There was no explaining who anyone was or anything; it was just like...and here we are on a ship with these characters, welcome to the show, already in progress.

No mollycoddling in those days, we were expected to hop on the story train and hang on and be happy about it, damn it. None of this psychological underpinnings and trauma in his youth or tragic background story. You had a bunch of guys in the space navy and what happens to them. And we liked it!

Wait, really?? I always assumed it was very continuity-heavy.

US TV, apart from soaps, was not really big with continuity. That's why there used to be a thing called mini-series. I think Hill Street Blues is often mentioned as the show that broke that trend. Well, and Soap. I mean MASH lasted longer than the war it was about AND had an episode that covered an entire year.

Raq, nope, not me. My 2-disc Criterion copy is now out-of-date.

US TV, apart from soaps, was not really big with continuity.

It's entirely possible that I've missed a step here, but The Prisoner wasn't an American production.

But on the larger point, it really depends on what you mean by continuity. I shall quote Lawrence Miles, because he's my new soulmate:

To most viewers, continuity is a light breeze which blows throughout all TV drama, quietly ensuring that the carnation in Mr Popplewick's buttonhole doesn't move from the right side of his waistcoast to the left side between shots. Yet in the sci-fi philosophy, Continuity is a vengeful and malevolent god, who demands that the Seven Laws of the Mangooskan Federation [established in episode 1.12] must be strictly upheld throughout the rest of the series [even in episode 3.05, which is technically set in a parallel universe, but one where the Treaty of Mangooska 6 is still in effect].

Continuity is not the same as pedantry. She said, pedantically.

It's entirely possible that I've missed a step here, but The Prisoner wasn't an American production

Whoops, I think I meant English-language TV, but it was late. I don't really know enough to comment on non-English-language TV. And the Mangooskans are assholes.

No mollycoddling in those days, we were expected to hop on the story train and hang on and be happy about it, damn it. None of this psychological underpinnings and trauma in his youth or tragic background story. You had a bunch of guys in the space navy and what happens to them. And we liked it!

This is awesomely true.

Continuity...the actual paying attention to things, or lack there of...makes me sad sometimes. I know there are a million details to be watched over but, come on. I point to the cigarette and scotch glass in the Oscar Winning, Scent of a Woman. What? Nobody watched the dailies and said,"While that may have been the very best gutteral twaddle ever to come out of Al Pacino's mouth, you know, that scene needs to be reshot."

Last night I watched an episode of ReGenesis where a white flag magically moved from one side to the other of a moving jeep. What would have been hard about keeping THAT straight?

I just watched La Jetée. I, uh, prefer 12 Monkeys. A guy narrating over a slideshow just doesn't do it for me. As is usually the case, I prefer the inspired products to the inspirations themselves.

As is usually the case, I prefer the inspired products to the inspirations themselves.

You are a sucker for the simulacra.

Saw Star Trek. Was underwhelmed. It was enjoyable enough, but I don't get the big love for it. My main annoyance was the absolute lack of women with any agency or any real meaningful contribution to the plot. Let's recap: Spock's mother (a laughably Linda Lavin-esque Winona Ryder) had to be saved but wasn't, Uhura was there primarily as Spock's girlfriend, and Jim's mother was absent for the entire film. Were there even any other female characters in the movie? I think they could have learned from BSG and perhaps cast a woman in one of the primary, formerly male, roles. Let's bring it into the 21st century, dudes.

I thought Quinto was great and I enjoyed Urban, too. I really disliked Scotty, Chekov, and Kirk.

I get your complaint, GC, but I thought Uhuru had more to do than that. It was her translation of the Romulan that validated Kirk and gave him credibility with Pike. Also, even though she wasn't running around and kicking ass, they did show her to be highly successful and competent at what she does, and was clearly one of the stars of the Academy.

I don't think JJ Abrams has a problem with strong women characters, so I think he did a good job of deepening her character and giving her some centrality. He had a lot on his plate with bringing all the characters together credibly, so I was willing to give it a pass and hope he brings more women forward to play key roles on the ship in the next movie. Plus agency.

He could've had Chekov as a woman, but again, you're not having that character running shooting and fighting. And I want Sulu to be canonically gay on this show, so I'm glad he was a guy.

One of the interesting things to me about the movie was how they played Kirk's character for laughs so much. The physical comedy around getting him on the ship was pretty broad (but pretty funny too).