StillPaisleyCat

joined 2 years ago
[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 14 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Roddenberry himself was adamant that Star Trek’s history had to remain a possible history for viewers. So, the dates can slip as long as the major events don’t.

That is why he put WW3 later than implied by TOS, delaying it to the mid 21st century in the TNG pilot ‘Encounter at Farpoint’ even though that led to a contingent of TOS fans insisting that it ‘had to be a separate universe from the one of the original series.’

While writers never explicitly resolved this onscreen during the Berman Era shows, preferring to weasel with offscreen head canon in interviews saying that perhaps the Eugenics Wars were covert and going on unknown in the 90s, the new shows have dealt with this problem head on by acknowledging that temporal incursions do affect the timing of major events without making it a separate timeline.

SNW and Prodigy have been able to make this clear onscreen in canon with the expert help of the franchise’s excellent physicist science advisor Dr. Erin Macdonald. (She did her PhD with the team in Scotland that got the Noble prize just a couple of years later. She’s truly on top of modern theoretical physics.)

McCoy was in Encounter at Farpoint with one meta purpose - to counter the TOS fans that were campaigning hard to say that it ‘wasn’t the same universe.’

McCoy’s presence was a nice Easter Egg, but not much more. But he did the job of saying that it was the new Enterprise in continuity with the legendary ship on which he served.

Fans argued that because Roddenberry insisted on moving WW3 back to the mid 21st century as of Encounter at Farpoint, TNG had to be a different timeline.

TOS fans understood the Eugenics Wars to be the precursor to WW3, so they just didn’t accept WW3 was going to be another half-century away. Roddenberry’s directive was to always keep the Star Trek future in our future so WW3 had to be shifted to later in time and any specific mention of the date of the Eugenics Wars was avoided.

They also hated the carpet and many other things about the ‘luxury hotel in space’ Enterprise.

Yup, that happened and continued to happen until well into TNG season 3. The brigading Berman-era fans who rail unrelentingly against ‘Nu-Trek’ don’t sound any different, they’re just more visible than the 1980s fans that relied on mimeoed fanzines and Usenet. Fans that liked TNG kept quiet at cons until at least 1990, and vendors didn’t bring TNG merchandise.

No need to fuss about calendars. Just need to revisit Dr. Macdonald’s Temporal Mechanics 101.

There have been several temporal incursions since the DS9 crew did theirs - Voyager, Picard, SNW and Prodigy, not to mention the rippling effects of the Temporal Wars established in Enterprise and Discovery.

Dates and details can slip as long as the major events stay more or less the same.

From what I can tell Americans used to use scales for dry measures (in ounces) but somewhere along the line, they switched to volume measures for everything.

As a Canadian, it’s really frustrating because often will get the American versions of UK cookbooks here which are both not metric and not weights.

I enjoy my Australian cookbooks with metric weights.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 12 points 7 months ago (4 children)

Cook in metric and use a scale!

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 7 points 7 months ago (1 children)

If anything, Lower Decks has intentionally lifted some 7-note sequences from the TAS title theme.

The title theme for Lower Decks almost does a bait and switch riff of the TAS one.

Glad to have you. You should be warned though that this crew has already sucked in meme-lookers into watch the show and becoming fans.

As I was sucked in by the kid across the hall with a colour tv back in 1965, I can attest to the risk of wondering “What’s that pointy-eared guy doing with his hand on that monster?”

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I couldn’t resist. Glad you appreciated it, and that new Neelix image is all the thanks I needed.

By the way, in the meantime, I have done some more research only to discover that there are in fact TWO Earth root vegetables that are already viable as hydroponic crops: red radishes and beets.

The idea that Leola root is a cross between radish and beet is now firmly fixed in my mind.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 6 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (3 children)

Or, Leola root is the hydroponic equivalent of zucchini.

This video seems like something Neelix would make for his morning show.

What to do with too much zucchini!

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 11 points 7 months ago (5 children)

That’s what I thought. Leola root is a high carb root that will grow quickly on mats in a hydroponic bay.

Currently, real life intensive vertical hydroponic gardening is great for leafy greens, but not so much for starchy or other caloric carbs.

[–] StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website 2 points 7 months ago (3 children)

It’s pretty odd that an NBCUniversal event is bringing two Paramount Global fandoms (D&D, Star Trek).

 

-- The SNW command delta is complete.

-- A user from another instance has taken the lead on an original Constitution-class.

-- Worf has a wordmark.

The fandom is making a good showing (if not as overwhelming as the My Little Pony space).

If you haven’t yet tried (or succeeded) in dropping a pixel, just head to the Canvas and login identifying your instance and username. You’ll be sent a PM with a confirmation code to authenticate your login.

Once in you can just drop pixels or join a faction. So far there are two active Star Trek factions: Quark’s (short name QUARK) and The Klingon Empire (short name KLINK) that you can join.

 

I have begun a Starfleet Delta, but haven’t figured out how to share the overlay template. It’s discernible enough as a delta now that others might wish to join in.

Canvas has groups called factions. In have created one called c/quark’s

cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/666960

There’s a pixelated drawing board for Lemmy now.

My own artistic skills are dubious, but with some help I could lay out the markers to start a Starfleet delta to stake out some Trek-positive space on the canvas.

 

cross-posted from: https://startrek.website/post/666960

There’s a pixelated drawing board for Lemmy now.

My own artistic skills are dubious, but with some help I could lay out the markers to start a Starfleet delta to stake out some Trek-positive space on the canvas.

 

Some interesting reflections on how the live action writers’ strike may improve the marketability of Prodigy to a new platform, as well as enable work to begin on a third season.

This would of course been a good reason for Paramount not to cancel and pull Prodigy when they have a gap in Star Trek releases ahead in 2024.

I always appreciate a callback to DC Fontana’s smart employment of writers for TASunder the exception that they could write one animated episode without violating the strike rules.

 

A fairly thorough piece.

Whatever your view on whether it’s a pro or con for the ensemble and storytelling, SNW ‘Lost in Translation’ having covered off the ‘met him when he made fleet captain’ reference to Pike in TOS, there seems to be a great deal of flexibility for SNW to keep bringing Jim Kirk into its stories.

Here’s one unexpected take.

So what does that mean for Kirk? We have to wait until 2265 for him to take over as captain of the Enterprise, right? Well, maybe not. Canon is oddly vague on the handover from Pike to Kirk. In fact, only one episode of TOS actually takes place in 2265: “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” the second pilot. There’s also nothing that indicates Kirk didn’t serve on the Enterprise in another role before getting promoted. If, in theory, Pike were to step down and someone else became an interim captain, then nothing is stopping Kirk from serving on the Enterprise before 2265.

 

In an exclusive interview with MovieWeb, Rod Roddenberry and Trevor Roth identify Prodigy as the best entry point to the franchise. No official comment on the cancellation on Paramount+ and Nickelodeon, but positive energy nevertheless.

"I think we both feel very good about Star Trek: Prodigy being a fantastic entry point because Prodigy came from the standpoint of people who don't know the Star Trek world. The characters themselves are learning as they go what it all means to be Starfleet and be Star Trek. I think from that standpoint, for people who are feeling intimidated by 57 years by the number of shows or episodes, it is a great way to understand what Star Trek is about through the characters learning the same things themselves. I think that was one of the amazing creative decisions the Hagermans (sic) [Brothers] came up with.”

 

There were media reports last week noting that a new CBS Studios production, under the pseudonym ‘Dovercourt’, had been added to the Rumour section of the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC) Ontario hotlist.

As of today, there is more confirming information, and a clear indication that this is the greenlit Star Trek Section 31 movie event starring Michelle Yeoh.

‘Dovercourt’ has moved into the firmer preproduction section of the list. It’s identified as a TV movie. Olantudne Osunsami is listed as the director, with the two other EPs based in Canada Frank Siracusa and John Weber also listed. These all line up with the previous S31 direct to streaming movie announcement in the spring.

Preproduction is listed as running from May 1 to October 22, 2023. This implies that production design and costume design are underway in the Greater Toronto Area.

Paul Henry Kirby is listed as Production Designer (PD). He seems to be new to Star Trek. I find listings that he was PD on Shazam! Fury of the Gods and several other cinematic releases. He was Art Director on Batman Begins. (His portfolio is listed on a personal website paulkirby.com.)

The production location is given as Toronto rather than Mississauga, which suggests that the big volume leased soundstages at Pinewood Toronto Studios may be getting one more redress for the movie rather than using CBS’ own stages.

The hotlist says it is compiled by the guild from “from deal memos, callsheets, crew lists and Members updating their availability.“

 

If you’re not familiar, every month the main publisher of Trek fiction, Simon & Schuster puts out an offering of more than a half dozen ebooks for $ 0.99 in Canada and the US and at a similar low price in some other countries.

This month is a bit of a blast back to the late Berman era with a collection of DS9 Dominion War books, a Voyager Seven of Nine story and a few others.

The standout of the month however is the Star Trek TNG - X-Men crossover ‘Planet X’.

While my preference is for physical books, Simon & Schuster’s ebook deals got me invested in the high quality Trek Relaunch continuity of Treklit as well as helped fill in my collection of out-of-print standalone classics.

Can highly recommend taking a risk on adding ebook specials at low cost to your ebook summer reading.

 

A bit late, but for those who aren’t aware, the small town of Vulcan, Alberta, has long embraced its connection to the franchise. A gigantic model, Trek themed uniforms for the town council, fairs and parades - nothing seems to be too much for this cheerful town of unabashed fans.

Conan O’Brien may have goggled to hear of it, but at this point it’s a point of multigenerational identity and civic pride.

I thought folks here might welcome a local take. (And I was myself taken aback by the local news site’s name ‘Chat News Today.’)

 

@GoodAaron@mastodon.social is boosting the news that the Save Prodigy petition has crossed 29k signatures.

Although change.org has become a monetized platform, those who are willing to use it and haven’t yet signed may wish to help it get to the 30k threshold that helped launch SNW and save The Orville.

 

The wonderful comedy of Vulcan manners, Charades, turns out to be a first time directing Trek for Newfoundlander Jordan Canning.

The Newfoundlanders on my spouse’s side will be stoked to learn this.

 

While we just saw with the Nielsen numbers from June that SNW is continuing to perform well against other original streaming series, Parrot Analytics is demonstrating that the audience interest is being maintained through the season and the strikes. Only the Witcher and Stranger Things rank higher.

Parrot Analytics demand metrics pull together several different measures including social media engagement as well as their own surveys and focus groups.

They are one of a very few metrics that are designed to provide global measurement and comparisons between and across markets. They also capture demand on phones and PCs not just televisions. Here’s their profile for Strange New Worlds for the US. You can see other countries using the menu at the bottom of the page.

While there had been scepticism about how accurate they were for the US, since Nielsen’s streaming metrics have become available, Parrot has been confirmed to provide a fairly accurate estimate of where rankings of actual viewership will fall.

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