Favorite Star Trek type show currently in production?

[karelm 2,903]

I was a fan of Star Trek since I was a kid.  Back then, there was only one series (ok, two with the animated series).  I've since lost track of all the various shows and with limited time, I can't see them all.  Some I've tried getting in to, but it failed to live up to the franchise quality (IMO).  One other challenge is some of the best series have a rough start so if you stick with them long enough, there is a great pay off.  I very much enjoyed (not loved) TNG, but it had a very weak first and second season and mediocre seventh season and always loved Riker and Picard, though didn't quite get in to Picard.  I watched Strange New Worlds and really enjoyed it because it felt like a return to form.  But I never got into Discovery where I think some of the excellent leads of Strange New Worlds were introduced.  So is Discovery worth seeing if you like Strange New Worlds?  Meanwhile, The Orville, is a great TNG continuation though not affiliated other than as an homage.  I didn't keep up with it in season 3 when it switched to Hulu, is it still great?  How does that show rank and should that even be in this list?  To me, it and Strange new Worlds are the shows that feel most Trek currently made.  

[Manakin Skywalker 4,891]

25 minutes ago, karelm said:

I didn't keep up with it in season 3 when it switched to Hulu, is it still great?

 

There were no downsides to it switching to Hulu (and now Disney+). It's still the same show, but with a bit less humor and a much larger budget; two things that most fans seem to consider a benefit. And the music has never been better!

[Jay 37,322]

The Orville AINEC

[Disco Stu 15,495]

None of the above.  I’m comfortable at this point that I will never care for any post TNG era Trek.  The Orville never sat right with me, despite my wanting to like it very much.

[Andy 4,090]

The third season of the Orville is incredible. They’re all a little over an hour long, and are like mini movies that you don’t want to end.  It was my favorite entertainment I watched last year. 
 

SNW is good, but I have this fear they’re gonna swing big and mess it up. They keep talking about the big risks next season will take.  I don’t think that’s necessary for that show, which is as close to TOS style storytelling as any Trek since. 
 

Picard S1 was almost unwatchable. S2 started strong, faltered, wore out it’s welcome, but was ultimately fine. 
 

I watched S1 of Discovery expecting to hate it because of all the Internet rage. To my surprise, it was sort of a hoot.  I’m looking forward to getting back into S2 where the SNW crew is introduced. 
 

But yeah there’s just nothing better than the Orville right now.  It’s a show that makes you feel good and makes you want to be a better human being. 

[Jay 37,322]

The third season of The Orville was amazing.  One of the best things I watched on my television in 2022.

If you liked seasons 1 or 2 even a little bit, it's worth checking out 3.

It's available on both Hulu and Disney+ in the US

[karelm 2,903]

21 hours ago, Jay said:

The third season of The Orville was amazing.  One of the best things I watched on my television in 2022.

If you liked seasons 1 or 2 even a little bit, it's worth checking out 3.

It's available on both Hulu and Disney+ in the US

Ok, I'll check it out.  I enjoyed S1, loved S2 but thought you have to pay for Hulu to get it so never bothered with S3 but do have Disney+.

[JNHFan2000 2,944]

Season 3 of The Orville is still not available in my country. Don't get it

[Jay 37,322]

Time to move!

[Yavar Moradi 2,592]

36 minutes ago, Jay said:

Time to move!

or just get a VPN!

[Tom Guernsey 2,281]

With the caveat that I've not seen SNW or Prodigy, I had to go with the Orville as well... it hews very close to 90s/2000s Trek as mentioned, but with much bigger scope and amazing music. I kinda enjoyed the first 3 (I think) seasons of Discovery but it's all over the place in terms of tone and who's in charge - maybe I'm old fashioned, but I kinda like a crew that, aside from the occasional (plausible) promotion, stays the same. Picard started off disappointing and got worse. Patrick Stewart is great, although his acting feels his age (if that makes sense), in a way that seems somewhat implausible to what's going on. It also does the tragic back story stuff far too much - almost everyone in the show has had some major, traumatic event, from Picard, from the older characters that show up (7 of 9, the Rikers etc.) to the new ones. I mean, I get it that things can go sour but it just seems to be one miserable back story after another which just gets depressing.

 

On the other hand, Lower Decks is a hoot - sure it's pretty goofy and I have a weird bugbear with the idea that crew would sleep in bunkbeds in corridors in the 24th century. Even the smaller starships are so big that everyone would get their own quarters*, it's not a submarine and these are meant to be long, deep space missions! Having said that, it actually gets closer to the ideals of Star Trek with morality plays and dealing with alien cultures, albeit more humorously.

 

Perhaps my biggest annoyance with the newer shows (Discovery and Picard) is that the plotting is so much of the story leading up to a big space battle/fist or firefight at the end of the season, or some daring escape or whatever. I enjoy a space battle but you just know that's what'll happen in the season finale, it's more just a case of seeing how you get to it.

 

(Spoilers for Enterprise below if you've not seen this 20 year old show!)

 

*Currently making my way through Enterprise and enjoying it quite a bit more than its reputation might suggest. The shift in gears in the third season is a somewhat surprising change of pace, but it kinda works, even if some of the stories are pretty hokey (why didn't the Xindi just, you know, destroy the Enterprise... or test their weapon on a dead planet and keep their mega weapon a surprise etc.). However, back to the quarters thing... why does almost every single room in the damn ship have a bulkhead you can hit your head on!? Seriously, look at it. Quarters, the Captain's ready room, engineering etc. It's amazing Phlox didn't spend his entire time treating the crew for concussion.

 

On the other hand, the music is pretty good a lot of the time. A recent episode I saw with a prostitute alien who turns out to be a spy with biometric scanning hands (seriously) has some terrific action music by Paul Baillargeon, lots of low end Goldsmithian pianos.

[Tallguy 3,380]

25 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

With the caveat that I've not seen SNW or Prodigy,

 

The best two. I adore SNW and Prodigy is shockingly good. I'm so glad that I got bored enough to watch it. (But I didn't go back to Disco 4. Hmmmm...)

 

And yeah, Lower Decks is awesome.

 

27 minutes ago, Tom Guernsey said:

I mean, I get it that things can go sour but it just seems to be one miserable back story after another which just gets depressing.

 

Sir Patrick has had a distressing few years and he took it out on Star Trek. It's the worst show that keeps doing enough things that I want to watch that I keep coming back. And my wife loves it. "Jean-Luc!"

[karelm 2,903]

On 05/01/2023 at 12:34 PM, Jay said:

The third season of The Orville was amazing.  One of the best things I watched on my television in 2022.

If you liked seasons 1 or 2 even a little bit, it's worth checking out 3.

It's available on both Hulu and Disney+ in the US

I've just finished Orville 3.  Thanks for suggesting Orville, the 3rd season was fantastic.  Excellent production, music, and writing.  Very much in keeping with Star Trek TNG.  My only complaint...

Spoiler

...was the final episode which was meh.  I liked the subplot of Lysella but the main plot of Isaac and Dr. Claire Finn's wedding was entertaining but lacked the gravitas of a finale.  Aside from that, this is an excellent show enrapturing the Star Trek ethos.  Stand out episodes were Electric Sheep, A Tale of Two Topas, Twice in a Lifetime, and Domino.  but all the episodes were at least entertaining.  If anything, I would hope they would be less overt, more sublime.  I would like more character flaws.  Like Star Trek TOS where the characters had flaws.  Bones was too emotional, Spock was too logical.  Kirk was too human.  I think this show would benefit from the characters having more character flaws.  They are all a bit flawless.  Even TNG had Barclay who was brilliant but painfully nervous. But that is a very subjective criticism.  It's an overall very fine show.  

 

[Jay 37,322]

It was definitely enjoyable to watch 1 episode per week as it aired live and getting to ponder on it for a week before the next one, as opposed to what a close binge must be like

[JoeinAR 1,949]

Prodigy and Lower Decks 

[Tom Guernsey 2,281]

On 11/01/2023 at 7:34 PM, Tallguy said:

 

The best two. I adore SNW and Prodigy is shockingly good. I'm so glad that I got bored enough to watch it. (But I didn't go back to Disco 4. Hmmmm...)

 

Well I'm three episodes in and really enjoying Strange New Worlds, glad I got Paramount+ (even if they have clearly hidden the remastered TMP...). Good to enjoy a show with actual exploration and typically Trek moral dilemmas. Perhaps a touch heavy on the "crew having secrets" bit but I'm guessing most will come out and they will be dealt with and it won't matter too much. The super blunt engineer is terrific, but everyone is. I want Anson Mount's hair though. How does it stay so perfectly quiffed in space?! Must be the same hair stuff they use on the Expanse (seriously, those people have the most perfect hair in the galaxy).

 

Minor grumbles would be using unnecessarily complicated/doesn't really fit with the period tech (like the DNA changing disguises, I'm pretty sure even in TNG they just used prosthetics to look like aliens) and slightly over-engineered production design, although I appreciate the crew having realistic sized quarters and a nice big dining area which all feels much more plausible for the 23rd century.

 

Nami Melumad's underscore is pretty decent and look forward to an album release (almost as mysteriously absent as The Orville's) but I still think Jeff Russo's main title is pretty dreadful, a driving rhythm that somehow leads to a GCSE music student's paraphrase of the original Courage theme. It's even worse than the Animated Series theme which is basically the same concept - something a bit like Courage's theme but not. From Russo's driving rhythm, I keep thinking they should just have tracked in the opening from Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves...