In relation, it's (at least to me) unrealistic to put SOPRANOS with the older-and-slightly-superior OZ.
Totally fair.
Spock
- Thread starter iggyspock
- Start date
Totally fair.
Depends on what you want from art. If it's engaging characters than TNG fails for me.
Watching Clone Wars recently and there is a maturity and savagery that Trek liked to avoid.
He's a young man exploring relationships. It aren't that hard.
FTFY
^ Two posts worthy of the ultimate award for truth: The 5-Kirk Rating.
The beauty of our existence is that everyone gets to have their own opinion. I like Ethan Speck... wait.. Peck... not Speck... well... Ethan Peck as Spock... anyway. I like him. Obviously. Do I think he's the perfect Spock compared to the others? Not really. Do the writers want him to be? Hardly.
That’s actually part of why Spock is portrayed so differently these days. Writers and directors always try to squeeze every last drop out of a popular or well-established character. Some characters stay in the background forever (looking at you, Kayla), while others get reimagined to explore different aspects of their personalities.
With Peck’s Spock, we’re seeing a much younger version—before the events and experiences that shaped him later in life. In fact, you could make the same argument for Nimoy’s Spock: the Spock we saw in The Original Series is very different from the one we saw in The Motion Picture and beyond. In TMP, we literally see him try to purge all emotion. He did the emotional thing, didn’t like it, and tried to get rid of it.
If we treat Spock like a real person, that kind of emotional purging wouldn't be a personality trait he was born with—it’s the result of a long personal journey. Things had to happen for him to end up at Mount Seleya, asking for a full purge. And then, after his resurrection, we see him gradually come to understand that balance—between logic and emotion—is the key.
By that logic (pun not intended), Spock had to have had a more emotional side earlier in his life. This is also shown clearly in the Kelvin films, when a young Spock is mocked and responds with physical aggression—a clear emotional outburst. Spock has always had emotions. He never didn’t have them. It’s well-established in Star Trek canon that Vulcans feel emotions even more intensely than humans—which is exactly why they suppress them. And on top of that, Spock is half-human.
His relationships with Chapel and La’An can be seen as part of him exploring his human side—specifically, his human sexuality. That makes sense, considering he was betrothed to T’Pring from early childhood, and as far as we know, it was always just T’Pring and no one else until Strange New Worlds. Do I love the idea of him hooking up with “everyone” on the ship? Not really. But does it warrant this level of debate in a fan forum? I don’t think so.
I have my issues with modern Trek, too. It prioritizes visuals over storytelling, and character development often feels shallow (again, looking at you, poor Kayla)—which is somewhat understandable, given that we’re only getting 10 episodes a year now, compared to nearly 50 back in the day.
Research shows that modern audiences—the target demographic—don’t have the same attention spans we once did. Even the way their brains process information is different. Older generations tend to think linearly, which is why reading a book from start to finish feels natural. Younger generations, on the other hand, process information more like a network. They’re incredibly skilled at absorbing large amounts of information from multiple sources at once—but there’s a trade-off: shorter attention spans. That’s a major reason why modern Trek feels different. It's not really made for older fans. We can still appreciate it—but it’s not meant for us.
As someone academically trained in communication science, I could chalk a lot of these differences up to generational shifts. New Trek is aimed at a younger audience—just like old Trek was in its time. That’s why TNG was so hated by TOS fans at first. And let’s be honest, seasons 1 and 2 of TNG were pretty rough. But now, it’s regarded as one of the best iterations of Trek, maybe even the best after TOS.
I’m rambling a bit, but here’s my point: Hold on to what you love about your favorite version of Spock. Time moves on. Things change. Nothing in this shared existence is permanent. We don’t have to like everything that’s put in front of us. Personally, I’ll be skipping Starfleet Academy. Others will love it. And that’s okay. To each their own.
I really dislike Discovery—I’ve made that clear before. I could go on and on about it. But it’s still Star Trek. And this new Ethan Peck version of Spock, whether we like it or not, is our current Spock. A different incarnation.
Infinite diversity in infinite combinations.
(Here’s hoping y’all’s attention span held up through that wall of text. Whoopsies!
)
That’s actually part of why Spock is portrayed so differently these days. Writers and directors always try to squeeze every last drop out of a popular or well-established character. Some characters stay in the background forever (looking at you, Kayla), while others get reimagined to explore different aspects of their personalities.
With Peck’s Spock, we’re seeing a much younger version—before the events and experiences that shaped him later in life. In fact, you could make the same argument for Nimoy’s Spock: the Spock we saw in The Original Series is very different from the one we saw in The Motion Picture and beyond. In TMP, we literally see him try to purge all emotion. He did the emotional thing, didn’t like it, and tried to get rid of it.
If we treat Spock like a real person, that kind of emotional purging wouldn't be a personality trait he was born with—it’s the result of a long personal journey. Things had to happen for him to end up at Mount Seleya, asking for a full purge. And then, after his resurrection, we see him gradually come to understand that balance—between logic and emotion—is the key.
By that logic (pun not intended), Spock had to have had a more emotional side earlier in his life. This is also shown clearly in the Kelvin films, when a young Spock is mocked and responds with physical aggression—a clear emotional outburst. Spock has always had emotions. He never didn’t have them. It’s well-established in Star Trek canon that Vulcans feel emotions even more intensely than humans—which is exactly why they suppress them. And on top of that, Spock is half-human.
His relationships with Chapel and La’An can be seen as part of him exploring his human side—specifically, his human sexuality. That makes sense, considering he was betrothed to T’Pring from early childhood, and as far as we know, it was always just T’Pring and no one else until Strange New Worlds. Do I love the idea of him hooking up with “everyone” on the ship? Not really. But does it warrant this level of debate in a fan forum? I don’t think so.
I have my issues with modern Trek, too. It prioritizes visuals over storytelling, and character development often feels shallow (again, looking at you, poor Kayla)—which is somewhat understandable, given that we’re only getting 10 episodes a year now, compared to nearly 50 back in the day.
Research shows that modern audiences—the target demographic—don’t have the same attention spans we once did. Even the way their brains process information is different. Older generations tend to think linearly, which is why reading a book from start to finish feels natural. Younger generations, on the other hand, process information more like a network. They’re incredibly skilled at absorbing large amounts of information from multiple sources at once—but there’s a trade-off: shorter attention spans. That’s a major reason why modern Trek feels different. It's not really made for older fans. We can still appreciate it—but it’s not meant for us.
As someone academically trained in communication science, I could chalk a lot of these differences up to generational shifts. New Trek is aimed at a younger audience—just like old Trek was in its time. That’s why TNG was so hated by TOS fans at first. And let’s be honest, seasons 1 and 2 of TNG were pretty rough. But now, it’s regarded as one of the best iterations of Trek, maybe even the best after TOS.
I’m rambling a bit, but here’s my point: Hold on to what you love about your favorite version of Spock. Time moves on. Things change. Nothing in this shared existence is permanent. We don’t have to like everything that’s put in front of us. Personally, I’ll be skipping Starfleet Academy. Others will love it. And that’s okay. To each their own.
I really dislike Discovery—I’ve made that clear before. I could go on and on about it. But it’s still Star Trek. And this new Ethan Peck version of Spock, whether we like it or not, is our current Spock. A different incarnation.
Infinite diversity in infinite combinations.
(Here’s hoping y’all’s attention span held up through that wall of text. Whoopsies!
)
In this case, I'll admit five times something is certainly one something.^ Two posts worthy of the ultimate award for truth: The 5-Kirk Rating.
