Everyone defines Star Trek based on their individual take-always from what worked for them. Even that which I prefer has things I would have preferred they had done differently or not at all. But then real life is like that, too.
Star Trek isn't the easiest thing to boil down to absolute basics because there are a lot of things that contribute to it working. When it works there's more than one layer at work.
There are key things that I personally believe need to be there (and I've stated them upthread). If those key things go missing then in my opinion they are indeed drifting from what I believe Star Trek is. Something can look familiar and still be different in execution that sets it apart from what I can recognize as being similar to what I understand to be genuine.
NuTrek plays to caricature and gimmick as well as using a lot of film making techniques that are currently in vogue. It's not really surprising that it could appeal to a broad general audience. And it certainly fits right in with the general audiences' expectations of what Trek is.
Is it Star Trek? Many would say "yes" based on their perceptions. I, for one, say definitely "no" because from what I see there are key elements missing.
- A generally adult mindset
- A sense of internal credibility
- A general respect for the subject matter (characters, story, setting and itself)
A lot of people are fond of saying that Star Trek, particularly TOS, didn't take itself too seriously. On that point they are flat out wrong. A significant element of what Gene Roddenberry was trying to do was to create science fiction that did take the subject matter seriously. It's one of the key elements that set the series apart from most of what else was being done at the time. It isn't that it couldn't have a sense of humour or occasionally have some fun, but that the overall mindset was indeed serious minded. It wasn't perfect and mistakes were made, but the overall sense of the show was to do adult level storytelling in a science fiction setting. That means everything in it, be it characters, hardware, setting and world building, had to at least seem credible.
Another important element was generally strong writing. Some of this was bolstered by having established SF writers contribute to the show. Star Trek wasn't embarassed by its science fiction trappings. It was a wonderful balance of intelligence and enthusiasm.
Somewhere along the line, in fits and starts, these things went missing one by one.
What became an issue for me as things progressed over the years was what I perceived as weaker writing for one thing. Another was what was focused on. The original characters were portrayed as professionals in a dangerous job that got along (even with disagreements) and could respect and appreciate each other. Later characters in Trek were made into a "family" and stories placed greater focus on that. In a broad sense later Trek became like an office drama as the angst and trivia became as important as the bigger stories. This wasn't only Trek's issue as it was happening everywhere else on television.
NuTrek is the inevitable result of successively jettisoning integral elements of what made Star Trek distinctive and resulting in just another throwaway bit of sci-fi fluff pandering to every convention.
We can argue about where the final metamorphosis actually happened over the years. But it did indeed happen.
Star Trek isn't the easiest thing to boil down to absolute basics because there are a lot of things that contribute to it working. When it works there's more than one layer at work.
There are key things that I personally believe need to be there (and I've stated them upthread). If those key things go missing then in my opinion they are indeed drifting from what I believe Star Trek is. Something can look familiar and still be different in execution that sets it apart from what I can recognize as being similar to what I understand to be genuine.
NuTrek plays to caricature and gimmick as well as using a lot of film making techniques that are currently in vogue. It's not really surprising that it could appeal to a broad general audience. And it certainly fits right in with the general audiences' expectations of what Trek is.
Is it Star Trek? Many would say "yes" based on their perceptions. I, for one, say definitely "no" because from what I see there are key elements missing.
- A generally adult mindset
- A sense of internal credibility
- A general respect for the subject matter (characters, story, setting and itself)
A lot of people are fond of saying that Star Trek, particularly TOS, didn't take itself too seriously. On that point they are flat out wrong. A significant element of what Gene Roddenberry was trying to do was to create science fiction that did take the subject matter seriously. It's one of the key elements that set the series apart from most of what else was being done at the time. It isn't that it couldn't have a sense of humour or occasionally have some fun, but that the overall mindset was indeed serious minded. It wasn't perfect and mistakes were made, but the overall sense of the show was to do adult level storytelling in a science fiction setting. That means everything in it, be it characters, hardware, setting and world building, had to at least seem credible.
Another important element was generally strong writing. Some of this was bolstered by having established SF writers contribute to the show. Star Trek wasn't embarassed by its science fiction trappings. It was a wonderful balance of intelligence and enthusiasm.
Somewhere along the line, in fits and starts, these things went missing one by one.
What became an issue for me as things progressed over the years was what I perceived as weaker writing for one thing. Another was what was focused on. The original characters were portrayed as professionals in a dangerous job that got along (even with disagreements) and could respect and appreciate each other. Later characters in Trek were made into a "family" and stories placed greater focus on that. In a broad sense later Trek became like an office drama as the angst and trivia became as important as the bigger stories. This wasn't only Trek's issue as it was happening everywhere else on television.
NuTrek is the inevitable result of successively jettisoning integral elements of what made Star Trek distinctive and resulting in just another throwaway bit of sci-fi fluff pandering to every convention.
We can argue about where the final metamorphosis actually happened over the years. But it did indeed happen.
)
