For fucks sake. This series is a godamn dream and they've touched on everything alright. This series is so immersive that when the crew won their Oscars, I felt my heart bursting with joy. My, my what a plot. What a cast. Absolutely gorgeous. Also love, how there is loads of queer representation here. Everyone's gay but that's not what you're gonna stay for. It's the chemistry and the actors and how godamn awesome this series is. 100% recommend.
Ahh, the sound of the nattering naybobs of Trekdom furiously trying to clap with one hand. You see, unless a program meets the narrowly specific parameters of what they will accept as "proper" Star Trek lore. Reminds me of those YouTube videos of entitled 16 year old's getting a new Lamborghini or BMW, and then pitching an absolute fit because it wasn't the color they desired. "This is NOT the Trek I was looking for"...... OK Obi Wan Kensnobby you win, we'll all go sit in the basement and watch reruns of the original series, or better yet, just the SPECIFIC EPISODES in each series that meet with your awesomely discerning taste. They rest you may send to the cornfield!!!!
Personally, I thought the producers and writers did a pretty good job of giving us a brand new crew, a brand new ship, an at least interesting situation as far as the story arc, while maintaining the connection to traditional "Trek" with appropriate amounts of fan service and character call backs. The animation, stylistically, is light years ahead of what is offered on "The Lower Drecks, er...Decks", and, the storytelling is aimed more toward the dramatic rather than the comedic. If that's not your thing, cool, but, neither should it be dismissed out of hand.
Personally, I found the amount of tension, thrills and FUN just about right, and the mix of immediate story and long arc balanced enough to hold my attention and leave me wanting more. Again, for a show aimed at the Nickelodeon demographic, that's no small feat IMO.
So yeah, I plan to continue watching it, and, it will be interesting to see if this version of the "Trekverse", can go where the others haven't gone before, or if the naybob's will be successful in stirring up enough negativity to eject the warp core and leave the crew stranded.
Not quite the "feminist Western" which Netflix seemed to promote it as, but that's fine because it didn't need to be. Godless is a lush and rich Western miniseries which somehow feels fresh while still embodying many tropes of the genre. We have a tired sheriff with an overeager deputy, a band of outlaws seeking revenge and a mysterious stranger on the run. All this happens in and around a town populated almost entirely by (badass) women.
It's to the shows credit that it makes each of these clichés feel unique and interesting. The sheriff is losing his eyesight and is regarded as a coward by the women he's charged with protecting, while simultaneously struggling with feelings of resentment to his own little daughter. The evil outlaw (played superbly by Jeff Daniels) is actually a man capable of incredible compassion and acts of love alongside his brutality. And Whitey, the overeager deputy, turns out to be one of the most enjoyable and unpredictable characters in the whole thing.
But it's the girls of La Belle who do manage to steal a good portion of the show. Maggie is tough as nails and doesn't back down an inch when confronted with male posturing, as well as being engaged in a very natural relationship with Callie. Meanwhile, Alice lives her life exactly on her own terms as she raises her son along with her (awesome) Native American mother-in-law.
Godless is not an action-fest, although when things go down it's extremely satisfying. This is more of a measured story which lets things breathe. The cinematography is absolutely glorious and my jaw dropped at the staging of several scenes. I found it to the show's benefit that we spent so much time just taking things in as my attachment to the characters grew more and more. To give a specific example there's an episode in which a lot of time is spent with horses, and while it doesn't further the plot significantly, it pays off down the line and only allowed me to enjoy the experience all the more.
The cast are uniformly excellent, and it's easy to forget that three of the main characters are Brits. The writing is also of a high quality, and while this is not in the same league as the poetry and magnificence of Deadwood, it's very much going for a different vibe and doing its own thing. This feels more like an epic Western whereas the HBO show had a tighter focus on the comings and goings of the town it was set in.
That's not to say the show is perfect. I'm definitely not the first to notice, but there are a number of plot threads which are introduced but go absolutely nowhere. We meet characters like John Doe who have a mystery set up and then no more is given to us. We don't really get any huge revelations into Bill's past with his wife or situation, and what the Indian and his dog were all about. The (fantastic) German character Martha is only introduced at the very end. And we don't even get a proper explanation as to why Roy betrayed Frank in the first place. It definitely feels to me like there is plenty of room for a continuation, but this appears to be a one-off.
But I absolutely loved Godless. It manages to be incredibly satisfying despite its flaws, is one of the best looking shows you can watch right now and when it kicks off the thrills are absolutely glorious.
What a quandary - I'm feeling the same conflicts about this series that I had for the book. It's bleak, it's intense social surgery, it is a dark portent, it was a departure for Margaret Atwood when she wrote it, and, although it should feel completely at home in our current dystopia drenched media-verse, it's just a tad off kilter here, as well. I give it a 7 (good) out of 10, for it truly is good, but it unveils itself slowly, is stark in it's characters and sparse in it's environment. One might say the truth it holds to it's themes is why it is good - I'm still puzzling it out. Fantastic cast, however - some of my favourite performers. So, a hesitant recommendation, set among the high praise of others who have reviewed it on Trakt TV.
This is a very disappointing show. From the outset the premise is fantastic, a journey to Mars! Imagine the thrills and drama involved in such a story! it should be no trouble, right?
Wrong (apparently!) The characters in this production are so overburdened with dramatic personal events and so lacking in the stoic behaviour we recognise in real life astronauts that you rapidly lose interest in them as characters and then lose interest in the whole premise.
No issue is to small in this production that it cannot needlessly be blown into a full on crisis with emotionally unstable characters who couldn't be trusted to sit the right way on a toilet, let alone land on Mars.
I can only assume the reason this crew was sent 'Away' was in the reverent hope they would stay there!
SFX is good though!
This is a great show. Its getting compared to Breaking Bad and while I think BrBa is a lot better they are really different shows. Ozark isn't trying to copy, it is doing its own thing. The show is very dark and it doesn't pull any punches. Some of it is not easy to watch. A lot of twists you don't expect. Jason Bateman gives a fantastic performance. He is perfect for a snarky asshole financial adviser. Hopefully he does more serious/non comedic roles.
Can't wait for season 2. Assuming Netflix will pick it up.
Freddie Highmore is such an incredible actor. His performance in this tv show as a genius autistic doctor is absolutely amazing. If you debated on whether or not to pick up this new show for watching, do it!! You will not be disappointed.
Glad to see tradTrek (traditional Trek) is back! I miss this format and style of Star Trek.
Nothing wrong with the other nuTrek, they're all great on their own, but as someone who grew up watching Star Trek, the style of TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT, have grown on me. It's more about the issues we are facing today, in real life, as well as meaningful life realizations. Picard is like that but it is more about Jean-Luc. Discovery is like that but it is more about the conflict and the characters.
But tradTrek is different. The approach is to let the audience relate and think of the world around them.
Best of all, finally, we have a Captain Pike canon series! We seriously lack canon materials around Pike and his time with the Enterprise and it has been requested since the 90s. Finally! Let me say that again, FINALLY!
I do like the show, but it's not Star Trek. If this was just a new sci-fi show that existed in its own universe, it would be incredible. However, the fact that they've tried to pass this off as Star Trek when it's clearly not sullies the experience.
If it wasn't already apparent, Paramount and CBS have no idea what made Star Trek great, and don't care either. The simple explanation is that the world of Star Trek is supposed to be optimistic; this is pessimistic. And I do enjoy pessimistic sci-fi, but there's so much of it, and to see one of the few optimistic sci-fi worlds turned into something pessimistic is a shame.
Fortunately, we now have The Orville, which is doing Star Trek better than anything has since Voyager ended in 2001.
The show is supposed to take place between Enterprise and TOS, but the technology is very different. For example, there are holograms everywhere. Why try to do a prequel again? Why not set this after Voyager? That would make a lot more sense, and they'd be able to add whatever technology they like, and not be constrained by existing continuity. Fortunately, it's not too late for the showrunners to say "hey, we made a mistake, this actually takes place X years after Voyager".
Last, they fucked up the Klingons. For almost 25 years, they had the look of the Klingons figured out perfectly. They're iconic. But this show (and the reboot movies) messed them up and made them look like generic sci-fi bad guys. What happened to their hair and beards? Also, the costumes are ridiculous, and their ship interiors look like they're made of coral. I do like the idea of having an albino Klingon though.
And I applaud their desire to use the Klingon language on the show, but it's pretty annoying having every Klingon scene subtitled. The previous shows used a common sci-fi conceit: the actors speak a language that the audience understands, but it's accepted that they're really speaking a different language. The viewer effectively has a universal translator so they can understand what's being said.
Also, it looks nothing like Star Trek. Once again, The Orville got that right, and this didn't.
All of that said, I do like the show. The characters are interesting (especially Doug Jones), I've enjoyed each episode, and I think the storyline is pretty interesting. But goddamn it, why did they have to try to make this Star Trek when it's not?
This has a great premise and the possibility of being a great show, but if the Brits were doing it they'd make it spectacular and in 8 episodes or less. This is a typical American "how-can-we-drag-a-short-story-into-5-season-before-killing-it-unexpectedly” show waiting to happen. I want to love it, but it just drags on and on. 6/10
Update - someone put a bullet in the back of it's head... about 4 episodes too late. Painfull to watch the further along it went.
As a Turkish person, I can verify that most of the Turkish stuff in this show is accurate. They used Turkish actors and proper Turkish dialogue which isn't something you see on every show. Even the Turkish songs are VERY well-placed.
