I have to let SW get away with the original Star Destroyer, because it
made the opening shot work. The fact that it was mostly filled with empty
corridors and had no main weapon commensurate with that size was silly
(official SW material says it only carried 72 TIE fighters, 2 shuttles, 20
and AT-ATs--REALLY? What are they doing with the rest of that empty
space?), but did they really have to go make the "Super Star Destroyer"
that was 12 times as long? George never heard of the square-cube law?
I loved the idea of Enterprise, but it seemed to me they didn't have the
self-discipline to stick with the plan: "here's what happened before Kirk
was born." They kept wanting to deal with flashy things that came after
ST:TOS, but their Mirror, Mirror sequel was great. The fact that they
expanded on the idea of drunk Zefram Cochrane and the Vulcans finding us
first from the regrettable STTNG movie was disappointing but not their
fault. I just can't see Kirk's Federation coming out of that scenario.
As you say, it's impossible to make sense of modern story-arc television
without the ability to watch it weekly like clockwork, so I don't even
try. I catch back up when it comes out on DVD.
On the subject of reboots, I will give them BSG, because the original was
so silly it wasn't worth watching, but in the reboot they gave it back the
dignity it originally could have had...then they immediately threw it
away. The Cylon concept was interesting, but begged some questions that
Traveller would not have gotten away with. How is all of the information
translated in real time when a Cylon does the bathtub reboot? Psionics,
obviously.
Consequently, I discovered Stargate at the same time as I was watching the
BSG reboot, and while SG was lightweight and fluffy compared to BSG,
that's what made me love it. It made a little compact with you as a viewer
that it never reneged on. And watching it as I did in direct comparison
with BSG, which betrayed everything every 5 minutes, I cannot help but
love that about SG. They did speak a little bit too much English
everywhere in SG, but so does everybody else. And their concept of The
Ancients was much more compelling than Traveller's.
The problem with SF is that it is mainstream now. This is exactly what SF
Nation claimed it wanted back in the 60s and 70s, so is a classic example
of "be careful what you ask for." Which is really the answer to, "why not
a Traveller movie or TV show?" No one needs to, you can make a SF universe
with a lot less effort than that, and Traveller comes with too much
baggage.
So, when the universes meet in a great big "Crisis on Infinite..."
cross-over, who do you want to win?
> I will admit to being a bit of a lego fan, I've got a 5 year old so I
claim it's for him... and it is for the most part as long as he doesn't
mess with Hagrid's Hut...
>
> I can still recall quite vividly the effect of that opening shot in SW
on
> a 9 year old me, when that Corellian Corvette comes flying out it was
unlike anything you'd seen before and then the Star Destroyer starts
coming over your head and it never seems to end. Wow, just wow...
>
> I like the original trilogy, although as you say Ford is essentially
mugging for the camera in every shot by the time they get to RTOJ. I
will
> admit to liking the speeder chase and the starship design throughout the
entire series. Even the new ones the vehicle design was amazing. I'm a
bit of an effects junkie, I go to movies and pull the effects apart in
my
> head to figure out how they did it, it was much more interesting in the
old days before everything was CGI and I will admit to loving movies
purely based on the visual aspects of the movie. 5th Element, Titanic,
Avatar all amazing LOOKING movies, storyline kind of meh but visually
they
> are all a feast for the eyes.
>
> I have to admit that George while I admired him years ago should have
made
> the movie, maybe cut in some delete scenes and cleaned up some of the
effects and then just let them be, do we really need a new version of
the
> films every 5 years??? Seriously??? That cow's dead George quit
milking
> it.
>
> I loved Enterprise as a show, the "here's where it starts" kind of
aspect
> of things where they're just figuring out what humanities place is in
the
> universe and how it all fits together. Going down and messing with the
natives and then after they've screwed up their lives saying, "You know
we
> really ought to have some kind of rule about that, a directive maybe."
Bringing back old races like the much neglected Orions, Gorn and
Tholians.
> I liked that they gave the Vulcan's really specific looking ships as
> opposed to everyone in the UFP flying the same boats. You could look at
things and see the design ethic involved.
>
> ST had some great things going on in it too. Yesterdays Enterprise, the
DS9 Trouble with Tribbles cross over, the Mirror Mirror cross over in
Enterprise, it was usually the unusual episodes that I found amazing.
>
> There's so much investment in TV now, I remember back in the 80's and
90's
> when for about 3 months straight the TV-Guide preview for X-Files read,
"Mulder and Scully investigate a series of bizarre murders." You
didn't'
> need to pay attention, you didn't need to watch every episode, hell you
could skip a month or two and you didn't miss anything. Now you miss an
episode in most shows and you're left staring at the screen going, "who
the hell are those guys and why does the main character know them so
well?"
>
> Don't get me started on the Reboot craze in Hollywood either, seriously
how many times do we need to see "The origins of Spiderman." Okay if it
was a generation ago but damn it it wasn't even a decade ago that you
told
> me, my memories not that bad. Do we need a Total Recall reboot? Or a
Highlander reboot? Seriously?
>
> Where has all the good SciFi gone lately? It's all Post Apocalypse,
zombies, sexy vampires, werewolves running amok in a wilderness of evil
corporations and lawyers.
>
> It's been 10 years since they canceled Firefly and I still can't let go
of
> that one, damn you Fox. While I'm on the subject of Fox cancelling
stuff,
> "Sarah Conners Chronicles," seriously whyfo you cancel that? What was
up
> with the Shirley Manson liquid terminatrix, ya john was a dink but
Chromartie and Cameron were cool and it didn't devolve into a Terminator
of the week show. Le Sigh...
>
> BSG I think I abandoned after year 1... The series??? Hell I can't
recall, I know they'd introduced the original Apollo as a bad guy and
then
> I kind of lost interest as the galactic senate bored me to death with
their legal wranglings, no wait that's Phantom Politician. As you say
though the mini series was great and after that... At least it didn't
just fade to black and not give me an ending, or leave me wondering if
the
> flash sideways was really just a purgetory where we were all waiting for
our friends to die and realize they're dead crap so we can all move on
together.
>
> B5 I never got into, nor Stargate or Lexx. I will admit to watching
some
> Farscape but that was mostly for Chiana and mostly because of the way
she
> moved, still can't quite figure out how the actress managed to move like
that. I watched the first season of Earth2 but it lost my interest
after
> that.
>
> PS Check out http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/ and
> http://johneaves.wordpress.com/ both of these guys have been in the
effects / design industry for years and they have some amazing pictures
of
> ST and BSG stuff on their sites.
>
> All this grousing has me wanting to run a game again so I can release
the
> muse once more... A 2300AD mashup with killer robots, space cowboys and
giant computers seeking the answer to life the universe and everything.
>
> DS
made the opening shot work. The fact that it was mostly filled with empty
corridors and had no main weapon commensurate with that size was silly
(official SW material says it only carried 72 TIE fighters, 2 shuttles, 20
and AT-ATs--REALLY? What are they doing with the rest of that empty
space?), but did they really have to go make the "Super Star Destroyer"
that was 12 times as long? George never heard of the square-cube law?
I loved the idea of Enterprise, but it seemed to me they didn't have the
self-discipline to stick with the plan: "here's what happened before Kirk
was born." They kept wanting to deal with flashy things that came after
ST:TOS, but their Mirror, Mirror sequel was great. The fact that they
expanded on the idea of drunk Zefram Cochrane and the Vulcans finding us
first from the regrettable STTNG movie was disappointing but not their
fault. I just can't see Kirk's Federation coming out of that scenario.
As you say, it's impossible to make sense of modern story-arc television
without the ability to watch it weekly like clockwork, so I don't even
try. I catch back up when it comes out on DVD.
On the subject of reboots, I will give them BSG, because the original was
so silly it wasn't worth watching, but in the reboot they gave it back the
dignity it originally could have had...then they immediately threw it
away. The Cylon concept was interesting, but begged some questions that
Traveller would not have gotten away with. How is all of the information
translated in real time when a Cylon does the bathtub reboot? Psionics,
obviously.
Consequently, I discovered Stargate at the same time as I was watching the
BSG reboot, and while SG was lightweight and fluffy compared to BSG,
that's what made me love it. It made a little compact with you as a viewer
that it never reneged on. And watching it as I did in direct comparison
with BSG, which betrayed everything every 5 minutes, I cannot help but
love that about SG. They did speak a little bit too much English
everywhere in SG, but so does everybody else. And their concept of The
Ancients was much more compelling than Traveller's.
The problem with SF is that it is mainstream now. This is exactly what SF
Nation claimed it wanted back in the 60s and 70s, so is a classic example
of "be careful what you ask for." Which is really the answer to, "why not
a Traveller movie or TV show?" No one needs to, you can make a SF universe
with a lot less effort than that, and Traveller comes with too much
baggage.
So, when the universes meet in a great big "Crisis on Infinite..."
cross-over, who do you want to win?
> I will admit to being a bit of a lego fan, I've got a 5 year old so I
claim it's for him... and it is for the most part as long as he doesn't
mess with Hagrid's Hut...
>
> I can still recall quite vividly the effect of that opening shot in SW
on
> a 9 year old me, when that Corellian Corvette comes flying out it was
unlike anything you'd seen before and then the Star Destroyer starts
coming over your head and it never seems to end. Wow, just wow...
>
> I like the original trilogy, although as you say Ford is essentially
mugging for the camera in every shot by the time they get to RTOJ. I
will
> admit to liking the speeder chase and the starship design throughout the
entire series. Even the new ones the vehicle design was amazing. I'm a
bit of an effects junkie, I go to movies and pull the effects apart in
my
> head to figure out how they did it, it was much more interesting in the
old days before everything was CGI and I will admit to loving movies
purely based on the visual aspects of the movie. 5th Element, Titanic,
Avatar all amazing LOOKING movies, storyline kind of meh but visually
they
> are all a feast for the eyes.
>
> I have to admit that George while I admired him years ago should have
made
> the movie, maybe cut in some delete scenes and cleaned up some of the
effects and then just let them be, do we really need a new version of
the
> films every 5 years??? Seriously??? That cow's dead George quit
milking
> it.
>
> I loved Enterprise as a show, the "here's where it starts" kind of
aspect
> of things where they're just figuring out what humanities place is in
the
> universe and how it all fits together. Going down and messing with the
natives and then after they've screwed up their lives saying, "You know
we
> really ought to have some kind of rule about that, a directive maybe."
Bringing back old races like the much neglected Orions, Gorn and
Tholians.
> I liked that they gave the Vulcan's really specific looking ships as
> opposed to everyone in the UFP flying the same boats. You could look at
things and see the design ethic involved.
>
> ST had some great things going on in it too. Yesterdays Enterprise, the
DS9 Trouble with Tribbles cross over, the Mirror Mirror cross over in
Enterprise, it was usually the unusual episodes that I found amazing.
>
> There's so much investment in TV now, I remember back in the 80's and
90's
> when for about 3 months straight the TV-Guide preview for X-Files read,
"Mulder and Scully investigate a series of bizarre murders." You
didn't'
> need to pay attention, you didn't need to watch every episode, hell you
could skip a month or two and you didn't miss anything. Now you miss an
episode in most shows and you're left staring at the screen going, "who
the hell are those guys and why does the main character know them so
well?"
>
> Don't get me started on the Reboot craze in Hollywood either, seriously
how many times do we need to see "The origins of Spiderman." Okay if it
was a generation ago but damn it it wasn't even a decade ago that you
told
> me, my memories not that bad. Do we need a Total Recall reboot? Or a
Highlander reboot? Seriously?
>
> Where has all the good SciFi gone lately? It's all Post Apocalypse,
zombies, sexy vampires, werewolves running amok in a wilderness of evil
corporations and lawyers.
>
> It's been 10 years since they canceled Firefly and I still can't let go
of
> that one, damn you Fox. While I'm on the subject of Fox cancelling
stuff,
> "Sarah Conners Chronicles," seriously whyfo you cancel that? What was
up
> with the Shirley Manson liquid terminatrix, ya john was a dink but
Chromartie and Cameron were cool and it didn't devolve into a Terminator
of the week show. Le Sigh...
>
> BSG I think I abandoned after year 1... The series??? Hell I can't
recall, I know they'd introduced the original Apollo as a bad guy and
then
> I kind of lost interest as the galactic senate bored me to death with
their legal wranglings, no wait that's Phantom Politician. As you say
though the mini series was great and after that... At least it didn't
just fade to black and not give me an ending, or leave me wondering if
the
> flash sideways was really just a purgetory where we were all waiting for
our friends to die and realize they're dead crap so we can all move on
together.
>
> B5 I never got into, nor Stargate or Lexx. I will admit to watching
some
> Farscape but that was mostly for Chiana and mostly because of the way
she
> moved, still can't quite figure out how the actress managed to move like
that. I watched the first season of Earth2 but it lost my interest
after
> that.
>
> PS Check out http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/ and
> http://johneaves.wordpress.com/ both of these guys have been in the
effects / design industry for years and they have some amazing pictures
of
> ST and BSG stuff on their sites.
>
> All this grousing has me wanting to run a game again so I can release
the
> muse once more... A 2300AD mashup with killer robots, space cowboys and
giant computers seeking the answer to life the universe and everything.
>
> DS