Star Wars, Star Trek and other Sci-Fi

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My grandsons say WHOAHHH , 8 months waiting is hard ...
 
I saw Star Wars Episode IV for the first time in 1977. It was amazing!
After there irregular Episodes I, II and III, I had great expectations for Episode VII to IX but I felt that Episode VII was a replica of Episode IV. And Episode VIII left me truly disappointed. This Episode IX looks nothing but fireworks to me...I feel hopeless.
 
I first saw Star Wars back when it was just that - Star Wars. I loved it, but I also came to expect some things to not make sense in that universe. I can enjoy watching the pretty things explode while watching the latest movies, but it all falls when I start thinking about what I saw. The worst for me was the B-26 style bombing run at the beginning of The Last Jedi.

Attached is an in progress photo (all that I have) of an oil painting I did for a friend's birthday gift back in 1978. Star Wars Darth Vader.jpg
 
After watching SW 8: The last Jedi
I'm done with that Franchise and looking the that trailer for SW 9
It only worsen my dislike for Disney versions...

I'm also done with Star Trek Franchise thanks to STD

Oh by the way
From the series "movies the World really not need"
again presented by Disney:
 
There is no one from STD I'd want to meet.

This is true... and terribly damning. Some people have pointed to DS9 as the "dark side" of Trek, when other people point out how grimdark STD is... but the *characters* on DS9 are just plain interesting. Even the villains. Especially the villains. None of the mains on the prior iterations of Trek are really awful people. Some poorly conceived/written ones, sure, but nothing on the scale of STD. I mean... apart from Mikey Spock, Lorca and Abe Surupian, can you even *name* any of the main characters on the first season of STD? Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, Rand, Chapel... you knew 'em, right quick.

And Episode 9 is about the same. "Oh, look, Mary Sue pole vaulted over a TIE fighter. Whoopee."
 

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Today's real TV Star Trek is The Orville on Fox and Hulu: ... The Orville is fun and you would probably enjoy hanging out with its crew. There is no one from STD I'd want to meet.

I've only seen most episodes

of "Orville's" first season and can attest to it being a watch-worthy show. As such it still seems a bit stuck in time, unsure whether its use of "big ship careening through space" tropes are nostalgic, ironic or still viable as straightforward tools of the art. Furthermore especially the use of themes and metaphors is recognizably Seth MacFarlane already evident in his extensive prior body of work which is not necessarily a bad thing but by now makes the narration and direction quite predictable.

Funnily enough, had I embarked on creating a SciFi show the end result might've well resembled "Orville" a lot. Probably a Star Trek piece about not quite a "Wilbur" grade crew on a second or n'th tier ship fumbling through sometimes tedious and unrewarding missions where strict rank and command structure doesn't really reflect the applicable prowess of individuals in a variety of situations. Perhaps my scripts would've been a bit less moralistic and preachy than MacFarlane's, even. Updating and/or reinventing the storyboards, props and other visuals would've been a high priority, enough with the Play Doh prosthetics at least.

It's too bad the restrictions of doing Trek fan fiction are so strict, basically any idea I have with the franchise requires getting to do an actual CBS show or a feature film. The odds of that happening (or me even contributing in any way to one) seem almost astronomically low.

As to Star Wars, the original three are a world unto themselves and that also involves how the "Earth era" of the movies is reflected in their making methodology. The more recent attempts all suffer from an uncanny valley of temporal displacement however otherwise meritorious or worthless those might be. Anyway, "Wars" requires a lot more suspending of disbelief than "Trek" so for this viewer the former is more of an acquired taste than the latter.
 
My reaction to The Orville is that I come away from watching an episode of that feeling like I have watched a new episode of the original series of Star Trek. I have yet to see an episode of Discovery and I have no desire to see it soon.

On DS9. The pilot for that one did not do much for me. However. I decided to stick with it for a bit when I saw the rug pulled out from under Sisko's suspicion that Nog was corrupting his son. While that in itself was not a new storytelling idea, the way the reveal was done told me that they were going to let the characters learn and grow. If I had to rank the different Trek series I have seen for storytelling, the Original Series, and DS9 would be close together at the top.

My ranking for the Star Wars movies would be easy. Star Wars (as origionally released with Han Solo shooting first) at the top, then each successive movie gets lower and lower in ranking.
 
... Funnily enough, had I embarked on creating a SciFi show the end result might've well resembled "Orville" a lot. Probably a Star Trek piece about not quite a "Wilbur" grade crew on a second or n'th tier ship fumbling through sometimes tedious and unrewarding missions where strict rank and command structure doesn't really reflect the applicable prowess of individuals in a variety of situations. ...

It's too bad the restrictions of doing Trek fan fiction are so strict, basically any idea I have with the franchise requires getting to do an actual CBS show or a feature film. The odds of that happening (or me even contributing in any way to one) seem almost astronomically low. ...

Well, CBS is basically going to do an animated, canon, (TNG adjacent) Star Trek show called "Lower Decks (link)" very much as I outlined. I wouldn't have taken a comedic approach to the subject though, at least overtly so or in an overarching manner. "Star Trek: Lower Decks, ... will follow the support crew on one of Starfleet’s least important ships", the U.S.S. Cerritos. Coming across this left me wondering whether I should feel ripped off but apparently my idea wasn't that original. "All Access officially ordered two seasons of the animated series, titled Star Trek: Lower Decks, on October 25, 2018", so somewhat in advance of my musings here (April 27, 2019) according to Wikipedia.

While I feel somewhat content and intrigued that, in a sense, I will be getting what I wanted, the promotional material shows an "adult comedy animation" style which by now is quite formulaic and and even well worn thus leaving me a bit underwhelmed given the opportunity of (ahem) exploration here. Could've gone for a more innovative and brand specific look. But we'll see.
 
I have seen some of the Discovery series but C4 changed its slot from 8pm to midnight/1am which is a certain hint that they do not want it to continue, change the slot to reduce viewing figures so it can be canned. A very old tactic. The Klingons have to be one of the most messed about races in scifi and every franchise has its own slant on why but frankly the lizard beings in Disco very are about as convincing as a Gorn in incontinence pads, or a tutu. I have not kept up with the late night slot even though it has potential to go somewhere if developed properly.
 
I just came across this bit of news. Not sure what to expect of it. CBS All Access green-lighted a series with Pike as Captain of the Enterprise.


 
I just came across this bit of news. Not sure what to expect of it. CBS All Access green-lighted a series with Pike as Captain of the Enterprise.

Given the disasters that were STD and STP, Star Trek really aught to go on hiatus until the rights issues can be resolved and whoever makes Trek doesn't need to do that "25% different" nonsense anymore. And get rid of Kurtzman.
 
My wife liked Discovery and Picard. She's the target demographic, loves pretty much all TV sci-fi shows. All the Stargates, Fringe, Terra Nova, Almost Human... not much quality filter.

I've not liked Trek since DS9 wrapped up. If you pretend Discovery is a brand new sci-fi show not at all related to Trek, its ok. Picard, ok to start with, ending awful. That's where I differ from Scott's perspective, I don't see a need to make some new, canonically correct Trek.

There's a million brand new sci-fi series to be written, I'm tired of seeing yet another Star Trek or Star Wars. What made them iconic franchises is that they were new and different when they first came out. Endlessly regurgitating and recycling the same stories will always be a little disappointing. That's why The Expanse is so refreshing.
 
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As my wife is keen to remind me, they did not write the show for you (i.e. Boomer). For us old folks it is repeats with flash new tech. Since my kids found them interesting enough to watch, the franchisees live on.
 
SF Cover-art -2
 

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If you pretend Discovery is a brand new sci-fi show not at all related to Trek, its ok. Picard, ok to start with, ending awful. That's where I differ from Scott's perspective, I don't see a need to make some new, canonically correct Trek. ... There's a million brand new sci-fi series to be written, I'm tired of seeing yet another Star Trek or Star Wars.

Put all of that together, and what do you get:
1: Make all-new stuff.
2: If you're going to continue a franchise... do it right, make it fit with established canon.
 
FINE.....

When I moved late last year I had to leave behind a *lot* of my books, including a boatload of SF paperbacks. Below is the sad remnant of what I was able to bring with.
 

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I not post my sci-fi books and comics and Movies collection
Otherwise next 20 page here would be „best of“ out that...
 

While James White's Sector General series and Cressida Cowell's How To Train Your Dragon books (quite grown up in many ways for a children's series) are my two favorite series which I've re-read many times, The Silent Stars Go By has become my #1 favorite science fiction book. It is set in a parallel world in which Hero of Hernon's steam-driven toys were stolen then smuggled to Hibernia where their true potential was realized. Thus the Hibernian Empire is the dominant super power in the world. While the story focuses on Healer Nolan's part in the effort to colonize another world, the back stories all work with the main story to weave a tapestry as rich as the storytelling in Frank Herbert's Dune. My only complaint is that the first sentence is a bit - well, long. Given the other books you displayed here, I'd say The Silent Stars Go By would stand a good chance of being added to that list.
 
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Books I cannot recommend enough:
The Rosinante trilogy by Alexis A Gilliland
3247684._UY500_SS500_.jpg

the Expanse series by James A Correy
the War in 2020 by Ralph Peters.
 
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I'd like see Iain M. Banks Culture universe and Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth universe brought to the screen. Amazon was rumoured to be having a go at the Culture a while back but I've heard nothing more about it.

Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous With Rama would make a good film or mini series. Morgan Freeman and David Fincher were involved at one point but it never happened.

 
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The Star Wars novel Darth Plagueis would make a good Star Wars political thriller film - if they could get the setting right. Dunno whether the actor for Palps is still alive though, and they'd have to pay Liam Nielssen.
 
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