One of the things I have noticed on my rewatch of especially s1 is how much I like T’Pol, as well as how often she is right and Archer is wrong. I feel like she was written to be a bit annoying, and I think I saw her that way to a degree when I first watched the show. However, now I find it more of a reason to be annoyed with Archer.
As a general matter, Jolene Blaylock deserves massive kudos for her performance, especially given the obvious goal of the show’s producers to reduce her to eye candy.
Totally agree on Strange New Worlds. Yes, the second half of the latest season was poor but I think it’s one of my favourite Trek shows
Better call Saul is a great example where the prequel is actually, in my opinion, better than the original show
I don’t like the Star Wars prequels but my son grew up with them and to him Ewan McGregor is Obi Wan and Revenge of the Sith is one of his favourite films of the series. He still thinks Attack of the Clones is a lot of drek though! 😁
I agree that BCS is better than BB, at least by a smidge.
"Revenge of the Sith" is the best of the prequels, and "Attack of the Clones" is definitely dreck! My kids grew up with the prequels, and they tolerate them more than I ever did!
1) totally agree that Rogue One was a perfect example of a worthwhile prequel told within a mere 120 minutes
2) as you said, ancient real world history is fascinating so why not in fictional universes? I would love to see prequels from a hundred years or more ago
3) or indeed why not a prequel from a day ago, but focused on a side character, preferably villainous—that fits into and enriches the canon?
4) i haven’t watched the Hannibal TV series but love Mikkelson—does the show justify its existence other than to food-pornify cannibalism?
5) out of solidarity with the Northampton Mage, I’ve refused on principle to read any of the Before Watchmen cash grab—any gems there?
6) likewise haven’t watched Solo but could imagine that spawning an Indy Jones style franchise, since Han’s an iconic Everyman character—what went wrong? Speaking of which, who thinks Sebastian Stan is a dead ringer for Mark Hamill and could totally carry a midquel trilogy taking place the next day after Return of the Jedi?
7) despite what the creator Kennedy himself said, I’m gonna imagine Fury Road also as a midquel: Mad Max 2–Before Thunderdome
8) i feel the Overlook Hotel could be the setting of a prequel—or has that been done and i missed it?
9) X-Men First Class wasn’t bad—some inspired casting! I wish Lightyear had been good…
I detest the Prequel Trilogy so much, and when ENT came out I annoyed my friends so much by pointing out all the places that it contradicted all the prior series.
Have to mention Fire Walk With Me on the near anniversary of the passing of David Lynch. A worthy prequel, not wholly necessary but a distillation of the great stuff from the first 2 seasons of Twin Peaks and what we thought was the last we’d hear about that town until the magnificent third season.
My biggest complaints about prequels are: 1) when a character we know will be alive and well later in the timeline faces some mortal peril. There's no suspense if you know how things have to turn out. This applies to flashbacks during the run of a series as well, like Jupiter's Legacy on Netflix
2) When the narrative, setting, characters or plot contradict the work the prequel is based on. For instance, (spoiler alert) having robots in Prelude to Foundation. Or like the superfluity of Jedi in Rebels (which, notwithstanding this pet peeve, remains one of my favorite Star Wars shows).
As to the SW prequels, I've read that Lucas mostly began to think about what happened before the original trilogy after he finished it in the early 80s. I'd say he should have dome more thinking. A lot of it strikes me as a combination of the great man theory of history meets classical tragedy, with Anakin having enough hubris for ten Greek tragedies.
The real problem with Prequels is that the characters who were in the originals can’t die or anything because they’re in the later movies/shows. It takes a lot of the drama and danger out of the mix. At least Enterprise worked since none of the main characters were in TOS
I suppose my point is that some really good historical fiction (take the "John Adams" mini-series, or "Death by Lightning") where you know the fate of the characters. To me, it is less about knowing who lives or dies, but about the execution of the story.
And, really, even in non-prequels, the odds that any of the main cast is going to die are pretty low for most shows.
Plot armor is vastly powerful when it needs to be.
Example of what I mean: In the Han Solo prequel movie, every time Han and Chewie are put into dangerous situations, it completely destroys the tension since the OT are a thing. But there was plenty of original characters to be unalived since we didn’t hear of them
One prequel that worked was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom because we didn’t know it was a prequel (it takes place a year before Raiders)
Worst part of Enterprise: the theme song.
Best part of Enterprise: T'Pol and all we learn about the Vulcans.
One of the things I have noticed on my rewatch of especially s1 is how much I like T’Pol, as well as how often she is right and Archer is wrong. I feel like she was written to be a bit annoying, and I think I saw her that way to a degree when I first watched the show. However, now I find it more of a reason to be annoyed with Archer.
As a general matter, Jolene Blaylock deserves massive kudos for her performance, especially given the obvious goal of the show’s producers to reduce her to eye candy.
Agreed. Her performance and John Billingsley’s Phlox were my two favorite. The character I thought was the most annoying was Malcolm.
We agree! Phlox may well be the best character from the show. And Malcolm is the worst.
Mayweather is an unfortunate non-entity.
I liked Trip more on this viewing, although the George W. Bush of it all was hard to miss this time.
Hoshi was just fine--fluctuating from flirting with being interesting to likewise flirting with being background noise.
Her best moment was in the Mirror Universe ep. DISCO dropped the ball by not having Georgiou be her daughter.
Totally agree on Strange New Worlds. Yes, the second half of the latest season was poor but I think it’s one of my favourite Trek shows
Better call Saul is a great example where the prequel is actually, in my opinion, better than the original show
I don’t like the Star Wars prequels but my son grew up with them and to him Ewan McGregor is Obi Wan and Revenge of the Sith is one of his favourite films of the series. He still thinks Attack of the Clones is a lot of drek though! 😁
I agree that BCS is better than BB, at least by a smidge.
"Revenge of the Sith" is the best of the prequels, and "Attack of the Clones" is definitely dreck! My kids grew up with the prequels, and they tolerate them more than I ever did!
1) totally agree that Rogue One was a perfect example of a worthwhile prequel told within a mere 120 minutes
2) as you said, ancient real world history is fascinating so why not in fictional universes? I would love to see prequels from a hundred years or more ago
3) or indeed why not a prequel from a day ago, but focused on a side character, preferably villainous—that fits into and enriches the canon?
4) i haven’t watched the Hannibal TV series but love Mikkelson—does the show justify its existence other than to food-pornify cannibalism?
5) out of solidarity with the Northampton Mage, I’ve refused on principle to read any of the Before Watchmen cash grab—any gems there?
6) likewise haven’t watched Solo but could imagine that spawning an Indy Jones style franchise, since Han’s an iconic Everyman character—what went wrong? Speaking of which, who thinks Sebastian Stan is a dead ringer for Mark Hamill and could totally carry a midquel trilogy taking place the next day after Return of the Jedi?
7) despite what the creator Kennedy himself said, I’m gonna imagine Fury Road also as a midquel: Mad Max 2–Before Thunderdome
8) i feel the Overlook Hotel could be the setting of a prequel—or has that been done and i missed it?
9) X-Men First Class wasn’t bad—some inspired casting! I wish Lightyear had been good…
I detest the Prequel Trilogy so much, and when ENT came out I annoyed my friends so much by pointing out all the places that it contradicted all the prior series.
Have to mention Fire Walk With Me on the near anniversary of the passing of David Lynch. A worthy prequel, not wholly necessary but a distillation of the great stuff from the first 2 seasons of Twin Peaks and what we thought was the last we’d hear about that town until the magnificent third season.
My biggest complaints about prequels are: 1) when a character we know will be alive and well later in the timeline faces some mortal peril. There's no suspense if you know how things have to turn out. This applies to flashbacks during the run of a series as well, like Jupiter's Legacy on Netflix
2) When the narrative, setting, characters or plot contradict the work the prequel is based on. For instance, (spoiler alert) having robots in Prelude to Foundation. Or like the superfluity of Jedi in Rebels (which, notwithstanding this pet peeve, remains one of my favorite Star Wars shows).
As to the SW prequels, I've read that Lucas mostly began to think about what happened before the original trilogy after he finished it in the early 80s. I'd say he should have dome more thinking. A lot of it strikes me as a combination of the great man theory of history meets classical tragedy, with Anakin having enough hubris for ten Greek tragedies.
The real problem with Prequels is that the characters who were in the originals can’t die or anything because they’re in the later movies/shows. It takes a lot of the drama and danger out of the mix. At least Enterprise worked since none of the main characters were in TOS
But isn’t the same true about historical fiction or reading a biography?
Historical fiction is just like a movie or tv show. It’s made up but still applies.
It’s a much lesser degree with a biography, especially if the subject is deceased
I suppose my point is that some really good historical fiction (take the "John Adams" mini-series, or "Death by Lightning") where you know the fate of the characters. To me, it is less about knowing who lives or dies, but about the execution of the story.
And, really, even in non-prequels, the odds that any of the main cast is going to die are pretty low for most shows.
Plot armor is vastly powerful when it needs to be.
Example of what I mean: In the Han Solo prequel movie, every time Han and Chewie are put into dangerous situations, it completely destroys the tension since the OT are a thing. But there was plenty of original characters to be unalived since we didn’t hear of them
One prequel that worked was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom because we didn’t know it was a prequel (it takes place a year before Raiders)
I contend that Discovery could have been a solid sci-fi show, it was a terrible Star Trek show however.