The Dismal Frontier (Thinkpiece on Discovery, Star Trek and Utopian Science Fiction)

[Wowbagger]

Huh? Hasn't Trek always been a biased mouthpiece for social agendas?

Not really, no. Star Trek has always been good at exploring complex social issues (through the veil of an alien setting), but, contrary to the popular imagination, it rarely takes a clear side even when it's doing social issues through parable, much less openly.

When Trek does go ahead and get preachy, it tends to suck. ("Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" is mostly a terrible episode, we need hardly recount the flaws of "The Omega Glory" here, and "Up The Long Ladder" is a worse dumpster fire than "Shades of Gray.") Scan any "best episodes of Star Trek" list, and you'll find a lot of amazing explorations of social issues, but few where Trek came down firmly on one side or the other of any contemporary controversial social issue. (Sometimes it will come down firmly on both sides! "Homefront" / "Paradise Lost" made effective, respectful cases for both sides of the post-9/11 civil liberties debate five years before 9/11!)

 

[Jadeb]

I hope that season 2 won't have such a sour tone, and that the characters will be less unlikable. I am trying hard to like this show, but it hasn't quite hit the right note for me. I wish it felt more like the Netflix "Lost in Space" series.

They really nailed the tone for LiS, didn't they? And that show did exactly what Discovery was trying to do: Take fallible characters in dysfunctional relationships and bring them together through shared adversity. By the end, I felt like I knew all those characters and really cared about them. I can't say the same about Discovery.

 

[BillJ]

What is Stamets supposed role in season two? Since the mushroom drive is gone, he'd seem like someone without a defined role.

 

[Lakenheath 72]

I never believed in the realness of the Stamets and Culber relationship. It felt like it was shoehorned in - it was Star Trek saying, aren't we progressive, aren't we with the times, with a gay couple. Then to have one of the characters killed in what seems to be yet another example of a depressingly long list of gay characters killed off in American media.

 

[Jadeb]

What is Stamets supposed role in season two? Since the mushroom drive is gone, he'd seem like someone without a defined role.

I've wondered about that. There's the unfortunately delayed followup to Culber's death, so maybe we will see him more in relationship to that and less in a professional capacity. But I also suspect there's a good possibility we're not done with the mushroom drive and won't be until the end of the series. It's this show's flashy gimmick. (And, hey, it does look cool.)

 

[Vger23]

I never believed in the realness of the Stamets and Culber relationship. It felt like it was shoehorned in - it was Star Trek saying, aren't we progressive, aren't we with the times, with a gay couple. Then to have one of the characters killed in what seems to be yet another example of a depressingly long list of gay characters killed off in American media.

I found it to be quite the opposite. Regardless of the sexual preference of the characters, it was easily the most believable romantic relationship between characters on Star Trek, maybe with the exception of Sisko and Yates.

 

[The Wormhole]

What is Stamets supposed role in season two? Since the mushroom drive is gone, he'd seem like someone without a defined role.

I figure he really is the chief engineer. Otherwise, he'll just be TNG movie era Worf.

 

[Jadeb]

I never believed in the realness of the Stamets and Culber relationship. It felt like it was shoehorned in - it was Star Trek saying, aren't we progressive, aren't we with the times, with a gay couple. Then to have one of the characters killed in what seems to be yet another example of a depressingly long list of gay characters killed off in American media.

There was nothing to believe in. We saw them brushing their teeth, saw Culber expressing concern about Stamets, saw a couple of painfully brief moments of Stamets reacting to Culber's death, but not much else. The relationship was barely sketched in, and it existed more because of the likability of the actors than because of what was on the page. Of course, that problem wasn't limited just to the gay characters.

 

[eschaton]

What social agenda was actually pushed in Discovery? Part of the problem was that it felt like a soulless corporate product that really wasn't pushing any boundaries.

"Inclusiveness," which is, IMHO, pretty empty ideologically. Hence why Fortune 500 companies can highlight it while doing nothing about say the gap between CEO and worker pay. Inclusiveness is nice, but it's not really threatening to the networks in any way.

DSC inverts the premise of Star Trek. What was once an overall premise of hopeful exploration is instead turned into as quote, "Game of Thrones template of murder, sex, and unexpected resurrections", with little regard for the heart of what once was for what is perceived by studios/publishers as what the lowest common denominator desires.

The funny thing is that GRRM, when he was writing A Song of Ice and Fire, meant for it to be pretty explicitly political. As a left winger, he was always uncomfortable with how much traditional fantasy painted nobles as being "heroic" and wanted a more realistic depiction of the middle ages. Though he admitted he gave the Maesters an understanding of germ theory which didn't exist in real life, because showing medieval medicine was just a bridge too far for him.

 

[jaime]

What is Stamets supposed role in season two? Since the mushroom drive is gone, he'd seem like someone without a defined role.

Chef.

 

[jaime]

I found it to be quite the opposite. Regardless of the sexual preference of the characters, it was easily the most believable romantic relationship between characters on Star Trek, maybe with the exception of Sisko and Yates.

Tch
Tom and Bells, the O’Briens.....

 

[jaime]

I figure he really is the chief engineer. Otherwise, he'll just be TNG movie era Worf.

...
Chef.

 

[Tuskin38]

they’re going to shoe in some dumb reason why Starfleet decides to let them use the drive again.

 

[eschaton]

they’re going to shoe in some dumb reason why Starfleet decides to let them use the drive again.

As stupid as the spore drive is, I hope they find some way to actually utilize it in later seasons rather than leave it where it is now. After all, what was the narrative point of it to date?

1. To come up with some excuse why Discovery is an awesomeballz ship which is central to the war effort.
2. To get Discovery into the MU for four episodes.

Both of these objectives could have been accomplished without the Spore Drive, from a narrative perspective. But now they have access to a drive which they know can let them travel not just anywhere in the universe, but through time, as well as to any alternate universe. It would be ridiculous if they don't explore the plot ramifications before finding some way to shelve it permanently.

 

[Kor]

Fungi may be Stamets' specialty, but I'm sure he has other areas of scientific competence that they will make him use onboard the Discovery.

Kor

 

[jaime]

Fungi may be Stamets' specialty, but I'm sure he has other areas of scientific competence that they will make him use onboard the Discovery.

Kor

Like....a chef.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

What is Stamets supposed role in season two? Since the mushroom drive is gone, he'd seem like someone without a defined role.

Yeah, I assume they broke the mold on the spore drive.

 

[Mudd]

Fungi may be Stamets' specialty, but I'm sure he has other areas of scientific competence that they will make him use onboard the Discovery.

Kor

I believe he makes documentary films. Would that be useful?

 

[Kor]

Like....a chef.

Just because he knows the biology of mushrooms doesn't mean he knows how to cook them right!

Kor

 

[CaptainMurdock]

Just because he knows the biology of mushrooms doesn't mean he knows how to cook them right!

Kor

2258, Discovery's year of hell because the only food served is mushroom dishes that make the crew trip like no one has tripped before.