Tumgik
#star trek discovery season 3 spoilers
samthetrekkie · 11 months
Text
the whole being assimilated via your dna is a pretty far reach, but I do actually like it? I loved the little star fleet armada when voyager was pushed out of the transwarp canal in endgame and I always wanted a grand borg vs starfleet/earth storyline. so I approve, this could be from me!
in general this season feels like one of those unauthorized star trek books at this point. I mean they basically resurrected a main character. the entire enterprise-d senior crew making it back onto their ship to fight old enemies and save the entirety of starfleet and earth? hell yes. this is really made for the old fans, not new audiences. this show is checking all the boxes, I don't even mind this could be called fan service.
btw I don't think gaining new audiences is necessarily a bad thing, but keeping the old star trek themes and lore going is so important. I actually think discovery is - now - doing a pretty good job at that.
completely unrelated - does anybody else have a hard time understanding jack crusher? does he mumble or is he just british? I always look to my dad (an american) when I don't understand him, but he usually doesn't catch it either lol.
6 notes · View notes
coredrill · 1 year
Text
feliz jueves i was fucking right
Tumblr media
#DISCOVERY I MISS YOU SO MUCH#good god. okay weekly complaint rundown time lmao#1. girl did they save all the lighting budget for the enterprise d????? is that why i’ve had to watch the rest of this season#alongside my reflection in my tv?????#2. back on my wesley bs but like. christ. one of the things that i like most abt disco is how kind and understanding it is of its kidgenius#like adira is AWKWARD and saves the day all the time and everyone around them is kind to them and the show itself is kind to them#which is such a huge contrast to how wesley was treated on tng. by the characters AND the show AND ESPECIALLY the fans#so to have the ‘twist’ only affect bright young people because the fckin adults still need their time to shine?????#feels. WEIRDLY mean-spirited imo. probably not intentional but it doesn’t sit right with me at all#‘fck dem kids fck doing ANYTHING different lets just put the same exact characters on the same exact ship because thats superior’#it didnt even get the style refresh disco’s (and snw’s) enterprise got!!!!#3. this was literally the most obvious route this could go like come onnnnnnnnnnn could you imagine how much extra story#could’ve fit into this season if every episode wasnt half dedicated to nostalgia jerkoff LMAO.#ugh sorry anyways. last one next week!!!!!#f: star trek#trek: shows#trek: picard#picard spoilers#also like. at least we could all agree that s2 was bad LMAO#everyone watching this who is like ‘BEST TREK IN DECADES’ uhhhhhhhhh what are you watching and can i watch too??
4 notes · View notes
iamthecutestofborg · 2 years
Text
If I had a nickel for every time a male character got superpowers as a child and then later accidentally killed a bunch of people with his mind after watching his mother die in the third season of a streaming service original scifi show I'd have two nickels which isn't a lot but it's still weird that it happened twice
17 notes · View notes
quasi-normalcy · 6 months
Text
Ways to Get Into Star Trek
In Release Order:
Advantages: + You get to see how the franchise and its concepts changed over time + Starting with The Original Series gives you a good understanding of why it became popular in the first place
Disadvantages: - Some of the older material can feel pretty dated - Many of the later series have been released simultaneously, so unless you watch it on an episode-by-episode basis, there are going to be some continuity snarls - The most recent series have been set all over the place in the continuity, breaking the narrative flow.
In Chronological Order: Advantages: + You get a pretty coherent narrative history.
Disadvantages: - Without wanting to bias the reader, a lot of the fandom considers some of the prequel series to be relatively weak. - Tone and design aesthetics jump all over the place, even between series that are supposed to take place within a few years of each other - The prequels occasionally spoil things that happen "later" - Due to time travel, you end up having to watch 36+ seasons of other series and 10+ movies in between seasons 2 and 3 of Star Trek: Discovery - The JJ Abrams movies don't really fit in anywhere - Sometimes characters you won't "meet" until centuries later turn up on the prequel series - You still have the problem of multiple series occurring simultaneously (although it's only really an issue with 90s Trek)
Starting with a Randomly Selected, or Recommended Series: Advantages: + If you watch a few episodes of one series and you don't really like it, you can just try another + Each individual series is *usually* pretty self-contained + For the episodic series, you don't even need to start at the beginning; you can just look up what episodes are considered the best and give those a shot + You can watch some of the newer stuff first if you want to participate in an active fandom
Disadvantages: - Certain series kind of exist in dialogue with each other - You may not have the full context on certain details that come up (though they will usually try to explain them) - You can occasionally get some spoilers - While most series are self-contained, Star Trek: Picard heavily utilizes characters and concepts from Star Trek: The Next Generation and probably shouldn't be watched on its own.
Catching random reruns on cable: Advantages: + Probably how most fans did it.
Disadvantages: + Requires you to have cable. + Unless you live in Canada, you won't be able to watch the new stuff.
140 notes · View notes
anotheruserwithnoname · 4 months
Text
Some good news and some bad news regarding Season 3 of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The good news is that now that the strikes are over, production of Season 3 is set to begin next month! This is good because there have been rumours swirling around possible cancellation in the wake of Star Trek Discovery being ended after its 5th season. But SNW continues (Lower Decks has also been renewed for Season 5). The only caveat to that is Paramount Plus still cancelled Star Trek Prodigy even with its Season 2 complete, so nothing is a guarantee anymore. (And even then, it's been reported that Prodigy S2 will at least get some sort of Netflix release).
(Further good news is Season 2, with its amazing musical and Lower Decks crossover episodes, is set for Blu-ray release before Christmas.)
The bad news - though this is likely educated speculation on Screen Rant's part - is the possibility that the 10-episode 3rd season my be split, with only 5 episodes airing in 2024 and having to wait till 2025 to see the rest. Aside from that wrecking viewer momentum, those 5 weeks will come and go very quickly. If this news is correct, though, they could be telegraphing some sort of 5-episode story arc, which should be good but I actually prefer SNW's episodic format as it better supports the type of experimentation we got with not only this past year's musical and part-animated episodes, but the episodic format is what made TOS what it was. No official word on any cast changes, though I will be surprised if S3 doesn't reintroduce Dr. McCoy in some fashion.
I haven't written much about SNW but it's my favourite of the live action modern Treks. I stopped watching Discovery and Picard but SNW has kept me. I've had songs from the musical earworming for the last week or so after I rewatched it. And I greatly appreciated the time-travel episode "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" for finally canonizing an explanation as to why the prequel series haven't always lined up with what we know as canon from TOS, TNG, etc. which as far as I'm concerned frees the writers to deviate and retroactively serves to rectify canon issues dating all the way back to some episodes of DS9, never mind Enterprise, Discovery and SNW itself. I will explain for those who don't know but I will put a spoiler break here for those who might be waiting for the Blu-ray or haven't had a chance to stream season 2 yet. If the break doesn't appear below, stop reading now if you don't want the spoiler.
s
p
o
i
l
e
r
The episode reveals that due to the many time travel events over the years (including ones we haven't seen on screen by enemies of the Federation; the episode relates one involving Mary Queen of Scots (in-joke for the actress) what we have been seeing in SNW etc. is an alternate timeline. Maybe not as extreme as the Kelvin timeline of the films, but events such as the Eugenics Wars - indeed, the birth of Khan himself - were delayed by decades. This major change to the timeline - and then you fill in the blanks by factoring in even minor changes such as the guy who accidentally killed himself with McCoy's phaser in City on the Edge of Forever, Sisko replacing Gabriel Bell in the Bell Riots, the Voyager crew going back to 1996, Archer and T'Pol heading off agents of the temporal cold war in the early 2000s, etc. - and you can see how it's possible that things progressed differently resulting in SNW and Discovery being more technologically advanced than TOS-era ships should be as established in TNG, DS9 and Enterprise that used the original tech and designs. Also character differences, like Pike's crew being aware of T'Pring and Khan when Kirk's crew in TOS did now despite Spock having worked with La'an Noonien-Singh and Kirk being aware of La'an's feelings for him. Or the lack of reference to Kirk's brother, who dies in a famous TOS episode, having been former Enterprise crew. And it literally stems from two lines of dialogue. It's exhibit A of how quickly and simply a show like Doctor Who can fix things.
9 notes · View notes
annikasevenshots · 1 year
Text
Star Trek Picard: Season 3 Episode 9 Reaction (spoilers)
sorry i missed the previous few i just lowkey did not care i guess
Can't believe I'm watching Troi do FREUDIAN psychoanalysis like that shit would have died out in clinical psychology ages ago
3 guesses as to what Matalas' favourite colour is
Watching Troi on the big screen Deanna you're so pretty
"You will not be alone" me when i lie
Why are they lowkey assassinating Troi's character like this she's stronger than that
"Wait... the Borg have sex?" Raffi Musiker, 1.5 years earlier
Why is Jack awakening so much like Dahj activating bro TM really copied S1's homework but made it white and male
Jack scenes do be taking way too long. Stop monologuing bro no one has time for that
Kind of really don't care about his angst like sir this is literally a wendys you're in space being weird comes with the fucking job now sit down
He literally was never issued the protocols of a father JACK YOU MADE THAT CHOICE FOR HIM WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU
"Futility" jack thought he did something huh 💀💀💀
Jack listen to your mother pls i am begging
Why is Beverly just standing there you people are so lame she can literally do so much more than this
Why are these people just allowed into Shaw's ready room whenever tf
Got distracted trying to figure out why the Borg Cube didn't look like a lone Borg Cube but
MMMMMMMMM ENT-F SHIP P*RN WITH FIREWORKS MY FAVOURITE
My mom casually watching with me: OMG IS THIS DATA? :D why is his face no longer gold? :D
DID THEY FUCKING ASSIMILATE RAFFI LMAOOOOOO IM DOWNING THE BOTTLE
wait hold on lemme watch
Speaking of Raffi where tf is she
Oh hey Seven ❤️
THE BORG 🐸🐸🐸 giggling
Bro wtf is going in at Borg HQ
Can't believe you have a literal xB on board and instead of turning to her for help you just give her a headache
Ngl the youngins being assimilated gives huge boomer energy
Bro I can't w yall stop being so unserious
Doesn't escape my notice that everyone on the Titan bridge who's assimilated is a poc 🐸
meanwhile every sober/unassimilated person is white. sure. nice. wonderful. amazing.
We get it you want to please the Star Trek Discovery haters why tf are you like this
grease monkey activate!!!
Sorry i had a minor breakdown over the fact that gen z and poc are synonymous for hive minded enemies in their eyes
sure the villains can be so diverse that white people aren't the villains but the heroes are majority white
sorry for salty
rip shaw
giggled over Saffi i'm going back to rewatch it later
It's the fact that Raffi never intended to leave in the first place for me
"Not a chance" should i make this the new tag for this dumbass ship because i cry every time
aw enterprise <3
deanna yelling at worf <3
In conclusion, I leave you this review from my dad:
"How the hell are they going to fly that big ship with 7 people?"
25 notes · View notes
epistemophagy · 10 months
Text
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds potential season 2 spoilers under the cut
They're running with Spock/Chapel in SNW the same way they ran with Spock/Uhura in the Kelvin timeline and it really does seem like this is something that's gotten worse with time, rather than better
For all our hard work, meaningful queer representation of the kind we see in real life has remained the province of "genre", "literary" and "special interest" work. All that queer acceptance under capitalism has gotten us, as far as popular creative work goes, is checklist representation. We're still not allowed to have ships the same way straight people do — Star Trek: Picard got close with Saffi, which I have a suspicion might be part of why they chucked out basically the whole Picard Seasons 1 and 2 featured cast and turned Season 3 into straight-up AfterTNG pandering
In many ways, I prefer the rendering of Spirk in TOS (I am speaking specifically about Spirk material in TV canon, although I love licensed and fanwork Spirk just as much) to, say, Culmets (Paul Stamets/Hugh Culber) in Discovery. The reason is that Jim and Spock get to remain independent characters with their own arcs and whole lives outside of their love for each other
Paul and Hugh, meanwhile — while I like them as characters and I love their actors as people — are heavily defined by their romance and the pain they feel when things go sideways, and, frankly, they have relatively little agency otherwise. I like queer romance. I like queer onscreen romance. I like queer romance that gets focus. I don't like it when queer actors and characters are subjected to a false scarcity of focus: "you can have visible queerness or you can have agency in the overarching, non-romantic plot, but not both". Heterosexual couples, and even the Queer Couples That Dare Not Speak Their Name of bygone days (Spirk being the ur-example), would never be asked to choose
Note that I said "agency". Paul and Hugh have plot significance, but they're almost entirely passive in it. Hugh's major individual story arc so far has been getting (temporarily) fridged. Paul's major individual story arc has been that he's the keystone artifact the spore drive depends on. They are both forced not to do, but to be done to, maybe because — I don't know, if a character with actual agency was queer, the straight men who've been running this franchise since Star Trek (2009) might feel emasculated?
16 notes · View notes
angrywarrior69 · 2 years
Text
Star Trek Rant: Strange New Worlds and disability
Hi, I'm the easiest person to please when it comes to sci-fi, and I'm even easier to please when it comes to star trek. I will not be trying to sound scholarly or even smart in this post.
That being said I have some issues with strange new worlds and how it keeps having story lines chalk up to the idea that having a disability is worse than death.
Like I get that the original series captain Pike ends up in the chair and that was so scary/cool in the 60s that people went feral over it, but it's 2022 now and I simply cannot comprehend how no one on the writing/producing staff said "Maybe we should tweak this?"
I bring receipts so my examples are as follows: MAJOR SNW SEASON 1 SPOILERS HERE
1. Captain Pike equating his getting badly injured to a fate worse than death.
2. Hemmer, the blind chief engineer, being killed in the dumbest way possible.
3. M'benga's daughter's fatal illness escapist fantasy miracle cure/fridging/character death.
4. Spock's alternate timeline fate that was being equated to Captain Pike's original timeline fate.
1. Captain Pike being a sadboy about his fate in the chair is understandable at the start. If I had seen that shit for myself I would have said what the fuck and done some happier psychedelics to mitigate it. Unfortunately, he is straight edge like most starfleet captains in their pilot episodes so whatever. He's sad. He's scared. He's not being objective. It's plot and that's okay by my standards. The show has to have plot based on something, so sure. Make him sad about the time crystal vision that people who didn't watch Discovery have no idea what's going on. Whatever, I'm easy to please, so I didn't question it much.
2. Hemmer, I could make a whole post about Hemmer, but here goes: Hemmer is introduced as the blind chief engineer, but with super cool brain powers to make up for it. It’s not like Geordi on TNG. Geordi gets to be disabled with a technological aid that makes him able to see more visible spectrum than humans can. Geordi’s VISOR does not “make up” for him being blind. Without it he is very much still blind. Geordi gets to be smart and good at what he does. His coworkers and friends love him for who he is. ALL THE WHILE, he’s literally just some guy. Geordi legitimately is just some guy at the end of the day. Whereas Hemmer is introduced by Spock to Uhura like,
“This is Hemmer Ebony Dark'ness Aenar Ravenway and he has long blue antennae and precognitive abilities and a massive fucking brain that makes him the coolest girl in school.”
And then... they just make it so he can’t sense the Gorn? I get the Gorn are supposed to be next-level shit right now. Unstoppable. Intrepid. Yada fucking yada mean scary lizards a la Alien style (a whole other rant about the gorn there). But they take Hemmer, arguably the most interesting person on the ship, (probably because everyone else is so boringly human) the coolest OC they’ve made... and turn him into an exploding egg sack that commits suicide to save everyone else? They turn him into an EGG SACK because he can’t SEE the acid SPIT or the SCARY LiZaRds. His disability is turned against him for the first time and it kills him. And just like DC comics The Flash universe is always built on the bones of Nora Allen, the SNW crew decided to throw Uhura’s universe on the bones of dead Hemmer. This is completely fucking unnecessary considering Uhura starts off this ride with a TOS legacy to carry her.
They didn’t have to build Uhura’s story on the bones of this dead man, they didn’t have to build Uhura’s story on the bones of ANYONE. It was quite literally. so. dumb. This decision invalidates Hemmer’s capabilities and invalidates Uhura’s I-don’t-know-if-i-want-to-be-in-stafleet storyline. She just decides to stay because a blue dude told her to open her heart before he died?
What the hap is fuckening.
3. Oh boy oh boy M’benga’s daughter. The fatally ill child... who looks perfectly healthy! We are told she is sick so we must believe it. I digress. Rukiya, CMO M’Benga’s daughter, is dying. She’s so sick that she can’t even be out of the transporter buffer for more than a few hours or so by the time the 7th-8th episode rolls around. There is no cure for her illness. M’benga tries and tries to do something to help her but in the end all he does is put her on ice. This child is nothing more than a plot device. They literally put her on ice in the transporter buffer and bring her out for plot purposes and have no shame about it. At this point it’s like they’re saying sick people shouldn’t exist with healthy people. No one else is sick or disabled other than Rukiya and Hemmer. I feel like I’m losing my fucking mind. And then as @sneasingsneasel put it so nicely. The issue with this kid is not that she is sick, or cured, or becomes a god-like being; it’s that the miracle dream escapist fantasy becomes reality just to give M’Benga something to cry and then be happy over? Why was this even done at all? This plot didn’t do ANYTHING for anyone. We all just had to watch a kid who looks perfectly fine be put on ice and then fridged (i.e. the practice of killing off or hurting a minor character in order to motivate or torture a main character) Again, what the fuck is happening? WHY was this a thing?
4. Spock and Pike’s fate being switched and Pike’s actions immediately after seeing it. This is what got me GOING y’all. This is what set off the rant and this is why I’ve wasted so much time trying to form some thoughts here. We’ve come full circle back to point one.
To summarize, Pike goes forward in time and Spock gets fuckidy fucked up by some shit and we’re told that burns cover 40% of his body, his spine is wrecked, and he has head trauma. Nurse Chapel says “if he comes out of this he will never be the same.” and... that’s it. That’s enough for Pike to chose his original fate for himself over attempting to change his own fate and having it land on someone else. AGAIN captain Pike is seeing the future of someone who very well may LIVE and deciding that it is So Bad that he must bear the burden of it alone.
They went too far with this mindset. It’s GROSS. SNW is easily my least favorite trek because of this bullshit. Actually, I don’t even think I like the show after the season finale. How and Why did all of this get produced? Am I losing my fucking mind here? Disabled people shouldn’t be the bane of society. Fuck these writing choices.
117 notes · View notes
flutishly · 1 year
Text
Why I’m not remotely excited about Picard Season 3
All of the SPOILERS for Star Trek: Picard seasons 1 and 2. Also ranting. This is very, very long.
I genuinely didn’t realize that Star Trek: Picard was returning so soon. I knew that seasons 2 and 3 were filmed back-to-back, but I somehow still didn’t process that this meant that Picard would leap ahead of the Star Trek queue and be the next show after the absolutely delightful Prodigy ended its first season. (On that note: If you haven’t seen Prodigy, go do that now. In fact, you can probably do that instead of watching Picard season 3, which I obviously haven’t seen because it’s not out yet but for which, as you can probably guess from the title, I am not excited.)
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: The new era of Star Trek has had its ups and downs, but fans rarely agree on what those ups and downs really are. I for instance genuinely love Discovery and think that even with specific flaws in its first two seasons and some sloppy pacing in its most recent fourth, it’s a fascinating show populated with characters that I adore. The vast majority of Star Trek shows come with their own flaws and criticisms, as one would expect of any TV show.
But unlike most other shows (including other new Star Treks), Picard is one that roots itself in a firmly established, beloved character while promising a new story. Legacy characters crop up in lots of different ways in recent shows, but none truly center a fully-fleshed character the way that Picard does. (SNW comes closest with Spock; I will touch on this again momentarily...) Picard also readily reaches into the backlog of TNG characters and arcs in order to further its world.
The problem is that it does so while having promised viewers something new. This, it turns out, is decidedly not true.
The show began promisingly enough. Picard season 1 made an active effort to be an independent show, focusing on a retired Jean-Luc Picard finding a new purpose to his life while surrounding himself with new mentees and colleagues. The season arc questions the humanity of synthetic- or synthetic-hybrid lifeforms. Despite a sloppy ending, the season has a decently coherent thematic structure, integrating elements from both legacy stories and new ones. Soji’s arc is quintessential Star Trek, as she questions her humanity and purpose. Picard’s arc sees him forced to grapple with his longstanding trauma from his encounters with the Borg, alongside reflections of his life, friendships, and role as a mentor/father-figure. Raffi’s arc sees her reclaiming aspects of herself and forgiving others; so do both Rios and Jurati (albeit in very different ways). In between, there are smaller threads of deeply human questions about purpose, doing good, and recovering from trauma. The season doesn’t work so well as a whole because of poor writing decisions in its wrappings (and the sense that it tried to do too much all at once), but it’s still a decently compelling bit of television that tries to give Picard a new perspective, alongside new challenges.
Picard season 2 takes almost everything that season 1 did and throws it out.
The season opening is not bad. It’s a fast-paced, almost whiplash-y set of action sequences that promise to set the plot moving. After watching the first episode, I was asked by someone who had not yet seen it to describe it in three words. I opted for four: “TNG movie meets Picard”. There were some emotional/melodramatic bits, but most of the time was spent on keeping the plotting snappy and the action moving forward. It promised certain themes and character beats. Except none of that came to pass. “The Star Gazer” was a reset episode, taking the characters from season 1 and placing them in new and different places (sometimes in accordance to where they’d been at the end of season 1 and sometimes not). “Penance” reset everything again, as did “Assimilation”. For the entire first third of the season, Picard seemed not to know what its point was.
Yet once it settled into a new normal, the show seemed determined to define these parameters. Soji was obviously gone from the first episode (even if actress Isa Briones was given a small minor side-role) and Evan Evagora’s Elnor disappeared almost as quickly (with even more minor reappearances in the form of baffling, narratively unjustified flashbacks or hallucinations). Rios was isolated from the main team and given his own plot (that can only be described as “extremely obvious” in terms of how it played out and concluded; this is not a compliment), thus also getting sidelined. Raffi and Seven of Nine spent the entire season circling around each other in trying to define their relationship, but the show played it coy for so long that it was genuinely bizarre to watch Rios kissing his new love interest within moments of meeting her, but Raffi and Seven getting dragged out for the whole season (despite... actually having been a couple? and one promised by the season 1 ending??). It made little sense.
There are two arcs throughout the season that work, though to differing degrees. The first is Seven of Nine’s. I’m a devoted Trekkie, but I’ll admit that Voyager is the gap that I’m still filling though I’m decently familiar with Seven’s arc and character. Yet even without having all of the background, from a writing perspective, Seven of Nine’s story is the most immediately coherent. She starts the season in point A and gets to point B pretty directly and understandably. It feels like a more mature version of the classic “what does it mean to be human?” question, taking threads that arose in season 1 and expanding on them. Seven of Nine struggles to see herself as fully human and bears the weight of her Borg past in physical and emotional manifestations. What I liked about her arc is that she never really fully comes to terms with any of it, even admitting as much out loud. Instead, she also learns to accept that despite how she views these as inherently bad pieces of herself, others see them as a whole that is worthy of love and respect. This gives her some space for herself, in a way. It could have been better-written in terms of the specific relationship aspects, but on the whole it works pretty well.
The second meaningful arc is Jurati’s, which mostly survives on the basis of Alison Pill’s excellent acting. I’m not convinced of the writing for this aspect; Jurati starts season 2 at a far lower point than she ended in season 1 and there is an inconsistency in how her character is presented. Her penchant for poor decision-making remains, however, and is the driving force behind her bizarre plot. That said, the core of her arc is not so unlike Seven of Nine’s - it’s one of finding oneself. We have already seen that Jurati is fairly weak-willed, but here it becomes part of a very disturbing bit of internalized play in defining her self-loathing and recreating herself. I didn’t like it, but Pill does an extraordinary job of selling Jurati’s motivations, discrepancies, and horrors. I’m not sure another actor could have pulled it off (given that the writing is still pretty sloppy), but Pill does and so it deserves commendation.
The rest of the season is, quite simply, not good.
There are decent ideas or lines throughout. Picard’s rousing inspiring speech to Renee is a lovely reminder of what Star Trek strives to be; the very premise of Renee’s mission being the linchpin on which humanity’s pluralistic approach to space travel and its environmental future turns is also fairly nice. There’s an important political message buried in Rios’s side story with immigration, as well as Guinan’s dissatisfaction with our contemporary Earth. These little sprinkles only serve to remind us how poorly they fit together.
More than that, there are pieces that could work but don’t, like Picard’s tragic backstory. It’s... fine? I guess it’s fine. It could have contextualized Picard’s emotional reticence and family issues. Instead, it was used with all the subtlety of a serial killer’s axe, in order to further a truly inexplicable romantic subplot that gave Picard absolutely no new depth nor made any sense given the characterizations of season 1. From a technical standpoint, it was also disappointing in its idealized/romanticized framing of mental health struggles. It could have been good; it wasn’t. The recurring theme of season 2.
Same with Q and Guinan in general. Q’s initial involvement is reminiscent of his TNG-era shenanigans. He’s sly and mysterious and his interests are muddled at best, other than the fact that we see their disastrous consequences. Except then... it turns out to be... a sign of love? A misplaced “last hurrah”? I’m all for acknowledging the depth and complexity of the love that Q holds for Picard, but like... seriously? That was the best the writers could come up with? How does it track with any of what we see throughout the rest of the season? All to get Picard to reframe his relationship with love, and with a total disregard for the real people who died to get there?
Guinan’s plot is similarly weird. The idea of recasting a “young” Guinan was cute and I’m fine with it, but... what purpose did she actually serve the narrative? I’m sitting here and thinking about the season and I simply cannot recall what she contributed. Summoning Q, sort of? Existing? Did it have to be Guinan? Was she there just because we know the name?
But the show is called Picard, so let’s focus on the man himself for a moment. What was season 2 about, if we look at Jean-Luc Picard?
On its surface, Picard’s arc was about making space for love. The lifestyle change suggested at the end of season 2 - in which he would no longer resign himself to moping alone around the vineyard and would instead set forth on new adventures with his new crew - was gone at the beginning of season 2. Other than seeing several of the crew newly in Starfleet (Rios, Raffi, and Elnor), there is little indication of how Picard’s synthetic body impacts his life or has affected his perspective. In fact, it seems to come up only haphazardly when he’s physically injured. (Which is itself a bizarre plot point, but sure! Sure.)
In one of the two major threads going for him in season 2, Picard has to come to terms with his parents’ toxic relationship and its complexities. As I mentioned above, this might have been thoughtfully handled, but it mostly wasn’t. The tonal dissonance between the portrayal of mental illness and the murkiness of the abuse/perceived abuse meant that I struggled to take away anything of meaning from the tragedy. It felt like it was constantly just trying to shock and tease the viewer, particularly in how it flipped the script of abuse. Why? What for? Picard might be well-served by a more detailed exploration of his childhood, but was this it?
The other thread is the one that had me rolling my eyes. Somehow, the season’s message of “Picard learns to love!” gets translated into “learns to have a romantic love!”, as though this is the end-all. Picard is certainly a character who has shied away from romantic relationships before and that could have been worth exploring in part, but why does it have to do at the expense of understanding Picard’s general discomfort with acknowledging love? There are so many ways this could - and frankly should - have played out, that didn’t involve a romance with a character that is... well, maybe technically of a similar age as Jean-Luc, but not really the same stage of life? (...synthetic life?) It was weird and uncomfortable and just... pointless. It didn’t make Picard’s character have greater depth, on the contrary - it promoted the extremely silly idea that there is one superior type of loving relationship. Why?
This isn’t a review of season 2, though. No, I didn’t like season 2. I wanted to, at first, but I found myself growing more and more baffled and exhausted as it progressed. Pockets of amusement or entertainment or appreciation (see again Picard’s speech to Renee, which I really did quite like!) appeared for brief moments throughout the episodes and then disappeared again. But the main problem? The main thing that angered me about season 2?
It seemed determined to forget that season 1 had happened, and it did so very obviously at the expense of its own characters. And THAT is why I’m not excited for season 3, or as I call it “the producers went: hey, wait, let’s bring back TNG oh my gosh!!!!”.
Once again: Star Trek has been a leader in the world of reboots and nostalgic callbacks. TNG is a reboot, after all. It opened with a hand-off from an extremely aged-up Dr. McCoy, as a way to tie things together to the Original Series. It found an excuse to include Scotty, Sarek, and Spock in plot-specific ways. Later, it gave Kirk space in its first movie. DS9 and Voyager both played on fan nostalgia in their respective series with the inclusion of legacy characters - Q, Worf, Barclay, Riker, etc. - and indeed even Enterprise tried desperately and disastrously to find ways to milk nostalgia, even as a prequel reboot itself.
As I mentioned at the top, modern Trek has continued this trend. Disco‘s worst earliest instincts were rooted in its attempts to mine nostalgia; while the inclusion of Pike and Spock in season 2 ended up being pretty beneficial for the franchise as a whole (yay SNW! itself an obvious exercise in nostalgia; I’ll expand in a moment), it wobbled in season 1 with Sarek. Lower Decks has consistently been at its most tiring when trying too hard to play to nostalgia rather than telling its own stories (except for the occasional wonderful gag, but the jokes are usually just... too much). Prodigy also felt a little tiring when it tried too hard to be nostalgic for the sake of older fans, rather than just telling its own story, but it did this only sporadically.
And then there’s Picard. Whereas SNW takes legacy characters who have either never gotten their due or are at an earlier stage than what we’ve previously known of them, Picard is the only real sequel to a legacy show, fully centering on a legacy character. In season 1, the show promised that while Picard himself was returning, the show was not a TNG sequel. Indeed, Picard’s biggest season 1 legacy costar isn’t even from TNG, a rather inspired decision on the part of the producers/writers. And with the exception of some cameos and Brent Spiner’s enduring mission to act out as many related characters as he can (a once-mildly amusing trait, now gone sour), the show made a point of introducing new characters: Dahj and Soji, whose stories kick off and define the season. Raffi, Elnor, Rios, Jurati... even the antagonists! Even the legacy characters are fresh! Seven of Nine and Hugh are both in vastly different places than where they’d been in the past. And yes, I’m including Riker and Troi - in their delightful interlude of an episode - who are there to demonstrate just how much things have changed since TNG. This is a new show, a different show, populated by characters who are guiding and interact with Picard in different ways.
So why is season 3 just TNG season 8? Without having watched the trailers, it’s hard for me to say whether or not I’m misreading what the plot actually is, but all of the promotion has been about the TNG crew and their involvement. Soji and Elnor - both wildly sidelined by season 2 - have been fully abandoned; will there be any plot justification for this? Rios and Jurati at least were given send-offs in season 2, but they too were cast aside. I can’t really figure out what’s supposed to have happened to Laris (though while Orla Brady still appeared throughout season 2, the character of Laris... didn’t). This leaves only two of the “new” characters for Picard season 3 - Raffi and Seven of Nine (who is, of course, actually a legacy character). And of course even season 2 seemed more interested in legacy characters, with the returns of both Guinan and Q, and even Brent Spiner’s umpteenth Soong.
Nostalgia can be great. I appreciate a good dose of nostalgia as much as the next person. I cheered at the appearance of Deep Space 9 on Lower Decks. The TOS-nostalgic Prodigy episode “All the World’s a Stage” was excellent. SNW is a great show. But nostalgia cannot be in place of something new. Say what you will about Disco, but it did something new in its first season, even as it tried to link its story to legacy characters (and indeed, failed most strikingly in that effort). Picard seems to have initially understood that lesson and then thrown it aside. Season 3 abandons any pretense of telling some kind of new story about Picard’s post-Enterprise life. It bends over backwards to include the old gang (including Spiner, who I dearly love, but seriously... why?) and to fully center them.
And... much as I love TNG, I find that I am incapable of getting excited about this. I look at how season 2 flailed in its attempt to tell an interesting story, how it fully wasted its potential (2024!!! the Bell Riots! they could have done so much!), how it dismissively discarded its new characters, how it backtracked on any meaningful story about Jean-Luc Picard that might have been told... and I ask myself what season 3 could possibly bring, especially knowing that the seasons were produced back-to-back. Will it rise above season 2′s mediocrity? Will it manage to actually say anything new and meaningful about these characters? About this world, which is the real point of Star Trek?
My sense is no. It’s hard to get excited over that.
26 notes · View notes
hazel-of-sodor · 2 months
Text
Best of Discovery Season 1
This year the final season of Star Trek Discovery airs, bringing an end to the show that brought Star trek back to television after over a decade absense. To celebrate its 5 season run (which was incredibly long for a streaming show, I'll be doing a best of for all the seasons of streaming era trek so far, listing great moments/scenes (at least 13, as this was meant to be a bakers dozen series), and One honorable mention.
Tumblr media
To start off, the season that Started it all, Star Trek Discovery Season One . Spoilers below
Battle of the Binary Stars
Tumblr media
A fleet of Starfleet ships arrive to back up the USS Shenzhou against a klingon fleet, and what a fleet it is. A whole era of Starfleet design is explored in a single scene against a goreous backdrop of the titular binary stars.
2. U.S.S. Europa arrives
Tumblr media
The U.S.S. Shenzhou is disable by the battle and is drifting towards an astroid when the Admiral's Flagship arrives. The Nimitz Class U.S.S. Europa arrives at the last second, tractoring the Shenzhou and calling a temporary ceasefire to the battle. It is a visually gorgeous scene with a wonderful score. For just a moment, the arrival of the mighty starship make it seem like everything might be okay.
3. U.S.S. Discovery arrives
Tumblr media
U.S.S. Discovery, the namesake off the show doesn't appear till episode 3, but she make a grand entrance, saving the prison shuttle transporting Burnham in a scene that wonderfully conveys her size and grandeur
4. The shushing Klingon
Tumblr media
Aboard the damaged U.S.S. Glenn, a team from the U.S.S. Discovery find the crew fataly mutilated by a failed spore jump, but more immediatly threatening, a monster roams the halls of the stricken ship, one capable of killing the klingon boarding party sent to recover the ships secerts. The scenes onboard the Glenn are brutal, and wonderfully tense. It also gives us the hilarious "did that klingon just shush me?" Moment. (I chose a pic of the Glenn rather than the interior as those were more graphic than I wanted for this post)
5. The Discovery saves Corvan II
Tumblr media
Discovery makes her first successful long range spore jump and saves the Federation mining Colony Corvan II. Its a wonderful moment od Discovery's crew coming together to save civilians.
6. Please Don't Take My Ship, She's All I Have Left
Tumblr media
This moment between Cornwall and Lorca is amazing, and makes me wish that lorca hadn't been mirror Lorca. His plea for him to keep command off discovery is heartfelt (but later revealed to be for all the wrong reasons)
7. Mudd Loses
Tumblr media
Magic to Make the Sanest Man go man is amazing throughout, but the moment the crew finally outwits Mudd is so, so satisfying.
8. The Loss of the USS Gagarin
Tumblr media
The Discovery attempts to save the U.S.S. Gagarin from the Klingopns and fails, despite their best efforts. The loss makes the war feel far more real, and highlights the fact the Discovery is just one ship, no matter her spore drive. I also love Lorca's speech here-"There will be time to grieve later"
9.Destruction of the Sarcophagus ship
Tumblr media
A satisfying victory for the crew, and seeing discovery make all the jumps is an epic scene.
10.Mirror Tilly...kinda
Tumblr media
"If you spoke to me that way I would cut out your tongue to lick my boots" What a line. Tilly taking on the role of her mirror counter part is amazing.
11. I.S.S. Shenzhou
Tumblr media
The Mirror Shenzhou arrives, and she is beautiful. A former hero ships twisted mirror half.
12. Burnham kills Captain Connor
Tumblr media
an amazing fight, and what a gut punch, as Burnham is forced to watch Connor die again, this time by her own hand. The crew clapping after the turbolift opens and his body falls out is chilling in the best way.
13. Reveal of the Imperial Palace
Tumblr media
The I.S.S. Charon is an intimidating presense, and way cooler than a palace on a planet.
14. Destruction of the Charon and Discovery jumps Home
Tumblr media
The bombing run Discovery makes on the Charon and her jump back to the prime universe using the resulting show wave is awesome, made even better on a personal layer by Burnham saving Mirror Georgiou-"I couldn't watch her die again"
15. Arrival at Qo'noS
Tumblr media
Discovery jumps to a cave on Qo'nos, and I love the weight of the scene. You can feel gravity grabbing the ship and Discovery struggling against it.
16. We are Starfleet
Tumblr media
The scene the show has been building to, Burnham stands up to command over the plan to destroy the Klingon homeworld, and the crew backs her up.
17. U.S.S. Enterprise
Tumblr media
I remeber when I first saw her. The 1701 returned in all her glory. The TOS version is the definative U.S.S. Enterpise to me, but Discovery gave us an amazing earlier version. It had been decades since the prime 1701 had appeared on screen (we don't count certain series finalies) and its honestly still my favorite moment of the season.
Honorable mention: U.S.S. Discovery
Tumblr media
the original teaser for the show showed a much different Discovery. While I understand this was never meant to be the final, I lover her all the same. It was also the moment Trek was back, after decades we had a new hero ship. I hope STO adds her someday, and that someone makes a model of her. She may not be the offical version, but she deserves love all the same.
5 notes · View notes
seriouslycromulent · 1 year
Text
Soooooo ... I just finished episode 6 of ST: Picard, season 3
... and can I just say ... How can anyone not love this season so far?!
Tumblr media
No, seriously. If folks are complaining about Picard this season, I have to question whether or not they were ever fans of Star Trek, in general, and Star Trek: TNG, specifically.
Forgive me, but this is going to have some spoilers below. So if you haven't watched episode 6 yet, please keep scrolling.
...
Is it safe to squee?
...
OK.
Seriously, folks. I fangirled so hard throughout this entire episode, you would've thought I've never experienced joy before. It was that f*cking awesome!
Oh "The Bounty," how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:
(Almost) the entire TNG band getting back together again in one episode
The first appearance of Geordi LaForge looking all distinguished and sh*t
The younguns sneaking off to try and figure a way out of this mess while the parents argue and deliberate
Riker's "We're all gonna die" line
The trip down starship memory lane including a moment for Seven to reflect on what the USS Voyager meant to her
Me immediately recognizing the Bird of Prey from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
The cameo by Daniel *motherf*ckin'* Davis as Professor Moriarty. Oh. My. God! I literally leapt out of my seat when I saw him appear on screen. That was such a beautiful gift. Michelle Forbes last week was an amazing, but bittersweet gift. But this. This was just a truly beautiful gift. Thank you to whomever made that happen.
Geordi still being a badass engineer even though he's all "play it safe Dad mode" now
The flashback to season 1 Riker for a quick recall of "Pop Goes The Weasel" which he somehow manages to recognize by the isolated keys on their own 30 years later
Brent Spiner cycling through all the "Data's" he's played over his career, and me immediately recognizing Lore before he even said his name
Amanda Plummer just killing it with the villainy. I'm here for all of it!
And that ending?!?! Oh. My. God. Come on. How are folks not loving this?!
See. I honestly don't get the folks who are complaining. I know a lot of us Trekkers are fully enjoying this, but for the ones who aren't ... Honey, I don't know what to tell you. This season has been so much more than I ever expected, and I'm in ... just ... pure bliss with this episode and this season overall.
And no. I'm not just watching this season alone. I loved Star Trek: Picard seasons 1 and 2 as well. So much so that I was sad when I heard they were only going to do one more season.
But oh boy! What a season to end it on.
I am in deep smit with this show. And just to be clear, I also love Star Trek: Discovery, Lower Decks, and Strange New Worlds. I even like Prodigy, even though I've only watched about halfway through the first season.
Yes, I'm one of those Trekkers who loves Trek with my whole chest, so it was unlikely that I wouldn't relish this final season of Picard. But I never expected to love it as much as I have so far.
At this point, I'll probably cry when the season finally ends, but that's OK. Because I'll just watch it all over again to experience this joy one more time.
Tumblr media
15 notes · View notes
gregolwman · 1 year
Text
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to." - Gandalf the Grey , the Lord of the Rings
It's been a long road. Getting from there to here. It's been a long time. But my time is finally near. Sorry, not sorry, but I couldn't resist. Soooooo... It's been a while huh? I know what I said about trying to post something before New Year and all that pizazz. However, I have been in a food coma and then got swamped with work so not have a lot of time to continue my award-winning trash-talking about what Star Trek Discovery could have done to be an interesting show. Therefore without further ado, let's crack into it.
Season 3: Internal Strife! One year has passed since the Klingon War and the Federation has fallen on hard times since Starfleet is at its weakest and there are plenty of sharks smelling blood in the water. The Orion Syndicate, with the secret aid of the Romulan Star Empire, created the Emerald Chain out of several Federation planets and associates by muscling in on their turf. Some people in the upper echelons of the government suspect foul play, as such President T'Rina sends Commander Burnham to investigate the situation and throws her lot with Cleveland Booker, a rogue element within the supposed idyllic lifestyle of the Federation. Eventually, Michael rejoins the Discovery's crew, but often butts heads with Captain Saru since neither of them has any idea how to get past their issues of trust and trauma, even if they come to respect one another. At some point, they are joined by Adira Tal, an inspector with the United Earth Probe Agency after some troubles on the Jovian Moons. Together they find themselves on an emergency trip to the secular world of Trill, where Adira is forced to deal with her past and the isolationist tendencies of the locals. We already know that one of Dax's previous hosts had interactions with the Federation during the 22nd and 23rd centuries so there is no reason for other adventurous symbionts not to do the same plus we can justify the death of Gray with the Klingon's attack on Starbase 1 or just the War in general, as such we have a lovely aesop of letting go of the past and living in the present and such. Anyways, besides that we also have a lost Vulcan colony that has been rediscovered following the Earth-Romulan War, it was thought that the entire place was glassed in nuclear fire. It is here where Michael uncovers a person from her past whom she hoped to never see again and where T'Rina's resolve is tested as whatever the colonists are hiding might be truly damaging to the Federation and Vulcans alike. Spoilers, it is the fact that Romulans and Vulcans can live with one another and complement each other's style of living under the right circumstances. Also, the person that Michael wishes to avoid is her mother, who was neglectful due to her grief and trauma to the point where Michael preferred to spend time with Sarek's family. Michael finally forgives herself and therefore the Georgiou hallucination that has been haunting her fades away as Burnham learned to move on, all the while Saru decides to take a leave of absence and return to his homeworld to help expedite the unification process between the Ba'ul and Kelpiens. However, not everything is going well for everyone as T'Rina gets impeached due to the Council losing confidence in her abilities to lead and the new President-Elect happens to be none other than the hawkish Laira Rillak, who is a Denobulan this time around since these guys barely got featured after Enterprise. The whole thing also benefited the Romulans since now they have more up-to-date information about their enemies without having to start another war.
Season 4: Honesty, not a lot has changed from the original format except that Gray is not coming back to life and Ruon Tarka is none other than former Captain Gabriel Lorca, who is now working with Section 31 after they went underground. Lorca's plan is quite simple as he takes advantage of the chaos happening around him and wants to undermine Starfleet since he is both petty and bitter about his imprisonment, he wants to push Laira to extremism, not unlike that of the Federation First party later in the timeline and also wants to get himself a new apprentice who happens to be the new Warrant Officer Cleveland Booker, who is quite rightfully angry at the resident hyper-advanced space whales for blowing up his planet and family. Hugh Culber, who got a very nasty case of having his back broken during season 1 because his Paul was having the mother of all mental breakdowns following his ill-advised augmentation with space tardigrade DNA, decided to become the onboard Counselor since he finally got over the fact that he spent most of season 2 in a medically induced coma and the break he took from dealing with his husband's bad decisions to deal with his own issues.
With all of this in mind, all I can say is that I have no idea what season 5 will bring and the move from the 23rd century to the 32nd century was not a great plan considering that they could have just done all of the above to obtain the same results, but hey that's just Hollywood's desire to milk that cow for that sweet, sweet cash. Keep in mind that during season 3 they transition from the Enterprise Blues to the Origanl Sweaters, but with something more akin to what those guys at the Axanar production have in mind. Also, I have been noticing that a lot of my followers tended to be from the Dark Side of Tumblr, so I made the executive decision to start blocking anyone who didn't have anything posted on their pages and no titles. After all rule 190 of the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition says "Hear all, trust nothing" and did I hear some things from those "followers" of mine that now I ain't trusting none of y'all without some proper IDs at hand.
This has been Greg for Owlman's Previously Owned Ideas. We do not advise you to let unknown people follow your profile unless you are into that kind of thing. We also do no refunds.
9 notes · View notes
alexsbrain · 1 year
Text
Unpopular Opinion: Star Trek is at a Crossroads
*Spoilers: Please do not read unless you have seen all episodes of season 3 of Picard*
Tumblr media
With the culmination of the final season of Star Trek: Picard due to land next week, it seems that Star Trek and the fandom are at a critical juncture. A quixotic crossroads. Since the relaunch of the franchise on the small screen in 2017 with Discovery, the fandom has become more fractured. This rift is not a simple one which can be explained along lines of age, gender, race, geography, politics, or sexual identity. The newer shows have been dragging the franchise forwards in many ways. With the nostalgic callbacks in season three of Picard packaged in more modern aesthetic and narrative tropes, many fans seem torn between this schism. What the Borg queen might call “those who live like shattered glass.” Through reactions and events surrounding Picard’s third season, I hope to delineate this schism. The essence of Star Trek is currently being debated among fans. Can the franchise heal this rift, and should it?
There are four eras of Star Trek. The original series and subsequent films (1966-1991), the Berman era (1987-2005), the Kelvin timeline (2009-2016) and NuTrek (2017-present), which arguably begins with Discovery. Usually, everything pre-Disco is lumped into Legacy Trek, but the rift between Original Series and Next Gen fans in the late 80s or the vitriolic hate spewed at DS9 in the 90s offers a case study into the various rifts that exist within the fandom.
Star Trek fans are not a monolithic group. Unlike ethnocultural groups, Trekkies have much in common with the Queer community. Only bound through their shared love of something, their identity as a Star Trek fan, as opposed to a shared location, language, or lineage. What unites the fandom is their love of Star Trek. Although many fans might share similar reasons for their love of Trek, everyone’s journey into it and their love of it is unique. 
Unlike other franchises, Star Trek has a set of ideals, or guiding principles, that can be used as a moral code in interacting in the real world. However, not all fans adopt these moral codes or philosophies of peace, dignity, equality, respect, understanding, and collectivism. Some fans seem oblivious to the very message the franchise has been exposing for over fifty years.
Many fans, both long term and new, were looking forward to season one of Picard back in 2020. It would be an understatement to say the show has been divisive during its run, with many fans settling into various camps of the validity of the show either as a whole or through a seasonal rankings system. The absence of Patrick Stewart’s co-stars from TNG, save for Spiner, Frakes, and Sirtis's small contributions, was seen as a wasted opportunity. “We want reunions and cameos,” quipped the fandom, and so for the third season many fans got what they wanted. A re-uniting of the magnificent seven, the crew of the Enterprise D. Older, wiser, and ready for one last mission before they ride off into the proverbial sunset.
When Enterprise went off the air in the spring of 2005 the television landscape was vastly different. Not only was broadcast/cable TV still the predominant delivery of the format, but shows were still mostly episodic in nature and American series still produced over twenty episodes a season. The big-screen relaunch in 2009 with Star Trek seemed to jettison much from Legacy Trek and this is where the rift between the fandom starts to widen further. 
To not update Star Trek to modern storytelling conventions would have been absurd.
During Star Trek’s small screen fallow period not only were there formatting upheavals in television, shorter seasons, serialization, mystery boxes, and the habit of killing off beloved characters but the delivery system of television changed. Broadcast/Cable TV was being usurped by streaming services and the funding model of TV drastically changed. Within this time span of twelve years, the essence of the medium changed, so that when Discovery launched in 2017 the show not only radically altered the Star Trek format familiar to most fans, but it started driving another wedge within the fandom. To not update Star Trek to modern storytelling conventions would have been absurd. Star Trek is set in the future and has always been pushing the boundaries of narrative storytelling. 
Not only did the format of Discovery upset swaths of the fandom but the inclusivity of the show and darker tone, reminiscent of DS9, continues to ruffle feathers. Picard and Strange New Worlds were thought of as a bridge between this rift within the fandom, yet early in season one of Picard it became clear that the trappings of Legacy Trek were dead. What many loved, Berman-era storytelling was never coming back. Strange New Worlds blends episodic and serialized storytelling but has been described by one podcaster as the “Vegas” version of the planet-of-week model. Devoid of the hard-hitting humanist stories science fiction is known for.
It would be too simplistic to define this rift as generational, or Legacy versus NuTrek, and not fully capture the nuances of the divide. There are several good-faith critiques of the newer shows by fans. Many feel the newer iterations of Trek are too dystopian as they lack the optimistic utopianism present in Legacy Trek. Some argue the high-minded science fiction stories are missing, serialized storytelling is not working for the franchise, and some simply think the new shows are visually too dark. With the relaunch of the Enterprise D, many fans shouted praise as they could finally see the interior of a starship again. The inclusion of the Borg this season seemed like a no-brainer, considering they were the baddest of the bad on TNG, and tie into Picard’s trauma and identity, his last hurdle, but some fans rolled their eyes with aplomb at their return decrying, “not again.”
The dialing down of Seven’s and Rafi’s relationship seems to be the heteronormalizing of season three. It might just be that a breakup or strained relationship was better for dramatic purposes, but it seems like we’ve really returned to 90s Trek when Queer stories and identities were heavily bubble wrapped in metaphor. Yet if, as one Tweeter commented, the Borg stand partially as a metaphor for the Queer/Trans journey/identity through Seven of Nine, then the mass assimilation of the youth by the Borg is rather a tragic and regrettable statement on how Gen Z is perceived further dividing the fandom. Gene Roddenberry’s vision was one of unity and if Star Trek cannot seem to unify the fandom in some fashion, then perhaps it’s failing. Or perhaps us fans are failing it somehow.
Others say the franchise was already in tip-top shape before season three of Picard which points towards Discovery’s torch-baring, its popularity and revamping of the franchise.
While season three of Picard is seen as a return to form for the franchise by many, there are fans who think the season is mediocre at best, riddled with cliché, that when you strip away the nostalgia and critically analyze the show it appears full of holes. Others say the franchise was already in tip-top shape before season three of Picard which point towards Discovery’s torch-baring, its popularity and revamping of the franchise. Disco gave birth to five new series after all. This points to an identity crisis of the franchise that plays out within the fandom. What is Star Trek actually? And where the heck is it going?
Again, there is no monolithic answer. Some fans love the totality of the franchise, others are here because they love space and science, for others it’s optimism, some the philosophy and moral tales, others the exploration of humanity, the diversity both on screen and through IDIC, and some simply for the starships and space battles. For instance, the lack of a weekly Federation saucer-type starship in seasons one and two of Picard was remedied for season three and we got the Titan-A, but again, some fans are sick of staring at its dimly lit bulkheads.
A small quadrant of the fandom will never seem to be satisfied with the franchise at present. These keyboard warriors range from the anti-progressive, subtle plot hole decriers (if one thing is off it throws me out of the narrative types), toxic misogynists, and retcon/canon inconsistency haters. There is probably nothing the franchise can do to appease this small yet vocal segment of the fans. For the anti-progressives the answer is simple, turn back the clock. In a small manner the third season of Picard has managed to do that. Not only has the old TNG gang reunited on the D but the two Queer characters have been heteronormalized for most if not all, of the season and the youth have been co-opted by an interconnective hivemind hell-bent on eliminating the unassimilated. Yikes.
What outsiders might not understand about the fandom is its unrelenting discourse on the thing they love. Respectful heated arguments are par for the course, yet since the relaunch in 2017, the occurrence of a more toxic discourse has intensified. This coincides with the assholing of humanity through social media. 
Some fans announced Star Trek is “back” much to the chagrin of fans who said the same thing in 2017.
What should have been the bridge between this rift in the fandom, season three of Picard, has simply increased the schism. Some fans announced Star Trek is “back” much to the chagrin of fans who said the same thing in 2017. Additionally, Discovery fans are often positioned in a defensive stance when talking about the show on social media. Coincidentally, many of these fans are BIPOC and/or Queer. Discovery represents to them the olive branch of inclusivity that was merely nascent, or missing, in Legacy Trek. The quiet announcement of the show’s cancellation seemed like a slap on the face. However, in the current streaming world five seasons of a show point towards its success rather than its failure.
Of course, days later a new series was announced in the Disco 32nd-century timeline, Star Fleet Academy. In gestation in one form or another since the 80s a Star Fleet Academy show is long overdue. The initial reaction to the announcement and its setting, Disco’s timeline, was divisive amongst the fans. Some fans are not content with the branching out of live-action instalments, trying to appeal to different fans identities, they seem to want all the series to speak to them, often in a white cis-gendered heteronormative voice. 
Ever since Gene Roddenberry decided to create a new show in the 80s without the original series cast members Star Trek bifurcated. Each new installment has further split the fandom. Time has created a strained community that is both inclusive and exclusive, content and discontent, grateful and unappreciative, progressive and conservative. By definition, Star Trek is now contradictory. The fandom is mostly an enjoyable experience, but fans still have to block and mute each other, defend their show and their identities, nay their mere existence to others, and many face harassment.
If Star Trek is many things to many people how does a franchise appease the vast majority of the fans? With Strange New Worlds' future uncertain after season three, its lack of abundant representation for marginalized groups within series regulars, and the eventual launch of Star Fleet Academy in the 32nd-century there will be a chance for the franchise to create a new live-action series in the next couple of years. One targeted at the adult audiences of Discovery, Picard, and SNW. The answer to these questions might lie in Matalas’s pitch for a Star Trek Legacy show. A chance to bring back characters/actors/storylines from Legacy shows and mix them with newer characters and possibly dare I say, new enemies and antagonists. However, the progressivism of Discovery and its inclusivity has delighted a large swath of the fandom, they finally felt seen and heard and not bringing that forward to an adult-targeted live-action Star Trek outing could spell the death of the franchise by abandoning the very ideals of Roddenberry-ism.
Everyone who blubbered like a baby at seeing the Enterprise D again and said “There’s no crying in Star Trek” needs to take a long overdue look at themselves in the mirror.
How can a show set in the future not be progressive? This is one of the key issues facing the fandom. In a perfect world, a Legacy show would combine the best of NuTrek with the best of Legacy Trek. The show would resemble all peoples of the world, have kick-ass starships, and have fabulous storytelling with old and new friends. With one episode left to go, Picard has been both a huge success and something of a step backwards. Everyone who blubbered like a baby at seeing the Enterprise D again and said “There’s no crying in Star Trek” needs to take a long overdue look at themselves in the mirror. Star Trek provides hope to many, hope that we as a species are going to survive, prosper, and learn to celebrate our differences. When the fandom cannot even celebrate differences within the fandom there is a serious problem. To quote Cassius, “The fault…is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”
4 notes · View notes
pierregaslyliked · 2 years
Note
Watching the transition from fandom to fandom has been *fascinating* (im suddenly learning a lot about racing?), but also also ok as someone who knows 0% about Star Trek but wants to break in, where should I start? ;~ ;
Thats the ultimate tumblr experience haha! I got sucked into racing by a tumblr user who started posting abt f1, many years after whatever fandom i followed them for 😂 Super glad to see you stick around :)
Honestly? Theres not single good place! If you like star wars, the AOS trilogy is the best start imo. Its star wars but with star trek characters. You’ll get the basic universe stuff like what are different aliens, romulans and vulcans history, whats prime directive etc etc. Also if you dont start with AOS/kelvin timeline, you’ll hate kelvin timeline later for all the lore mistakes hahah And then Its like. Whichever series sounds the best to you. Star Trek has been going on since 1960s, if anyone says there’s a correct order theyre a liar, that you need to watch ALL the tv shows, theyre the worst types of gatekeepers, they should rewatch star trek cos their behavior is not v trekkie of them.
So heres a tiny breakdown of all the tv shows so you can choose which one you like the best :)
TOS - the original series - goofy and silly but also serious sometimes. Its possibly the show where hope about future is at it’s peak, mby only beaten by TNG. It is Very Old and personally, i couldnt get past the oldness.
TNG - the next generation - honestly? Its quite similiar to tos. Episodic, some episodes are good, some not. Some ep’s are goofy, some are serious. I like to play TNG as background noise when im cleaning or working and when i miss tv shows that were episodic and not made to be binged with 10h plot.
DS9 - deep space 9 - Its much darker. Its not about a ship but about a space station. This series allows hurt and pain and bad answers to be the right ones. Its not that begginer friendly but hey. Thats the beauty of star trek. You can start anywhere and it’s the right place. It’s a space station show so you get massive plot arcs, stuff that’s more consistent etc.
VOY - voyager - they took a star fleet crew and threw them sooo far away, the crew is isolated. They can’t return home, they are against unknown with no support and they need to make do.
ENT - enterprise - I literally can’t tell you anything abt this one besides ‘the last tv show before very long Star Trek drought’. After ENT ended, no new tv show was made for 18 years. It’s set before TOS I think?? Literally 0 clue abt ENT
MODERN TREKS: (my most beloved <3)
DIS/DISCO/STD - Discovery - this is my series!! My most beloved of all!! I love discovery. IMO best crew, bestest ship, bestest themes etc etc. it’s not goofy. It’s not silly. It has In Your Face themes, it’s not really subtle with them. First season is about morality of war and weapons and how far can you go in war. Season 2 is mirror universe and I don’t remember what the theme was besides ‘oh hey alternative fucked up universe’. Season 3 starts the FUTURE, it’s massively set into future, I don’t want to spoiler it but it’s amazingly written, it’s much more subtle, it’s about traumas and ptsd and surviving against odds. You get some of the best characters like Book and his cat Grudge. Season 4 is about survivors guilt and a threat that randomly kills massive amount of people (kinda sounds like a pandemic doesn’t it. It isn’t logical in who it kills. Kills massive amount of people. Why did you survive when your most loved ones didn’t. The constant threat of not knowing where it will hit next, are you next? Is your family next?). DISCO in general is about trauma, all the characters post season 2 are either POC, disabled or queer. It’s progressive against our modern standards and it’s set in context and culture of now. I love disco the most <3<3<3 it’s not as dark as I make it sound haha but it simply doesn’t have funny and silly episodes, it tends to take itself seriously :)
PIC - Picard - it will honestly be hard to watch if you haven’t watched at least SOME TNG. Season 1 is superb, deals with technology, identity and lots of other stuff I don’t remember rn haha. Season 2 was a massive disappointment for me. Picard is old now and is dealing with his past. Just like DISCO, it takes itself seriously and doesn’t do silly and goofy episodes but also like DISCO it’s not a flaw :)
SNW - Strange New Worlds - Disco spin off, young kirk and young spock series. I haven’t watched it yet, so idk if it makes sense as stand alone. This one is currently the fave of ppl who are like ‘modern treks suck eggs :/‘, it’s said to be the most star treky of modern treks and I’m very excited to watch it!! It has the serious episodes + very goofy ones thing
But like. Start where you want to :) every place is good. You prefer the themes of isolation? VOY sounds amazing. Dark series that sometimes says ‘there’s no good options’? DS9! Do you want to feel hope and optimism for future? TOS or TNG. Do you like cats, want to psychoanalyze yourself and want a show that is progressive for the year 2022 and deals with issues we are focused on now like is technology a threat, invisible threat that makes no logic in how it attacks like a pandemic? Modern treks!!
Sorry for such a long answer dhdhdjjd it’s 4am, there’s a thunder outside and rain and I had so much fun writing this and I just love Star Trek so much. There’s 60 years of Star Trek to bite into and no place is right. Whatever ppl say, it’s bcs they grew up on that series. My mom would have said TNG is the best, she grew up on it. I know ppl who grew up on VOY and say VOY is the best. I’m clearly DISCO person as this is the ongoing series that I find myself most identifying with :) you don’t have to watch ALL of Star Trek to be a real fan too, it’s goddamn 60 years of TV, who has time and life for that!
5 notes · View notes
tvsotherworlds · 1 year
Text
0 notes
Text
When TV shows perform a “body swap” (SNW, Orville)
Some thoughts on the latest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and the long-awaited return of The Orville (despite my complaining about access, I was able to view the first episode of Season 3).
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The tl;dr before the spoiler break (and there will be plot spoilers for both): Both shows were excellent. But, while one featured a body swap between two characters; the other episode seemingly featured a body swap between two shows.
“Spock Amok”, the latest episode of SNW (and I’m told the midway point of the all-too-brief first season) might be the first all-out comedy episode (outside of Lower Decks, which is meant to be a sitcom) the Trek franchise has attempted since Enterprise’s infamous “A Night in Sickbay” nearly 20 years ago, but it’s much more successful. At this point I’ve given up trying to reconcile SNW as being part of “prime” Trek canon - it can’t be. And I’m fine with that. I WANT them to say it’s a reboot/reimagining because I hope it will free them up to do more stories like this which give us underserved characters like T’Pring and Chapel in a new light. Unfortunately I’m finding myself shipping Spock/T’Pring and Spock/Chapel at the same time. I know I’m not alone. Ethan Peck’s Spock and Gia Sandhu’s T’Pring and Ethan and Jes Bush’s Christine Chapel have amazing chemistry together. So do Gia and Jes, for that matter.
Unlike Discovery and Picard, which (a few Orville-esque moments aside) feel like plot-heavy, serious-to-a-fault shows, SNW has so far managed to replicate the feel of TOS in a way I don’t think we’ve ever seen since, well, TOS. “Spock Amok” (which is NOT the reimagining of “Amok Time” the ads make it out to be, though the opening certainly pays tribute to the TOS episode, right down to recreating the famous fight music!) is a joyous episode built around a classic sci-fi trope, the body swap. Due to a katra-related ceremony going off the rails in an attempt at Vulcan couples’ therapy, Spock and his fiancee, T’Pring, swap bodies just as the two are being called upon to take part in some serious business (negotiations to recruit a new Federation ally for Spock and for T’Pring it’s the apprehension of a Vulcan criminal whose crime is apparently being an asshole). We’ve seen swaps before in Trek (Turnabout Intruder, for one) and in other shows like Farscape, but it’s handled so well here, it stands apart. Meanwhile, Chapel (whose love life is discussed in a bit of detail) finds herself in the middle of the two, M’Benga goes fishing, and La’an and Una try to prove that Una’s lower-decks nickname “Where Fun Goes to Die” is untrue by playing through a wild set of tasks known as “Enterprise Bingo”.
The whole thing looks and feels so much like a Lower Decks episode (especially the whole Enterprise Bingo subplot which even connects to the “lower decks crew” concept), I was expecting to see a time-travelling Mariner and Boimler to turn up. That’s not a complaint - I love Lower Decks.
In contrast, The Orville: New Horizons decided to launch its new season - the first made for streaming service Hulu - with an episode so dark and serious it puts the darkest moments of DS9 and Discovery to shame. It’s hard to believe this was ever considered a comedy series. I have to be careful how I discuss the episode because I know “trigger words” are a thing. Basically, after robotic Isaac finds himself ostracized by the crew due to his actions in Season 2 (he was revealed to be a “sleeper” agent of the Kalons, a robotic race bent on wiping out all life in Orville’s version of the Federation. He was brought back to the side of good but not until thousands of people were killed in a battle), he basically ... commits deactivation. The episode does not shy away from using the S-word here and it features characters on both sides of the issue. I suppose back in the 1980s US network TV might have promoted this as “a very special” episode.
People who think Seth MacFarlane is all fart jokes and edgy humour (or, for that matter, TNG homages) may find themselves surprised. As writer and director of the episode, he approaches both sides of the issue with remarkable candor. He takes a side, to be sure, but he allows both sides to be heard. And the episode has angered some fans - in much the same way Trek, at its most powerful, has been known to do. (And I don’t mean regarding canon, quality, or any of that). Technically, it’s feature length (about 70 minutes), so Seth allows scenes to breath and conversations to take place. It makes for a slow-moving episode at times, but ... it works. Incidentally, although one character says “bullshit” which is a word Fox TV wouldn’t have allowed, at least in the first episode Seth hasn’t turned The Orville into a swearing-and-sex fest on streaming. Other than that one swear there’s nothing here we might not have seen on Fox ... except, possibly the storyline. There have been questions asked as to why Seth moved The Orville to streaming and I think the ability to tell stories like this may have been a reason.
Seth also takes the brave step of allowing a season premiere to (after some initial awwwww it’s back! moments) focus on a brand-new character, Charly Burke who, at first, resembles Alara Kitan a bit too much (give actress Anne Winters dark hair and she’d be a dead ringer at times for Halston Sage, and they even give Charly her own superpower (the ability to visualize in 4 dimensions), but she very quickly reveals a voice that has already reminded some fans of Ensign Ro from late-era TNG, which again is not necessarily a bad thing.
Overall an excellent episode, if a slightly concerning one. One reason why Trek fans have gravitated to The Orville since 2017 is because it provided a counterbalance (or, for some, an outright alternative) to modern Star Trek which is seen by many as being too serious, too political, and playing too fast and loose with established canon. The Orville felt like a modern-day remake of Star Trek TNG by someone who understood what made TNG popular, not to mention TOS. But this week, at least, it felt like Strange New Worlds is the show that has the formula, while The Orville felt like an episode you might expect of Discovery. Again, not necessarily a complaint from me because it was so well done the episode title, “Electric Sheep” (itself a reference to the iconic Philip K. Dick story about artificial life that was adapted as Blade Runner) might as well have been subtitled “The Orville’s Emmy Nomination Episode.”
Back to SNW: since I’ve made the choice not to accept it as “prime” canon, I am greatly enjoying it. Sadly, I know people have written off the show simply because of certain names on the credits. Right now it’s Alex Kurtzman. 10 years ago it was J.J. Abrams. 20 years ago it was Rick Berman and Brannon Braga. At least with Trek I don’t play that game. I chose to no longer watch Discovery and Picard because they no longer felt like Star Trek (and had other negatives like characters and storylines I did not like). But Strange New Worlds is actually Star Trek with likeable characters, homages galore to the original series (even the original theme from TOS is established as existing in the SNW version of the Trek universe when its fanfare is heard coming from a device during “Spock Amok”), and interesting stories. This is what we should have got back in 2017. If you’ve been avoiding SNW because it has the same pedigree as Discovery and Picard, I’d suggest giving it a try. So far SNW Season 1 has been the strongest first season of a Trek series since (and I don’t say this lightly) the first season of TOS. Every Trek series since TOS has had weak (or at least weak-er) first seasons, with some shows taking so long to find their voice - like Enterprise - it’s too late. Although the DISCO episodes with Pike were hit-and-miss, and the less said about the Short Trek with the Tribbles, the better, SNW has been firing at Warp 9 since the first episode.
As for The Orville, I’m glad to see it back. It delivered an excellent opening episode with amazing work by everyone involved. But I am concerned that if it swings too serious it may lose much of the appeal that made it so popular in the first place. But I look forward to seeing how the new season plays out and I still have immense goodwill towards it, while SNW is rapidly restoring my own goodwill toward live-action Star Trek series.
5 notes · View notes