in already into a muddled overarching narrative that it feels like several seasons worth of storytelling stuffed and edited down into a ten episode arc. Why the series felt it needed to conclude this robust story about synth hating Romulans in “Picard’s” first season feels like an unforced error in this reviewer’s opinion even if Sir P Stew only has maybe a couple seasons of extensive acting left in him anyways.

But the season isn’t completely worthless, as much as this review has been spent dunking on its less than stellar parts. The cast is exceptional, even working with the spare parts they’ve been given. Episode 5’s “Stardust City Rag,” in particular, stands out as a good mix of old and new Trek, with a decent dosage of cheese featuring Patrick Stewart trying on a French accent in a space bar. Santiago Cabrera is delightful as the ship captain Rios while also playing various forms of himself in AI form in equally enjoyable roles. Evan Evagora is fun as the deadly yet somewhat aloof Elnor, even if his character doesn’t do all that much except cut up a few Romulans. Seeing Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis reprise their roles as Riker and Troi respectively in episode 6 was heartwarming and felt the most like TNG out of all the episodes. And Jeri Ryan seems liberated in this series in this version of Seven of Nine, no doubt glad to be rid of that restrictive corset and Rick Berman’s meddling hands.

(Big “Fuck you, Rick Berman” energy going on in this scene.)

The production value is obviously high level as Trek has rarely looked this good on the small screen. There’s some great cinematography throughout the season whether it’s Picard’s chateau winery, the haunting nature of the Borg cube, or the synth homeworld in the season’s final beats. The spaceships look cool as always and the world of the future feels well futuristic.

The musical score is also top notch, with a great opening theme that feels very much in line with Trek at its futurist glimpse into a hopeful cosmos.

The season’s best moments though are between Picard and Data and will remind you why they were more than likely your favorite characters on TNG. Generally speaking, exploring the humanist themes of artificial intelligence in new Trek was a good choice and having Picard deal with survivor’s guilt kept the pulse of the muddled story still beating. Brent Spiner is still great as Data and will remind you all again how talented he has always been as an actor and though his age seeps through the makeup a bit he is nonetheless still a perfect android.

Though the finale as a whole is underwhelming, the characters do share a nice final moment that is both touching and reminiscent of everything a fan loves about Star Trek. It’s a great cap to an otherwise ok return to Star Trek for TNG’s top characters and its truly touching in the best way that this franchise has always been known to be.

(Deactivating my emotions chip because I just..can’t! I just can’t, ok! *Sobs*)

But great acting and high production value can only mask so many flaws with a convoluted plot and “Picard” unfortunately suffers from the bloated and uncooked nature of its many ideas. What the story really needed was three season arc not just ten episodes and it shows. I guess the plus side is with this particular plot wrapped up it leaves the door open for new ideas and a fresh start in the second season but it does feel like an overall miss for Picard’s homecoming back into the universe of Star Trek.

Overall, though there are worse ways a Star Trek fan can spend their quarantine than watching “Picard” and there’s certainly enough here for fans to latch onto and have hope for better things in the next season.

Hopefully things are less rushed or at least more focused in the second season and we can see a more proper return to form for both Picard and future Star Trek.

Here’s hoping the producers and writers make it so…

VERDICT:

3 out of 5

Let’s hope we get a return of Q in the next season.

[doopcafe]

New Trek Discovery: That Hope Is You, Part I (3x01)

Summary: Burnham meets Book and they rescue a worm. 

Comments: Let me start by saying two positives.

(1) I like Burnham as a character and an actress. I think she plays “stoic Vulcan” admirably and was happy to see her actress get to break out of that mold a bit in this episode during the “tripping on drugs” scene.

(2) Aside from... most of season 2... I actually enjoy watching this show. It’s interesting in parts, the superficial elements (sound effects, special effects, technology, etc.) are all pretty cool and it’s clear there’s a dedicated team behind their creation. But this isn’t Star Trek. It’s like, 5% Star Trek. 

That said, let’s dive in~! 

If Cosmo was chasing after Book in the teaser, why didn’t he follow Book’s trail of smoke to the crash site on the planet? It would have been pretty easy to recover his “cargo” from a crashed ship? 

Am I to believe that a spaceship, with shields up, colliding with a human in a suit, can be damaged so significantly by the collision that it would force it to crash onto the nearby planet? 

After crashing, Burnham checks for life, confirms its existence, and is likewise happy, but there’s no sign of the Discovery. She then suddenly realizes she is horribly injured. I like this, for what it’s worth, because it shows the importance that Burnham places on duty, as she neglects the pain in order to ensure her mission was a success and even remembers to send the suit back through the wormhole so that Spock gets his message. 

Anyways, Burnham walks towards Book’s crash site, horribly injured, then forgets about being horribly injured so that the episode can have a pointless fist fight with another character. 

Book tells Burnham that, in fact, the collision of his ship at full shields with a person in a suit was so severe that he “cracked his dilithium recrystalizer” when they collided, so he needs fresh dilithium. What are the chances of Book’s ship crashing within walking distance of the major city they need to walk to? 

The premise of this future is that the Federation is dissolved because all their dilithium exploded at the same, destroying many ships and lives. He notes that they couldn’t explain it, which is the most anti-Star Trek line of the whole episode and makes it abundantly clear that the writers either (a) have never watched Star Trek or (b) don’t care and are doing their own thing. 

Burnham notes that the “cargo” (the worm) is temperature sensitive. Later, we see the worm walking along the beach as it eats people and then basking in a sex pool of fellow worms on another planet as Burnham/Book stand and watch while they wear comfortable clothing. What part of this worm needs to be temperature controlled? Why is that a line of dialogue? 

If Book knows that the only way to throw off transporter trackers is to transport into solid material (like water, I guess), then why didn’t he do that on the first transport? Is it because Alex Kurtzman wanted false drama?

Finally, no word on the condition of Burnham’s horrible injury through any of this. I guess she was healed by the power of plot contrivance. 

Oh, also, why does Book warn Burnham to close her eyes when the worm is released from the cargo hold? At first I figured they were doing a Raiders thing, where like the Angel of Death appears and melts anyone who looks at it, but no... it’s just a worm and the very next scene Burnham and Book watch, with eyes open, as the worm tears everyone apart. Why was that a line of dialogue? 

If the thugs knew that the “cargo” was a death worm, why didn’t they come prepared to deal with a death worm? They knew, for sure, that Cosmo was transporting a death worm, that Book stole the death worm from Cosmo, and that they would find the death worm in Book’s ship. So...? What was their plan here, exactly? 

Book’s ship then travels at warp. So...WTH? Why is the Federation dissolved again? Also, did Book repair his ship? It crashed, right? What is going on? 

If the Federation is dissolved/collapsed, who is paying for the upkeep of the Federation relay station? Why haven’t pirates/scavengers dismantled the thing for parts/valuables. These are no longer questions. I’m no longer asking... 

What’s that guy do in the station all day anyways. I thought he was a hologram or android at first because it looks like he just sits at his desk and does nothing else. The dude has probably watched all of Netflix by now. Maybe Kevin should ask him to pitch in for the Disney+ subscription. Then he could at least watch Artemis Fowl and tell me if it’s any good before I commit two hours. I mean, the trailers make it look interesting, right? 

In conclusion, they gonna go look for Federation people, who I’m sure they’ll find. Also, prediction: there’s time travel stuff in the future, so maybe Burnham/Discovery get to return to more of their time...? 

My enjoyment: 3/5 

[eric-coldfire]

Why The Orville is more Star Trek than Kurtzman Trek.

The Orville: Peaceful space exploration, learning about alien cultures, solving conflicts through diplomacy, fighting only in self defense and as a last resort, and respecting other cultures even if you don’t agree with them.

Kurtzman Trek... (tw eye gore)

Star Trek Discovery:

Star Trek Picard:

Star Trek Lower Decks:

[des-shinta]

The Way I heard it is when CBS and paramount split into separate companies in the 2000′s, CBS took the rights to Star Trek instead of them staying with Paramount...for some dumb reason.  Purportedly this is part of why the property went dead for several years despite Enterprise’s fourth season not sucking. Paramount wanted to do more with ‘Trek, but couldn’t afford full licensing rights of the existing series from CBS to stay in continuity, thus the Kevlin timeline happened with its take on a reboot where such would cost far less, with Paramount using Bad Robot and eventually their subsidiary Secret Hideout for the production of them.  However, those agreements, confirmed from some interviews, required that everything done be a certain amount different than previous ‘Trek Works to not tread past that licensing line, and Secret Hideout’s continued involvement in the make of the newer trek series is why we continue to have the visual discontinuity, alongside the tech difference updates, recurring OOPArt’s, and Anti-retro anachronisms (Claiming the Discovery in season 3 looks retro when it looks no different than any damn ship in the Future-Future) that make no sense story/setting-wise. Though considering the head of the division (Alex Kurtzman) was previously involved with the make of most of the bad Transformers films and a bunch of other bad movies, the story discontinuity makes more sense as there’s a complete lack of attention-to-detail and familiarity with past works going on.  But it still draws up the question of whether they’re truly attempting to abide by/respect TOS/TNG-era Canon and be part of them, or just making off-hand references to events that happened differently than we know since the SH-produced shows actively avoid use of footage/terminology/concepts from TOS--ENT, or alter them if they do utilize them them.  And as SH is still making them, Paramount (despite being re-merged with CBS in 2020) still owns the newer Trek stuff so there’s STILL an IP divide between New!Trek and Old!Trek, just with CBS being the one footing the bill so it’s on their streaming services...and even then they tried to pass that bill off to others to offset costs which didn’t end well. But yes, Rights Issues are bullcrap.

After watching your Star Trek vids I got interested in the series and began watching TOS and TNG, I have enjoyed both and a friend then had me watch a bit of both Discovery and Picard I also saw your post regarding continuity and have wondered if it’s such a big issue why weren’t Discovery and Picard set in the alternate Kelvin timeline? Wouldn’t that solve the issues and expand upon the alternate universe?

Picard has LESS issues with its continuity since it's set post-TNG, which we only know so much about (or it's in media like Star Trek Online, which I don't think was ever TRULY considered canon despite their best efforts).As for why it's not set in the Kelvin timeline, the theory goes that CBS and Paramount own different rights - they can't set it in the Kelvin timeline despite clearly WANTING to with its aesthetics because CBS does not own the rights to the Kelvin timeline movie stuff, even though it's all Star Trek.Rights issues are bullcrap.

[claudia1829things]

“STAR TREK DISCOVERY” has just jumped the shark.  Nice going, Kurtzman.  By the way, why bother having a black woman as the lead of this show?  You’re never going to allow Sonequa Green-Martin’s character, Michael Burnham, to achieve the position of a star ship character before this series is over . . . will you?  You have just regressed Michael’s character by nearly two seasons.  What the fuck?  I guess it’s bad enough to the fanboys that Michael Burnham is a woman, but she is also portrayed by a black actress.  And you, Mr. Kurtzman, are never going to allow her to become in order to suck up to the bigoted fanboys who are still bitching and moaning about her being the lead character of a Trek show to this day.    

[aion-rsa]

Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Finale Easter Eggs & References

https://ift.tt/3nt1HVw

This Star Trek: Discovery article contains spoilers for the Season 3 finale.

Would you believe that the finale of Star Trek: Discovery Season references everything from Star Trek: Voyager, to the TOS episode “The Doomsday Machine?” Throughout the entire thrilling DISCO season, 3 finale — “That Hope Is You Part 2,” the series managed to deliver yet another love-letter to Trekkies everywhere. This episode may not have been as overtly nostalgic as “Unification III,” or any given episode of Lower Decks, but it still managed to deliver on a slew of Easter eggs and callbacks; some obvious, and some obscure.

From Burnham’s Kirk-like boasts, to a weapon used by the Emerald Chain that references TOS, to hearing the word “Voyager” several times, here are all the Easter eggs and references in Star Trek: Discovery Season 3, Episode 13, “That Hope Is You Part 2.”

Gormagander 

While exploring the holo-environment, Dr. Culber (Wilson Cruz) sees an image of those flying monsters from episode 11, and yes, the educational computer confirms this is a Gormagander. We first met the Gormagander in the Discovery Season 1 episode “Magic To Make the Sanest Man Go Mad.” The computer mentions that this lovely space whale “spent the longest time on the Federation endangered species list.” It also says what we are seeing is a recording of Gormagander “pup in 3052,” implying it’s possible the Gormagander is not on the endangered species in 3189. Maybe? 

Adira’s Xehean holographic guise

When Adira arrives in the holo-environment, the computer has made them look like a Xehean. We first saw the Xeheans in the form of Queen Po in the very first Short Treks episode ever, “Runaway.” We also saw a Xehean in the first episode of Picard, “Remembrance.”  

“Vulcan” Gray

Everyone’s species gets changed in the holo-environment! Now that Culber, Saru can see Gray thanks to the holo, Gray doesn’t appear Trill, but instead Vulcan. Or is he Romulan? Or is he just a “Ni’Var?” Either way, Ian Alexander looks great as a Vulcan! 

Voyager takes point

Admiral Vance says that the new USS Voyager will “take point” in attacking the Emerald Chain forces. This makes it seem like the Voyager is a pretty big deal in the contemporary Federation. Could it be the flagship? And…where is the 32nd Century USS Enterprise? 

“Discovery’s lower decks”

At one point, we’re told that “life support was shut-off on Discovery’s lower decks.” Obviously, this is meant to literally tell us that you know, life support was shut-off on Discovery’s lower decks. But, we did get to hear the word “lower decks,” which is kind of funny, considering that’s the name of the Trek series that aired previous to Discovery Season 3. And, like “That Hope Is You Part 2,” the Lower Decks finale also featured a plot to take-over the “hero” starship. And, also like the Lower Decks finale, at one point, the ship briefly has a warp nacelle broken! It’s like Star Trek poetry! It rhymes! 

Ni’Var Razors

This piece of dialogue could get missed pretty quickly, but with the Ni’Var fleet arrives to defend the Federation, one of Osyraa’s goons describes the fleet of starships as “Razors.” Cool name for spaceships, right? This almost certainly feels like a Romulan influence.

Orion hearts

Osyraa says the Orion heat “has six valves.” It appears that this is the first time this detail has been revealed in Star Trek canon. Could this have something to do with the infamous Orion pheromones?

“This is what’s called a no-win situation”

Tauntingly, Zayreh tells Burnham that “this is what’s called a no-win situation.” Burnham fires-back, “I don’t believe in those.” Somewhat obviously, this references Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and the Starfleet test known as the Kobayashi Maru. Here’s the question: Did Burnham actually take the Kobayashi Maru? Because she was given a Starfleet commission by directly serving on the USS Shenzhou, it’s possible Burnham’s training was a little different. Even so, chronologically, Burnham’s Starfleet education technically predates Kirk’s. Is it at all possible that the Kobayashi Maru scenario wasn’t a part of the Starfleet curriculum in 2249?

Why can Owo hold her breath for so long?

Owo mentions she’s been holding her breath for up to 10-minutes since she was a little kid. What’s up with that? Is Owo a super-human? Nope! As we learned back in the Season 2 episode “New Eden,” Owosekun was raised in a “luddite collective,” meaning she grew up with limited technology. Presumably, this means her family and her community fostered a bunch of attention to naturalist survival skills. 

Lt. Ina

Fans may have been wondering about this new bridge officer who is hanging out with the rest of the regular crew. The character’s name is Lt. Ina, and she’s played by Avaah Blackwell. She’s actually not a new cast member though. Blackwell has played several characters before, notably all of the Osnullus species. Confused as to what that means? Well, the Osnullus are those big-headed aliens you’ve seen in Avaah Blackwell since season 1. For the most part, these aliens are usually played by Avaah Blackwell.

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New turbolifts 

When Book and Burnham battle their way through the turbolifts of the ship, fans will notice that these turbolifts are wildly different from anything we’ve seen on Trek before. Apparently, the Discovery’s new turbolifts were fully upgraded, and now, don’t exist inside of turbolift “shafts,” but instead, seem to be free-floating pods that can move about the ship to nearly anywhere you want to take them. Why do you need this feature when everyone has instant transporters? Well, as demonstrated earlier in the season, transporter tech can still be thwarted by shields and certain kinds of dampening fields. The new turbolifts, however, don’t seem to have that problem. 

The big question is: Does Discovery seem bigger-on-the-inside than we expected? Is some of that “morphing” tech that Book has on his ship present now on Discovery? In other words, can the ship subtly change its shape with programmable matter? There’s not a clear answer, but it kind of seems like it.

Computer voice

After Burnham reboots the Discovery computer, the voice returns to that of Julianne Grossman, who has voiced the Discovery computer since Season 1. Note, this voice is different from Annabelle Wallis who voices the “sphere data” and “Zora.”

Antiproton cannons

Burnham says that the Verdian is firing on Discovery using “antiproton cannons.” In the TOS episode “The Doomsday Machine,” Commodore Decker told Kirk that the planet-killer used a beam composed of “pure anti-proton.” In the time of TOS, that kind of tech seemed rowdy. But, in the 32nd Century future of Discovery, apparently, it’s no-big-whoop. 

Discovery’s warp core

In addition to the computer core, this episode marks the first time we’ve actually seen the warp core of the USS Discovery. It looks similar to other warp cores we’ve seen throughout the history of Trek. The idea of ejecting the warp core in a desperate situation was broached several times throughout the canon, but the way this actually occurs in this episode seems to reference the 2009 reboot film Star Trek, co-written by Discovery producer Alex Kurtzman.

Federation ship line-up references “Endgame”

When Discovery returns to Federation headquarters at the end of the episode, several other ships seem to line-up in honor of the ship coming home. This seems to visually reference the finale of Star Trek: Voyager — “Endgame” — in which several other Starfleet ships seemed to serve as an honor guard, as Voyager returned to Earth.

New Uniforms 

Throughout the season, we’ve been seeing these new Starfleet uniforms on Admiral Vance and the rest of the officers at Federation HQ. But, clearly, this is the first time we’re seeing these on the DISCO crew. Because the colors seem to follow the department designations from the TNG era, Burnham’s uniform is naturally given a red stripe. In the first shot before she exits the turbolift, we also see that the shoulder epaulet has four small pips, indicating she is the captain. Tilly is notably wearing a uniform with a blue stripe, which makes it seem like Tilly’s job is closer to the sciences than the command department, which makes sense.

Also, for the first time, Adira is given a Starfleet Uniform, which again, makes sense. Adira has certainly done enough to prove they are ready for a Starfleet uniform. Not to mention, several previous hosts of Tal were very clearly members of Starfleet. 

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Burnham rocking a command-red uniform, and sitting in the captain’s chair, marks the first time since Voyager’s “Endgame” that a live-action Starfleet captain was rocking red. It looks good on her, don’t you think? Let’s fly! 

The post Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 Finale Easter Eggs & References appeared first on Den of Geek.

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[greatrunner]

“Dissonance of Framing” - How the Text Says one thing and the Camera Says Another - A Bayformers Video Essay

So, the Transformers script that actually made it to film and starred Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes, was written by the men who brought us the 2009 alternate universe film, Star Trek (directed by J.J. Abrams), starring Zoe Saldana as Nyota Uhura, and eventually, FOX’s failed supernatural endeavor, Sleepy Hollow, starring Nicole Beharie as Abbie Mills. The men in question here are: Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci.

The women in Kurtzman and Orci’s scripts all follow a particular pattern in their own universes: they are the “strong female characters” who are “good at something”. They excel in their chosen profession. With Abbie it’s she excels as a detective, with uhura, she’s multi-lingual and applies it to almost every facet of her job on the Enterprise, and Mikaela is an ace with mechanics. All of these women face a particular brand of sexism that has to be overcome or at the very least, referenced as disparaging and something they won’t tolerate.

Out of universe, when it comes to the production of their films or series, the opinions of the directors or staff writers (in the case of Sleepy Hollow), tend to frame them as something else entirely. The text says Abbie is the protagonist of Sleepy Hollow, but the show often did everything it could to undermine that to the point of her death. The take-away for the audience is that “Ichabod Crane is the main character, Abbie was just the sidekick” with a some anti-Black sentiments thrown in for good measure.

The text says Uhura is more than just “Spock’s girlfriend”, but she’s rarely ever used in the films’ narrative in a way that isn’t beneficiary to Spock or Kirk verses herself or her skill set (that isn’t a brief show off moment that’s quickly shoved aside for more Kirk and Spock). The take-away for the audience is that Uhura is nothing more than “Spock’s Girlfriend” with some anti-Black sentiments thrown in for good measure.

The text says Mikaela Banes, as young woman with a criminal record, and a closer connection to cars, is a far more active protagonist in the events of the first film than Sam Witwicky. But, Michael Bay (the man who had Megan Fox audition for him by washing a car) isn’t really isn’t interested in doing much with Mikaela other than framing her as a object to be ogled at. The take-away for the causal Transformers viewing audience is that “Mikaela Banes was a useless sexy girl” ...or something of that nature.

The latter is what (white feminist) Lindsay Ellis, formerly of Channel Awesome, talks about in the video above: How the Dissonance of Framing by Michael Bay more or less convinced the viewing audience that Mikaela Banes was little more than a sexualized object, despite the interesting bits of flavor text in her character descriptor that the film’s script really doesn’t bother to do much with, but said “she’s this”. Because, lets face it, even Kurtzman and Orci more or less saw Mikaela as “the girl they guy gets at the end of the movie”, and the flavor text was just that: things that the more dedicated TF fandom can extrapolate upon at their leisure, but something film only uses to avoid the “well, she doesn’t have any talents that can contribute to the fingerquotes-story-fingerquotes” argument (which is an excellent descriptor of Sam Witwicky, actually).

[animeengineer]

Yes, the whole point of the original Star Trek, and not surprisingly the two franchises which are held in the best regard (TOS and TNG), both of which were mediocre until about the point they were half done, then they got the insanely good stuff they’re best remembered for, was that the Federation was an idealized society shich had Dealt With Its Bullshit for the most part, and the focus of the stories and moral lessons was actually the planets they visited.

Heck, in a TNG episode, Dr. Crusher is kidnapped by some terrorists who use some bioaccumulative toxic transporter technology, and she tells them directly, “I am part of an ideal society.” The point of the stories wasn’t the Federation, that was just a framework. The point was always the people they interacted with.

Then Roddenberry died.

Just like with Batman I might say, everyone in power decided that aspiration was Bad and things needed to be Edgy and Dark. They’re all about shoving your face in whatever violence they can find. Couple that with the people in power not caring about anything but money, and you get this mediocre crap.

It’s like the saw about “movies show us turning on each other when civilization collapses, but in truth we’d probably just band together and figure out how to go forward.”

It also makes me think about how “Americans love to be heroes when it calls for violence, but lose interest when it calls for caring,” and the arc the latter Star Treks have followed seem to be just that: everyone sucks, watch your back, keep your phaser handy!

It’s not going to get better until someone with both corporate power and genuine interest in taking Star Trek to new frontiers, and returning it to its roots, comes along. That person isn’t Kurtzman, who strikes me as kind of a Rob Liefeld.

But right now it’s just a property for getting people to sign up for CBS All Access, like Voyager was used to push UPN back in its day. And nobody in power gives a flip if it sucks or not.

I think of what Enterprise could have been. The History Channel presents the Early Years, from Warp Five to the Federation! See all the crap we had to go through to create the Federation, much like the first four seasons of Babylon 5 could be seen as a history of the creation of the Interstellar Alliance, and the fifth was it working out the kinks. See how it took years to get the Andorians and Vulcans to stop attacking each other, then slowly get to the point where they could stand to be in the room with each other, then actually work together to some extent. Nope, blew through that in two episodes or so and never really spoke of it again.

But the show runners hated TOS. Didn’t even watch it, I’ve heard. Yet the whole series was supposed to be a prequel to it. The Enterprise itself wasn’t even a new design; it was a reskin of the Akira class seen in the background of TNG and DS9 episodes. And you could never really see how one could lead to the other.

(Not gonna rant about the mess Discovery makes of everything, the mess it is, and how they’re shooting themselves in the foot by fighting off stuff like Axanar instead of figuring out how to make money off licensing and treating fan works like they treat Star Trek novels.)

Babylon 5 followed a similar fate. The original was great precisely because the main writer was the executive producer, and had the power to defend the story from corporate meddling. The sequels failed because the corporate executives would never again yield that much power, and drove them into the ground.

The corporate structure of the entertainment business is a direct cause of this whole mess. The lack of enforcement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act has led to the overconsolidation that strangled the competition that would help break this stalemate. And I don’t really know how to get things out of this rut.

Who the fuck turned Star Trek into Generic Bad Sci-Fi, and when can I get my Federation back?