As was foretold, we've added advertisements to the forums! If you have questions, or if you encounter any bugs, please visit this thread: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/240191/forum-advertisement-faq-and-reports-thread/

Star Trek: Give Us Sexy Dolphins Now!!

13738404243101

Posts

  • Zilla360Zilla360 21st Century. |She/Her| Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered User regular
    I finally got around to watching that crowd-funded DS9 documentary that came out around 2017/2018.
    That was a really fun and enlightening couple of hours! I would very much recommend it.
    There's even a fun little musical number performed just before the end credits, and a bunch of behind-the-scenes anecdotes I don't think I had ever come across previously. :)

    The whole process of how the writers worked on the show, riffing off of each other and their shared knowledge of the lore really reminded me of how long-running D&D games are organised and played.
    Pretty much exactly the same kind of atmosphere in the writers room as people sat around the room at a tabletop convention, except with more whiteboards. :biggrin:

    |Ko-Fi Me! ☕😎|NH844lc.png | PSN | chi-logo-only-favicon.png(C.H.I) Ltd. |🏳️⚧️♥️
  • hlprmnkyhlprmnky Registered User regular
    Episode 4:
    Picard’s “I Am The White Earth Man, Who Is Rescuing You Unfortunates, Jo-Lann Truu” outfit in the 14 years ago flashback is just ...chef’s kiss. I hope streaming originals are up for the Emmys or whatever, the costume designer deserves an award and a raise.

    _
    Your Ad Here! Reasonable Rates!
  • DanHibikiDanHibiki Registered User regular
    Lanz wrote: »

    O'Brien, when he suffered.

    ok, i know that one, it's "Tuesday"

  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    Odo needs fewer romance subplots and more gritty noir detective subplots.

  • WinkyWinky rRegistered User regular
    Odo needs fewer romance subplots and more gritty noir detective subplots.

    Why not both?

  • AbsoluteZeroAbsoluteZero The new film by Quentin Koopantino Registered User regular
    Was very pleased to see Jonathan Frakes directed episode 4. I hope he gets to do more, I feel like this episode has felt the most confident so far.

    cs6f034fsffl.jpg
  • Dark_SideDark_Side Registered User regular
    edited February 2020
    TOGSolid wrote: »
    Episode 4 reactions
    Man, one thing that is really standing out with Picard is how they're not afraid to show just how damn arrogant he is and how he has a nasty habit of just not keeping up with people. He may have joined in on the poker game at the end of TNG but he never really stopped being the sort of person who lives in his own little world to his own detriment. His style works great in the captain's chair but out in the real world he's just kinda lost.

    The overly-sexualized sister villain is getting a bit tiresome. It's almost comical how she's strutting around like someone you'd expect to see in the mirror universe, complete with Villainous Corset™. I'm also fully expecting a face turn from the brother once he gets thoroughly fed up with the sister's shit. Like, there will prolly be a scene where he finally runs into the main gang and he just flips and tells them everything to save the synth or something like that.

    I'm really glad the sword scene didn't turn out to be TNG movie era Action Picard schlock. I was pretty fearful that they were gonna get stupid with it and have Picard actually sword fight someone so that was definitely a big ole sigh of relief from me. It did feel like Elnor changed his mind awful damn quick and conveniently though.

    That ancient Bird of Prey looked fucking great.

    Seven of Nine has joined the server! I'm curious what justification they're gonna have for her being there but so far the show is doing a heeeeell of a lot better than Disco in the writing department (even if the villains are total cornballs so far) so I've got some faith.

    All in all a fun episode and it looks like we're about to start in on proper adventuring hijinks next episode now that the party is assembled which I'm more than ready for.
    I agree with all those points! And yeah the show seems to be developing a theme where Picard is having to face a lot of the loose ends he left untied, and it's getting into that good "what it means to get old" Star Trek captain shit the TOS movies did so well. However, it's alsoalready getting to the point that I realize I don't want to watch Picard go on a season long apology tour either, so hopefully they start moving on from this in the next few episodes.

    I was pretty worried about the space ninja stuff from the previews, but the story behind it was actually pretty interesting and not terribly cliched, so I'll allow it. I also loved the touch of Picard tearing that sign down on the cafe fence and strutting right into the place, consequences be damned. That's the Picard I really want to see in this show.

    Jerry Ryan voted best character entrance in the show so far.

    The bad - I'm not sure the actors are selling the violent ship motions all that well. Several times I could see Raffi's movement dragging behind the motion going on. I think part of the issue may be that the set is massive and bridge is like...waaay too big and empty (especially for what appears to be a corvette sized vessel) and awash in shade and greys, so it's very easy to track character motions against the set.

    That ship continues to be a real pain point for me. It looks kickass on the outside, but is a boring warehouse on the inside - to the point that shots of the crew on the deck look like somebody stacked fancy ship chairs on a theater stage in front of black curtain. And they don't show any cool fine details of the ship like they used to do on the old shows. Hell..the Warbird that shows up has more character and it's only on screen for a few minutes. And yet the dude's got a holosuite in there? And holograms that roam the ship at will while he plays the wounded hipster warrior poet? Doesn't make any damn sense.

    Dark_Side on
  • TOGSolidTOGSolid Drunk sailor Seattle, WashingtonRegistered User regular
    Dark_Side wrote: »
    That ship continues to be a real pain point for me. It looks kickass on the outside, but is a boring warehouse on the inside - to the point that shots of the crew on the deck look like somebody stacked fancy ship chairs on a theater stage in front of black curtain.
    Oh, that's what it was. I couldn't quite figure out why I kept getting Elite Dangerous vibes from the battle with the Bird of Prey but something about it kept flashing me back to combat in Elite but you nailed what it is. The layout of the bridge has so much dead space that when the camera tried to accommodate all of it it reminded me of looking around some of those bridges in Elite.

    wWuzwvJ.png
  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    TOGSolid wrote: »
    Dark_Side wrote: »
    That ship continues to be a real pain point for me. It looks kickass on the outside, but is a boring warehouse on the inside - to the point that shots of the crew on the deck look like somebody stacked fancy ship chairs on a theater stage in front of black curtain.
    Oh, that's what it was. I couldn't quite figure out why I kept getting Elite Dangerous vibes from the battle with the Bird of Prey but something about it kept flashing me back to combat in Elite but you nailed what it is. The layout of the bridge has so much dead space that when the camera tried to accommodate all of it it reminded me of looking around some of those bridges in Elite.

    Well..
    it is a freighter!
    [/spoiler
    Also speculation spoilers
    the Romulan agent 'brother and sister' are not really related, I think, it's more of a "they grew up in super secret agent training together", or even just trained together

    kFJhXwE.jpgkFJhXwE.jpg
  • StrikorStrikor Calibrations? Calibrations! Registered User regular
    TOGSolid wrote: »
    Dark_Side wrote: »
    That ship continues to be a real pain point for me. It looks kickass on the outside, but is a boring warehouse on the inside - to the point that shots of the crew on the deck look like somebody stacked fancy ship chairs on a theater stage in front of black curtain.
    Oh, that's what it was. I couldn't quite figure out why I kept getting Elite Dangerous vibes from the battle with the Bird of Prey but something about it kept flashing me back to combat in Elite but you nailed what it is. The layout of the bridge has so much dead space that when the camera tried to accommodate all of it it reminded me of looking around some of those bridges in Elite.

    Well..
    it is a freighter!
    [/spoiler
    Also speculation spoilers
    the Romulan agent 'brother and sister' are not really related, I think, it's more of a "they grew up in super secret agent training together", or even just trained together

    For all we know it's
    just what members of Super Secret Cult of Kill the Robutts call each other, as super secret organizations tend to do.

  • RMS OceanicRMS Oceanic Registered User regular
    Episode 4
    Warrior Monk: "A Promise is a Prison"

    *14 years later*

    Picard: "I'm sorry. I promised..."

    Wonder if that's a thing that will be explored later?

    I'm enjoying the Mass Effect 2 style round the crew up arc, but agree the apology tour could get tiresome pretty quickly.

  • RMS OceanicRMS Oceanic Registered User regular
    Also relevant to what happens in Episode 4

  • CatalaseCatalase Registered User regular
    Having been dodging most spoilers, I wonder if that's the whole crew assembled. Can't wait for the Loyalty Missions

    "Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination."
  • RMS OceanicRMS Oceanic Registered User regular
    Speculation about potential cool moment later
    I wonder if all the Emergency X Holograms will gang up on an intruder later on. That would be fun.

  • WinkyWinky rRegistered User regular
    Speculation:
    Rios is, himself, a hologram.

  • RMS OceanicRMS Oceanic Registered User regular
    Winky wrote: »
    Speculation:
    Rios is, himself, a hologram.
    Crossed my mind, but I think getting that wound patched up was a bit too much to be an act.

  • CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    Ya'know, there have been several drops that indicate that someone in the writer's room is a huge Mass Effect fan
    The most notable one I think is the one that people here hated - the technology that allows you to reconstruct what went on in a room using a special scan? That came straight out of Mass Effect: Andromeda. And yeah it's fantasy-level tech but for some reason I didn't mind it playing the game so it didn't seem out of place in Trek.

    But you knooooooow that's a hard core Mass Effect fan when they not only played Andromeda but decided something in it was good enough to steal from. That's my homie right there.

    "If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
  • TofystedethTofystedeth Registered User regular
    Speculation about potential cool moment later
    I wonder if all the Emergency X Holograms will gang up on an intruder later on. That would be fun.
    I loved the hospitality hologram following Picard too close. Also the phrase hospitality emergency.

    steam_sig.png
  • Thorn413Thorn413 Registered User regular
    hlprmnky wrote: »
    Episode 4:
    Picard’s “I Am The White Earth Man, Who Is Rescuing You Unfortunates, Jo-Lann Truu” outfit in the 14 years ago flashback is just ...chef’s kiss. I hope streaming originals are up for the Emmys or whatever, the costume designer deserves an award and a raise.

    Even better:
    when he returns he is dressed in all black. It is more than a little on the nose but I am here for it.

    Also I think that I'm enjoying the crews interactions. Is this the first time we've had a non-Starfleet crew and ship outside of a one off?

  • WinkyWinky rRegistered User regular
    I get strong Mass Effect vibes in general from the show so far, which is a very good thing. Mass Effect was itself heavily inspired by Trek, so it's fun to see the series play off each other.

  • Kid PresentableKid Presentable Registered User regular
    Picard's wardrobe has been fantastic

  • RMS OceanicRMS Oceanic Registered User regular
    Excuse enough to speculate on the music for when they're going in:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTsD2FjmLsw

  • autono-wally, erotibot300autono-wally, erotibot300 love machine Registered User regular
    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/why-star-trek-star-jeri-ryan-had-a-tough-time-returning-picard-1279239

    A spoilery but interesting interview

    Spoiler free funny bit:
    So what was the biggest change for Ryan’s newest Trek experience?

    “The scale of the show. The scale of these sets, the costumes, it’s crazy. It’s like you’re doing a feature film every week.” Ryan says with a big smile. What impressed her most was the advances in set design and tech from her days on Voyager.

    “In one of my scenes, where I had to go in and work a console, we go in for the first rehearsal and I had to touch buttons and the screen actually does something! And I totally flipped out, like: ‘Oh my god, actually having buttons that work!”

    kFJhXwE.jpgkFJhXwE.jpg
  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    Heh, that ending scene in the TNG episode Conundrum where Rho Laren and Troi are both talking to Riker is just delightful. That's a really good "everyone forgets who they are" type episode because of the added wrinkle of "wait who the hell is this Kieran McDuff wiener supposed to be?" It's a good episode.

  • Zilla360Zilla360 21st Century. |She/Her| Trans* Woman In Aviators Firing A Bazooka. ⚛️Registered User regular
    Me, watching episode 4 for the first time: "Hmm. Picard's dialogue choices weren't ideal there. He's going to only get the middling ending out of that upcoming loyalty mission, with MC. Space Samurai."

    Should have specced more for empathy, rolled an even higher WIS character. :P :snap:

    I was almost wondering if CBS had hired an ex-Bioware writer, for a moment... :D

    |Ko-Fi Me! ☕😎|NH844lc.png | PSN | chi-logo-only-favicon.png(C.H.I) Ltd. |🏳️⚧️♥️
  • AbsoluteZeroAbsoluteZero The new film by Quentin Koopantino Registered User regular
    I did enjoy the part where Picard briefly loses his temper. Shades of the old hard-ass captain.

    cs6f034fsffl.jpg
  • CambiataCambiata Commander Shepard The likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered User regular
    Zilla360 wrote: »
    Me, watching episode 4 for the first time: "Hmm. Picard's dialogue choices weren't ideal there. He's going to only get the middling ending out of that upcoming loyalty mission, with MC. Space Samurai."

    Should have specced more for empathy, rolled an even higher WIS character. :P :snap:

    I was almost wondering if CBS had hired an ex-Bioware writer, for a moment... :D

    Eh first conversations often suffer from not having leveled up your Paragon/Renegade points enough, but more moments like dropping and stepping on the 'Romulan's only' sign will get him bumped up enough over time!

    "If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
  • AbsoluteZeroAbsoluteZero The new film by Quentin Koopantino Registered User regular
    I would love a Star Trek game modeled after Mass Effect.

    cs6f034fsffl.jpg
  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    I would love a Star Trek game modeled after Mass Effect.

    With a big emphasis on some kind of space exploration mechanic. I'm not asking for a billion explorable planets here, just like lemme go do some boring science stuff like scanning nebula and stuff. Maybe there can literally be opportunities for like "fluff episodes" like "ohoho one of the alien crew members heard about Valentine's Day and convinced a bunch of people on the ship to celebrate so they can see this weird human holiday first-hand!"

    I kinda wanna check out Star Trek Online but I've heard a lot of mixed reviews and I'm not a huge mmo fan for the most part.

  • MatevMatev Cero Miedo Registered User regular
    I would love a Star Trek game modeled after Mass Effect.

    With a big emphasis on some kind of space exploration mechanic. I'm not asking for a billion explorable planets here, just like lemme go do some boring science stuff like scanning nebula and stuff. Maybe there can literally be opportunities for like "fluff episodes" like "ohoho one of the alien crew members heard about Valentine's Day and convinced a bunch of people on the ship to celebrate so they can see this weird human holiday first-hand!"

    I kinda wanna check out Star Trek Online but I've heard a lot of mixed reviews and I'm not a huge mmo fan for the most part.

    I would play the hell out of "Trek Effect but also with randomly generated crew events"

    "Go down, kick ass, and set yourselves up as gods, that's our Prime Directive!"
    Hail Hydra
  • rahkeesh2000rahkeesh2000 Registered User regular
    I didn't think I was a Trekkie until the opening STO mission absolutely disgusted me with its lore weirdness.

    Forget that game and Mass Effect, its 25th Anniversary or bust.

  • Sanguinius666264Sanguinius666264 Registered User regular
    Episode 4
    I am quite liking the 'Picard can't get by on just his reputation' angle so far. The Star Fleet Admiral telling him off, Picard trying to let his reputation speak for him in getting down to the planet and Raffi saying that they are not impressed. I like that the infallible Picard has some cracks that he is going to take the rest of his life to resolve, if he even can. Ninja Legolas and the Dark Elf twincest had me rolling a bit - bit much overall, what with the choking in the bed room and so forth.

    It'd want to start to get a bit more going, there's slow paced and letting things breath and then there's plodding.

    I like the hungover gunnery hologram.

  • AbsoluteZeroAbsoluteZero The new film by Quentin Koopantino Registered User regular
    The incest twins really need to go.

    cs6f034fsffl.jpg
  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    Matev wrote: »
    I would love a Star Trek game modeled after Mass Effect.

    With a big emphasis on some kind of space exploration mechanic. I'm not asking for a billion explorable planets here, just like lemme go do some boring science stuff like scanning nebula and stuff. Maybe there can literally be opportunities for like "fluff episodes" like "ohoho one of the alien crew members heard about Valentine's Day and convinced a bunch of people on the ship to celebrate so they can see this weird human holiday first-hand!"

    I kinda wanna check out Star Trek Online but I've heard a lot of mixed reviews and I'm not a huge mmo fan for the most part.

    I would play the hell out of "Trek Effect but also with randomly generated crew events"

    Honestly I think it'd be cool to randomly generate a lot of the crew. You could have different recruitable bridge personnel with like actual personalities and lore, the gruff chief engineer who likes carpentry with antique hand tools in his spare time, the academy-fresh ensign green as spring leaves but bursting with new ideas and cutting edge knowledge, etc. Then the rest of the crew is like randomly generated federation races and sometimes you get lucky like "oh this guy can survive vacuum so he's on our damage control and rescue recovery team."

  • AnzekayAnzekay Registered User regular
    I actually kinda really like the next Vulcan dude. He's broody but clearly has some really strong connections to a lot of what is going on here.

    Also yeah Jeri Ryan's entrance was the fuckin bomb.

  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    A single player star trek rpg would also be cool cuz you could start as an ensign or something and be able to pick different backgrounds or academy majors or whatever and then climb the ladder and the game or games could depict the career of this Starfleet officer. Start out on some barely-functional tub from a line of ships that should have been decommissioned 20 years ago and then by the end you're in some Galaxy class equivalent firing all phasers on full and stuff.

  • Commander ZoomCommander Zoom Registered User regular
    edited February 2020
    A single player star trek rpg would also be cool cuz you could start as an ensign or something and be able to pick different backgrounds or academy majors or whatever and then climb the ladder and the game or games could depict the career of this Starfleet officer. Start out on some barely-functional tub from a line of ships that should have been decommissioned 20 years ago and then by the end you're in some Galaxy class equivalent firing all phasers on full and stuff.

    STO does that. Except that due to the compressed timeline, it all happens in about eighteen months. :P

    Commander Zoom on
  • Metzger MeisterMetzger Meister It Gets Worse before it gets any better.Registered User regular
    Hm... It is free, and that's the best price for anything.

  • shrykeshryke Member of the Beast Registered User regular
    edited February 2020
    I've made it about half way through TNG S4 and you can tell this is when the show really hit it's stride. S3 has a lot of good episodes but S4 is like consistently churning out good to great episodes every week with nothing I'd really call a dud so far. We've also hit the point where I remember the basics of a lot of these episodes, often just by looking at the screencap for the episode or the short description.

    Main point though is that I hit the First Contact episode and it's crystal clear that the TNG writers understands nerdom perfectly. And this is like 1990 so it's not like they had the internet. They are predicting internet culture here.

    "Ok people, we've got an episode about first contact with an alien species just a bit past our current level of development. What are their reactions gonna be to discovering alien life?"
    "Wonder. They are gonna be amazed by it."
    "Yes, excellent. What else?"
    "Fear. Some people will expect the worst and be paranoid about how they will change society."
    "Good, good, that'll be the two opposing sides of our drama then. Any other ideas?"
    "Horniness. You run into an alien race for the first time, someone's gonna wanna fuck it."
    "...... No, yeah, good point. We'll put that in too."

    shryke on
This discussion has been closed.