I had very low hopes for this, and it was orders of magnitude worse. I guess there’s some device that becomes relevant for the climactic scene, but who cares? I don’t even know who the audience is for this, because anyone into Star Trek isn’t gong to see much here to work with, and anyone not will be put off by the branding.
What is this? Some kinda Oceans 31 Squad?
Sadly I suspect it had a lot to do with cutting the original women who were creating it out of their own project.
Not sure ‘cutting them’ is totally accurate.
The writing team and original creator/showrunner EPs Kim & Lippoldt were joined by a guy who had some showrunner experience. At the time, it sounded more like the Paramount suits weighed in on that as the show stayed in development hell even after an original greenlight.
But the fact is that when S31 got put on the back burner during the pandemic lockdown, Kim & Lippoldt took an offer from Netflix to take over as showrunners of ‘Sweet Tooth’.
They have been very successful with that. Paramount would be very fortunate to get them back to run anything.
I’m actually impressed they somehow managed to make star trek movies even worse. I’m not even sure anymore what it has to do with star trek, like the IP is basically dead if it weren’t for SNW.
Edit: Just watched Crouching tiger, hidden dragon. Now this is a proper movie!
I actually enjoyed S31 for what it is and am about to rewatch it today with my partner.
It’s campy, and full of action sequences and fights, but that was to be expected with MU Georgiou.
It’s relatively rich in plot and characterization when I compare it to the run of current action movies like ‘The Grey Man’ on Netflix.
And it’s soooo much better than Star Trek V ‘The Final Frontier’.
How anyone can talk about the movies failing now clearly had rose coloured glasses on while watching:
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Kirk’s death in ‘Generations’
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the completely boring, Patrick Stewart indulgent dune buggy sequence in ‘Nemesis’ followed by the offensive rape content with stoic and sarcastic Troi turned into a tearful, dependant mess
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‘Into Darkness’
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the destruction of the Enterprise, ridiculous motorcycle stored on bridge and motorcycle action sequence in ‘Beyond’
We can certainly accept other failures in the franchise as well as this one. I’ll just link Shives.
Well, I just rewatched it and enjoyed it all the more the second time.
My partner saw it for the first time, really enjoyed it, laughing the way through - with an overall rating of 7.5.
Like my partner, I’m an old thing.
I have watched absolutely everything Trek in first run since 1966 so I don’t have a lot of patience with those who became fans in the Berman era and feel entitled to gatekeep or define what isn’t Trek or isn’t ‘good’ for the next generation
I actively kept TOS fans from booing down young TNG fans trying to speak up at the cons in the late 1980s and early 1990s. These YouTubers are cut from the same mould but unfortunately have a much bigger public than the toxic TOS fans did on Usenet or subscription mimeod fanzines.
Let’s be careful about lobbing accusations about gatekeeping at glass houses. This is not the first generational divide within Trek and is unlikely to be the last.
So, let’s discuss S31 on the merits. Where are the fleshed-out characters? What is the compelling mystery for the audience? What allegory for current times is explored? If we’re using TOS as the standard which all things must adhere to, this isn’t in the same quadrant as that.
Yes, I’m a TNG kid. That means knowing the TOS crew from the movies; I’d much later come to watch both TOS and TAS. Though TWoK is not a great first introduction on ABC at 4, earwigs and all, and the whale probe (first one I saw in the theatre) scared the fuck out of me.
Why? Because there was tension and drama. I was too young to understand what all was going on, but it was genuinely scary in both instances. This movie inspired no emotion. It had nowhere to go and spent its time not doing so.
My point is that I haven’t ever had any patience with the generational gatekeeping in the Star Trek.
I’ve been offended by it since the TOS fans campaigned to keep TAS from ever being aired. And I am more than done with TNG fans trying to brigade and kill every new offering.
I really don’t think you are assessing anything new on its merits at all.
What I am trying to say is that we - my spouse and I — am enjoying S31 on its merits, for what it is, in this period of television and movie making.
It IS fun stuff. We will be rewatching again!
My partner loved all the little inside references, including the hairstyle on the singer in the lounge.
S31 is a piece of this time. And we aren’t living in 1990.
It has more richness than Ryan Gosling or Ryan Reynolds action movies that become boring with endless action sequences.
I personally loved TNG in its run. It was the right Star Trek for its time.
If you asked me in the early 1990s, I would have agreed that TNG was the best Trek ever.
At that time, I much preferred it to TOS At that point, TOS was far enough out of time that it grated but not so far that it can be appreciated for itself, as something from another era.
I’m actually finding TNG not so great now. Your appreciation can evolve over time if you let it.
When our kids (now late teens) went through an intense fandom for Voyager in middle school, I understood why they thought it was the better show of the two. It was a better fit for them and I came to really love that show after originally finding it weaker than TNG.
Where I am coming from is that the TNG generation of fans needs to seriously lighten up and stop trying to insist that it’s the only model for good Trek or television.
You don’t own Trek any more than the boomers and older GenX did when TNG came on. At least we were the key demographic then - you are NOT now. TNG fans in their 40s are not the generation that this movie primarily targets.
Just as the TOS fans who were so derisive of TNG were damaging to the franchise, so is from the Berman era younger GenX and older Millennial fans.
You want tension and drama in a Star Trek show or movie.
That could be good. But it’s NOT the ONLY definition of good. It’s just a different kind of storytelling.
Trek on TV and movies has always had a mix of drama, horror, comedy, camp and action adventure. Even TNG covered all of these every single season.
We’re in an era where generally shows keep to one tone.
I have argued that the TNG and Kelvin movies that tried to hard to mix tones within a single movie, felt cringey (Nemesis, Beyond).
S31 went for a single tone for the most part and delivered.
SNW is able to mix tones because it’s episodic but there are fans who refuse to watch any episodes because the campy or lighthearted ones exist.
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