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The Human Adventure Continues: Talking About Star Trek

Holy moly was Section 31 a rough watch.

You can forgive the editing and pacing weirdness, considering the rocky production: it was in limbo throughout covid, and had to stop being a possible series after Yeoh won a Grammy, meaning they had to take the outline of the series and turn it into a movie. I recall they actually had to shoot a lot of Yeoh's scenes without the other actors there due to scheduling issues, meaning she's comped in or not in the same room as the characters she's chatting with.

It's a lot harder to forgive the core of the story of Section 31 being not about Section 31, but instead fully focused on new loose ends from Georgiou's backstory, and further, a revenge plot where Bad Man Must Be Killed Or Universe Is Destroyed. I think then you're left mainly to try to get something out of the character interactions, which are unfortunately not there, though the actors (especially Sam Richardson) do a great job selling regardless.

There are a few cool, fun ideas in here, particularly the microscopic alien character, the special effect for shapeshifting, and the special effect for the garbage hauler's magnetic beams, things you could maybe see them doing something with over the course of a longer series. As it is, though, woof.
 
Yeah, that totally sounds like awesome Trek.

And its again about the fate of the whole universe, huh? Yay, great.

Well, as long as it's just bad, I can continue to act like Section 31 doesn't exist.
 
Mothra said:
Holy moly was Section 31 a rough watch.
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I would say personally that the internet's fever-pitched reaction to it is generally overblown. It was not the worst movie ever made, but it was not good either. It was a perfectly mediocre, completely disposable, harmless but also meritless way to spend an hour and a half.

I'd have a hard time recommending it to anyone on account that there just isn't really any substance here. There isn't enough time spent examining any of the characters despite several of the templates being interesting ones. The story is disposable and doesn't meaningfully expand the lore/setting of the franchise. The whole endeavor feels less like a film and more like a poorly crafted pilot episode (and thus par for the course for Star Trek tbh) for a TV show that will never get made.

For deeper fans of the franchise, it's also hard to not feel like this is a wasted opportunity on a lot of levels. Since this film takes place in the "Lost Era" of interstitial time between the end of the TOS films and the beginning of TNG, and even stars a young version of the Captain of the Enterprise-C. You wouldn't even know any of that from watching the film however.

I always encourage people to try things for themselves and to make their own mind up about stuff. But consider this -- the previous trailers that looked like they were trying to sell this film as being spiritually like the Suicide Squad (2016)? Those trailers weren't lying to you. That is essentially the vibe and quality of writing/production of this film.

Mothra said:
considering the rocky production: it was in limbo throughout covid, and had to stop being a possible series after Yeoh won a Grammy, meaning they had to take the outline of the series and turn it into a movie.
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That's not what happened here. Covid certainly delayed the planning and production of this. But the reason this got turned into a movie instead of a series is because Paramount/CBS were/are in dire financial straights and were slashing budgets across the board in the lead up to their sale a few months ago. In fact, Michelle Yeoh winning an Oscar (not a Grammy) is why this project even went into actual production to begin with because she still wanted to make the project and it became a little easier to convince execs to open their pockets for a Best Actress award winner.
 
Suicide Squad (2016) is definitely a good comparison, it's got such a DC Live Action Movie Of That Era feel to it. Section 31 feels like a thing not intended to be enjoyed so much as consumed, as a transactional thing to recoup money or do some kind of tax writeoff. It seems to exist only to say that a new piece of Trek media was released.
 
I honestly think the people who run the franchise are kind of misguided at times. They actually do a good job of trying to make all their different shows have completely different feels so that they each stand on their own, have their own vibes/voice, don't step on each other's toes, etc. They all feel like they're trying to reach out to different audiences and bring new fans into the fold in their own ways. Prodigy was a family show designed to get kids hooked in; Lower Decks for the audience that enjoys "adult" comedy cartoons; Picard was going after the prestige TV audience; SNW was the throwback show to placate old fans; etc, etc. All worked (or didn't) to various levels of success. Section 31 feels like it was targeting that mass-audience, brain-off, popcorn flick audience that Suicide Squad made a buttload of money off of.

But I think it was a big misjudgment here because your most hardcore fans are often the taste-makers/gatekeepers to your franchise. They're going to be the first people on top of something. If they like something, that's how you get positive word of mouth to spread and for a thing to be successful. But if they hate something, they'll torpedo its reputation with the general public and you've got the makings of a massive flop on your hands. I like the idea of some of the things they're doing in this show in the abstract. But a show about an organization that's anathema to a lot of classic, core Star Trek values, on top of this shlocky vibe -- I can't see hardly any Star Trek fans putting up with this.

It'll be interesting to see what happens with this franchise in the near future. Sundance finalized the buyout not long ago, and those kinds of corporate handovers always culminates in shakeups with the executives. An executive shakeup is essentially how Enterprise died back in the day. And the reason any of this post-Discovery stuff got made to begin with was to buttress CBS All-Access/Paramount+ which is just hemorrhaging money and the entire streaming business model doesn't look healthy and might be fundamentally unviable.

Picard ended. Discovery and Lower Decks were cancelled. If Netflix was going to commission a third season of Prodigy, we probably would have heard about it by now. Strange New Worlds is probably safe and the 3rd Season is in production, and so is the new Starfleet Academy show. But ya. Future for this franchise is very much in the air and looks fuzzy to say the least.
 
Honestly I'm ok if they take a bit of a hiatus. This period since 2017 has been great, with lots of ups and downs. If we just have a yearly of snw or academy, that'd be nice. I feel a bit oversaturated in trek!
 
Yeah, it is fine to have less Trek, or even none, for a bit of time. As long as it doesn't take 15 years to get new shows again. As long as we still have one show, it's totally fine.

More Trek is always nice, but still.
 
I will state that, as someone who casually enjoyed Star Trek when it was airing randomly in syndication or on UPN in the late 90's, I found all the "new" Trek to be overwhelming. I think I only have so much linear space in my head for franchises, and when stuff like Strange New Worlds and Section 31 were being announced, I had to dedicatedly sit and think which of the shows I had already (partially) seen they were timeline-continuations of, and that drastically impacted whether I would follow them from "premiering soon!" to actual viewings at all.

Or to put it simply: I liked Tilly like I liked Quark and Odo and Doctor (Hologram) before her. And it was weird when there would be something announced that was like "this is in a universe where maybe Tilly can crossover, or maybe it's a century after she was born". It is hard for me to have affection for a universe that vast when I am ultimately showing up for the characters.

Point is I would be totally cool with one Star Trek show. I like the idea of a universe of different shows with different goals (there is no situation where Lower Decks [which is great!] would be the only Star Trek show on the air), but in practice I found it overwhelming.
 
I get this feeling with Marvel, or other franchises I'm a casual fan of but not super invested in.

But if y'all couldn't tell, I love Star Trek. It's one of my favorite things. I'll always take more. At its peak, nuTrek was running one new episode a week for almost a whole year or two straight. That never felt onerous to me. Quite the opposite actually, having something to look forward to every week was a big spirit-lifter. Especially during the worst parts of the Covid lockdown.

With the immediate real world outlook being quite bleak, I sure would kill to have more distracting, uplifting, optimistic Star Trek stories to look forward to, not less.

When other franchises start to feel a bit overwhelming to me, that's a sign for me to take a step back and disengage. It's ok to not be immediately on top of everything, or to skip a thing or two! That was actually the expectation once upon a time - it's the whole reason why old Trek was episodic. Because the showrunners couldn't guarantee their audience would all be at home during the narrow broadcast windows, or if a sports event usurped the timeslot, etc.
 
I've been watching Lower Decks; I just started season 3. Now, I find that I'm only rarely a fan of the comedy; the jokes seem a little flat and simplistic, like the writers take the easiest joke that comes to them. As a comedy, I'm not super impressed. That may also be a personal thing because comedy doesn't really do much for me these days (depression? Who knows).

BUT, I'm still enjoying the show because it's scratching a Star Trek itch I didn't know I had. The stories tend to be much lighter in tone of course, which works for me, but I really like how it shows more of daily life on a Federation ship, even if tongue is planted firmly in cheek. Being able to do little vignettes and asides really actually serves to flesh out the world in a fun way. It's easier to just sit back and take since it's less buy-in. And even though I'm not NEARLY enough of a Trekkie to get all the references it's still fun to see the guest spots and callbacks that I do know about, which is more than I'd have expected.
 
Speaking of fun guest spots, there's a really fun one at the end of the wedding episode of the new season of Strange New Worlds, which continues to be stellar. (To say nothing of Rhys Darby playing a major role throughout that same episode.)
 
Paul le Fou said:
Being able to do little vignettes and asides really actually serves to flesh out the world in a fun way.
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That's the one thing that's largely missing in nuTrek. You used to be able to watch Worf getting his hair cut by Mott in his Barbershop, or Jake & Nog running around the Promenade, or have The Doctor showing everyone his slideshow while everyone else is struggling to stay awake.

It's not the most crucial thing in the world, and it was mostly born out of a necessity that no longer exists (back in the day, they struggled to fill 26hrs of show a season; now they struggle to fit everything into 10hrs a season) but I miss it. It made the setting feel a lot larger, like the ship was a community rather than just a small handful of main characters. SNW tries to sprinkle that in from time-to-time when it can, but it doesn't do it nearly as well as LDS or the Berman Era Trek shows.
 
JBear said:
Speaking of fun guest spots, there's a really fun one at the end of the wedding episode of the new season of Strange New Worlds, which continues to be stellar. (To say nothing of Rhys Darby playing a major role throughout that same episode.)
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Are you taking about the three-armed lady? She seemed familiar but I couldn’t quite place her. Also the dialog made it seem like she might be coming on as a regular, but she hasn’t showed up in the next couple eps.

As for the latest, they sure were lamp-shading the fact that they’re not supposed to have holodecks yet but they wanted to do a holodeck episode anyway but it’s fine. Even if it’s a little hard to believe Scotty would just let that idea slide for the rest of his career. The twist solution to the mystery felt a little flat but everything else was good fun.
 
Kirin said:
As for the latest, they sure were lamp-shading the fact that they’re not supposed to have holodecks yet but they wanted to do a holodeck episode anyway but it’s fine.
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Actually, 🤓 In Star Trek: The Animated Series, Season 2 Episode 3, "The Practical Joker" was canonically the first appearance of holodeck technology in Star Trek, which would have only taken place 9 or so years after this episode. They didn't call it the "Holodeck" though, they called it the "Recreation Room". Thus this episode referencing that one, officially calling it the "re-creation room" before then also delivering the nickname 'holodeck'.

So far, SNW has had an almost immaculate record when adhering to canon. Almost to a fault, really.

Speaking of this episode, P+ put it up on YouTube to watch for free (standard region restrictions apply)


Which sure feels like an act with intent, given current events and the themes of the episode
 
The bartender is supposed to be an Edosian, who are also a TAS callback.
 
Finished Lower Decks. I appreciated the characters and stories on their own merit, found some of the humor improved in seasons 4 and 5 (4 especially), and I'm sad that there isn't more (not least because now I have to find something else to watch). I do have season one of Strange New Worlds downloaded...
 
WisteriaHysteria said:
This week's SNW was a stealth pilot for a TOS remake. I thought it made the case.
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I was a little conflicted about it, because the character writing started to feel a little too contrived, but overall I still enjoyed it, and the acting in particular was pretty excellent.
 
If the week before last's episode was the best SNW to date, then this week's might have been the worst lol. But in a very fun way for a lot of reasons. I definitely had to tell myself multiple times during the episode, "Relax, you're taking this shit way too seriously" and I haven't really had to do that for Star Trek in decades.

I did appreciate the fact that Capt Batel is now a lizard-person, and being so made her the qualified to be the top lawyer in Starfleet lmao
 
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I'm a bit conflicted because I thought there were a lot of funny jokes in this episode (especially the post-credits bit), but the premise... aside from having to turn off your brain... like, that's fine with me, I can appreciate dumb... but there's definitely some weird genetic essentialism baked into all of it, and I don't think one dubbed VO line just magically handwaves it away. (which everyone assumes was added after the backlash to the transformation clip being shown at Comic-Con last year)

The essayist and critic Jessie Gender has had some scathing reviews of both this episode and What Is Starfleet from last week (which I also thought had some significant filmmaking quality issues, separate from it's own weird implications), and how how fucked up some of the messaging has been this season. She has a very particular lens that she's viewing the show through, and I don't always read into things as heavily as she does, but I think she has some valid points about the contradictions with Trek canon (Vulcans can lie!) and subtle (and not so subtle) messaging.
 
Any Star Trek episode that includes the conceit of "we're modifying everyone's genetics to turn them into XYZ" is always fraught with unexamined implications. It is not a story archetype the franchise has ever handled gracefully.

This was probably the worst episode of the season. I've been enjoying their silly episodes so far, but this one just asked me to turn my brain off too much while also not really feeling like it had much of an emotional payoff for Putting The Characters Through It.
 
The writer/director of Wrath of Khan was lobbying to get his pitch on a Khan series greenlit for years, and it finally came to fruition as an official audio drama:


There's two episodes out now. It's on all the usual podcast locations. It's actually, surprisingly really good. I'm very curious how this will go, despite us all knowing how it needs to end. So far it's an easy recommendation. Well written, well acted, great world-building too. And they got George Takei and Tim Russ back to help serve as a framing mechanism for this story.
 
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