How long do you think Mirror-Edward lasted in his career?
New Short Trek: The Trouble With Edward
- Thread starter eschaton
- Start date
It's been ten years since Trek stopped being the way he liked. Yet the hurt is fresh with every new post.
Probably a superstar, turning everything into food. Hell, he might be the reason they eat Kelpians.
Oh, I do understand Bernd feeling pissed. Every one of his continuity and canon annoyances and nitpicks went through my mind when watching it.
I'm my own version of a canonista. I don't accept the premise that what Kurtzman and Company call the Prime Timeline is truly the same one as that portrayed in televised Star Trek between 1966-69.
I see it (and Enterprise) as a tributary in a Star Trek multiverse that diverted after the Enterprise-E's encounter with the Borg in 2053 and that the late 23rd century portion of the DISCO timeline rejoined the familiar TOS timeline prior to TMP.
This mental separation allows me to enjoy DISCO and any potential Pike spinoff as its own thing and on its own terms without going full Schneider and ranting about deviations from the Holy Canon.
I understand his irritation too – if I'd poured that much work into something I'd hate to see it discarded as well. But at the same time, he doesn't seem to understand that Star Trek was never his to begin with; he complains like he owns the franchise and that The People are somehow owed airtight continuity. We're not, and that's what irritates me. He has no perspective on his anger. He posts about it like it's matter of social justice, and not a hobby that's moved on without him. (In that light, his complaint about how people would react if Edward were played by anyone but a white man is rather ironic.)
It is a rather impressive effort despite the hurt.
It would be hilarious if I didn't find it highly weird all at the same time.
Also, heresy is pronounced:
I noticed before he made that statement he began with "I don't want to dwell on race and gender, but..." Then, going through some of his Disco reviews, I notice he plays the "I don't want to dwell on race and gender" card a few times. I guess he's being forced to since he keeps stating he doesn't want to?
EAS is an exhaustive and well researched site, but even before Disco or the Kelvin timeline came along Bernd tended to be tightly-wound and a bit too high-strung on Trek matters. For example, he's always had a habit of going off about reused ship designs as a sort of crime against consistency and worldbuilding, claiming it's unfortunate the producers are so irresponsible about recklessly reusing designs in a manner without regard to design lineage or stuff, completely ignoring that a lot of the time ship designs are reused it's because of budgetary concerns, not apathy or a disregard for consistency.
When you need to pre face to save face...
In a way I feel sorry for Bernd, It's obvious that Ex Astris is a labour of love and to have that diminished by changes in canon or whatever would be frustrating. However the way he carries on is what happens when people over-identify with things. The changes to trek canon aren't just an attack on Bernd's website or on the franchise he is so emotionally invested in, they become an attack on him personally. Bernd's problem is that he cares too much. He needs to borrow some advice from another sci-fi fandom and 'train himself to let go of everything here fears to lose'.
Back in the 90s, when continuity -- as well as nitpicking -- were new to Star Trek, thinking about how things might be connected together was fun, not a matter of necessity. There might be some things that might bother me if they were suddenly shifted into earlier timelines. If Pike encounters the Dominion, I don't care. If Pike leads a war against the Dominion, I would take serious issue. All of the characters we see are not perfect vessels of information. They can't be responsible for knowing the entire history of everything at all times. And if the writers decide to introduce something that is dissonant with previous stories, I judge it for what it is.
I have some sympathy on the visual and design continuity parts, even if I disagree about whether updates and so on are good, but the way he went off on how the episode was discriminatory against (straight white male) scientists had me rolling his eyes. Ditto for his rant about how dare Star Trek reference Gilbert and Sullivan in "Q&A". His complaints about how Spock had a small bit of fun and laughed are even more silly given his obsession with continuity, because this behavior actually fits early Spock more than what most people think of since that's drawn from the older and more controlled Spock of the later seasons and movies.
Not enough eye-rolls in the world for the idea that H. Benjamen's comedic talents are going to be wasted on this guy just because the person calling him out as a idiot is a woman.
Also, how does he know that Edward is straight?*
* Yes, I'm completely missing the point deliberately.
I must point out one glaring error in the EAS review that I find illustrative. The author claims that no one on K7 knew about tribbles. Accepting that he meant Starfleet personnel, he is still wrong. The only SF person who knew about tribbles was Worf. Why is this important? Because the Defiant crew was briefed on what happened on K7, but the briefing said nothing about the role played by the tribbles in creating the crisis or in exposing Darvin. There was no reason for the Defiant crew to know about tribbles EVEN AFTER READING THE RECORDS ON THE EVENT. The reason I bring this up is because in the context of historical records, the existence of tribbles were, at best, minutia, not worth recording in most instances.
Wasn't the actor the "best man for the job?"
I point out that was because Tribbles were EXTINCT for a century by this point. It's like them knowing about the Pasenger Pigeon.
Apparently, a actor renowned for playing schlubs and jerks isn't allowed to practice his craft.
A little late to the party...but this one was just "ok" by my measure. Seems like lots of people enjoyed it, so I'm happy. It's weird, though, I personally didn't laugh once. And it seems like everyone thought this was hilarious. Maybe it's just because I work with engineers, many of whom are exactly like this guy, and they drive me batshit crazy. Too close to real life maybe?
Yeah, that's the kind of thing that doesn't exactly "violate canon" as televised, but instead violates a fan's, or rather, a portion of fandom's interpretation of canon - a kind of "collective headcanon."
There's nothing in canon that says that young Spock, in the years soon after leaving Vulcan didn't experiment with lightening up on the Vulcan repression before choosing to clamp down again and act "more Vulcan than the Vulcans."
It's a handy conjecture that can be used to account for "smiling at the plant Spock," shouty Spock, smirking Spock, sarcastic Spock, and the first relationship with Leila Kalomi ca. 2261.
Working in academia, this strikes me as an entirely believable outcome of Trek technology in the hands of some of my coworkers. I'm surprised Starfleet doesn't have more problems with Broccoli People, sex robots, and attempting to replace clean fusion with coal.
I find it easier to imagine the universe portrayed in STD as being on a separate timeline, as it is hard for me to imagine the original Star Trek episodes working out the way they did, due to changes in our understanding of technology and the shifts in culture, or to imagine how we get from where we are to what was seen in the Berman Trek without major changes or revisions.
I read Bernd's review. He needs to take a break.
One last point - I had hoped to see the Cabot captain wearing blue. In "Court Martial", we have a starship captain in blue.
I read Bernd's review. He needs to take a break.
One last point - I had hoped to see the Cabot captain wearing blue. In "Court Martial", we have a starship captain in blue.
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