I dunno, I’ve never heard of it.

Not canon, but

Basically, the AR wall is a giant LED screen that they can use to display a background of some sort as opposed to having the actors acting against a green screen. It allows them to create some interesting locations for stories without without having to build a full set or find an appropriate location.

SNW even uses it for their main engineering aboard the Enterprise, though that’s why we didn’t see main engineering at all in season three; it apparently takes too long to set up and break down in front of the AR wall.

The technology is becoming increasingly common, and some of them do use generative AI. However, the one the Star Trek productions use does not.

I remain skeptical. Unnamed sources claiming it was someone on the art department who hand drew it is not entirely convincing. I’d like to see the layers. Or, failing that, an explanation for why the characters are so inconsistent and indistinguishable from one panel to the next. Why the shadows don’t make any sense. Why the hands when we see them don’t make sense.

Also, the article claims the AR wall is using machine learning, and I’d like to see a source on that. My understanding, based on what the VFX supervisor for Disco, PIC, SNW, and SFA has said is that their AR walls do not integrate machine learning.

The PIC s3 writer’s room.

Not to belabour the issue, but it seems like Tatosky might not be entirely convinced that those panels are not LLM generated.

I follow Brian Tatosky on mastodon as well, and he says, “as far as I know” it was drawn and coloured by the art department. That is not a confirmation one way or the other.

But I went through and screenshot every image that was on screen of the comic pages. I would believe the art department mocked up the cover, but you cannot convince me the interior pages shown weren’t shat out of an LLM.

I am a lot more annoyed at an official Trek production using AI slop comic book art that I probably should be.

That aside, this episode didn’t do much for me. I like SFA when it’s about Academy cadets doing school stuff. I really could not care less about Captain Ake’s tragic backstory, or Nus Braka.

I later learned she was also supposed to be Cardassisn, which I totally missed as well.

I found that Cardassian prosthetic they used to be pretty distracting. I’m guessing it must have been one of those full face deals based on how Tawny Newsome’s features were flattened out and broadened, giving her an almost uncanny valley situation. Pretty sure the Cardassian prosthetic in the 90’s shows were more appliques glued in place, and then make-up was applied on top. Also, the fact that Illa wasn’t grey like every other Cardassian we’ve seen really bumped me. It wasn’t until the reveal that she’s also part Trill that the skin tone, and less obvious ridges stopped being annoying. I still don’t think it was a great prosthetic.

Jeepers! Thanks for catching that

Damn, I’ve been enjoying the series more than I ever expected to, but this episode really got me.

868858.7 - that puts it pretty definitively after DSC season 5

Was that in question Reno being an instructor would seem proof enough that it was after her time on Discovery.

You’re going to need to back those claims up with some actual evidence beyond whiney youtube conspiracy nonsense

You do understand the differences between modern television making and 25 years ago, correct?

If modern era Trek was really so unsustainable, would they be going into their ninth year of it?

What is your evidence that Trek is doomed?

Also, if you don’t like the shows currently being produced, is it really that sad?

I’m going to be straight up honest and say that it’s been long enough since I watched the episode that I forgot McCoy’s revelations at the end of the episode. The part that stands out to me in that scene is Spock mind melding Kirk so he forgets he fell in love with a robot.

It certainly does throw a wrinkle into my theory.

It is wild to see the entitlement of some segments of the fanbase. These people would shit and piss their pants if they were comic book fans.

Man, it must be exhausting being actively tedious about a television show that isn’t even being made any more.

While I personally have no interest in watching a youtube show for three year olds, as a new uncle, I hope the show will be a good entry point into the franchise for my niblings once they’re old enough to get something out of it.

As for a cooking show, don’t threaten me with a good time. Let’s see Latinum Chef Romulus’ reaction when the challenge ingredient is leola root.