Community MetaSteam | August 2020 - Come Fly With Me

Status
Not open for further replies.

Mivey

MetaMember
Sep 20, 2018
4,288
12,173
113
Will add that DS9 is the best Star Trek show for me, though I love TNG too, it's just to uneven overall.

You like what you like.

Star Trek is a utopic show about a better mankind. One that prefers diplomatic solutions over violence but doesn't back off from a fight if necessary. Starfleet isn't a military organization; they are professional explorers, scientists, and diplomates. Overseen by a democratic, multispecies government.
There are bad apples though even in their own ranks and Starfleet gets confronted with many interesting challenges, space anomalies, war, greed and has sometimes a tough time to uphold its own high ethical standards. I'm not trying to sell TNG and DS9 to you here but believe me, but there are some fantastic episodes out there.

New Trek is everything but that. I'm not even sure what it wants to be after Picard, other than dystopian Trumpland 2.0 featuring the main plot from Mass Effect. New Trek doesn't want to be Star Trek. I think that's clear, but the writing and stories are not good enough to stand on their own. Bad dialogues, plot holes, and ideas that have not been thought out well.

For me, new Trek is dumped down space fantasy with bad writers. It has been botched in every conceivable way. Not able and willing to uphold the original vision, while being too incompetent to build something new At least the production values and flashy spectacles looked nice.

I take a good, original TNG Picard speech over the entire seasons of new Trek Picard any day. For example when Picard fought for Datas right to not be recreated. Because that's exactly what happened in TNG and StarFleet decided that creating a race of sacrificial androids doing labor is the same as enslavement. The writers of new trek Picard just forgot about that. They also forgot that the Romulan Space Empire is huge. They also forgot that many stars will eventually turn into super novas and that that's not something that happens spontaneously. It takes an exceptionally long time and the Romulan space empire would have had decades to evacuate their home system. Unless they are righteous idiots. But who cares about all that when you can have explosions and people screaming "that's the power of math", phasers, Picard dressing like a pimp and people getting their eyes cut out.

That's the power of bad writing. Hell, yeah!
So I will write some words to defend, and contextualise the Picard show.

What it proposes is a StarFleet that has lost and subverted most of its moral principles. It doesn't spend to much time on the "why", but it's not hard to imagine a number of reasons: giving in to convenience and political expediency, letting corrupt people into positions of power (which is basically a Star Trek trope) so on and so on. The show depicts the treatment of the robots as pretty fucked up, being treated like a joke by their peers. So I see this as an additional element in the story, it shows you how StarFleet has gone back on prior decisions. Perhaps the creator of these robots argues that they don't have a consciousness, like Data did, and made them generally dumber, and so it got a pass.

As for the Romulan Empire: My understanding is that this show takes place after Star Trek Nemesis. The Empire gets pretty fucked up in that show, the Senate blown away and presumably losing a number of their ships to Shinzon. It's possible they had long-term plans to mitigate the star going nova, but had to scramble to just survive all the stuff in Nemesis.

I feel Picard (the show) has a lot of interesting ideas, though it is quite unabashedly an overly "bleak" take on Star Trek, one that I can understand will piss of fans of the old Star Trek world.
But I feel it's just plain wrong to group it together with Discovery into just "New Trek". Discovery is dumb on whole other level.
 
OP
lashman

lashman

Dead & Forgotten
Sep 5, 2018
32,076
90,341
113
although TNG will always be number one in my heart.


I feel Picard (the show) has a lot of interesting ideas, though it quite unabashedly an overly "bleak" take on Star Trek, one that I can understand will piss of fans of the old Star Trek world.
you know things are dire when The Orville is a MUCH better Star Trek than any of the actual Star Trek shows or movies after Enterprise
 

QFNS

Plays too many card games
Nov 18, 2018
1,286
3,111
113
I think I am willing to go out on ledge here and say that maybe DS9 is actually the better show between it and TNG. DS9 has a lot of standard episodes that on repeat viewing continue to be great, whereas a lot of the standard episodes of TNG kinda get terrible. Especially some of the early season stuff in TNG is awful. Both shows though really come into their own in the last few seasons, and the Dominion War stuff in DS9 is great. TNG never really gets an ongoing plot like that, but it does have some higher solo point episodes in stuff like Measure of a Man, Drumhead and Chain of Command. I have to shout out In the Pale Moonlight though as being a really great moral problem episode, its even better than the TNG ones IMO. No Picard speech though. =/

Still both are great shows with generally hopeful and uplifting thoughts about mankind's future, which is sadly very rare today.
 
OP
lashman

lashman

Dead & Forgotten
Sep 5, 2018
32,076
90,341
113
I think I am willing to go out on ledge here and say that maybe DS9 is actually the better show between it and TNG. DS9 has a lot of standard episodes that on repeat viewing continue to be great, whereas a lot of the standard episodes of TNG kinda get terrible. Especially some of the early season stuff in TNG is awful. Both shows though really come into their own in the last few seasons, and the Dominion War stuff in DS9 is great. TNG never really gets an ongoing plot like that, but it does have some higher solo point episodes in stuff like Measure of a Man, Drumhead and Chain of Command. I have to shout out In the Pale Moonlight though as being a really great moral problem episode, its even better than the TNG ones IMO. No Picard speech though. =/

Still both are great shows with generally hopeful and uplifting thoughts about mankind's future, which is sadly very rare today.

 

Alexandros

MetaMember
Nov 4, 2018
2,826
12,162
113
I apologize for the derail, there's not much gaming news so hopefully it won't be too much of a distraction but I wanted to share a short personal anecdote about Star Trek. Growing up as a sci-fi fan in my country was pretty annoying because science fiction shows always had the stigma of being for kids. TV stations broadcasted Babylon 5 and TNG back to back at 11:00 am on Sunday morning. They would often show the episodes out of order which was not much of an issue for TNG but it was disastrous for B5 as a much more serialized show.

Anyway, the TV station that had bought the rights to TNG only bought the first three seasons. so when The Best of Both Worlds Part 1 ended on that massive cliffhanger I waited all week for the conclusion, only to get a rerun of Encounter at Farpoint. I finally saw the conclusion seven fucking years later when I managed to order a videotape of both episodes from the UK through a local comic book shop.
 

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
8,306
113
It doesn't spend to much time on the "why"
Look, if that's what they wanted to tell. Fine, and not a bad idea, if executed properly.
But the why and how needs to be a mayor plot point then. We have decades of world building that was overthrown here.

Discovery is dumb on whole other level.
I 100% agree with that.

I finally saw the conclusion seven fucking years later when I managed to order a videotape of both episodes from the UK through a local comic book shop.
That was torture.
 

Kyougar

No reviews, no Buy
Nov 2, 2018
3,284
11,721
113
I am a big star Trek Fan, BUT!
My all-time favorite SciFi will always be Babylon 5 by a great margin.
Behind that are (in no particular order) BSG, DS9, TNG, The Expanse.
In third are smaller shows like Space: Above and Beyond, Earth 2, Firefly etc.
Honorable mentions: Andromeda, Farscape


Bonus B5 versus ST fight: (Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning) One hell of a fight.
 

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
8,306
113
Space: Above and Beyond,
I love Space and Beyond. :cat-heart-blob:
I only saw it once as a teenager. It aired in the middle of the week late at night (after midnight). Was hard getting up to school after that.
(and my parents weren't happy).
The show gave me strong Wing Commander vibes, but it was so much more than just that. Some strong episodes!

And yes, Firefly has a special place in my heart too.
 

inky

🤔
Apr 17, 2019
999
2,797
93
BSG is so weird for me.

For a sci fi show, it had some of the most fascinating characters on TV. Complex, interesting, incredible screen presence and dynamics, progressive, you name it. Sure, you could fit them in the usual trope categories if you wanted, some of them were bland as shit too, but to this day, they did things no other show can do with such a wide variety of personalities in an ensemble cast, and yet...

...I could never, ever care about what happened to anyone. The plotlines were some heavy shit too. War, double agents, machine overlords, sexual assault, mental health issues, government, politics, religious symbolism, etc. but hard as a I try, I just looked at these multifaceted characters going through all this stuff and never once cared what happened to them or how it would all end. I never did know how did it all end, but I've heard it wasn't great either. Or maybe it was. shrug
 
  • Like
Reactions: QFNS

Kyougar

No reviews, no Buy
Nov 2, 2018
3,284
11,721
113
I love Space and Beyond. :cat-heart-blob:
I only saw it once as a teenager. It aired in the middle of the week late at night (after midnight). Was hard getting up to school after that.
(and my parents weren't happy).
The show gave me strong Wing Commander vibes, but it was so much more than just that.

And yes, Firefly has a special place in my heart too.
Space AB (Space 2063 in Germany) was my first "gritty" SciFi I gotten into. It also aired in the evening/night and made it more "special" in my teenage eyes, when shows like Earth 2 (the most family-friendly of the bunch at that time), TNG, Farscape, Ds9, etc aired in the afternoon and Bab5 in late afternoon/Evening.

Was devastated when I found out that there isn't more of it :(
 

ISee

Oh_no!
Mar 1, 2019
3,220
8,306
113
It also aired in the evening
Wait, what? VOX also aired it at a more human time?
The ending of Space above and beyond was brutal. I couldn't believe my eyes.

DS9 premiered on Saturdays on sat.1?
While Bab5 was a pro7 show.
And TNG originally aired on ZDF: 3 p.m.right after school :)
 

Alexandros

MetaMember
Nov 4, 2018
2,826
12,162
113
I am a big star Trek Fan, BUT!
My all-time favorite SciFi will always be Babylon 5 by a great margin.
Behind that are (in no particular order) BSG, DS9, TNG, The Expanse.
In third are smaller shows like Space: Above and Beyond, Earth 2, Firefly etc.
Honorable mentions: Andromeda, Farscape


Bonus B5 versus ST fight: (Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning) One hell of a fight.
Babylon 5's last episode made me cry. I love that show. It's in the holy trinity of sci-fi shows for me along with TNG and DS9. One other sci-fi episode that made me cry was DS9's The Visitor. Discovery and Picard also almost reduced me to tears but for very different reasons.
 
OP
lashman

lashman

Dead & Forgotten
Sep 5, 2018
32,076
90,341
113
I was surprised how good season two was. Unfortunately, the humor is the worst part of the show.
[UWSL]But it did the android thing better than Picard lol.[/UWSL]
yeah, it really was ... can't wait for the third one

and yeah, the "humour" is awful ... thankfully they toned it down MASSIVELY in season 2 :p

and yes, the android/robot episode was seriously great
 

Kyougar

No reviews, no Buy
Nov 2, 2018
3,284
11,721
113
Wait, what? VOX also aired it at a more human time?
The ending of Space above and beyond was brutal. I couldn't believe my eyes.

DS9 premiered on Saturdays on sat.1?
While Bab5 was a pro7 show.
And TNG originally aired on ZDF: 3 p.m.right after school :)
I can't remember watching Space after midnight, my parents would have never allowed it.
Yeah, I watched TNG while doing homework, I remember watching Bonanza, TNG, and the LA highway patrol show on the afternoons, depending on the amount of homework.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ISee and lashman

Kyougar

No reviews, no Buy
Nov 2, 2018
3,284
11,721
113
Babylon 5's last episode made me cry. I love that show. It's in the holy trinity of sci-fi shows for me along with TNG and DS9. One other sci-fi episode that made me cry was DS9's The Visitor. Discovery and Picard also almost reduced me to tears but for very different reasons.
made me cry too :cryblob: Every time.
Still have the ending credits on my playlist which begins with: "And now, for those of you that have been archiving this ISN Special Documentary, the people responsible."
And man, Andreas Katsulas has such a great narrating voice, I also get teary-eyed, watching the Lost tales Intro with him narrating.
Just watching all Intros in succession is such an emotional ride and you just feel the story unfolding. (good compilation: )
 

BO7AMMOOD

Lucas isn't sure what to do anymore
Apr 18, 2019
650
1,964
93
37
Never been into scifi shows, but my mom used to love watching Farscape and I would sometimes watch a little with her. She may or may not have got into it because she may or may not had a crush on the actor that played the protagonist (😆) but in all fairness I too found the show to be entertaining at times!
 

Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
4,127
14,335
113
Belgium
[UWSL][/UWSL]
Do anyone of you use the "favorite" collection as a shelf and if so, how many games do you have there? And do you have those games in another collection?
Yes, my favorites shelf contains the games I'm currently playing + my favorite games with high replayability (pinball fx3, dirt rally 2, TW Warhammer 2 etc). The latter games are also on my "endless" category. Other categories I have are "backlog", "play soon", "finished", "multiplayer" and "retired".
A compelling argument can also be made for DS9, although TNG will always be number one in my heart. I don't think that DS9 ever quite reached the incredible highs of individual episodes of TNG but I enjoyed its serialized story a lot and the supporting cast was just stellar. So TNG in first place and DS9 in second but it's pretty close.
I prefer Voyager over DS9, but only because I like Voyagers characters more, especially the Doctor and Seven of Nine. I never got attached to Sisko, Kira or Julian. DS9 is still a good show with many wonderful and deep episodes tho.
 
Last edited:

Ge0force

Excluding exclusives
Jan 12, 2019
4,127
14,335
113
Belgium
A compelling argument can also be made for DS9, although TNG will always be number one in my heart. I don't think that DS9 ever quite reached the incredible highs of individual episodes of TNG but I enjoyed its serialized story a lot and the supporting cast was just stellar. So TNG in first place and DS9 in second but it's pretty close.
I prefer Voyager over DS9, but only because I like Voyagers characters more, especially the Doctor and Seven of Nine. I never got attached to Sisko, Kira or Julian. DS9 is still a good show with many wonderful and deep episodes tho.
 

Swenhir

Spaceships!
Apr 18, 2019
3,534
7,621
113
I unfortunately never saw these shows but to me, sci-fi was mostly books and games. Space sims were often the closest things I got to some far-future daydreaming, along with reading a healthy helping of Isaac Asimov's work.

I don't think it's quite possible to recapture what these shows must have felt like :(.
 

ZKenir

Setting the Seas Ablaze
May 10, 2019
3,456
9,826
113
Well I finished Ryza and I'm really looking forward to Ryza 2 this winter, it was a nice and relaxing game.

Now to find something else to play.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ISee

PC-tan

Low Tier Weeb
Jan 19, 2019
3,807
6,161
113
28
California
I'm so confused about what you guys are talking about. I feel like while you guys were watching that I was watching this instead



Super Sentai!!!!!!!

Also I have power again!!!!!!!!

Since around 9:30AM I did not have power at my house. It seems like it was a city wide thing I guess it's a good thing then that my supervisor told me not to go to work today... Haha...


It was around 4:00PM when the power came back on.


Also I am almost finished building the LEGO NES, all that's left is the controller. I have not finished the set how ever since I still need to make the TV and also the Mario figure as well.


By the way Coke sure does seem out of touch. I was watching Hulu the other day (I have the student membership so I get Spotify Premium and Hulu with ads for just $5USD a month) and I saw a Diet Coke ad.... Ya so one of them was about how your mom in the 80s drank Diet Coke and how she new best and was the best at stuff and now that you are copying her you may also want to drink Diet Coke. My family like to drink Coke but I doubt that any of us would ever drink Diet Coke.


The other one that felt way more out of touch was that "Diet Coke was for nerds"...... What? Maybe people in the 80s or 90s people though this but when I was growing up I never heard anyone make that connection, if anything what I was taught was that Diet Coke was even worse for you because of the extra stuff that they add in to make it have no sugar. If they should be targeting anyone it should be people with diabetes. Since it seems like Diet Coke won't raise your blood sugar? When I was doing deliveries for my old job was was delivering soda and we ran out of diet I would ask the person if they were diabetic in order to get them a better alternative or a refund (store credit) or something.


Basically what they were saying is that people thought Diet Coke was for nerds and how in today's world it's nerds that are making all sort of cool stuff so Diet Coke is now cool or something..... Ya that's pretty out of touch to me.


When ever I think of diet anything I always picture it being aimed at women that want to loose weight.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ISee and QFNS
Status
Not open for further replies.