Star Trek Thread: The Next Iteration

Topic

Talk Star Trek here.

Replies

It was great.
So we’re getting two spinoff shows, right? Right?
I would watch the hell out of both.

Put forth a decent priced complete series Blu-Ray and I will show my love and support.

Spin-offs? Nah, they haven’t pulled the trigger for the obvious Legacy series for Seven.

We will likely get a complete Lower Decks disc release, as they did one for Picard, so wait for it.

Christel wanted to see a new series called Landman on Paramount+. As part of a Black Friday special, the first two months were $2.99 each. Well, the past few weeks I’ve been binging through Lower Decks (and the SNW crossover episode).

This really is the best Star Trek since DS9. Great writing and animation, along with a fantastic voice cast. You can tell there’s a lot of love for all incarnations of ST. It pokes fun at the franchise, but not in a mean, malicious way. Because it was animated, they could do things that are cost prohibitive for live action.

I think the character that surprised me the most was Jack Ransom. He starts out as a bit of a one-dimensional jerk but as the series progressed, you see he was far wiser and competent than he lets on.

Keeping in mind that I haven’t rewatched any of the previous series in totality since they first aired, I was honestly surprised at the number of references and Easter eggs I got.

The finale really left it open for more tales to be told, and I really hope they do more like this.

4 users thanked author for this post.

Ben, Sean Robinson, Uncle Retrospective, lorcan_nagle

Word is the s5 discs and likely complete series box set will be out 25 March 2025.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sean Robinson

Recently did a rewatch of Discovery S1 years later, just started S2.

Some things stand out – like 15 episodes, which now looks high in a world of 8-episode series. Episodic storytelling – not that that stops them doing bigger stories, the second half demonstrates that. A Pauvo two-parter, Mirrorverse quintet, then two-part finale.

I still think it falters on the last eps. The Georgiou reveal in the Mirroverse works well, transferring her does not. Nor does the story make the case for Lorca being that much worse, not least as the Emperor announces her arrival with a planetary holocaust. As to the Klingon war, again really sure they knew how to end it. One thing that does work is dropping in the Enterprise at the end.

The opening of S2 is a lot more ambitious than I remember. One thing I liked then and now was how they played up the contrast between Lorca and Pike. Lorca was a charismatic bastard but didn’t give a damn about his crew where Pike does.

4 users thanked author for this post.

Dave, Uncle Retrospective, Sean Robinson, lorcan_nagle

The Lorca plot was the thing that really drove Disco season 1 and made it work for me. After he was gone, the show went down the toilet as far as I am concerned.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Dave

Discovery Season 2 worked far better this time around, especially the finale battle. Before I think I wanted it to be more than it was, when it’s intended to be a space brawl reflecting Control’s brute force outlook.

While it was a little reduced, the 14 episodes still gave a good amount of space for multiple stories. Ones that worked better for me this time around was Tyler and L’Rell, Stamets and Culber and Reno.

Georgiou still comes as misplaced, but I think the way Pike’s arc works is better still. In effect Pike is putting the crew of Discovery back together after the way Lorca treated them.

New things that I.noticed far more this time – that we see more of Vulcan, of Earth, of the way they tap into improved SFX to deliver more ambitious sequences.

With the Wonderlands novel by McCormack I have a good epilogue / finale for Discovery, while the other road leads to Strange New Worlds.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective, lorcan_nagle

Watched the first four eps of Strange New World.

I like the new crew and the swift pace of episodes. They do run some elements across episodes. In a world of single arc stories, this makes for a good cgange of pace.

Like with Discovery, I’m noticing and liking the SFX work more. There’s stuff here that wouldn’t have been possible in the same way even 10 years ago. I also like that the Enterprise is not dark or moody in the way Discovery and a few other ships have been.

So yeah, great start.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective, lorcan_nagle

Star Trek Storylines That Became Unwatchable With Age

Read More: https://www.slashfilm.com/1706435/star-trek-storylines-unwatchable-age/

Strange New Worlds

Finished s1, started in s2.

The Spock body swap ep was fun, but after that things really got cooking. A kid being hooked up to a computer for life, pirate scum, then they resolve the plot with M’Benga’s daughter and then there is episode 9…

I was not expecting the Gorn to get a Predator-style makeover, but they are certainly ugly motherfrakkers. Then there’s what happens with Hemmer, and that’s not the sole body count for the episode. Traumatic but excellent.

The finale was an OK re-working of Balance of Terror, I’m intrigued by this version of Kirk, but the point is to end the running plot around Pike’s future knowledge. It does that well. Could have done without the end of series cliffhanger.

S2’s opener is a smart episode that juggles a lot – Spock as captain, Klingons, La’an’s return – and it does so effectively. Spock inviting the Klingons to a booze-up is quite the diplonatic gambit. And then there was M’Benga and Chapel tearing their way through the Klingons…

Ep 2 – have to say, I often find courtroom dramas irritating, but this ended up being very good. Still want Pasalk to find himself in the wrong part of town and gets a kicking so severe he can’t heal from it so is limping around. A petty, utter crapbag.

And that’s as far as I’ve got.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective, Sean Robinson, lorcan_nagle

1 user thanked author for this post.

Todd

The rest of Strange New Worlds series 2 was very, very good.

The Uhura ep built around the dilithium nebula aliens linked neatly to her ongoing sense of loss over Hemmer’s death.

The Lower Decks crossover was nothing short of brilliant. I don’t know Lower Decks at all and it worked very well. Also encourages to check out the show too.  There’s also a smattering of future Trek drops across the ep that are very fun.

It then follows that with a both very smart and funny musical episode. One that sees the Klingons doing a disco number that will never, ever be spoken of again. It also picks up and continues the various character stories that are running across the series.

The finale returns to the Gorn plot and is, barring the end of series evil cliffhanger, another good one. The reinvention of the Gorn into a far creepier and more formidable adversary continues too.

It also introduces one Montgomery Scott. Along with the use of Kirk, whose portrayal here by Wesley I really like, I’m wondering if they are laying the ground for a Star Trek TOS sequel. They have a good few of the characters assembled for it if so.

1 user thanked author for this post.

lorcan_nagle

Ben wrote:

The Lower Decks crossover was nothing short of brilliant. I don’t know Lower Decks at all and it worked very well. Also encourages to check out the show too.  There’s also a smattering of future Trek drops across the ep that are very fun.

I came the opposite direction. I had been binging LD and afterwards, I watched the SNW crossover episode.

It was fun to see the LD characters “live”. But I will say, it did kind of put me off of wanting to see SNW. I found the whole aesthetic for the series unappealing and inconsistent with TOS. It feels like it takes place in a different timeline. While I have heard good things about the series, I truly doubt I will ever watch it.

I’m more relaxed on that area. Plus expecting a show made some 50-60 years later to align perfectly with its much earlier predecessor is probably a bridge too far.

2 users thanked author for this post.

lorcan_nagle, Sean Robinson

So, Section 31 was OK.  The plot is very messy, with a decent start and end but a middle section that could have spent its time way better.  The characters are fun but they dance on the edge between entertaining and annoying a lot, and there’s a few moments that dive deep into the annoying side of things.  It looks great, has some really cool action sequences (and one less cool one).  The biggest problem is that, did anyone else here go to the video shop as a kid and rent out what you thought were full on movies, but in retrospect you realise they were pilot episodes that were passed over and put out on video to make some cash?  This is a big-budget one of those, clearly a pilot for a show that will never happen because Michelle Yeoh won an Oscar

3 users thanked author for this post.

Ben, Al-x, Uncle Retrospective

lorcan_nagle wrote:

So, Section 31 was OK.  The plot is very messy, with a decent start and end but a middle section that could have spent its time way better.  The characters are fun but they dance on the edge between entertaining and annoying a lot, and there’s a few moments that dive deep into the annoying side of things.  It looks great, has some really cool action sequences (and one less cool one).  The biggest problem is that, did anyone else here go to the video shop as a kid and rent out what you thought were full on movies, but in retrospect you realise they were pilot episodes that were passed over and put out on video to make some cash?  This is a big-budget one of those, clearly a pilot for a show that will never happen because Michelle Yeoh won an Oscar

Looking at my Facebook feed, Section 31 is pretty much reviled. No one likes it. A good number of them bailed after 15 minutes or so. The biggest complaint I have seen is that it does not feel like Star Trek. Remove the ST references and you pretty much have a generic bad sci fi show.

1 user thanked author for this post.

lorcan_nagle

‘Star Trek: Khan’ Just Recast The Franchise’s Most Iconic Villain

Khan is so back. In the upcoming audio drama podcast series, Star Trek: Khan, the time between the classic Trek episode “Space Seed” and the film The Wrath of Khan will be fully explored. Previously known as Ceti Alpha V, the series was created by famed Trek director and writer Nicholas Meyer, and is now, finally, actually happening.

In an official press release from CBS, it has been revealed that the audio series Star Trek: Khan has finished production. It also confirmed exactly who will be playing Khan, and his beloved wife, Marla McGivers, a former officer of the USS Enterprise. Here’s what to know.

Star Trek: Khan cast revealed
Taking place after the events of “Space Seed,” the new series will star Naveen Andrews in the role of Khan and Wrenn Schmidt as Marla McGivers. Andrews is probably best known for his role as Sayid Jarrah in the iconic series Lost. Meanwhile, sci-fi fans know Wrenn Schmidt for her role as Margo Madison in the first four seasons of For All Mankind. (Which was co-created by Star Trek alum Ronald D. Moore.)

Both actors are massively talented and will almost certainly bring new dimensions and gravitas to these characters. Originated by Ricardo Montalbán, and also played by Benedict Cumberbatch in 2013’s Star Trek Into Darkness, the role of Khan Noonien Singh is well known.

However, the role of McGivers is largely unexplored. A historian on the Enterprise (originally played by Madlyn Rhue), McGivers betrays Kirk in order to help Khan take over the ship. Although she later comes around to Kirk’s side, she opts to leave Starfleet and settle on Ceti Alpha V at the end of “Space Seed.” Because she doesn’t appear at all in The Wrath of Khan, this new series will fully reveal what happened between The Original Series and the famous 1982 film.

Star Trek: Khan plot and release date
According to the new announcement from CBS, the new audio series will tell another side of Khan’s story.

Here’s the full synopsis:

“History remembers Khan Noonien Singh as a villain, the product of a failed attempt to perfect humanity through genetic engineering whose quest to avenge himself on Admiral James T. Kirk led to unimaginable tragedy and loss. But the truth has been buried for too long beneath the sands of Ceti Alpha V. How did Khan go from a beneficent tyrant and superhuman visionary with a new world at his fingertips to the monster we think we know so well? Recently unearthed, the rest of Khan’s story will finally be told in Star Trek: Khan.”

The series itself is written by longtime Star Trek writers Kirsten Beyer and David Mack, based on a story by Nicholas Meyer.

The audio podcast series does not yet have a release date. CBS also confirmed that “Additional cast will be announced at a later date.”

[lorcan_nagle]

https://www.avclub.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-release-date-announced

 

July if you don’t want to click through

• This reply was modified 4 months, 4 weeks ago by lorcan_nagle.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sean Robinson

What We Left Behind, the excellent DS9 documentary is now up legally for free on YouTube:

3 users thanked author for this post.

Al-x, Ben, Todd

When I was riding a subway train yesterday, I saw a guy in full Scottish outfit, but with all kinds of Starfleet insignia attached. I admired him for his boldness until I realised there was a convention thing going on.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective, Todd, lorcan_nagle

lorcan_nagle wrote:

What We Left Behind, the excellent DS9 documentary is now up legally for free on YouTube:

This is a great way to spend a couple of hours, thanks for the tip off.

Watching it now, they got so lucky on the timing.

3 users thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective, Al-x, lorcan_nagle

Ben wrote:

Watching it now, they got so lucky on the timing.

Yeah, I got very emotional watching everyone hugging at the get together

1 user thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective

What are the Strange New Worlds Season 3 episode titles?
The titles of all 10 episodes were announced on Thursday, June 5. See them, along with the dates they’ll be available to stream, below.

Episode 1: “Hegemony, Part II” (Thursday, July 17)
Episode 2: “Wedding Bell Blues” (Thursday, July 17)
Episode 3: “Shuttle to Kenfori” (Thursday, July 24)
Episode 4: “A Space Adventure Hour” (Thursday, July 31)
Episode 5: “Through the Lens of Time” (Thursday, August 7)
Episode 6: “The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail” (Thursday, August 14)
Episode 7: “What Is Starfleet?” (Thursday, August 21)
Episode 8: “Four-and-a-Half Vulcans” (Thursday, August 28)
Episode 9: “Terrarium” (Thursday, September 4)
Episode 10: “New Life and New Civilizations” (Thursday, September 11)

3 users thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective, Al-x, lorcan_nagle

That is all kinds of awesome, and I will wave that flag

Reminds me of an argument between two Europeans, back when I was on nightshift, a helper in a steel fab shop late ’80’s (currently a supervisor in same trade).

Anyways, the 4 × 10 week is Thursday beers at 1:30 am early Friday morning.
One says I should be proud of my heritage and ashamed I don’t know more.
One says “he doesn’t know fuck all”, and are they really agreeing but going to fight?

An Englishman (couple of others too) break it up.
He tells me later, yeah, lots of Europe will welcome you with open arms, far more than an American.

I asked him, “what about you?”
He said, “well, far more than an American. Just not in Germany, or France, or Italy, or Spain, or a couple more…”

3 users thanked author for this post.

Todd, lorcan_nagle, Uncle Retrospective

1 user thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective

1 user thanked author for this post.

lorcan_nagle

Strange New Worlds concludes with Series 5.

Which will be 6 episodes only!

Ben wrote:

Strange New Worlds concludes with Series 5.

Which will be 6 episodes only!

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to End With Season 5 at Paramount+

That 6 episodes seems unfair. Give them the full run. 😔

3 users thanked author for this post.

Sean Robinson, Ben, Todd

Big Humble Bundle of Trek comics:

 

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/star-trek-comics-megabundle-books

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Review – An Overall Stellar Season Can Be A Bit Crowded But I’m Having Too Much Fun To Care – Screen Rant

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 TV Review: The latest chapter in the prequel journey is a blast – JoBlo

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 3 Review: The Best Trek In Decades Doesn’t Miss A Beat Read More: https://www.slashfilm.com/1885439/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-season-3-review/ – Slash Film

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Is Fun, Pulpy, and Thoroughly Itself In Season 3 – Paste Magazine

That was a pretty good episode

1 user thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective

Wait, there are two episodes?!  This is getting out of hand!

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sean Robinson

Episode 2… was less good.  A lot of fun but the ending was bleh.

lorcan_nagle wrote:

Episode 2… was less good. A lot of fun but the ending was bleh.

They went full Melllvar! Never go full Melllvar.

They were good episodes, but the second one needed to be further from the Gorn stuff.
Also the song choice was, unexpected.

1 user thanked author for this post.

lorcan_nagle

[lorcan_nagle]

I had no problems with the song choice

• This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by lorcan_nagle.

Ep 2 was some “relief” from the intense Ep 1.

But did Ep 2 give a definitive answer to what a lot of Trek fans have been wondering about a TOS character?

Interesting “voice” of the parent entity.

And in the 2260’s, they will still be dancing at parties to 1980’s music.

Al-x wrote:

But did Ep 2 give a definitive answer to what a lot of Trek fans have been wondering about a TOS character? Interesting “voice” of the parent entity.

That’s the kind of thing I fucking hate.  Like there’s a lot of interesting stuff you can mine from the backstories of characters, like say showing Scotty at a point before he becomes the character we see in TOS.  But having a character strongly implied to be Trelane be in turn strongly implied to be a Q (which Peter David already did in a novel to boot)?  It’s just fan wankery.  SNW indulges in fan wankery a bit too much for my liking even as most episodes are enjoyable on their individual merits, and there’s a bunch of genuinely interesting exploration of continuity in there too.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Al-x

Unexpected Zombies!
I liked that, but I can see why they put the lighthearted Wedding episode between this and episode 1.
Maybe Ortagia will get to do a bit more than say she flies the ship.

1 user thanked author for this post.

lorcan_nagle

I read that book by Peter David “Q Squared” with Q and Trelane. Ok, but it did come across in a few chapters as fan fiction.
It is hard though, in some cases to have to shoehorn prequel stories to fit TOS canon.

As for Ep 3, I had the urge to check out the “Thriller” on YT after, and “Beat it” with the knife fight with arms tied to a ribbon.
I felt bad for the woman Klingon. Too much disgrace to carry.

No 1 figuring out what Ortega did was interesting. Ortega came back too soon. I want the Captain Batel arc to end Ok, given what we know will happen to Pike.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective

Al-x wrote:

I want the Captain Batel arc to end Ok, given what we know will happen to Pike.

People are guessing she is the start of the humanoid Gorn in TOS.

Zombie episode was fun, and I quite like that they keep some visual legacy from DISCO around, the Klingon disrupters props and the shuttle render coming back around was nice.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective

And some photos from Starfleet Academy:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Puppet Trek for ep 3.04!

Khan podcast news:

https://www.startrek.com/en-un/news/star-trek-khan-audio-series-sdcc-announcements

Am quite intrigued by this.

 

 

Ben wrote:

Puppet Trek for ep 3.04!

Between muppets and musicals, they’re fast running out of gimmick episodes to lift from the Buffyverse

4 users thanked author for this post.

Christian, Uncle Retrospective, Ben, Al-x

Dammit, season 4, not the next ep.

More interested than I expected to be in Starfleet Academy. Paramount seem to have gotten the hunt to not be afraid of brighter ships with the success of SNW.

 

1 user thanked author for this post.

lorcan_nagle

The next ep of SNW is the murder mystery, if that helps.

Pike has yet to give this great speech on humanist philosophy to an inquiring entity.

I saw ep 4 and it was fun and entertaining. Imho SNW comes across as modern day TOS in many ways.

I get the fans who want the content to advance things, but it is supposed to be a prequel series. They use the Gorn a lot, but who else? The Federation is coming off a Klingon war, Romulan ships haven’t been seen in 100 years. So who else can be a recurring alien threat? Maybe the Andorians? Still it is all slim pickings when it comes adventure. SNW leans on character arcs and eps. I am interested in that last scene and where they take the tango from there.

The cast is VERY photogenic tbh. The set design is cool.

I posted a pic before on why Pike’s ship looks better when it’s the same ship in TOS. And I read an interesting view:
Not all westerns had to adhere to the same set design as the very first western in movie or TV. Same with Vietnam movies, WW2, Civil War. And we can also see it as the E has been recast, like they do with roles. 🤣

2 users thanked author for this post.

Dan, Uncle Retrospective

[Al-x]

After seeing ep 6, among other things in the ep : How many things have been launched into space that comes back to haunt Earth centuries later?

Nomad
Vger
Botany Bay
This episode

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by Al-x.

[lorcan_nagle]

Dear Star Trek.

 

More episodes like this week, please.  It’s got flaws, especially around how Beto’s criticisms of Starfleet get shut down to some degree, but I far prefer the take on Starfleet and everyone’s dedication to, say the last song in Subspace Raphsody’s whole “Our purpose is to protect the mission” thing.  But it proves SNW is at its strongest when it’s doing anything but shoving more legacy characters in and going hey, hey, hey, look!

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by lorcan_nagle.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective

[Al-x]

Al-x wrote:

After seeing ep 6, among other things in the ep : How many things have been launched into space that comes back to haunt Earth centuries later?

Nomad
Vger
Botany Bay
This episode

• This reply was modified 1 month, 3 weeks ago by Al-x.

This video may help:

1 user thanked author for this post.

Al-x

2 users thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective, Todd

A post credits scene?

Umm, how long has this been going on?
Hope I haven’t been missing out!

That was the first one.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective, Sean Robinson

So… will we get a “crossover”? IYKYK

And since Paramount has Star Trek and is working on Warner Brothers, the possibilities:

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/09/11/paramount-skydance-warner-bros-discovery-bid-content.html

So yeah, SNW series 3 was definitely ten episodes of television that were unfortunately less of the sum of their parts.  Too much nostalgia bait, too much playing it safe, and while individual episodes were very good, the whole thing ended up being kinda blah.  Didn’t help that the finale was boring as hell.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective, Todd

Looks like the producers agree with you.

https://gizmodo.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-season-3-quality-season-4-2000658880

1 user thanked author for this post.

lorcan_nagle

Yeah, I saw the showrunner talk about how the writing on S3 was rushed because of the WGA strikes back in 2023.

1 user thanked author for this post.

lorcan_nagle

Uncle Retrospective wrote:

Looks like the producers agree with you.

https://gizmodo.com/star-trek-strange-new-worlds-season-3-quality-season-4-2000658880

I don’t know if they agree with me on the why though. Like I thought episode 9 was fantastic right up until the Metrons showed up and it just turned into more continuity porn, and they’ve been doing more and more continuity pron year on year. It’s getting as bad as The Mandalorian, but at least it’s reasonably well-written.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective

On a brighter note, the Khan audio drama is pretty good so far.  Presented as a series of recordings made during the exile on Ceti Alpha V, it features Naveen Andrews as Khan and Wrenn Schmidt as Marla McGivers, it’s an interesting character study of both figures,  especially adding depth to Marla and making her more than just someone who got all moon-eyed about Khan.  There’s a framing device about a Federation anthropologist gaining permission to travel to Ceti Alpha V to obtain the recordings, she’s brought there by the Excelsior but that’s really just an excuse to have Tim Russ and George Takei in supporting roles as Tuvok and Sulu.  It’s up on YouTube, Spotify and podcasting apps.

4 users thanked author for this post.

Sean Robinson, Todd, Ben, Uncle Retrospective

3 users thanked author for this post.

Christian, lorcan_nagle, Todd

Say… anyone ever checked out this Ronald D Moore show called “For All Mankind”?

Interesting premise and it mentions Trek:

https://gizmodo.com/star-trek-for-all-mankind-connection-ronald-moore-apple-1851162936

It’s really good at the start, but it’s fallen off a bit more recently.  Joel Kinnaman is so good in it, you’ll believe he can act.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective

Al-x wrote:

Say… anyone ever checked out this Ronald D Moore show called “For All Mankind”?

The first two seasons are gold. Then as Lorcan says, it drops off and the American exceptionalism takes over.

 

 

 

 

January 15th for Academy

1 user thanked author for this post.

Uncle Retrospective