General Star Trek thread

Stark · 28-01-2026 01:52PM

I often find myself in that situation with BBC shows that had an American co-producer. Can't legally stream from BBC iPlayer as I'm in Ireland and the American streaming services are like "well you guys are all part of the UK so you can't watch it here either".

bored65 · 28-01-2026 02:50PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124187117#Comment_124187117

I canceled Netflix earlier this month because of that, literally the only thing that was worth watching

I suspect it’s something to do with current Netflix WB Paramount saga

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/01/netflix-to-pay-all-cash-for-warner-bros-to-fend-off-paramount-hostile-takeover/

Now use **** 🤓 which funnily enough has higher quality versions of DS9 and TNG that don’t look as crap on modern tv

odyssey06 · 28-01-2026 03:36PM

Even more weirdly… the Sky (UK) Sci Fi channel schedules are dominated with Trek - Voyager, TNG, DS9.

"Legend" has TOS.

As an aside I see in the schedule that Sky Sci Fi has "Cast a Deadly Spell" (Fred Ward, David Warner, Julianne Moore) & "Witches" (Dennis Hopper, Penelope Ann Miller) in the schedules for Sunday night. TV Movies, might have been intended as pilots, mish mashes of private detective noir \ fantasy \ magic \ scifi - intriguing if you are a fan of the genres.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101550/

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111730/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cast_a_Deadly_Spell

eadrom · 28-01-2026 04:32PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124187320#Comment_124187320

what got censored there? 🤔

Honestly I’ve no real qualms with “voting with my wallet” in relation to these streaming services. I would prefer a world in which they didn’t exist, or at the least didn’t operate the way they currently do, and I’d consider it a moral failing to support them financially.

That goes double for the Ellison controlled Skydance/Paramount. And the quality of the Trek shows isn’t enough to convince me otherwise.

If they’re making them, I’ll watch them. But I’m not rewarding or encouraging them for it.

bored65 · 28-01-2026 06:10PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124187656#Comment_124187656

Oh I self censored,

Aside; found a box of old voyager dvd collections in attic and now realised I literally have nothing that can play em disks

eadrom · 29-01-2026 02:00PM

Delightful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjkhxe9A8Qk

TheValeyard · 30-01-2026 05:14PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124189856#Comment_124189856

Levar...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fSZFWBjSvH8&pp=ygUfZmFtaWx5IGd1eSBsZXZhciBidXJ0b24gZ2xhc3Nlcw%3D%3D

Rawr · 31-01-2026 11:34AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124189856#Comment_124189856

Feels like they missed out on a trick by not writing «Also Starring Levar Burton» on thar thumbnail :P

Didn’t we have a Boardsie named that? Or am I remembering wrong?

ItHurtsWhenIP · 07-02-2026 02:01AM

I think this is too niche for CVPL

You can create your own tale on a Bayeux Tapestry here:

https://htck.github.io/bayeux/#!/

TheValeyard · 07-02-2026 01:59PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124213879#Comment_124213879

These lads would like a word.

Tenzor07 · 07-02-2026 10:41PM

Thought this better in the general discussion, made some good points here all very nicely put… a lot nicer than most I have seen online..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXn3zIfAhxA

LambshankRedemption · 08-02-2026 08:02PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124216176#Comment_124216176

Want to give us a summary?

AMKC · 08-02-2026 08:44PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124218588#Comment_124218588

Its about Trekkies grivences for the new show 8 of them,

No.8 being Peer Pressure

7. Production values

6. Unambitios

5. Canon cantridiction: Talks about the female Jem Hader and how originally the Jem Hader were cloned males and sterile as well as Kilingon Cadet Krang and how he is so emotional.

4. The Writing: Some are blaming that saying its the writers fault and that it feels congested in its quantity of character arcs and glumsy in how they progress as well dialogue that feels illsuited to the tone and culture of Star Trek.

3. Campus Culture: not interesting and some incompetent.

2: Demographic:

1: Franchise Fatigue: Talks about how,Star,Trek:Starfleet Acedemy represents a dilema in Paramounts streaming as its the 7th show since 2017?

I can think of 6,

Discovery ,

2) SNW,

3) Picard,

4) LowerDecks,

5) Prodigy

And now

6 ) Starfleet Academy

So which one am I missing?

Talks about the show being an insult to its predeccesors because of its call backs and episoic fomat which I disagree with.

fritzelly · 08-02-2026 08:47PM

Somehow I understood all that

breezy1985 · 08-02-2026 08:55PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124218740#Comment_124218740

Shaka when the walls fell.

LambshankRedemption · 08-02-2026 09:57PM

Franchise Fatigue: Talks about how,Star,Trek:Starfleet Acedemy represents a dilema in Paramounts streaming as its the 7th show since 2017?

Maybe the Khan audio series too?

eadrom · 08-02-2026 10:22PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124218938#Comment_124218938

I really liked that Khan audio series! Surprisingly so.

There was Star Trek: Short Treks and Star Trek: Scouts (the fairly awful looking pre-school shorts thing), too. So potentially 9? series since Discovery began less than 9 years ago? Crazy.

Of all of those supposed grievances I think the 'franchise fatigue' might be top of the list alright. I mean maybe it'd be different if the overall quality of the shows were better but then even we, the nerds on the Star Trek forum, are struggling to remember if we've left one out or not. It just feels a lot like they dropped the ball with Disco and have been panicking and throwing **** at the wall ever since to see what sticks.

I know a good few casual Trek fans who aren't watching Starfleet Academy at all, and I'd be very weary of recommending it to them despite being in the "it's actually not too bad so far" camp. They're just sick of it all by now. And even I'm weary of what might still be to come on this season of SFA. They could easily mess it all up yet, then I'd be embarrassed for having mentioned yet another new Star Trek show to them.

eadrom · 08-02-2026 10:32PM

Wikipedia lists the 7 streaming series as:

Discovery (2017)
Short Treks (2018)
Picard (2020)
Lower Decks (2020)
Prodigy (2021)
Strange New Worlds (2022)
Starfleet Academy (2026)

Then there's also:

8. Khan (audio series - 2025)
9. Section 31 ("movie" - 2025)
10. Scouts (pre-school shorts - 2025)

All since 2017.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Star_Trek_television_series

LambshankRedemption · 08-02-2026 10:51PM

SNW is about the only one I really liked, with Picard coming in second.

Even SNW is far from perfect. The first season was excellent. Season 2 was mostly fine. Season 3 was made up of so many episodes where you were thinking "Is this a serious episode, or one of the "out there" episodes?

My main annoyance with Picard was so many times when the ball got dropped. So many opportunities for real greatness. Oh and I really hated that magic wand thingy!

The first 2-3 seasons of Disco werent terrible, and would have been less terrible if they hadn't try to retcon Klingons, and hadnt made Burnham Spocks half sister, and hand't made Burnham the centre of every episode.

I watched a few episodes of Lower Decks and they were fun, but not something I would binge watch.

I tried 3 episodes of SFA but the writing is atrocious. Thats my only criticism. The writing is so bad. I watched the new Muppet SHow the other night and the writing in that is less juvenile then SFA. I really dont care about the Jem Hadar officer, or the hologram cadet, or the barefoot captain sprawled on the captains chair. I care about the writing being so bad.

Edit, and the Section 31 movie was the worst 40 minutes of "movie" I have ever sat through.

breezy1985 · 08-02-2026 11:15PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219077#Comment_124219077

In fairness the writing in The Muppet Show was never juvenile. It was an absolute master in treating children with respect and intelligence.

eadrom · 08-02-2026 11:27PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219077#Comment_124219077

I'd honestly recommend the Khan audio series, if you have any room for an audio drama. For a story that never needed to be told, and who's very premise is an eye-roll inducing callback, they do a shocking good job of telling it. It's mature, interesting, and well acted and produced.

Most of the action takes place on Ceti Alpha V but the framing is a USS Excelsior mission – post-Star Trek VI – to go and discover more about what happened there, with Capt. Sulu and Ensign Tuvok both featuring. Much more classic-Trek than nu-Trek. Really hope they make more audio shows like it.

It's here on YouTube but you should find it on a podcast app or Spotify etc. too: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLufIO1FTWFz9xlo7FjljdqUtq6jMlsOL9

LambshankRedemption · 09-02-2026 12:11AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219143#Comment_124219143

I mentioned the new Muppet Show because it is modern writing aimed at kids and adults alike.

So, it is possible to cater for both audiences in 2026 with 2025 writers.

fritzelly · 09-02-2026 12:32AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219261#Comment_124219261

Exactly this and shows how amateur the writers for SFA are, Tawny Newsome has one writing and one producing credit - guess what for. I see nearly every episode has different writers/producers - no wonder there is no single connective thread through the episodes, every episode seems to be mish mash of what that writer wants.
Read somewhere that the latest episode seemed to have scenes that were meant for a different episode, was something about orientation which was the first episode…

eadrom · 09-02-2026 12:58AM

Why all the hate for Tawney Newsome in particular? Like I'm not saying she's amazingly great or anything, but before Lower Decks I'd never heard of her at all, and she fine in that. She's grand in SFA, too. Seems to know her Trek if nothing else.

Was she in something else that was awful? I don't recognise much from her filmography on wikipedia really.

It's not like she's Alex Kurtsman, who's got a CV of crap as long as my arm.

eadrom · 09-02-2026 01:03AM

One thing that does bug me about these Trek shows being "aimed at a younger audience" – I, and I think many of us here, was a teen, maybe even pre-teen, when I started watching Star Trek. Don't know if I'd have called it a "kids show" exactly but it wasn't not a kids shows.

Like The Muppets, I guess. It was perfectly accessible and suitable for anyone. I think that's something that's just harder to find in general these days, maybe not just a Trek problem.

LambshankRedemption · 09-02-2026 01:14AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219344#Comment_124219344

I think that's something that's just harder to find in general these days, maybe not just a Trek problem

You completely missed my point on the Muppet Show. It's not just a general problem these days. Its just bad writing, or maybe bad editing.

LambshankRedemption · 09-02-2026 01:15AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219339#Comment_124219339

There's no hate for Tawney Newsome. All that poster said is that she has one writing credit to her name.

eadrom · 09-02-2026 01:27AM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219352#Comment_124219352

I was thinking more about breezy's comment – the original Muppet show treating children with respect and intelligence.

But anyway, Muppet shows aside, 90s Star Trek worked perfectly fine for the child/teen/young-adult "demographic" I was in at the time. I think I'm agreeing with you more than not on this one. SFA feels the need to have zaney teens and explicitly YA-stories instead of just.. being good.

There's no hate for Tawney Newsome. All that poster said is that she has one writing credit to her name.

Not just that post (which did seem to call her out as amateur), I've seen others complaining about her too. She seems to be a target for a fair bit of animosity.

ItHurtsWhenIP · 09-02-2026 03:32PM

@fritzelly I see nearly every episode has different writers/producers - no wonder there is no single connective thread through the episodes, every episode seems to be mish mash of what that writer wants.

Ah yes, so very much like TOS, TNG and many of the other ST shows. 👀

Rawr · 09-02-2026 03:45PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/124219375#Comment_124219375

It's sort of the "timeless" / "ageless" quality of certain shows that I sometimes wonder about and reflect on thier quality. Jim Henson was a classic example of this, using his Muppets to tell stories first and foremost, with the secondary consideration of making them accessable to younger audiences.

Aiming stuff to specifically capture a young demographic at any point of time has been a fools errand for the entertainment industry since the dawn of time. They'd try to appeal to the "Yoof" and end up in with a horrendous blend of themes and styles that had gone off 10 years previous. With a handful of exceptions, this would often fail to generate entertainment.

However, when the whole audience is treated with respect and the content made accessable to younger audences and not specifically aimed at them…then things start to improve. Then we get the Trek of the 80's and 90's where my younger self was attracted to a show that had adult viewers in mind. I was part of that group, even though I was a child, and got enjoyment from a show that gave me that equal respect. With that came deeper stories, and more exciting themes.

I feel that this is the essense of good "Family Entertainment". Not shows that pander to the youngest member, but shows that have something to offer for everyone there.

I have not watched Academy, and I might not. Kind of depends on the overall verdict of the season. I'm hearing that it's not too bad…but Kurtzman Trek has burned us too often with a decent season start that turned into a god awful mess. I still remember being optimistic at the start of Picard Season 2 (Season 2 folks….Season F***ng 2). But if Academy is aiming at a demographic as of 2024-6…I sense this might be foolhardy of them. They are sort of guarenteeing a Sell By Date on a show that will likely appear dated within the next 5 years.

They should have learned the lessons of Jim Henson and others like him, and try to make something that appeals to all ages, and whose good work now belongs to the ages because of it.

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