Is it just me, or is Star Trek going the wrong way?

[Focus Abbey]

How about MORE optimistic that we've ever seen be for?

I just want to affirm that idea.

The thing that really frustrated me about DISCO season 3 was that after taking the crew for a giant leap into the future, the writers fell back on the tired and predictable trope of placing them in a post-apocalypse. To me that seems like sheer laziness.

Why not present the characters with the establishment of a Federation that achieved its goals and then lost its way? Or why not explore the challenges of living in a technological utopia? That's something Mark Farinas undertook in an episode of his Star Trek comic, and like it or not, it was bold and creative. There are so many cool, unexpected paths the writers could have taken, but no such luck.

 

[Mudd]

Utopias are boring shit. Good stories about them are about the folk who defy the ideal order or don't fit in.

 

[Bornin1980something]

Utopia are boring shit. Good stories about them are about the folk who defy the ideal order or don't fit in.

Aren't you one of the writers of Tin Man? That certainly nailed not fitting in.

 

[The Wormhole]

Why not present the characters with the establishment of a Federation that achieved its goals and then lost its way?

That wouldn't really be much different, you'd still have people crying over it being against Gene's Vision, or they'd be whining that the Federation has basically turned into the Time Lords from Doctor Who.

Or why not explore the challenges of living in a technological utopia?

That just sounds boring as fuck.

 

[The Old Mixer]

Utopia are boring shit. Good stories about them are about the folk who defy the ideal order or don't fit in.

Which could have been the Disco crew. Imagine them going to a future where the Federation has prospered, but become more of a dystopian nanny state...and they'd be asking, "Did we create this?"

 

[Mudd]

Aren't you one of the writers of Tin Man? That certainly nailed fitting in.

Well, Elbrun had definite social anxiety.

 

[fireproof78]

Or why not explore the challenges of living in a technological utopia?

What challenges? The point of utopia is basically all is well. It's hard to craft drama from that.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

To me Trek is going in the right general direction, but with severely mixed results in terms of quality of writing.

 

[Danja]

Utopias are boring shit. Good stories about them are about the folk who defy the ideal order or don't fit in.

Why not present the characters with the establishment of a Federation that achieved its goals and then lost its way?

You've just described Star Trek: Picard.

 

[Mudd]

It's not really going in much of any direction; just treading water.

 

[Danja]

It's not really going in much of any direction; just treading water.

Akiva Goldsman freely admits to having forgotten to write an ending for S1.

At any rate, we have two more seasons coming. (Things should be better this time around. They've had eight months to sit with the script.)

 

[Focus Abbey]

You've just described Star Trek: Picard.

Hmm—I guess you could say that. It seems to me that Picard presents a Federation that has become undermined and isolationist long before achieving anything like, say, Galactic unity. The show spends most of its time in lawless backwaters that seem to have nothing to do with the UFP as it was described and presented in TNG.

 

[dupersuper]

Utopias are boring shit. Good stories about them are about the folk who defy the ideal order or don't fit in.

That just sounds boring as fuck.

I'll never understand this mindset.

You've just described Star Trek: Picard.

Exactly. *shudder*

 

[DEWLine]

Chakotay...was mishandled. Horribly so at times, until Kirsten Beyer's novels.

As to the main question re: Trek in the here-and-now as a whole? No, I'm not seeing a disaster in progress here.

 

[Bornin1980something]

Chakotay...was mishandled. Horribly so at times, until Kirsten Beyer's novels.

She wasn't having to work against Robert Beltram.

 

[Danja]

She wasn't having to work against Robert Beltram.

He's much better at taking direction on the printed page.

 

[StarMan]

Akiva Goldsman freely admits to having forgotten to write an ending for S1.

He could always take it a step further and forget writing a beginning and middle as well.

Didn't JJ have a similar revelation recently re: Rise Of Skywalker? Perhaps they caught up for coffee and shared a eureka! moment.

 

[Steve Roby]

Didn't JJ have a similar revelation recently re: Rise Of Skywalker? Perhaps they caught up for coffee and shared a eureka! moment.

Did Ron Moore ever have that eureka moment about Galactica? For my money, that's the most disappointing and frustrating "making it up as we go along" series I've seen. In his case, it was made worse by all his "they would never let me do THIS on Star Trek!" moments. Yeah, and frequently they were right.

 

[Tenacity]

Making a statue of Chakotay would be kind of redundant, wouldn't it?

Only if it were made of wood, then it could be racist too.

 

[Yanks]

Old Trek: Build a social commentary into the story.

New Trek: Build a story around a social commentary.