Television Discussion

Discussion in 'The Guru's Pub' started by stereoman, Apr 6, 2019.

  1. Hypernaut

    Hypernaut Master Guru

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    Not yet. Does it retain that spirit of hope and some lessons on life? Is it without the SJW crap being forced upon the viewer?
     
  2. KissSh0t

    KissSh0t Ancient Guru

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    Alex Kurtzman being involved is all I need to know.......
     
  3. Loobyluggs

    Loobyluggs Ancient Guru

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    It is a recommendation from me.

    When it comes to Star Trek; that, is the highest praise known to man.

    Y'see - I do not want to be bitter, old and resentful, who does? So, when watching this I simply gender-flipped everything in my head and said "Under the identical situations in the original show, does this stack up?" and the answer is yes.

    Do not get me wrong though, it does ride the line very very very carefully, and I think they really thought about the 'SJW problem', in that, they know people will watch it and ask the question as to whether a character was forced into a role, or, whether the character has any weight or depth to them.

    So - let's ask the question "Am I being critical of a character because I think they have been SJW'd into a role, or, am I being critical of the quality of the writing?"

    As all characters have wants, wishes, needs and desires, goals, and dramatic conflict with themselves on some level or another, I must concede the characters are not 'SJW' characters. However, it does seem surprising they have given the female characters the first-line/last-line in every scene, and all important dialogue is delivered by a female.

    This, under no circumstances means the characters are all great and I love them all - far from it, but; it does mean they are actually characters. That's all I need them to be.

    With DISC, can anyone here genuinely tell me what any of the characters do when they are not on duty? Seriously: it's an honest question!

    TNG: Worf would be doing something on the holodeck with monsters. Riker would be cooking, playing cards or socialising with the women. Crusher would be tap dancing, doing personal science experiments like growing spores and fungai or something horticultural-directed in some way. Data and Geordie would be playing Sherlock Homes, painting, some cool experiment in engineering, or discussing the subties of human interraction.

    WTF was Burnham doing when not on duty? Y'see the problem? Bunham was not a character. Actress = fine; character and dialogue = zero on both counts.

    They have been very subtle with their blocking, too. So, they will for example; have a female sit in the captains chair (standard procedure when you control the bridge of a ship) yet, when they filmed it, it was not someone just sitting down in a chair, it is someone sitting in a chair like' as if, they are sitting down in the US oval office behind the big desk, with a sweeping wide shot and dramatic music playing...even though the character is just sitting down.
    The actress has clearly been told to sit down very very very slowly, too - for no reason. It's a chair. You are on duty and you have the bridge to command as part of your job. There is no need or reason to sit down so slowly and dramatically. So - that is one I will place into 'that box' but I am okay with it, if it means more women will be into science fiction - yet I know for a fact that some women will see it for what it is and reject it.

    It is the equivalent of opening a door for a women, when by doing so are stating that she cannot open it for herself. It's passive sexism.

    What I am getting at is, I think they have found a way to keep women interested in Star Trek without resorting to making it about SJW 2010 BS (remember that noise?), which for some reason is the case with Picard and DISC.

    Picard (I strongly believe) is the result of the following conundrum: you want to write and direct a Star Trek teevee show with Sir Patrick Stewart, yet he will not do it unless you pay him lots of money and allow him to dictate the stories.

    In the confusion with the writers and the show forerunners, Picard the teevee show was just dreadful, illogical plot-lines which did not make any sense in the Star Trek universe. A similar situation was with DISC, but I think this was a problem with Alex Kurtzman, who has always pushed for the 'enemy in our midst' elements of story telling.

    Alex just wanted to make CSI: Star Trek::internal investigations. Or more accurately, bring back the 'Section 31' BS plotlines from ENT, which is why Burnham was a member of this crap.

    I never liked the "Section 31" idea, and always felt that such things as 'secret societies' would have been completely impossible in the 22nd,23rd,24th centuries and (let's be honest here) with things like Holodeck technology and the erosion of war, disease, famine, the entire concept of money - there would not be a thirst for power and control!

    "Want to go and make some dastardly plot against The Federation?"

    "No thanks, I got a date with the cast of Baywatch from the early 1990's on the holodeck. We're just gonna hang out in the hot tub, then go fishing for Tuna, and have a sunset pollution-free Californian bar-b-q"

    See what I mean?

    As I said early in this thread, Star Trek is about Humankind going out into the cosmos and finding Alien life still grappling with the problem that humans have solved!

    Alex Kurtsman is apparently AGAINST this idea, and thinks that having something like "Section 31" makes total sense and should be pursued and become an integral part of all plotlines! LUNACY!

    I strongly suspect that Alex was one of those kids who had a big tree house, and all the kids wanted to play in it - yet, he created his own 'secret society' and only let certain kids play there, with lots of rules and regulations...maybe even a committee.

    You think I'm kidding? Let me ask you the question, what did he decide to call his company?

    It has become too easy to be overly critical of Star Trek, and to reject any new characters because there would be (on the balance of probabilities) all chance they were 'SJW' characters - but instead I will only criticise one of the actors, mainly because I think they were incorrectly cast for the role they got, and, I think their story progression and resolution is far too heavy handed and predictable.

    They can act - yet, they were the wrong person for the role. I also have a hard time understanding their clunky dialogue. This actor should have a more sardonic tone to them, not be how they were written, I think that actor has much much much greater range to them, yet, they have been given essentially a sombre character to portray - bad choice.

    Nurse Chapel is totally wrong, in every way possible for the character. The role of Nurse Chapel was very predictable and low-level, being the sharp other-side of the doctors knife - yet here they have given her more lines than I can remember from the original series, in the space of 3 episodes!

    A common line of dialogue from the original series was along the lines of:

    (Spock is lying on a biobed, with a bandage around his head and life-support equipment over his
    torso.)

    MCCOY: Now.
    CHAPEL: Functioning.
    MCCOY: Thank God.
    KIRK: Spock. What happened?
    CHAPEL: I found him on the table.


    That's it - that is her entire amount of lines in the entire episode "Spocks Brain"

    CHAPEL: Doctor. Life function indicators. They've started a sharp drop again.
    MCCOY: Stimulants. I don't know how long we can keep this up.

    CHAPEL: Doctor, they seem to be stabilising.
    MCCOY: But at a dangerously low level. Well, we're still alive. I suppose that's something.


    And that was all of her lines from "The Immunity Syndrome"

    Now, if we go to SNW, she has a lot of not just shots, but lines, plots; calls to action etc - for no reason at all.

    To me (based on the original series) we only went to sickbay when there was sickbay stuff to do - but now, we go there to hang out and have lots of 'talking' scenes that do not really connect with the main plot of the show.

    Anyway, I do not want to be bitter - so I will gladly take a Star Trek teevee show that is flawed, so long as it involves aliens and ethical dilemmas - which this does.

    PICC, DISC, those cartoons, "section 31" and Alex Kurtzman can all fade into obscurity forever.

    I just want high quality Science Fiction - which is also why you absolutely must watch Severance, before someone gives away the ending of the first season to you and totally and completely and utterly ruin the entire first season for you.

    I would also like to say to HH, that if anyone ruins the ending of the first season of Severance, that they should be perma-banned from these forums forever!

    That show is gonna win every award, and OMFG the cinematography and blocking is pitch-perfect, truly excellent work from Jessica Lee Gagné and Ben Stiller (who knew he had it in him? )

    Seriously, Severance is the most original piece of science fiction I have seen in years, and has one of the best ethical dilemmas, which is something (as I've said before) a former colleague and I spoke about before.

    Sorry for rambling, but I like sci-fi :)
     
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  4. XP-200

    XP-200 Ancient Guru

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    It's ok, believe it or not, SNV actually captures TOS spirt, and the characters are also likeable like TOS, the whole show is almost the 4th season of TOS, and this is the show we should have got first, instead of the trash that is STD or the character assassinating mess that is Picard.......SNV is just great, and no more JJ pew pew phasers, we are back to beams baby, like it should have always been. ;)
     

  5. XenthorX

    XenthorX Ancient Guru

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    Severance was so good, i was glued to the screen looking forward to each new episode, it's been a while.
    They were all very satisfying episodes also, which is far from being the case in most the shows i watch.
    Most recent example that come to mind is the Halo serie, what a terrible editing of episodes, out of 9 episodes, probably 2 of them had satisfying ending.
     
    Last edited: Jun 12, 2022
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  6. Loobyluggs

    Loobyluggs Ancient Guru

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    I know, right?

    That final episode was like a ticking time bomb of tension...edge of the seat all the way, f'king amazing writing.

    I bet it made Hitchcock smile.
     
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  7. Loobyluggs

    Loobyluggs Ancient Guru

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    I'll tell you what that show also has done, is made The Orville look like low budget fan fiction...jus' sayin'
     
  8. Clouseau

    Clouseau Ancient Guru

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    Severance is coming across so strange. I am drawn in but out of morbid curiosity more than anything else. Am at the end of episode six. Did I say this show was strange...oof. So far you all have said the season ending makes the whole season worthwhile. Hope so. Because so far the take is pure cult indoctrination; stab at the whole L.R. Hubbard group with elements of Free Masons thrown in. Just a very strange show so far.
     
  9. XenthorX

    XenthorX Ancient Guru

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    Just watched latest ObiWan episode, probably the best one so far. The music is good, VFX, sounds, costumes, actors, light,...
    But the cinematography, the shot blocking, is terribly uneven. In every episode so far there's one point where i ask myself "why did they include this shot, it looks terrible!". The Mandalorian looks better overall.
     
  10. DannyD

    DannyD Ancient Guru

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  11. DannyD

    DannyD Ancient Guru

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    Chernobyl the lost tapes is a good watch, vry sad.
     
  12. DannyD

    DannyD Ancient Guru

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  13. MaCk0y

    MaCk0y Maha Guru

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    We Own this City. Great acting by John Bernthal and a couple of other actors from The Wire make a return. It is a bit confusing with the jumping around different timelines. I doubt it though, that back in 2015, the BPD were using Windows 10. :p
     
  14. fredgml7

    fredgml7 Master Guru

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    Wow! The Wire is a materpiace. Is We Own this City at the same level?
    For those who like The Wire I recommend The Shield which is a little better IMO.
     
  15. KissSh0t

    KissSh0t Ancient Guru

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  16. Kwok

    Kwok Guest

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    Just finished the resident evil thing on Netflix. Was a first time watching any Zombie Apocalypse for me. It was entertaining enough for me to finish it. Not really my cup of tea.
    Been watching alot of the South Korean Drama stuff... cops and bad guys kind of thing. Grayman was pretty decent its a new one.
     
  17. KissSh0t

    KissSh0t Ancient Guru

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  18. KissSh0t

    KissSh0t Ancient Guru

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    Just moving from Movies thread, had originally thought it was a movie but it's actually a series.

    Looks interesting.

     
  19. Horus-Anhur

    Horus-Anhur Ancient Guru

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    Fortunately, it seems that show is going to be cancelled after just one season.
     
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  20. Dragam1337

    Dragam1337 Ancient Guru

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    House of the dragon, episode 1 - very promising start ! Very much getting early season GoT vibes, albeit higher pace (a tiny bit too high pace imo)
     

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