in which there is free Paramount+

[phosfate]

Long story short: Bought large/heavy stuff, Uber from the grocery was $45 (there was a concert), sent for Lyft that never arrived but by then Uber was back to $10, but got a free trial of Paramount+ out of it.

I finally remembered I had it last night and started watching Star Trek: Lower Decks. I like it very much, though so far it's not as good as the comic, but the comic's written by Ryan North so it's a high bar. The opening credit sequence is charming and the design is excellent. The Cerritos has that real-place feeling that is hard to get in TV animation, and is the reason they spent big bucks planning New New York for Futurama.

It's the version of Paramount+ with ads, and JESUS H. CHRIST DO I EVER HATE ADS. It's a half-hour show and there are 3-4 ad breaks per episode.

Also, if you don't care for Star Trek, there is very little to watch on Paramount+. If you do like Star Trek, your money is better spent on discs.

Comments

[conuly]

There's other things to watch on Paramount Plus that are worth watching, but omg you're right that Star Trek is the main draw and that discs or pirating may be smarter. If nothing else, discs don't stop working when you hit a commercial break.

[phosfate]

Yeah, we're having a lot of arguments about whether the app will actually play at all.

[wolfy_writing]

I should check out the Lower Decks comic. I was never heavily into Star Trek, but I enjoy some of it. And Ryan North is reliably good.

[phosfate]

I jumped in without knowing a thing about the show and did fine. It's also on sale on Kindle a lot.

[torachan]

I love Lower Decks so much. I've never been into Star Trek much, so I know I'm missing a lot of the references but it's still so much fun even without that background.

[phosfate]

They've got nearly 60 years of lore to play with, so it's the comedic equivalent of a well-lit apartment with solid oak floors. You can hold a circus in there if the clowns don't trip on the stairway.

[crantz]

If you're terminal about CSI(s), Paramount has a SECOND delicious offering.

Lower Decks sure is fun!

[phosfate]

I would very much like to revisit the first few seasons of OG CSI.

[crantz]

I wasn't sure what emotion I experienced when they caught a guy with a victim in his backroom and he went into fight or flight and ALL THAT HAPPENED was Brass lifted his arm to block him and the guy stopped. There wasn't even a massive shootout or anything! No explosions!

My emotions were powerful.

Mac Taylor couldn't even come across a guy digging up old graves for some funeral plot fraud without shooting some dude to death.

[nonelvis]

I loved Lower Decks except for most of the final season, which felt kind of meh to me, although the actual finale wrapped things up well.

Occasionally the spouse and I get a yen for an old Mission: Impossible episode, and that's on P+, too. But in general, I'm only there for the Trek.

[phosfate]

I should try M:I, I haven't seen it since I was in single digits, when I would put it on for the jazz score and color or whatever.

[chalcedony]

Yeah, I'm just there for the Trek also, although in my case it's Strange New Worlds. I also want to watch Section 31. If it's as bad as everyone says, I'll probably love it. ;)

[phosfate]

I mean Michelle Yeoh, come ON!

[ashenmote]

Oh yes, so much better on a disc and without ads! IN U.S. series there's often this spot when there is clearly a break intended (for the extra long ad block or something) and lower decks has that too! And every time things go dark and kind of freeze for the break and then just come back immediately I'm so happy I was spared!

Maybe I should nag the library into aquiring the comics.

[phosfate]

We have a free with ads streaming service, Pluto or Tubi (I have trouble telling this stuff apart, they all kind of look the same) that streams super old series, so I was watching Tenspeed and Brown Shoe and Greatest American Hero from the 80s. They're both set up to have that classic teaser/act 1/act 2/act 3/act 4/tag structure with ad breaks in between, with light cliffhangers/dramatic moments at the end of each act, fade to black. Which is fine, it's a solid story structure when you do it right. But whoever puts the ads in the shows doesn't do it to fit the act breaks, so it's annoying and often hilarious.

Yes! Bug the library!