It's Critter Time!

Star Trek!

There's an awful lot of Star Treks these days: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise, Discovery, Picard, Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, Prodigy, and the in-production Starfleet Academy. Also like 14 movies too.

(DS9 is the best one.)

Anyway, yes, this is my favourite franchise so a space to talk about it with my fellow critters would be nice. (Oh, and SNW season three starts TOMORROW!)

LLAP

It is really wild to think about just how much Star Trek stuff there is now (or even Star Trek inspired stuff)

oh nice. Probably will watch some SNW soon then. I'm glad that the only one of these shows we liked survived the great purge of all this stuff.

And yes naturally DS9 is the fave this is clear. But we have a big soft spot for Voyager because it's often completely nuts and Janeway is one of the most evil characters in the franchise, sometimes on purpose

EdenCoven wrote: Wed Jul 16, 2025 10:26 pm oh nice. Probably will watch some SNW soon then. I'm glad that the only one of these shows we liked survived the great purge of all this stuff.

Well, sorta. It's been commissioned for a season four but is ending after that. The new Starfleet Academy show is gonna be the only one still in production.

EdenCoven wrote: Wed Jul 16, 2025 10:26 pm And yes naturally DS9 is the fave this is clear. But we have a big soft spot for Voyager because it's often completely nuts and Janeway is one of the most evil characters in the franchise, sometimes on purpose

As a young 'un I loved Voyager because of how wacky it is, and I love me time travel and alternate timeline plotlines.

DS9 really comes into its own in the streaming age though, where you can actually see the story unfold without worrying about missing something because of linear broadcast television shenanigans.

I find that I only really like certain chunks when it comes to Star Trek. I liked The Next Generation and all of it's movies! And Voyager is in the running for one of my favourite TV shows of all time! And Lower Decks surprised me, I'm kind of done with every adult animated series looking exactly the same, but the reason I'm okay with it is because it gets by on having some really good characters.

DS9 isn't bad, it's fine, I just think it's off for some reason. I think where I start to lose interest is at around Season 5, I didn't think the overarching plot about the dominion war or whatever was very good.

After that, Enterprise was the beginning of the end for me, I thought it really sucked, and ever since then I feel like everything I liked about Star Trek went away.

Ja'aran wrote: Thu Jul 17, 2025 2:07 am I find that I only really like certain chunks when it comes to Star Trek. I liked The Next Generation and all of it's movies! And Voyager is in the running for one of my favourite TV shows of all time! And Lower Decks surprised me, I'm kind of done with every adult animated series looking exactly the same, but the reason I'm okay with it is because it gets by on having some really good characters.

DS9 isn't bad, it's fine, I just think it's off for some reason. I think where I start to lose interest is at around Season 5, I didn't think the overarching plot about the dominion war or whatever was very good.

After that, Enterprise was the beginning of the end for me, I thought it really sucked, and ever since then I feel like everything I liked about Star Trek went away.

I think Enterprise is another series that has really benefited from the streaming era, personally. I've been rewatching it recently and find myself enjoying it more often than not. Yes it's rough around the edges, but some of that is really it being a product of it's time, exactly like how TOS is sometimes dodgy and nonsensical in a lot of ways.

As for the newer shows, I agree that Discovery and Picard S1&2 were pretty naff, overall. They have their good episodes, but they are a bit meandering and illogical, and the overdependence on galaxy-destroying-villain of the season is tiresome.

Picard S3 is great, if depending a little too much on nostalgia baiting.

Lower Decks is really great. The first episode or two is a tad rough (they were written before any of the characters were cast, and Mike McMahan has pretty much admitted to writing them as Trek versions of Rick & Morty episodes, but it comes into its own really quickly.

Prodigy is really, really great. It is ultimately for kids, and the first half of the first season is basically just introducing Trek-staple concepts, but it's really frickin' good after that. Too many people sat on it because of the assumed kid audience.

I appreciate SNW for being creative and campy and fun, as well as occasionally serious. It really is a TOS for the 21st century.

The Section 31 movie is really the only nu-Trek thing I'd consider worth skipping entirely.

We've been extremely down on most nu-trek really. Discovery has barely anything we care about in it. Picard started bad and got worse each season until a third season so up its own ass we were yelling at the screen. Lower Decks is actually fun to watch but it's also mostly based on being very defensive of Star Trek as a property and children's show-level "this is what we learned this week kids" plots. Prodigy is probably good but it's ACTUALLY for children so it's pretty dull overall. Probably there's some decent stuff in there if we really dig in though, haven't seen much.

SNW excells by at least being Star Trek even if it's not the best and it only gets to have a teeny tiny number of episodes per season. The Lower Decks crossover was both inspired and enough to get us to give Lower Decks a second chance, which paid off!

I'mma be a staunch defender of Discovery season 4 though,

beeps wrote: Thu Jul 17, 2025 3:38 pm I'mma be a staunch defender of Discovery season 4 though,

Hidden text.

whilst it still depends on a galaxy-ending-threat-of-the-season plotline, the amount of detail it goes into in how Starfleet identifies and diagnoses a problem, experiments with various solutions, and goes through all the minutiae of learning about and coming to engage in first contact with an actually alien species is just in my eyes.

Season 4 is my favorite season of Discovery, for basically the same reasons.

On an other note, the first two episodes of the new Strange New Worlds season are out now, have watched both of them already.

a_random_fox wrote: Thu Jul 17, 2025 5:44 pm On an other note, the first two episodes of the new Strange New Worlds season are out now, have watched both of them already.

Hidden text.

Both were pretty good. Solution for the Gorn problem in hegemony part 2 reminded me of the way they solved the borg cube in best of both worlds, both involving sending a sort of signal triggering a sleep mode. Though in SNW that signal was turning the ship into an artificial solar flare. Had a bit of a hard time enjoying the second episode, which isn't really due to quality and more due to those episodes centering about reality or the perception thereof being altered and only a few characters realizing tend to make me uncomfortable, with a sort of second-hand anxiety. Also felt a bit derivative of the Trelane episode from TOS, though i suppose it was to some degree intentional.

Oh yeah, the latter one is definitely intentional.

Some controversial Trek opinions for people to agree/disagree with:

Enterprise's theme tune is a good song, actually. Enterprise S3&4's theme tune is even better (if absolutely dissonant with the themes of the season).

The Abrams/nu-Trek retcon that starship bridges have actual windows and not just viewscreens is a sensible change. Why on earth would bridges be in such a prominent and exposed part of the ship if they didn't need to look outwards?

Voyager would've been a worse show if they had kept to the resource shortage plots of the first season. It'd have been nice if there was an in-universe explanation for where they got more torpedoes and shuttlecraft, but the show is better for not keeping to it long-term.

Star Trek Beyond is a good film.

beeps wrote: Wed Jul 23, 2025 1:30 pmEnterprise's theme tune is a good song, actually. Enterprise S3&4's theme tune is even better (if absolutely dissonant with the themes of the season).

I agree. It's not traditional, but it nevertheless manages to encapsulate the hope and spirit of Star Trek, especially Enterprise. I completely forgot that S3 & S4 had a more upbeat version, and yeah that's actually even better.

beeps wrote: Wed Jul 23, 2025 1:30 pmThe Abrams/nu-Trek retcon that starship bridges have actual windows and not just viewscreens is a sensible change. Why on earth would bridges be in such a prominent and exposed part of the ship if they didn't need to look outwards?

Makes perfect sense to me, too. I would expect starship bridges to be place in a location that makes them difficult to disable with a single hit, so preferably somewhere deep inside the ship itself.

beeps wrote: Wed Jul 23, 2025 1:30 pmVoyager would've been a worse show if they had kept to the resource shortage plots of the first season. It'd have been nice if there was an in-universe explanation for where they got more torpedoes and shuttlecraft, but the show is better for not keeping to it long-term.

I do think Voyager's strength was with the myriad of completely unknown cultures they got to explore. The survival aspect was kind of just an expected plot point that I didn't mind got resolved. I appreciate returning villains and references, but I do think Voyager is among my favourites because it explores unknown regions of the galaxy.

beeps wrote: Wed Jul 23, 2025 1:30 pm Some controversial Trek opinions for people to agree/disagree with:

Enterprise's theme tune is a good song, actually. Enterprise S3&4's theme tune is even better (if absolutely dissonant with the themes of the season).

The Abrams/nu-Trek retcon that starship bridges have actual windows and not just viewscreens is a sensible change. Why on earth would bridges be in such a prominent and exposed part of the ship if they didn't need to look outwards?

Voyager would've been a worse show if they had kept to the resource shortage plots of the first season. It'd have been nice if there was an in-universe explanation for where they got more torpedoes and shuttlecraft, but the show is better for not keeping to it long-term.

Star Trek Beyond is a good film.

I also like the Enterprise Theme, though i prefer the variant from seasons 1 and 2.

The bridge windows i am basically neutral about. There is i suppose some utility in still being able to look out if the cameras are damaged or power is out (though in that case knowing what is out there is of rather little value, considering how little there can be done about it)

Some more of the resource shortage stuff would have been nice and would have helped make it more distinct from the series before it, but i am fine with the series as it is.