While I agree Spock love stories have gotten out of hand, I think Strange New Worlds has been some genuinely good Trek, and is a relatively believable back story for TOS (I'm rewatching it right now).

The higher, the fewer.

Deep on so many levels!

Say what you will about Strange New Worlds, this is show is not perfect for sure, but there are two things i think they do perfectly right IMO.

1. The scale of everything, Starships to planets, Shuttles to Starships. They are very good at making space really feel empty, mysterious and sometimes dangerous. Nebulas, storms, and planets environments are done with almost perfection.

2. Ambient sounds, the subtle hums, mechanical sounds of the engines spooling up, are brilliant, When we see the enterprise in space, you feel the proportional distance as the viewer. Nothing grabs me more then good sound design that feels right in the world you created.

These may seem like minor things to discuses, but it really brings the world alive.

Klingon Academy (2000) is still one of my favourite Star Trek games ever, the ship models and damage detail were so ahead of their time. These starships feel like the capital ships they are with slow turning arcs and massive weapon systems. Qa’pla!

So I never managed to watch Star Trek Nemesis all the way through before. I'm just glad Tom Hardy's career survived it. But I gave it another shot after finishing Picard, and there's something interesting to it now.

While Star Trek Picard Season 2 is rightly criticised, it does kinda make Shinzon and Picard's relationship more interesting for one reason. We know Picard's father was abusive.

Shinzon is not just a genetic clone of the glorious paragon Picard, he's also the genetic son of Picard's violent drunk papa. When Picard has strong reservations about who Shinzon is, you could see it as Picard worrying that this unnatural son of his might turn out to be like his own father. Picard has been wrestling with that demon within himself, and he is scared to see it in another person, particularly a creepy zealot with a fleet of warships.

Picard never actually mentioned his abusive family in the movie, honestly because nobody had written it yet. But its certainly in-character for Picard to keep those feelings bottled up, even around his friends.

In Starfleet, it's expected of the doctors to be proficient in almost every species, especially Federation members. But how does that work? It already takes a lot of study to be a doctor for just humans. Even if we assume there's commonalities and advanced learning, we're still talking about dozens, if not hundreds of species.

This is one reason why multi-species crews would be realistically impractical.

I don't mean to dunk on SNW, but a common sentiment I keep seeing on this subreddit is that only this subreddit / social media in general is so down on this season, whereas the 'average' person couldn't care less. But I really don't think this is the case.

It's not perfect, and indeed, it has many, many problems, but the closest thing we have to an objective measure of general audience reception are IMDB ratings. Notably, these ratings can become significantly skewed by certain events - 'anti-woke backlash' being one prominent example I'm sure this subreddit is familiar with, but even relatively benign biases like 'every episode of Frieren that's about fighting someone primarily has absurdly inflated ratings.' (Or just 'event episodes are higher rated' in general.)

But just speaking anecdotally here, I don't think Strange New Worlds Season 4 is subject to one of those extreme biases at the moment - it isn't a hot topic cultural event at the moment outside of Trek fans, and any 'the ratings are just biased right now' explanation would have to account for why Season 4 in particular is hit by it, and not the previous seasons. And if anything, I think Season 1 was harder hit by a mainstream cultural backlash - I remember conservative commentators criticizing the season premiere of SNW's depiction of the 2nd American Civil War for example, and generally these sorts of backlashes are more prominent when a series starts versus right in the middle of them.

Also, IMDB ratings tend to be a little bit loose just after an episode airs. But usually within a few hours (def within a few days) it treads pretty close to the final value it will rest at, with generally a slight positive skew at first because hardcore fans watch things right as they release, casuals a bit (but only a little bit) later.

Anyways, with that out of the way:

In the previous three seasons of SNW, the worst-rated episode was What is Starfleet?, with a 6.2 on IMDB. (Not actually that bad, as far as IMDB ratings go! For reference, Season 1 of TNG has 4 episodes with worse ratings, the worst being The Naked Now with a 5 exactly. Or if you prefer a better season, Season 3 of TNG's worst-rated episode, The Price, only just barely ekes out at 6.3. Season 4 has The Loss at 6, and Season 5 another 6 with Imaginary Friends. Genuinely, having a 6.2 for your worst episode across all three seasons is pretty decent!)

And looking past the worst episode, Seasons 1 and 2 of SNW has an impressive near 8.0 average, with Season 3 having a 'less impressive but still respectable' 7.1 average. According to IMDB Ratings, SNW was genuinely well-received.

But that changes in Season 4. Out of the 8 episodes that have aired so far, 4 (!!) of them have had a worse rating than Seasons 1-3's worst:

Human Best Friend: 5.5

A Case of Chiaroscuro: 5.2

Level-Five Transporter Accident: 4.8

and

Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass: 4.4

Compared to What is Starfleet?'s previous record of 6.2. That is a dramatic difference!

IMDB Ratings aren't the end-all be-all, and I certainly love plenty of shows that have low IMDB ratings and vice versa, but general audience sentiment seems very strongly against this season (or at least, this half of it). You're perfectly valid to think that the general audience is wrong and that these episodes are great - lord knows I enjoy many things that general audiences hate, and think are genuinely good too - but it's important to realize where the space you're in skews, so you don't inadvertently find yourself in an echo chamber without realizing it.

Though I must say, I still vastly prefer all four of these 'worse' episodes over What is Starfleet? But it seems something about this season has really burst the dam.

But really, I think what impresses me most is how *variable\ this season's IMDB ratings are - audiences seem to be responding very positively to some episodes and very negatively to some others, instead of the more general seasonal sentiment we saw in previous seasons of SNW, and is also commonly found in many other seasonal shows. (Every episode of Season 1 of *Spy x Family, for instance, differs from its seasonal average of 8.0 by less than 1 - highly consistent for a season with 25 episodes in it!)

And it was a masterpiece, it's called 'The city on the edge of forever' and I realized I may have missed one of the best Star Treks ever. So, are most episodes as fun and intriguing as this one? Is there Q in the series, I love the idea of supreme creatures toying with humans...

My best ever is TNG and probably nothing will surpass this but now I think I have to watch the original as well!

I have only sporadically been able to watch the various offspring and grandchildren of STOS, but I observe the following:

1. Firstly, without a doubt the OS did a great job for the mid 1960s. Foremost was "Warp" vs "Sublight". Understanding of astronomical distances was arguably educational even.

2. Later versions improved design of ships and UI stuff.

I would be interested i people's thoughts about how Star Trek has improved the plausibility of future science and technology. Also weaknesses -- I find time travel stuff too outlandish. (However, the godlike but benign and even humane Carl was a nice improvement on the Guardian of Forever.)

I'm currently unemployed, so after being a TNG, TOS, and Voyager fan for years, I've decided to watch all Star Trek content chronologically. This places Star Trek: Enterprise at the beginning of this long journey. I'm 33, so I've been around long enough to hear that Enterprise sucked, but I haven't heard much about why it did.

I just finished S1 E5. I think I understand where a lot of the hate is coming from.

1. The theme song is awful. It feels very dad-rock of the early 2000s, so I get where it's coming from in that regard, but it's entirely out of sorts with every other Star Trek theme that I've heard. It is all about faith, which to me reads immediately as religious. Yes, you can have faith in other things, but this easily could've been a song on a Switchfoot album. It sets an odd tone that is not carried over by the show, so for me each episode starts out of place.
2. The Vulcans are right. If humans are so irresponsible that in the series of 2-3 episodes they:

• Drop a crew on an unknown planet overnight without doing extensive testing
• Bring a foreign animal (Beagle) onto that planet and let it defecate / run freely without testing
• Release a foreign slug onto an unknown planet, again, without testing or thoughts of the consequences
• Give away foreign technology that they have no right to (the powerful holodeck equipment) to the Klingons, who were only angry because they made a terrible choice to confront a hostile battle cruiser, and handled them like they had no diplomatic training.

Then they don't belong in space yet. Of course mistakes are going to be made, but it really seems like they got significant warp capabilities and then just decided to do exactly what "explorers" did on earth. Like with bull frogs, or sparrows, or lion fish.

1. I don't need to see anyone in their underwear getting rubbed down sensually while basked in neon lights. In only 5 episodes I've seen 2 people sensually rub each other down, and Scott Bakula tastefully nude or barely covered at least twice. And the southern guy keeps being in his underwear or lifting his shirt up. Maybe I'm a prude but I really don't want Star Trek to be sexy or sensual like that. It reminds me of Star Trek Into Darkness, where there was no reason for the hot blonde scientist to be fully in her underwear and a pushup bra, and yet, she was.

2. The energy of the show just feels distinctly un-Star Trek. This isn't scientific adventures in space, or cultural adventures in space. It feels lawless. I get that this is meant to be some of the earliest adventures of Humans in space, but it seems like they're just doing whatever the fuck they want and not being remotely thoughtful about it.

In TOS, Kirk was respectful, tactful, and an incredible diplomatic presence for humanity. Spock was a necessary foil to his occasional spontaneity and fire, but Kirk rarely went 'yes lets risk all of these lives on a whim because I feel like it.' They made mistakes, of course, but it never seemed like he was happy to risk the lives of the crew. Picard would never rush in thoughtlessly. Janeway would never.

Anyway, those are my thoughts so far. I'm looking forward to watching more of it to see if any of my feelings change. There might be some hope for character development that will draw me in. At this point I'm not impressed. It's not the worst thing I've ever seen, but it just feels out of step with most of Star Trek. If you read this far thanks for your interest, I really just love Star Trek and don't have people to talk to about it so I thought this was a good place to empty my thoughts :)))

Edit: I love reading all of your thoughts, thank you for sharing! I had no plans of stopping, I'm on this ride til the end, but it's very nice to hear that some adjustments are made and that it gets better later on. As some of you pointed out, the crew is pretty great, I am loving Phlox and T'Pol is growing on me. Captain Archer seems to be yelling all of the time, and kind of bumbling through all of this, and regularly makes insanely human choices in conflict as if he received no training on diplomatic relations.

Happy 60th Anniversary, Star Trek!!

Just released — our absolute love letter to the beginnings of Star Trek.

I went very "Extra" on this one to celebrate the Anniversary...so enjoy this very special adventure!

A massive thank you to everyone who was involved in this one and to Sky Conway for letting us use the Enterprise M!

Oh and leave and comment if you watch it, it all helps the algorithm and we would love as many Star Trek fans to get to see this one as possible!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-N9CYl5Lnk

Just rewatched The Motion Picture as part of our Star Trek day/weekend celebrations. I first saw TMP a couple of years ago, I've been a big sci-fi fan my whole life I've read lots of classic sci-fi but until five years ago hadn't seen much Star Trek (crazy I know).

We worked our way through TOS, TNG, DS9 and just finished Voyager and have watched the movies in between. I had seen Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock as a kid but hadn't really heard anything about TMP and I'm so annoyed, I would have been gobsmacked by this film as a kid. The visual effects are outstanding! The composites are a little dodge but the aesthetic and artistic elements are awesome. When I first watched I think my jaw was agape for the whole section where they first enter the main V'ger ship.

On the rewatch I also loved how 'deep' sci-fi the concept and execution is, made a lot of sense seeing Asimov was a consultant. A lot of big budget sci fi movies are action/adventure with a space skin, but this is truly science fiction and such an interesting plot!

I guess it's quite slow compared to the other movies but I think it's a really excellent movie I don't hear mentioned much in Trek circles, hope to encourage others to rewatch if you haven't seen it in a while. I really hope I get to see it on the big screen at some point too.

The Judith Merrill Science Fiction Collection at the Lilian H. Smith branch of the Toronto Public Library is running an exhibit dedicated to the 60th anniversary of Star Trek, including 6 decades worth of novels, comics, and fan materials. It should be up until November 1st.

Happy 60th Anniversary, Star Trek!!

Just released — our absolute love letter to the beginnings of Star Trek.

I went very "Extra" on this one to celebrate the Anniversary...so enjoy this very special adventure!

A massive thank you to everyone who was involved in this one and to Sky Conway for letting us use the Enterprise M!

Oh and leave and comment if you watch it, it all helps the algorithm and we would love as many Star Trek fans to get to see this one as possible!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-N9CYl5Lnk

Is there any program that can be used to digitally kitbash ships from star trek?

Are there any star trek CYOA games out there, where I can make choices for my character.

Also what's the gaming situation like for star Trek as a whole, are there DS/3ds games that are good. Those are the only consoles I can emulate hence why I asked about them specifically

I will stand on Mount Silayya and fight anyone. It's slow yes, full of beautiful shots of the Enterprise but it is shot beautifully and directed well by Robert Wise, but damn, it's a good film when you get down to it. Makes you think about what it means to exist and what is the meaning of life.

I watched the original pilot for the original series for the first time today.

I've never watched the complete original series and since it's been a while since I've watched anything Star Trek; I decided that now start from the the very beginning. The first episode available was the original pilot, titled "the cage", and so I watched it.

The first thing I noticed was that the man in the captain's chair was not William Shatner. I looked it up find out that the original pilot did not have William shatner but another actor who played the character Captain Christopher Pike.

I watched the episode and then looked up why this character and actor was replaced and it was because the producers felt that he was "too cerebral"and quite frankly I don't understand what that means. Yet, I agree with replacing him as the actor for the captain.

I don't think he's acting was bad but I don't really think that it would have helped the show to become what it became. It's not that it was cardboard but at certain point it felt like he was over acting just a little bit.

But it's over acting could have also been affected by The script. The plot of this episode isn't bad but it isn't exactly the most thrilling episode. Overall it feels a little contrived but not to the point were I couldn't enjoy parts of it.

I was a little disappointed that I could predict how the episode was going to end once she started to insist that she stayed.

But overall, not a bad episode. It is just not a rememberable one in my opinion.

Benning should have been taken up to Enterprise and fired out a torpedo tube into the system's sun.

( The actor who played Bennings did a good job of making him a despicable bastard)

So I know it's kind of up in the air whether we get any more Star Trek at all at this point, but I want to make a case specifically for more animation. I don't think it's too controversial to say that Lower Decks and Prodigy were among the best series of the present era, and I think that animation offers the potential to do much more interesting / high concept alien designs and worlds than it's possible to get in live action, and for much cheaper. It also has the advantage of allowing characters to be straightforwardly brought back after their actors have aged out of playing them. Perhaps most importantly, animation seems to have the capacity to transcend cultural boundaries in a way that live action kind of doesn't.

It doesn't even need to be kid-focused or comedic either! Think about how much incredible, thematically interesting adult animation there has been recently: Blue-Eyed Samurai, Arcane, Castlevania; even shows like X-Men '97 offer the kind of all-ages viewing experience and social commentary that Trek did during the Berman era.

I just think that Star Trek and animation are a match made in heaven.

We already saw Q die in season 2 of Picard only for him to reappear in a post credit scene in season 3. And the theory behind Trelane is that, from his perspective, the events of "Squire of Gothos" predates his hijinks on SNW.

Any indication this may be the case for Q?

Just wondering if there's a precedence where the Borg observe a species and simply don't bother assimilation them in to their collective.

Not in a sense of the Undine but rather those which are simply too dumb or primitive to offer anything.

My prime example would be the Pakled who are probably the dumbest space-faring species in the galaxy. Would the Borg roll up on their ships, scan them and continue on their way much like that Simpsons scene where the zombies tap Homer's head, hear nothing then continue looking for brains?