That makes sense!

Definitely there was local control over availability. I recall shopping for gifts and seeing walls of SW toys but no Trek in Ottawa.

Even in Canada, I don’t recall that they had wide distribution. They were also marked up quite a bit from the US price (well beyond the exchange rate). I saw them mainly in specialty stores, not Toys R US and department stores.

That was a very time limited counter example, and were largely unavailable outside the US.

And it may be a really important factor in explaining the loyalty of millennial guys in the US to the franchise vs other demographics and countries.

It looks like a 1970s toy. . . Which makes sense given who their target market is.

I would take it as another sign that the franchise has aged out were it not for the fact that it’s always had awful merchandising and licensing.

And this is why Starfleet Academy ranked 1st or 2nd on Amazon Channels but “didn’t find its audience” on Paramount+.

We’re dropping Paramount+ now. Neither the GenZs in our household nor my partner nor I can find anything to watch on that streamer other than Star Trek. No new Trek means it’s easy to align our values with our choice to spend our dollars elsewhere.

Let’s be frank that it was a male-gaze titillation to sell the show much like the frequency of ripped tunics and visible muscles were intended for women viewers. Both were introduced after the ‘more cerebral’ pilot of ‘The Cage.’

In any case, mini skirts were a fashion trend that constrained women and girls as much as ‘liberated’ them — Especially, as garters and stockings rather than pantyhose were the norm at the time. Looking at TOS now, I wonder if the show had to order specially made pantyhose or ultra fine tights.

While it was good for women and girls to be out of the 1950s tight-waisted skirts with crinolines so profound that they had to increase the spacing between lab benches and cooking class units (as was explained to me when I hit junior high), mini skirts meant that women and girls were constantly monitoring their exposure.

It’s no surprise that ‘pantsuits’ became an acceptable fashion option by 1970 and pantyhose rapidly replaced stockings.

There are industrial/cargo transporter platforms as well as industrial fabricator/replicators.

Perhaps only the ones in humanoid transport pads are set with the highest level defaults?

The averaging is the difference between a replicator and the absolute precision of a transporter.

The transporter has the level of precision and memory capacity to perfectly replicate real food.

The replicator is just a close approximation. It’s controlled for food safety and nutrition but the sense of smell and taste may be able to distinguish the food from a precise duplication.

Sadness is definitely why I’m feeling too.

Roddenberry had a vision of an international show in TOS, and his creation of an ethnically French captain for TNG.

Unfortunately, the franchise owners have never appreciated that and their focus on marketing first to the US market has kept the show and the movies from the global success they should have had.

With the Ellisons in charge, the franchise is likely to be all the more focused on the US without even the double-edged (often alienating) transparent American exceptionalism that has dogged the franchise.

Nice to see representation, if belatedly, of the newer shows.

That reworking of the 1968 model has a definite TAS vibe even if it was intended to be for the original series. I might be persuaded…

Appreciate having the review.

There are a lot of games out there. We used to buy games after trying them out at gaming conventions but we only get to the local ones now.

Paramount and Warner Brothers both have large studio backlots in the LA area. One wonders whether there’ll be consolidation there.

The Mississauga CBS Stages is a relatively modest venue. The biggest SFA sets were at Pinewood Toronto and the AR wall shared with Pixemondo — which is itself being organizationally deconstructed.

Also, there are incentives being offered by other US states such as Georgia, where Disney does much of its production. Moving back to the US may not necessarily mean California.

Anyway, it’s not particularly hopeful news for the industry overall especially in Toronto and Vancouver.

So sad.

I expect that any future production, if it happens, will be in the US.

It’s interesting.

Clearly Skydance/Ellison sees the synergistic value in integrating publishing with screen media even if the Redmonds were just stripping assets.

Seems like Paramount’s doing everything they can to distance the organization from any illegal action Shell may have taken. Due diligence but a definite cutting of ties.

Paramount Skydance issued a statement Wednesday confirming that Shell was departing, saying that the executive was stepping down to “focus” on the lawsuit filed by Cipriani. The company also said its independent investigation found that Shell did not violate any securities laws.

My thought was ‘centre as compared to what’?

The Overton window has been intentionally moved over the past decade, Even before, that what might be considered ‘centre’ in the US, even ‘centre-left’ didn’t align well with other OECD countries.

Пироги are always a great choice!

I found this interesting

In what we hear was a congenial atmosphere very different from the later years of Carol Lombardini’s reign at the AMPTP, the organization and the WGA leadership started talks in mid-March. “We’ve been talking about all these issues in a very collaborative way,” a labor insider told Deadline of the tone between Executive Director and chief negotiator Ellen Stutzman and the AMPTP in the room at SAG-AFTRA HQ the past few weeks.

Compared with a couple of years ago, the industry side seems more interested in keeping things moving than pushing back on labour demands.

Definitely a YMMV situation.

Many episodes that may be described as ‘filler’ are ones that have side adventures or character development. Farscape isn’t rigidly serialized. Just because it’s not moving the main plot narrative doesn’t mean it’s filler.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is very much more realistic in tone than the movies that take place later in the continuity, including the two you’ve seen.

It takes place before the earlier movie Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019).

It might be worth checking out even if kaiju aren’t usually your thing.