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

I can't live the buttoned down Picard sweater life like you; I want it all. The duranium lows...the transparent aluminum highs...the well lit, carpeted middles. Sure, I might offend a few of the "pointed ears" with my cocky stride and emotional outbursts. Oh, I'll never be the darling of the so-called "Gene's Visionaries", who cluck their tongues, stroke their beards, and talk about, "What is to be done with this Paramount Plus Trek?"

 

We're in the dark ages as far as Trek is concerned. For a franchise supposedly based on the human potential for unity and peace, the two "flagship" series on the air right now have done more to divide the fan base than anything before. Discovery is just bad. Dark, depressing, violent stories. Unlikable characters. On the nose (more like bash over the head) political messaging. Inconsistent writing that's disrespectful of canon. (yeah, that's important, you fucks.)

It's not nearly as bad as Picard though. I'll never forgive Paramount from taking the best, most inspirational character in the history of Trek and putting him in this shit show. Redlettermedia and the Critical Drinker explain why this show is shit better than I ever could so go watch them, but suffice to say it's awful.

BUT, despite that stupid hack Kurtzman getting a 5 year extension, I believe that real Trek will come back some day in all its glory. Eventually. It's going to take a while. Society has a lot to get past, especially culturally and politically. The core of Star Trek story is just too strong and to central to a universal shared truth of humanity to be held down forever. We're all explorers on a multi-generational mission to improve ourselves. Although we're currently caught in a late-stage capitalist hellscape and divisive culture war, it won't be like this forever.

 

You didn't live through the Enterprise era around here, didja? Stewey. A/T vs T/T shippers. Whether the tech was too advanced or not advanced enough. Akiraprise. Or the 2009 movie era. Or Voyager. My God, the Tuvix wars. Or TNG. Good God, the carnage over Kirk vs Picard. Division has been baked into Trek's DNA since TMP. Or maybe even TAS. But yes, as you say, some day the Kurtzman era will end, and then 10 or so years later someone ELSE will take over, and people will wail and gnash their teeth over how good we had it with Discovery. The cycle continues.

 

This isn't the Dark Ages. I lived through the "Dark Ages" of Trek in-production(1987-89). This isn't remotely it.

 

Jesus you probably read David Brooks articles while eating a mayonnaise sandwich as you congratulate yourself on seeing how both sides are crazy amirite?

Look, centrist. I started watching Star Trek in the late 80s. I was in college during Enterprise. It wasn't my cup of tea. I thought the temporal cold war storyline was completely unnecessary. Some of the characters were undeveloped and unnecessary. I remember the passionate discussion among Trek fans about the merits of that series while it was new. But I don't recall anyone ever trying to claim that it wasn't Star Trek. Or that it went against everything Star Trek stood for. Because it was genuine star trek, just not the best example.

That's not what's happening today. The conversations aren't about shipping or who's the best captain or how the prime directive ought to be applied. It's about how the Trek of today is unrecognisable as Trek, on a fundamental level. Some of those opinions are very legitimate and based on more than taste. Your dismissal of any discussion as part of some unchanging infinite cycle is reductive and misguided.

 

I was posting here when Enterprise started airing. It got the same stupid bullshit that Discovery is getting now. Voyager got stupid bullshit, mostly a lot of sexist shit about how Janeway didn't know how to be a captain and lost the ship. DS9 got a lot of stupid bullshit and if you dig up the old fandom magazines from the era, so did TNG. Trekkies complaining about new Star Trek while it's airing only to later defend it's legacy when a new show starts is a time honored tradition. In ten years Trekkies will be complaining about how some new show is destroying the legacy of Discovery. It's weird as hell, but you get used to it.

Star Trek is probably doing the best it's ever done, we're close to having new Star Trek year round. Fans are just picky and love to complain about it, so much they tune in next week just to complain again and eventually grow to love it.

 

Ah yes, using "centrist" as an insult and having a go at them because they don't agree.

Star Trek takes many shapes and styles - for some of us, these shows continue to do what the Trek of yore did (albeit in a different manner but that isn't a bad thing), for others it doesn't and that is fine too.

I'd say take things down a notch as there is validity to the argument that Pic and Disco diverge from the style, aesthetic, tone in places of the Berman era but going in all guns blazing isn't going to engender a reasoned discussion but rather it will end up in batching and sniping.

 

Yeah, Trek isn't being destroyed from the inside out so let's cut down on the Doomsday histrionics and name-calling.

 

Remember when Enterprise got cancelled, could you imagine that we'd be getting an ongoing Captain Pike series?

 

I was hoping for ENT to be revived, or some other new content in its place. I didn't expect a Pike series to finally happen.

 

I can't imagine any of us saw a Pike series coming. At all.

 

To be truthful, a Pike-era show or one leading into it, an April-era show say, was what I'd wanted all along instead of ENT. I wouldn't have believed we'd ever get it, but I'm quite glad it's happening.

 

If this is Trek going the wrong way, then full speed ahead.

 

Both of these things are not new, at all.

 

I miss Star Trek when it had subtle political commentary.

 

The Vietnam allegory in "A Private Litttle War(TOS)" wasn't much more subtle. But hey, nuTrek is poisoned by politics so it's ruined.

 

Which means they show a gay couple as being completely normal and a trans person's pronouns are accepted without question or comment. It's a shame that's too much for some people because it's embarrassing that it took Star Trek this long to reach that point. It's sad that so many fans of a show about a wonderful future want to drag it into the past.

 

And they even downplay Stamets and Culber so it's not like their relationship is THE focus of the series. At this point if the occasional loving gesture between two grown men in Starfleet makes you rage your problem isn't Star Trek at all. You're just a grouchy asshole.

 

How so is always my question? Star Trek is, by design, a large sandbox to operate in. It tells dark stories, as well as lighter ones. The biggest thing when people say Star Trek is "unrecognizable" is that it doesn't look like TNG era. Fair enough if that's what you grew up with as Trek. I had TOS as Trek and the first episode I watched involved Kirk shooting his best friend, and the second ended on the note of a bride mourning the death of her groom all alone. The idea that Trek is always a shinning light of optimism is woefully simplistic understanding of Trek's own history. Especially when the top rated films and episodes involve incredibly dark themes, like Best of Both Worlds.

Yes, TNG was maligned as "not Trek" because it was, to use your terms, unrecognizable as Star Trek. That's what Star Trek does. It gets updated, it changes, and it, like any other pop culture franchise, has hallmarks of the time it is created in. That doesn't make it less Star Trek. That just makes it not for every single person who is a Star Trek fan. Just like TNG was not for everyone, TMP is not for everyone, etc.

What is new is the ability to showcase the knee-jerk reactionism online immediately to air out grievances and claiming the ruination of all Trek, and how we will never forgive them for perceived slights and insults by production teams who dare to present their own take rather than conforming to past iterations. What is strange is this franchise's supposed claims around an optimistic future when there is a strong desire to keep Trek locked in the past, never changing its look or approach to comfort nostalgic feelings. It's confusing as I'll get out that Star Trek is both about the future yet must adhere to it's past at every turn.

All of which is wielded as a weapon against people who have a shared common interest in this franchise, yet insult each other at the barest slight. As Spock would say, fascinating.

 

There are lots of things I don't like about DSC but they're not the things being mentioned that are "ruining" Star Trek. One can be a Trek fanatic, not love a particular series or movie and the world will keep turning. Trek will survive.

At the end of the day we all pick and choose what we love from Trek and downplay or ignore the rest. It's called being a fan.