New Slate Article Covers Whole Frachise

Discussion in 'General Trek Discussion' started by ZapBrannigan, May 16, 2013.

  1. ZapBrannigan

    ZapBrannigan Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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  2. Third Nacelle

    Third Nacelle Captain Captain

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    Pretty good article. Though I can't possibly agree with Mr. Yglesias' ranking Nemesis higher than The Motion Picture.

    I do agree with his conclusion that Star Trek belongs on television rather than the big screen.
     
  3. T'Girl

    T'Girl Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The new ship has been equipped with a holodeck, an entertainment device that ... proves a dangerous tool in the hands of lazy writers.

    :lol::lol::lol: :lol::lol::lol: :lol::lol::lol: :lol::lol::lol:
     
  4. Tracer Bullet

    Tracer Bullet Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I liked the article, but I think he oversells TNG as the best representative of what Trek is. It's a good example of a certain kind of Trek, but it's different from TOS and DS9. I don't think any one Trek series can possibly encapsulate all of Trek--it's too diffuse.
     
  5. Dale Sams

    Dale Sams Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    He ranked Voyager ahead of TOS?

    Respect lost forever.
     
  6. Tora Ziyal

    Tora Ziyal Vice Admiral Admiral

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    I don't agree with all of it, especially the rankings. But, yes, a very good read. Thanks for posting it.
     
  7. DS9forever

    DS9forever Commodore Commodore

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    I actually agree that Nemesis is better than the Motion Picture; Nemesis is quick, bombastic and kind of dumb; TMP is slow and preachy.
     
  8. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    While I think Yglesias is fair in noting that ST09 was a very violent film even while Trek's general philosophy is one of the desire to avoid violence and gunboat diplomacy whenever possible, I disagree with his assertion that ST09 had no distinctly Trekian themes. It was, in the form of Kirk and Spock's arcs, a movie about learning to see past our differences, cultural and personal, and learning to work together for the common good.

    ETA:

    Interesting section:

    "Nicholas Meyer, writer and director of the best Star Trek movies, once wrote that 'at its absolute worst, Star Trek is a plaid-pants, golf-course Republican version of the future where white men and American values always predominate (despite blatant tokenism), and gunboat diplomacy carries the day.' And perhaps that’s true—when the show was at its worst. But at its best, the Original Series reflected not plaid-pants arrogance but Great Society optimism."

    I think there's some truth to what Meyer (and, implicitly, Yglesias) say about Trek at its worst. But I think they exaggerate too much -- to me, Trek at its worst seems to embody more the '60s Kennedy Democratic establishment than "a golf-course Republican version of the future." Unless Meyer is thinking more Nelson Rockefeller than Ronald Reagan (or, for that matter, Sarah Palin).
     
    Last edited: May 18, 2013
  9. JirinPanthosa

    JirinPanthosa Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, I hate it when people flippantly refer to equality, multiculturalism, democracy and individualism as 'Western values'.

    If anything that attitude is thinly veiled exoticism, and insulting toward all the people living in Eastern countries who are fighting for their basic human rights against dictatorships who force on them the opposite of said values.

    I agree with most of the things that article says about the series, but not necessarily his opinion of the individual shows.
     
  10. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    So anyone who has a different opinion than you personally is not worthy of any respect whatsoever? A bit harsh.
     
  11. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    LOL the Janeway photo the article uses is of her rolling her eyes.
     
  12. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yeah I noticed that! Looked like she was just thinking "you're putting me next to -these- bums?"
     
  13. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Hoshi Sato as one of the 10 best Star Trek crew members?
     
  14. DarKush

    DarKush Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Interesting article. Don't agree with all of his conclusions ("Far Beyond the Stars" bizarre? or Voyager trying to recapture TOS's spirit?) but it was a nice covering of all the series.
     
  15. R. Star

    R. Star Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Well I'll agree with him about Far Beyond the Stars being bizarre. The episode had a great message, but it was really out of place with the rest of the context of DS9. I'd wonder if this episode was a star demand by Avery Brooks as he seems to have played a lot of civil rights roles over his acting career.
     
  16. teacake

    teacake Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    It was wonderfully, deliciously bizarre. And probably the most out there Star Trek ever got.
     
  17. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    As the DS9 Companion makes clear, this was not the case. "Far Beyond the Stars" was the product of the writing staff tinkering with a mostly-unrelated spec story they bought from a freelancer. Having it explore the world of African Americans in the 1950s was the (mostly white) writing staff's idea, not Brooks's.
     
  18. sbk1234

    sbk1234 Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I couldn't have said it better, myself.
     
  19. BennyRussel

    BennyRussel Commander Red Shirt

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    Good column, but......

    The man put "Time's Arrow" in the top 10 overall Star Trek episodes.

    Wow.
     
  20. Chensams

    Chensams Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Again, a good article but some truely bizarre opinions or at least one's I've never read before. It's rare to see Voyager ranked ahead of TOS. And I've never seen Time's Arrow ranked as a top 10 TNG episode, let alone a top 10 Trek episode. I would put Time's Arrow in my list of most disappointing TNG episodes.