TV/Movies Megathread

[Josquius]

An interesting impact Dunkirk has had on me.... I am extra pissed off about brexit. All those people going through such suffering to create a better future only for the British themselves to then go over to the dark side and piss it all away. Le sigh.

But anyway. Interesting thing I noted - the trailers before the movie.
A big screen Scandinavian detective movie- I recognised it right away from the darkness and the sparse concrete blocks.
And...a big money Hollywood Poirot.

I. E. The usual stuff of low budget British tv. Seems to be a trend. Bake off the movie is next?

[Tamas]

An interesting impact Dunkirk has had on me.... I am extra pissed off about brexit. All those people going through such suffering to create a better future only for the British themselves to then go over to the dark side and piss it all away. Le sigh.

But anyway. Interesting thing I noted - the trailers before the movie.
A big screen Scandinavian detective movie- I recognised it right away from the darkness and the sparse concrete blocks.
And...a big money Hollywood Poirot.

I. E. The usual stuff of low budget British tv. Seems to be a trend. Bake off the movie is next?

The reading of both world wars in the context of Brexit, imho, is that the Brits fought two world wars to prevent a German-dominated continental Europe. Then last year they just threw in the towel and gave up on it, rendering the sacrifices pointless. Well, maybe not for WW2, but most certainly for WW1.

[Eddie Teach]

One could just as easily claim that brexit preserved the sacrifices of those fighting off the Nazis as well as the Spanish Armada. British sovereignty:intact.

I think both arguments are pretty ludicrous and ignore historical context.

[Josquius]

One could just as easily claim that brexit preserved the sacrifices of those fighting off the Nazis as well as the Spanish Armada. British sovereignty:intact.

I think both arguments are pretty ludicrous and ignore historical context.

That's the argument of the brexiters whose primary gripe with the nazis is by and large that they were German. Not that they were nazis.

[dps]

One could just as easily claim that brexit preserved the sacrifices of those fighting off the Nazis as well as the Spanish Armada. British sovereignty:intact.

I think both arguments are pretty ludicrous and ignore historical context.

That's the argument of the brexiters whose primary gripe with the nazis is by and large that they were German. Not that they were nazis.

The British didn't go to war with Germany because the Germans were Nazis.  True, they didn't exactly go to war with Germany just because Germany was German, either, but it wasn't because they were Nazis.  If that had been the case, they would have gone to war with Germany in 1933, not 1939 and certainly not in 1914.

[Valmy]

One could just as easily claim that brexit preserved the sacrifices of those fighting off the Nazis as well as the Spanish Armada. British sovereignty:intact.

I think both arguments are pretty ludicrous and ignore historical context.

That's the argument of the brexiters whose primary gripe with the nazis is by and large that they were German. Not that they were nazis.

The British didn't go to war with Germany because the Germans were Nazis.  True, they didn't exactly go to war with Germany just because Germany was German, either, but it wasn't because they were Nazis.  If that had been the case, they would have gone to war with Germany in 1933, not 1939 and certainly not in 1914.

I don't see either claim being made by Tyr. I mean by this logic if they had gone to war with Germany because they were Germans the war would have started sometime prehistory so clearly Tyr is not saying the brexiters think this.

[Josquius]

Star Trek ep 3...
I'm not really seeing the mentioned darkness, well, except the poor lighting. Hope this doesn't become routine.
Spoiler-tastic:


I was expecting the cadet to die. Really seemed they were lampshading her being a red shirt with the "I can't believe I get to go on an away mission!" thing.
A bit of a roll eyes from me on them going to to board this mysterious empty ship without environment suits. Sure, its later explained in the episode that what they're dealing with should be safe....but not. I guess this one has to be explained with typical TV rules of not hiding your actors faces.
I'm not really feeling the war and desperation at the moment. I guess because we are launched straight into it rather than the build up with the Dominion. This weird bio teleportation too....was Michael actually in those places?

Anyway. Its a decent enough show. Has potential to get dark, though hopefully not just for the sake of dark.

It was indeed entertaining. 3 for 3 so far.

Also, hopefully the intro of science will calm down the haters who are claiming that it is Trek in the vein of the reboot.

On a side note, does anyone know why they are so obsessed with Trek prequels?  Seems they'd have a lot more freedom with events sent after everything we already know. Saw gizmodo review that also echoed that current plot of Discovery so far could work with different enemy race, further in the future.

I guess the problem is one of exponentially increasing power levels and things being less believably relatable as you get further into the future. By the end of voyager we had the introduction of super weapons, extra dimensional beings, transwarp travel and the ever creeping introduction of routine time travel.
Additionally by that point the galaxy is pretty well mapped out. We know the Borg dominate the Delta quadrant and the Dominion the Gamma and the Beta and Alpha are pretty full with all the races we know. With these you've a whole host of past events we've seen on screen you have to keep in mind as you write; not fun for writers or casual viewers.

[garbon]

We do have a spoiler tag feature you could use.

[garbon]

Star Trek ep 3...
I'm not really seeing the mentioned darkness, well, except the poor lighting.

[spoiler]Those mangled bodies aren't dark for Trek? Was more in the vein of Alien than anything I've seen in Star Trek[/spoiler]

[spoiler]I was expecting the cadet to die. Really seemed they were lampshading her being a red shirt with the "I can't believe I get to go on an away mission!" thing.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Maybe in the past but in the current day with her seeming a bit aspie with her earnestness, too obvious as to insult viewers and a bit against the spirit of our inclusive times, no?[/spoiler]

[spoiler]A bit of a roll eyes from me on them going to to board this mysterious empty ship without environment suits. Sure, its later explained in the episode that what they're dealing with should be safe....but not. I guess this one has to be explained with typical TV rules of not hiding your actors faces.[/spoiler]

[spoiler]Typical Trek, no? As mentioned I've been watching DS9 recently and they just beam to any old planet with no protection - even in instances where they think there are potential contagious problems[/spoiler]

I guess the problem is one of exponentially increasing power levels and things being less believably relatable as you get further into the future. By the end of voyager we had the introduction of super weapons, extra dimensional beings, transwarp travel and the ever creeping introduction of routine time travel.
Additionally by that point the galaxy is pretty well mapped out. We know the Borg dominate the Delta quadrant and the Dominion the Gamma and the Beta and Alpha are pretty full with all the races we know. With these you've a whole host of past events we've seen on screen you have to keep in mind as you write; not fun for writers or casual viewers.

But you just setup that said powers have crumbled, no? After all the Trek universe isn't immutable and there are many known fallen powers. Just seems like prequels box them in whereas more futuristic settings would allow more freedom.

I mean you mention past events to recall, but you basically have the same if not worse with a prequel as you know you have to build to that. After the fact, you can always explain away a divergence with something occurring between the past and now present.

[Admiral Yi]

Is the Clooney/Julie Roberts film 'Money Monster' worth a spin?

It sucks.

[viper37]

This weird bio teleportation too....was Michael actually in those places?

It is a reminder of the Iconian portal.  So I suspect not everything is at it seems.

And I think the weird beast being kept in a cage and the weird particles are foreshadowing Section 31.

[viper37]

But you just setup that said powers have crumbled, no? After all the Trek universe isn't immutable and there are many known fallen powers. Just seems like prequels box them in whereas more futuristic settings would allow more freedom.

I mean you mention past events to recall, but you basically have the same if not worse with a prequel as you know you have to build to that. After the fact, you can always explain away a divergence with something occurring between the past and now present.

there are a few problems with a sequel, I think
1) As Tyr said, we already know the universe of the 24th century.  That means less surprise and I think there was a question of royalties to the Roddenberry estate for known races of TOS and TNG (unsure, it's something I remember about Voyager during a convention, but I can't find anything about it anywhere)

2) Even if the powers have crumbled, we know the Borg remnant is in the Delta Quadrang and we know half the races there.  We know what's left of the Dominion is the Gamma Quadrant and they weren't totally beaten, they just were infected with a biological agent that would have killed the founders had they not surrended.  Their military is still intact.  It's closer to a post WW1 Germany than a post WW2 Germany.  We also know the Klingons and the Romulans are a major power in the Alpha Quadrant despite heavy losses.  Cardassia is a 4th rate power half destroyed and occupied, but they are still there.  TNG explored the Alpha Quadrant for 7 years, what is left to explore?

3) If we make it so that the Federation and other powers are crippled, anarchy is everywhere, someone is trying to rebuild order with the most advanced ship in the quadrant... well, you've got Andromeda all over again.

4) The movies have created an alternate future at the time of Kirk's birth.  Do you respect that or not?  Afaik, the movies and the TV franchises aren't owned by the same corporation, so there's a conflict of royalties there for anything set in the new movie universe, I believe.

With a prequel, you get to tie in audience still hooked to TOS and TNG, you get new, curious viewers and old time fans who watched everything Trek.

I think the studio played it safe by going with a prequel set 10 years before TOS.  I would have loved a post DS9 story, but the prequel can offer some satisfying stories too.

[Josquius]

True. You could knock everything down and then have some drama in building it back up again. Wasn't Andromeda originally meant to be set in the Trek universe?
But as things stand...the Federation are just too great and established. I think people prefer a less stable and established humanity, not yet the absolute super power they're left as post dominion war.

I think the difference with keeping future events and past events in mind is that we never saw off-screen history too fleshed out, there's a lot of leeway in determining the journey, you just have to know there's a few key points along the way and a single end point.
With past events you've a lot of spinning plates to remember.
Also there's the introduction of time travel messing with the timeline. A lot easier to have things unfolding close to the time travel event rather than be in a totally different universe many years later.

___

I had no idea about these Iconian portals. Not an episode that stands out in my mind. Curious. Would be an interesting take on ST if we have them purposfully running around chasing forerunner artifacts.

[Admiral Yi]

Well it certainly wasn't amazing, though not sucky, I'd say very average despite what it was trying to do.

It has a ridiculous anti-capitalist message that I knew you would eat up.  But it's a shyte movie.

[viper37]

I had no idea about these Iconian portals. Not an episode that stands out in my mind. Curious. Would be an interesting take on ST if we have them purposfully running around chasing forerunner artifacts.

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Iconian

One TNG episode and one DS9 episode about it.