The option I want isn't available - I'm not really interested in either a Section 31 OR a Pike series. I like Michelle Yeoh, but I feel a Section 31 series would be a little too dark and depressing for my tastes. Discovery is already a little darker than I'd like. I really do not get the massive love for Pike. The actor is good, but he didn't particularly stand out to me. Just another generic Starfleet captain who does the right thing. Admirable, to be sure, but it didn't leave me wanting more. My husband even commented that he didn't like watching Pike, because he was always wondering when he would end up in the box, and it was sad. I didn't think about that so much, but I get it. I just feel like we've seen all that we need to from this character. Also, I'm pretty much done with seeing this time period in Star Trek. On to the future, please.
Do both. Make CBS give us as much content as possible if they are going to hold these shows hostage for a monthly subscription fee.
Here's my thing-optimism does not mean without conflict. There is a reason that I prefer optimism to utopianism. To me, utopianism reflects perfect, that humanity simply cannot grow further and are instead the lofty elite lecturing the lowly aliens who don't know better. Perhaps that is of interest to others, but that does not interest me. I wan to see a humanity that can grow past its failures, that can succeed through hardships, and endure the more negative aspects of its nature. Section 31 can certainly be a reflection of those darker aspects, which is why it intrigues me. I appreciate the desire for space ships and exploration, but why must Star Trek be confined to one mold?
IDK - You just described how I felt (and still feel) about TNG when it hit in 1987. TNG moved so far from what I considered core elements of TOS (the ONLY Star Trek series prior) - yet TNG managed to build up a large fanbase that (and a nostalgic copy TV show run by TNG production alumni) that now like to denigrate the show and the 20 years of TOS popularity that allowed TNG (and 21 seasons of 24th century era 'Trek' via TNG and spinoffs) to run for 14 years, and a prequel show set in the 22nd century to run for 4 years).
Yeah, in hindsight, I should've written optimism as well, for the very reasons as described above. Escapist utopianism is one of the main reasons I've become soured on the TNG era lately. I've also noticed however, that optimism itself is understood in very different ways among fans. I've seen the possible "fallen Federation" setting for Discovery's season 3 being dismissed as just like any other dystopian science fiction, and I'm just asking myself why Discovery couldn't be optimistic in that setting as well. If the story were about the ship rebuilding hope, the crew working together to make the world a better place and their efforts actually succeeding, it would be an optimistic message for me, dystopian setting aside. But even in the "true" Star Trek setting, I've always found the fringe much more interesting than the core, where there are still problems to be solved. So yeah, to sum it up... I prefer optimism to utopia as well, because the former represents the journey, the latter the endpoint. Without seeing the journey, with everything already solved, there's just no catharsis factor for me.
I’m actually really looking forward to season 3 in a way that I didn’t with s’s1&2. DSC is truly going where no one has gone before (in any great detail) by heading to the 33rd. I really hope they don’t bottle it by episode 3 of the season and come back to the 23rd. The potential to explore a totally new Star Trek landscape in the far future is exciting. Personally I hope they do a post apocalyptic dark age where the federation is gone etc. It has the potential to be really engaging. I’m excited about DSC in a way I didn’t think I would be - and I still seem to be in a minority in that opinion
A hybrid series sounds like a terrible idea. If a series is going to be set on the Enterprise, I don't want it muddled with Section 31's nebulous ethics. I would want it to be generally optimistic and uplifting as our heroes try to do the right thing, even when there isn't a true "right thing" to do. That's not what I expect from Section 31. As skeptical as I am about the Section 31 series, it at least has the advantage of being new and different.
some stuff a Sec31 show could explore: 1: The Logic Extremist threat. It hasn't been explored in detail. Might be worth a few episodes. 2: Klingon's evolution into the extreme statist culture by TOS. We've seen the beginnings of it. In the next few years the Klingon Empire is in a dire state of cold war again with the Federation. 3: Romulans. Starfleet may not encounter them for a few more years but that doesn't mean Sec.31 doesnt. 4: The Gorns.. Again, a threat never explored further. Georgiou knows them very well, and well.. Lorca didn't bring that skeleton with him from the MU Buran. 5: Project Genesis: this could have been a decades long project that began as a weapons program or something else, before Admiral Marcus's grandson found a way to make it work by cheating. 6: The MU. There's a Lorca over there.. 7. Mudd. Come on.. they have to have a file on him that could fill up the Genseis Project computer.
CBS loves their police procedurals, almost as much as they used to love geriatric sleuths. It does seem like they are trying hard to reinvent themselves lately (look at the recent shakeup at their news department) so maybe I am wrong. I hope I am.
Yeah, but CBSAA is likely going for a more expansive demographic than CBS did as the Crimes For Your Grandparents Network.
Imagine a season arc where Section 31 uncovered that the whole Logic Extremist movement was a false flag operation run by the Tal Shiar to destabilize Vulcan, opening it up for a forceful "reunification." It would be perfectly in character for them. I can totally see an arc with someone being undercover in the Orion Syndicate, and uncovering a huge web of intrigue going all the way up to the Klingon High Council to weaken the Federation and hinder their colonization efforts on the fringes, something preceding the Quadrotriticale and Arne Darvin plot. I'd really love to see Star Trek delve into the world of organized crime for a longer time than a few isolated episodes, and where else could it be done than on the Section 31 show? And more importantly, if we have a story arc follow space organized crime on the untamed frontier, we could shoehorn a surviving-and-escaped-from-Rura-Penthe Space Pirate Captain Killy in there somehow ... yeah, probably not gonna happen.
I love police procedurals but that doesn't change my skepticism around CBS trying to push that in to Star Trek's action/adventure platform.
Complete with a scene with Killy not having a clue who he is, and him nonchalantly dismissing it as the side effects of the volcanic dust they've smoked.
I don't see where one precludes the other? When I go to watch "Star Trek", I go in expecting certain things. It goes with the territory of using the Star Trek moniker. If it isn't "Star Trek" then I'm likely to be disappointed, regardless of the quality. Much like if I order a cheeseburger and get a filet o' fish in my McDonald's bag. The filet o' fish may be great, but it isn't the cheeseburger I ordered.
I’m generally not a fan of the S31 idea (although I liked DS9 s31, not so much the other interpretations in ENT and STID), but I wouldn’t mind them addressing these issues. So long as 31 went back in the shadows like Sloan and his ilk. Agree on both counts. The Gorn would benefit from some expansion and Genesis isn’t mentioned really after the intro to TVH. The implications of Starfleet developing essentially a WMD (in the wrong hands) are important. It’d be interesting to see where the idea of Genesis came from. Was it as innocent as Carol Marcus argued in her video, or does it have darker origins? Enter Section 31. But I have to say no to both of these. The MU wasn’t handled well in s1 imo and although I never thought TOS Mudd was a murderous sex trafficker, he certainly was in DSC. I wouldn’t want to see him again at all. Leave him alone with his Stella droids, I say!
It's not a vast setting; it's a setting with a few repetitive elements borrowed from earlier works, and the worldbuilding is about a quarter of an inch deep. The most creative and diverse aspect of Star Trek is the visual design.