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

[jaime]

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.

That’s why stamets is such a fun guy.

 

[Qonundrum]

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.

If that's the goal, they should look at Firefly or Blake's 7. And neither of those shows portrayed "a better future", though the latter did once discuss "the many faces of neutrality".

 

[eschaton]

That’s why stamets is such a fun guy.

I'm really lichen where you're going with this.

 

[picard_2305]

You don’t need to be a Star Trek fan to write and produce a Star Trek series

Well TNG is my fav show and I will always rewatch it over the awfulness that was DSC season 1

I can watch DSC Season 1 multiple times over. While there are good episodes in TNG Season 1, on the whole, I have a hard time getting through it. A very hard time. I know because I tried to re-watch TNG on Netflix starting from the beginning. I probably should've just started my re-watch with Season 3 but it feels like cheating...

... so I've tried re-watching TNG three times. All three times, I couldn't make it passed somewhere in Season 1. The second and third time, I tried to give myself a leg up by starting where I stopped the last time. Still no luck. There'll be a good episode, then I'll hit one or two or three that I think are complete shit and I end up giving up again.

 

[picard_2305]

Of course you do not need to be a fan, but there are those who do their homework and can update things without losing the re and there are those who don't get it and they don't embrace it while they are doing the gig. That is the difference between Nicholas Meyer and Stuart Baird.

Also as Brannon Braga said on the Enterprise blu rays that there are many writers and producers who don't get Trek. I find myself feeling this way about the team. Also this 'woke' generation are more concerned with their box ticking and patting themselves on the back that they believe they are being the most progressive Trek show and that they occasionally read Memory Alpha. Remember when Trek use to tell good Sci Fi stories?

 

[Tuskin38]

but there are those who do their homework and can update things

Which Discovery did.

 

[picard_2305]

Which Discovery did.

perhaps, I might be letting the visual changes enforce my views. Guess I should try and be more positive.

 

[Tuskin38]

I just want you to know I wasn't targeting you personally, you just happened to be in all the threads I normally browse, it's just a coincidence.

 

[The Wormhole]

Also as Brannon Braga said on the Enterprise blu rays that there are many writers and producers who don't get Trek.

When he said that, he was referring to executives above him who kept insisting Enterprise should have a ship-board boy band who broke into musical numbers each week.

 

[BillJ]

When he said that, he was referring to executives above him who kept insisting Enterprise should have a ship-board boy band who broke into musical numbers each week.

It would've been perfect for UPN.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

When he said that, he was referring to executives above him who kept insisting Enterprise should have a ship-board boy band who broke into musical numbers each week.

Sorry, I'm not familiar with that. Seriously?!?

 

[cultcross]

Yeah, seriously. They thought they could showcase current bands on the show if memory serves, like the Bronze in Buffy.

 

[dahj]

Who do you guys like better, Backstreet Borgs or N'Kling?

 

[SpocksOddSocks]

Yeah, seriously. They thought they could showcase current bands on the show if memory serves, like the Bronze in Buffy.

I wasn't aware of this either, but it seems British tv execs had a similar view of Enterprise as well . I remember from the 3rd series, Sky didn't get the first showing rights. Instead, it went to the free to air Channel 4. Channel 4 decided to show it during their "t4" programme, which was kind of a "youth fanzine" style thing on a Sunday afternoon. As such, we did end waiting through the boyband of the week for Enterprise to start. It was always later than the advertised time, but you never knew quite by how long.

It was always weird listening to June Sarpong introducing it like it was great, but obviously not even knowing what it was.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Yeah, seriously. They thought they could showcase current bands on the show if memory serves, like the Bronze in Buffy.

I'm not gonna lie, that could work. Have retro be cool in the 2150's and Trip and Hoshi set up a holographic stage in the mess hall. 2000's bands show up each week and play in the background while the crew... umm... discuss nebulae or pie or something.

Of course, nothing will ever top the meta weirdness of Remy Zero playing the Smallville theme song at the prom in the final episode of the first season.