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Star Trek Thread: The Next Iteration
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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.
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Word is the s5 discs and likely complete series box set will be out 25 March 2025.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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