Hasn't The Federation always been 'woke'?
What were your thoughts on the Mando?To boldly go where they've already gone many times before, but maybe slightly differently this time
I hope I'm wrong, but in my opinion they could really learn a thing or two from Star Wars' success with the Mandalorian.
My minor tweaks to Mando would have been to add a bit more political intrigue (such as with the fallen empire bits which were quite interesting), plus actually finishing off some characters to keep us on our toes, in both senses a bit like Games of Thrones, but I appreciate it was more of a family demographic they were going for so I get it.Lack of proper threat is a serious issue in these things. I find part of the problem (for me at least) seems to be a combination of being an adult now, and it being a series. It's very obvious that things can't go very wrong for most of the main characters until certain parts of a series and that limits the possible consequences for sure, which does interrupt immersion for me. It's generally the same for movies, but it's more noticeable drawn out over a longer overall runtime for sure. There's no doubt it could have been better, but I don't know exactly where I'd tweak it to make it so.
My main thing in Star Wars is the experience/exploration of the overall theme and world, the characters are simply vehicles for that for me. It's perhaps why I was so completely owned by SWG when it was good. Mando understands that part of the fanbase and absolutely delivers that. If you played Dark Forces as a kid, then the hint/reveal of the Dark Troopers in modern cinematic glory was something of a spiritual experience
I'm not 100% if this is something that Trek fans feel, I only really know TNG era of it, but watching the Orville gave me serious childhood evening TNG nostalgia without really being too similar in characters so I expect it's a similar phenomenon.
Voyage Home was a fun romp, only really dated by the fact that the conceit was that they were travelling back to our present when the film was made rather than our past. Final Frontier...it needed more money and less of the studio controlling what Shatner did with it. It has a few neat scenes (campfire at night with the Kirk-Spock-McCoy trio for one), but it wasn't a great movie when it came out and time hasn't fixed that (best than can be said is that it's a better Trek film than Nemesis or Into Darkness IMO). Undiscovered Country was a great send-off for TOS, with a Real World™ relevant plot and great performances all around.I’ve also been going through the Star Trek films... the original ones. They really aren’t very good are they
Star Trek the motion picture - 7/10
Everyone says this is slow and boring / not much happens - for me it’s the only one where the threat feels genuine and menacing. There is an actual sense of ‘unknown’. Even knowing the outcome I quite enjoyed it, although I concede some of the sections without dialogue really were padded out. Also, wtf with that random transporter accident, dang!!! Finally, it has the next gen theme! So that’s where it came from
2; wrath of Khan. 6/10
I think Family Guy popularised the whole Khaaaaaaan thing. I mean, it’s ok but nothing particularly remarkable about it. Some light ‘naval battle tactics’ which are enjoyable. Sadly the introduction of the monumentally boring ‘Genesis’ plot that trudges over into the next two films.
3: The Search for Spock 4/10
I found this really boring and just... sort of happening. I was willing it to be over. Notable for an amusing moment where Uhura puts a man in a cupboard. Poor Kirk though
4: The journey home 5/10
The one with the whales. That rating assumes a fondness for the characters, otherwise it would be unbearable with its ultra cliched ‘people from the future try to blend in’ nonsense and awful cheesiness.
5: the final frontier 7/10
This is simultaneously the best and worst of them all. It has unbelievably goofy at moments, to the point where I just can’t believe they thought those bits were good ideas. Particularly the rocket boots bit near the start which is both a 10/10 and a 0/10other funny bits like the campfire scene are genuinely amusing / bemusing. It did have an intriguing plot and a couple of weirdly, completely off colour ‘dark’ moments (particularly the scene with Bone’s dad - brutal!!). Probably a marmite film, I imagine many people despise it!
Rocket boots below
