Star Trek

[Geo]

Yeah, well, TNG were my haydays for Star Trek.
Probably because I'm a GenX'er, and too young at the time TOS was broadcast in Europe to understand much of what was going on on screen, though I did see a fair amount of TOS.

[Buster's Uncle]

I think if I had a time machine and worked down my priorities list to fixing TNG?  AFTER trying to see to it neither Roddenberry nor Berman was in charge -the latter would obviously rather have worked on LA Law and held real Star Trek in contempt; the former had lost his mojo for good- I think I would definitely look around for coffee-table books about the Wonders of the Universe/Stars, and make the writing staff read them.

THAT'S something the original danced up to a lot, but didn't have the FX budget to really tackle.  TNG was plainly done by people who didn't geek for outer space, even though they could have done the effects...

[Trenacker]

My favorite Trek was the Enterprise Xindi Arc. The same arc panned by critics as a heavy-handed commentary on 9/11, which it was.

I thought the story of explorers-turned-desperate-warriors was simply cool, and I appreciated the serious ethical dilemmas that such a mission routinely presented to the crew. I came to appreciate Archer, T'Pol, and Trip especially. Malcolm wasn't very likeable and the rest of the bridge crew was severely underdeveloped, but Degra and Silik are some of my favorite antagonists and I really liked Shran's redemption arc.

[Buster's Uncle]

The same arc profoundly HATED by me as a heavy-handed commentary on 9/11, which it was.  We've talked about it before.

I don't want crap I despise having in the real world soiling my escapist fantasies.  I found that entire season unwatchable - and I always liked that show a lot more than most trekkers seemed to have.

[Metaliturtle]

Seems like there's a lot to Star Track that I haven't seen.

[Buster's Uncle]

The Vulcan chick was hot.

[Metaliturtle]

well now you have my attention

[Buster's Uncle]

The Vulcan chick was hot and in her underwear, some.  Not making that up for the joke.

[Buster's Uncle]

Enterprise.  Google T'Pol.

[Buster's Uncle]

Now, Enterprise is a complex subject; I loved the basic idea of a retro prequel, but what I loved was the notion implied that it would be Captain April on the first voyage of the real Enterprise.  Commit to the retro thing, looking to Forbidden Planet for style inspiration.  -So, severe disappointment for me right there out of the gate.

-Knobby Klingons in a prequel to knobby-less Star Trek a Very Thoughtless 'Idea', too.

AND - there was the hot Vulcan chick.  No getting past that their contempt for the material and the audience was so profound that they thought they could get away with such an obvious reskin of Pieces of Eight from Voyager.  Full Stop - no getting past that, not with the directors in the room telling Ms. Blalock to give all her weak lines the same harsh-voiced reading Jeri Ryan would have as basically the same character.  No getting past that the Berman/Bragga clique had no ideas they hadn't already used up.

Google Mr. Smith, a Reagan-era one-season NBC show about a talking genius orangutan - nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public, maybe, but you have to not make too plain your estimation for that to work.



Next, I praise Enterprise, not bury it...

[Buster's Uncle]

So first off, Scott Bakula and Conner Trinneer.  As I've said over and over, two charismatic turd-polishers.  -This, before anything else, was good about that show; not ACTORs!, just two good-looking leading men types who knew how to lean into naturalistic performances.  Bakula, not because of any 'SF' credentials -Quantum Leap was solidly fantasy- but a distinct everyman quality to most of his performances in anything he's done.  An excellent choice to carry a show as the lead, and a glaring departure from the soap opera and Shakespearean actors hacking it out on all the previous shows.

People complain rather bitterly about the collectively-butthole portrayal of the Vulcans, but I think they're missing something important - it makes sense of how Human people treated Spock a generation or so later.  That had never made sense, and this -lingering resentment of Vulcans- is the only example I can think of where anything TNG and after enhanced and made sense of something in Star Trek instead of undermining continuity or just screwing it up.

What they did with the Andorians was consistent with a vague sense Star Trek conveyed of a passionate and dangerous people.  Likewise, the Tellerites as argumentative.  Those were really carefully thought-out by someone who'd done the homework for once.

The premise precluded holodeck stories -something TNG used up completely halfway through its run, but they'd never let up on for over a decade- and LENT itself to gee-whiz wonder of the universe stuff.

And T'Pol, a truly Bad Idea, slowly got easier to take throughout the run, as her voice got softer - fer realz.  She was bearable, the last season, as they finally found their way.


I think, but do not know, that all those good ideas were Manny Coto.  The quantum leap in quality the fourth season appeared to all be him; I bet he slipped the Good Ideas into the series bible in pre-production, but got out-voted a lot by the hacks...

Does anyone know when he started on the show?

[Buster's Uncle]

-Also, everything they did with Hoshi was gold, and you have to think that was mostly the actress, who did a lot with a little at first.

Wassisname the helmsman must have sucked beyond words, BTW, as my sister tells me he was pretty, yet was barely even on the show, ever.