Knights & Knaves Alehouse

TRP wrote:The news isn't getting any better on this.

http://tvweb.com/star-trek-discovery-pr ... rgoed-cbs/

Will I watch the premiere on CBS? Of course. It will be free, and hey, I might be surprised. Will I subscribe to the CBS streaming service if the premiere is actually good? That's highly unlikely. After browsing what's on the service, there's nothing else interesting there to me. So no. It's not worth it for just one show. Eventually, ST:Discovery will be available elsewhere, and I'll watch then if it's any good.

Doesn't look favourable. It bespeaks of a lack of confidence in the board room for this use of the IP. I still don't feel any pressing need to watch the premiere. I can't remember the last time I ever purposely watched CBS anyway.

I'm just glad that ST:TOS has been aired on BBC America on Fridays.

I didn't realize a studio could ban reviews. Do critics have to sign an nda to get a preview?

TRP wrote:I didn't realize a studio could ban reviews. Do critics have to sign an nda to get a preview?

They get access to the preview in exchange for agreeing to embargo the review until the release date. They know what that date is going in, so they and their editors can plan the workload and the publication schedule accordingly.

I don't know that it rises to the level of an NDA or it remains a quasi-informal "gentlemen's agreement".

Critics have broken embargoes before on reviewing, usually anonymously, but it is rare. It generally besmirches the "business". Although, let's be entirely honest, when was the last time anyone said there was a really great film (or book, or TV show etc.) that had a review embargo but was also really good?

No, when studios don't show stuff to reviewers or ask that reviewers not discuss the product before it's released, it is for one reason only and that is that it stinks on ice.

I review embargo this late in the game is a bad sign.

Distorted Humor wrote:I review embargo this late in the game is a bad sign.

It doesn't frickin matter anyway. None of us are gonna sign up for their pay to play video service. So that leaves you with pirating or waiting for a DVD season release. I am hoping their online service flops and they will put it on Netflix for us Americans here...and cut whatever losses they accumulated.

I definitely wanted it to be good. But, yeah, I wasn't going to pay. It'll be interesting to see what happens.
Be well,
--Ron--

Saw the first two episodes. It was definitely different than how the TNG series played out and Enterprise. It was actually kind of good for science fiction television especially for the first two episodes of a series. The ending was definitely not what I expected. The special effects are outstanding.

How is it as Star Trek? I think it needs to be treated as it own things drawing on the Star Trek Mythology. It like the Abrams Star Trek in that regard. However this is much better than how the Star Trek movie played out. The first two episode take place on the Shenzhou with Michelle Yeoh as Captain Phillpa Greigou. The crew dynamic was different and interesting. The way Sarek was integrated into the story likewise interesting except for one jarring thing.

Only jarring thing I noticed was a segment where the episode played fast and loose with communication speed and information timing. It was the only flat note I noticed in the two. That and just accepting that this is own thread in world of Star Trek.

But the jury is still out because after these two, the series shift gears so that will have to play out on its own merit. But for me earned a look at what happens next.

robertsconley wrote:Only jarring thing I noticed was a segment where the episode played fast and loose with communication speed and information timing.

Yeah, that real-time comm across light-years' distance made me scratch my head, but wutevs. Can't see myself being roped into paying for the rest of it, really. *shrug*

I stopped watching the 1st episode when the Klingon (they changed their look *again*) ship decloaked .

That was informative. Thank you.

I watched the first episode. I thought it was dull, underacted, and over SFXed.

Star Trek, as with Star Wars and Dr Who, is dead. Oh, the franchise is still alive and kicking, though few would say (as they would of SW and DW) that it is doing well, but the heart and soul of what we used to know as Star Trek (and the others) is dead and gone, historical dust blowing in the wind of an alien planet like the opening scene. What remains is a product name, some artificially-flavored ingredients that sometimes taste kinda like Trek (but with frequently off-putting peculiarities, like the shredded carrot they used to put in the orange jello in grade school), lots of modern interpretation of what Trek was/is, the occasional salty peanut of meaningless genuine Trek (like the few-second long motif from the TOS Movies in the opening credits) they throw us to keep us buying the beer, and a typical modern Hollywood agenda.

Though I would never pay for it, even if it was good, I had hope for it since Star Wars and Dr Who are dead and rebooted. But this train isn't going anywhere I want to go, and I can't even say I would enjoy the ride.