4d ago

Jonathan Frakes Surprised ‘Strange New Worlds’ Star Trek Spoof Was Controversial; Talks Directing ‘Academy’ And More

trekmovie.com

48 comments

I think the only controversy is that this series spends too big a chunk on “silly” episodes like this. Puppets. Singing/dancing. Holodeck spoofs.
This would be fine if it were a 23 episode season. It’s 10.
- Because it’s impossible to get the execs to approve a 23-episode season of almost anything these days, let alone sci-fi, but one of the (many) criticisms of Discovery was that it was lacking the more offbeat episodes and character pieces that helped define Trek’s golden age.
  Rock and a hard place.
  
  Costs are a big factor. Shit costs a lot of money to make nowadays. They used to use cheap cardboard and foam, models for shops flying through space, etc. now it all takes time and money to make us all go WOW!
- I think you're not remembering the amount of silliness on previous shows, let's analyze TNG S2:
  
  I think it's a good proportion of silly so far...
  e: I made the same analysis for TNG S3, and I could only identify 3 silly episodes, so, I don't know. Take this with a grain of salt. Maybe SNW S4 is all business.
  
  I don't think it's fair to call all those "not serious" just because they had some cheesy aspects, especially when in some cases it was just in the B plot.
  
  I mean, I wish TNG was a little less silly too.
- I haven't seen the most recent episode yet, but so far the best episodes this season have been the silly episodes.
  
  Just a heads up, it says "season 2” in the spoiler tag, then discusses episodes from season 3.
- Wait. I missed a muppet Star Trek episode?! Where?!
  
  No, not yet. It was announced, I think for season 4.
- God, does it have puppets?? I hope whoever is tainting all of the live action shows with puppets goes away soon.
  
  What other live action shows have been “tainted” by puppets recently?
  For me nothing recent comes to mind.
  Now older shows like Far Scape? I love that show, muppets and all.
Just finished the musical episode in Season 2, which was quite silly, but it's all so fun that it's hard to criticize. This is a show that knows what it is and revels in it.
- I loved the musical episode. It was 100% silly, but I enjoyed it for it!
  
  It's incredible they managed to top the Lower Decks crossover in silliness. Loved it.
- That was the only episode of any Trek series where I had to watch the majority of it on mute.
  
  Wow. Just in case you accidentally enjoyed yourself? Kudos to you, I guess.
Frakes has dealt directly with Trek fandom for nearly 40 years straight. If there's one thing that shouldn't surprise him, it's every damn thing being "controversial" to a chunk of it.
I found it very funny, especially Wesleys portrayal of Kirk. The plot was a bit so and so though.
I thought the spoof was charming and funny
I mean, among holodeck episodes it doesn't actually rank badly
- Are we counting S1 “The Elysian Kingdom”? I know it’s not technically a holodeck episode, but…
I’m having fun with it.
If anything, I found it at best too earnest and self-congratulatory. Like, I love Star Trek, but it’s just a TV show! Still enjoyed the episode however.
- Assuming you're referring to the "Uhura" speech, I think what saved it for me was that it had a dual purpose: yes, it was definitely about Star Trek and its place in the world...but it was also about the Amelia Moon novels that inspired La'An as a child.
  Giving it a character-focused angle goes a long way in my books.
  
  It made me smile thinking of how amazing it must have felt for Celia to say the lines about the inspiration from a TV show (i.e. "The Last Frontier"... meaning, Star Trek), considering how much of an inspiration Nichelle's Uhura was for her (Celia) and her career.
The biggest biggest technology change has been the AR wall... You can’t use the camera the same way, but when you see the see the opportunity, it literally captures what the a camera is watching.
When you do it right, you get "how did they do that on a TV budget!?" When you do it wrong, you get whatever the hell THIS was.
10 episode seasons?! What is this? A season for lazy productions?

48 comments