STAR TREK the enemy of LOST IN SPACE?

[Christopher]

Like I said before, we're always harder on what's more recent because we've had time to get used to the flaws in the older stuff, to gloss over and rationalize and forgive them. The illusion of nostalgia, the way the brain smooths out the past, leading to the false perception that the present is worse.

The problem I have with this view is that unlike the past when I had to rely strictly on memory or when a network would choose to rerun an episode or film on television I can now revisit whatever I want whenever I want. I can watch an old film back-to-back with a new one or an old series episode back-to-back with a current rebooted film. I can compare the two right then and there and not have to rely simply on nostaligia tinted memory.

But it's not just about memory of the facts. The brain constructs narratives to make sense of the world, and we have a bias toward constructing consistent ones. The more time we have to mull over something, whether it's a TV show or a personal memory, the more time we have to revise the narratives we construct to explain it to ourselves, and the more excuses we come up with to rationalize or forgive things that would stand out more jarringly if the experience were new. It's like relationships -- we learn to excuse and even enjoy the quirks of our friends or loved ones that annoyed or even offended us initially, because we train our brains to find them more acceptable -- we revise our narratives about those people and the reasons for their behavior, because we want those narratives to fit a consistent model of "person I like." By the same token, as I said, we learn to forgive things about the old, familiar Trek that we're unforgiving of in something new. We see them differently because we're applying different narrative constructs to them.

 

[Warped9]

Like I said before, we're always harder on what's more recent because we've had time to get used to the flaws in the older stuff, to gloss over and rationalize and forgive them. The illusion of nostalgia, the way the brain smooths out the past, leading to the false perception that the present is worse.

The problem I have with this view is that unlike the past when I had to rely strictly on memory or when a network would choose to rerun an episode or film on television I can now revisit whatever I want whenever I want. I can watch an old film back-to-back with a new one or an old series episode back-to-back with a current rebooted film. I can compare the two right then and there and not have to rely simply on nostaligia tinted memory.

But it's not just about memory of the facts. The brain constructs narratives to make sense of the world, and we have a bias toward constructing consistent ones. The more time we have to mull over something, whether it's a TV show or a personal memory, the more time we have to revise the narratives we construct to explain it to ourselves, and the more excuses we come up with to rationalize or forgive things that would stand out more jarringly if the experience were new. It's like relationships -- we learn to excuse and even enjoy the quirks of our friends or loved ones that annoyed or even offended us initially, because we train our brains to find them more acceptable -- we revise our narratives about those people and the reasons for their behavior, because we want those narratives to fit a consistent model of "person I like." By the same token, as I said, we learn to forgive things about the old, familiar Trek that we're unforgiving of in something new. We see them differently because we're applying different narrative constructs to them.

Uh, no. I can look at things I liked as a kid (LIS) and nostalgia isn't colouring what I can see now. And I can cite other examples as well. But while I can see what I might have missed when watching TOS when I was younger my now adult perspective can appreciate more all the good things it did. I can appreciate it even while seeing its missteps because the good far outweighs the bad. Nostalgia wouldn't be enough if there wasn't a substantial measure of quality to begin with.

And when I can put "The Corbomite Maneuver" or "Balance Of Terror" or "The Doomsday Machine" or the majority of the 79 episodes side-by-side with a contemporary reboot even with the disparity of forty years difference in production standards between then and now then I can call garbage when I smell it. I can compare the writing and plot and conceptualizing and world building and characterization and a whole host of things side-by-side and clearly see the difference.

I really like Batman and Christopher Nolan clearly diverged from how things had been done before. And while I don't agree with everything he did he got more right than wrong in my eyes. I really like James Bond and I think Daniel Craig is mostly giving me a character I like over what we've been getting for decades.

There are things I think are clearly being done better than they were before and others that are really lacking in comparison to what has been done before.

 

[Maurice]

I like "The Anti-Matter Man" simply because it gives Guy Williams a chance to be a major part in the story and to play two roles.

 

[Praetor]

I'm sure Mr. Williams liked it for the same reason...