News Star Trek: Discovery Story Hints

[jaime]

That's stretching a point that's very thin to begin with. You know, I get that Niners think the show was wonderful. What you have to bear in mind is that

1. There was a lot of real adult TV writing going on in the 80s and the 90s to compare DS9 with, instead of just sitting it alongside TNG and saying "oh, this is more sophisticated. Those shows featured substantial character development and serialized narrative that Trek never approached (other than maybe a bit during the Xindi year); and
2. Most people who watched Star Trek to begin with gave up on DS9 during its run. By its third year in the series had lost more than half the viewers that TNG had handed off to it, and they never returned. DS9 is not a direction the Franchise needs to pursue.

None of which discounts that Ds9 was full of arc based story. Literally the whole thing, loads of them.

And I know... I was there. My favourite point of comparing then to now, is then we had Arthur Fancy and Ben Sisko, and now we don't.

And am pretty sure Ds9 was real adult TV writing.

 

[Mudd]

Once in a very great while - a few times over the years. Not good enough.

 

[mattyhugh]

1. Most people who watched Star Trek to begin with gave up on DS9 during its run. By its third year in the series had lost more than half the viewers that TNG had handed off to it, and they never returned. DS9 is not a direction the Franchise needs to pursue.

How then do you explain the indigogo campaign for the DS9 doc? The small amount of Niners are just mega rich? Or did that fan base grow with time?

 

[Mudd]

There's nothing to explain

Do the math: a bit under 700,000 dollars from not quite 10,000 backers works out to an average donation of about $68 per backer.

(Coincidentally, that's a hair less than a year's subscription to CBS All-Access will cost them).

That speaks to the real devotion of some of the folks who did watch DS9 - they're nothing if not dedicated to the show - but it's no evidence at all either that the fan base has grown or that fans are "rich" (just middle class with some disposable income). In fact, the relatively weak syndication numbers and video sales of the series suggest the opposite.

I mean, sadly enough, there are fan films that have raised more than that through crowdfunding.

 

[Mr Awe]

None of which discounts that Ds9 was full of arc based story. Literally the whole thing, loads of them.

And I know... I was there. My favourite point of comparing then to now, is then we had Arthur Fancy and Ben Sisko, and now we don't.

And am pretty sure Ds9 was real adult TV writing.

You'd be correct about that! DS9 was the best of the modern Trek series.

 

[CaptainPete]

I'm one of the few voyager fans. Voyager fans are rare on boards like this, however voyager is still in syndication I've caught random episodes on spike, FX, SyFy, and most commonly BBC America. I catch DS9 on Netflix. Voyager and TNG are the shows you can still catch reruns of just by flipping through the channels if you still have cable. DS9 is absent which makes me question if it's reruns get as high of ratings as Voyager. I like and have seen all trek by the way so im not anti-DS9. I just know cable channels play what makes them money.

 

[Ovation]

Serial storytelling hurts reruns as they turn off casual viewers. Voyager is sufficiently non-serialized to work as a rerun show. DS9, less so (though it's not serialized like 24 or anything). Serialized shows work much better on Netflix and similar services. But the choice of transmission platform is not an indication of a show's quality.

 

[Noname Given]

There was the Worf discommendation arc which started with "Sins of the Father", continued in "Reunion", and concluded in "Redemption, parts 1 and 2". Admittedly, the episodes weren't contiguous, but it was still a story arc.

As far as Lt. Commander Burnham and the choice she makes goes, it could simply be that her choice causes an interstellar incident that starts or nearly starts a war and causes her to be made first officer of the USS Discovery instead of being made captain of her own ship and potentially derails any likelihood of career advancement in her foreseeable future.

^^^
But it really wasn't a serialized story arc...sorry. Character arcs and story threads over multiple seasons is nothing new to Star Trek, or TV in general. Even TOS had them.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

DS9 had a greater degree of serialized elements than its predecessors, and than anything to follow sans ENT Season 3. Serialization, as a concept, is given greater focus than was previously seen in the franchise, and twice the show went all-in with a seven-part string of episodes and later a nine-part string of episodes.

It was not, inherently, a totally serialized show like Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad, and such. But it juggles more arcs and does so more times per year than is especially common elsewhere in the Trek canon.

 

[Mr Awe]

^^^
But it really wasn't a serialized story arc...sorry. Character arcs and story threads over multiple seasons is nothing new to Star Trek, or TV in general. Even TOS had them.

DS9 had far more serialized elements than other Trek series. It's not like Game of Thrones or The Expanse (I love both) but more than other Treks. If you think TOS had them, ah, no. TOS had few, very few. You can probably list them on one hand.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

re OP: I like the hints.

 

[Horizons96]

There's nothing to explain

Do the math: a bit under 700,000 dollars from not quite 10,000 backers works out to an average donation of about $68 per backer. (Coincidentally, that's a hair less than a year's subscription to CBS All-Access will cost them).

Like many averages, it's not representational of the reality of those who backed it. I watched many of the pledges at the time they were happening. There were people who were either unwilling - or unable - to give more than a few dollars. Then there were those who threw thousands at a time - this made a huge difference to bumping that total up.

I mean, sadly enough, there are fan films that have raised more than that through crowdfunding.

In under four weeks?

Ahhh I remember the fantastic Trek-like positivity (you know, that stuff I and others living in obscurity naively suffer from) during that campaign, where I commented:

This .... is a welcome break from the routine criticism thrown at Berman-era (and overall Prime) Trek by the same old jaded personalities. It must have done something right if it can generate half a million dollars in rewarded donations in just over three weeks.

 

[KennyB]

How then do you explain the indigogo campaign for the DS9 doc? The small amount of Niners are just mega rich? Or did that fan base grow with time?

I would not doubt that the fanbase has grown a LOT over time. I avoided DS9 like the plague when it was announced. Thought it sounded like The Love Boat being based on a station and having visitors every week. I never even started watching it until maybe 2004. While the first 3 seasons were.........meh to me seasons 4-7 were some of the best Trek I have seen. I know some hate it but "In The Pale Moonlight" is one of the best Star Trek episodes of all time to me because it shows a desperate, FLAWED, and conflicted Sisko. Definitely NOT like The Love Boat ;-)

 

[Mirror Mirror]

"In The Pale Moonlight" IMO is likely the finest trek episode ever made. Gods I need to go rewatch that

 

[Noname Given]

DS9 had far more serialized elements than other Trek series. It's not like Game of Thrones or The Expanse (I love both) but more than other Treks. If you think TOS had them, ah, no. TOS had few, very few. You can probably list them on one hand.

But my reply was to your comments on TNG - which WASN'T serialized.

 

[Mr Awe]

But my reply was to your comments on TNG - which WASN'T serialized.

I didn't mention TNG at all. Maybe a different user?

 

[Noname Given]

I didn't mention TNG at all. Maybe a different user?

Yes, it was a dirfferent person, BUT you took my reply to him in the post where I replied to him out of context as HE was talking about TNG (Speciofically the Work discommodation story thread.)

 

[Mr Awe]

Yes, it was a dirfferent person, BUT you took my reply to him in the post where I replied to him out of context as HE was talking about TNG (Speciofically the Work discommodation story thread.)

Don't know. But, I was only referring to DS9.