Then again, in any series, we are only witnessing a handful of each of the most dramatic (some would say "exciting") moments in The United Federation of Planets' day-to-day operations; it would be safe to say it oftentimes functions as intended.
Is it time to put Star Trek to rest?
- Thread starter Dar70
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Then again, in any series, we are only witnessing a handful of each of the most dramatic (some would say "exciting") moments in The United Federation of Planets' day-to-day operations; it would be safe to say it oftentimes functions as intended.
I don't think you're supposed to assume Ron Tracy et al are more representative of the Federation than Kirk is.
A corrupt institution would likely not promote, much less retain, officers like Kirk and Spock, who recognize individuals like Tracey and Cartwright as criminals and bring them to justice.
Why are there so many antagonists in the ranks? Drama, obviously. But if absolute power does corrupt absolutely, then it's to be expected that corruption would be a recurring problem that Starfleet would always have to be on guard against.
That doesn't mean that the institution is corrupt per se. At least, that's not how I would put it. I would say simply that the temptation to play god comes with the territory.
And considering just how large an organization Starfleet is, the bad ones we DO see is a tiny, tiny fraction of everyone else, who seem to be competant and the good guys.
The fact that the assumed best of the best--those who wanted to take the Starfleet leadership career path--still took a head-first dive into the pool of corruption speaks to a problem of nature common to many, but it has not been burned out of human tendencies as some ST fans were conned into believing (especially in the 70's convention years and the Berman era). While no one champions corruption, the trait still existing within far future humanity adds color and risk to the landscape, rather than having a characters snorting their pompously manufactured lines of human refinement above all others.
I suppose they thought if they repeated the lie of "we're past that" often enough, it would become the truth.
No.
While I'm not a fan of Kurtzman's (lack of) vision, I think Trek is malleable enough to always be around.
Sometimes that will be a more optimistic tone, sometimes bleaker. Sometimes sci-fi heavy, sometimes action. Sometimes episodic, sometimes arc-ish. Sometimes film, sometimes TV.
Personally I'd like to get away from prequels and sequels. Sure, Archer as President and Captain Seven would be cool...but a new TNG-DS9-VOY would be great - a new crew with a new premise in a different time. Maybe take us 50 years past Picard. Lower stakes, lower budgets so the show doesn't need to be the mass appeal. Leave that to the movies that the D&D guys are doing. After all...that was the Voyage Home--Undiscovered Country era's secret....TNG would do the morality tales, the ethics while the OG crew were the popcorn crowd's pick.
While I'm not a fan of Kurtzman's (lack of) vision, I think Trek is malleable enough to always be around.
Sometimes that will be a more optimistic tone, sometimes bleaker. Sometimes sci-fi heavy, sometimes action. Sometimes episodic, sometimes arc-ish. Sometimes film, sometimes TV.
Personally I'd like to get away from prequels and sequels. Sure, Archer as President and Captain Seven would be cool...but a new TNG-DS9-VOY would be great - a new crew with a new premise in a different time. Maybe take us 50 years past Picard. Lower stakes, lower budgets so the show doesn't need to be the mass appeal. Leave that to the movies that the D&D guys are doing. After all...that was the Voyage Home--Undiscovered Country era's secret....TNG would do the morality tales, the ethics while the OG crew were the popcorn crowd's pick.
Starfleet Academy is set 800 YEARS after Picard.
I want Captain Seven commanding the Enterprise-G. I am in no hurry to see an aging, creaking Scott Bakula.
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I think Discovery make the wrong choice going that far. I get they wanted to go further than anything we'd seen - especially with Daniels and the "temporal cold war", but 800 years is a long time, and there's basically no change.
Perhaps stable and unchanging is a feature of space-faring civilisations. The Dominion was 2000 years old by 2380, Vulcans had intersteller travel for 1500 years. Humans made massive advances from 2050 to 2250 in propulsion, massive advances from 2250 to 2400 with things like Replicators and Holodecks, but perhaps after the 25th century theres not much more to advance. Sure warp gets faster, replicators get fancier, holographic emitters get smaller (the tricombadge seems related to the doctor's mobile emitter), but there's not the leap in technology level from 2400 to 3000 that we saw from 1800 to 2400.
Perhaps once you reach a certain level you plateau. Iconians, TKon, Dominion, all lasted thousands of years with no real change.
Ummm...I said "no prequels, no sequels" in my post - given Academy is about the main arc of S3's fallout (The Burn) and has 3 Disco actors and Bob Picard as regulars....not quite sure it meets what my post asked for.
I guess that's why they did jump so far without change - the burn is supposed to be their version of an EMP and all of us losing electricity and starting again. If they did that with a smaller time jump, it would tie up the timeline where they want to do certain things with legacy characters in the 24th/25th centuries.
You also said "no prequels, no sequels" then suggested a TNG era sequel set 50 years after Picard. We aren't quite sure that meets what your post asked for, either. A sequel is a sequel.
Sounds like what you want is a series that is more like what you already grew up with/drew you to Trek. A more familiar setting with a more familiar style that can harken back to the more familiar stories.
"Everything must be different... but not too different!"
I'm curious, if Star Trek is put to rest how do viewing habits change?
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), we're not getting either of those things.
SOMEONE needs more faith of the [insert compatible organ here].
Liver. I'm pretty sure it's Liver.
Just imagine that you're standing on a planet that's revolving.
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