Denyer wrote: ↑Mon Oct 21, 2019 9:00 pm
Don't really keep up with any TV or films whilst they're "hot" for the most part. DVD or downloads long after the fact -- not much justifies buying on physical media or re-watching. Apart from forum and social media mentions, wouldn't know most of it exists.
I guess I'm the same way, really...the only thing I watch on live TV like in the old days is sports, and even then I'm streaming it. So I'm not really hearing about shows the way I used to (in commercials broadcast during the other stuff I watch). The last few shows I've really gotten into have been things I randomly heard about from someone online and figured it sounded cool. Heck, I only watched Stranger Things after I saw the nifty Lego set...
Denyer wrote: ↑Mon Oct 21, 2019 9:00 pm
Do generally enjoy comedy panel shows, but following the fake vicar thing recently I wouldn't be upset if most of the BBC was cut.
They basically roped in an actor to go on TV and play a Conservative supporter because no one in the country was willing to admit they supported Teresa May, if I'm reading it right? Yeah, that's a bit of a scandal.
Makes me feel somewhat better about the CBC anchors openly cheering for our Liberals on the air during coverage of our last election. Though half of our Conservative party wants to defund the network, and a big chunk have embraced a Trumpian disdain for media in general, so I don't entirely blame them for being personally invested...
Denyer wrote: ↑Mon Oct 21, 2019 9:00 pmFaced with massive fragmentation, it seems the main thing keeping the industries going is cheap CGI.
Even that isn't going to be enough. With every network and content producer seemingly launching their own subscription service, all they're doing is ensuring fewer sets of eyes for their shows. Netflix obviously has deep roots, Amazon's bundled their service as a perk with something else people want, and Disney has so much content that they can probably pull it off. But smaller fish like CBS? I don't see how that's going to be sustainable.
inflatable dalek wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2019 2:55 pmLove the trailer, love the feel and unlike m'learned friend Mr Denyer I think it looks a perfectly fine continuation of that era of Trek (which had changed pretty drastically between the start of TNG and the end of Voyager anyway, so I'm not sure why another 20 years wouldn't have brought as much of a stylistic change again as there's been in real life since then)
Well, I think the issue is probably that a lot of people don't
want Trek to change. Or at least, not to change in the direction that some of the more recent stuff seems to be pushing it. The franchise has always had an optimistic slant that set it apart from it's contemporaries and it would be a shame for that to get lost in an ill thought out rush to "modernize" it for today's audience. Without that, all Star Trek has going for it is TOS and TNG nostalgia and those audiences have aged almost as much as the actors have.
(Sidenote: I'm really surprised that there hasn't been a more extensive push to capitalize on the popularity of TNG. It was so much more commercially successful in it's day than TOS was in its that there's not even a comparison to be had.)
inflatable dalek wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2019 2:55 pmHell, one of the best episodes saw the Federation nearly succumb to full of fascism over the space of about a week before Picard gave a big speech.
This happened often enough that I'm not even sure which episode you're referring to!
inflatable dalek wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2019 2:55 pmI also like Riker and Troi being retired and happy. Much better than Trek's usual thing of "Everyone stays in the same place doing the same job with no character development till they die" thing that plagued the TNG movies. And bless him, Frakes is in no state to be convincing as a serving officer. Let him be old and fat with dignity.
This is something I definitely approve of, though! Let the characters move on in a way that the TOS cast (minus, eventually, Sulu) never could. The entire main cast is 60+ now. They certainly shouldn't still be puttering around aboard a starship.
inflatable dalek wrote: ↑Fri Oct 25, 2019 2:55 pmNot to bothered by the badly limited by the odd decision not to let them go past the destruction of Romulus so time has slowed to about 50 books being set in a week as it crawls closer books being ignored either. Though apparently the novel editors have hinted they're going to make them fit somehow...
I'm not at all bothered by the prospect of the novelverse getting reset either, though for the exact opposite reason. Over the last decade they've felt like a comic series from the 90s -- constantly skipping from big event to big event without any space in between to breathe, often with months- or years-long gaps in between in-universe appearances for some ships and crews. Having 25 different hero ships and random other main characters who've wandered off from the narrative certainly hasn't helped either, as realistic as it might be for the crews to break up, since they've got limited publishing slots every year.
Around Destiny the entire thing stopped feeling like a continuation of the shows (something that I think the early DS9 relaunch series did an amazing job of) and started to feel more like a continuation of the TNG movies, with each new event offering giant changes to a status quo that never had a chance to solidify.
OMG the President of the Federation is evil!
OMG the Romulans are having a civil war post-Nemesis!
OMG the Borg have come en masse to genocide everyone!
OMG the Borg killed Janeway in a TNG novel!
OMG now the Borg have gotten assimilated by space-hippies!
OMG it turns out that Section 31 killed the evil president after he was forced from office!
OMG all the bad guy races are mad at the Federation for making them fight the Borg, so they've formed their own Evil Federation with blackjack and hookers!
OMG now Janeway is alive again!
OMG Deep Space Nine blew up!
OMG the president has been assassinated again!
OMG the new president is evil.
...sigh.
And as some point in there Starfleet went insane, made Ro Laren a captain and put her in command of a major starbase (and left her in charge even after she got it nuked).
I'll still pick up the occasional thing that catches my eye, but the continuity as a whole lost me a while back. In print the franchise has gone away from the low-stakes space adventures that made up 90% of the TV episodes. I guess they figure that with so few "episodes" per year they need to make every one count? But honestly it just feels the opposite to me. I'd much rather read about a mystery or alien of the week than yet another multi-book "THE GALAXY WILL NEVER BE THE SAME" crossover. It's like if they were writing Law and Order books and every single case was someone has murdered the mayor...there's only so many times you can go to that well before it starts to feel routine.
Though that's probably not an entirely fair assessment, since I was far from a completist even when I was trying to keep up with a few series.