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mandatory-blog-stop-asking · 24 days

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Star Trek Is A Failing Theme Park

Much like many others I used to be a bonafide Star Trek Discovery hater, and even though I thoroughly enjoy it now, I honestly don't regret that time in my life.

I think Discovery season 1 and most of season 2 were a little ashamed of having to be an old sci-fi show, so they kept trying to be a show about violent, impulsive, very special unique people that happened to go to space every once in a while. Which Star Trek has been, on occasion, but never in a way I personally find better than what it usually is -- philosophizing and talking about real world or allegorical drama for 40-50 minutes until a solution arises that doesn't really make anyone super happy and not everyone comes out unscathed, but the compromise means there's hope for a better solution tomorrow, and the day after that, until it works.

The personal dramas usually related to their reactions to storylines, but were ultimately secondary to the bigger pictures, and acted as bows you tie the narrative with at the end. If Kirk did not make it through the episode unscathed, that's cool, but the episode was rarely only about his demons. It could heavily relate to his demons but that wasn't the whole source of the spectacle. The Naked Time works as a way to examine characters in crisis, not necessarily as a Kirk episode where it's all about him.

Because of that, I was basically the audience for seasons 3 and 4. While Season 3's ultimate plot wasn't the most interesting thing in the world, the idea that they were now dealing with their "own version" of the galaxy, writing their own plots that didn't have to come before everything else and figuring out their own threats that didn't have to eventually connect back to Star Trek canon was a massive improvement.

The decision to interweave character drama into storylines as opposed to making the storylines about the character drama also greatly expanded upon people's roles in the ship, and you finally got to see people like Detmer or Owosekun doing shit and being useful, instead of just being on the bridge nearly unnamed. I genuinely think Season 4 of Discovery is one of the best seasons in modern Star Trek; even if it trips and falls sometimes, I think it's well worth the creative risk and I was left very satisfied after watching it.

So when Discovery season 5 turns around and tells me it's about an episode of TNG I watched once, and then they start going to a planet from an episode of TNG I watched once, and then here comes another episode where they go to an episode of DS9 I watched once, and there's more 24th century-specific stuff that's gonna happen, it's...

It's very hard to feel like we're not regressing? I realize at this point the show is very, very cancelled -- they weren't even told it was happening until they were filming the finale, but at the same time, is this really what the plan was? To not boldly go into something original, instead picking up threads from episodic shows released decades ago? What are we, Star Trek: Picard?

Now for the sake of transparency, I feel like this is might be more of a personality problem than a media consumption problem for me, because I am genuinely allergic to nostalgia. I have no respect or attachment for media whose only mission is to remind me of things that existed, and franchises that have made that their entire MO have basically died for me. Like, I can't watch Star Wars anymore. It stopped mattering how good or bad it is for me because all I see in stuff like Mandalorian season 2 is pilots for shows I'm not gonna watch, and cameos from characters I don't want to see right now. The stories are no longer the point, the point is the brand and how easily recognizable it is.

So when Discovery tells me that their last hurrah is going through the Star Trek theme park, pointing at rides I've already gone to and saying "Isn't it cool we get to say these words again? That we get to see this thing again?" I'm left cold. I don't want to see the Progenitors again. I don't want to see the Promellians again. I like seeing the Trills again, it's one of my favorite species in the franchise, but we have seen so much of the Trills between DS9 and DIS, I really feel like this is... not the way forward. This theme park is not the reason why I think about Star Trek.

It reminds me of why I stopped caring about Star Trek Online. The practical reason was me not liking the minibuys and the combat, and the game's only mode of operation being to attack -- it's a fine ship combat game and a mediocre but working third person shooter, I just don't care enough to play it forever. But the secondary reason, and the reason I think about the most, is because every single storyline is less a story and more a Star Trek reference.

It's always someone coming back, or an alt universe version of a character being introduced, or picking up on a random episode that I already watched, making the action figures fight instead of anything else. Instead of using fanservice to broaden the appeal, the only appeal is the fanservice; there is very little to Star Trek Online that isn't just the equivalent of going to Star Trek Land and looking at the Harry Kim bust again.

I keep looking at Burnham, a character I have come to like in spite of her place in the franchise, in spite of the fact that her entire conception was made to connect her to Spock, and to Sarek, and to Pike, and to all these characters I already know, in spite of the shortcomings of her original character arc -- I look at her and I see a character who has built her own path after being allowed to exist separate from the others, after being given the same chance everyone else was to be more than a Star Trek reference, and then she just knows to go to the planet of the Booby Trap aliens because that's Star Trek, we're going on the ride.

I'm so sick of going on the same rides. Specifically, I'm sick of going on rides after they just proved that they can do something different, that doesn't need Star Trek references to exist. Please I am begging you stop showing me Picard's face, I get it, I like TNG too. But I tuned in to watch Discovery. I am not into this brand because I am into the brand, I am into this brand because it's fucking good, stop acting like I'm here for nostalgia's sake.

"Hey, what about Lower Decks? You love that show!" eh Lower Decks can do it, don't worry about it.

#star trek #discovery #star trek discovery #star trek spoilers #discovery spoilers #discovery season 5 #michael burnham #it is simply impossible to dislike aspects of discovery without sounding like an old man yelling at a cloud #at least i don't think i'm coming off like i'm just a hater on this one #but if that's not the case then eh fair enough #i've been worse

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wehadfaces · 26 days

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tag game!

tagged by @warningsine, thank you! i have a bunch from the past saved in my drafts, which i will resurrect one day bc they're fun <3

Last song/piece I listened to: U Were Not Here by 潘PAN feat. Chiu Pi. The sound production on it is *chef's kiss*

Last book I read: I can't remember, I think it was "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie?

Last film I watched: Cry Wolf (1947) dir. Peter Godfrey. I think it fell flat because it was 1947 and I am typically opposed to remakes, but I think a modern retelling of this would be fantastic. I have a 3am scrambled essay written about this, including a fan cast, somewhere lmao

Last TV series: I can't remember, I think when I finished "The Bear"?

Last video game (if applicable): I haven't played in forever, but "Animal Crossing: New Horizons."

Last thing I googled: the hours for a new Indian take out place near me

Last thing I ate: a leftover doughnut

Sweet, Savory or Spicy: savory, with spicy

Amount of sleep: [looks at the camera like I'm Fleabag] 2-3 hours? <-- keeping that because same and exactly

Currently reading: still working on "The Hours" by Michael Cunningham (had to take a break) and also "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams, and various poetry collections

Currently watching: I'm currently watching "So Help Me Todd" and "Abbott Elementary" with my mom, and some Star Trek: TNG, but mostly Star Trek: DS9. Mainly just comfort shows for the time being <3

tagging: @grusinskayas, @poeticsinnamon, @karathraces, @emuculate, @hardcockcafe, and anyone else who wants to do this! i never know who likes these and doesn't, so if you happen to see this and want to participate, i actively tag you <3

#thank you again!#a

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weerd1 · 5 months

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It’s Been a Long Road: Two decades after “Star Trek: Enterprise” I still have Faith of the Heart.

After the click, there are 2300 words of me doing a deep dive on my love for "Star Trek: Enterprise." You have been warned.

When I was in elementary school, I was a year younger than my peers. My mom had decided I didn’t need to go to Kindergarten as I was already reading ahead of my level, so she insisted I be placed at age 5 directly into 1st Grade. In ways she was right; I completed the reading and phonics program in my little Arizona school for the entire first grade before Christmas. To this day though, I am clumsy with scissors, paste, and all the “kindergarten skills” and I spent the rest of my school career smaller, weaker, and less coordinated than everyone in my class.

This probably all worked out in the end; sure, I couldn’t play sports, but to avoid bullies and getting picked on, I got funny, and that’s worked out pretty well for me. But in those days when I would play a sport such as baseball, the opposing team would step a little closer, the coaches would advise me to take the walk; I was not as good as my peers, so allowances were made for my performance.

That is exactly how I looked at “Star Trek: Enterprise” for years. It was only four seasons, while its powerhouse predecessors all had seven. It wasn’t set in a utopian far future, but rather not too far from now meaning more modern and vernacular language. The science seemed a little spurious, with writers seeming to think the term “Rigel” was just some made-up word from older Trek series rather than older Trek series using actual star names for locations. The knowledge of Trek seemed a little lacking as well, with the first episode citing “Klingon Warbirds” and basing the hero ship on a design introduced in a then recent movie…that was set 200 years later.

I watched though, as we were coming off of there being CONSTANT Trek on television for the previous 15 years, and this was what we had.

I groused then, a lot. The lack of continuity, the trivia gaffes, the over-sexualization of women characters (ok, that WAS more than a bit overdone, and I still grouse that point).

The theme song. Oh my lord, the theme song.

But eventually, this show won me over, almost in spite of itself. Then there was a major shift in tone for the third season, and it got to be pretty solid, and the FOURTH season was…STAR TREK! Like its predecessors, the show had taken some time to find its footing (c’mon, admit how uneven the first couple of seasons of TNG were), but had pulled itself together, and the show’s future looked bright in 2005!

And then there was a truly terrible last episode and ENT was cancelled and gone.

Twenty years later, here I am, and though the absence of new Trek only lasted about four years—until JJ Abrams 2009 movie—I felt that absence keenly then. I am glad to report there has been Trek I really enjoy since then…and some marginal entries, but that’s not new either honestly. But with all this new material, I still find myself going back to revisit Archer and his crew. I’ve rewatched maybe two TNG episodes in the last 15 years. Maybe two or three Voyager episodes. But TOS, DS9, and ENT I hit regularly. Why does ENT keep forcing itself to the front of my Trek consciousness?

From the beginning, ENT suffered from some external pressures that weren’t helpful to its development. There was a tension between doing more of the same, successful formula Trek had been delivering since “Encounter at Farpoint” (the TNG pilot episode from 1987) and doing something experimental and new. Viewer fatigue was setting in a bit, but fans were vociferous in what THEY thought Trek meant. Anything that strayed too far would take a beating on the internet message boards.

DS9 had just finished off their wartime storyline, and though there were adamant Niners, it was only just beginning to truly find its audience with the advent of home video allowing one to actually watch the whole thing. Meanwhile, the less arc-oriented VOY had added the character Seven. There had been a ratings increase, which the producers took to mean any new show needed an attractive woman in a catsuit. Remember also, we were in the midst of the Star Wars Prequel trilogy, so going BACK to a time when the story could be a little looser was floating in the zeitgeist.

But it was also 2001, and though the visual continuity of the then modern Treks had maintained a history inclusive and accepting of TOS, putting a starship on screen that would look like a century’s LESS development than Matt Jefferies’ design from the mid-1960s was going to be problematic.

I don’t know this is true, but I also suspect that since the previous shows had a British man, a Black man, and a Woman as captains, someone in Production wanted to make sure there was a white, American man back in the center seat. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s my gut.

So all of this goes into the show, and honestly it kicks off as a bit of a hot mess. So much seems to be playing it safe. Some fairly cliched storylines that occasionally try something a little new. A few things it does try new are not quite there: That aforementioned over-sexualization of the women in the crew*. Cringy comments about relations with aliens. Archer watching water polo.

There are a lot of forgettable episodes, contradictions. And yet, I kept watching. Yeah, I was on message boards complaining about the tech looking too advanced. I’d gripe about how un-Vulcan the Vulcans seemed. I’d gripe about every violation of what I accepted as canon, that was often really just things the fandom had settled on in the 70s and had no basis on the show. And I was just a complete tool online when the first cloaking device showed up.

And the theme song, oh my lord, the theme song.

But I kept watching. And before I knew it, I started to appreciate something about this show. I had to make a choice between griping that this modern show that I was actually enjoying didn’t adhere to a single line of dialog written (then) 40 years before for a show that wasn’t expected to last a year. I, a staunch Trek gatekeeper, was having an awakening about continuity and canon, and I had to figure out why. Finally it hit me.

These characters, these performers, they were more than they should be. These characters were making me love them, even when the stories were mediocre or cliche or counter to what I believed was canon.

Take Jonathan Archer, played with almost megaton-levels of earnestness by Scott Bakula. Archer’s earnest, do-gooder nature is so extreme…you know how a show like “Family Guy,” does a joke, and it’s ok, and then it keeps going way too long, and you get sick of it. And then it keeps going still, and somehow, this only kinda-funny joke goes so long or so far that it actually manages to somehow loop back around to being not just funny, but hilarious. That’s Archer’s earnestness, his naiveté. His “oh gosh” nature is interesting and fun compared to Kirk’s bravado. Then, after he oh goshes his way into losing ANOTHER fight, he’s simply grating. THEN you start to think he’s just devastatingly boring. But if you keep watching, then it comes around to this unironic serving of safe-guy that doesn’t blink in how GOLLY he is as a hero and you smile when he all but winks at the camera. And then, in later seasons when he’s faced with some pretty devastating moral dilemmas, you FEEL it!

T’Pol, played by Jolene Blalock: she’s so attractive it almost hurts to look at her, but you realize soon after that while she somehow seems to keep ending up getting rubbed down in decon Jolene is BRINGING the performance. That her delivery, her tone; the micro-expressions which betray her stoic facade for the Vulcan emotions at a full boil underneath…you buy it. You realize her performance is wonderful, and she’s one of the best Vulcans in the entire franchise.

Connor Trinneer as the character I recently described as “Florida Man in Space,” Trip Tucker. He’s a walking cliche, his accent making “warp-field plasma conduits” sound like something you’d serve up with sweet tea and grits. He’s got Himbo energy that rivals the output of his anti-matter reactor, and still it works. His “I don’t really know much about anything, but I’m willing to learn…oh God I’m pregnant” (actual episode) speaks so beautifully to humans DISCOVERING things for the first time, screwing it up, but learning from their mistakes and going back for more!

I could easily go on about Travis Mayweather, the kid who grew up in space and is both completely knowledgeable and blissfully ignorant of anything that goes on out there. Malcolm Reed, the British tactical officer who if his upper lip was any stiffer, he could use it as a weapon. Hoshi Sato who starts out completely out of her depth, and ends up loving it all. Dr. Phlox, your over-friendly, polyamorous uncle who brandishes optimism like a flame thrower and plays with eels.

They are all just…TOO. Too this, too that, and in doing so, somehow all circle back to being absolutely perfect. Because as flawed as ENT is in its storytelling at times, and how mired it is in attitudes before #metoo, the IDEA of the show is a great one: How does humanity get from the mess we are now to the icons of TOS or TNG? Enterprise shows us it wasn’t a switch, but a road. A long road, getting from there to here.

Yes, even the damn theme song, hokey and way too on the nose is EXACTLY RIGHT for what this show means.

Somewhere along the line, we all knew we had to move in a little closer when ENT comes up to bat, but we all started wishing, hoping, that maybe it would get a home run.

And sometimes, just sometimes, these characters that are great in spite of themselves, and this design, that’s too good for what it should be**, and this show that’s just not on the level of its predecessors does exactly that and knocks one into the stands. Suddenly it’s season four, and Enterprise manages to sum up the humanity Star Trek has been serving up since 1966 better than any show before or since:

Vulcan Ambassador Soval: We don't know what to do about Humans. Of all the species we've made contact with, yours is the only one we can't define. You have the arrogance of Andorians, the stubborn pride of Tellarites. One moment, you're as driven by your emotions as Klingons, and the next, you confound us by suddenly embracing logic.

Admiral Maxwell Forrest: I'm sure those qualities are found in every species.

Vulcan Ambassador Soval: Not in such confusing abundance.

We’re not perfect, we’re not utopian, but we are AMAZING when we give ourselves the chance, and for me, Enterprise takes that idea and runs with it. It often swings and misses, but when it connects, we can smile and clap and let it take its run around the bases, because it makes us feel good. And if it weren’t for Enterprise teaching me how these lessons, these characters are more important that visual continuity or strict adherence to arcane canon, I wouldn’t have accepted the Kelvin timeline. The DISCO Klingons. The Strange New Worlds uniforms, sets, and character interpretations. Because as much as I love what Star Trek means, all of that deeper meaning is nothing if it isn’t entertaining. And Enterprise taught me how important that was.

I could go on about how much better the show got when Berman and Braga took a back seat to Manny Coto, though there are certainly strong arguments that he got a little too fan-servicey. But in the end, the point is CBS took over and closed down Enterprise just as it found its footing. I hope the wave of nostalgia we’re seeing applied (perhaps TOO applied in shows like “Picard”) to modern Trek means we get more than a passing Lower Decks reference to the show. And if not, well, I’ve got my copies, and my fan fic, and my Tumblr memes.

Most importantly though, I’ve got (I’ve got, I’ve got) Faith of the Heart.

*I will give the show credit at least that it was pretty willing to flaunt shirtless men as well, and biceps-a-plenty.

**In regard to things looking more advanced, I will give credit to Brannon Braga for dropping a hint in an interview at the end of season 1 that the Enterprise-E coming back in “First Contact” had subtly altered the timeline, making things a little more advanced. Fans—and I regret to include myself—railed against that online, and it wasn’t really mentioned again. Recently, Strange New Worlds has revisited and canonized the idea that the timeline, even though it is the Prime timeline, DOES go through shifts and changes due to temporal incursions, evidenced wonderfully in the episode “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” when a Romulan time traveler admits to altering time so the rise of Khan happens not at the 1992 date that Spock gave us in the original series “Space Seed” to now to him still being a child 30 years later. It’s in-story shorthand for the fact that when a show goes for six decades some continuity has to change and THAT IS OK. I wasn’t ready to accept it then, but am glad it’s now part of Trek.

#star trek #star trek enterprise #long post #another jackass opinion #former gatekeeping asshole #i got better

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quordleona03 · 11 months

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8 shows for your mutuals to get to know you better

I was tagged by @marley--manson

Blake's 7 - I once described my relationship with Blake's 7 as like the one you might have with your first girlfriend. You came out together! You two were the first lesbians each of you had ever met; You share so many lesbian firsts together. You split up before you were even going to uni, you may not see each other very often now, but there's still that sweet, sweet, unforgettable first attachment. That was me for Blake's 7. The first show I ever wrote fanfic for. The first show for which I had a proper fannish obsession. The first show for which I ever spent three days weeping and writing obsessively after I was left in a state of misery and shock after the fourth season finale . I have a complete set of B7 DVDs sitting on the shelf above this computer. I haven't actually watched them but sometimes I offer them flowers.

2. Doctor Who. This was my very first convention - the Doctor Who 20th Anniversary Con at Longleat, Easter weekend 1983. My parents asked me what I'd like to do for Easter, and were more than a little startled when I told them, but they paid my train fare and my con membership and let me go and I had my very first experience of fandom standing in those queues. I have dipped into and out of Doctor Who since I first watched Tom Baker flaunt his ever so long scarf.

3. Star Trek: TOS - and the original four movies. I watched these without as much obsession, but - I read James Blish's novelisations, I still have a collection of the good Trek novels on my shelf, I once organised a group reading of the Price of the Phoenix at a slash con, I have written Spock/McCoy fanfic (it's the Mirror episode, mostly) and I have been to K/S cons. I quite like DS9 and ST:tng too - I've written fanfic for tng - but Star Trek before it needed a TOS label was the first fandom I got to share with friends in person, as opposed to friends I knew by post and fanzine and at cons.

4. Cagney & Lacey. I loved this show. So did my mum. This is the only fandom I ever shared with my mum, and we loved it the same way: two kick-ass women who were best friends and also the only two women cops in their precinct. I was not conscious enough of racial issues in the US at the time I was watching it to be conscious that the New York Cagney and Lacey moved in was very unexpectedly white at all times, but I'm afraid I would see it now. On the other hand, if anyone can point me at *good* recordings of the episodes I would love to watch them again - my mum had the complete set recorded on VHS tapes and, well, gone with the dinosaurs and my late mother's estate.

5. The Professionals. Such a British show. Written and aired well before the anti-drunk driving campaigns, Bodie and Doyle and Cowley drink to excess, show no signs of being drunk, and then drive fast cars and wave guns around after drinking to excess. I wrote Bodie/Cowley fanfic for it because at the time I discovered the fandom, it felt like every Bodie/Doyle story and then some had already been written (and were still being written) but also because I really adored the way Gordon Jackson and Lewis Collins interacted with each other. Cowley and Bodie were both ex-soldiers doing a secret-police job: Doyle was a former cop transferred to CI5: the best fanfiction written covered the brutality and the danger and the kind of personality that thrived on it. The political viewpoints expressed by Bodie, Cowley, and Doyle were so far from being mine that it felt reckless to write them, and I enjoyed that: but the background to the story - 1970s UK/London - was so close to my real life (1980s/1990s Scotland/SE England) that it felt sometimes impossibly easy to write.

6. House MD I had been vaguely aware that Hugh Laurie had moved to the US and was doing a show about a doctor in an American hospital and I was entirely uninterested - US doctor/hospital series (with ONE exception) had never appealed to me. And then I saw a poster, at the bus stop, on my way home. It is a rule that anything she see advertised on public transport is bad, but I looked at the unshaven and somehow agonised face of Hugh Laurie, whom I remembered well from quite other series, and I though: Okay, I'll give this a go, and I watched one episode - somewhere in the first season, I do not recall which one, oddly enough: and I was hooked. I never wrote much fanfic for it, but Greg House and his coterie of characters - Wilson, Cameron, Chase, Foreman, and Cuddy - and to a certain extent the later ducklings - were formidable ingredients for story telling. I own every season on DVD.

7. The West Wing. I have been a politics nerd for most of my life, and a friend who was aware of this tempted me into watching an early episode of TWW (it may even have been the pilot episode) by telling me it was a drama about politics - not so much about elections, but about the behind-the-scenes work that makes politics. I watched it from season one, and I own every season on DVD.

8. M*A*S*H I became obsessed with MASH in two phases - first one about twenty years ago, which sparked a period of about five years writing fanfic: and again, I'm not sure why, in lockdown - suddenly the characters walked back into my mind and I started writing MASH fanfic again. Who to tag, who to tag: @jaelijn @topshelf2112-blog @cplredberet @blistersonmefingehs @bbjkrss-blog (but don't feel obliged unless you want to)

#Blake's 7 #Star Trek: TOS #The Professionals #Cagney & Lacey #Doctor Who #House MD #The West Wing #mash tv #fanfic #fannish obsessions

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lipstickontheglass1985 · 3 months

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i love how when they introduce enterprise on tng theyre like "this is our besteemed starship enterprise. not only does it exceed in a range of functions expected of a starship, it also offers a great deal of comfort to its inhabitants". and when they introduce deep space 9 theyre like "this station SUCKS ASS. most of crucial areas are not much more than piles of rocks and the quarters are so shit they immediately made keiko obrien think abt taking leave. the food replicators arent even online yet. but its okay :)". and its somehow beautifully enhanced by how ds9 has not been remastered yet as opposed to tng

#like its kind of a happy coincidence cause even the video quality itself exemplifies this contrast. like they LOOK DIFFERENT yknow #ANYWAY. just started ds9. im shaking like a chihuahua #do i have more important things to do? Of Course. Who Cares.#thots

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sapphosewrites · 1 year

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sorry to bother but I'm a bit new to star trek (second season of TNG and Voyager and Beginning third season of DS9) what is Rick Berman responsible for ?

Hello, friend, and welcome aboard! It's never a bother, I'm here on the internet so I can talk to other people who are here too :)

Rick Berman was one of the creators of TNG, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise. He worked on all or most of the Trek films made during that era as well, I believe. In many ways, his vision shaped all Star Trek media at the time. However, stories from the cast and crew make him seem like kind of an asshole.

Notably, he drove Terry Farrell to quit Deep Space 9, after targeting her with sexist harassment. He made multiple demeaning comments about her body and forced her to have fittings for a bra that would make her breasts appear larger. He criticized her talent and career and said if it weren't for him she would be working at KMart, and when she tried to negotiate her contract he made it clear she would work on the show on his terms or not at all. According to her, he made those kinds of derogatory remarks about other women as well. (And we know there was egregious sexism on all the sets- Deanna Troi aka Marina Sirtis not being allowed to wear a uniform so her cleavage could be shown off, Jeri Ryan's 7 of 9 costume so tightly fitting to make it sexy that it cut off her blood flow and caused her to faint, Jolene Blalock- the actor for T'Pol on Enterprise- saying that show was trying to use her tits and ass to cover up for their own bad writing...)

Nor is it just women who felt targeted. Wil Wheaton, who was a child during TNG, has said that Berman made him feel belittled and tried to control his attempts to pursue a career outside of Trek. Garrett Wang, the only Trek actor to ever be denied his request to direct an episode, was refused by Berman.

Berman has also been accused of killing pitches involving queer characters or storylines, although if he did so it was certainly with the studio's approval- they were not exactly forward-thinking as an institution.

Berman's job was to keep ratings high for the franchise. That means he valued creating a consumable product over creativity. He changed the music vibe of Trek because he said the original composers made music that was too memorable and striking. On DS9, Andrew Probert said he consistently shot down any new ideas for visuals, and Ira Behr said he opposed the shift to serialization.

At the end of the day, Rick Berman was not a passionate Star Trek fan or creative scifi visionary. He was a career producer hired to keep the franchise going, and that's what he did. Unfortunately, in doing so he hurt and alienated people, and in some ways limited the creative potential of the Star Trek franchise.

#this is my attempt to be objective #hope i've done all right

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janieshi · 10 months

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Hey Janie! I’ve been wanting to watch Star Trek at some point, but I’m not sure whether to start with TOS or dive right into TNG. I haven’t seen any Star Trek except some of the newer movies. I’ve seen some Star Trek stuff from you a few times and each time I think “I’ll start that soon.” Any suggestions on what the best place is to start?

Omg yes yes yes! I’m stupidly excited for you; you are in for wild ride. Please excuse me as I vibrate out of my skin with suppressed delight and attempt to keep this short.

I would absolutely start with TOS.

For one thing, it IS the beginning from which all other Trek has sprung, and holds up surprisingly well. but also? It’s far less daunting as a newcomer to begin with a series that has only 3 seasons to get through (as opposed to TNG with 7). There are definitely a handful of TOS episodes you could skip and never regret missing (let me know if you ever want a comprehensive list! Although honestly part of the fun is how dang stupid some of the really terrible ones actually are, so there’s that).

Now, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve watched the whole of TNG, but iirc the first…maybe 1.5-2 seasons? were just…not the best. Don’t get scared off! It does improve! And I have a lot of love for both series (As well as DS9. And even most of Voyager. Enterprise can go straight to hell as far as I’m concerned). I grew up watching Star Treks TNG and DS9 with my mom, and I didn’t actually find TOS until my early 20s. I remember wondering where the hell it had been all my life and being absolutely delighted that I’d found it.

I do think you should watch as many of the series as you’re interested in, eventually. But in my opinion, you should begin at the beginning. And if the original doesn’t trip your trigger? There are plenty of other flavors of Trek to choose from :) Happy watching!

xoxo

#Janie rambles #Star Trek #star trek tos #star trek the original series #star trek tng #star trek the next generation

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quietwingsinthesky · 1 year

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hello uh so I will not feel self actualized until I get into Star Trek but it’s so vast and I have no idea where to start. you’re a fan, right? any advice?

The good thing about Star Trek is that you can just pick any series to watch and it’ll make sense to you eventually.

(Note: this might not apply to the newer series.(definitely not to Picard, which is the one show that’s an explicit sequel to another) like Discovery, Strange New Worlds, & Lower Decks but uh. I’ve only seen s1 of Discovery anyway. It’s fine? It’s fine.)

Idk what other fans would say but my advice would be starting with either The Next Generation or The Original Series, completely dependent on one factor: Do you want to start with a show that’s going to be a lot closer in tone to the next few that come after it (aka Deep Space 9, Voyager, Enterprise) or do you want the campy space hijinks that make up Star Trek in its most undiluted form?

Because The Original Series is fantastic, it holds up remarkably well for a show from the 60s (aside from a few missteps here and there that, for the most part, seem to be earnest takes that have aged poorly.) It’s vibes are incredible. It’s all melodrama and Shatner overacting and Leonard Nimoy raising his eyebrows and fight scenes that mostly involve characters inexplicable ducking and rolling around on the floor (or getting their shirts ripped off.) There is a reason this show captured the hearts of people so well that it jumpstarted a whole cultural phenomenon and invented shipping while it was at it. (Okay, another reason to start with TOS, if you’re interested in it, is that it opens up the biggest and oldest parts of the AO3 map. Seriously, there’s Spirk fic from the zines of the 70s and 80s that’s been transferred onto the site and is a joy to read.)

But that being said, no series after the original ever fully committed to that tone again. (Behind the scenes reasons of the show being handed off to Rick Berman, but we don’t have time for Star Trek history lessons here.) The Next Generation is a lot closer to what the standard Star Trek experience is like, a lot calmer, a lot less overacting and a lot more, well, actual acting, less colors on the screen but a world that’s a little more firmly established. TNG is almost nothing like TOS, but there’s a reason it ran for seven seasons (if my memory is correct.) The only con is that, as opposed to TOS, which is fantastic out the gate, you do have to pay the entry fee for TNG (the incredibly rocky first season.)

(There’s also a few episodes of TNG that only make sense if you’ve seen the first series, but they’re more nostalgic romps than anything.)

You could absolutely also start with DS9 or Voy or any of the others. Like I said, they’re built for anyone to enter the series at any point, and there’s no reason you have to fully finish any of them before jumping into the next to test the waters for the same reason. The reason I’m suggesting starting with TOS or TNG has more to do with setting a tone than anything else, because for example, without the baseline of TNG, where everything will always be fine as long as they believe in Starfleet’s mission!, DS9’s darker tone loses a bit of its bite.

And personally, I’d say just start at the very very beginning with TOS and go chronologically. It’s as good a method as any to get into this. (Oh, I’ve forgotten to mention The Animated Series. It’s kind of an add-on to TOS, if you didn’t get enough of the space hijinks lmao.)

There’s also the movies, books, and video games. The movies, I’d say look at when they were released and make sure you’ve watched whatever seasons of the show are out up until then, or nothing will make any sense to you. (ie, don’t watch Star Trek: The Motion Picture until you’ve finished TOS.) The exception to this is the trilogy released around 2009, which can technically be watched without familiarity to the series at all. They’re basically ‘what would happen if you took the crew of TOS and instead of camp, you gave them explosions and lens flares’ and some people may try to convince you they are bad. These people do not understand how to have fun. I would recommend at least passing familiarity with TOS for the best effect, though. (And by best effect, I do mean sobbing when Leonard Nimoy comes on screen.)

As for books, I haven’t read a lot, but again, if it’s got the name of a specific series slapped on there, best to actually know that show before you get into it.

And the video games are crap. <3 Do not waste your time. (Okay, I’m sure some of them have to be good, but if they are, I haven’t played them. Maybe just look up a gameplay series on YouTube if you really need to see them for some reason.)

So hopefully that was slightly helpful and didn’t just confuse you more. tl;dr: honestly start whenever because you can always go back and watch the rest later, but either TOS or TNG are solid places to begin.

#ask #star trek

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kingjasnah · 10 months

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i didn't mind the gorn eps in s1 of snw so much bc i thought they might be doing smth with like how la'an had very bad experiences w them and let that completely influence her perspective/how the crew had only her word to take about their nature and even with this most recent ep doubling down on some very serious flaws in starfleet's structure/mentality but w the end stinger i was like hmm maybe i overestimated the writers...

ack i still personally think they shouldve made up another alien for la'an's backstory like it was sooo hard for me to recontextualize the guy from Arena with planets and planets of human hunting grounds.......i think it might have been ok if they didn't decide to make gorn society more as opposed to less animalistic. if they had done what tng's era did for the klingons (or ds9 with the ferengi) that would've been something. but this.....yeah. also idk if it was just me but it was also weirdly reminiscent of the trandoshans in STAR WARS and anything being reminiscent of star wars imo is a bad move for this show in particular. i see ur point and i really like la'an's whole deal still but to me it couldve been another guy.

as for 2x02. the conclusions and ideals they spouted out were sooooooooooooooo tos/tng era liberalism that i didnt even blink. it was annoying but im like more annoyed that snw maintains that era of starfleet idealism but slipped up on something as big as black and white alien xenophobia when the guy happens to look like a lizard

#you guys remember the trandoshans? remember bossk? bwahh?#snw spoilers #st: snw #strange new worlds #snw #asks

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procrastinatorproject · 1 year

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I posted 1,878 times in 2022

48 posts created (3%)

1,830 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@tehriz

@regionalpancake

@thelaithlyworm

@jazzfic

@stra-tek

I tagged 1,875 of my posts in 2022

#star trek picard - 443 posts

#funny stuff - 442 posts

#cristobal rios - 152 posts

#star trek picard season 2 - 115 posts

#star trek - 110 posts

#picardpositivity - 98 posts

#i have such talented friends! - 90 posts

#picard season 2 spoilers - 85 posts

#cats - 76 posts

#tumblr - 75 posts

Longest Tag: 137 characters

#and how else are you going to share bits of stories that you won't post for months or years if ever because finishing things is hard 🙈😅

My Top Posts in 2022:

I spent quite some time yesterday yelling about Star Trek with the wonderful @regionalpancake and @curator-on-ao3, and I need to share their comedic genius with the world!

We were talking about how, if the Zhat Vash are so extremely opposed to synthetic life and any form of AI, could they possibly manage to hack the androids on Mars and to cause them to go rogue? To which Curator commented:

“I’m an iPhone user and I couldn’t hack an android!”

This was followed some time later by a discussion about how in recent Trek, there has been an increasing distinction between People Who Matter and Those Who Don’t. And how its encumbent upon the people who are less significant for the fate of the world to sacrifice themselves for the Important People.

With regards to this, Pancakes observed of Rose (from Dr Who), a character who thinks she is unimportant and whom the Doctor tells that There Are No Unimportant People:

“If she were a Star Trek character, Rose would have been cannon fodder.”

Curator: “You mean... canon fodder? :D”

I don’t know if these are funny to anyone but me, but I laughed so hard I had to go find my asthma spray. So I needed to share XD

59 notes - Posted July 30, 2022

Holo-Tech Database

Over the last seven or so months, I have watched through every episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. It’s the first time I’ve seen the entire series, there were quite a few episodes in the later seasons I’d never seen before. Quite an enjoyable experience on the whole.

But because I’m me, of course I didn’t just watch TNG. Instead, I took notes every single time the holodeck or any other piece of holo-technology played a part in the plot, were the setting for even the briefest of scenes, or so much as got mentioned. Essentially, I’m building towards a database of every little scrap of canonical information about holo-technology that I can get my hand on. And this was a start.

I haven’t had the time or energy to look through all of my notes in detail. There is a lot of information in there already. Of course, I’ll only be able to draw any real conclusions once I add in all the data from DS9, Voyager, and PIC, (since I’m interested in the state of technology at the time La Sirena is in operation, because of course that’s what this is about), but it’ll be quite a while before I get there.

So, in lieu of any detailed analysis, here are some quick impressions of my first foray into holo-episode-tracking!

[Image ID: a table showing the number of total holo-episodes for TNG is 58, and breaking that number down for each season. Season 1 has 10 episodes, season 2 has 8, season 3 has 6, season 4 has 9, season 5 and 6 both have 8, and season 7 has 9 episodes. /end ID]

See the full post

65 notes - Posted January 27, 2022

30 Days of Picard Postivity

With just over 30 days to go, the premiere of Star Trek: Picard season 2 (3rd March in the US, 4th March internationally) is fast approaching, and I for one cannot wait to get back into the world I fell in love with two years ago. Thirty days is quite some time, however, and even though new trailers and promo pics seem to be dropping daily, I felt like we could use something to tide us over until March.

After the long hiatus, I think this is the perfect time to revisit all the things we enjoyed about season 1. I’m sure I’m not the only one who has forgotten a lot of the details of those episodes, and who would love to see some of the wonderful characters, locations, and stories back on my dash. So, without further ado:

ProcrastinatorProject Proudly Presents:

30 Days of Picard Positivity

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70 notes - Posted February 1, 2022

Massive Picard Season 2 Spoilers Ahead

So the latest episode of The Ready Room, the Star Trek recap show hosted by Wil Wheaton, had a preview of Season 2 of Star Trek: Picard. It's interviews with all of the main actors and they explain in some detail where they're characters are at at the beginning of season 2.

It puts a lot of shots from the trailers in perspective and I have a lot of thoughts that I want to share, but because this is a very, very explicit spoilery preview, I'm putting both the video and my initial reaction under the cut.

Anyone in the US (or with a decent VPN): You can find the full Ready Room episode on the Paramount+ youtube page, but I'm not going to link it here, because, youk know, tumblr 😋

See the full post

73 notes - Posted February 24, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I just had a realization about why Agnes Jurati’s story in Star Trek: Picard season 2 feels so wrong to me, and I am going to inflict it on all of you!

Spoilers for the entirety of season 2 ahead! CW: Mention of depression, PTSD, anxiety, and emotional manipulation

Also: CW long post

(NB: I’m going to completely disregard the discrepancy in Agnes’s character between seasons 1 and 2. I think when you take Agnes’s story and development from the first season into account, her “arc” in season 2 falls apart completely. But for the sake of this argument, I’m going to meet the season 2 writers on their terms. I’m going to ignore the character of season 1 Agnes, and instead will simply look at season 2′s Jurati to explain why I think the story the writers gave her falls flat.)

I was taking notes for a way-too-long essay about my problems with PIC season 2 (which I may or may not write eventually), and I was trying to put into words why it always irks me when people say merging with the Borg Queen was a satisfying end to Jurati’s arc.

What I was never able to put my finger on until now is that when the Borg Queen and Jurati merge at the end of episode 9, that’s not actually the culmination of Jurati’s arc. It’s the Queen’s.

See the full post

74 notes - Posted May 20, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #i want to point out that of the almost 2000 posts on my blog this year #THREE were not tagged! THREE! 🤣😂🤣😂#i knew i was an obsessive tagger but i didn't think my record was *that* good #(not that most of the tagging is particularly consistent....)#also: so many of my friends! 🤩#also also: 'star trek picard' beat out 'funny stuff' by ONE post #at least i am balanced? 🤣🙈#anyway. this is fun!

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alexsbrain · 1 year

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Unpopular Opinion: Star Trek is at a Crossroads

*Spoilers: Please do not read unless you have seen all episodes of season 3 of Picard*

With the culmination of the final season of Star Trek: Picard due to land next week, it seems that Star Trek and the fandom are at a critical juncture. A quixotic crossroads. Since the relaunch of the franchise on the small screen in 2017 with Discovery, the fandom has become more fractured. This rift is not a simple one which can be explained along lines of age, gender, race, geography, politics, or sexual identity. The newer shows have been dragging the franchise forwards in many ways. With the nostalgic callbacks in season three of Picard packaged in more modern aesthetic and narrative tropes, many fans seem torn between this schism. What the Borg queen might call “those who live like shattered glass.” Through reactions and events surrounding Picard’s third season, I hope to delineate this schism. The essence of Star Trek is currently being debated among fans. Can the franchise heal this rift, and should it?

There are four eras of Star Trek. The original series and subsequent films (1966-1991), the Berman era (1987-2005), the Kelvin timeline (2009-2016) and NuTrek (2017-present), which arguably begins with Discovery. Usually, everything pre-Disco is lumped into Legacy Trek, but the rift between Original Series and Next Gen fans in the late 80s or the vitriolic hate spewed at DS9 in the 90s offers a case study into the various rifts that exist within the fandom.

Star Trek fans are not a monolithic group. Unlike ethnocultural groups, Trekkies have much in common with the Queer community. Only bound through their shared love of something, their identity as a Star Trek fan, as opposed to a shared location, language, or lineage. What unites the fandom is their love of Star Trek. Although many fans might share similar reasons for their love of Trek, everyone’s journey into it and their love of it is unique.

Unlike other franchises, Star Trek has a set of ideals, or guiding principles, that can be used as a moral code in interacting in the real world. However, not all fans adopt these moral codes or philosophies of peace, dignity, equality, respect, understanding, and collectivism. Some fans seem oblivious to the very message the franchise has been exposing for over fifty years.

Many fans, both long term and new, were looking forward to season one of Picard back in 2020. It would be an understatement to say the show has been divisive during its run, with many fans settling into various camps of the validity of the show either as a whole or through a seasonal rankings system. The absence of Patrick Stewart’s co-stars from TNG, save for Spiner, Frakes, and Sirtis's small contributions, was seen as a wasted opportunity. “We want reunions and cameos,” quipped the fandom, and so for the third season many fans got what they wanted. A re-uniting of the magnificent seven, the crew of the Enterprise D. Older, wiser, and ready for one last mission before they ride off into the proverbial sunset.

When Enterprise went off the air in the spring of 2005 the television landscape was vastly different. Not only was broadcast/cable TV still the predominant delivery of the format, but shows were still mostly episodic in nature and American series still produced over twenty episodes a season. The big-screen relaunch in 2009 with Star Trek seemed to jettison much from Legacy Trek and this is where the rift between the fandom starts to widen further.

To not update Star Trek to modern storytelling conventions would have been absurd.

During Star Trek’s small screen fallow period not only were there formatting upheavals in television, shorter seasons, serialization, mystery boxes, and the habit of killing off beloved characters but the delivery system of television changed. Broadcast/Cable TV was being usurped by streaming services and the funding model of TV drastically changed. Within this time span of twelve years, the essence of the medium changed, so that when Discovery launched in 2017 the show not only radically altered the Star Trek format familiar to most fans, but it started driving another wedge within the fandom. To not update Star Trek to modern storytelling conventions would have been absurd. Star Trek is set in the future and has always been pushing the boundaries of narrative storytelling.

Not only did the format of Discovery upset swaths of the fandom but the inclusivity of the show and darker tone, reminiscent of DS9, continues to ruffle feathers. Picard and Strange New Worlds were thought of as a bridge between this rift within the fandom, yet early in season one of Picard it became clear that the trappings of Legacy Trek were dead. What many loved, Berman-era storytelling was never coming back. Strange New Worlds blends episodic and serialized storytelling but has been described by one podcaster as the “Vegas” version of the planet-of-week model. Devoid of the hard-hitting humanist stories science fiction is known for.

It would be too simplistic to define this rift as generational, or Legacy versus NuTrek, and not fully capture the nuances of the divide. There are several good-faith critiques of the newer shows by fans. Many feel the newer iterations of Trek are too dystopian as they lack the optimistic utopianism present in Legacy Trek. Some argue the high-minded science fiction stories are missing, serialized storytelling is not working for the franchise, and some simply think the new shows are visually too dark. With the relaunch of the Enterprise D, many fans shouted praise as they could finally see the interior of a starship again. The inclusion of the Borg this season seemed like a no-brainer, considering they were the baddest of the bad on TNG, and tie into Picard’s trauma and identity, his last hurdle, but some fans rolled their eyes with aplomb at their return decrying, “not again.”

The dialing down of Seven’s and Rafi’s relationship seems to be the heteronormalizing of season three. It might just be that a breakup or strained relationship was better for dramatic purposes, but it seems like we’ve really returned to 90s Trek when Queer stories and identities were heavily bubble wrapped in metaphor. Yet if, as one Tweeter commented, the Borg stand partially as a metaphor for the Queer/Trans journey/identity through Seven of Nine, then the mass assimilation of the youth by the Borg is rather a tragic and regrettable statement on how Gen Z is perceived further dividing the fandom. Gene Roddenberry’s vision was one of unity and if Star Trek cannot seem to unify the fandom in some fashion, then perhaps it’s failing. Or perhaps us fans are failing it somehow.

Others say the franchise was already in tip-top shape before season three of Picard which points towards Discovery’s torch-baring, its popularity and revamping of the franchise.

While season three of Picard is seen as a return to form for the franchise by many, there are fans who think the season is mediocre at best, riddled with cliché, that when you strip away the nostalgia and critically analyze the show it appears full of holes. Others say the franchise was already in tip-top shape before season three of Picard which point towards Discovery’s torch-baring, its popularity and revamping of the franchise. Disco gave birth to five new series after all. This points to an identity crisis of the franchise that plays out within the fandom. What is Star Trek actually? And where the heck is it going?

Again, there is no monolithic answer. Some fans love the totality of the franchise, others are here because they love space and science, for others it’s optimism, some the philosophy and moral tales, others the exploration of humanity, the diversity both on screen and through IDIC, and some simply for the starships and space battles. For instance, the lack of a weekly Federation saucer-type starship in seasons one and two of Picard was remedied for season three and we got the Titan-A, but again, some fans are sick of staring at its dimly lit bulkheads.

A small quadrant of the fandom will never seem to be satisfied with the franchise at present. These keyboard warriors range from the anti-progressive, subtle plot hole decriers (if one thing is off it throws me out of the narrative types), toxic misogynists, and retcon/canon inconsistency haters. There is probably nothing the franchise can do to appease this small yet vocal segment of the fans. For the anti-progressives the answer is simple, turn back the clock. In a small manner the third season of Picard has managed to do that. Not only has the old TNG gang reunited on the D but the two Queer characters have been heteronormalized for most if not all, of the season and the youth have been co-opted by an interconnective hivemind hell-bent on eliminating the unassimilated. Yikes.

What outsiders might not understand about the fandom is its unrelenting discourse on the thing they love. Respectful heated arguments are par for the course, yet since the relaunch in 2017, the occurrence of a more toxic discourse has intensified. This coincides with the assholing of humanity through social media.

Some fans announced Star Trek is “back” much to the chagrin of fans who said the same thing in 2017.

What should have been the bridge between this rift in the fandom, season three of Picard, has simply increased the schism. Some fans announced Star Trek is “back” much to the chagrin of fans who said the same thing in 2017. Additionally, Discovery fans are often positioned in a defensive stance when talking about the show on social media. Coincidentally, many of these fans are BIPOC and/or Queer. Discovery represents to them the olive branch of inclusivity that was merely nascent, or missing, in Legacy Trek. The quiet announcement of the show’s cancellation seemed like a slap on the face. However, in the current streaming world five seasons of a show point towards its success rather than its failure.

Of course, days later a new series was announced in the Disco 32nd-century timeline, Star Fleet Academy. In gestation in one form or another since the 80s a Star Fleet Academy show is long overdue. The initial reaction to the announcement and its setting, Disco’s timeline, was divisive amongst the fans. Some fans are not content with the branching out of live-action instalments, trying to appeal to different fans identities, they seem to want all the series to speak to them, often in a white cis-gendered heteronormative voice.

Ever since Gene Roddenberry decided to create a new show in the 80s without the original series cast members Star Trek bifurcated. Each new installment has further split the fandom. Time has created a strained community that is both inclusive and exclusive, content and discontent, grateful and unappreciative, progressive and conservative. By definition, Star Trek is now contradictory. The fandom is mostly an enjoyable experience, but fans still have to block and mute each other, defend their show and their identities, nay their mere existence to others, and many face harassment.

If Star Trek is many things to many people how does a franchise appease the vast majority of the fans? With Strange New Worlds' future uncertain after season three, its lack of abundant representation for marginalized groups within series regulars, and the eventual launch of Star Fleet Academy in the 32nd-century there will be a chance for the franchise to create a new live-action series in the next couple of years. One targeted at the adult audiences of Discovery, Picard, and SNW. The answer to these questions might lie in Matalas’s pitch for a Star Trek Legacy show. A chance to bring back characters/actors/storylines from Legacy shows and mix them with newer characters and possibly dare I say, new enemies and antagonists. However, the progressivism of Discovery and its inclusivity has delighted a large swath of the fandom, they finally felt seen and heard and not bringing that forward to an adult-targeted live-action Star Trek outing could spell the death of the franchise by abandoning the very ideals of Roddenberry-ism.

Everyone who blubbered like a baby at seeing the Enterprise D again and said “There’s no crying in Star Trek” needs to take a long overdue look at themselves in the mirror.

How can a show set in the future not be progressive? This is one of the key issues facing the fandom. In a perfect world, a Legacy show would combine the best of NuTrek with the best of Legacy Trek. The show would resemble all peoples of the world, have kick-ass starships, and have fabulous storytelling with old and new friends. With one episode left to go, Picard has been both a huge success and something of a step backwards. Everyone who blubbered like a baby at seeing the Enterprise D again and said “There’s no crying in Star Trek” needs to take a long overdue look at themselves in the mirror. Star Trek provides hope to many, hope that we as a species are going to survive, prosper, and learn to celebrate our differences. When the fandom cannot even celebrate differences within the fandom there is a serious problem. To quote Cassius, “The fault…is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”

#star trek #picard #picard season three #fandom

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ploppythespaceship · 1 year

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Picard Season 3 Thoughts

This is a very hard season to review, because my thoughts on it are so conflicted. On the one hand, it has some wonderful aspects -- an overall plot with great twists and turns that ties into the franchise's history, told by excellent returning characters with engaging story lines. On the other hand, the season began to fall apart under its own weight at times, due to poor pacing and an over-reliance on nostalgia.

That being said, this is easily the best of Picard's three seasons -- but the bar was admittedly quite low. I think this will settle into the same spot as season 1 for me. I enjoyed watching it, and the highlights will make it worth rewatching, but I am very aware of its flaws.

Spoilers under the cut.

What I Liked

The overall story line was fairly engaging, especially with the return of the Changelings. Frankly, just seeing DS9 actually be referenced and the Dominion War acknowledged outside of brief throwaway lines just made me so happy. I was consistently interested to see what would happen next -- though whether this would hold up on rewatch remains to be seen.

I also enjoyed the finale more than expected, just as a big spectacle with the returning characters. I can absolutely see why it was also released in theaters -- it really did feel like it could be another TNG film.

Worf is fantastic, and easily my favorite of the returning legacy characters. Michael Dorn slips back into the role so easily, and seeing him spouting one-liners with his giant sword consistently made me laugh. I wish they hadn't leaned quite so hard on him for comic relief -- he didn't get many actual serious moments in this season -- but he was still just delightful.

Seven is also wonderful, and it's fantastic to see her finally get her due. The show has consistently done very well with her. And while I'm generally over this era of shows based on legacy characters... I would not be opposed to her getting her own spinoff as Captain of the Enterprise.

Vadic is an excellent, compelling villain throughout. Amanda Plummer brings such a unique energy to her, making her intimidating and unpredictable.

I really enjoyed seeing Geordi as a father, and both his daughters (especially Sidney, who had more screen time) were wonderful.

I had a feeling they were going to bring back Data -- they can't do a full TNG reunion and not include him. And I was worried it would feel incredibly strange due to Data already returning and dying again in season 1. Admittedly, the way they chose to bring him back felt contrived -- he just happens to be in the one facility they break into, and has all the information they need -- but once he was back, I was surprised at how good it felt just to watch him. I appreciate how they found a way to resurrect him that allowed Brent Spiner to just be his natural age, rather than continuing the horrific digital de-aging from season 1. They also made it clear that this is a slightly different Data, being more human and experiencing his emotions quite differently. Once all the cast was together, it just felt right to have him there, so ultimately I'm glad they did it.

Deanna actually gets a bit more to do here than she ever did in TNG, actually leaning into her empathic abilities and making her genuinely useful. It was honestly a relief to see her being well-utilized, for the most.

The Tuvok cameos made me so happy. I was hoping to see Admiral Janeway, like a lot of people, but Tuvok is also a great choice.

This is very minor, but I loved the opening and closing credits for this season. The openings for the past two seasons I thought were unnecessarily bombastic and drawn out, and I skipped them every time. I was ready for another similar opening, and was pleasantly surprised to just see the iconic font with the short little musical sting -- the TNG theme seamlessly transitioning to the Picard theme, and that's done. And then the end credits! When I heard the First Contact theme, I clutched at my heart. Paired with all the details of panning across the computer monitors, and the little details... it's wonderful. I sat through all the closing credits every time.

What I Didn't Like

While the plot itself was largely engaging, the pacing was all out of wack. The start of the season drags badly -- episodes 2, 3, and 4 could have easily been combined, and been stronger for it. They also dragged out the mystery surrounding Jack for so long that I just started rolling my eyes every time they teased something weird with him then ended the episode before explaining. Then, because they took so long to get to things, the final two episodes had to rush through everything, introducing the Borg and then getting rid of them just as quickly. The season really could have used some rebalancing, or just shortening.

I also didn't like how this season became a Borg storyline right at the end. Vadic and the Changelings were something new and interesting, with their ties to the Dominion War and unethical experiments -- then they're abruptly tossed aside for a Borg Queen we've seen many times before. While the finale was satisfying as a standalone, it didn't really feel like a resolution to the show we'd actually been watching -- much like season 1, frankly. The themes we resolved in the end were not the same themes we started with.

This also reminded me of season 1 in that we were introduced to a rather corrupt Federation, or at least a Federation with a shady history, but the show refuses to truly acknowledge that. The Federation created this branch of Changelings by experimenting on them after the Dominion War, and should be held accountable for that. But no, why would we mention it?

This season also fell victim to its nostalgia after a while. Some parts were very well-handled, but near the end of the season, they kept bringing the episode to a screeching halt to wax poetic about the nostalgia for several minutes. The worst offender was by far the re-introduction of the Enterprise D. Not only was that development incredibly forced and farfetched, once the crew got aboard they all stopped to admire the bridge and make sure we understood how nostalgic it all was. But considering they were in the middle of a crisis situation -- Geordi's daughters had just been assimilated -- it felt bizarre to just stop and start talking about the carpet and the old consoles and the chairs.

Jack was solid to start, but he lost me the longer the season went on. The more his Borg abilities developed, the less we saw of his actual character. I frankly just wanted to see more of him as a person, and his connection with Picard. Then when he was back to himself in the last few minutes of the finale, I remembered that I'd actually liked him at first.

I did not like Captain Shaw. A lot of the fandom has latched onto him, and I simply do not understand why. He was so unnecessarily rude, and grating, and never really did anything to endear himself to me. Also, a lot of his points of conflict with the TNG crew were perfectly reasonable, or at least understandable, and they could have made him fill the same role without being such an asshole.

Crusher felt a bit OOC to me. In TNG she always had this warm, maternal energy to her, being the kind and compassionate one you could always turn to when you needed. While I do appreciate her being given a bit more of an action role when appropriate -- I totally buy that she'd fight to protect her son -- a lot of that caring nature was lost along the way. She also didn't get all that much to do after being rescued, mostly saying "I'll find a solution" then hiding in the med bay, only to emerge a bit later having found said solution.

Bringing Ro back was an interesting choice... but they did her so dirty. I respect them trying to resolve her relationship with Picard, but it felt incredibly forced and rushed. Then bringing her back only to kill her almost immediately -- I just didn't like it. Her hair and makeup also looked horrible, with a terrible wig and nose ridges you could barely even see. If your makeup is outdone by a TV show from the 80s, you've done something very wrong.

I don't really care about Raffi. She's fine, but she feels out of place with the rest of the TNG cast, and gets very little to do towards the end. If they only kept one Picard original character from the first two seasons, Raffi would not have been my first choice -- I would have kept Elnor.

Riker being kidnapped by Vadic and then nonchalantly rescued two episodes later was quite pointless. It only served to bring Deanna into the story, which could have been done in any number of other ways.

The complete disregard of the show's first two seasons felt very strange at times. Apart from Picard now being an android, none of the story lines from earlier in the show mattered, and there were only a few throwaway lines for some of them. When the Borg were re-introduced, there wasn't even a mention of Borg Queen Agnes -- I understand that she's a different collective, but she still feels relevant. When the Excelsior was destroyed, there wasn't a single mention of Elnor, their dear friend under 25 who was last seen stationed on that ship. When Data returned, there was no mention of Soji or the entire planet of androids created from his neurons. While none of these things are terribly important, it did feel bizarre to leave them out -- though I suspect they knew some fans would only watch this one season and didn't want to confuse them. Q being brought back after making such a big deal of his death felt very odd, as well.

#personal #star trek #picard #star trek: picard #picard spoilers

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