Well, this conversation has died within one day.
I guess I'll put my critique of the opening cinematic here, then:
Direct Response to the Intro-Animatic:
Star Control II humor, misunderstood.
Name one scene in SCII that was goofy, silly bumbling around like a silly, silly clown trying to catch a big, silly red ball, but bumbling it from hand to hand, never really catching it but bumping it back up into the air, while his big ol' clown feet keep getting caught up in a rope, before finally slipping on a banana peel.
Whooooaaa whoooa whoa whoaaaaaaa *slide whistle* WHOOPS! *thud* *Puff of smoke where he landed*
I half-expect the crashed Tywom to convince you to stare into the fake flower pinned to his chest, before triggering a jet of water to shoot out of it and sill-ily squirt you in the face.
It's not that exaggerated, I know. But I feel like if I come out strongly enough against the current direction, it might just get altered. This is a misunderstanding.
Star Control II is less about exaggerated, slapstick cartoons twirling about the galaxy and making silly jokes like the above. Less this kind of "HA-HA funny" slapstick absurdity...
And MORE "Ha-ha I just genocided an entire race because I thought it'd be a good joke, isn't that funny? ISN'T IT?! No? Combat stations, everyone" kind of funny.
The ships were not goofy. They didn't collide with a ballistic projectile and crazily bounce away in a goofy way.
The alien designs were not goofy, flinging their arms up in the air in the face of death.
The occurences and choices you made were not goofy.
The planets were not goofy.
There were billions of deaths, some of them caused by you, directly or indirectly.
Sure the Shofixti said, "I will hang your withered reproductive organs from my posterior monitor! Kyaiee!" and it makes you laugh, but then a very real creature, the last of his race, set a suicide bombing course straight for your ship, ready to vaporize himself in a last-ditch effort for his species to DIE in a blaze of glory. And if you let him, the entire thousands-of-year history of a sentient race of star-faring fox-like creatures was wiped out from the annals of history because of your carelessness. Those problems are real.
This is the mood you're going for here. A very real universe, of very real, quirky races of creatures, locked in a battle to the very real and final death, told in a witty, light-hearted way. And THAT'S why it's so funny! Its light-hearted and irreverent dealings, with very real graphics and very real setting and very real consequences.
If you miss out on that, you've missed out on all of the things.
There is some good news!!! When lady-captain wakes you up and calls you into her office, one of the responses (well, two lol) is: "Hello aliens. We come in peace." Hah! You're a human, as if you don't know she's also one! I like the irreverent tone, and her expression seems to say, "Very funny, wiseguy." This is good. This is very good, letting you as captain, crack wise to your superior officer
I will most-definitely be choosing that option!!!