So as I said when I started this blog, most what I'll be writing about will be my own projects and what I'm working on. Behind the scenes, editing updates, etc. However, I also wanted to write about other things from time to time, such as what TV, movies, and other entertainment I'm currently enjoying, and anything else that comes to mind. So, for this week's blog post, I'm going to be talking about what new shows I've been enjoying. I guess its kind of a review? I'm not sure I ever want to get into the "review business" but sometimes its worth talking about these things, right? So far from the new series that have premiered this season I've watched, Star Trek: Discovery, The Orville, Me Myself and I, and The Good Doctor. So before I go down the sci-fi rabbit hole (as many of you know, I am a huge fan of good scifi and can talk about it forever) lets look at The Good Doctor. (If you want to jump down to my thoughts on the scifi just keep scrolling, you won't miss it!) I've linked the websites for each show to their poster/graphic below if you want to check them out.
It does a great job of highlighting the huge stigma there is against developmental issues such as autism, while showing that there are many of those who live with that condition can still live relatively normal lives and contribute to society in many different ways. So far I've seen two episodes and its proving interesting enough to keep me watching for now. I liked House, but I didn't watch it regularly or religiously. I think what I liked about it was the character interactions more than the serial plotline. The episodes stood well on their own and I get that impression from The Good Doctor as well. The only aspect I'm concerned about that might turn me off of the show, is if it turns into filling the secondary plot with "lets watch Dr. Murphy struggle with this 'normal' social interaction while finding something no one else can see." In episode 2 it was sarcasm, and a girl with a stomach ache that he fixated on. Having only seen two episodes I have hope for a well rounded drama, but I could see it easily falling into that trap and sliding from good TV into to a more predictable cookie-cutter plot. We'll have to see.
It was a fun way to spend the time, but anyway - back to the show... I'm not usually a big fan of the half-hour sitcom. Frequently the jokes feel forced, the situations are insane, and the laugh track kills the joke even if it was funny. (I won't even give 9JKL a chance) But this one has some charm, from the pilot (and the second episode I've seen) the character is relatable, the situations, while sometimes silly aren't unbelivably outlandish and overall the show has a nice tone. It also has a unique format in comparison to other 30 minute comedies. By taking place in 1991, 2017, and 2042, the show is equal parts nostalgia, light sci-fi and modern day sitcom, and the writing bounces seamlessly from one era, to the next and back. It flows nicely and just generally feels right for the characters. The other thing that's interesting about the format is because they've got 3 moments in the character's live to play with in each episode, we can end simultaneously on a high note and a low. (light spoilers ahead) In the first episode, 14 year old Alex's plot ended with school-wide public embarrassment earning him the nickname "chokey", but 40 year old Alex and 65 year old Alex's plots ended on a more positive note. In episode 2, 14 year old Alex ends on a slightly higher note, 40 year old Alex ends in kind of a neutral mindset as he deals with not being comfortable dating after his divorce, and 65 year old Alex ended on a down note. Its interesting in that it can basically do whatever it likes with the characters, and still leave the audience with an "everything turns out alright in the end" feeling that is so normal to day-to-day life. We all fight our own battles, big and small, and each one feels insurmountable, yet at the end of the day, we make it through it and life goes on. And I think that's a nice feeling for a sitcom. I'm looking forward to watching more of Alex's stories. And now, for the scifi: The Orville - where to start? I love it. It’s got the spirit of Star Trek with modern storytelling and of course Seth MacFarlane’s humor. Granted, if you’re not a fan of Mr. MacFarlane you’re gonna have trouble getting past that and getting into this show. But if you like him (or at least don’t mind him and can get past that) and want a good sci-fi, this is a must see. It’s funny - it’s a comedy and presented as a parody of Star Trek and lightly makes fun of it at times, but it’s also very well made. The show is pretty - the effects are well beyond par for TV sci-fi, it’s shot well and the overall design of the universe is consistent with a well thought out science fiction world. The cast is fun, even though you can get the sense they're still trying to find the feel of the show themselves. The characters that make up the bridge crew have some very obvious nods to Star Trek: The Next Generation - There's an officer who looks very much like a Klingon, an android very much like "Data", that's studying human behavior, and the ship's doctor has character traits of Dr. Crusher as well as Guinan. Then there's the ship. The Orville itself is of fairly original exterior design, having more in common with the the "NSEA Protector" from Galaxy Quest (1999) than the USS Enterprise, though the bridge feels like a combination of the The Original Star Trek Enterprise and the Next Generation Enterprise, right down to the color scheme. But beyond all that, it’s actually a really good example of one of the most brilliant things sci-fi can do - address and discuss current and difficult socio-political issues by re wrapping them in a different world and culture and allowing the characters (and audience) to work their way through them in a hypothetical space. At the time of this writing, I’ve seen 5 episodes and so far they’ve presented stories that deal with transgender issues, surgery/genital mutilation of newborns, and the perils of a religiously centered government. That said, some may dislike it for that, especially if they were expecting the 30-minute sitcom that is MacFarlane's normal fare. Of course it’s not all a social crusade, the most recent episode elaborated on the relationships of the bridgecrew and had a time travel plotline not unlike what we’ve seen from Trek - and another episode found the captain and first officer imprisioned in an alien zoo - the crew traded them for a copy of their database of Earth’s reality TV shows of the 21st century to put on display instead - it was hilarious. After all, it’s still a comedy, and many of the solutions to the plot have a (usually well written) punchline. Arguably the comedy, in some ways, almost makes the universe more believable. In Star Trek: The Next Generation, the crew used the holodeck to explore literature, or train themselves, or simulate a tricky ship maneuver they were about to do, etc. In The Orville, the equivalent to the holodeck is treated more like a video game system. One episode opened with some of the crew playing a western, and when they got to the moment when they’d have have done the typical duel, it turned out the pilot had “modded” the character to instead ask for a dance off. The crew plays practical jokes on each other. There’s a running plot line where the capital and first officer (his ex wife) jump in and out of arguments about their marriage. There’s a running joke where the captain turns to the impossibly strong alien woman that’s his chief of security and asks her to “open this jar of pickles” anytime they find a door that won’t open. Side note, she’s also young for the job because the Union (their version of Starfleet) accelerates members of her species through the academy as part of an affirmative action plan. The only downside for me so far is some of the jokes are more juvenile than I particularly like at times, but they don't dominate the show to the point that it makes me unwilling to watch. Though I do understand it being too much for some viewers. I've been told that Scrubs was one of the more realistic medical shows because in the real world we use humor as a way of dealing with stressful situations, working in and around TV news I can guarantee that there’s always a joke to break the tension of having to address horrible things that happen in the world. I’d imagine that the same applies to this setting - if this were reality, many of these characters could believably exist. And in a way that gives it a charm that sci-fi like Trek doesn’t have, and it’s something I haven’t seen much of on TV since Firefly. Hopefully though, with MacFarlane being the power player of FOX TV that he is, this show won't see the same early fate. All in all - it appears to be both equal parts homage and parody of Star Trek. Which finally brings us to.... Okay, so there's a lot of drama surrounding this show. Some people hate it based solely on the fact that they have to pay to see it, others have taken issue with creative direction, and really don't like the plot. And yet, its not a bad show. Overall, Star Trek Discovery is good "TV", though its clear that from the word go it was written for the streaming space - they don't seem to worry too much with language, the acting is pretty solid, and it looks and feels much more like a film than you can normally get away with when playing by standard "broadcast" rules - speaking more technically than creatively: its higher contrast than most TV, but you can reliably expect streaming devices to show that well enough, on that note, it is a much darker toned show than we're used to from the Trek universe. Which brings me to what the root of my problem with it is. After watching four episodes so far, it feels like a new Star Trek movie than a Star Trek TV series. Its clear that some of the creative was based on what audiences have been seeing in the new movies. Okay, fine - I like the new movies, but they work as movies - they tell gigantic grand "save the world" stories that work well in a 2 - 2.5 hour timeframe. Discovery feels like episodes 1 and 2 should have been a "movie" and episodes 3 and 4 should have been the direct sequel, it is incredibly serial. Meanwhile audiences that have been used to Trek are used to a more episodic format, even from the films. All the Trek TV shows had a few "to be continued" episodes, but the majority of the content had been episodic: In this hour long window we will address and solve this problem and then resume our mission of exploration/diplomacy/trying to get home, etc Discovery is not a show about exploration (at least so far). Discovery is a war story, a well written action and suspense based war story set in the Star Trek universe, but still a war story at the end of the day. And I don't think that's what Trek fans really want. Especially when we're surrounded by more modern, more real wars every day. In fact, I was just reading an article earlier that claimed that this Trek was the way it was because we as an audience wouldn't accept the "ideal" that Star Trek has always set for humanity. And I think that misses the mark entirely Roddenberry's of the original concept. I believe that by showing the audience someone holding up the ideals of the Federation under the extreme stress of war, we give the viewers something to aspire to, rather than the despair that this is the best humanity gets to be. I found myself (re)watching some old episodes from season one of The Next Generation yesterday while waiting for some files to export. Sure there's some campy moments by today's standards, but part of the charm of the show is the formula, you get episodes of expanding on crew relations, and you get episodes where social issues are addressed, and you get episodes where something completely unexpected happens. But at the end of the day, 90 percent of the time, the episode starts in a comfortable space and ends in one. And, no matter what happens, at the end of the day Picard holds true to his values and those of Starfleet and the Federation. Same with Voyager - Captain Janeway frequently decided to stand by her morals and the ideals of the Federation and Starfleet (with a couple exceptions, but that's what made her interesting, seeing her hit that breaking point.) Discovery just keeps going down the rabbit hole - deeper and deeper, darker and darker. The captain of the Discovery is a dark character that literally lives in the dark due to a medical conditions. The main character is (spoilers) a convicted mutineer. The setting is the beginning months of the war with the Klingons that we saw in The Original Series. Characters work behind each others backs, and don't trust each other with complete information. Its fun to watch - I enjoy the show. But I feel like the writers tasked with creating a new Star Trek TV series missed the mark a little - assuming the task was "make a show the Star Trek fans will watch" and not "make a show that people who've never been interested in Star Trek before will watch". Overall though, I think the show is worth watching, if you don't feel like paying for it wait till late in the season, trigger a free trial of CBS All Access and binge it. Its fun action driven television. That all said - lets take a minute and talk about the creative direction: One of the worst things you can do when creating a sci-fi/fantasy universe is to break you own rules. This includes anything you've done to physics, culture, setting, technology, lore etc. It rips the audience out of it and make it generally "bad". Granted, with Star Trek you're facing 50+ years of story development, characters, history, lore, etc. Across 5 TV series and a pile of movies. Some things will slip through the cracks. Some things need to be updated and given a facelift to remain relevant, sometimes things do need to change for plots to work and the stories to remain relevant to the audience.
Here's where you start getting into problems though: by making it a prequel storyline. I've seen people online complaining about how "they couldn't have had that technology then because there was a plotline about it in DS9" (holographic communication) And when you compare the design of these ships to that of the Enterprise from the Original Series, they look more in place in the time period around The Next Generation or even beyond. But I can forgive that. 50 years ago, the iPhone was so unbelievable that they didn't have computers with that capability on the Enterprise. Cell phone development was influenced by the original Star Trek communicator. The original Enterprise had TAPE DECKS for its computer system. In the 90's and early 2000's, tablets were just now being developed, let alone something as thin as the data pads they used in Next Generation and Voyager. When they made the prequel series Enterprise they developed the set around early 2000's tech with some minor "near future" advancements - and yet the LCD screens on that Enterprise were far more detailed and responsive than any readout of the original Enterprise. When developing a sci-fi universe like this you have to look at what's available today and build on it. They got away with a lot because we kept going forward in time. New tech in our world lead to new tech in theirs, but they never tried to retroactively change what technology was "available" until now - Discovery takes place very shortly before the events of The Original Series, and yet the tech doesn't match at all what was available in that world. But, I can almost forgive that - because you do have to make the sci-fi tech cool, and tape decks aren't cool.
Which means they've broken the #1 rule - don't break your own universe. Minor changes and updates are acceptable. Major changes that throw out entire plotlines are not. More to the point, the excuse given is just that, and excuse - there is no (currently available) reason for the change other than: “In the different versions of Trek, the Klingons have never been completely consistent,” Harberts said. “We will introduce several different houses with different styles. Hopefully, fans will become more invested in the characters than worried about the redesign.” From Entertianment Weekly Basically saying "we changed things just because and if you're paying attention to it you're paying attention to the wrong things" Not necessarily the best way to approach it. He could have said literally anything else and it would have been a better answer. He could alluded to a plot point later down the road. Or said "we'll see" and left it open. Or even not said anything at all on the matter. The problem is between all the redesign, and the way the actors speak the language itself on top of that, it makes it difficult for anyone who's watched the show before to immerse themselves in the Klingon scenes at first, which turns viewers off of the show. You can get away with it in the movies because they happen in a different timeline and they're movies. By that alone, they can almost be free standing. But a weekly series faces a different level of scrutiny. And here's the thing - none of this would be a problem if they decided to tell this story later in the timeline. If this took place after Voyager - everything could work. As far as I can tell (4 episodes in) there is nothing in this story that wouldn't work in a post Voyager world - you could write a plot where the Klingons break their treaty and the Federation is digging around for new tech to win the war. You could still have your darker story. So why make it a prequel anyway? I don't know, other than that I think we can all agree that it would be fun to shoot a story in that time period - but that's what fan films are for, not brand new content. Overall, I do like it. I will continue to watch it, despite its flaws. It is a fun universe to see new content from. But in some ways it feels more like a new science fiction property than anything that would continue the Trek storyline in any meaningful way. Anyway - those are my thoughts on what I've seen so far. Hope you enjoyed the longer-than-usual post. What new shows are you watching this fall? Anything I should check out? Want to me to write more reviews? Tell me in the comments below. As always, thanks for reading - be sure to follow me on Twitter and Instagram: @tomameek And don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel. -Thomas Oh - and because this post was so TV focused: Next week on the blog...I'm going to breakdown the simple, yet fun teaser trailer I made for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at Clear Creek Community Theatre. I you haven't seen it yet, check it out: |
AuthorThomas Meek is an independent filmmaker living and working in Houston, TX Archives
March 2021
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