Okay, #Trekkies. As I warned you, I was not happy with the latest #SNW #StarTrek outing. 🖖
On the plus side? Even episodes that massively mess up their representation of human fluidity, as this one did by creating a too-rigid hierarchy between friends and lovers when it comes to whose care matters, can make for excellent conversations.
How do we build cultures where a wider range of human expression and bonding matters, the way Trek at its best always did?
#Humanism
https://onlysky.media/mclark/the-charade-of-showing-care-in-culturally-sanctioned-ways/
@MLClark I thought the whole thing was silly, to be honest. Somewhere between "The Enemy Within" and "Turnabout Intruder." A magical alien extracts his DNA so he's only human. Then puts it back. Really?! It felt like lazy writing to me ... Granted, episodes like that weren't unusual during TOS, or even TNG, but 1960s writing isn't 2020s writing.
The larger point was tolerating intolerance. Which was the wrong message. This is who I am. If you don't like it, f*** off.
That was my take through and through. Incredibly lazy writing, and on a few levels that I talk about here: thematically, with respect to alien culture worldbuilding, and in relation to structural attempts to incorporate more of the rest of the crew.
Just poorly written, and advancing a terrible message in the process.
@MLClark Idle curiosity ... What did you think of "The Orville"? I know that first 1 1/2 seasons were wildly uneven, but the later half of Season 2 and the "New Horizons" Season 3 were much better.
The Orville is a far better homage to the spirit of TNG-era Trek than many NuTreks for me. And I think the number of Trek folk who've worked with the project speaks to that being a common feeling, too.
It manages humour without breaking the original world-building (unlike LD), does episodic storytelling well (unlike many), & foregrounds curiosity about challenging ethical dilemmas.
Later story-lines about restorative justice also showed the work Trek could/should be doing today.
@MLClark Re "Lower Decks" ... I tried. I really did. I can't stand it. I know it's very popular, but IDIC and all that. 😳
It is AWFUL.
Oh my goodness.
I couldn't believe how many Trekkies enjoyed it.
Almost every plot requires tossing the basic premises of the Federation and Starfleet. It's Star Trek set in late-stage capitalism, with scarcity-based workplace dynamics, a constant fear of being fired, & relentless jockeying for position in hierarchies of meaning that shouldn't matter.
I'm fine with humour.
But if you need to break Trek to make it funny, maybe just make your own danged SF series?