Well, we're going to have a lot to talk about with this week's SNW, @WordsmithFL. 🙃
I'm glad Jonathan Frakes was at the helm, at least. And we have a breather episode before the musical silliness comes along.
(Every other #Trekkie can join in, too! I like to take a beat before I write my weekly review - and give folks the weekend to watch the ep - but it'll be up on Monday.)
@MLClark @WordsmithFL You doing the cross over ep?
I have nothing good to say about it. :/
It should never have been made. :)
Lower Decks is just... not good Trek.
Frakes' direction is the best thing going for it, but whew.
WHEW.
(Watching the *actual* episode for this week now. Dreading next week's.)
Lower Decks is really quite an ugly production. Almost every single one of its plots relies on notions of scarcity and workforce mechanics that shouldn't exist in the actual Star Trek universe. It gets by on relentless fanboy referencing by characters playing a kind of Trekkie dress-up.
Merging it with SNW just highlights how much NuTrek has gone astray. I'm by no means an originalist, but I'm glad Roddenberry didn't live to see this!
"ML! Don't hold back! Tell us what you really think!" 😂
I don't get too cranky about my SF, except when it comes to messing with Trek. I got angry enough at Picard that I wrote half a season's worth of screenplays *fixing* the darned thing using the same base plot & characters - although, to be fair, that was early in the pandemic, & everyone else was going crazy over baking at the same time.
JEAN-LUC, my fanfix series replacement for PICARD, was my sourdough starter. 🙃
Another thing that I found annoying is the comparison between how wonderful SNW has been compared to this. It's like they are shoving every 'offbeat' genre show into season 2 in case it didn't go 5 seasons.. I may not mind the singing show depending on if it's well done. And it can't be as bad as the cartoon crossover.
(they are doing it to promote lower decks but YUCK!)
@MLClark It's interesting that Paramount gave us a "dark" episode this week sandwiched between the spoof crossover and next week's musical.
It is a challenging one, too! I'm trying to have both reviews ready for Monday, but it's funny how much Trek fans are as uncomfortable and ready to go to blows around "Those Old Scientists" as M'Benga, Ortegas, and Chapel are around Dak'Rah in "Under the Cloak of War".
Maybe that was the point? 🙃
@MLClark I've always thought that the brilliance of what Gene Roddenberry wrought was an incredible flexibility in the show's storytelling.
One episode can be Tribbles, another episode can be pon farr, another episode can be a Vietnam analogy.
All things to all people. IDIC.
So I really don't mind the writers having the freedom to try something different.
The TNG cast loved to sing on the set, so a musical would have been perfect for them if the era permitted.
I have nothing against variation. Of course the episodes ranged from silly to serious: they were developed in an age drawing distinctly from stage plays, not like today's TV wrought very much from other TV. Different culture.
But LD is sarcastic, glib, & more interested in self-reference than anything deeper. That's what I was referring to--but it's always dangerous to name-drop, because Roddenberry also had issue with TNG, so, I don't mean to get hagiographic with the reference.
@MLClark You know I share your 🤮 about LD, but it has its fans. I just shrug and IDIC.
Many TOS writers came from SF, but others were veteran TV writers who'd served in WW2.
I think it was David Gerrold who said that TOS scripts were like radio plays. You could close your eyes, listen to the script, and know exactly what was going on.
I'm just dropping this here so anyone else following along knows what we mean when we refer to the sense of play and whimsy among actors in the earlier series. :)
@MLClark Dunno if you've ever seen this ... The time that TNG had a spot for Comic Relief.
I HEAR A CONTRACTION!
😂 (Not even close to the only time Data breaks that rule.)
Despite the grousing over E7, though, E8 has a *hugely* challenging ethical question at its core. Going to be fun to write that one up. An intense run toward this season's finish.
@MLClark Good morning ... Here's a cleaner and extended version from my collection. This was from the original telecast. You get to see Hoo-Pie's reaction after watching it.
Re the contraction, I think it was established that Data could use a contraction when quoting someone else. In this instance, he was quoting the "credo."
Because of this skit, to this day I see "tee ... shirt" and "sweat ... shirt" as two words separated by a pause. Thanks, Brent. 😊
@MLClark I think it was Jack Sowards who told about early 1960s TV writers who had been writing Westerns for years. They'd go from one show to another with the same idea, just adapt it for that show's universe.
TOS was "Wagon Train to the Stars," so it kinda makes sense.
@MLClark @WordsmithFL I wanted to slap the 'characters that came from the future' constantly. It's like a stupider scooby doo!
I love the incredibly huggable JF but am glad this isn't the first thing he directed because he's better than this episode. I'll catch up on episodes tonight.
"The Incredibly Huggable Jonathan Frakes" 😂 That's a perfect cage name for him. I'm now imagining Bruce Buffer belting it across a stadium.
@MLClark LOL he and Michael Dorn are both great huggers. IDK about Anson but he seems huggable too. (Nichelle gave good hugs as well but not in public as much)
@MLClark @TrueBloodNet
I couldn’t stand it. I was actually uncomfortable. I knew Lower Decks was some type of cartoon stuff, that’s all. How annoying.
👎