Bebas Bersama Netflix This Merdeka with The Dark Crystal Age of Resistance and more

It's another LONG weekend in Malaysia, where this year is providing us Malaysians opportunities aplenty to escape from work and relax. For those not travelling on holiday, there is ample opportunity to binge watch the many TV shows, movies and other entertainment available on Netflix.

For geeky enthusiasts like ourselves, Netflix has just released The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance as a 10-episode series. Yes, this is the same world of The Dark Crystal way back in 1982 of Jim Henson's puppets. However, the Netflix series is a prequel to the original movie. Here's the synopsis:

Return to the world of Thra, where three Gelfling discover the horrifying secret behind the Skeksis' power, and set out to ignite the fires of rebellion and save their world.

This new series remains due to puppet artistry with intricate sets enhances by modern CGI VFX. It also boasts a great voice cast of famous geek fandom celebrities comprising Sigourney Weaver as The Myth Speaker, Nathalie Emmanuel (Game of Thrones) as Deet, Taron Egerton (Kingsman) as Rian, Anya Taylor-Joy (Split, Glass) and Brea, Jason Isaacs (Star Trek Discovery) as Emperor of the Skeksis, Simon Peg (Star Trek), Mark Hamill (Star Wars), Benedict Wong (Marvel's Doctor Strange), Awkwafina (Crazy Rich Asians), Alicia Vikander (Tomb Raider), Helena Bonham Carter, Mark Strong and more.

Gelfling Deet voiced by Nathelie Emmanuel (Missandie from Game of Thrones).
Photo source Netflix

Scary Skeksis receive famous voices the likes of Mark Hamill, Simon Peg, Jason Isaacs.

Read in-depth reviews of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance here by CNET and VOX.

Like a bonus of Netflix users, the original cult classic The Dark Crystal is also available for streaming. Those new to the world of Thra may wish to take opportunity to binge watch in the 10 episodes prequel series before viewing the original movie for a chronological experience, much like younger Star Wars fans today may watch the movies in sequence from Episode I to VIII.

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The following feature is provided by Netflix as a guide to its features that support binge watching:

Tanggal tiga-puluh-satu, bulan lapan lima-puluh-tujuh. If you read that with the late Sudirman Arshad’s ‘Tanggal 31’ tune in your head, it’s one of those things that make you truly Malaysian. That’s right - Merdeka!, Merdeka!, Merdeka!

This year, Malaysia celebrates its 62nd year of freedom, marking the anniversary of the day the Federation of Malaya gained independence from the British rule  on the 31st of  August 1957. Cue the display of fireworks and the flag-waving patriotism while we spectate the grand parade along the iconic Dataran Merdeka. Every year, this is how we pay homage to our founding fathers, Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun V.T. Sambanthan, Tun Tan Cheng Lock and many more Malaysians who fought tooth and nail to ensure that we had the freedom to be our own democratic nation.

Fast forward to 2019, Malaysians are enjoying a different kind of freedom, now with the  seamless convenience of connectivity and the power of choice in a click of a few buttons. And Netflix offers just that. The freedom to choose from more than 140 million hours of TV shows and movies, and watch as much as you want, anytime, anywhere, on nearly any Internet-connected device. The best part is that you also have the freedom to play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments. Heck, you can even make choices for the characters of  Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and choose how the story unfolds.

Additionally, there are other ways to #BebasBersamaNetflix:

1. Freedom to watch anything, anywhere, anytime, regardless of connection speed

We Malaysians want to watch our favourite shows uninterrupted, whether on the plane or in environments with intermittent bandwidth. Boy, do we know the pain of varying internet conditions and bandwidth limitations that have resulted in a less than satisfactory experience - buffering problems, intermittent outages and high data usage (and with it, costs) that often leaves us frustrated.

With Netflix, you can get an enhanced viewing experience with the Smart Downloads feature that allows you the flexibility to stream or download shows to watch offline without consuming too much data or memory, making it possible for you consume content on-the-go. Giving members more control over their entertainment experience is at the heart of everything we do and members can choose when they want to use Smart Downloads.

• Save your data plan. The Smart Downloads feature only turns on when you're connected to Wi-Fi, so your data plan will never be used.
• Save space. When you finish watching a downloaded episode, Smart Downloads will delete it, then automatically download the next episode in the series. If you would rather keep watched episodes on your device, you will need to turn off Smart Downloads so you can manually manage your downloaded content.

Smart Downloads is available on devices supporting downloads installed with the latest version of the Netflix app for Android mobile devices, iOS mobile devices, Amazon Fire tablets, and computers and tablets running Windows 10.

2. Freedom to protect your loved ones

Parental controls are essential in ensuring the safety of your children online as parents are able to limit or restrict access to specific content that is deemed inappropriate. To ensure a safe viewing experience for the whole family, Netflix has a series of features and controls that can be accessed via the website on any desktop that help parents adjust and personalise the selection of content that can be accessed.

• Kids Profiles. Profiles allow different members of your household to have their own personalized Netflix experience, built around the TV shows and movies they enjoy. You can have up to five individual profiles within a single Netflix account.
• Choose Your Categories. There are four maturity levels for parents to choose from. Depending on the maturity level selected, you can access and view content that is appropriate for each of those levels from For little children only to All maturity levels.
• Set Up Your PIN. Set up a 4-digit PIN that will allow you to restrict particular content that you deem unfit for your children. This applies across all the profiles, deterring kids from circumventing it by switching to your account.
• Monitor Viewing Activity. To offer you a peace of mind, Netflix allows you to access the Viewing Activity via your Account area. Go to your Account and scroll down to My Profile and select Viewing Activity.

3. Freedom to embrace your Malaysian pride

Netflix is constantly looking to curate new stories and find new voices in the unlikeliest of places whilst giving creative partners the freedom and opportunity to tell their stories the way they want to and find new audiences they’d never have had access to previously. In Malaysia, Netflix continues to expand its offerings of Malaysian content, allowing local stories to travel to more people than ever before.

New additions include Till Death: Azalea’s Wrath, written, directed and produced by local filmmaker, Sein Qudsi, is the first Malaysian movie that is exclusively available on Netflix. Featuring Khir Rahman, Vanidah Imran Nam Ron, Kodi Rasheed, Zain Hamid and Zulaika Zahari, the film is about a couple who just lost their baby due to complications during childbirth, and they move to a new house to start fresh. Little do they know, the house carries a dark secret and their journey of hardships have only just begun.

In celebration of Merdeka and National Day, Netflix is showcasing Bebas Bersama Netflix with its diverse offering of Malaysian content for viewers around the world, including some of the best Malaysian Box Office Hits including Munafik 2, Hantu Kak Limah, and Paskal: The Movie, Pulang, Jagat, and the multiple award winning Crossroads: One Two Jaga. Watch now at netflix.com/bebasbersamanetflix

4. Freedom to choose your preferred language

Our nation is a melting pot of cultures, customs and languages and so is Netflix with its constantly growing library of content that comes in a vast variety of languages and diverse stories from content creators across the globe. Netflix’s international movies and series, including Money Heist from Spain, Sacred Games from India and Paskal: The Movie from Malaysia have managed to gain fans beyond their home base, proving that great storytelling can be appreciated by people all over the world regardless of what language you speak or where you are from.

Netflix believes that great content and the consumer experience shouldn’t be sacrificed with bad subtitles or dubbing. With this comes constant innovation to ensure that these international stories are conveyed in a way that stays true to the creative intent, optimising the viewing experience for you no matter what language you are watching in.

The service currently offers subtitles and dubbing in more than 20 languages around the world, including Turkish, Mandarin, French, Italian, German, Polish, Japanese and Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia.

5. Freedom to choose your own narrative

Netflix offers an array of original series, movies, documentaries, stand up comedies and kids TV shows in addition to a broad variety of licensed programs. This year, Netflix pushed the boundaries of storytelling by adding an interactive element where you decide what the characters do and how the story plays out. This way, each choice leads to a different adventure, so you can watch again and again, and see a new story each time.

There are currently several original interactive titles, with more in the pipeline:

• Puss in Book: Trapped in an Epic Tale Puss in Boots has fallen into a magic book ruled by a sneaky storyteller. Only you can help our hero find his way in this interactive story!
• Buddy Thunderstruck: The Maybe Pile They’ve got a bag full of dumb ideas, and you’re the one who gets to tell them which silly stunt to try next.
• Stretch Armstrong: The Breakout Villains are rampaging through Charter City and Flex Fighters -- Jake, Ricardo and Nathan -- need your help to halt the chaos.
• Minecraft: Story Mode Take control of an adventure set in the Minecraft universe. The future of the world is at stake, and your decisions shape the story -- so choose wisely!
• Black Mirror: Bandersnatch In 1984, a young programmer begins to question reality as he adapts a dark fantasy novel into a video game. A mind-bending tale with multiple endings.
• You vs Wild You vs. Wild is a survival show starring and following Bear Grylls in every episode on a survival show taking place in various remote locations around the world, and with a key feature of a branching narrative with multiple choices within the episode, where a user may direct the course of the story.

#BebasBersamaNetflix now at netflix.com/bebasbersamanetflix. 

Follow what's coming up on Netflix from Facebook and YouTube.

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P.S. from Outpost:

Did you know Netflix's big-budget historical epic Marco Polo was filmed in Malaysia at Pinewood Studios, Iskandar Johor? It ran for 2 seasons from 2014 to 2016 starring Lorenzo Richelmy as the namesake Marco Polo, Benedict Wong as Kublai Khan, Joan Chen as Empress Chabi and Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh as Lotus (in full martial arts glory). You may also spot a few Malaysia actors appearing like Patrick Teoh.

Mistress of Martial Arts Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh as Lotus in Netflix's Marco Polo Season 2.

Here's the Season 2 trailer and featurette:

Binge watch all 20 episodes this Merdeka on Netflix and marvel at this "Buatan Malaysia" production.

This article written for purpose of fan engagement without intent to infringe trademarks and copyright of their respective owners.

Star Trek Captain Philippa Georgiou Malaysian connection

Michelle Yeoh on the cover of Entertainment Weekly magazine as Captain Philippa Georgiou.

When the latest incarnation of Star Trek launched last September, Star Trek Discovery certainly sent where no Malaysian has gone before. That being Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh stepping onto a Federation starship as Captain Philippa Georgiou. More politely addressed as Tan Sri Dato' Seri Michelle Yeoh within Malaysia by her honorific titles received by royalty, she is widely known internationally for her prowess in martial arts action movies such as Hong Kong's Police Story 3 (1992) starring alongside Jackie Chan, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) with Chun Yun Fat. She has also been a Bond Girl in 1997's Tomorrow Never Dies and other western film productions like Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), The Mummy Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) and Luc Besson's biopic The Lady (2011) as  Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Prior to Star Trek, Michelle Yeoh's geek pop culture contributions include Babylon A.D. (2008) with Vin Diesel and more recently a surprise cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017).

Interview of Michelle Yeoh on her role as Captain Georgiou.

Michelle Yeoh's stint on Star Trek Discovery began in the pilot episode "The Vulcan Hello" as Captain of the USS Shenzhou in the year 2256, approximately 10 years before Star Trek The Original Series (TOS). As Philippa Georgiou, she is a highly decorated Starfleet officer and mentor for the last 7 years to Lt. Commander Michael Burnham, the new series lead character as portrayed by Sonequa Martin-Green of The Walking Dead fame. Although human, Burnham was raised on Vulcan under tutelage of Ambassador Sarek, father of the infamous Mr Spock. The relationship between Georgiou and Burnham on the Shenzhou is much like surrogate mother to daughter with the Captain nurturing the younger officer's humanity from Vulcan stoicism and instilling Federation ideals.

On the bridge of the USS Shenzhou (left to right): Saru (Doug Jones), Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and Phillipa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh).

Michelle Yeoh has infused her character with cultural elements outside the typical American mold of television. Most notably of which she does not speak English with an American accent as would have most principal cast of US productions. Whilst most Malaysian and Asian viewers are quite used to her accent and tone inflections, indeed it is uncommon for American viewers to hear foreign accents outside stereotypical racial roles. Hence it became a statement on Star Trek progressiveness in television for its equality and inclusiveness, a theme that has resounded since TOS first aired over 50 years ago with a racially diverse principal cast. Read more about netizens initial reaction of her accent on Netshark.com; side observation on our part that some Americans have difficulty understanding English spoken outside their native accents.

A Wayang Kulit puppet seen on Captain Georgiou's ready room.

The producers of Star Trek Discovery have subtly included cultural references of Georgiou's Asian heritage. Although us Malaysians here have probably yet to encounter anyone local with such a surname, perhaps that will change in another 200 years. Months ago, screenshots of Captain Georgiou's ready room / office on the starship Shenzhou highlighted a Wayang Kulit puppet in the background (see picture above). Wayang Kulit is a traditional puppet shadow-play originating from southeast asia. Whilst widely known by Malaysians, the traditional performance is now a diminishing art form amongst younger generations. Find out more about how the artists at Fusion Wayang Kulit (FWK) are infusing modern pop culture into this traditional art to revive interest for the current generation.

In the latest Star Trek Discovery episode and season one finale "Will You Take My Hand?", Michael Burnham asks Philippa Georgiou of her homeland. In reply Captain Georgiou replies that he grew up in Malaysia.

Upon further probing by Burnham, she more specifically pinpoints Pulau Langkawi, translated to English as Langkawi island. In response Burnham mentions of "beautiful beaches".

In what would likely be seen as a few throwaway lines elsewhere in the world, these mentions of Malaysia and Langkawi has certainly gotten Malaysians buzzing on social media. Considering that western entertainment media typically references locations that more widely known to American audiences, e.g. New York, San Francisco, London, etc., hearing not just one but two references associated to our country in an established sci-fi franchises like Star Trek clearly resounded in many Malaysians. Here are some reactions to our Instagram photo posted yesterday and shared to Facebook:

Response by Malaysian Trekkies on Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia.

We have no inkling on whether dear Tan Sri Yeoh influenced selection of Pulau Langkawi entering Star Trek canon, although Georgiou's association with Malaysia had been unofficially hinted some time ago on Trek chatter. Since Michelle Yeoh's actual hometown is Ipoh, perhaps Langkawi simply served better as an exotic sounding name that had more syllables. Indeed it could have been spoken as "Langkawi island" instead of "Pulau Langkawi", noting that most of Star Trek's audience do not speak the Malay language and therefore would not read "pulau" as "island". Nevertheless with Burnham's mention of "beautiful beaches" it does help serve as somewhat of a tourism plug for Langkawi.

For our readers elsewhere in the world, Malaysia is a tropical country in southeast asia just north of the equator. West Malaysia comprises a peninsula stretching between Thailand and Singapore, whilst East Malaysia spans along the northern shores of Borneo island. Total land area of Malaysia is 330,803 sqkm, roughly 13% smaller than Japan.

Langkawi is an island just off the northwest coast of peninsula Malaysia bordering Thailand. It measures 478 sqkm, approximately two-thirds the size of Singapore. As an island resort, Langkawi does offer "beautiful beaches" associated with island attractions and geoforest parks. Direct access to the island by air is provided via an international airport, and good for travel most times of the year from sunny tropical weather. Discover more about Langkawi from the official tourism website.

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These are not actually the first time Malaysia has been mentioned in Star Trek, but the third. The first was way back in year 2000 in the seventh season of Star Trek Voyager on an episode titled "Inside Man". As a member of Project Pathfinder, Lieutenant Reginald Barclay (a recurring Starfleet character played by Dwight Schultz) was experiencing transmission problems sending his hologram to the USS Voyager stranded in the Delta Quadrant. His apparent obsessive paranoid soon annoys his supervising officer who then tell Reg to take a leave of absence and offered use of his cousin's beach house in Malaysia during that time off. It seems even 18 years ago Malaysia was somewhat associated to "beautiful beaches", which is most certainly true in the current 21st century.

Reginald Barclay (right) offered to take a vacation on the beach in Malaysia during Voyager's episode "Inside Man".

 The next mention of Malaysia came two years later in Star Trek Enterprise during the middle of the series first season in the episode titled "Silent Enemy". In this instance, Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula of "Quantum Leap" fame) had requested Ensign Hoshi Sato (Linda Park) to track down the parents of his tactical officer Malcolm Reed (Dominic Keating). After locating them, Hoshi inform Archer that Reed's parents are located in Kota Baharu, Malaysia. Again for those not familiar with Malaysia, Kota Bahru (correctly spelt) is capital city for the northeastern state of Kelantan in West Malaysia. In today's day and age, this city of 300,000 people does not come to mind as a first choice for western expatriates to make home; Reed's parents seem to hail from England. Perhaps in 150 years later (of which Star Trek Enterprise takes place), Malaysia's My Second Home (MM2H) Programme has effectively attracted nationals from all over the world for long-term residence / retirement in our outlying cities and "beautiful beaches".

Ensign Hoshi Sato (Linda Park) informs Captain Archer (Scott Bakula) on the whereabouts of a colleague's parents in the Star Trek Enterprise episode "Silent Enemy".

Find all the references of Malaysia in Star Trek at Memory Alpha powered by Wikia.


START SPOILERS, beware reading further if you have yet to watch any episodes of Star Trek Discovery.

Avid followers of the series would be well aware that the Philippa Georgiou in this final episode is not the same version of the person starting the series. The original Captain Georgiou (also played by Michelle Yeoh) was killed by Klingons at the end of the series pilot in episode two "Battle at the Binary Stars". Michael Burnham bears the guilt of being unable to save her Captain or bring back her body (which was subsequently eaten; gross!).

Philippa Georgiou & Michael Burnham face off against Klingons in Episode 2 "Battle at the Binary Stars".

In true scifi fashion, Philippa Georgiou returns to Burnham and the Discovery, albeit another version from the Mirror Universe. This Georgiou is far from the compassionate nurturing mother-figure of the Prime Universe, but a ruthless dictator of the Terran Empire. Burnham saves the Terran Georgiou from certain death and brings her over to the Prime Universe. Through desperation on the losing side of the war with Klingons, Terran Georgiou in this final episode "Will You Take My Hand?" is appointed by Starfleet Command to take guise as the Prime Universe Georgiou to Captain the Discovery on a critical mission to end the war.

Here's the actual scene from the Episode "Will You Take My Hand?".

So in this context, viewers know that Burnham is testing Terran Georgiou on her guise as Prime Georgiou in front of the bridge crew. Therefore it could be said that Georgiou's replies may reflect the Terran counterpart instead of the Prime version. However, Burnham did not openly challenge her replies so it could be surmised both Malaysia and Langkawi may be consistent to the origins of the Prime Georgiou. And surely such background information should be readily available from Starfleet service records that Terran Georgiou would have studied prior to her assuming guise of Prime Georgiou.

Terran Georgiou posing as the Prime Georgiou on covert mission in the season finale.

As the episode plays out, we can be somewhat relieved that this Georgiou survives the season, albeit departing from the crew of the USS Discovery. It certainly leaves ample room for callback of Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh to reprise Georgiou in later seasons of Star Trek Discovery. And we will wait and see whether more Federation idealism rubs into Terran Georgiou steering her towards who was the Prime Georgiou. Though it was a fun ride watching the "evil" side of Michelle Yeoh as the Terrain Emperor since we are more used to seeing her in heroic character roles.

END SPOILERS

Another series on Netflix featuring Michelle Yeoh is Marco Polo. She portrays a martial arts warrior named Lotus in Season 2. This mega-budget series inspired from Marco Polo's journey in China during the rule of Kublai Khan was actually filmed in Malaysia at Pinewood Studios, Iskandar Johor. The production value is very impressive.

Whilst Philippa Georgiou's martial arts prowess was somewhat limited in Star Trek Discovery (why use swords when phasers are available), classic Michelle Yeoh kung fu action is part of Marco Polo:

For more out-of-this-world fantastical martial arts, watch the official sequel to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon also available on Netflix titled Sword of Destiny. It also stars Donnie Yen and directed by Wo-Ping Yuen. Unlike the first movie, Sword of Destiny is in English as a Netflix Original Film.

Back to Star Trek, check out our resident Vulcan Mr Smock and Malaysian Trekkies Mr Enginer and Mr Thomas reviewing the finale episode and this first season of Star Trek Discovery:

Watch this video till the end as Smock will explain how to win a Netflix tote bag and complimentary subscription thanks to the nice people at Netflix. Help share this blog post as well and follow to get our latest posts as soon as they are transmitted.

Netflix goodies to giveaway. Watch our video review to find out how.

The entire first season of Star Trek Discovery is now streaming on Netflix and available to binge-watch at your leisure. Netflix also offers the entire Star Trek saga comprising over 700 episodes including the above-mentioned ones with references of Malaysia. Read out previous blog post that revealed the most popular Star Trek episodes watched by Netflix viewers. Also check out our rundown of Star Trek Discovery back when the series was just launched.

To connect with Malaysian Star Trek Fans, join the Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia.

LIVE LONG & PROSPER #LLAP

Disclaimer: Star Trek and other trademarks are copyright to CBS and/or Paramount, referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe. 

Star Trek Discovery launches a new vision for the franchise that is familiar yet different

Star Trek has been a huge impact to the scifi geek community worldwide. The franchise has spawned 5 television series, 13 movies and 1 animated series. Star Trek started out as a television series in 1966 for 3 seasons before being revived as a movie in 1979, thanks in no small part to the blockbuster success of Star Wars. More movies then followed together with multiple TV spin-offs: The Next Generation (TNG), Deep Space Nine (DS9), Voyager, Enterprise. The last series Enterprise ended in 2005, leaving fans devoid of Star Trek on TV for over a decade... until NOW. Star Trek fans, or Trekkies, of all generations can join on adventures where no one has gone before with the release of Star Trek Discovery early this week!

Star Trek: Discovery is co-created by Bryan Fuller (Star Trek DS9 & Voyager) and Alex Kurtzman (Star Trek 2009 reboot & Into Darkness, Transformers) for CBS, a US media corporation currently custodian of the Star Trek franchise. The series lead goes to Sonequa Martin-Green (The Walking Dead) as Starfleet Commander Michael Burnham. The support cast includes Doug Jones (Hellboy) as Lt. Saru, Michelle Yeoh (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) as Captain Phillipa Georgiou, James Frain (The Lone Ranger) as Vulcan Ambassador Sarek, Shazad Latif (Spooks) as Lt. Ash Tyler, Anthony Rapp (A Beautiful Mind) as Lt. Paul Stamets, Jason Issacs (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) as Captain Gabriel Lorca, Mary Wiseman (Baskets) as Cadet Sylvia Tilly and Chris Obi (American Gods) as Klingon leader T'Kuvma. Since the departure of Bryan Fuller in November last year, Executive Producers Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts currently serve as showrunners for the series, i.e. the ones with overall creative authority and management authority, or figuratively the joint-Captains of Star Trek Discovery.

Behind-the-scenes featurette.

This new series is yet another prequel ("can we not finally move forward in the timeline?" - editor's rant) that takes place 10 years before Kirk and Spock begin their missions in The Original Series. It is is not affected by the reboot films (Star Trek, Into Darkness, Beyond) which have since been classified as the Kelvin timeline. Therefore taking place in the Prime timeline, the adventures of Discovery occur in the time-span between Enterprise concluding in the year 2161 and The Original Series commencing in 2266; let's not get into stardate namenclature, it's just confusing!

Sonequa Martin-Green as Commander Michael Burnham (centre), Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh as Captain Philippa Georgiou (right) and Doug Jones as Lt. Saru on the bridge of the USS Shenzhou.

The main protagonist Michael Burnham is a human black woman raised on Vulcan as a ward of Ambassador Sarek; yes Spock's father. Michael (show creator Bryan Fuller likes assigning female characters male names) has since joined Starfleet at the urging of her adoptive father and progressed to the position of First Officer of U.S.S. Shenzhou, serving under Captain Phillipa Georgiou for the last 7 years. So begins the pilot episode of the series "The Vulcan Hello".

The opening title sequence of Star Trek Discovery is departure from the typical starship flybys of preceding series (Enterprise excepted).

Introducing the Starfleet crew circa 2256:

Senoque Martin Green as Commander Michael Burnham, First Officer of the U.S.S. Shenzhou.

As a result of her Vulcan upbringing, she maintains an air of cool logic with emotions held in check yet not totally suppressing them unlike true Vulcans. Burnham is a Xenoanthropologist and inherently a first contact specialist.

Malaysia's Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh as Captain Phillipa Georgiou of the U.S.S. Shenzhou.

She is a veteran of war and Michael Burnham's Starfleet mentor.

TV trivia: Most US TV productions task their cast to speak English in American accents. As a departure from this norm, Michelle Yeoh as Captain Georgiou retained her polished Chinese-Malaysian accent as a statement on global diversity in the hopeful future. Read more into this from an article on SyFy. Whilst here in Malaysia we are much accustomed to this as her normal accent, Americans may be just tempted to flick on the English subs to catch every word!

"Easter Egg" found! Captain Georgiou keeps a piece of asian culture in here ready room / office. Can you spot it? Read more about this at TheHypedGeek.com. 

Doug Jones as Lt. Saru, Science Officer on the Shenzhou.

Saru is a Kelpian, an alien species that has the ability to sense threats including rather pessimistic premonitions of death.

Jason Isaacs as Captain Gabriel Lorca of the U.S.S. Discovery.

A brilliant tactician with a decisive charisma but he hides some secrets.

Anthony Rapp as Lt. Paul Stamets on the Discovery.

An Astromycologist by training means Stamets specializes in space fungus ("seriously how useful is that going to be?" - editor's rant)

Shazad Latiff as Lt. Ash Tyler, Security Officer of the U.S.S. Discovery.

Mary Wiseman as Cadet Sylvia Tilly.

A final year cadet of the Starfleet Academy working in Engineering of the Discovery.

Listen directly from the Starfleet crew themselves as they introduce the mission of Star Trek Discovery.

James Frain is Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan.

Father to the soon to be infamous half-Vulcan Mr. Spock, and adoptive father to Michael Burnham.

In every incarnation of Star Trek, the lead starship (or space station in case of DS9) is every bit a character by itself. The starship brings our Starfleet heroes to adventures where no one has gone before and often times is an adventure itself.

U.S.S. Discovery NCC-1031.

The lead starship of the namesake series is captained by Gabriel Lorca. Nothing much is known about this starship yet of its capabilities ("although it could be used as a giant space pizza cutter!" - editor's rant). Fan speculation suggests it is one of Starfleet's newer starships and conceivably fast with its lengthy warp nacelles. This speculative video by Hybrid Network might provide more insights:

U.S.S. Shenzhou NCC-1227, Walker-class starship.

The other major Starfleet vessel to feature in this series is the U.S.S. Shenzhou, commanded by Phillipa Georgiou. It is designated a Walker-class starship and apparently an older model, although how then its registration number of NCC-1227 exceeds that of the Discovery's NCC-1031 may indeed suggest otherwise. Unusually the bridge for this class of starship is located at the bottom of the saucer section.

The Shenzhou in atmospheric flight.

It's no spoiler that Klingons feature heavily in this series and looks to provide the over-arching plot. At the start of the serious, relations between The Federation and The Klingon Empire is icy, unlike most of the TNG era where both are staunch allies. There are 24 Great Houses in the empire and whereby a formidable leader T'kuvma steps forth attempting to unite them all against the Federation.

Chris Obi is Klingon T'Kuvma.

Outcast albino Klingon V'oq serves T'Kuvma as his devote right hand.

What, those are Klingons? We have seen the smooth forehead Klingons from TOS evolve to their bumpy forehead versions in TNG, explained as side-effects of genetic engineering gone wrong in the Enterprise series. Then Klingons in the JJ Abrams Kelvin timeline sported another variant. Now here is yet another variant of Klingon in Star Trek Discovery looking even more alien. And not just in physical look but also dress (ouch, spikey!) and cultural look (organic ships?). No clues yet as to whether this will be explained over the course of the series in a logical explanation acceptable to fans. Read more about the new Klingon look in this article by USA today.

REMAIN KLINGON: A cool Klingon trailer version for Star Trek Discovery as seen from their perspective!

There are many more Klingon characters and look towards which ones to be the major antagonists as the series progresses. Oh, in Klingon scenes, our Klingons now fully speak Klingon! Worry not there are subtitles provided... in fact each episode contains Klingon subtitles for our English-speaking characters!

Star Trek Discovery is now available to us here in Malaysia via Netflix. New episodes will be released on Mondays at approximately 3pm Malaysian time. There are 15 episodes for this season with the first 8 scheduled until 6 November 2017. After a mid-season break, the remaining episodes commence on January 2018.

The first two episodes of the series has been released this Monday 25 September 2017. Here are initial reactions for episode 1 "The Vulcan Hello" & episode 2 "Battle at the Binary Stars" during a mini-viewing party for Malaysian Trekkies by Outpost (no spoilers):

This two episodes can be seen as a pilot to the new series, introducing some key characters and the tone for the season. For a more in depth look into Star Trek Discovery, watch our video review hosted by Vulcan cultural officer Mr. Smock with local Trekkies Thomas Kuan and Chow F.C. aka Mr. Engineer:

Here are snippets of what to look forward to in the coming episodes including the U.S.S. Discovery in action (beware MAJOR SPOILERS if not yet watched first 2 episodes):

Now for some goodies to our valued readers!

OUTPOST GIVEAWAY

Thanks for Netflix, we have more GOODIES to GIVEAWAY! Up for grabs we have 3 complimentary 3-month subscriptions for Netflix so you Trekkies can watch Star Trek Discover legit. Also 1 lucky winner with receive a Netflix tote bag, notebook, lanyard, and pen.

To stand a chance to win this Outpost Giveaway, just follow these few simple steps:

• Like our Facebook Page Outpost Productions.
• Like / Wow / Love this Facebook post.
• Share the Facebook post to your timeline (set privacy to public) with reasons why your friends should watch Star Trek Discovery, .e.g. I want to watch Star Trek Discovery to see Michelle Yeoh as a Starfleet Captain.
• Include in your shared post hashtags #StarTrekDiscovery #Netflix #OutpostGiveaway.
• Join local Trekkies on Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia
• Fill in your details in the form below which include permalink to your shared post.

This contest will be closing on Monday 2 October 2017, 11.59pm. winers will be notified. So make sure to follow us and stay tuned!



Other Terms & Conditions:
a. Participants must be resident in Malaysia.
b. Giveaways comprise 1 tote bag with Netflix gift card (main prize), and 2 Netflix gift cards (consolation) for total 3 winners.
c. Winner of tote bag must be able to arrange self-collection of prize within 2 weeks of notification. Collection point will be in Klang Valley.
d. Only 1 entry per person.
e. Submission to Join the Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia must be received before closing deadline.
f. Selection of winners are final
g. We reserve the right to amend these terms and conditions without prior notice.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER

Stay tuned to Outpost Productions on the following channels for our geeky news and intel plus Trekkie meetups in Malaysia:

• Facebook / Twitter / Instagram: OutpostMY
• YouTube: MySciFiFanOutpost

Disclaimer: Star Trek and other trademarks are copyright to CBS and/or Paramount, referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe.

Deciphering the logic behind Star Trek most rewatched episodes on Netflix

Renown streaming service Netflix officially opened access to Malaysia subscribers in January last year, offering STAR TREK content from the entire franchise comprising six television series and twelve movies; the 13th movie Star Trek Beyond has yet to join the Netflix roster. Excluding the movies, the 1970's Animated Series and Trek-related documentaries, that's a massive database of 695 episodes produced in half a century logging in over 536 hours of airtime.

Star Trek first aired on 8 September 1966, creating sci-fi icons Mr. Spock (left) and Captain Kirk.

In conjunction with the 51st Anniversary of Star Trek and pending launch of the next series, Discovery, Netflix has revealed some interesting statistics on viewership of the venerable sci-fi franchise from among its 104 million subscribers across 190 countries. Firstly, 12,000 fans have watched every episode of Star Trek on Netflix. We presume these are true fans, or Trekkies, to have dedicated the equivalent of 22 days to this endeavour. Yes, Outpost and our resident Vulcan Mr. Smock salutes you hardcore Trekkies. LLAP.

Source: Netflix

Secondly, Netflix revealed the ten most rewatched episodes of the saga, and the selection certainly raises Vulcan eyebrows from the fandom. Among Trekkies, our gut feel (as unVulcan-like as it sounds) of favourite episodes would lean towards some of these titles:

• The Original Series (TOS): The City on the Edge of Forever, Balance of Terror, Mirror Miror, Space Seed.
• The Next Generation (TNG): All Good Things, The Inner Light, Yesterday's Enterprise or Best of Both Worlds.
• Deep Space Nine (DS9): Sacrifice of Angels, What You Leave Behind, Trials and Tribbleations, The Visitor.
• Voyager: Scorpion, Timeless, Message in a Bottle, Endgame; this series tends to have short titles!
• Enterprise: Similitude, Carbon Creek, In a Mirror Darkly, Twilight; some of the multi-episode arcs of Season 4 were also fascinating

Netflix's methodology omits the pilot episodes of each series, possibly since most viewers would logically watch the pilot first to sample the series before committing to its run.  So if pilot episodes were allowed as candidates, the top ten list may indeed comprise each pilot from the five series. "Rewatched" is defined as a subscriber returning to watch at least 6 minutes of a previously completed episode. Logical? Enough so.

Well the actual results did reflect some of the above picks but also contained some surprises:

Source: Netflix

To be fair, if each series were to be reflected equally in a top 10 list, that would only allow 2 episodes to be nominated from each series. TNG is no doubt a common fan favourite, hence having Best of Both Worlds and Q Who is no surprise as the most watched episodes. What does seem surprising among Trek fandom is the overwhelming popularity of Voyager taking 6 out of 10 slots in this list, and totally leaving TOS and DS9 in the dust! No Enterprise, no tears that's fine since it's often touted as the weakest series.

You must watch these: Resistance is Futile
Source: Netflix

A closer look at the selections point towards rewatching Borg-centric episodes from both TNG and Voyager: Q Who, Best of Both Worlds, Scorpion, Dark Frontier and Endgame (ranked no. 1). These episodes making up 70% of the list clearly shows continued fascination with the Delta Quadrant's most dangerous cybernetic species. Perhaps fans were selectively screening Borg episode marathons. Here's a Borg documentary which fans surely don't mind rewatching:

This is part 1 of 2 (pun intended).

One of the non-Borg episodes from Voyager The Gift is easily remembered when Kes departs the series immediately after the events of Scorpion allowing for recruitment of sexy Borg 7 of 9 as part of the main cast. The other two episodes comprise Time and Again from Voyager Season 1, and Clues from TNG Season 4. Er, what? Need a mindmeld to jog your memory? Maybe these 2 episode trailers could help:

Whilst the TNG episode trailer for Clues seems intriguing, the choice of Time and Again from Voyager's opening season defies logic when compared against so many better episodes from the saga. Perhaps if the 2-part episodes were merged to allow 2 more slots in this top ten, there would be some entries from other series and the better known episodes among the fan community.

On a global scale, Netflix reflects that TNG and TOS have bigger audiences, but Voyager and DS9 have more rewatches of favourite episodes. And despite well-known mixed emotions fans have towards the 7-year run of Voyager, many still return to rewatch the series.

Here's what American Trekkies had to say to Netflix on their favourite captain and episodes.

Now Netflix's data on the most rewatched episodes for subscribers in Malaysia are indeed more curious:

Source: Netflix

Voyager dominates unanimously on the top ten list ousting even TNG. Similarly with the global top ten, popular Borg episodes Endgame and Scorpion make the list together with The Gift and Time & Again (still why?). A selection of other Season 1 episodes come into play from Phage introducing the organ-stealing Vidiians, The Cloud and Eye of the Needle. Here's a more thoughtful hypothesis on why by our Mr. Smock: "Together with Time and Again, this cluster of the four first season Voyager episodes listed in sequence are simply reflecting a number of local Netflix viewers rewatching the series from start."

Here's revisiting the Voyager with the cast Kate Mulgrew, Garrett Wang, and Robert Picardo.

Indeed the devotion of Malaysian Trekkies to Voyager may be uncharacteristically high due to airing of the series on Hallmark channel on pay-TV broadcaster Astro during the previous decade. Hallmark aired every episode every day consistently plus reruns for an extended period thereby allowing many Malaysians to be exposed to Star Trek through Voyager. In contrast, TNG was broadcast weekly on public TV during the 1980's into the 1990's, whilst Enterprise may have only been available through one of Astro's subscription channels in the early Y2K era. Deep Space Nine was only broadcast for the first couple of seasons before the host channel went off air, hence never completing the series run in Malaysia.

Crew of the Voyager can toast towards being the most popular Star Trek on Netflix in Malaysia.

For Malaysian Voyager fans out here, Mr. Smock highly recommends sampling some of the other Star Trek series on Netflix, starting with the episodes mentioned near the start of this post. Kindly note later seasons of both DS9 and Enterprise became highly serialised, hence it may be more difficult to jump into these series which may form part of a wider story arc. For more standalone episodes, select from TOS and TNG.

Of course, Trekkies across the world are standing by for the next live-action series Star Trek Discovery releasing in under 2 weeks on Netflix come 25 September 2017. Discovery takes place in the Prime timeline  10 years prior to TOS. The series lead actress is Sonequa Martin-Green (The Walking Dead) as Michael Burnham, First Officer of the USS Shenzhou. Michael Burnham has been revealed as Spock's half-sister through adoption by his Vulcan father Sarek, played by James Frain. Captain of the USS Shenzou is Malaysia's own Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh, in the role of Captain Philippa Georgiou. The USS Discovery itself is captained by Gabriel Lorca, played by Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter). Much of the series appears centred around conflict with the Klingons. Let's start the countdown to Discovery!

Star Trek Discovery lead Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham (centre) and Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh as Captain Phillippa Georgiou (seated right).

Stay tuned for our special feature on Star Trek Discovery coming soon after premiere of this new series on 25 September 2017.

OUTPOST GIVEAWAY

Thanks for the nice PR folks at Netflix who actually noticed this piece, we have some GOODIES to GIVEAWAY! Specially for 1 lucky Malaysia Trekkie, we will giving away a Netflix tote bag loaded with a notebook, lanyard, pen and 3-month subscription to Netflix.

Win this Netflix tote bag and goodies

Plus 2 consolation winners will also receive a Netflix Gift Card for 3-month subscription. Perfect for binge watching over 700 episodes of Star Trek which can be completed within 22 days of the 90-day subscription, provided no sleeping involved!

Win this complimentary subscription to Netflix and binge watch every single episode of Star Trek.

To stand a chance to win this Outpost Giveaway, just follow these few simple steps:

1. Like  / Wow / Love this Facebook post.
2. Share the Facebook post to your timeline (set privacy to public).
3. Post under Comments in the Facebook post title of your favourite Star Trek episode from those mentioned in this blog post with your reasons for selection.
4. Include in your comment hashtags #StarTrek #Netflix #TopTen #OutpostGiveaway.
5. Join local Trekkies on Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia
6. Like our Facebook Page Outpost Productions

This contest will be closing on Tuesday 26 September 2017, 11.59pm. Notification of winners will be via Outpost Productions Facebook Page with instructions for prize redemption. So make sure to follow us and stay tuned!

Other Terms & Conditions:

a. Participants must be resident in Malaysia.

b. Giveaways comprise 1 tote bag with Netflix gift card (main prize), and 2 Netflix gift cards (consolation) for total 3 winners.

c. Winner of tote bag must be able to arrange self-collection of prize within 2 weeks of notification. Collection point will be in Klang Valley.

d. Only 1 entry per person.

e. Submission to Join the Facebook Group Starbase MY - Star Trek Fans Malaysia must be received before closing deadline.

f. Selection of winners are final

g. We reserve the right to amend these terms and conditions without prior notice.

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER

Follow Mr. Smock's cultural assimilation via Outpost social media channels.

Stay tuned to Outpost Productions on the following channels for our geeky news and intel plus Trekkie meetups in Malaysia:

• Facebook / Twitter / Instagram: OutpostMY
• YouTube: MyscififanOutpost

Disclaimer: Star Trek and other trademarks are copyright to CBS and/or Paramount, referenced here for fan service announcements without intent to infringe.