Star Trek Thread: To Boldly Split Infinitives - Page 54 - The Lounge Discussion and Review on Literature, Arts, Culture

The show (TNG) ran for 7 seasons, spawned 4 movies, and is still frequently aired in syndication more than 20 years after the show ended. That supports the notion that it is possible to create a show where the drama doesn't come from conflict among the main characters. Maybe he wanted to portray a certain kind of drama rather than the conflict amongst roommates type of drama. Plenty of those types of shows out there. What other rules you are referring to? I'm actually curious...not being snarky.

Now that I think about it, I never really notice that there was basically no conflict among the crew until you mentioned it.

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12-03-2015 , 12:24 PM

#1327

Kurn, son of Mogh

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Originally Posted by Two_Coats_Of_Wax

The show (TNG) ran for 7 seasons, spawned 4 movies, and is still frequently aired in syndication more than 20 years after the show ended.

No. You miss the point. It was only after season 2, when Roddenberry was no longer involved, that the show improved significantly. That improvement lead to the realities you describe. Had season 3 been like seasons 1 and 2, there likely would not have been a season 4 (nor DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise)

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12-03-2015 , 02:17 PM

#1328

Elrazor

losing momentum

Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 13,798

I think some of the best moments of TNG were when the main characters clashed.

Riker and Picard in Yesterday's Enterprise; Worf and Picard in First Contact; Worf and Data in Gambit come to mind, but i'm sure there were other good examples.

The point is that the clashes resonated as they didn't happen every other week, however in any enclosed environment where people live and work together (i.e a naval vessel), friction is inevitable and in most cases essential.

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12-03-2015 , 02:29 PM

#1329

SenorKeeed

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Riker and Shelby
Riker and Jellico
Picard and Wesley in the one where Wesley is in the academy

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12-03-2015 , 02:42 PM

#1330

Didace

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The key to S3 is that they stopped wearing uniforms that looked like pajamas.

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12-03-2015 , 03:39 PM

#1331

Two_Coats_Of_Wax

centurion

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurn, son of Mogh

I thought the "Roddenberry was no longer involved" was referring to the animated series. So yea I did misunderstand. I thought we had changed topics.

Luckily, the quality of the acting improved quite a bit after the first two seasons as well. But that could also come back to the writing. What other kinds of restrictions did he place on the writers as was referenced earlier?

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12-03-2015 , 09:49 PM

#1332

SenorKeeed

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Well that came from Gene’s lawyer [Leonard Maizlish], a scumbag of a human being. I cannot say enough things – he was a truly evil human being. He was going to be Gene’s helper on the show. He appointed himself Chief of Staff and he would go around and say we can’t do this and we can’t do that and “on Star Trek everybody loves each other.” For those of us who had written for the show knew that wasn’t true! We knew our people got into arguments. But what happened was he would go to Gene and say “you can’t let David do this and can’t let Dorothy do that.” Everybody has to be good friends. It is that whole ‘band of brothers’ thing we established in the first. Well, no. What we established in the original series was that there was a lot of tension between Kirk, Spock and McCoy. It is normal and appropriate. Yes, there should be tension between these people who have different jobs. But you get Leonard Maizlish wandering the halls telling writers “you can’t do this” and everybody is terrified because you could argue with Leonard and explain to him and the next thing you know you get a memo from Gene that was dictated by Leonard. I had it happen to me several times where I would talk to Gene and explain that I thought “Data” was a bad name for the android and Gene would say “you are probably right, come up with another name.” And we would come up with another name and the next thing – later that afternoon – Gene would say “no, I’ve talked it over with my lawyer, we will keep the name Data.” Another time I would say we should do so and so and he would agree and then later in the day Gene would say “I’ve talked to the lawyer and we have to do it this way instead.” And I was “why does a starship need a lawyer, Gene?!” That was the control that the lawyer had. Gene was terrified that the studio would try and take the show away from him, so we ended up with this bizarre circumstance that Gene was so afraid of losing his show that he gave control away to his lawyer and he didn’t trust me or Dorothy Fontana after. That was the part that hurt Dorothy and I the most is that Gene stopped trusting us and started treating us as the enemy. The result of that is that I am not going to fall into the “Gene was the Great Bird of the Galaxy” bull**** that everybody loves to share, because I saw Gene being something other than the Great Bird of the Galaxy.

http://trekmovie.com/2014/09/12/excl...-jj-trek-more/

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12-03-2015 , 10:23 PM

#1333

Lattimer

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So lawyers really are the scum of the earth!

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12-04-2015 , 08:42 AM

#1334

mosdef

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Originally Posted by Lattimer

So lawyers really are the scum of the earth!

Scum of the star system.

It's more fun to read that article if you imagine the lawyer looks and acts like a Ferengi.

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12-04-2015 , 11:45 PM

#1335

SenorKeeed

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There's actually a documentary on Netflix about exactly what we've been talking about, the dysfunctional first few years of TNG. It's pretty good, called Chaos on the Bridge, written, directed, and narrated/hosted by

Spoiler:

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12-05-2015 , 12:17 PM

#1336

Cranberry Tea

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Didace

The key to S3 is that they stopped wearing uniforms that looked like pajamas.

I've heard that the new uniforms cost $3k apiece and were may more breathable. It appears as though the show was more flush with cash at the start of S3. I don't want to get ahead of db, but the visual effects and lighting all seem significantly improved.

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12-07-2015 , 02:30 AM

#1337

sendthecookies

journeyman

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Quote:

Originally Posted by SenorKeeed

Spoiler:

Just watched this documentary today..good stuff!

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12-08-2015 , 10:16 AM

#1338

Two_Coats_Of_Wax

centurion

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Quote:

Originally Posted by SenorKeeed

Spoiler:

Watched this last night. It's amazing they got anyone (writers, directors, staff, etc) to even work on the show after the first season. Very good documentary. Lots of stuff I never knew. Thanks for recommending that.

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12-14-2015 , 12:31 PM

#1339

synth_floyd

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Trailer for Star Trek Beyond is out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcXgHpwXqro

Looks bad TBH. After all the hype of doing a movie where they "go boldly where no one has gone before" and be truer to the spirit of Trek and the Simon Pegg script, it just looks like a boring action movie. Because what new Trek needed was more explosions, fights and chase scenes. Well hopefully they're just emphasizing the action for the trailer and there is a decent story, character moments, theme, etc.

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12-14-2015 , 06:46 PM

#1340

Cranberry Tea

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A Beastie Boys soundtrack for a Star Trek film? Unsubscribe.

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12-14-2015 , 07:16 PM

#1341

TheCroShow

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Too Trek Too Furious

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12-14-2015 , 08:32 PM

#1342

SenorKeeed

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The director of Fast & Furious directs a Star Trek movie? Jesus. Can't wait to see what JJ does with Star Wars...

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12-14-2015 , 11:18 PM

#1343

Cranberry Tea

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I actually think JJ works for Star Wars, because that's an action/explody franchise. But Star Trek is all about characters and storytelling.

Also, Simon Pegg as Scotty is miserable casting.

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12-14-2015 , 11:19 PM

#1344

SenorKeeed

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Like did Scotty catch space AIDS or something? Why is he so thin???

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12-15-2015 , 03:51 AM

#1345

Elrazor

losing momentum

Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 13,798

You can't really tell much by a 1 min trailer, but I thought the bit where Spock got beamed out was legit funny until McCoy had to explain the joke.

So much of the humour in the original and to a lesser extent TNG were the more subtle interactions between the cast. That was just really ham-fisted, dumbed down, and....well, quite F&F.

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12-15-2015 , 06:05 PM

#1346

Dr McGriddle

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Lol at dirt bike stunts in Star Trek

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12-18-2015 , 12:35 PM

#1347

synth_floyd

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According to Simon Pegg himself, he "wasn't a fan" of the trailer because there's a lot more "Star Trek stuff" in the movie than what they showed. Makes me cautiously optimistic about it since he said that he was trying to make the new one more Star Trek-y than the last one, and the director also mentioned that he is basically ignoring Into Darkness completely.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/e...eact/77550220/

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01-06-2016 , 02:20 AM

#1348

diebitter

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Star Trek TNG S3E01 Evolution

A decent season opener, involving Wesley inadvertently creating an evolving nanite which stops some scientist seeing some special whatsit around a star. They interfere with the ship's computer, reminiscent of that episode where they have to reboot the Enterprise when it gets some virus.

It's good to see Beverly Crusher back - I prefer her interactions with Picard than Pulaski's. Wesley is nowhere near as annoying as he has been - probably because Wheaton is older so it doesn't feel so kiddie as messiah, even though there is a scene right in the middle where the scientists goes on about how he and Wesley are wunderkinds...

Also, good to see Guinan.

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01-06-2016 , 03:38 AM

#1349

mchine

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Quote:

Originally Posted by diebitter

You have got to be leveling here. She was voted most annoying/hated character on Star trek after Wesley Crusher. I dread watching episodes with her in them.