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Alex

Member Since 02 Aug 2008
Offline Last Active Mar 02 2023 10:21 PM
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Posts I've Made

In Topic: Star Trek: Discovery. Series talk and discussion

02 March 2023 - 10:21 PM

https://comicbook.co...ease-date-2024/

So DSC has apparently been cancelled. Season 5 will arrive in 2024 and be the show's last.

 

On one hand I'm not surprised; Kurtzman pretty much hinted at this when he said new shows were in the works and that Section 31 was likely going to be a replacement for DSC, noting that the reason they started working on it when they did was that "it takes a couple of years to do pre–production on a Star Trek series," before adding that the development time was longer than on most other shows. I think that was last year, (if it was 2021 please feel free to correct me,) which would mean that wrapping things up with DSC in 2024 and then having a new series ready for 2025 would be consistent with Kurtzman's plans to avoid any interruptions in new Trek. Likewise, knowing Picard was always intended to be three seasons, and knowing that two new shows were in development, it was kind of obvious that DSC would likely wrap up sooner than later, especially with SNW being far more successful. On the other hand, I feel like the low episode count necessitated by the serialized format combined with the low number of seasons doesn't really seem satisfying, and sets a bad precedent for future shows. I know we're not going to get 26–episode seasons again, but 18–22 would be nice for a show like SNW, as would a seven season run like in the old days. That being said, if DSC doesn't set a precedent for the rest of Trek, I'm fine with this as the three seasons I've seen of DSC have always felt like they were never really as interesting as other Trek series, and the way that season three ended honestly felt as if it was intended to be a series finale rather than a season finale. (Like, to the point where after watching it, I actually went and looked up if the show had been cancelled back then.) Supposedly one reason for the 2024 release date is to give the production crew extra time to wrap up the various storylines they're telling in DSC rather than just spontaneously pulling the plug, so I'm happy about that at least; it's better than having to cobble together a finale at the last second (ENT) or just ending without a modern finale (TOS) at all.


In Topic: New Star Trek Series starring Patrick Stewart

02 March 2023 - 09:54 PM

That's my problem with it. The way that TNG often lifted existing footage from films to save money (E.g. 1701-D in the STIII spacedock) is what the music department seems to be doing here. I'd rather hear a composer's cover of it than the same exact track I've been listening to since 1996. 

Ah, in that case we're after two different things in terms of the music; it sounds like you're looking for an updated take on the existing themes, whereas, at least for Picard Season 3, I'm looking for the themes to be reused as–is. If we were talking about another Trek series I would be more interested in new arrangements and even outright new material, but given how season three's entire theme is basically TNG, I'm happy with what they're doing. I think the criticisms I've seen from others, usually related to the use of TOS/TOS Movie–era music cues is more focused on the criticism that "they don't sound like TNG/they sound of place for the era of Picard," than it is the fact that they're reusing them outright, which I would consider to be a separate criticism. I would also point out to these people, especially the younger/newer fans who I've found aren't always aware of this, that the TNG theme itself was literally the TMP theme, effectively making it a TOS "Movie Era" tune from the get–go. I guess that's why the space dock music doesn't bother me; to me we've been doing this in some capacity since September 28th, 1987, and we'll probably do it again in a few decades with new cues created for earlier seasons of Picard, as well as the other current shows.
 
To be fair, I should also note that I had no issues with the Enterprise–D in the SFS spacedock either, as it seemed perfectly logical to continue using it in–universe, even if the practical reason was cost–cutting.
 
I should also add that most of what I've read related to the music has been largely positive; hell, even the YouTube comments section seems to be happy with it! (I mean, we're talking about the YouTube comments section not only being sane, sober, and civil, and doing so without a member of the Q continuum snapping his fingers, but being outright positive about something. I consider that "impressive" to say the least.) I'm not saying the criticisms aren't valid, and I do understand why this route has its detractors, I'm just not one of them.

 

Having said that, I have to wonder why they bothered to rerecord the themes in the first place if they're just using them as–is. It's not like Paramount doesn't have access to the original recordings, nor do they lack the rights to said recordings; if anything, it'd cost them more to recreate them than to use what they already have, so it's not like they're cutting costs or necessarily saving time by doing this. I actually think one reason they might not be trying to alter the iconic themes here could have to do with the generally negative reception that previous attempts have been met with in Trek and elsewhere. For example, DSC's music was criticized from day one, especially because of the twist on the TOS theme not feeling like it "fit" with the rest of the theme. Outside of Trek, Rogue One drew a similar criticism for leaning on iconic Star Wars scores and then veering off wildly in its own direction that didn't feel like it fit with the iconic themes. (I personally found this more annoying in Rogue One specifically because of how much effort went into trying to make this film feel like it genuinely was made before ANH, whereas DSC's entire attitude has been "screw it, we'll just do whatever" visually and audibly.) At a technical level, the sound mixes from the TOS Movies should already be 7.1 channel recordings, which I believe is the same as Picard, so I don't think they're re–recording for technical reasons; it's not like TOS where the master audio recordings were limited to stereo sound and they literally had to rerecord it for TOS–R to have more than two channels. (The TNG Movies had 5.1 channel recordings, those actually might have been re–recorded for technical reasons, but I can't imagine that they couldn't just remix what they already had to fill in the two additional channels if they wanted to.) I really think the composers just wanted a chance to work with the iconic themes as–is and took it.
 

I loved Jeff Russo's Picard theme for the first season but found his variation on it in the second season disappointing. Stephen Barton and Freddie Wiedman feel more like music managers in this season's first episode than original composers but I'm certainly willing to be pleasantly surprised as the show progresses.

I'm kind of excited to hear the season two arrangement of the theme when I finally watch the show now just to hear how it changed from season one. I really loved Jeff Russo's season one scores, so I'm wondering if I'll have a similar reaction.


In Topic: New Star Trek Series starring Patrick Stewart

19 February 2023 - 10:17 PM

So I’ll preface this by stating that I have not watched any of Seasons two or three yet, but I literally went to look at TVs on Monday so I’m hoping to change that soon. I have watched select clips from the series though, and I am familiar with the plot (or lack thereof) of Season two, and am fully prepared for it to be a mess.

If Picard hadn't been a complete shit show that's barely watchable, I'd be more excited for season 3. But Idk if I want to see them butcher more TNG characters. Only good thing about it is the canonizing of the Odyssey Class Enterprise F. 

I would agree if we were talking about season two and what I’ve read about it, but having watched season one in its entirety, I really don’t think it’s fair to lump that in with season two which even on paper comes off as, well I’ll be nice and say “chaotic” at best.

 

I feel the same anxiety, Alteran. I feel like I'm ready to cordon Picard off in my head canon as just an imitation of Star Trek if season 3 doesn't deliver the god-damn goods. I have limited faith in Matalas to turn this ocean liner around.

Destructor, what was wrong with season one? I actually felt that it made plenty of sense and was both fascinating and coherent; it was the follow up to Nemesis I had been waiting for. As far as season two goes, once I have a new TV I plan to get through it quickly in the span of a week or two and hope I don’t regret watching it. If anything I feel the way you do about DSC more than I do about Picard, mostly because the former has proven it can’t put together a competent plot while the latter has done so at least once in my opinion, and appears to be doing so again.

 

I really want to like Season 3 but after the first episode...

 

Does anyone else find the music just awful? I know we're desperate to play on nostalgia with these final entries but please stop recycling themes so poorly. The end credits were downright cringey.

I’ve seen a couple other people have this complaint, but only about the way different themes from different eras are being mashed together, namely calling out the space dock sequence. I actually did watch a quick clip of that and honestly liked what I heard there, but that’s because the TWOK theme is kind of synonymous with space dock in my mind thanks to TSFS. I watched the ending credits in their entirety and I honestly don’t have a problem with them; they literally just used the First Contact theme with a new recording and no modifications. And no, that’s not a mash–up of the FC and TNG/TMP theme, that’s literally how the First Contact theme played at the end of the film. (As in a verbatim copy of it, no change to how or where it transitions, it’s the exact same theme from that film.) I went back and checked the soundtrack again earlier today.

 

I actually love the ending theme precisely because it’s the FC theme, and if it’s true that the ending is loaded with Easter eggs (and it appears to be, I caught several and YouTube reviews caught even more,) the music could be hinting at something as well. (Possibly related to the Enterprise–E? Information that was publicized in the run up to the premiere said that the E’s last mission was “Classified” and we already know there are Borg references this season.)


In Topic: New Star Trek Series starring Patrick Stewart

13 October 2022 - 03:05 AM

Okay, I know this is post #4 now, but has anybody else watched the trailer from NYCC? They weren't kidding when they said this was basically going to be cinematic and effectively a ten hour movie! I love that we get that good ol' Worf humor that used to be part of the "fun" episodes of TNG in the trailer, and I won't lie, it's nice to see at least two hugely important Federation ships coming from fan designs now. Bill Krause's Constitution III we already knew about, but Adam Ilhe's Enterprise–F from STO is now officially canon as well, and I'm honestly pleased to see the Odyssey–Class on screen as an official design now. Yes, I was hoping we would see the Enterprise–E, but the Enterprise–F makes sense given that we're now sometime in the early 25th century, and the Enterprise–E would be older than the TOS Enterprise when Kirk stole her to save Spock after he learned there would be no refit.

 

Actually, I'm not ruling out the possibility of seeing the Enterprise–E, as I could see something like the following happening.

 

Spoiler

 

Also of note are the villains we're getting. Assuming we don't get another TNG movie, (despite everyone seemingly interested in doing one after Picard's final episode,) this will be the second time a Plumber plays a major villain in the send off for a Trek series. Likewise, we now know who Brent Spiner is playing, and I could see Lore being more vengeful than usual after the events of Picard Season 1. Oh, and to top it all off we get Moriarty again, which is going to be interesting to say the least. My guess is that at some point after Voyager made it home from the Delta Quadrant, Picard kept his promise to free Moriarty from the holodeck with a mobile emitter rather than leaving him in the self–contained device they had created for him originally. Of course, I could also see Lore somehow being the one to do this and motivating Moriarty with a "the Federation tried to wipe out androids, they don't care about holograms either" type of argument just to cause more chaos. Lore was already dangerous, (duh) but a post Picard Season 1 Lore is probably going to have not a chip, but a whole log on his shoulder and should make for a fun villain as usual.


In Topic: Enterprise c coming!?

13 October 2022 - 02:20 AM

Good catch MisterPL. I think they're still working on them, and I'm sure that COVID and the supply chain fiasco put them further behind the eight ball than they already were after Mr. Sasser's passing. From what I understand Thomas Sasser was the one who really "got" the ships and what the expectations were; he handled the sculpts, and really the engineering of making everything fit and work together. They were effectively his "baby," and DST knew it and pretty much let him handle that line with as much freedom as reasonably possible. The "problem" created by his passing is that DST basically had to find someone else who had the same passion for the ships as Mr. Sasser, which is easy enough to do, but then they had to find someone who had the same skill level, (far less easy to accomplish) and overall capabilities that Mr. Sasser brought to the table, which was a fairly tall order. Remember, DST doesn't want their two post–Sasser ships to be different in a way that's glaringly obvious which means you basically need someone who respects the line and what we've come to expect from it and can deliver Thomas Sasser's level of work. That's both a blessing, (the ships are so good we don't want to rock the boat with them,) and a a curse, (DST now has to find a replacement whose just as capable as Mr. Sasser was,) and is likely responsible for part of the delay. If DST took the kind of hit financially that they were rumored to have taken during COVID, that probably also threw a huge wrench into things; ships are probably one of their most expensive items to produce, and if they're suffering financially and need to recoup losses elsewhere to cover production costs, that could easily delay the next batch of ships even longer. We like to complain about the amount of time it takes DST to release new ships around here, but every time they do we consistently drool over them and admit it was worth the wait. If what we got barely resembled the ship I would be complaining too, but I can tolerate a wait if it keeps resulting in what we expect from DST's ships.

 

Oh speaking of DST's ships, I really hope they try to get a license to continue that line. I know Playmates Toys is apparently the master licensee again, but their ships are fundamentally different from DST's, and I think Playmates is better suited for the action figure line while DST is better suited for the ships. (Also wouldn't mind a DST Sculpt mass produced by Playmates like a couple of toys in the old days, but I'm not holding my breath there.) The latest Picard trailer has given us not only the Titan–A again, which DST could definitely do a fantastic rendition of if they could lock down a license for it, but also the Enterprise–F, (making the STO design canon no less,) and I would love to see DST take a crack at those ships if given the chance. Sure, we won't have the Enterprise–J, but this would give us every Enterprise from the original through the "F" if they can pull this off, and would basically do what I had hoped for the "C" to do; allow me to display every Federation starship Enterprise side by side showing the timeline of the ship's lineage.

 

That being said, if DST still needs someone to design ships, I recommend our own Destructor!!! Go look at his take on the Defiant; I feel like he could be the person they need to make a perfect rendition of a toy ship, especially since he's actually doing something I wish DST had done with the way he's handling lights and sounds. (Playmates style buttons that blend in seamlessly as part of the ship for lights and sounds, with DST style accuracy. The antithesis of the Playmates Kelvin Timeline 1701 that took the worst of Playmates' design elements and the worst of DST's "one button to rule them all" and made the least fun ship to date back in 2009. Playmates is back to multiple protruding buttons, and DST is sticking to the "one button to rule them all" but seeing a fan actually pull off what we've wanted for years is impressive, and at the very least, proves it can be done.)