The Star Trek Cinematic Universe

[Neon Ignition]

I'm not going to watch the rest for a while but on Saturday night I needed a little time killing so I popped on the first episode of Star Trek: Prodigy

It's weird seeing Nickelodeons name plastered over it, I kind of braced myself for the worst but it was... good? I mean, it's a kids animated series spin-off of the show but it felt more mature and better made by quite a margin compared to Lower Decks. The first 20mins actually vibe a lot like being a Star Wars series but as the ST elements begin to rear their heads it picks up and feels more Star Trek like. This is the first show where no 'humans' are in it too which is kind of interesting, the USS Protostar is a pretty cool design too and it's one showcase flight scene was well done.

Interested to see if they can maintain the arc as it seems geared to largely be arc based but early signs seem to be that this could be a pretty strong show.

[Dogg Thang]

I tried to watch Lower Decks again last week and just couldn't. The dialogue is paced like an episode of Phineas and Ferb and it's just an assault. I wanted all the characters to shut up. Stop talking at me so fast and so loud like I'm in a coma and I'm on fire and you're trying to get me to do something about it. I'm not 7 and coked up on sugar.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, Lower Decks is an odd show. It's probably the most cynical series they've made in the sense that it feels like an exec team simply saw other adult animated shows exist and have done well so they should make one. Trouble is that it adds nothing, Star Trek parodies have been done to death and Lower Decks makes the even stranger decision to try and canonise its own parody meaning it's somewhat restrained as well. For the most part it's just the characters mouthing off at each other.

It's why I was nervous about Prodigy, that they'd play it soft for the audience but so far you could largely just live action the show and the premise would hold its own.

[Dogg Thang]

It was weird to contrast it with The Orville, which I also watched a few episodes of last week. I had never seen it before but The Orville is very light and easy to watch. Not hugely funny but I almost felt like the humour was mostly there to give it some leeway to tell stories with an old Star Trek Next Gen feel and not have it feel just outdated or not relevant now. Not taking itself too seriously meant we wouldn't look at the cracks, if you know what I mean. And yet I felt a sincerity in the storytelling.

Not sure I'll actually watch it all and so it could be a show I just watch the odd episode of if I can't find something else but, comparing the two shows, it felt like The Orville was a more sincere Star Trek show than Lower Decks. Maybe I shouldn't be comparing these two shows.

[Neon Ignition]

Nope, Orville definitely leans that way. The second season felt like the humour aspects get dialled down even more. In essence I think the intention was to make a parody love letter to Next Gen but as soon as they realised they had an audience they couldn't resist the temptation to begin to lean it more and more into simply being a 2020's Next Gen. The third season has been delayed and moved around so severely I'm kind of expecting it to be the last when it arrives but there's definitely an intention to try and make it be more than just a mickey take on ST. Lower Decks is just fluff, there's no ambition to it all.

[Asura]

<meekly raises hand> I like Lower Decks.

The Orville is very light and easy to watch.

... whereas, given what you said about the dialogue delivery of Lower Decks being too quick - I tried the first episode of The Orville and I found it slow-paced and not that funny. It nails the Trek homage bit, and seemed very well-made, but I just wasn't interested in watching any more of it.

This isn't saying you're wrong, I mean, they're very different shows. But I think Lower Decks does have its audience and I guess I'm it. I think the second season was better, on the whole, than the first.

I echo the general thrust of what's been said here, though, as I don't think Lower Decks is amazing; just I've enjoyed it enough to keep watching. Star Trek parodies are hard; I mean they've been done ever since the original show aired, practically every long-running series has a "Trek Sketch" or "Trek Episode"... And we're in a universe in which Galaxy Quest exists, which pulled so much gold out of this particular mine that I'm not sure there's really any left!

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.darkhorizons.com/spider-verse-inspires-trek-animated-film/

The head of Paramount has stated that they are currently considering the idea of making a Star Trek Animated Movie inspired by Into the Spider-verse. It seems like the film would span all four quadrants and be led into by the new show Star Trek: Prodigy

[Asura]

https://www.darkhorizons.com/spider-...animated-film/
The head of Paramount has stated that they are currently considering the idea of making a Star Trek Animated Movie inspired by Into the Spider-verse. It seems like the film would span all four quadrants and be led into by the new show Star Trek: Prodigy

I can see that working.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.darkhorizons.com/star-trek-prodigy-renewed-for-s2/

Paramount has greenlit Star Trek: Prodigy Season 02

Watched Ep3 last night and it was the first to be as I imagine the show broadly will be from here on out. Mostly them getting into trouble and setting up why they won't be rushing to Starfleet anytime soon. Still solid though and the ship sequences remain nice.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.darkhorizons.com/next-transformers-star-trek-delayed/

Star Trek XIV has been delayed again to 22 December 2023

[Asura]

Still solid though and the ship sequences remain nice.

I would expect this. Weirdly, the animated ship bits of Lower Decks are fantastic.

[Asura]

Saw the news - new season of Discovery isn't going to be on Netfix in the UK.

It starts next week in the USA on Paramount+, and won't be available here until Paramount+ launches in Europe at some unspecified future time.

Well... I mean we know what happened with Game of Thrones

[Dogg Thang]

Oh, I didn’t know that. That sucks. I won’t be subscribing to any other service to see it. There are too many now.

[Asura]

Oh, I didn’t know that. That sucks. I won’t be subscribing to any other service to see it. There are too many now.

Yeah, admittedly in the US they've always had this - all of Trek was on I think CBS, and later Paramount+; it's only outside of the US that it's been on Netflix.

Still, there's no way I'm gonna sub to a Paramount service for one show.

I'm getting more and more tempted to build one of those NAS systems with your own media streamer, so you can basically rip all your DVDs and build your own in-house Netflix. At least that way nothing can ever get taken off.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah. I went to watch Hackers at the weekend and it had gone from Netflix. Ordered the blu-ray but it’s just another reminder that we own nothing now and this system, which was amazing admittedly, can also bite us in the ass. And seemingly will do that more often as more services pop up. I love my Trek but that alone couldn’t justify another subscription.