Amph [NERRRD] Observations, rhetorical questions, comments & 55 Years of Star Trek (General Thread)

If aliens from outer space ever come and we show them our civilization and they make fun of it, we should say we were just kidding,
that this isn't really our civilization, but a gag we hoped they would like. Then we tell them to come back in twenty years to see
our REAL civilization. After that, we start a crash program of coming up with an impressive new civilization. Either that, or just shoot
down the aliens as they're waving good-bye.

-- Deep Thoughts, by Jack Handey

 

Voyage Home is so darn good, one of the various reasons is because it's just a really fun, quippy flick. Also it's a super-quippy flick that has Star Trek actors in it. Also considering how many quips has been in Star Trek since the 1960s, they finally did a movie where, screw it, let the actors riff. But there is a truly deep Star Trek story at the heart of the film. And it also serves as a decent coda for TWOK. And it's awesome.

I'm actually totally okay if the 4th Bad Robot Trek flick slashes the budget. Star Trek does some gold when under a restricted budget and also I would be totally okay if there was a TVH-esque movie with the Kelvin Timeline crew that just let them riff. Star Trek Beyond came close but need moar riffing, dammit!

 

Netflix Canada had the red "New Episodes!" banner underneath "Star Trek", which was a really What the H moment. Wow, Netflix IS pretty powerful if they can make new episodes of Star Trek!

Turns out it's only 1 episode, and it's The Cage. And they put it as the very first episode. Not quite sure how I feel about that, let's say someone decides "I'm going to give this Star Trek show with Kirk and the colourful uniforms a try!" and they boot up the first episode and get Pike and salmon turtlenecks. And then a few episodes later, they get basically the same episode again in a two-parter! Now, I'm not sure if this person exists but could be a thing.

 

BBCAmerica is airing episodes of TOS.

 

I'm getting caught up again. Sept. 15th marked the premiere date of two important Spock-centered episodes.

In 1967, on TOS, it was "Amok Time":


And in 1973, on TAS, it was "Yesteryear":

 

Indeed, BBC America is airing TOS in addition to TNG like they have been doing. I got to see several episodes over the 50th Anniversary weekend, including Balance of Terror, Errand of Mercy, The City on the Edge of Forever, Catspaw, The Trouble with Tribbles, Amok Time, The Doomsday Machine, Space Seed, I, Mudd, and Mirror, Mirror. I had seen several of these episodes over the years, but it was refreshing to see something more than TNG. I even saw Encounter at Farpoint, which was on in the middle of the night during the Anniversary weekend and proved that Riker was amazing from the very beginning.

 

Encounter at Far Point? Ugh. IMO, Patrick Stewart was the only good thing about it.

 

You're forgetting something...


(Please forgive the poor quality; it's the best I could find of just that scene.)

 

OK, two good things about Far Point.

 

Hey now? Q showed up too!

 

And Q+everything=better

 

Wow TNG 30th anniversary next year! Time flys!

 

I didn't care much for season 1 Q. He got much better as time went on and deLancie and the writers got a better grasp of the character and his sense of humor.

 

Picard was fascinating, especially with Q testing humanity, and the dynamic between Riker and Troi was interesting.

 

Yes, time flies when you're under sedation.

 

I like Encounter at Farpoint for A) introduction of the TNG crew B) Q. The "Mystery of Farpoint Station" plot is definitely a bit of bunk. As I found out with that Panic on the Bridge documentary, Gene Roddeberry rewrote the script to make it 2 hours and added Q, although the original writer of the episode, D.C. Fontana was't a fan of adding Q. (she also worked on TOS and wrote the only TAS episode I think that I really dig and stands with TOS' upper level stuff which is Yesteryear).

 

She also wrote Journey to Babel, which may be my favorite episode of all Treks ever.

 

On this date in 1968:

 

So CBS and Viacom may merge. Important, how? Well, Viacom owns Paramount. The Paramount / CBS split in the mid 2000s was what led to splitting Star Trek TV and movies to different companies but if they're all under the same umbrella again, some back and forth between movies (and Star Trek TV shows leading into movies like TOS and TNG did) may have much less red tape than it has for a decade or so. No more sitting through a CBS logo at the end of Star Trek episodes, back to the Paramount DAH-DAH-DAH-DAHHHH! mountain thingie.

 

Cue up Star Trek transporter accident puns / tweets / headlines

 

Remarriage can be a wonderful thing.........



Can.

 

On this date in 1987...

 

Why didn't the TNG gals keep the skirts is what I wanna know. No, this is not a reason to post the Enterprise-D guy in the skirt pic in response.