Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1901
Not a Star Trek fan but just wanted to chime in in support of physical media. I’d probably be categorised as a SJW snowflake because of my age but I agree with you that movies shouldn’t be banned for their content. Usually I ignore such posts, and part of me does feel like such posts whether on forums or news sites are simply there to cause unrest and never being motivated by genuine feelings.

On the subject of physical media I’m personally slightly concerned with subscriptions services. If Netflix goes down for instance, what happens to all their original content? The Witcher and Dark Crystal are being produced by Netflix and I’m hoping they both get Blu-Ray releases because if I ever cancel my Netflix subscription I want to be able to enjoy those series.

Even Disney is releasing its own subscription service and the BBC here in the UK had announced its plans to create a subscription service.

I dislike the trend toward subscription services. There’s nothing wrong with them inherently but physical media does seem to be slowly dying and it’s death seems to be perpetuated by these services - hopefully it won’t die in my lifetime though.
"All those moments will be lost, in time... like tears, in the rain..."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1902
Lindir, one's age doesn't determine SJW Snowflake membership...it's the behaviour.
I know quite a few of them in my *ahem* age group.

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1904
Deimos wrote: Wed Aug 07, 2019 7:47 am Lindir, one's age doesn't determine SJW Snowflake membership...it's the behaviour.
I know quite a few of them in my *ahem* age group.
The narrative in some newspapers and news sites and social media places and the likes here in the UK is that all millennial types such as myself are SJW snowflakes. No exceptions haha. I figured it might have been the same everywhere.

I care about social matters but there’s a time and place for them and some stories are better suited to those topics than others. Also like I said in my previous post, we shouldn’t seek to ban things or pull down statues because it goes against our own personal political values. But of course even if you try and be balanced about it they tend to get upset about that too 🙄

But back to the subject matter of physical media: I want physical media forever. Ronin, I don’t know anyone who buys music CDs anymore or heck, I don’t know anyone who actually buys music anymore. The majority of them stream music through Spotify and the like. It’s very sad and I know the music industry is suffering considerably.
"All those moments will be lost, in time... like tears, in the rain..."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1905
One more voice in favor of physical media!

The day it's all solely streaming is the day Hollywood can tie you over a barrel and, well, take your wallet away from you. Especially that certain giant that hides behind an insipid mouse character. In fact, they've already tried it. They tried to put streaming versions of movies on "moratorium," by ordering Apple to lock them up in iTunes for people who'd already bought them. There was an outcry and they backed off, but it will happen again.

My worry now, actually, is that even though we have blurays, that Hollywood forces the equipment manufacturers to put through firmware updates that require subscriptions to watch discs you already own outright.

We don't discuss politics in this forum, but since Lindir mentioned the UK, I have to say, I worry for you guys. Nothing good is going to come out of the Brexit crisis, not matter which way it goes. I would say, I can't imagine what that feels like, but I can, since we're awfully divided over here over our own problems. In any event, I hope all goes well!
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1906
Yeh it’s a very anxious time regarding Brexit. It’s a mess and the campaigns back in 2016 were very extremist on both sides. But you’re right, if we go snivelling back to the EU we would lose whatever power we had and have to deal with the shame and stigma of rebelling and ultimately being quashed. If we leave, it could go very wrong.

I’m currently trying to ignore it in the hopes that if I pretend it’s not happening it won’t affect me. Which is incredibly stupid I know but I think political issues combined with personal emotional/financial/life issues, we’re all feeling anxious even those who voted to leave.

It’ll be nice to stop talking about it which just makes me want to get it over and done with either way. There’s so many other things that need addressing but politics in the UK has been Brexit centric since 2016.

Anyhow, let’s get this topic back on track. I’ll end the political discussion.

Also let’s hope that the Blu-ray subscription service you talk about never happens. What is physical media like in the US/Canada and other places where our members are from?

Here in the UK you can still buy DVDs. I’m not entirely sure why we didn’t try and phase those out and do a bigger push toward Blu-Ray. As it stands, any new release you can probably pick it up on DVD, Blu-Ray, 3D Blu-ray and now 4K Blu-ray.
"All those moments will be lost, in time... like tears, in the rain..."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1907
I'm an advocate for owning physical media, even if the accumulation thereof presents an ever-growing storage problem. Digital format simply presents too many unknowables in terms of availability and accessibility. I get the convenience and freeing yourself from clutter, but I don't like the loss of control and ownership. It's also extremely irritating that so much content is being spread across so many services. I don't want to pay for something that gives me access to just a handful of movies I like. While that may seem cheaper than buying them outright, when you take into account how everyone and their dog is claiming their movie libraries back and splitting everything up into a hundred different subscription services, it gets pretty ridiculous. Let me just pick what I want to watch off the shelf and not worry about who owns it and what service I need to sign up for in order to watch it.

One form of entertainment I've begun to transition a little more into digital is my Xbox and computer games. Not sure why I make that distinction from movies, but it might have to do with the fact that services like Steam (for PC), and Xbox Gold constantly offer impossible to refuse sales on their games over download as opposed to picking up physical copies at the store. With the average price of a game being around $70 over $25 for a movie, the savings becomes harder to ignore when those games are being discounted online for about 50% off.

As for what might be different over in the US/Canada as opposed to the UK, I wouldn't say all that much. I think physical media sales are not in danger of becoming extinct yet and everything is readily available as we have a couple of generations worth of people that need to die off first before it becomes a relic of the past.
This Space for Rent

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1908
I buy CDs, DVDs, and (wait for it)......VHS tapes!

Normally I wouldn't bother with the tapes, but here is something I found out the hard way:
When a movie is re-issued in a new format (in this case a movie that was on tape and is re-issued on DVD or BD) the new version isn't always faithful to the original VHS tape. Case in point: the movie The Man Who Would Be King (Sean Connery, Michael Caine , Jaffrey Saeed) was re-issued first as a DVD, then as BD.

But the full death scene where Sean Connery falls from the rope bridge was cut from both the DVD and the BD; and from what I have read, even the streamed version has the cut version. There is also some dialogue cut....not major, but actually pretty humourous (and not anything even a SJW snowflake could complain about....unless they want to complain about the whole movie: 19th C. British Imperialism!)

Even Kindle "books" can be real time edited by the authors, or if the work is in the public domain, by the publisher/distributor; meaning content that you swore was in the book last month is no longer there. (Winston Smith, call your office!)

But that is why I prefer to own the media, just in case these things happen... and they will happen.

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1914
I binged the 6 new Short Treks prior to Picard, and enjoyed them all. No less than three of them featured Captain Pike, so that was a pleasant surprise, and the first, with Spock and Number being stuck in a turbolift, I found particularly enjoyable. (Though I was dismayed that the Enterprise also has Space Mountain turbolifts.) Of the two animated episodes, one was a very light-hearted look at a mother tardigrade and a pesky repair bot. In retrospect, it reminded me a bit of WALL-E. I felt The Girl Who Made the Stars presented a bit different story from how it as portrayed in Discovery. And lastly, we have Children of Mars, which helps set up Picard. Simple and poignant. And here lately I seem to be hearing the great Peter Gabrie'ls cover of the great David Bowie's Heroes a lot. It was used in Children of Mars, and it was also used in two episodes of Stranger Things.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1915
Since my normal life (as well as most other people's lives) have been turned upside down and backwards.. I've decided I am gonna rewatch the Star Trek movies, starting with the riveting Motion Picture. Its been quite a while since I watched the movies from TMP to Nemesis. I usually wake up around 4:30 AM to go to the gym before work which means I go to bed around 8:30-9. With the gyms being closed, I can stay up late and watch movies :)
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1916
BladeCollector wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 2:30 am Since my normal life (as well as most other people's lives) have been turned upside down and backwards.. I've decided I am gonna rewatch the Star Trek movies, starting with the riveting Motion Picture. Its been quite a while since I watched the movies from TMP to Nemesis. I usually wake up around 4:30 AM to go to the gym before work which means I go to bed around 8:30-9. With the gyms being closed, I can stay up late and watch movies :)
I'm pretty much a homebody as is anyway, but now I'm staring down my disc collections and pondering what to dive into to wile away the boredom. Star Trek is looking pretty good at the moment, and watching the Bumble Bee movie a couple of nights ago filled me with such nostalgia that I'm also eyeballing one of my fondest 80s memories: my complete Transformers cartoon DVD collection. :)

With over 300 channels on my cable provider, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ subscriptions, as well as over a 1000 DVDs and Blurays, I think I'll die of old age first before getting through it all. :O
This Space for Rent

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1917
Valkrist wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 7:10 am
With over 300 channels on my cable provider, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney+ subscriptions, as well as over a 1000 DVDs and Blurays, I think I'll die of old age first before getting through it all. :O
Glad to see someone else (and I'm sure there are others) who has a good size collections of DVDs, etc.
So many people don't get it that anything you stream is only available at the whim (and I use "whim" very deliberately) of the "streaming" authorities; i.e., those [driven by profit] who can say "this we will make available, and that we will ax from the catalog." (George Orwell, call your office)

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1919
Yeah, not a fan of "the man", or whatever you wanna call it, being able to shut off the tap at any time they please.

I actually read an article recently wherein movie studios claim that even if you buy a physical copy of the movie, they still own it because they retain the rights to the media content on that disc. You're basically paying for the privilege of having a permanent copy of it. It does make sense, I guess, but so what? Are they planning to send the movie police over one day to confiscate all copies of a particular movie? I don't get why they feel the need to point that out. They will always own the copyrighted content, I don't care about that, just don't take away my ability to see it once I've paid for that copy.
This Space for Rent

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1921
Olorin wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 5:17 pm
Valkrist wrote: Mon Mar 23, 2020 3:46 pm I don't get why they feel the need to point that out.
Because they're a$$#oles.
And because they never want you to forget what condescendingly generous sons-of-witches they are, letting you watch their content.

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1923
So I started watching the Trek movies and happened to watch First Contact on First Contact day, and watched Insurrection last night, will probably get to Nemesis tonight, then move on to Val's favorite movies, the Kelvin universe :P After that, I guess I could start another film series.. its been a long time since I sat down and watched LOTR/Hobbit from beginning to end.. or maybe the entire MCU?
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1924
BladeCollector wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2020 4:53 am then move on to Val's favorite movies, the Kelvin universe
:club: :cursing_r :protest:

Actually, I don't mind the first one toooooo much, despite some truly eye-rolling stuff. The second is complete garbage, and the third one is a sure-fire cure for insomnia.

I've also been considering watching all the Trek movies, but I stop after Nemesis. :laugh:

I know this will make Olorin cringe, but I'm considering doing the entire Alien/Predator marathon, which would include, the original four Alien movies, the two (awful, I know) AvP movies, the two more recent Ridley Scott entries (as flawed as they were), and the four Predator movies. A fun drinking game to play (purely for statistical purposes) would be to take a shot whenever someone dies, but I think I would be completely hammered after just one movie. If I made it through the whole 12 movie run, I'd have to check myself into rehab! :O
This Space for Rent

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1925
Valkrist wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:48 am .... A fun drinking game to play (purely for statistical purposes) would be to take a shot whenever someone dies, but I think I would be completely hammered after just one movie. If I made it through the whole 12 movie run, I'd have to check myself into rehab! :O
But you also would be impervious to COVID-19.....(might be a trade off worth considering, juneau.....) :cheers:

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1926
Valkrist wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2020 6:48 am
BladeCollector wrote: Tue Apr 07, 2020 4:53 am then move on to Val's favorite movies, the Kelvin universe
:club: :cursing_r :protest:


I know this will make Olorin cringe, but I'm considering doing the entire Alien/Predator marathon, which would include, the original four Alien movies, the two (awful, I know) AvP movies, the two more recent Ridley Scott entries (as flawed as they were), and the four Predator movies. A fun drinking game to play (purely for statistical purposes) would be to take a shot whenever someone dies, but I think I would be completely hammered after just one movie. If I made it through the whole 12 movie run, I'd have to check myself into rehab! :O
I actually love trash movies, so AvP were right up my alley. But like I've seen the 2, 3, 5 and 6-headed shark attack movies (there wasn't a 4 headed shark attack) 😄
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1928
Yeah, there's times when Star Trek seems hopelessly dated, a product of its times. The very last TOS episode, Turnabout Intruder, basically says there are no female captains. I think fans have tried to spin that or retcon it, that she was excluded from the captaincy for being unstable, not for being female, but nothing bears that out. She accuses Kirk of the captaincy being a men-only club, and he doesn't contradict her.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1929
Its kinda funny/ironic when you watch shows set in the future, but are 50 years old are sooooo outdated technology-wise, obviously space travel and things notwithstanding, but I believe they were looking at microfilm in TOS.

Being the 60s just seemed to be at odds at what one of the overall themes of Trek were, that we had gotten passed all that, and humanity had come together finally to explore the galaxy, etc.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1930
This could've been interesting: https://trekmovie.com/2020/05/29/bryan- ... ck-berman/

It's interesting that DS9 made Berman "allergic" to serialization, and Behr simply told him to take a hike. Thank God for Behr!

In other news, people are "deepfaking" Star Trek with different actors. It's a bit uncanny to hear Zach Quinto's voice coming out of Leonard Nimoy's face: https://trekmovie.com/2020/05/29/watch- ... star-trek/

I thought the one with Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk inserted into The Cage was a riot. The one with Patrick Stewart was not nearly as good, both because it wasn't as well done technically, and also because they used the old version of Stewart for Shinzon. They should've snagged a younger version of him from somewhere.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1931
I don't often read those "the cast reminisces" stories because they're usually not that interesting, but I chanced to read this one, and it turned out to be fairly interesting. Garrett Wong can be a bit of a loose cannon though he's relatively restrained here. But it's clear he has no lingering love for Rick Berman. Anyway,

https://trekmovie.com/2020/06/19/interv ... idge-fire/
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1936
Olorin wrote: Sat Jul 18, 2020 3:02 pm There is a new animated Star Trek show starting next month on CBS All Access, called Lower Decks. It looks supremely silly and I don't think I'll be watching it.
The trailer was on my regular movie and tv news website, but as I normally do, I read the accompanying article first, followed the comments section. Sure the latter is usually a minefield of questionable opinions and rants, but in this instance, there was eerie unanimity in the voiced disdain for this harebrained idea. Decided to not even bother with the trailer after that. As for watching the show when it comes out?

Pass.
This Space for Rent

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1937
There's a meme with Yoda saying, "If into the comments section you go, only pain will you find." I saw just a little bit of some YouTuber ranting about Lower Decks but it was plain that he simply hated all current Star Trek. I can grant a dispensation to anyone who hates Discovery, because although I like it, it does make questionable choices. But the guy apparently hated Picard also. I've got nothing for anyone who claims to be a Star Trek fan but hated the Picard series, other than to say, haters gonna hate. Sure, there were some things about the Picard series that I would have done differently, but on the whole it was good and just to see Picard again, taking on a new challenge at this point in his life, was a blessing. For that matter, I could probably count myself in the camp of those that said they'd have required nothing more than Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen sitting on the porch and drinking tea.

But in the case of Lower Decks. the negative commentary will probably be justified. I think the problem is trying to make Star Trek into a comedy, or at least that's what the trailer makes it seem like they're up to. I'm not opposed to humor. There was plenty of humor in TOS, but it was character moments and it always was to further and maintain the relationships between the characters. But somewhere in the movie era, they took a wrong turn with humor. Humor was in general well done and deftly incorporated into ST III and IV, but then Shatner blew the wheels off the wagon in V. There was some pretty boneheaded humor in VI also. And of course we had to suffer through the Enterprise joystick in Insurrection. In spite of that, I'm not opposed to an occasional humorous episode. The X Files, which was in general a pretty dark show, had an occasional humorous episode. When they were well done, they were a break from the usual diet of aliens plotting to take over the world, or grotesque creatures eating people. But later on, they leaned too heavily on them, and that helped undermine the show IMHO. So humor is like antimatter, very useful but very dangerous. And humor is not what Star Trek is supposed to be about.

As for animation, I'm not unequivocally opposed to an animated Star Trek. The original animated Star Trek was quite good, but it was Star Trek that just happened to be animated. It also had the advantage of being able to show things they couldn't have done on a 60s TV budget with 60s effects technology. But that's not a factor any more. And as for another supposed driving factor, showing Starfleet through they eyes of someone who's not the captain, that's been done too. Most obviously, that's Discovery, with Michael Burnham being the main character but not the captain (yet), but also there was a TNG episode that was done through the eyes of people who were not senior officers, like the nurse. That episode was called, as I'm sure everyone remembers, Lower Decks. So once again, Star Trek reuses a title and thinks no one will notice, no one will care, and/or everyone will approve. And they will undoubtedly sully the legacy of the TNG ep in the process. It was actually pretty good.

But in trying to fathom why they are doing Lower Decks, I can only chalk it up to CBS' desire to propagate Star Trek into every ecological niche, and Alex Kurtzman being their willing handmaiden.

For some reason, I had a hard time mashalling my thoughts for this post. Even now as I'm about to hit submit, I'm not certain they say what I want them to say...if I even know what that is. But hopefully they make some sense.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1939
Welp, I bit the bullet and watched the first episode of Lower Decks... I'm very mixed on it, I love the idea behind it, a Trek show that focuses on the, well "lower decks" and not on the bridge crew. One of my favorite TNG episodes was "Lower Decks" in season 7. I actually like the design of the ship as well. With all that said, I must say, the humor was a bit too low brow for me, maybe. Am I getting a bit too old? Like I'm not into Rick and Morty and things like that.

I didn't hate it, I didn't love it. I am willing to give it another episode or so.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1940
BladeCollector wrote: Mon Aug 10, 2020 2:55 am Welp, I bit the bullet and watched the first episode of Lower Decks... I'm very mixed on it, I love the idea behind it, a Trek show that focuses on the, well "lower decks" and not on the bridge crew. One of my favorite TNG episodes was "Lower Decks" in season 7. I actually like the design of the ship as well. With all that said, I must say, the humor was a bit too low brow for me, maybe. Am I getting a bit too old? Like I'm not into Rick and Morty and things like that.

I didn't hate it, I didn't love it. I am willing to give it another episode or so.
I can pretty much echo what you said. I wasn’t even going to watch it, but NPR gave it a good review, so I thought I would give it a whirl. I really did not like the look of the characters, but I did like the look of the ships and planets and so forth. As far as the show overall, it felt to me like an uncomfortable fusion between Star Trek and family guy. And I was never a fan of Family Guy. So, I might watch another episode or two, but I’m not hopeful.

For what it’s worth, the trek culture you tuber guy on YouTube raved about it. He absolutely loved it.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1942
Last night I watched Eating Raoul, a comedy from 1982. I had seen it way back then but didn't remember much about it. It turns out, "Raoul" was played by Robert Beltran, in a role about as different from Chakotay as you could imagine. So that was good for a laugh.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1943
https://trekmovie.com/2020/09/24/watch- ... ek-movies/

This is uncanny...and sometimes uncanny valley. What I found most amazing about it, though, is that whenever it's Kirk, I really have to stop and realize it's Shatner's face. This is very odd, because I never previously considered Shatner and Pine to look anything alike, other than being white guys. So, what does everyone else think? Or is it just me?
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1944
I see what you mean...it is uncanny.
Altho' I wouldn't say it enters the Uncanny Valley.
I am very sensitive to the U-V and will have an immediate and [negative] visceral reaction to it (e.g., Polar Express and J. Carrey's A Christmas Carol.)
I didn't get that impression at all in the deep fake.
For the most part, I think it works pretty well. But here's something to consider: the faces of lot of young men (and women too) --after just framing the faces sans hair ---do look similar.
Put the faces in the same clothes, and crown them with the same hair and it can confuse the eye just enough to make you do a double take (haha... pun slightly intended) .
You know what was really bizarre?---but again not the U-V---Jeff Bezos' face replacing Meg Wyllie's as the Talosian Keeper. The likeness is so very similar that it also works really well.
(But just to prove that it doesn't always work, there is no way to sub Elon Musk for J. Hunter. :laugh: )
Image
Image

"Eternity is an awful long time, especially towards the end."

"What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing.
It also depends on what sort of person you are.” -- CSL

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1948
The directors cut of Star Trek the motion picture is going to be restored for 4K: https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-t ... 70721-1500

In general, the first four movies are coming to 4K: https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-t ... 70721-1200

The version of the motion picture that’s in the box is going to be the theatrical cut. I guess Paramount couldn’t miss the opportunity to double dip: put out the theatrical cut now, and the directors cut next year. At least they warned us…

I just hope everything is as well restored as the wrath of khan was.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

Re: Pure Star Trek Discussion

1950
The four movie is now official: https://thedigitalbits.com/columns/my-t ... 70721-1600

Unfortunately it does not say, despite a detailed listing of supplements, whether they include all previous released supplements. Also, apparently no word yet on whether or not the titles will be released individually. Personally, I would be buying this for a star trek three and Star Trek four. For the motion picture, I prefer wait on the restored 4K directors cut, and for Star Trek II, I already have the perfectly adequate directors Blu-ray. But I might have to buy the box just to get three and four.
"Olorin I was in the West that is forgotten...."

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