The Orville was more “Trek” than new Trek

(originally posted to RedshirtsAlwaysDie.com)

When The Orville launched, many of the show’s characteristics matched what we loved about Star Trek more than Star Trek: Discovery did.

So I wanted to come on here and take a look back to 2017. You see, for fans of science fiction, and more importantly, Star Trek, 2017 was going to be a big year for us because while Star Trek had been given a fresh coat of paint and a revival, so to speak, with the JJ Abrams’ movies starting in 2009 and continuing on with Into Darkness in 2013 and Beyond in 2016, CBS announced plans to produce a new Star Trek television series for the first time in 12 years! Because while those JJ movies were ok, Star Trek…historically speaking, has largely enjoyed its best years on the small screen, in the form of a weekly television series. So in November of 2015, CBS announced plans to produce a new Star Trek television series called Star Trek: Discovery, which would air weekly on their new streaming service, named CBS All Access. Discovery would debut September 19, 2017.

Interestingly enough, Discovery wasn’t the only weekly sci-fi show to debut around that same time. Turns out, Seth MacFarlane (creator of Family Guy & American Dad) had pitched his own Star Trek-esque sci-fi show to FOX, which was greenlit and aired its first episode just over a week earlier, on September 10, 2017. That show was named The Orville. It starred Seth as Captain Ed Mercer of the titular ship, The Orville. However, this was anything but the Enterprise. Because while the Orville was a ship of exploration, much like we’d get to know the USS Cerritos from Star Trek: Lower Decks for, Ed and his crew weren’t given any real important assignments. Also, we’re informed in the first episode, as Ed is first taking command of the ship, that his first officer was to be his ex-wife, Kelly Grayson, who had previously cheated on him. Hilarity ensues as he makes a few panicked runs from the bridge to his ready room onboard the ship to protest the assignment, but to no avail.

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December 15, 2023 0

Setting the record straight on Neelix from Star Trek: Voyager

(originally posted to RedshirtsAlwaysDie.com)

Neelix started out quite the questionable character on Star Trek: Voyager.

When we first meet Neelix, he’s tending to his debris field where he seemingly would be selling off junked starship parts that he procured via numerous, possibly underhanded ways, and selling them off for profit in order to survive in the Delta Quadrant. The one commodity he seemingly could not obtain was something that Federation ships were able to synthesize in an instant: water. Upon realizing this, he decided to take advantage of the Voyager crew’s generosity and innocence to free his girlfriend from enslavement at the hands of the Kazon.

Neelix proved himself to be quite the conniving individual, always seemingly having friends of questionable morals in the right places throughout his region of the Delta Quadrant. The one being whose existence he held above all else was Kes, his 3-year-old Ocampan girlfriend. Since the Ocampans live abbreviated lives, with the eldest Ocampans typically living only eight or nine years, by comparison, that puts Kes to be about the equivalent of being in her mid-20s to early 30s, alternatively, it was always my understanding with all of Neelix’s life experiences, that he was fairly significantly older than Kes…not only in physical age but also in cognitive age as well, which kind of makes him a bit of a creeper. However, just as I wrote previously here, I always viewed Voyager as the story of the redemption of Nick Locarno/Tom Paris & I think the same can easily be said about Neelix as well!

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November 2, 2023 0

A New Endeavor

So I’m sure if you follow this site, you may have noticed a lack of new content over the last month or so, and there’s a good reason for that.

About a month ago, I decided to try to branch out and see what else might be out there from a writing standpoint. So I headed over to FanSided.com to see how the writers for that site got to do what they do & ostensibly get paid to do so. After looking around on the site for a bit, I found a link to apply to become a contributor, so naturally, I clicked it.

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August 10, 2023 0

Don’t miss out on new Star Trek just because it’s new

(originally posted to RedshirtsAlwaysDie.com)

Why do Trekkies try so hard to resist accepting new content?

So it’s no secret, we as Trekkies (or Trekkers as some prefer to be called) hold Star Trek canon in high regards. So much so, that when new content is released, often we’re hesitant to fully accept it. This was the case back in the day with series we now hold sacred like Voyager, Enterprise, and even The Next Generation! For those who were fans of The Original Series, the mere thought of another crew onboard a NEW Enterprise, exploring the cosmos was unfathomable!

Where’s Kirk? Where’s Spock? Where’s Bones? This is the NEXT Generation, but it’s being led by some old bald British dude? And yet, he we are…and even a new series starring the same (now, even older) bald, British dude took a couple of years to be fully accepted by the Trek faithful — if it truly even has, yet. It only took bringing back almost every other cast member from TNG for us to accept it.

I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t like the first two seasons of Picard either, and even while watching the first episode of Season 3, immediately, I’m yelling at my television, “No! No! You can’t receive subspace communications on a personal communicator! That’s not how this stuff works!” It took a conversation with a close friend for me to realize that I was taking things way too seriously and needed to look past that storytelling flaw. However, once I did get past it, I REALLY enjoyed Season 3 of Picard!

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July 24, 2023 0