azrael

'Took 5 weeks for this season to get going. It's not a bad episode, I'm just disappointed it took this long to get to this episode.

Also the world building+foreshadowing...ugh shows can't be self-contained anymore can they? We're bleeding into Ashoka, Skeleton Crew, the defunct Rangers of the New Republic, etc. 😔

Also the cameo from the Lesat IS THAT Lesat. It's in the credits.

4 episodes into this season...Is the point of this season is finding one's faith or finding hope when you've lost it? Cuz that's the sense I'm getting so far.

And wouldn't finding a settlement in a less dangerous place be better for the community? Living next to a body of water where a bunch of Mosasaurus-like creatures also hang out...is that for building your danger sense or something?

Here's a thought. Instead of posting other people's reviews, go watch it yourself and let us know what YOU thought of the movie.

And if you like this comment, hit that LIKE button. And don't forget to subscribe for more moderator content.

1 hour ago, Mog said:

I wonder if the week by week release schedule screws the pooch with some of these versus just releasing a whole season all at once.

Lot easier to keep watching a show, if you can jump right into the next episode.  As opposed to stewing over a bleh episode for a week and then losing motivation to keep watching.

Probably no difference. If anything, a weekly release prolongs the initial viewership. Regardless, if the numbers aren’t there, it makes it harder to justify its existence. It’s easy to do the initial investment (1st season), but gets harder from there (bigger the risk, bigger or smaller the reward) because you’ll want to do more given another chance.

Shouldn't...

I liked the episode seeing that it finally closed a open thread from 30-ish years ago.

No surprise Disney+ is culling their herd since streaming services appear to be cutting back on production thanks to the current economy. I'm still waiting to see what big shows Netflix or Amazon are going to cut after this year.

VFX is always expensive and another season's budget would likely raise the VFX costs. Coupled with (likely) no substantial change to subscriptions numbers probably placed the nail on the coffin.

21 minutes ago, Thom said:

As to the Titans impulse engines, I haven't look too closely at any diagrams, but I wonder where the saucer split is? I'm assuming this can do a saucer separation like most ST ships, so maybe what we are seeing in the stacked arrangement, is the smaller ones on top belonging to the saucer, with the larger on the bottom for the warp drive section.

It might not split. Not every Starfleet ship can has a saucer split. Or it has an emergency one-time split that the old-23rd century designs had. If it does, I doubt we'll see it anyways.

If people thought this season was brutal and gut-wrenching, wait till next season. 😉 If you've played the game or watched the clips, you know what's coming. 😉

21 minutes ago, MisaForever said:

Hey yo! So visiting the site today I noticed that there's this strange menu drop-down showing up at the top of each page.

 

What browser and/or device?

Now that we're farther along, Shaw reminds me of a Commander Fisk from BSG.

Also, can we keep Terry Matalas for a showrunner of more Trek? Seems like we found someone who can actually do it some justice (well...anyone is better than Kurtzman...). Ok, to be fair, Matalas did have his humble beginnings writing for Voyager and Enterprise, so at least he has history with the franchise.

Good episode this week. Better than the other Star Wars show running right now. I just don’t like the fact it’s taken us this far along in the season to get here. 

5 hours ago, Roy Focker said:

In this week's episode Bo watches Mando take a bath but he's a never nude so it don't get too excited.

This week on The Mandalorian, 

So far this season has been…meh. Not bad…but not terribly good either. 

Good episode that finally moves the plot but still surrounded by, what appears to be, filler episodes .

Now will it be Crosshair be the one assigned to go after them...again or will they be sending someone else.

14 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

 But, if your primary intent is to emulate retro games there's probably a better option for you.  And, if you do decide that you want a Steam Deck, make sure you're comfortable replacing the hard drive, and if you're not, consider spending the extra cash on the 256GB or 512GB models, because unless you're just into retro-style plaformers and smaller indie games 64GB is totally inadequate.

I still think the 256GB model is the sweet-spot model, unless you plan on modding it after the fact (If you're going to upgrade the storage, spend the money and upgrade to a 1TB 2230, which brings the price into the same ballpark as the 256GB).

MOD WARNING
Politics. Bring that crap up again and you are gone.

Back to the subject. This is business. Sci-fi shows are inherently expensive thanks to VFX.  Hence my quoted text. If Paramount+ is scaling back streaming shows, I won't be shocked of other platforms are cutting back. With the economy trending downward and declining viewership (read: subscriptions, Netflix killing account sharing), I fully expect shows like The Witcher to meet an earlier-than-expected cancellation, even with the Hemsworth-brother to step into the lead role. I'm still wondering how long The Mandalorian will last after the proposed season 4. It's also likely most of the crew had 3-5 season-ish contracts and the studio opted to not renew any (effectively cancelling the show).

There is also a looming Writers' Guild strike this year (the current contract expires on May 1, 2023).

Edit...Oh my, all the major union contracts are up this year. SAG-June 30, DGA already in negotiations...might explain why some shows are not coming until the back half of 2023 and some might not be filming until 2024.

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ to End With Season 5  After resurrecting Trek on TV and launching a new generation of sci-fi content, 'Discovery' will have its final voyage next year. (Hollywood Reporter)

Quote

Sources say principal filming of the season is mostly complete. But with this move to end the show, there will be additional filming to help craft a conclusion for the series. The fifth and final season will premiere in early 2024.

Oh thank god. And may Kurtzman never be showrunner of any Star Trek again. 

Also this nugget:

Quote

The decision follows Paramount Global CFO Naveen Chopra telling an investor conference on Feb. 28 that the company might spend less on streaming content in 2024 than previously forecast due to the integration of Paramount+ and Showtime.

'Was wondering about that with more downtime between shows of late. There seems to be less talk of new content from Disney+, Amazon+, HBO Max (more stuff seems to be TV 1st, then streaming), Netflix (they're just "cancelled" happy) and more imports entering the feeds (maybe it's just me). It does make me wonder about other "long-running" streaming shows that may face the axe within the next couple of years. Yeah, I'm lookin' at your Stranger Things.

1 hour ago, Bolt said:

Take note how Cara Dune's lack of presence is explained in one sentence. I think it certainly affected the story , how much really, is hard to say.

Well, that was the original plan for the character. Hell, season 2 spawned all the spinoffs. 

2 hours ago, Roy Focker said:

I think the creators are just obsessed with all things Mandalorian.

The show is called The Mandalorian.

This season opener felt like we're just being thrown back in. Can't say if it was good or bad since we're setting up the rest of the season, but the short episode felt like we're just packing it in and thrown into the waters. Next week is also going to be another short episode so maybe they're cutting these first few season's episodes short to make it longer on the tail end?

The Neo-Constitution-class is supposed to be a revamped of the old Shangri-la-class (yes, both Bill Krause’s designs. He confirmed it). They also mentioned that the original U.S.S. Titan, NCC-1777, was the Federation flagship just before the Enterprise-B, and was captained by Savvik.

These “filler” episodes probably have a point to them, but yeah, with half the season done, this has been a sh*t season. 
I’m guessing they’re deconstructing Omega’s concept of family and home. Unfortunately, most of the stories just haven’t been very good.

58 minutes ago, Bolt said:

One must wonder if there was any foreknowledge the target planet had intelligent life.

They probably didn’t care. It was a charted system on the map so it’s a viable destination (the equivalent of where this pin drops/where my finger drops on the map, is where this ship is going). As mentioned, it was a booby trap and, likely, a distraction. 

2 hours ago, Chronocidal said:

I'm not even worried about getting something new, I'm just tempted to hack up an original Wii-mote and transfer the components into a controller body more conducive to FPS games.  I'd gladly play the entire Prime trilogy that way if the controller didn't have me speed-running carpal tunnel.

I understand, but portable gaming doesn't allow for much variation vs at-home console gaming. Nintendo's compromise for that was the Pro Controller. The Switch, Steam Deck, Ayaneo, all share similar designs because that setup works best for portable gaming. The Switch is a portable unit 1st, at-home console 2nd, so it has to satisfy #1 first (no external sensor, very un-ergonomic controllers).

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

I'm seriously considering a Switch at this point, though I might wait and see what the next upgrade is for it.  I've almost completely abandoned consoles at this point.

You could be waiting a while then. No one knows when the Switch will reach EOL and when Nintendo will launch its next console. If you decide on the Switch, I would get the Switch OLED.

1 hour ago, Chronocidal said:

I would have loved to play all of those games with motion controls, but only if I could use a customized/rebuilt wii-mote with an angled sensor so I could aim naturally.

'Don't think we'll ever go back to that. Portable gaming means no need to have another sensor, unless they can build it in to the console. Until that day comes, you will get approximate-controlling.

16 hours ago, RaisingCane said:

Do the early emigration fleets receive any supplies from Earth or are they pretty much stuck with whatever they took with them?  Like, are there Megaroad fleets wandering around out there that still primarily use old but well-maintained VF-4s?

Just to add, emigration fleets travel at sub-light speeds as well to explore, in depth, areas of space that surveying fleets mapped out.  They only fold through space to get away from obstacles. The fleets are designed to collect resources along the way. And as mentioned, they also get stuff shipped to them as well, especially if they can't manufacture it themselves, yet.

16 hours ago, Bolt said:

One wonders if they had the means to produce the VF-5000, VF- 3000 and the VF-9. I doubt it. They would've needed a retooled factory satellite. If they did have one in tow, they could have done many things, including advanced mods on the VF-4's. 

Retooling and upgrading manufacturing facilities, again, would be part of their design or worked in. It just a matter of need and costs (same principals as in real-life).