STAR TREK or star wars

[bertrand]

If you want to talk about airframe stressing the placement of propulsion units, then anything Garry Anderson produced would top the list (...)

Nobody has mentioned Babylon 5. I have never watched B5. Planning to someday, when it pops up on netflix.

The models from Thunderbirds, as impractical as they are, are part of why I love model rocketry.

And B-5 was absolutely awesome for four seasons. A friend advised me to watch those seasons and only those seasons. I did not listen and I still regret my decision. The short version of what happened is that JM Straczynski (JMS) and the rest of the B-5 crew thought the show was going to be cancelled after the 4th season. JMS had written out a 5 season plot arc, and in light of the pending cancellation, adapted the 4th season to finish the show. It did so admirably. But the show got picked up for a 5th season at the last minute. The 5th season was rushed and it shows. Also, they tried to spin off a show (Crusade) and produced a series of T.V. movies, all of which were poor quality in my opinion. A few years back they tried to revive the series using material from the 5th season. It flopped and there have been no further attempts.

So if you watch B-5, which I highly recommend, skip the 5th season, the TV movies, and Crusade.

 

[Marc_G]

Game over man, GAME OVER!!

+1
Love the Alien series. And that game over line was an awesome scene for Bill Paxton!

 

[KenRico]

I want the answer to the greatest mystery in all of Trekdom...

Whatever happened to Dr. Katherine Pulaski??

Guess she fell down a turboshaft when Gates McFadden agreed to return...

Later! OL JR

She had appeared as 2 characters in ST:TOS also.

I am seeing some trek alumni directing on the small screen recently. Saw Libriarians episodes directed by Jonathan Frakes and a couple episodes of the Girlfriends Guide to Divorce directed by Robert Duncan McNeill.

The ST movies after the voyage home were not cannon, Entrerprise was not cannon . So abrams not following cannon didnt bother me as both movies were exceptional. . so instead of comparing against all of trekdom (movies shows books animated) i try to judge against other franchises sequels ..like twilight spiderman or fast and furious 6 or indiana jones and the crystal skull . Or up against Lone Ranger for that matter.

Loved Star Wars Empire and even Return of Jedi but the newer films instead of helping telling the story of the fall and restoration of the Republic as lucas originally proposed became the Darth Vader story..and i was disappointed.

Kenny

 

[boomtube-mk2]

If Lucas and company wanted a readymade three movie series all he would have to do was adapt Timothy Zahn’s “Thrawn” trilogy and all would be right with the world.

 

[The_Lone_Beagle]

P.S.

I would have chosen Firefly over both.

+5 Internetz for you! That was the best show...

I also think the 2003 (?) remake of Battlestar Galactica was the best mini-series nobody ever watched. If you can pick it up cheap on disk, you won't regret it. Towards the end, they didn't make the best use of all the ideas, but I believe the writer's strike really dealt them a tough situation.

Just my little rant...

 

[mpitfield]

Thunderbirds, anyone? Surprised it took me so long to remember that series.

Love TB, I have this somewhere in a box unopened in mint shape https://www.collectiondx.com/toy_review/2003/thunderbird_2_dx_weathering_version While we are at it Space 1999 was another great series. I also have an unopened one of these https://www.fanboy.com/2007/11/space1999-deluxe-eagle-gift-set.html not sure what I will ever do with them, they just remind me of being a kid.

 

[Rob Campbell]

Red Dwarf is awesome, especially the episode when they went through a time hole and returned to Earth, except time was running in reverse relative to the main characters.

 

[USAFmissileer]

I will take the newer Battlestar Galactica over both lol.

In all seriousness I like both but prefer Trek. Original series.

 

[luke strawwalker]

If Lucas and company wanted a readymade three movie series all he would have to do was adapt Timothy Zahn’s “Thrawn” trilogy and all would be right with the world.

Not Lucas anymore... Disney...

:y: Later! OL JR

 

[luke strawwalker]

+5 Internetz for you! That was the best show...

I also think the 2003 (?) remake of Battlestar Galactica was the best mini-series nobody ever watched. If you can pick it up cheap on disk, you won't regret it. Towards the end, they didn't make the best use of all the ideas, but I believe the writer's strike really dealt them a tough situation.

Just my little rant...

Meh... I TRIED watching the new BSG SEVERAL times over the years... Have NEVER been able to stay interested enough to make it all the way through a SINGLE episode...

I saw where folks referred to it as "'Melrose Place' in Space" and that seemed to be 100% spot on from the parts of different episodes I saw...

I'll take classic BSG from the 70's thank you very much...

To each his own though...

Later! OL JR

 

[georgegassaway]

Nobody has mentioned Babylon 5.

I think someone has. But let me also HIGHLY recommend it. It was written from the beginning with a 5 year story outline, where things set up in season one did not start paying off until later seasons. So when the things laid down earlier started to pay off, it was great, including one of the most "holy ****" moments since "Luke, I am your father". In many ways it is the most perfect sci-fi series ever made. And some great character development....which is RARE for too much sci-fi.

And, cannot forget The Doctor. It is the best Sci-Fi TV on right now since, well, Battlestar Galactica went away. Except of course Doctor Who has been around for over 50 years, even before Star Trek. And it also had an incredible "holy ****" shocking moment too, equal to the one in Babylon-5 and Dad Vader.

I also liked Farscape a lot.

BTW - I should have mentioned that I have made flying model rockets from Star Wars and Star Trek. For Trek, it was the Estes Klingon Battle Cruiser. The Enterprise model with that long BT-20 sticking out the front end did not look right. For Star Wars, first, an X-Wing that was about the size of the Estes Maxi-Brute, but it was long before the Estes kit (balsa scratchbuild). The other was smaller, but built to GLIDE. Well ,the big one was also built to glide but it was too tail-heavy and also too heavy-heavy.

- George Gassaway

 

[Scott_mills]

Both as long as they werent done by jj Abrams

 

[o1d_dude]

Neither.

I grew up on Captain Video and the Video Rangers. Since then it's all been downhill.

 

[adrian]

Here's another vote for "Babylon 5". Season 1 was basically scene-setting, seasons 2 and 3 were where things really warmed up, season 4 was all the important bits from what should have been seasons 4 and 5 because JMS didn't think he was getting a season 5, then season 5 was all the secondary bits from what should have been seasons 4 and 5 because all the good bits had been done in season 4. Even then, there were some decent episodes in season 5. And, for that matter, "Crusade", which never got further than a little beyond half way through season 1 because of differences of opinion between JMS and TNT but had some good bits anyway.

The rocket (any B5 fans want to identify it?):


I also have a lot of small metal models of B5 ships, including this one:

 

[BobH48]

P.S.

I would have chosen Firefly over both.

Agreed!

 

[georgegassaway]

What I would have liked to have seen was the next TV installment of the “Star Trek” franchise that was sadly never produced.
Tentatively titled “Star Trek: Federation” it was to take place century/s after “STTNG” wherein the Federation was losing its cohesion and Star Fleet was underfunded, undermanned and was rapidly becoming a joke. With many of its ships decades old and equipped with out of date and often failing technology* and its personnel not what anyone would call the “cream of the crop” including many that were drafted from the increasing “Prol” population of the Federation Worlds.

Oh, what a piece of c*** that would have been as Star Trek. That's not Star Trek. It would be something else pretending to be StarTrek. Gene Roddenberry would been rolling in his grave if that had been produced.

- George Gassaway

 

[Marc_G]

Oh, what a piece of c*** that would have been as Star Trek. That's not Star Trek. It would be something else pretending to be StarTrek. Gene Roddenberry would been rolling in his grave if that had been produced.

- George Gassaway

+1
Star Trek was about an optimistic future and the exploration of humanity... in whatever form it came, and however many arms, legs, or tentacles for that matter...

 

[georgegassaway]

+1
Star Trek was about an optimistic future and the exploration of humanity... in whatever form it came, and however many arms, legs, or tentacles for that matter...

Indeed.

Actually, there *IS* another Star Trek, called Star Trek Continues. It's not big budget, but there is better writing and more core Star Trek in it than both of the last two movies combined, and then some.

https://www.startrekcontinues.com/episodes.html

- George Gassaway

 

[Ramjet]

I'll go with STAR TREK, TOS, It was the first series I truly loved.
TNG was good, won't comment on the rest.
Movies? V'Ger was lame as hell, simply Nomad writ large. But I truly loved the reveal on the updated ship.
KHAN Was Awesome, Ship was good too.
After that it got redundant.
Star Wars was good entertainment for the First 3, then jumped the shark badly.
I also loved B5 and Serenity.
And I look back fondly at Lost in Space, tho it was black and white in my memories.
Space 1999 ? I really want a good 3 view dimensional drawing of an Eagle to build a Flying model.

so Ya, I enjoyed them all.

 

[ColumbiaNX01]

Welcome to the 24th century........

Boldly go where no Man has gone before..........

Get off my bridge........

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.....

Beam me up scotty.......

Some of the greatest quotes in history have come from the STAR TREK franchise.

 

[ColumbiaNX01]

"Is it possible that we two, you and I, have grown so old and so inflexible that we have outlived our usefulness."

 

[ColumbiaNX01]

"History has shown us that strength may be useless when faced with terrorism."

- Jean-Luc Picard

 

[rharshberger]

And almost nobody remembers Space Rangers.

 

[ThirstyBarbarian]

Welcome to the 24th century........

Boldly go where no Man has gone before..........

Get off my bridge........

Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.....

Beam me up scotty.......

Some of the greatest quotes in history have come from the STAR TREK franchise.

The "power corrupts" quote is almost 200 years old, and was famous way before Star Trek. It was by Lord Acton and it goes, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."

And the interesting thing about "Beam me up, Scotty" is that the exact phrase was never actually used in the show. Kirk said similar things, but never those exact words.

 

[Winston]

Seriously, though, I'm too cynical to buy in to Roddenberry's vision of a happy-happy joy-joy future where everyone just gets along. As a species, I think we're just too selfish.

I agree. We evolved from apes and we still act very much like them. Even altruism had a selfish goal back when we lived in small tribes. It persists and I still gladly participate in it even though I understand its evolved purpose.

Nature of war: Chimps inherently violent; Study disproves theory that 'chimpanzee wars' are sparked by human influence

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140917131816.htm

The Selfish Gene

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0199291152/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[boomtube-mk2]

I never saw “Farscape” much when it was actually being televised but what I did see of it prompted me to purchase the boxed set of the series. Unfortunately it is on “Data Crystals” and the technology needed to view them hasn’t been developed yet.

By and large I enjoyed “Farscape” though I do think they sometimes went weird just to be weird and the constant change of major characters got a bit out of hand.

Now “Firefly” is an entirely different kettle of fish wearing brown coats, and there are a whole lot of dedicated science fiction fans that hated that show with a purple passion and I can see their point, up to a point.

Personally I don’t think the show would have survived long even if it hadn’t been gut-shot by the networks and left for dead before the first/pilot show had been aired.

Somebody mentioned that there is a “Space 2099” in production. God help us all if that is true. Was there ever a sillier premise for a show than having a nuclear explosion blast the Moon out of Earth’s orbit and impart enough Delta V that it could escape not only Earth’s gravity but the Sun’s as well?

Sometime in the next geological epoch it might get beyond Jupiter’s obit.

 

[Nathan]

Definitely Star Trek. Not even close. Star Wars sucks. I wouldn't even call it sci-fi. It's more like a stupid space western.

 

[georgegassaway]

Definitely Star Trek. Not even close. Star Wars sucks. I wouldn't even call it sci-fi. It's more like a stupid space western.

Funny and ironic you would use the term space western to slam Star Wars.

Gene Roddenberry quite literally sold Star Trek to NBC as "Wagon Train to the Stars" (Wagon Train was a popular Western in the mid 60's).

And in one of the "not so good" episodes, there was THIS. Uggh.... (I liked the show, but episodes like that made me cringe. It was a season-3 episode. Gene Roddenberry had quit the show before season 3 when NBC put it into a death timeslot at 10 PM on Friday nights).

- George Gassaway

 

[Zonie]

Somebody mentioned that there is a “Space 2099” in production. God help us all if that is true. Was there ever a sillier premise for a show than having a nuclear explosion blast the Moon out of Earth’s orbit and impart enough Delta V that it could escape not only Earth’s gravity but the Sun’s as well?

Sometime in the next geological epoch it might get beyond Jupiter’s obit.

I did. Ya gotta turn off your brain for that one. The ships are cool, and probably what close to what we will have when we can actually have a moon base.

 

[Kehoes23]

Star Wars