Spoilers Strange New Worlds s4

[Ryujin]

Super tangential, something I may start a new thread on later, but in Star Trek do they ever talk about actual comic book heroes or old television series that would have existed prior to the timeline divergence? Does anyone ever name drop Superman, Spider-Man, Batman, The Fantastic Four, Wonder Woman, or the X-Men? Or even in The Orville? How does the way they talk about the last two hundred years compare to how we talk about the last two hundred years?

Doctor Who reference in "The Orville." Also same in "Strange New Worlds", plus the whole Dolly Parton arc. Doing much in that vein can run afoul of IP rights, though.

 

[Clint_L]

Sigh. Another gimmick episode. I found the soap opera-isms mostly lame and distracting. Kinda low-hanging fruit, comedy-wise.

The only part of the episode that worked was the ending, and especially Pike's devastation in the final scene (glad they finally touched on the effects of his ghost life!). The last ten minutes just served to reiterate that THIS SHOW DOES NOT NEED ALL THE GIMMICKS. The cast and characters are great in themselves.

 

[Morrus]

So I have learned that American soap operas are very different to British soap operas. I'm pretty sure most of the jokes went over my head. Also I learned through doing research, Days of Our Lives is a real show, not a made-up one that Joey starred in on Friends! Who knew? (Well, Americans, obviously).

 

[Clint_L]

Looking at the first season of TOS on IMDB, to remind me, I see the following:

5 Superior beings
2 Spacemen gone wild
1 Transporter accident
1 Sexy robot episode
1 Alternate Earth
1 Shakespeare play
1 A submarine combat
1 Alternate dimension
1 Time travel

That's 14 out of 28. It's 29 if you count the pilot with Pike, but not everyone does.

Most of these are not, to me, gimmicks. Some are weird, but not genre-breaking. Some are just standard (e.g. superior beings).

To me, a gimmick is when the plot seems to be there to service an extreme change in style or form. For example, when the superior being turns the show into a soap opera, right down to the cameras, lighting, and music cues. That's a gimmick. The crew all being muppets is a gimmick. Everything being not just in black and white due to radiation, but the episode also being constructed as 1940s noir is what made that a gimmick. Time travel is not a gimmick, but time travel so we can do Jurassic Park is a gimmick.

I think Buffy demonstrated how to do gimmicks well. You got one or two per season, and they were both explicable within the overall plot, and were there to serve important character arcs. "The Zeppo" is one of my favourite episodes, emphasizing what makes Xander so vital to the team. "The Wish" not only showed us what could have happened had Buffy never come to Sunnydale, but foreshadowed a huge character shift for Willow. "Hush" wasn't just an awesome mostly dialogue-less episode, it explored the impact of all the secrets that were being kept. "Buffy vs. Dracula" set up character beats that would resonate through the rest of the series, especially for Xander. And, of course, "Once More with Feeling" was a pivotal episode for just about every character, and one of the most beloved because of it.

Gimmick episodes aren't a problem in themselves, they're a problem when the show starts to feel like a delivery mechanism for the gimmicks. Which S4 has very much become.

 

[Ryujin]

So I have learned that American soap operas are very different to British soap operas. I'm pretty sure most of the jokes went over my head. Also I learned through doing research, Days of Our Lives is a real show, not a made-up one that Joey starred in on Friends! Who knew? (Well, Americans, obviously).

They leaned heavily into the tropes of classic American soap operas so not knowing them undoubtedly reduce or removed any humour. They hit most of the classic marks (surprise daughter, evil twin, past trauma). One that they missed, however, was the "In this episode the part of <character x> will be played by <actor y>."

My mother was hooked on them, for a little while. Then her sanity returned.

 

[Morrus]

They leaned heavily into the tropes of classic American soap operas so not knowing them undoubtedly reduce or removed any humour. They hit most of the classic marks (surprise daughter, evil twin, past trauma). One that they missed, however, was the "In this episode the part of <character x> will be played by <actor y>."

My mother was hooked on them, for a little while. Then her sanity returned.

Yeah British soap operas are a lot more... grounded and gritty. No less ridiculous, but different ridiculous.

 

[Ryujin]

Yeah British soap operas are a lot more... grounded and gritty. No less ridiculous, but different ridiculous.

"Coronation Street" ran on the CBC, Sunday mornings, for decades.

 

[Tonguez]

Yeah British soap operas are a lot more... grounded and gritty. No less ridiculous, but different ridiculous.

I've explained it that US Soap Operas are about glamourous, wealthy elites doing horrible things to each other whereas UK Soap Opera are about workingclass drudges surviving their horrible lives.

Growing up we were lucky(?) enough to get both - so Days of Our Lives, Young and the Restless and Santa Barbara during the day and Coronation Street, Eastenders, Emmerdale, Falcons Crest and Dynasty in the evenings.
I remember watching Santa Barbara during my teens (I think I was home studying for exams) and becoming fascinated with the dream sequences during Cruz and Edens wedding - that got really bizarre.

 

[Morrus]

Growing up we were lucky(?) enough to get both

For certain values of 'lucky'.

 

[Vael]

Oh no, another gimmick episode, a godlike being is forcing the Enterprise crew to cosplay their genre of choice, such a gimmick, so unprecedented.

Sir, I must protest. I am not a Merry man
- Worf