Pellaeon

Star Trek is about three things: ideals, exploration, and colorful uniforms. The Orville hits that sweet spot. It’s probably for the best that it can’t reference Trek lore every five seconds, or hinge its plot on fangasm moments. Trek at its best was also a bare-bones framework for science fiction stories, not big on lore, not super self-referential. I don’t know if the franchise knows how to do that anymore. Beyond is the closest it has come in recent memory.

What's funny is that TNG/DS9/Voyager/Enterprise didn't try to make fan references every 5 minutes... sure, there were references from time to time as would be normal for something that takes place in the same fictional universe, but very rarely as a fan service. When they were (such as when the DS9 crew appear in Trials and Tribbleations) it's a one off, for a particular reason. Ah well, roll on Orville season 3 and your super music...

Star Trek is about three things: ideals, exploration, and colorful uniforms. The Orville hits that sweet spot. It’s probably for the best that it can’t reference Trek lore every five seconds, or hinge its plot on fangasm moments. Trek at its best was also a bare-bones framework for science fiction stories, not big on lore, not super self-referential. I don’t know if the franchise knows how to do that anymore. Beyond is the closest it has come in recent memory.

You’re definitely right.

Star Trek is about three things: ideals, exploration, and colorful uniforms. The Orville hits that sweet spot. It’s probably for the best that it can’t reference Trek lore every five seconds, or hinge its plot on fangasm moments. Trek at its best was also a bare-bones framework for science fiction stories, not big on lore, not super self-referential. I don’t know if the franchise knows how to do that anymore. Beyond is the closest it has come in recent memory.

I did watch the whole first season of Lower Decks. It's got its funny moments, is full of fan service, and the best of the new Trek series.
 
The problem is, if Picard and Discovery were any good (and they're not), Lower Decks would be a nice, diverting compliment to those shows. An accent or garnish, if you will. But this funny little 30 minute animated comedy isn't strong enough to carry the entire franchise on its own.
 
And really, if I want comedic Trek, I'll watch The Orville, which is great and Trek in everything but name (as Discovery and Picard are Trek in name only).

I can't say I'm excited for a new movie in the Chris Pine universe, but it doesn't give me a sinking feeling of dread like any announcement about the Paramount+ shows does.  Like, Beyond is a decent silly sci-fi action movie if you just make yourself forget it's Star Trek.  Whereas the current TV shows have no redeeming qualities in any way.

Posted by Bruse Koski on Facebook. “Here are higher-res images of art created by Jim Titus as an alternate cover for the La-La Land vinyl release of Star Trek–The Motion Picture soundtrack. He also did the release version art. Note the second image of the Enterprise isolated. Art unused due to likeness permissions and restrictions, etc.
“Art by Jim Titus for La-La Land Records.”
 

 

Posted by Bruse Koski on Facebook. “Here are higher-res images of art created by Jim Titus as an alternate cover for the La-La Land vinyl release of Star Trek–The Motion Picture soundtrack. He also did the release version art. Note the second image of the Enterprise isolated. Art unused due to likeness permissions and restrictions, etc.
“Art by Jim Titus for La-La Land Records.”
 

 

I read somewhere that an Amazon exec said that they need to make Lord of the Rings appeal to a "giant, global audience".
 
As if a story that's sold over 150 million copies, been translated into something like 40 languages and spawned six films that made a billion dollars each needs Amazon to help its global appeal. I think Tolkien might have known what he's doing, and to my knowledge, his only focus group was The Inklings.

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The core of what makes TFA rewatchable is how likable the characters are, especially the main trio of Rey and Finn and Han. You get great chemistry, natural humor, and relatable motivations.

The core of what makes TFA rewatchable is how likable the characters are, especially the main trio of Rey and Finn and Han. You get great chemistry, natural humor, and relatable motivations.

TFA is maybe not as original as the previous Star Wars plots (kind of logical when you know there's not Lucas working on it, he's maybe bad with dialogue but rarely with the story) but apart from that I think it has everything a SW movie need: a great score, great characters chemistry, stunning visual effects, awesome production design and efficient directing
If there is one SW movie from the Disney area that I won't complain about it's that one

The core of what makes TFA rewatchable is how likable the characters are, especially the main trio of Rey and Finn and Han. You get great chemistry, natural humor, and relatable motivations.

The core of what makes TFA rewatchable is how likable the characters are, especially the main trio of Rey and Finn and Han. You get great chemistry, natural humor, and relatable motivations.

The core of what makes TFA rewatchable is how likable the characters are, especially the main trio of Rey and Finn and Han. You get great chemistry, natural humor, and relatable motivations.

I dunno, I watch and enjoy TFA, then I put on John Williams music and imagine 2 better sequels.

I’ll be another contrarian. I love the entire Beatles canon, and have obsessed about just about every album. (My latest kick has been Let It Be... Naked and McCartney’s Ram.) But my very favorite albums are their early albums, specifically the U.S. albums. I like the assembly of these albums; the flow from song to song works really well. Also by listening to them you get more songs without having to resort to singles. My absolute favorites:
 
#1 is The Early Beatles. A really fun and romantic album. “Ask Me Why” and “P.S. I Love You” are two of my favorite Beatles songs. The epitome of youthful love songs.
 
#2 is Meet the Beatles!. Another delightful one. “All I’ve Got to Do,” and “Till There Was You / Hold Me Tight” are just true delights.
 
#3 is A Hard Day’s Night. The perfect album to put on in the car or playing a board game with company. “And I Love Her” is my favorite from this album, but not a single song that falls flat; they all please, and everyone sings along. Nicely balanced with four delightful George Martin orchestral arrangements from the film — you can’t get them on the U.K. album!

Race is an issue within Middle-earth. A show about Númenor can hardly avoid it. I wonder if they will be able to tackle it without coming across as pandering or preachy. The Númenóreans were pretty big jerk colonialists who put indigenous peoples to the sword in order to pave the way for themselves or their allies to settle. Sometimes these people were Sauron-worshippers, but Tolkien still does not condone them being persecuted, and wrote a pretty poignant story (“Tal-Elmar”) from their point of view. Others (notably the Dunlendings) were not in league with Sauron but became so after Númenoréan persecution.
 
That’s probably the easier aspect of this to tackle (albeit prone to heavy-handedness). What might be harder to swallow is the fact that the Númenóreans do have actual genetic superiority, great (supernatural) height and longevity being the two most obvious markers. An even more delicate issue is the concept of original sin and the occasional hint that certain groups of Men are capable of breaking free of the Shadow and others aren’t, based on whether or not their ancestors rejected Melkor in the earliest times.
 
The core of the Atlantean/Númenórean myth is based on Minoan civilization (the drowning) with a hint of Babylon (Tower of Babel), so to cast Middle-eastern actors seems right to me. Later Gondor obviously parallels Byzantium in many ways. But in the middle of the Third Age there was that whole Gondorian civil war called the Kin-Strife, which was all about a faction rejecting a royal family that had mixed blood with the Northmen. That’s where the Corsairs of Umbar come from—Númenórean purists, who nevertheless went on to intermingle with Haradrim, to the point of becoming indistinct from them in a generation or two.

Rise of Skywalker is basically the movie that I was always imagining Force Awakens would be like when I heard JJ Abrams was doing Star Wars. I was surprised when he turned out a relatively straightforward Episode 7 with imo his most measured and attentive filmmaking...many shots and moments that take their time, a cleaner aesthetic overall.
 
Rise of Skywalker just feels like a regression in ways where I felt like Force Awakens showed a lot of growth as a director, especially when I think of the first act of TFA or patient moments like Kylo Ren's interrogation of Rey or the long silent closeups in his final encounter with Han. The story overall, is simple and told with economy. I always feel like the first act of Force Awakens is the best of JJ Abrams. He pulled a nice magic trick establishing four -- five, really, counting BB-8 -- easily distinguishable sketches of new characters in 30 minutes with sensitivity and humor, something he no doubt figured out from television, and with more focused visual storytelling than I've seen from him. Also as a JWFan, I appreciated his nod to Lucas's tradition of an entirely wordless and musically driven final sequence, something that every other Disney Star Wars movie has ignored.
 
The thing about JJ's vision and execution of Rise that just puts me off is his return to a more hyperactive and nervous energy which made an unfortunate combo to me with a more tangled screenplay. He even exponentially increased the lens flare quotient. The two moments that stick out to me most positively in the way that I appreciated from the best of TFA and TLJ are the scene between Han and Ben, and Rey hearing the Jedi voices. 
 
That said I do agree that it's not really an unentertaining movie in the way that the prequels have those long stretches of dead air, but does remind me of them in that it is weirdly compelling primarily because it makes me feel like I might be insane. It seems like there are people who put Last Jedi in that category too which I can pretty well understand by now, though I still think that one's just straight up good for the most part. I enjoy grumpy Luke and Canto Bight, whatevs.

Race is an issue within Middle-earth. A show about Númenor can hardly avoid it. I wonder if they will be able to tackle it without coming across as pandering or preachy. The Númenóreans were pretty big jerk colonialists who put indigenous peoples to the sword in order to pave the way for themselves or their allies to settle. Sometimes these people were Sauron-worshippers, but Tolkien still does not condone them being persecuted, and wrote a pretty poignant story (“Tal-Elmar”) from their point of view. Others (notably the Dunlendings) were not in league with Sauron but became so after Númenoréan persecution.
 
That’s probably the easier aspect of this to tackle (albeit prone to heavy-handedness). What might be harder to swallow is the fact that the Númenóreans do have actual genetic superiority, great (supernatural) height and longevity being the two most obvious markers. An even more delicate issue is the concept of original sin and the occasional hint that certain groups of Men are capable of breaking free of the Shadow and others aren’t, based on whether or not their ancestors rejected Melkor in the earliest times.
 
The core of the Atlantean/Númenórean myth is based on Minoan civilization (the drowning) with a hint of Babylon (Tower of Babel), so to cast Middle-eastern actors seems right to me. Later Gondor obviously parallels Byzantium in many ways. But in the middle of the Third Age there was that whole Gondorian civil war called the Kin-Strife, which was all about a faction rejecting a royal family that had mixed blood with the Northmen. That’s where the Corsairs of Umbar come from—Númenórean purists, who nevertheless went on to intermingle with Haradrim, to the point of becoming indistinct from them in a generation or two.

Yea, it was back in stock for a while until very recently. You just missed it. 

@Thor
 
 
 

The right way to watch any series (movie or TV) is release order, IMO.  Later movies are referential to earlier releases intentionally or un-, regardless of chronology.