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[Star Trek] is mostly just about the theme songs
Hevach
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
First up we have the OG, TOS.
https://youtu.be/vHBLr9HOZEI
Pros: The original
Cons: consists mostly of theramin chords behind wailing mountain goat noises
Next the redheaded step child, The Animated Series
https://youtu.be/j_9P6lTiiec
Pros: Better version of the Kirk voice over
Cons: Sounds like a 60's sitcom intro
Jumping ahead to the second era, The Next Generation
https://youtu.be/7tIWYtcwp2I
Pros: Really showing what 1980's special effects could do without CGI.
Cons: Kind of the peak for a while
Deep Space Nine
https://youtu.be/v-91sZNbQCw
Pros: Beautiful fly around of a huge and elegant space station. This was also done pre-CGI using studio models!
Cons: Kind of slow and subdued, never felt in line with the grand events that DS9 got into.
Voyager
https://youtu.be/uDaOYj2wggg
Pros: The first CGI heavy series, and the intro makes beautiful use of the more advanced effects.
Cons: the scale is complete nonsense - that ringed planet is like fifty miles wide.
Enterprise
https://youtu.be/q4nceCmigAM
Pros: Beautiful sequence of the history of exploration.
Cons: This is a song from the Patch Adams sound track forced by studio meddling. And the studio didn't want to pay Rod Stewart or even Susan Ashton money so we get a cover of a cover by a dude whose discography is mostly national anthems and public domain Christmas carols
There but for the grace of God goes the intended Enterprise intro:
https://youtu.be/9zuObd_gSKw
Pros: Same beautiful sequence, it has to be said that this is one of the most beautiful intro animations in all of Star Trek
Cons: You have to watch Enterprise when it's over
Bonus: Enterprise took a vacation to the mirror universe, complete with an alternate universe intro:
https://youtu.be/sfbsZRbwbJ4
Pros: A dark mirror of the normal intro paired perfectly with a new one off theme song
Cons: Still can't afford Rod Stewart I guess
Another jump forward to the new era, we start with Discovery:
https://youtu.be/gdLfWOEbNmo
Pros: Harkening back to TOS and TNG.
Cons: What the fuck is even going on in this animation half the time?
Picard
https://youtu.be/02vuBqcv3hk
Pros: It's not Enterprise
Cons: It's not Enterprise. Also again with the weird nonsense animation, no clue what's going on most of the time
Lower Decks
https://youtu.be/Sr4bomaqMTE
Pros: Flawlessly captures the grandeur and absurdity of the setting, and Memory Alpha considers the constantly escalating battle scenes to be individual canon events
Cons: idiots on YouTube have still not stopped crying about them getting animation in their Star Trek
The new generation's redheaded stepchild, Prodigy
https://youtu.be/DY6tqng1ozI
Pros: Ok see if you want to do weird abstract animation this is how it's done. This at least makes sense
Cons: you need a whole second streaming service just for this intro.
And finally Strange New Worlds
https://youtu.be/aMMMBvkAUSM
Pros: Captain Pike taking Discovery to school on how to harken back to TOS
Cons: Season 3 is delayed by like a year from the strikes
https://youtu.be/vHBLr9HOZEIPros: The original
Cons: consists mostly of theramin chords behind wailing mountain goat noises
Next the redheaded step child, The Animated Series
https://youtu.be/j_9P6lTiiecPros: Better version of the Kirk voice over
Cons: Sounds like a 60's sitcom intro
Jumping ahead to the second era, The Next Generation
https://youtu.be/7tIWYtcwp2IPros: Really showing what 1980's special effects could do without CGI.
Cons: Kind of the peak for a while
Deep Space Nine
https://youtu.be/v-91sZNbQCwPros: Beautiful fly around of a huge and elegant space station. This was also done pre-CGI using studio models!
Cons: Kind of slow and subdued, never felt in line with the grand events that DS9 got into.
Voyager
https://youtu.be/uDaOYj2wgggPros: The first CGI heavy series, and the intro makes beautiful use of the more advanced effects.
Cons: the scale is complete nonsense - that ringed planet is like fifty miles wide.
Enterprise
https://youtu.be/q4nceCmigAMPros: Beautiful sequence of the history of exploration.
Cons: This is a song from the Patch Adams sound track forced by studio meddling. And the studio didn't want to pay Rod Stewart or even Susan Ashton money so we get a cover of a cover by a dude whose discography is mostly national anthems and public domain Christmas carols
There but for the grace of God goes the intended Enterprise intro:
https://youtu.be/9zuObd_gSKwPros: Same beautiful sequence, it has to be said that this is one of the most beautiful intro animations in all of Star Trek
Cons: You have to watch Enterprise when it's over
Bonus: Enterprise took a vacation to the mirror universe, complete with an alternate universe intro:
https://youtu.be/sfbsZRbwbJ4Pros: A dark mirror of the normal intro paired perfectly with a new one off theme song
Cons: Still can't afford Rod Stewart I guess
Another jump forward to the new era, we start with Discovery:
https://youtu.be/gdLfWOEbNmoPros: Harkening back to TOS and TNG.
Cons: What the fuck is even going on in this animation half the time?
Picard
https://youtu.be/02vuBqcv3hkPros: It's not Enterprise
Cons: It's not Enterprise. Also again with the weird nonsense animation, no clue what's going on most of the time
Lower Decks
https://youtu.be/Sr4bomaqMTEPros: Flawlessly captures the grandeur and absurdity of the setting, and Memory Alpha considers the constantly escalating battle scenes to be individual canon events
Cons: idiots on YouTube have still not stopped crying about them getting animation in their Star Trek
The new generation's redheaded stepchild, Prodigy
https://youtu.be/DY6tqng1ozIPros: Ok see if you want to do weird abstract animation this is how it's done. This at least makes sense
Cons: you need a whole second streaming service just for this intro.
And finally Strange New Worlds
https://youtu.be/aMMMBvkAUSMPros: Captain Pike taking Discovery to school on how to harken back to TOS
Cons: Season 3 is delayed by like a year from the strikes
Hevach on
+11
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It doesn't have the audio mixing that made the TNG and especially TOS intros physically painful, at least, but its worse despite that.
I still prefer the "Perfect Strangers" version of the opening, but watching this video just now made me realize that if they did do a Star Trek using this song, they'd pretty much have to have a captain who is Polynesian, which would be pretty great. As long as they got genuine Polynesians to consult on how to portray that captain's culture so we don't have another Jamake Highwater situation.
It's ridiculously cheesy but the montage is great and somehow it works. It got off on the wrong foot because of how different it was from every Star Trek opening before it. It's kinda jarring that way.
In S3 they try and fix it by jazzing it up and only really manage to make it worse.
I think it still manages to top several of the newer theme songs, which have mostly ended up Enterprise-the-show levels of forgettable.
Going by the way the sequence ends, I think it’s intended to reflect…
I agree, but wasn't quite sure of how to phrase that, especially for those who hadn't seen it.
Also that Emissary intro feels like Star Trek: Mass Effect
Oh, shit. Right. Okay, I put it in spoiler tags. If you do the same to your quote of me we should be good to go.
But the original one is by far the best. Just perfectly captures that feeling of being a single point of life all alone in the dark.
But the best intro is still the Horner intro to Wrath of Khan - listen to that bad boy on a system with proper bass and wowser, as that very low sound kicks in representing background space then the brass...you nailed it Horner. Took the Courage theme but updated it to something more militaristic and darker.
Lower Decks theme is probably my choice of nuTrek as it absolutely understood the assignment to do something new but completely Star Treky - bold, uplifting, good pace, loud when it needs to be punchy. Could have been written by Jerry - no finer complement.
"Nothing is gonna save us forever but a lot of things can save us today." - Night in the Woods
Apparently, Rayner is a Kellerun, who appeared in a single episode of DS9? Also, loving the Progenitor callback to TNG.
And Saru, getting it on with that Vulcan booty! This is the Kelpien-Vulcan ship that the fans want.
I thought I saw the Blinky Tube device, powered down, in the Romulan ship, but I'm not sure.
In keeping with the show intro theme:
Spoiler'd for size but here are some other videos of his work:
Make that kid grow up to be O'Brien
See - uses the Horner score. Just the best.
Wow, why would you want to wish that on the unborn?
Ugh...gotta figure out time to watch that.
Only through adversity can you become something more
But for I assume the same reason we have four different corruptions of Kzinti they didn't do that and canonically there's no in universe evidence of a link.
Maybe not you you though, it might be your time clone that ends up benefiting.
O'Brien and Riker were the OG Rick Sanchez's
I'm with them on that distinction. The EU version frankly makes no sense.
The Preservers preserved various cultures, like the Native American tribe in TOS. They clearly existed pretty recently in Earth's history, as recently as 1000 years ago.
There are literally billions of years separating these two species.
And I've heard the argument that Discovery is what got us Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds, but I don't buy that at all. I think we got those later shows in spite of Discovery stinking up the room, whereas if Discovery had been good from the start we could've gotten the likes of those shows sooner and with more support for them.
Lower Decks I'll grant you.
Also 100% the success of Pike in season 2 played into SNW existing. Denying that is denying that Discovery actually has done well and by doing well, if not amazing, it has paved the road for SNW.
One more than ENT got.
Agreed.
Spock goes human & Intelligent cloud are two things that happen a lot. I swear I’m not crazy.
The entire idea of SNW is to do the kind of thing TOS did but on a modern budget, so...