Octopus Overlords

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:16 am

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:07 am I'm watching this finally. I know it is good when the action starts with the former ship's doctor in a desperate shootout. (Sorry if I'm spoiling the very first scene!).

Even better when she has a pump action laser rifle. I guess you need to charge it with a quick pump to generate the energy to disintegrate an adversary. The future is so retro!

Edit: I posted too quick. It also has a helpful feature that blares out that you are out of ammo. I need to buckle in - it appears this show is going down a rabbit hole of dumb quickly.

Is that Picard season 3?

Of course it is!

(Edit: Sorry if that comes across harsh - more exasperation that they've dialed up the dumb to this level already.)

Oh, don't get me wrong with my earlier post. Picard season 3 is still full of the dumb. But at least two episodes in, I don't feel like grabbing a baseball bat, making a shotgun pump sound, then beating the shit out of my tv.

But again, two episodes in...

I find the addition of the shotgun sound effect to be oddly placed.



And oddly familiar.

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:19 am

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:16 am

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:07 am I'm watching this finally. I know it is good when the action starts with the former ship's doctor in a desperate shootout. (Sorry if I'm spoiling the very first scene!).

Even better when she has a pump action laser rifle. I guess you need to charge it with a quick pump to generate the energy to disintegrate an adversary. The future is so retro!

Edit: I posted too quick. It also has a helpful feature that blares out that you are out of ammo. I need to buckle in - it appears this show is going down a rabbit hole of dumb quickly.

Is that Picard season 3?

Of course it is!

(Edit: Sorry if that comes across harsh - more exasperation that they've dialed up the dumb to this level already.)

Have they gotten into the "Worf as a pacifist" stuff yet? I'm curious how dumb they will make that.

I think I'm just reacting to coming in ready for dumb and then being clubbed over the head with the pump action sound baseball bat in the first scene. I almost can't get past that she had to pump a laser rifle between each shot. After completing the first episode, I think I just need to acknowledge to myself that I am no longer the audience for this franchise. I also don't know if an audience for it exists and part of me hopes there isn't one.

hepcat wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:55 am Oh, don't get me wrong with my earlier post. Picard season 3 is still full of the dumb. But at least two episodes in, I don't feel like grabbing a baseball bat, making a shotgun pump sound, then beating the shit out of my tv.

But again, two episodes in...

I know the feeling The first two seasons were a frustrating watch.

Id watch it if I had access and friends to watch with. I mean we should be thankful to have these shows. Theres no one forcing anyone to watch. I know we'd like them to be better but we got what we got. Id love some B5 stuff or Last Starfighter the series stuff.

People are paying to watch these, Dae. I think it's fair to have valid criticisms and not just take them because it's got the name slapped on them. I mean, surely if you've waited a long time for something new to come out of your favourite franchise only to be disappointed after paying for a service to access it, you'd likely be complaining too. It's normal to expect quality out of something.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 12:21 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:19 am

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:16 am

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:07 am I'm watching this finally. I know it is good when the action starts with the former ship's doctor in a desperate shootout. (Sorry if I'm spoiling the very first scene!).

Even better when she has a pump action laser rifle. I guess you need to charge it with a quick pump to generate the energy to disintegrate an adversary. The future is so retro!

Edit: I posted too quick. It also has a helpful feature that blares out that you are out of ammo. I need to buckle in - it appears this show is going down a rabbit hole of dumb quickly.

Is that Picard season 3?

Of course it is!

(Edit: Sorry if that comes across harsh - more exasperation that they've dialed up the dumb to this level already.)

Have they gotten into the "Worf as a pacifist" stuff yet? I'm curious how dumb they will make that.

I want Worf as an Amway salesman. Vertical marketing would be so Kahless.

Saw a clip where Picard tells Riker what to call him. I loved that.

hepcat wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 6:40 pm

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 12:21 pm

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:19 am

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:16 am

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 11:07 am I'm watching this finally. I know it is good when the action starts with the former ship's doctor in a desperate shootout. (Sorry if I'm spoiling the very first scene!).

Even better when she has a pump action laser rifle. I guess you need to charge it with a quick pump to generate the energy to disintegrate an adversary. The future is so retro!

Edit: I posted too quick. It also has a helpful feature that blares out that you are out of ammo. I need to buckle in - it appears this show is going down a rabbit hole of dumb quickly.

Is that Picard season 3?

Of course it is!

(Edit: Sorry if that comes across harsh - more exasperation that they've dialed up the dumb to this level already.)

Have they gotten into the "Worf as a pacifist" stuff yet? I'm curious how dumb they will make that.

I want Worf as an Amway salesman. Vertical marketing would be so Kahless.

What would be great is that changes in the timeline from last season have caused car batteries to be a popular 24th century snack, so Worf goes into business and becomes a car battery distributor to restaurant chains across the galaxy.

Chik-fil-AAA

Watt-a-burger

KFC-cell

Hooters

…that last one isn’t a pun. I truly believe that in the 25th century Hooters will still be around.

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 12:29 pm After completing the first episode, I think I just need to acknowledge to myself that I am no longer the audience for this franchise. I also don't know if an audience for it exists and part of me hopes there isn't one.

I hope you’re just talking about Picard. Discovery, Strange New Worlds and Lower Deck are all pretty good.

I have REALLY got to watch SNW someday. What I have seen and heard are amazing. Takes me back to TOS.

As for Worf....not sure why fans think what they do or get mad at stuff they should know better.

hepcat wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 9:38 pm Chik-fil-AAA

Watt-a-burger

KFC-cell

Hooters

…that last one isn’t a pun. I truly believe that in the 25th century Hooters will still be around.

malchior wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 12:29 pm After completing the first episode, I think I just need to acknowledge to myself that I am no longer the audience for this franchise. I also don't know if an audience for it exists and part of me hopes there isn't one.

I hope you’re just talking about Picard. Discovery, Strange New Worlds and Lower Deck are all pretty good.

Yeah Picard. Discovery and Strange New Worlds I am a fan of. I'm not a fan of Lower Deck but not because it is dumb. I'm talking about any experiments where they need to dumb down things to make it more accessible. Luckily Picard is ending and I hope they get enough feedback to realize they can't insult the audience even if they layer in tons of nostalgia. I am a little concerned that Strange New Worlds will go that way. Akiva Goldsman is involved after all and I think he's the problem.

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 12:21 pm Have they gotten into the "Worf as a pacifist" stuff yet? I'm curious how dumb they will make that.

He declares that he's more of a pacifist now... but he says that with a huge sword strapped to his back. I think it will be just fine.

malchior wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 9:15 am
Yeah Picard.

Initially I thought you were talking about all the current Star Trek shows and took offensive. I fired off a terse reply after thinking you were calling me dumb...then realized you might just be talking about Picard. Glad I revised my reply.

...although everyone here will probably still say I'm dumb.

malchior wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 9:15 am I'm not a fan of Lower Deck but not because it is dumb. I'm talking about any experiments where they need to dumb down things to make it more accessible.

Go back to the early days of this thread and you'll see me rail against Lower Decks. I absolutely hated it at first. Then I went back and gave it another chance. It's at that point that I realized it's basically just one big Easter Egg for old fans. After that, I stopped caring about the goofiness and started realizing that they're really trying for irreverent fun that STILL tries to mimic the feel of old school Trek.

Unagi wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 9:18 am

El Guapo wrote: ↑Wed Mar 01, 2023 12:21 pm Have they gotten into the "Worf as a pacifist" stuff yet? I'm curious how dumb they will make that.

He declares that he's more of a pacifist now... but he says that with a huge sword strapped to his back. I think it will be just fine.

Incidentally, that's exactly what's said in the video Dae posted above.

Discovery ending after season five.

Bittersweet. I frequently had problems with the show, but I wanted to like it. There were definitely some things I liked. I'll miss Saru, and Stammets, and Reno. I think I liked Nhan? I can't even remember. Still disappointed they didn't find a way to have Lorca or his doppelganger return.

Well…crap. But they probably want to focus on the current timeline and do away with the future one. That’s a shame as I liked having a mostly unknown universe to explore.

But let’s be honest here. If Reno and Stamets don’t get their own show, there WILL be rioting. Sure, it will be me and El Guapo, so light rioting. But we WILL tip over numerous lawn chairs until the cops arrive, at which point I’ll run like hell, pushing Guap down as I do. I’m way too pretty to survive prison.

hepcat wrote: ↑Thu Mar 02, 2023 9:19 pm Well…crap. But they probably want to focus on the current timeline and do away with the future one. That’s a shame as I liked having a mostly unknown universe to explore.

But let’s be honest here. If Reno and Stamets don’t get their own show, there WILL be rioting. Sure, it will be me and El Guapo, so light rioting. But we WILL tip over numerous lawn chairs until the cops arrive, at which point I’ll run like hell, pushing Guap down as I do. I’m way too pretty to survive prison.

Can we also work Future Admiral into the Reno / Stammets spin-off? I like him too.

I'll be sad to see the show go. Not without its flaws, but overall pretty good. But five seasons of Saru ain't bad.

I think the first season had its share of misfires. It leaned too heavily into JJ Star Trek, and don’t get me started on the crap they tried to pull with Klingons (thank goodness they realized what a shit snow that was and back tracked in season 2). But they eventually found their footing and captured the feel of Star Trek. The hopefulness, the wonder, the humanity. I’ll miss it, but I don’t feel like this is unfair. We’ve got SNW and other shows to watch still.

Yeah, it took me a while to warm up to it, but once I just learned to accept it for what it was, it was fine. I think what I felt most jarring, aside from the Klingons, was the focus on an entirely different ship and crew for the first two episodes before even getting to the Discovery. From a movie standpoint, this is fine as a way of introducing of introducing the main character, but not in a series. It took way too long . Not to mention that the first episode only was broadcast on CBS as a promo, and viewers wouldn't have had a taste of the Discovery to invite curiosity to get them to subscribe. So, I've always felt that was a weird decision on their part, and when you see it that way, it's very off-putting. And in taking too long, it created a kind of bait-and-switch scenario in which you warmed up to the crew in the first two episodes and then the tone entirely changes.

Centering the show on Bunham brought along its own faults from a storytelling perspective that skewed things heavily in her favor even when she wasn't in a position to be favored in order to move the story along. I always thought the show would have benefited from exploring some of the other characters more fully.

I really liked about 75% of the first season of Discovery, loved the second season, really liked the third... and just was so let down by the fourth. But that's about par for the course with Star Trek. I'm sad the show is ending, but five seasons is a good run. I hope the last season holds together better than the fourth. The show deserved a decent send-off.

Similarly, I really liked the first season of Picard (particularly when I binged it... that works better than the week to week), but the second season was just a complete misfire. The third season is the best so far, and looks like it's heading towards an appropriate ending for these characters.

Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks have been top notch throughout. I'm not in the target audience for Prodigy, but I like it for what it is.

I'd like to see more shows set in the early 25th Century. I worry that Paramount isn't a particularly healthy company. Someone (Apple?) needs to swing in and buy them to get this property on steady ground.

As for Picard Episode 3:

Yeah, season 3 of Picard is significantly better than season 2 already. I hope it doesn’t go off the rails, but I’ve been enjoying it so far (after the cliched setup in episode 1 that is).

hepcat wrote: ↑Fri Mar 03, 2023 8:17 pm Yeah, season 3 of Picard is significantly better than season 2 already. I hope it doesn’t go off the rails, but I’ve been enjoying it so far (after the cliched setup in episode 1 that is).

I feel like you supernaturally intuit everything I like/dislike and oppose it before I'm even aware of my own feelings.

Not enjoying Picard season 3.

It's got its problems, but it's playing to my nostalgic side. Also, season 2 was so friggin' bad that anything short of adding Captain Urkel and another new character called cousin Oliver was bound to be a relief. If you feed me nothing but dish soap and asparagus for a year, of course I'm going to be grateful when you hand me a half rotten apple the next.

And in most cases, your feelings are only formed after seeing what I've said about something.

hepcat wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 9:08 am Also, season 2 was so friggin' bad that anything short of adding Captain Urkel and another new character called cousin Oliver was bound to be a relief.

Well, he did have...

hepcat wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 9:08 am

Spoiler:

Which isn't true, we both love Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead movies, as well as fan fiction focused on Mark Wahlberg getting trapped in various machines that eventually crush/rend/burn him.

It's almost as if I'm fabricating trite and ridiculous conflict inconsistent with characters' established personalities for the sake of cheap drama LIKE PICARD.

Also, just imagine this is the big Wahl. It's cathartic:

Not going to spoiler this because it's vague and not critically relevant to the plot of episode three, but I BURST OUT LAUGHING when a certain new character is gasping for air on a sickbay bed, his whole torso heaving, and Crusher rushes over and nonchalantly says, "...I don't like what I'm seeing here. [Name], are you having trouble breathing? Does this hurt? What about this?" AS SHE JABS HIM IN THE GUT. Bear in mind, he's unable to speak. It's like getting diagnosed by the Marx Brothers.

I really just don't know where to go with the rest. I could give a point-by-point of everything that doesn't make sense or that I hate, but it would just raise my blood pressure to dangerous levels. I enjoy elements of what's going on, but the result is... stupid. It's like if you took a box of McDonald's fries, a Taco Bell Mexican pizza, and a Wendy's chocolate frosty, dumped them in a pot and made a soup, and then expected it to be good. The whole thing feels like fan fiction.

I'm not going to say it's great....I'm not even going to say it's good Star Trek...but I do want to remind you yet again that there are many, many, many, many, many, many....crap the key in any is now stuck...stupid things in all iterations of Star Trek.

Don't make me remind you these guys are canon...



I will agree with you that Captain Shaw of the Titan is a horribly written character. It's no wonder they got an actor known for his comedic villain roles to play him.

I went to dinner with some friends I haven't seen in awhile. One asked if I was watching Picard. I groaned and he pumped an imaginary laser rifle. I lost it laughing. Apparently that whole first sequence in the 1st episode struck him the same way. Complete with him remarking that the rifle yelled out that it was out of ammo.

I'm guessing it would be really dangerous to come out of warp between two close-together ships. How can they even calculate that from so far away?? But what does Sudy know.... Damn space magic.

Sudy wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:37 pm I'm guessing it would be really dangerous to come out of warp between two close-together ships. How can they even calculate that from so far away??

I hate that I'm being forced to defend Picard (even if it's in a lighthearted manner), but Federation ships warping in en masse and in formation has been a staple of Star Trek for decades. I mean, think back on the fleet warping in to confront Borg Cubes. They do it all the time. It may be difficult, but it looks cool to the enemy, I guess.

This season of Picard isn't great, but (so far) it hasn't been a disaster on par with season 2. However, we're only a few episodes in. There's still time for emo Borgs, goofy ass time travel and excruciatingly long dream sequences to make an appearance.

The series ending ep has Stewart step out of the shower, hug his wife, and say "I had the weirdest dream last night...."

Daehawk wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:53 pm The series ending ep has Stewart step out of the shower, hug his wife, and say "I had the weirdest dream last night...."

"...Daehawk and I were wrapped up together in a blanket in front of a roaring fire"

hepcat wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:45 pm There's still time for emo Borgs, goofy ass time travel and excruciatingly long dream sequences to make an appearance.

Yep, remember it only takes one Borg car battery-like scene to undo it all. Thank goodness there's no Allison Pill in sight this season. But at the very least, Terry Matalas seems to be a decent director who seems to understand what's needed for this season. He seems to be a good pick to direct this season.

hepcat wrote: ↑Sat Mar 04, 2023 3:45 pm I hate that I'm being forced to defend Picard (even if it's in a lighthearted manner), but Federation ships warping in en masse and in formation has been a staple of Star Trek for decades. I mean, think back on the fleet warping in to confront Borg Cubes. They do it all the time. It may be difficult, but it looks cool to the enemy, I guess.

I don't remember threading the eye of the needle like that though. Warping in between two ships to block a weapon volley? Seems ridiculous that you could get the timing right from so far away. To me, this is "seeing a planet explode from the surface of a different planet" stupid. But I know hijinks have occurred plent of times in the past.... Just nothing this nutty that comes immediately to mind.

The Borg cube battle had ships warping in practically on top of each other. But over the years they’ve done the whole “fleet arrives in the nick of time” shot when they need a scene to rouse the audience. And they usually arrive in even closer proximity to each other. It’s just a cinematic thing.

Personally I prefer the Romulan method of being there ahead of time….but cloaked. Then dropping cloak to scare people shitless.