Let's see TOS Kirk - Scarred by massacre on Tarsus IV. Ambivalent relationship w/ father. Spock - Tense relationship with father. More daddy issues. Terrible television here so far. McCoy - Shut off his father's life support in an act of mercy, days before a cure for his boneitis is found. Haunts him to this day. TNG Picard - Jean Luc, y u no maek wine like all other Picards? Son, I am disappoint Riker - His dad's a dick Worf - His dad's dead. And framed as a traitor. Troi - Dead dad. Sad. Issues. Data & Lore - I don't even have to explain this. Daddy issues. I could go on.
During TOS, we never hear word one about either of Kirk's parents. I thought Sybok made all that up, and pushed it into McCoy mind in order to manipulate him. (sob)
Well, I can't offer an opinion on that show since I've never seen it, but I will say that one show I've watched recently that offered the kind of storytelling balance I like was Smallville. That had the daddy issues and angst that the kids today think is "deep" while at the same time it knew how to have fun. Of course, it went overboard on the rock music, but that's another subject entirely.
Hell, no! Every other series made out there, from Star Wars, to Battlestar, to even Doctor Who is dark and gritty already. Just because we live in post 9-11 world, does not mean I want it crammed down my throat. I like Trek because it shown man had actually gotten better, actually grew up and petty thing we fight over now is gone.
I totally agree! If the SF-series of today are a mirror of the society and times we live in, then I'm really worried.
Star Trek only looks bright and happy because during TOS no one ever thought about the fact that they could die or be horribly tortured or be made a plaything of a godlike alien at any moment of the day and there wasn't a damned thing they could do about it, frankly I'm surprised most of the people in TOS were still sane. Anything after that was just the trek-verse becoming boring as everyone held on to the whole utopia thing. Personally I think Star Trek should go back to the days wen the universe was exciting and dangerous and take it a little more seriously when the darker things happen, while also having some fun occasionally.
Even in supposedly dark DS9 the characters were emotional Gumbys, just like TOS. Ziyal is cruelly murdered? Thats okay, lets have a Klingon wedding with plenty of hijinx! Odo helped the enemy? whatever, we forgive him and reinstate him as chief of security. Sisko advises the Bajorans against the interests of the Federation? Starfleet doesnt even notice. There's a terrible war going on, and the future of the Federation nags in the balance? That doesn't stop the station's officers from becoming obsessed with a holosuite baseball tournament.
I would love to see Dick Cheney on Star Trek, some kind of guest spot, or a recurring role (he's retired, he has the time). Mr Cheney could play the wise and experienced commander in chief of Starfleet, the kind of Admiral who has his people backs, but can send them into harms way to save civilization from the evil that exists in the galaxy. Maybe his daughter Mary and new daughter-in-law Heather could be the first gay married Captain and First Officer in command of a Starship, really is about time. But Star Trek: Cheney might have too much wonder and hopefulness for a "DARK TREK."
The folks in TOS knew, from the beginning that, as Kirk said, "Risk IS the business." Dwelling on when and how one's going to get killing while serving on board a statship would be a vain occupation. Same with TNG. The first 2 or 3 years of TNG showed how unsafe and dangerous space could be, and everyone on the Enterprise knew that, they just are not the paranoid, panic mongering people you see on stuff like...say, Doctor Who....the English public in the new series panic at anything beyond the mundane, the Daleks would be doing them a favor by wiping them out. And regarding Utopia, whatever they have going in that world, socially, economically and politcally, sure's a hell of a lot better than what we got, and if given a chance, I'd go there, and flip this world off.
So right. This is one of the things that annoys me most about any ST show....those people go through a lot of truly horrible stuff, I mean the writers do real numbers on them, and what are the repercussions? Nada! Like O'Brien, who's the resident butt monkey (twice he got imprisoned - he spent a life sentence in his mind, in a horrible place, where he did horrible things), and it never, ever affects him. He is body-snatched and replaced by a robot and has a war trauma, he time-travels and sees everyone he knows getting blown up, he's fought the Borg...I could go on and on. He never changes. It never affects him. Not one bit. He just doesn't give a fuck. That guy's more of a sociopath than Sheldon Cooper and Sherlock Holmes put together. Yikes. Dark and gritty might be the wrong choice of words....I love optimism as much as the next girl, but Jesus, can actions please have consequences? Overcoming personal limitations, difficulties, conflict, fear, prejudice....that's what courage and optimism mean. If nothing amounts to anything, then being moral and brave and noble and chipper is not really an achievement at all.
The level of emotional obliviousness displayed by Star Trek characters (for the convenience of moving the story along) would be laughed off the screen anywhere on cable nowadays except maybe on USA, which doesnt do sci fi, and SyFy, which barely does sci fi. Wherever the next show ends up, it will almost certainly be someplace where the audience demands more emotional realism. That will be one change we'll see in the next series and I doubt it will be the only one.
Me too. When the fans say they want the next series to have "repercussions", what they are really saying is wallowing in emotions. Doing that is not healthy and not good, and I will never see the attraction to it. I'm sure the Star Trek characters dealt with their emotions,such as Picard with his assimliation, we just never saw it. You're not supposed to do that in public anyway. That's for you alone in private. Grieve, then pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move onto the next thing. That's what we saw in Star Trek, and that's how it should be in real life.
Agreed. Changes are necessary because ST needs to adapt to modern TV. To me, it's one of the most important things, having the characters actually feel the emotional impact of an event for more than the rest of the episode.
I hate zombies so I wouldn't watch that. The Andorians are going extinct in the novels, that's why they left the federation because the withheld medical information in the Typhon books, which I love btw. I'd love to see a darker trek series.