Star Trek Continues

[dr.diesel]

For me, Star Trek inspired the technical/electrical side of me when I was a kid.  I grew up watching the original series as well as The Next Generation, never really thought too much of the other spin-offs.

Anyhow if you missed it, there is a small group, a few notable ones, making a few more episodes of the original series. 

http://www.startrekcontinues.com/episodes/#.UmgexZyJBgo

Have made their pilot show:  (decent, pretty true to the original series)



And now have a kickstarter to make more:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/125377036/star-trek-continues-webseries

[dr.diesel]

Yeah, the original show wasn't known for it's superb acting either, but they did get better.  These guys did what they could with next to nothing, I for one hope they do great.

[Psi]

Miles better than most of the fan shows you see.

[Jon Chandler]

I was a bit disappointed the Spock did little more than say "unknown" several times.....

[lemmegraphdat]

Maybe have the red shirt guy fall over for no apparent reason and everybody just ignore it.

[dr.diesel]

It got kicked, some generous sole backed $10,000 today!

Woohoo for people with lots of spare cash     

[GK]

There can't be too many die-hard Star Trek geeks around these parts. My signature line has yet to elicit a response in kind.

[grumpydoc]

There can't be too many die-hard Star Trek geeks around these parts. My signature line has yet to elicit a response in kind.

Tlhingan quv datichdi' seng yighuh

[GK]

There can't be too many die-hard Star Trek geeks around these parts. My signature line has yet to elicit a response in kind.

Tlhingan quv datichdi' seng yighuh

bIjatlh 'e' yImev , pujwI'!

[grumpydoc]

mu' qutlh, tob may'Daq

[AG6QR]

I think I must be having an off day or something because I just can't seem to take that seriously, I only really watched about 3 minutes of it but the acting seems to be really quite 'hammy' and just kept expecting a punch line or two, it's just like watching a comedy spoof lol.

The original series acting was quite hammy as well.  The original series is available on Netflix these days, so I've recently been watching many episodes, some for the first time since my pre-teen years.  I was a big fan during the early 1970s when the show was in syndication every day after school, around my fourth or fifth grade year.  I hadn't watched much since then.

The things I notice now, which I didn't notice back then, are the overacting, and especially the overdramatic cinematography, lighting, and posing.  For example, the way the lead characters so often pose in formation around the captain's chair for the closing scene, not facing each other.  Or the heavy use of soft focus effects on women (see especially Joan Collins in "City on the Edge of Forever").

I really like the way the new series has the sound effects and set design just like the old one.  The acting is roughly similar, as well.  The lighting and cinematography isn't quite what the old one was, though.

But for me, the appeal of the original series is in the memories it brings back, and the ability to see the old episodes once again, seeing what I remember and what I had forgotten over time.  No continuation series, no matter how good, will have that same draw for me.

[Dongulus]

mu' qutlh, tob may'Daq

Look I can do it too!

nqewr' qirehep'rej fdufrpw[q' idsos 'hqwdsoh' [qw ;

...okay I lied.

Star Trek is a cornerstone of geekdom that I, regretfully, haven't been able to muster up interest for. After the first of the new Star Trek movies I wanted to give the original series a shot. I put forth an honest try, but I really couldn't get into it after watching maybe 12 episodes. Even though I don't really care for the original series, I can appreciate it for what it accomplished. Anytime someone is the first to break ground in a new area, there are always successes and failures, but either way it's still fascinating to follow the creative decisions made when the rules have not yet been written.

For reference, I don't think the new Star Trek movies are very good. I find it funny that my generation has such a fascination with media that a couple of decades ago might have gotten them beaten up by the popular kids. It's now the hip thing to pretend to be in to geeky things without any actual time investment. One of the problems I have with the new Star Trek movies is that they too easily offer the satisfaction of feeling like a Trekkie by cramming in as many references from the original series that anyone who ingests any amount of general pop culture will have heard. Because of this, I often admire people like the fans in this video who express genuine reverence for Star Trek or any other aspects of nerd culture.

[GK]

mu' qutlh, tob may'Daq

That one isn't decipherable.

[rolycat]

mu' qutlh, tob may'Daq

That one isn't decipherable.

a cat in battle, cheap words   

I'll ace any trivia quiz you bring on
I'm fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon

(toH, tlhIngan mughmeH ghun vItu'laH)

[GK]

mu' qutlh, tob may'Daq

That one isn't decipherable.

a cat in battle, cheap words   

I'll ace any trivia quiz you bring on
I'm fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon

(toH, tlhIngan mughmeH ghun vItu'laH)

LOL. Which dictionary are you using?

[rolycat]

LOL. Which dictionary are you using?

http://www.bing.com/translator

[AlfBaz]

For reference, I don't think the new Star Trek movies are very good.

I can't get enough of them and happen to think they're the best of the lot 

What might be telling in my taste is that the original series did nothing for me (unlike lost in space) the series I liked a lot was the picard/data ones.

Having said that I thoroughly enjoyed the movies starring the original cast

[grumpydoc]

LOL. Which dictionary are you using?

http://www.bing.com/translator

Yes, as you've now discovered beyond a few phrases I'm not exactly fluent in Klingon - I did at least recognise "your mother has a smooth forehead" - apparently the Bing translator isn't all that fluent either

[dr.diesel]

Episode #2, Lolani, is out:



http://www.startrekcontinues.com/episodes/#.UvoR3XW9g_Q

[free_electron]

If i hear one more time technobabble about 'relays' ic star-trek i'm gonna send some transistors and integrated circuits to the writers.
Those were invented in 1950's. And here it is 21xx and we are still screwing around with 'relays'.

[SeanB]

Note the original Hulk is a star as well. Also Erin grey from Buck Rogers. As well the part of Scotty is played by his son.

Worth noting is how much is done by the cast, look at the credits for the other roles they have

[bluejonah]

Man, I miss Star Trek. I kinda wish there was a new series. But, I know that it would never live up to ST:TNG for me. And the pain of watching another dreadful series. *cough* Enterprise *cough*

[Corporate666]

At the risk of labeling myself an ubernerd... I wish someone (like the Star Trek people) would come out with something even more futuristic - like 10,000 years in the future, or 1 million years in the future. 

I think one of the things that made TNG so good was that they didn't limit themselves.  Enterprise was limited because it was supposed to be before TNG, so they can't have anything that isn't in TNG.  Voyager was limited because they are supposed to be alone, so they can't have any interaction with other federation species.  DS9 was limited because they are basically stuck on an immovable ship (they learned their lesson part way through, but having the Defiant was still a band-aid on a major plot blunder).  I know they come up with plot twists to let them occasionally get around these limitations, but they tend to be the groan-and-roll-eyes episodes that nobody likes. 

One of the great things about TNG was it was totally open... they could go anywhere and do anything.  They should get back to that formula... but rather than thinking of ways to make the same old plot (a bunch of folks in space) interesting, toss in a curveball by accelerating the timeline far, far in the future and they can basically forget everything from the old series and have no particular strings attached to anything they do. 

[GK]

I'm not discriminatory. I'd do the green chick.

[T3sl4co1l]

For that matter, there's already a smattering of canon in the, er, 26th to 30th centuries I think.  Enough intrigue for a starting point, and then it's pretty much free from there...

'Spose the real reason is, Trek just isn't culturally relevant today (and also whatever you might have to say about Rick Berman).  Which is a sad thing in my opinion.  But that's okay, give it a few years (or decades..), it'll swing back around.

Tim