Star Trek: Into Darkness

[Ingmar]

Yoyager didn't have a cat or a Robot. Or guitars. Or a sarcastic computer. And Red Dwarf didn't have a changeling hidden aboard hiding as the Captains hair.

Neelix is sort of a cat in one episode, the holo-doctor is basically a sarcastic computer, and Robot covers the acting of the entire crew. 

[Ironwood]

It totally had a cat and a robot.

[HaemishM]

Yoyager didn't have a cat or a Robot. Or guitars. Or a sarcastic computer.

Or quality. ZING!

[tgr]

The one thing I remember from Voyager was the constant stream of episodes where there were 1-3 people left on the entire ship which had 1 hour to save the ship from <insert technobabble process of doom here>.

[Ironwood]

The one thing I remember is Jeri Ryan in a corset.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I loved B5 for a lot of things and will always hae fond memories but it always seemed for every one good aspect the show had two bad ones.

[Soln]

The one thing I remember from Voyager was the constant stream of episodes where there were 1-3 people left on the entire ship which had 1 hour to save the ship from <insert technobabble process of doom here>.

But they always had enough powah to repair the carpets and to keep their uniforms looking fresh and clean...

[Der Helm]

Jeri Ryan

This.

[Evildrider]

So Cumberbatch is playing John Harrison.  This is what Paramount has given as his name. 

[Ingmar]

So Cumberbatch is playing John Harrison.  This is what Paramount has given as his name. 

Another time travel plot, I guess! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Harrison

[Evildrider]

There are a lot of people theorizing that the name is just an alias.  Which, since its JJ Abrams, I have no problem believing.

[Samwise]

The one thing I remember from Voyager was the constant stream of episodes where there were 1-3 people left on the entire ship which had 1 hour to save the ship from <insert technobabble process of doom here>.

But they always had enough powah to repair the carpets and to keep their uniforms looking fresh and clean...

You really had to ignore the whole stupid power plot device entirely because it was so stupid.  I seem to remember a scene in an early episode where Janeway was talking about how great it was that they were conserving power by growing food instead of using the replicators, WHILE IN THE HOLODECK.  They also seemed to have no problem using their transporters all the time.

[DraconianOne]

Wake me up when we get to the "Voyager ripped off Red Dwarf" fight.

Red Dwarf was never really lost.

Not until series VI anyway.

[Nevermore]

The only episode I remember about Voyager was some bizarre one where things start to break down on the ship and it turns out the ship was actually somehow made of goo and oh, all the crew turned out to be goo people who only thought they were the actual crew and they all dissolved and then the real Voyager somehow flies by right where the now dissolved fake Voyager/crew was floating in space and they go "huh, I wonder what that goo is?" and they keep on flying by and that was the end of the episode.

I saw no reason to watch that show again.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, that was shit.

In fairness, though, we have seen that same storyline in quite a few sci-fi settings.  The whole 'we think we're real, but really we're not' has been done to death, particularly when they brough the Holodeck and Nanites into Sci Fi.  The amount of people who turn out to be robots or nanites or some other shit instead of the 'real' people are just legion.

However, I have to defend Voyager here :  It was utter shit from start to finish.

Oh, no wait, that's not defense, is it ?

True tho.

Fucking Nazi Lizards before Enterprise did Nazi Lizards.

[Ratman_tf]

So Cumberbatch is playing John Harrison.  This is what Paramount has given as his name. 

IT'S THAT GUY!

[Venkman]

Was speculating about this today.

One thing that worked well about Wrath of Kahn is that at that time, a lot of trekkies knew who he was, enough so to quickly explain it to other people. They had re-aired Space Seed prior to the movie premiere, and even that was so marketed so far ahead of time that people knew to watch it and did so. It was a good marketing campaign in retrospect, but mostly possible because people still largely watched TV in real time because they had no choice.

Anyway, the problem with Cumberbach being based on any known character from TOS is that they can't rely on that universal knowledge anymore. Abrams Trek is starting from scratch, no TV series, no established lore, and very particularly tossing out a number of seemingly sacrosanct things, like destroying Vulcan and Spock's relationship with his father.

So any villain from lore can not rely on them being from lore. Instead they can only do the Die Hard approach of using the first half introducing, the third quarter in conflict and the fourth in resolution. Anything else about the villain is merely brief shout out to fans.

Which is why I think it could still be Kahn There was still the superhuman era of genetic modification, it's a timely theme, and an easy thing to explain.

Edit: forgot to say why.

[UnSub]

Up to Tom Baker - universally accepted as 'good'.
Peter Davison - generally thought of as good.
Colin Baker - bad on TV. I gather did some good radio plays.
Slyvester McCoy - bad
Paul McCann, Christopher Eccleston, David Tennant - good
Matt Smith - good performance, terrible script.

"Up to Tom Baker" covers three other Doctors and a lot of those early episodes are missing. Also, I believe that the First Doctor (William Hartnell)'s "The Gunslingers" is widely considered the worst DW episodes ever.

The problem with DW fandom is that you can love an actor in the role and say you love the show, but ignore everything else before and after. For instance, I liked (of what I saw) Eccleston and Tennant, but Smith leaves me absolutely cold. He irritates me on a molecular level.

But then I'm also on board with Ironwood's dislike of the Moffat approach to show writing.

[Cyrrex]

One thing that worked well about Wrath of Kahn is that at that time, a lot of trekkies knew who he was, enough so to quickly explain it to other people. They had re-aired Space Seed prior to the movie premiere, and even that was so marketed so far ahead of time that people knew to watch it and did so. It was a good marketing campaign in retrospect, but mostly possible because people still largely watched TV in real time because they had no choice.

That might be somewhat true, but IMO the main reason that ordinary, non-Trekkie people will claim that Wrath of Kahn was the best of the bunch was due entirely to Ricardo Montalbon being awesome, and for no other reason whatsoever.  For example, I have absolutely no idea what Space Seed is, and I expect that is true of most people who have seen WoK. 

[Sir T]

Good point, really. Ricardo Montalban basically sat there reading entire sections of "Moby Dick" on screen for most of the movie and he STILL was awesome.

[Ironwood]

And they tried it with Picard in First Contact and it sucked.

[eldaec]

If someone told you there was this random film and male and female leads are TJ Hooker and Kirsty Alley, how incredibly awful should it be?

That's how awesome Montalbon is.

[Lantyssa]

Red Dwarf was never really lost.

It also didn't suck.

[Khaldun]

[01101010]

I doubt they'll run with Khan. In terms of time frame, they'd have to find the Botany Bay first. Yes the time streams are different, but you still have to have the first encounter. I'd guess it is someone from the academy...

As for the Klingons...Kirk has to start the hating somewhere, and this seems like the movie to do it if they want Star Trek 3 to be space explosions and it is too soon to be Romulans.

[palmer_eldritch]

I know the new films are in a way meant to be following the old continuity, except the changes which actually resulted from events in the first film, but I rather hope they forget about that and just do their own thing.

So for example, they could take the basic idea of Khan - genetically engineered, an embarrassment to the society that created him, out for revenge - but not worry about fitting it in with the events of the original series. If the Botany Bay doesn't work, just forget about it. Just as long as the new stories they write are good ones.

[Venkman]

Well, the thing about the first JJ Abrams Trek is that it wasn't after the first five year voyage that established a lot of arcs. It was just at the very beginning of it. Heck, given the decimation of Starfleet and the Klingons, whose to say there is a five year mission. So everything from Tribbles to Planet Eaters to the Guardian of Forever, all of it needs to be re-introduced.

Another reason I hope they spin this into a TV series. All of the early conflict that screwed up the peace loving Federation gives a new and potentially darker spin on how all those other stories can be told. It'd almost be cool if such a series was about the Dark side of Mirror Mirror, with an episode where they run into a campy version of themselves from a niave universe 

Good point, really. Ricardo Montalban basically sat there reading entire sections of "Moby Dick" on screen for most of the movie and he STILL was awesome.

That's a really good point. TJ Hooker, the chick from Cheers and the guy from Fantasy Island. All kind of a happy accident that two of them were in one episode back 15 years prior. But then I also wonder how many parents took their kids to the first few Star Trek movies because they themselves loved it in the 60s.

And given the other point above, technically in this universe, Space Seed didn't happen yet and may not at all. So the entire Eugencis Wars from the early 21st century (would would need to be the early 22nd century now  ) would need to be retold.

[Sir T]

I should also point out for completeness that the one person in the world who hated WOK was.. Gene Roddenbery. And even he said hat Montalban was awesome. 

[satael]

[Morat20]

Blink is utter awesomesauce.  It's probably in the top ten episodes of Who ever.

At the Ren Fest a few weeks ago, my wife gave a grinning thumbs up to some twelve year old girl wearing a "Keep Calm and Don't Blink" T-shirt.

Also, if you just want the new improved stuff, Girl in the Fireplace is also awesome (and written by the same chap, I think).

Dalek is a really good episode despite a teeny-tiny bit of handwaving and magic.

If you want to check out 'Old' episodes, you really can't go far wrong with anything that happened to Tom Baker, particularly the Origin of the Daleks and the follow up with the Movellans.  Watch the original Silurian or Sea Devil episodes with Pertwee, I remember those fondly.

Netflix has always had a bunch of the classic Doctor Who 'movies', but I recently saw they've added a Classic Doctor Who series -- don't know how much it captures though. 18 "collections" but it seems each one is a 4-part episode.

I think some of the older stuff is permanently lost.

[Khaldun]

Most of the 1st and 2nd Doctors is lost, yes.

[Trippy]

New trailer, currently exclusive to Apple:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/paramount/startrekintodarkness/

YouTube copy, dunno how long it'll stay up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r5gdbUC9mWU

[Shannow]

Commence the nerdsection!

[shiznitz]

Well, the extended preview I saw before The Hobbit this weekend got my 10 year old all amped to see this around his birthday.  It got my movie itch tingling as well.

[Samwise]

There was a longer version of that trailer playing in front of The Hobbit, opening with a scene with Kirk and Bones running through an alien forest (you see a bit of it in that trailer).  The fact that they bothered to make an alien world with cool alien-looking trees and shit was enough to convince me to go see the movie.  (Compare to the TNG movies, which generally had less thought put into their visuals than the TV series did.)