I love Star Trek dearly, I just don’t think we’re ever going to get a show that hits like TNG/VOY/DS9 (and even ENT/TOS) again - largely due to capitalism and the dramatic shortening of TV seasons. SNW is watchable and has some good bits in it, but it is forced to operate at a mile-a-minute pace, and either forced or poorly chosen by the showrunners to be Action Action Action about 90% of the time. I just need some breathing room!
That being said, Lower Decks and Prodigy both hit on a lot of what I love about Trek. Their cancellations (and the new ownership of Paramount, and Section 31, and SNW only getting 6 episodes for their last season) do not bring me any hope for the future.
I just don’t think we’re ever going to get a show that hits like TNG/VOY/DS9 (and even ENT/TOS) again
Given how much bad pressure and online criticism TNG, Voy and especially DS9 got, I’m surprised they even tried Ent. SNW was a great show, but don’t forget just how much fans and execs hated every single new series that came out. Your treasured classics were dragged through the muck regularly.
That’s fair, yeah! As much as I try to not let criticism impact my enjoyment of things, I’m sure it unconsciously has done so. I still don’t expect to be looking back and saying “Discovery was actually fantastic” in 20 years, but I’ll keep an open mind to it.
SNW does have some great moments. I loved the “documentary” episode most specifically, because it was a neat spin on things that let them experiment a lot with the cinematography and documentary-style shots.
As the documentary was the real ‘focus’ of the episode, the plot of transporting the enslaved alien creature/ship was allowed to be a self-contained story like old-school trek used to be, and I really appreciated the reflection on the morality of what they do as a crew, and as Starfleet.
There was a lot of TNG’s DNA in there, and I liked that.
Yeah, there is a lot to like in it, I probably wasn’t as kind in my original message as I should’ve been. I do love that they went more episodic with it, that’s for sure! And they have had a few episodes that were pretty lighthearted and funny, which is greatly appreciated. It straddles the line of A/B tier for me.
I’m glad that Strange New Worlds exists, but it’s totally fair to criticise.
I feel a lot kinder towards the writers and showrunners when I consider that we simply don’t live in the 90s anymore, and that the realities of media consumption have changed in a way that forces different priorities.
Back in the era of TNG, Friends, and the X-Files, it was totally reasonable for a show to air 26 episodes over 26 weeks. Seasons would run so long that writers were putting out bottle episodes just to stretch the budget. Yet it was profitable because people would keep watching - after all, there were only a few channels competing for the same limited airtime.
Nowadays we’re utterly drowning in media. The amount of content is almost infinite, and viewers are seemingly fickle, and quickly bored.
Being successful now isn’t about having a great long-running show, it’s about making a massive impact as fast as possible, and hanging on to that top-banner spot on Netflix or whatever platform for just a scant few weeks before people get distracted by the next thing. Only those first weeks matter.
And so, seasons get compressed and the budget gets concentrated, until shows are six episodes all coming at you full force like an airhorn blast of non-stop action and effects. They don’t want longevity, they want hype.
We can blame the industry, or we can blame society, or we can blame people’s viewing habits. Probably it’s a bit of all three. But it certainly explains a few things.
It’s almost a similar story to how the “Triple-A” gaming industry ruined games by optimising for the wrong metric, all while costing a fortune to do it.
Fortunately for gaming we have a thriving indie dev scene now, which is where the true joy, art and creativity can be found.
Perhaps TV is simply waiting for its own indie revolution.
I love Star Trek dearly, I just don’t think we’re ever going to get a show that hits like TNG/VOY/DS9 (and even ENT/TOS) again - largely due to capitalism and the dramatic shortening of TV seasons. SNW is watchable and has some good bits in it, but it is forced to operate at a mile-a-minute pace, and either forced or poorly chosen by the showrunners to be Action Action Action about 90% of the time. I just need some breathing room!
That being said, Lower Decks and Prodigy both hit on a lot of what I love about Trek. Their cancellations (and the new ownership of Paramount, and Section 31, and SNW only getting 6 episodes for their last season) do not bring me any hope for the future.
Given how much bad pressure and online criticism TNG, Voy and especially DS9 got, I’m surprised they even tried Ent. SNW was a great show, but don’t forget just how much fans and execs hated every single new series that came out. Your treasured classics were dragged through the muck regularly.
That’s fair, yeah! As much as I try to not let criticism impact my enjoyment of things, I’m sure it unconsciously has done so. I still don’t expect to be looking back and saying “Discovery was actually fantastic” in 20 years, but I’ll keep an open mind to it.
SNW does have some great moments. I loved the “documentary” episode most specifically, because it was a neat spin on things that let them experiment a lot with the cinematography and documentary-style shots.
As the documentary was the real ‘focus’ of the episode, the plot of transporting the enslaved alien creature/ship was allowed to be a self-contained story like old-school trek used to be, and I really appreciated the reflection on the morality of what they do as a crew, and as Starfleet.
There was a lot of TNG’s DNA in there, and I liked that.
Yeah, there is a lot to like in it, I probably wasn’t as kind in my original message as I should’ve been. I do love that they went more episodic with it, that’s for sure! And they have had a few episodes that were pretty lighthearted and funny, which is greatly appreciated. It straddles the line of A/B tier for me.
I’m glad that Strange New Worlds exists, but it’s totally fair to criticise.
I feel a lot kinder towards the writers and showrunners when I consider that we simply don’t live in the 90s anymore, and that the realities of media consumption have changed in a way that forces different priorities.
Back in the era of TNG, Friends, and the X-Files, it was totally reasonable for a show to air 26 episodes over 26 weeks. Seasons would run so long that writers were putting out bottle episodes just to stretch the budget. Yet it was profitable because people would keep watching - after all, there were only a few channels competing for the same limited airtime.
Nowadays we’re utterly drowning in media. The amount of content is almost infinite, and viewers are seemingly fickle, and quickly bored.
Being successful now isn’t about having a great long-running show, it’s about making a massive impact as fast as possible, and hanging on to that top-banner spot on Netflix or whatever platform for just a scant few weeks before people get distracted by the next thing. Only those first weeks matter.
And so, seasons get compressed and the budget gets concentrated, until shows are six episodes all coming at you full force like an airhorn blast of non-stop action and effects. They don’t want longevity, they want hype.
We can blame the industry, or we can blame society, or we can blame people’s viewing habits. Probably it’s a bit of all three. But it certainly explains a few things.
It’s almost a similar story to how the “Triple-A” gaming industry ruined games by optimising for the wrong metric, all while costing a fortune to do it.
Fortunately for gaming we have a thriving indie dev scene now, which is where the true joy, art and creativity can be found.
Perhaps TV is simply waiting for its own indie revolution.