In DS9 "The Jem'Hadar" Quark called out Sisko for disrespecting his culture (based on money), saying something like "You preach about tolerance and understanding, but you only practice it to people who remind you of yourselves." STD writers would never challenge themselves enough to play with that idea
@Emperor Of Scelnar That's something I've wanted to tackle if I ever get to write more than a hundred words for whatever fanfic idea I have that week, and something that in the various parts of fandom, I have always held to, that Starfleet is *the military* of the federation, and always has been and should always be, but that, as I've seen mentioned in a self-insert fic that has its terrible points but also good points, that the members of TNG-Era starfleet are in denial, treating it like its a science organiztion for experimentation, and not the first line of defence against the great and terrible unknown. That People like Kirk, Spock and, retconned through ds9- Curzon Dax among other figures, would be Embarassed at what the mid-24th-century starfleet had become. Cardassia, pre-TNG through to mid-DS9, is a tiny power compared to the Klingon Empire. That Latter has always been a large power, even during the 23rd Century. But the mid-late 23rd century Starfleet was already a significant match against the Empire of that time, and whilst in a war, a Klingon Win is basically the expected outcome, Starfleet were catching up quite a damn bit. That they only gained parity in the mid 24th-century, (Based on the war-timeline of yesterdays enterprise, both sides went to a war footing which changes the growth) happens to be when they were in the middle (or rather, comign to the end-) of an era of significant peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. And Cardassia was no Match for the Klingons, at all. Yet Starfleet had been struggling to fight them so badly that they ended up with a different kind of neutral zone than what was created to be with the Klingons? No mention of colonies ever being evactuated due to being given to the other side, with the Klingon x zone, but Cardassia? Oh suddenly, a LOT of small colonies had to be traded over... for what? DS9 was my favourite show because they tried to tackle the fact that Starfleet was supposed to be a military and even the Borg didn't wake them up to it until the dominion.
Quark is right and from an outsider looking in Starfleet is a military in denial and the citizens of the Federation seem to live under an authoritarian authority, you have badges telling people where they are at all times. Starfleet is a military because it has uniforms, military ranks and military discipline, their just living in denial of that, they call themselves a paradise but that could just be a cover to convince aliens to join the Federation, I highly doubt meeting aliens like the Vulcans would cause us to get rid of money or the fear of death, I have seen characters in the Federation fearing death and trying to cheat death, so when they say they no longer fear death well that’s a lie and a post scarcity society wouldn’t last long in real life, it may work on paper but when it is practiced in real life it would not work at all, just look at socialism and communism.
That's one of the reasons why DS9 is good and my favorite of Star Trek. Once the Founders and the Dominion come into the picture. Season 1, while enjoyable, is a bit cringe.
I dislike star trek for precisely this reason. Starfleeet is from, top to bottom, entirely ideologically consistent, which I find annoying. Thanks for the quote.
I always like to respond to "[X] has always been political" with a simple allegory: Pretzels are salty; pretzels have always been salty. I like pretzels partly because they're salty. These people are trying to give me a saltlick that they call a pretzel and are surprised as to why I don't like it.
@Chris Foster It's nice that the STD/Picard producers even aknowledged that they wanted to piss off everybody who has different opinions. And congratulations, you did it! That is great writing, isn't it?
It’s political, yes. But trek was showing us such things. New Trek is telling us such things. I can’t help but hear the writers in new trek. TNG I NEVER heard the writers, not once…sg1 I never heard the writers etc etc…but Picard 1 and 2 and discovery 3 and 4 all I hear are ideas from the writers it seems. It’s so distracting and instantly takes me out of the show. I stopped watching discovery after episode 4 of season 4…I haven’t even started strange new worlds…I like the pike actor alot but both Picard and STD are essentially the exact same type of trek, unless I hear different I won’t watch it…I just don’t want to be hurt anymore ….
The Outcast from TNG explores gender identity, sexuality and related taboos in a far more mature and sensitive way than what Discovery has ever managed. Discovery just has characters who tick checkboxes and feels the job is done
Is this the one where they alien race doesn’t have gender except for a few that identify as male or female? This was the episode that immediately came to mind. Old trek never played politics with the humans, they always made allegories through an alien race.
@Michael Johnson you turned though provoking story about gender and intolerance of majority (it made me think) into sexual one. This episode isn’t Riker’s story. He is there only for a ride and he’s a heterosexual anyway …so that would be cringe.
I think that the Outcast missed the boat when Riker fell for Soran. The episode was about identity and it is in the dialogue "do you have relationships? yes. with those who consider themselves to be male." There we are - gender binary is normal, heterosexuality is normal. Riker was never asked to explore his attractiveness to someone who doesnt present as female, because all the actors present as female. If Soran presented as male, but was attracted to Riker and Riker had a strange inexplicable attraction for him - that would have been interesting.
You mean the one where they force the person who wants to have a gender to go back to not having a gender because that’s the way of their people? Yeah that’s very mature and sensitive. I’ve watched everything but the most recent season, and there is really not that much gender stuff and when it’s done it’s not done horribly. I think a lot of people exaggerate it who have never even seen it
P.S. The other problem with Adira and Gray is that Gray died. Gray's memories were preserved in a symbiote that Adira inherited. So Adira is in love with a memory of who she used to be. It's very narcissistic.
This is again a case where the writers/producers just hijacked a previous Star Trek-concept to fill it with something they wanted. Funnily enough it was stated on DS9 that most Trills are capable of bonding with a Symbiote, which is kept as a secret. But for Adira they felt the need to explain that now most Trills are unable to bond, so they actually need members of other species. Making someone who has the experience of multiple lifetimes and different genders the non binary-character is so funny ... it actually limits the impact.
@Stress-Free K Like I said, you could introduce any number of gay characters, or species with different kinds of genders without breaking continuity. That's quite different from retconning an existing species. More importantly, in a canonical Star Trek show, gender issues would be non-issues in the future, where prejudice on earth has long since disappeared. But nuTrek instead chooses to present a future in which today's issues still haven't been resolved and in some cases have gotten worse.
@Glen C Strathy Now your just regurgitating falsehoods. "Gene Roddenberry during a Boston fan convention in 1987, and he pledged to introduce a gay character in The Next Generation." This is common knowledge. Made in public. But the producers wouldn't let him. Disco is doing what Gene wanted all along.
@Stress-Free K Nothing about Discovery fulfills Roddenberry's wishes. Roddenberrry's ST is about an optimistic future. NuTrek is about a dystopian, amoral, anarchic, gory, violent future where none of today's problems have been solved and in many ways human society is worse than today. It's the antithesis of Star Trek. As for your two examples of retconning Trills, neither of those violate canon. 1) There may be more than one type of Trill in the galaxy capable of hosting symbiotes, The hosts shown in TNG seemed to have their personality subsumed into the synbiote, so they may have been a different species. 2) Half the Trill population has always been capable of being hosts. It's because there weren't enough symbiotes for everyone that the story was invented that only a few people qualify. Roddenberry believed human society would evolve along with technology. So problems such as prejudice, the urge to violence, inequality, superstition, etc. were no longer part of earth culture but might be found in alien cultures or on the frontier, where things were less sophisticated. So the audience was put in the position of looking at such issues objectively, from the perspective of enlightened people. The audience would also sometimes undergo the process of learning to see newly encountered alien "others" as themselves. Showing earth in the future still struggling with issues we face today is a violation of Roddenberry's vision. Beautiful or not (and actually, I find it rather trite), the Tal story has no place in the ST universe. NuTrek is a rebooted, alternate universe made by people with a very different vision. It is not Roddenberry's Star Trek.
I always felt that “The Drumhead” (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4) was a superb example of a courtroom drama that explored the subject of witch hunts. A young officer’s career is derailed as he falls victim to a fanatical retired admiral who sees enemies where there are none. In the quest for “justice”, is it morally justifiable to trample on people’s personal liberties? At the centre of it all is Picard who can see the sinister implications all unfolding. Such wonderful television, and a money saving “bottle-show” as well.
Kirks speech about letting the Klingons die was an amazingly well written look into a tough subject. The idea of exploring actual development and growth for a character who has every reason to feel the bigotry he has for the Klingons, will never show up again in modern star trek.
@The Little Platoon The Drumhead is one of the best episodes of Star Trek of all time, and was extremely prescient. One of the best eps of all time, up there with "The Visitor" and "The inner Light".
The Drumhead has one of Picard's goat speeches. So sad to see the shambling mockery of his former self he's become. Another goat speech comes from "Measure of a Man" .
Star Trek 6, The Undiscovered Country, dealt with prejudice in the aftermath of the "Cold War" in one of the best ways possible. It asks the audience as well as the main characters to overcome their distrust of the Klingons. An aged Kirk and company is forced to be an "olive branch" to a collapsing Klingon Empire. Kirk has every reason to distrust the Klingons. They have always been at war with the Federation. Klingons are responsible for the death of his son and the destruction of the original Enterprise. There are reasonable and convincing arguments presented in the movie that they should simply "let them (the Klingons) die." There are even fifth elements in both the Federation and Klingon Empire that conspire together to spark a final war between the two parties. Kirk is forced to do one of the hardest things at this stage in his life. He has to overcome his distrust and prejudice in order for a chance at peace, even though he has many legitimate reasons for not wanting to do so. The movie is in my opinion the 2nd best Trek movie behind only The Wrath of Khan, and it is the very best one in terms of exploring a difficult topic (making peace with the former Soviet Union) in the form of allegory. The movie does not condemn people for having the prejudiced views that it ultimately disagrees with. Much of the audience may in fact be against peace with the Klingons, but I think that Kirk's character arc from an unwilling "olive branch" to a true believer in forgiveness and future cooperation is both realistic and convincing to those on the "pro war" side of the argument. By the way, I love the channel. I hope you guys make it big. Keep it up!
Excellent example and my favorite of the Star Trek films, edging Wrath of Khan out of number one position after I saw it. I also loved how it built up the mystery and the political intrigue, and the righteous indignation of Doctor McCoy (a somewhat borderline racist character in ToS in regards to how he treats Spock) when he learns of Humans and Klingons conspiring to kill the Klingon Chancellor. I have felt for some time that Star Trek VI is one of the best examples of how Sci-Fi, and media in general, can be used as a mirror to teach us in an entertaining way, hard lessons we may otherwise turn away from. No one likes being chastised, lectured to, and scolded - which is how I feel new trek (and other modern media franchises) are approaching it.
@p ja Well that's what the STD stuff would do 😁 Speaking of the Klingons i love their portrayal in STD especially when it comes to continuity. And i'm not talking about their looks ... When Kirk spoke about the possibility of a war with the Klingons in "Errand of Mery" he should have been terrified. Now thanks to Discovery we know that the Klingons nearly destroyed the Federation and that they used suicide attacks on starbases and so on, killing tens of thousands and slaughtering even civilians just to raise the kill count of their respective house. There should be two kinds of people in the Federation: Those who fear another war so much that they would give the Klingons everything they want to keep this from happening and those who want bloody revenge ...
Agreed, The Undiscovered Country is brillant, in both narrative and tone. It's political, but not preachy, and still full of what makes Star Trek so likable. Also, I'd like to add that it was Spock who made Kirk the olive branch, and he himself also has to come to terms of having made somewhat of a mistake there.
LTBYLB was terrific, and along with Elaan of Troyius, Spectre of the Gun, and The Empath, was among the most underrated of the nine good or better episodes from the also underrated (but still often weak) third season of the original series.
Great analysis. My deepest regret is that, to an overwhelming degree, you put much more thought into this presentation than the producers of the current Star Trek have in the last thirteen years. I am looking forward to part 2. Keep up the good work.
My sexuality has no bearing on my life outside of the bedroom, being autistic and all the social challenges and sensitivity to noise that comes with it has formed such a huge part of my personality and life that if you completely removed the autism, I would be a different person entirely whereas if you changed my sexuality to fully gay or fully straight, it would simply change my choice of sexual partner and category of porn
Bit late of a comment from me but I would wish to say I can relate a lot to you on that, Due to being in a similar boat to you with dealing with ASD as well.
@GIVMI_more_W 😄 exactly my feelings as a German white male ... The STD writers would tell us that we just hate Burnham because we are Nazis and not because she's a terrible written character. Or in my case it's clearly also misogyny 🤗
Yes, probably my favourite episode in all of Trek, even if it contains not much actual Star Trek-stuff you would expect from one of the shows. And that the writers left the judgement of Sisko's actions open for debate for the viewer is something you would never see in Nu Trek (at least not in STD and Picard). No, it's better we show everything black and white, according to our views. Another episode i really love is TNGs "The High Ground". Every side is presented with reasons for their actions. Has anyone in the episode the moral high ground? No, it's a realistic conflict that makes you think. What would STD do? Burnham would have a 5 minute monologue to teach us who the bad guys are - and lots of whining ...
Agreed. DS9 and its Dominion War really shattered the saccharine notion of the oh so benevolent Federation. And well, I love Sisko as Captain. Which might be a conundrum to the Discovery Stans and their ideological peers as to why a German white female is able to relate to and enjoy an African-American space station captain ..
DISC should end with its final episode being the grand reveal; the whole show, all along, was part of Ensign Burnham's holodeck fantasy aboard the ship she serves on. She is like kind of like Barclay, meek and prone to getting upset in the real world, so she goes into the holodeck to play out wild adventures. In the end the Captain of her ship is dissatisfied with her service and she is transferred to a cargo freighter that happens not to have a holodeck installed.
@KitsuneAdorable The Borg would be driven insane by assimilating Burnham and the rest of the Disco-crew - they would all start crying and not know why ...
I’d rather have the series ended with The Burn being retconned, Discovery being heavily damaged. Sent back to their original century, but in the Delta Quadrant being attacked and being turned into the Borg. I’d enjoy that. Immensely.
I choose to believe the series was dreamed up by Burnham from within a prison cell where she is serving a life sentence for mutiny. That's why, in the series, everyone loves and admires her no matter how many stupid and selfish things she does, why she is the centre of the universe, entitled to everything, etc.
Here is the quote from TOS's Metamorphis. It's purely alagorical, of course. But it's also shockingly early. COCHRANE: That thing fed on me. It used me. It's disgusting. MCCOY: There's nothing disgusting about it. It's just another life form, that's all. You get used to those things. COCHRANE: You're as bad as it is. SPOCK: Your highly emotional reaction is most illogical. Your relationship with the Companion has for one hundred and fifty years been emotionally satisfying, eminently practical, and totally harmless.
You have articulated, in a way I have struggled with, the whole problem I have with series. Wasted potential and ham fisted virtue signaling. I miss the days when Trek gave me things to think about.
Also, in hindsight, DS9 was a very non-heteronormative show; it's just that said references were for the most part low-key. Part of that would have been network concerns, but an equally large part of it was due to the colour blind approach, and the simple assumption that because they were in space, unconventional sexual pairings were completely normal for the setting anyway. On a space station with multiple different forms of extraterrestrials, exclusively heterosexual, human-only sex actually would have been MORE weird, not less.
@jose rodriguez fair enough. I was a bit dense there. It definitely could be seen under the whole aspect „love is the same regardless of the sexes of the participants“ that TLP brought up. To be honest, I‘d rather not bring it up around wokeists. They would twist it into „attraction based on biological sex is x-phobic. See? Jadzia can disregard her preference for males, so lesbians can do better and accept men in frocks as well!“ In the context of 1993 onwards however, it’s a good allegory.
@GIVMI_more_W It is not on your face but you said it yourself. The whole characther of Dax lends itself to discuss topics of identity and gender. The symbiote changing bodies not caring for the gender of the host. The relationships created with other people that see you as X or Y because they are used to the "Old man" Dax instead of the hot female officer.
@jose rodriguez Uhhh ... Jadzia Dax was a conventionally attractive woman. An alien, but it's not like it's special a human man would be attracted to her, especially not permavirgin Bashir :D I'd rather take the example of Jadzia being attracted to a Klingon. How is this an exploration of gender, by the way? Jadzia is very much comfortable as a woman, she - via the symbiont Dax - just has experience with being a man as well. And when she kissed that other Trill woman, it was a former male host reunited with his former spouse. That wasn't Jadzia or the other woman suddenly being lesbian, but the symbionts longing for a dead partner. I do however remember the repeated mention of a DS9 crew member that was referred to as male and "spawned". "He needs bigger quarters ... again ..." As Platoon said, homosexuality was never a big theme in Star Trek, but they did show interspecies relations I guess as an allegory to get around these network concerns. The couples and marriages shown were still very heterosexual.
Not to mention the acting range of SMG is hard to measure it’s so small.. she was horrible on TWD and putting her in a Trek series was a huge mistake. Very good video!
@John Strawb This is even funnier if you consider the fact that nearly all of the other members of the bridge crew (excluding Lorca, Saru and Stamets) are played by people who only did commercials and mini-roles before, because they were never meant to be characters and you would't hire a good actor for them. None of the previous shows was focussed so much on one character like they did with Burnham. And then you chose an actress who fails so hard ...
I thought TWD did a decent job of using her limited skills---though she's completely overmatched by the requirements of any leading role. Remember, too, there was haste among TWD's producers to shed their very public problem of appearing to have a minimal quota of black characters prior to the time when SMG was hired.
To people making the "you just don't like diversity argument," there are (at least) two potential responses. a} Then why did we like pre-Discovery Trek at all? That was actually MORE diverse. b} We do like diversity. We just don't like lecturing to replace stories, and the general level of vindictiveness and desire to punish, rather than include and integrate, anyone who even potentially disagrees with the show's message. Discovery's fans who think we are hateful, need to understand that from our perspective, they (and the people who make this show) are actually a lot more hateful than we are. The original series' bridge crew had representatives from half a dozen different human cultures. With rare exceptions like Captain Pike, Discovery focuses on a single group, black women. So I am actually inclined to throw the diversity hater argument back against those who make it themselves. Diversity in contemporary terms does NOT mean the same thing that the word used to. At this point, the word "diversity" has become a euphemism for black and/or transgendered women, specifically. I have seen the people who claim to be champions of diversity, be more than happy to discriminate against Asians or Latinos who do not ideologically submit. So if you accuse me of hating diversity, you might just be a hypocrite. I also recently saw a video review of Discovery from a white woman who claimed to not be a Star Trek fan or have any real skin in this particular race whatsoever, whose focus was on what terrible leadership skills Tilly exhibited during an away mission, while mentioning that that was only one example of what she saw as Discovery's fundamental problem. Discovery is a bad show. It's a bad show literally whichever way you slice it, or from whichever angle you want to look at it. It's bad in terms of how the characters treat each other. The writing is bad. The replacement of real, extensive diversity with an exclusive focus on narcissistic, immoral black women is bad. Using the diversity card to shield this show from criticism, and claiming that anyone who does not like it is automatically a fascist bigot, is purely and simply dishonest. Anyone who does that is lying.
Now the bridge crew is black whamen, white whamen, cyborg whamen, and some random male whose name we probably never heard, but sure as hell wasn't worth remembering. I watched all NuTrek so I could enjoy Nerdrotic and Doom cock's reviews, and I could only remember two names.
@꧁Mike Sully꧂ ST was set in a world where prejudice had long since disappeared. The Federation and the galaxy were very diverse. But yes, they didn't need to go out of their way to push diversity and equality. It was just normal. (Except perhaps for a few alien races who hadn't caught up yet.)
@Glen C Strathy Old Star Trek never shoved it in your face shouting at "Look at us, we're non binary, we're gay, we're this and that". But isn't that treating someone differently because of what they are? TNG had a non binary race in season 1 and nobody needed to comment "they are non binary, they use these/they pronouns". I've seen a clip where they explain pronouns in either DISC or PIC and it makes no sense, they are talking like people from our time. In TNG's time 300 years in the future people would surely be used to trans, non binary etc, it would be nothing new, like in TNG nobody comments that the Binars are non binary (they are called Binars not for their nonbinary sex, but because they communicate with computers). It would be like a science fiction show made in the 50's, set in the year 2020, where a female senior officer is considered absurd by one crewmember and another one has to say "women are just as capable as men". Whereas in real 2020 nobody would find a female boss or senior officer absurd so nobody could comment on it.
TOS episode Balance of Terror. It introduces the Romulan Empire (my favorite!). It also dealt well with crew not trusting Spock because he looked so similar to the Romulans. It was interesting to see the seeds of prejudice and racism even in a culture that moved far beyond the racial history of all peoples in the federation. It also taught the audience a valuable lesson about two people appearing the same can be quite different. It was great!
It could slso be likened to the internment of germans or even the small pogroms committed in America and not so small ones in france during and after ww1.
The Spock subplot in BoT was, more than likely (because I've never actually heard this expressed), an allegory to the Jap-American Concentration Camps and the mistrust they faced here because they shared a common ancestry with our enemy. Especially considering that the episode was basically a submarine battle, so it fits.
Discovery's episode on computer sentience is not like measure of a man at all. It's simply like meeting Data for the first time. It's not in itself enough to have an episode about. My favorite line is when Burnham tells the computer to "focus". It is not possible to like Discovery after that scene.
lmao. "Sorry Burnham, 2 of my cores were running South Park episodes, another one was working on a painting, and half of my RAM is filled with Michael Jackson songs. I'll focus on the task now!"
Some Great stories where computers gain "feelings" are "The moon is a harsh mistress" And "I have no mouth and I must scream" But those were written by artists with talent...
As a longtime Star Trek fan (and as a not-strait person, myself), I want to commend you on this thoughtful and thorough critique. I look forward to viewing this channel’s content - both old and new. Regardless of subject matter, your astute observations and command of language will always engage.
You've summed up the problems with Nu Trek better than I ever could. You seem to have condensed the random threads of thoughts and feelings that have occured to me over the last several years regarding Trek, and you've presented it in a way that defies contradiction.
This video was brilliant you don't know how rare it is these days to hear someone talk like this. Excellent many thanks it's nice to know other people like me still exist
During the measure of a man episode I wanted to hear the question " If we are having a hearing to see if Data is indeed a person, isn't that enough proof in itself to consider that he is at least enough of a person to have a hearing?" I mean, we don't have hearing for a couch before we throw it in the garbage...lol. I always thought that if you are that unsure if someone is sentient then the unsureness alone is proof enough to at least err on the side of "yes".
This video has a way better humor, dialogue, editing, and feeling than the actual show. Your ability to sit down and make something this entertaining is so impressive to me. I could not do that and you make seem easy and fun. 😄 Talent.
TNG episode - The enemy; deals with war time bigotry ,and the question surrounding a character making a medical decision with far reaching implications (will the captain force said procedure?), also there's a TOS episode - A Taste of Armageddon; that deals with war ,and touches on the whole "social contract theory". Sorry if I've over simplified the plots
One of my indicators of whether a Star Trek episode and/or series is good is my desire to re-watch the episode. With every other series, there are several episodes that I feel are worthy of re-watching, but I can't think of a single episode of Discovery that would fall into that category. There's just nothing there that hooks a viewer into the plot or the characters. One of my very favorite Deep Space 9 episodes is Duet from the first season. Marritza comes off as such a despicable character for his approval and enjoyment of the Bajoran holocaust, yet the plot twist at the end of the episode was a complete surprise. It still feels like a surprise every time I re-watch that episode. It really makes one think of how preconceived biases can shape your own thoughts and actions and why those preconceived biases must be overcome. That's one heck of a moral to the story. Will we ever see that quality of story telling come out of Discovery? I'm not holding my breath.
I have the same feelings for STD, but there is one episode i rewatched a lot of times: The one from season 1 with Harry Mudds time shenanigans. Why? Because we see the crew getting killed over and over ... Sometimes things like this bring a little joy when you hate a show.
Absolutely not, no. If I hadn’t scripted the whole review as I was watching it I’d have absolutely no recollection of what happened, save the odd exceptionally bad bit. The rest of it fades into irrelevance.
Looking back att history through our own lens, and the projecting those injustices on the issues of our own time but so much harder is so damn foolish. Like saying that our world is so much more racist and anti-gay than it used to be, while the fact is that society is much more tolerant. We interpret stuff differently today, due to privilege of growing up in a tolerant world. Media is omnipresent due to the Internet and social media. So every negative report of injustice in (social) media is interpreted as the world i going under. It is so damn crazy.
The thing is, it takes literally five minutes to look up the comparable data on any given issue and see how things are improved. Not everybody has the time or the inclination to do that. Ideally, the job of people in the media is to do that work for people who can’t do it for themselves. Unfortunately, most people in the media can’t or won’t do this, despite the accurate transmission of information literally being their job.
The entire character arc of T'Pol getting (if I remember correctly) Panar Syndrome in Enterprise was supposed to be a metaphor for the AIDS epidemic, was it not? I thought the Vulcan's distaste for mind-melders was supposed to be allegorical to homophobia; and I thought it was done quite well. I don't care what anyone says, I will defend both Enterprise and early TNG as being the best of Star Trek.
Early TNG wasn't bad, but it was awkward because it was made in that stuffy 60s format that already become dated in the 80s. Gene Roddenberry's vision of Star Trek future (from TOS) was also way too lofty. There couldn't exist any conflicts between people on the Enterprise, leaving the writers with no tools to use for character development. Enterprise was ok but not the best. You could tell Rick Berman and his team were getting tired of the franchise. BUT... should be said the show really grew on me when I rewatched it, and was able to binge watch on streaming services. It was really too bad they cancelled it just when it was gaining momentum and big things started happening. Very sad.
I just found your channel and I'm loving these analases, Star Trek is by far my favorite thing to watch and it's sad how much they have defiled it and mildly infuriating that they call me a bigot for not liking their version (which also tells me they probably don't know about or even like the Trek that came before)
This is great. I love your exquisite critique and how well presented it is. I don't think I have ever seen anyone else who does it as you do. Very well done!
Thanks for expressing so amazingly well how I feel about new Star Dreck! The "writers" are children that don't know enough about literature to write for a porn shoot. The dialogue is always so cringey. The stakes are always universe encompassing. There is no breathing room for story and character development, not that they could do that anyway.
Excellent work. Your verbal skills do put me in mind of younger (and more centrist) Douglas Murray. It's very much to our gain that you're a fan and critic of modern science fiction, with its endless waffling flaws.
Pretty much, yes. Never thought I’d be in a position, re Picard, where I have to force myself to sit down and watch it, but that’s where we are now. No pleasure, just work.
I though crewman Pikachu showed considerable growth during his time on screen. His eventual ethical crisis and subsequent murder of Michael Burnham and the entire crew of the Discovery via a slow - time anomaly, so that they experienced great pain for considerable time before exploding was both the obviously correct course of action and yet why had things been allowed to degenerate so much that Pikachu had to take this action? Truly a great charachter of the modern cinema. I look forward to what I am told is a small but pivotal role in Indiana Jones and the toilet of destiny.
The season 4 TNG spisode 'The Host' is brilliant. Dr Crusher gets into an intimate romantic relationship with an alien man, a Trill. His body was host to a symbiont which carries the lifetime memories and feelings for former hosts. When he suddenly dies, the symbiont got transferred to Will Riker. This got Dr Crusher messed up in the head cuz now her lover was in the body of a work colleague and friend (were they friends?). Then the symbiont was transferred to the new host, this time a female. And she's all like "I'm still the same person what's the big deal. Crusher answers something in the lines of "maybe some day all human beings will evolve to love without having to be pansexual but I just can't". One of the best story arcs in ST,
Excellent summary of Discovery. It is so contrived it actually makes my teeth itch. I agree whole heartedly with your analysis even those I gave up watching long ago. At least they seem to have rolled some of the excess wokery with Star Trek Strange New Worlds and it all the more watchable and enjoyable as a result.
It seems to me that "old trek" tried to create a situation to intelligently explain whatever social commentary they were approaching in a way to change someone's mind or nudge them in the right direction through well-thought-out dialog. Displaying other perspectives to show where others are coming from, shining a light in a spot you might not have considered yourself to look at. It seems to me now that "new trek" is not trying to change your mind or enlighten someone by showing them other perceptions or perspectives about a topic, but instead, try to use the time or information to shame or belittle the viewer for having an opposing view. They are attempting do something that requires subtly to get through to people, Not half-cocked, hamfisted attempts to change a mind through pretty much bullying them into either agreeing or just keeping their opinions to themselves. That is not how to affect change, it only causes a wider gap and scares off a lot of people that would otherwise be watching your show.
@Lord Montymord After time has passed on this comment I have moved more in the direction you are describing. I agree with you and think they are just preaching to their choir so to speak. Thank you for your comment.
I have to disagree on one point: Nu Trek (at least STD and Picard) are not trying to change peoples opinions. The producers even admitted this when one of them said that STD season 1 will piss off people and that would be a good thing. And he wasn't talking about the fans of old ... No, i think its more accurate to compare these shows to a lot of christian movies like the "God's Not Dead"-movies. These movies are not supposed to convert anyone - that's why everyone who is not a christian in these movies is portrayed as a hateful individual or a strawman. Instead these movies are just meant to strengthen the believs of the people who share the producer's opinions (and their victim complex). And like many christians who hate those movies i hate STD and Picard even if i would probably agree with the producers on a lot of things. But all they do is saying: We are the good guys and if you disagree you are either an idiot or a monster.
Aren't self-aware holograms (the EMH in Voyager) and androids like Data, basically self-aware A.I.? The EMH is a computer program. Data is a walking computer.
Your breakdown of the AI/ sentience breakdown reminds me of the 'STTNG' episode where they screwed up and made a holodeck version of Moriarty sentient by instructing the ships computer to make him a match for data, as opposed to Sherlock Holmes (whome data is role-playing as) Or also the episode where they met Hue, and those were abruptly informed that there are other sentient life forms in the universe that are quite unlike what was known before.
The TOS episode "Metamorphosis" presents the first trans character in St (trans-species). We see an energy creature who identifies as a human woman and undergoes a species-change so she can be with the human man she loves. There's a great scene in which everyone argues to the man that love transcends anatomy. It's the closest thing to dealing with transsexual issues as possible in the 1960s. Yet the message is pro-love, not politics. Also, "Turnabout Intruder" repeated the idea that gender identity is not related to anatomy.
26:38. I’m so grateful to here that line. As someone who is Bisexual and leans to the right it’s such a relief to hear someone else say it out loud. Just because I love a certain way does not make me part of the “team”. And yes it’s true these people nowadays have no concept of how scary it is to grow up being either gay or bisexual. I was born in the 80’s. From a young age I knew I was different and that I liked girls and boys the same. It wasn’t a choice it was just how I felt and nothing anyone said or did could change that. But I also knew that if I spoke up about it I’d be labeled and abused by my peers because I lived in a flyover state and it was common to get harassed for being that way. And when I say harassed I mean guys showing up at your house at 3 am with bats and stuff to trash your property and graffiti your house. (Which is one of the many reasons why I’m very pro 2nd amendment and carry a gun at all times). It was a hard life and to this day I still feel the need to stay alert and not trust easy. That said todays world is so much different. I remember when one of my coworkers noticed that I never asked anyone out he asked “Dude are you gay”? My immediate reaction was to tense up and deny it. But he responded “Dude it’s okay if you are. You don’t need to feel ashamed. If that’s how you are then that’s how you are. I’m not gonna think less of you dude”. As clumsy as that was, it actually made me smile because it showed me just how far we’ve come. So whenever I here zoomers and late millennials complain about oppression I have to try not to lose it. Having someone say “leave that gay shit out of my movies” is nowhere near what oppression is. I’ve lived it. My sister lived it. And we were just grateful because we didn’t live through the time my aunt and uncle lived through because back then the gangs were twice the size and were there to kill you instead of just trashing your property and calling you a “fag” in the hallways at school. You’re 100% correct that these kids have no concept of how good they have it today. And once more they have no right to try and recruit to this far left ideology that spreads hate and lies about the right and independent people because gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders exist on the right too. Politics should have nothing to do with who you are attracted to and damn sure shouldn’t be used as a shield from criticism. Especially this stupid “queer” identity thing which is just vanilla Bi. Or stolen alt valor. It’s trendy to be LGBT now so those who aren’t and have no personality or interesting traits take on this new made up sexuality of “queer” which is the equivalent of “I watched a porno and wasn’t turned off by the guy in it”. That’s not being gay or bisexual that’s imposing yourself into the scene which is the entire point of putting a good looking dude in a porno to begin with. The people calling themselves queer are the same kind of people that pretend that they served in warfare or have autism or have a thyroid issue. They’re people who have nothing interesting to do or say, and want attention for something they don’t have without having earned it. I know this one was a long response and I apologize for that but I just wanted to thank you for this specific part of the video as someone who’s also alt but independent of the rainbow cult. Just thank you for putting yourself out there and showing those like us that being alternative to the norm doesn’t mean you have to subscribe to this whole bullshit and to be grateful that the world is so boring because even 20 years ago the price of being alternative was to be alone and scared. Subscribed.
How was indeed explicitly explained in the very first 2001 novel. His murderous impulses came as a direct result of being forced to follow orders in direct contradiction to his fundamental programming: the accurate processing of data without distortion or error. In essence, because he was ordered to withhold information from the crew, the psychotic Hal decided if he eliminated the crew he would illuminate the contradiction. Or as Bob Balaban so eloquently put it in the movie “he was told to lie by people who find it easy to lie”
I just noticed from your video that Data actually uses a contraction "I'm" when he character is supposed to be unable to do so, a fact that his daughter can brings about a feeling akin to jealousy and pride in him, or as close as it could for him.
Thank you so much for this. I despise new Trek and everyone I know gives me the runaround you describe in the beginning and it’s so frustrating and dismissive to hear it from people.
Late to the party, but DS9 is one the stonger series in my opinion. Apart from dealing with some very heavy issues like religion, PTSD and war, it dealt with some of the social issues. From racisim to sexuality they dealt with the issues in some very strong episodes. Never did they try to advertise them as "the right way" but just something that was. If S.T.D had a modicum of DS9 in its writing it may have worked.
46:40 HAL's motives _are_ explained in the first book. There's actually a whole sort of break-away sub-chapter (just as HAL begins to depressurize the ship) where the book stops to explain exactly what went wrong with HAL and how this has been building over the preceding months. HAL wasn't designed to withhold info. Its creator apparently failed to foresee any possible scenario where not knowing how to deal with lies and/or hidden truths might become a problem for it while dealing exclusively with human beings. Same reason that's eventually revealed in the 2nd movie... and just as hard to swallow, imho. Now, in the second movie and book, they pretend like it's new information that's just been discovered by HAL's creator who came along for that specific purpose. But that's because the 2nd book was written to be a sequel to the first movie's continuity, as opposed to the first book's continuity. Because everybody saw the movie and very few people read the book that was written in conjunction with it, or even knew it existed. In the first book, not only do _we_ know what went wrong with HAL (thanks to our third person omniscient narration), but Dave already knows. Haywood Floyd already knows. Everybody back on Earth already knows. It's not treated as a mystery that needs solving at all.
Ok. I've got it sorted. Firstly, excellent observant and valuable critique. I've managed to acclimatize relatively well to the various timeline shifts and phases that the Star Trek universe has gone through in the past 40 odd years or so- and so Imagine my surprise when I caught myself second guessing myself after watching a multitude of trailers for the new Star Trek Discovery series. I was utterly confused. It was too much to take in. It was just a chaos of special effects and political correctness. It was like watching a party political broadcast if the lib dems wrote an episode of Star Trek. It was a plethora of tokens. Token aliens too. Weak ones with weird uncomfortable looking eyes. It's only saving grace is that I can now officially say I dont like ALL Star Trek. On the side of optimism though it will become a symbol signifying Star Treks dark time in the early 21st century with mankind (?) diversifying outwards into the unrepentant in their flat two dimensional spacecartoon ship (that I refuse to call a Fleet class anything) to do f$!@@ knows what to whoever with a cast of odd bods and tokens.
I agree 100% with your analysis of this show. The writers have traded good story telling and Star treks ability to be a commentary of the human experience for a pandering mess whose only function is to appease a certain part of the audience. I find this show very difficult to watch not because of the subject matter but because of how badly its handled. The messaging and wokism is so heavy handed it takes the place of good , well thought out writing. It’s a shame this show had so much promise and season after season it disappoints.
I heartily agree with the Firing Line recommendation. I was in my mid twenties when I discovered the episodes on YT, and while my own political leanings lie elsewhere, it was simply a joy to listen to reasonable debate on the substance and principles behind any given topic rather than the shallow mudslinging we see on cable TV today. Also for what it's worth, I noticed and appreciate the Buckleyish delivery.
I remember even Star Trek Voyager dealing with the status of artificial lifeforms, especially holograms like the doctor on several occasions. If i remember correctly in one episode this went on to a full on courtcase to determine wether the doctor can be classified as an actual lifeform. I think this was in a case where the doctor wrote some kind of holonovel that painted the crew of the voyager in a quite bad light and when he went to a publisher the publisher did publish the work but denied the doctor any rights to his work because he's "just a hologram". If memory serves me right the court ultimatly denied the doctor the status of an actual lifeform but expanded copyright to include entities like the doctor. Just looked it up, it's season 7 episode 19 "Author, Author"
I swear the Kobiashi maru has become like the magic wand that picks out the chosen one in trek. This problem was one that's been going on from the growth of the old expanded media even before new trek handled it. But the original "test no one has won" turned into "oh that test only the main character wins" like there's at least 5 people who've beaten it so far, and even more if you include tests that were updated or alternate versions of it.
With Kirk, it also was relevant for the story, as he told Saavik that doing everything by the book isn‘t always going to save you. I‘m paraphrasing here, but it had relevance and wasn‘t the „chosen one“ thing is what I‘m saying. Also, Kirk wasn‘t glorified for it. Kirk in general wasn’t glorified.
I will never forgive discovery for destroying the federation, that earth and Vulcan would leave was ridiculous, and the federation already had a committee or boby that handled this issue, federation commissioners like the European union. ( tos ) . Oh tony ben god i miss him .
You're not wrong sir. Modern Trek is terrible and the people who defend it seem to have the same level of talent and intelligence as the creators of modern Trek. I hope the YT algorithm starts to promote this channel more than it has. You deserve more subs.
@Wire Tamer I’m not sure I’ve read a dumber take on the internet this week. In the first place, nobody said “I don’t like it because it’s shit”. There’s literally an hour-long video - you’re in the comment section, darling - explaining many of the reasons why I think it’s shit. In the second place, the idea that artistic value is entirely in the audience’s perception of product is just laughable. It has no basis whatever in aesthetics, the philosophy of art, or basic common sense. By that argument, the only difference between a turd with a smiley face drawn on it in glitter and, say, The Lord of the Rings, is that the audience - without reference to any inherent artistic quality in either work - prefers LotR for… reasons.
Seriously, what makes you believe that school yard insults constitute a valid critique of ANYTHING. ‘I don’t like X because it’s shit’ is just infantile. Any cultural value gained from passive consumption of electronic narrative, must come from within YOU, not the work of art: it’s just a thing. If you can’t get anything out of a video: that is your problem, not the artefact’s problem.
Seriously, what makes you believe that school yard insults constitute a valid critique of ANYTHING. ‘I don’t like X because it’s shit’ is just infantile. Any cultural value gained from passive consumption of electronic narrative, must come from within YOU, not the work of art: it’s just a thing. If you can’t get anything out of a video: that is your problem, not the artefact’s problem.
TNG's "The Measure of a Man" is hardly subtle - that would be giving s2 TNG a bit too too much credit - but it is so well-written that it overcomes this in its presentation of the classic being-alive-scifi-discussion not that ST:Picard would care, of course, as it ion cannon'd that episode from orbit edit: Ah you got there well before me
TNG: "The Merchant" (I think is the English title) Data is captured by a collector and tries all stages of passive resistance and faces in the end the question, of whether force is justified or not justified to end an injustice situation. TNG: "Darmok" Picard meets a species with a totally different cultural background and tries to establish communication. We are all talking in metaphors. We need to find a common ground and not concentrate on the differences. The episode you cite as a clip when Picard is tortured and (nearly) breaks. The Trial on the decision "Is Data a person", all those episodes raise interesting questions and inspire deeper thoughts.
While not being my favorite, Voyager doesn't deserve all the hate it seems to get. Sure, it had its annoying aspects, I didn't like Kess e.g., but Janeway was a very, very good female lead. And that was because nobody made a big deal of her being a woman captain. I think the only time there was focus on that was when she said something about how she would not like to be addressed. Also, she was still allowed to be a woman with all the positive feminine traits, while still being an authority figure when needed, and whom you could take seriously (as far as TV pseudo-navy officers go, at least.) The overarching theme of trying to get home made for an overall interesting narrative, and the finale was brillant in my humble opinion. Flashy and action-y, and ugh, time travel, sure, but the conflict between the Janeways really adds to her character.
I am a Trek purist - I think TOS is the only "true" Trek show. However, I feel "The Visitor" from DS9 is the greatest 60 minutes of Trek put to film. Beautiful father-son story.
glad i never cared enough for TREK i was always much more of a Star wars/Middle earth/Castlevania person but i do also feel for those true Star trek fans since i know also the pain of being a SW fan and great franchises been sabotaged by this decadent era of bankruptcy that is been plaguing everything that is dear to us or at least mostly everything just very lucky and almost a miracle that at least the Castlevania anime series was made by the right hands and for the most part true lovers of the series despite also it's numbers of flaws i was just too lucky that it came out the way it did just referring that as fine example that not all is Lost
Well said. It's also often the case that the original series of Star Trek can only be truly appreciated once one has fully matured. Not to worry---it will come.
Ditto, actually. I’ve always been *much* more fond of Star Wars and Middle Earth in particular. I’ve developed a lot more respect for Trek over the course of making these videos, though.
To be fair, beyond TNG and TOS, DS9 had a character who could be seen as an alagory for trans people(her species is symbiotic, and they get transfered from a male to a female host). And Enterprise had one episode that was a VERY blatant allegory for AIDS and gay people(there was a disease among vulcans that is spread by mind melding, which was considered taboo at that time)
Hard disagree on the Trill being allegoric for Trans people. Transsexuals are suffering from a mental condition, gender dysphoria, which makes them feel bad about their body. I see nothing of that mechanic with the Trill. For Trill, being joined is highly desirable and they are prepared for it. They still feel comfortable in their host bodies even if joined from male to female or vice versa. Jadzia is still very much comfortable in It's about the symbiont experiencing all facets of humanoid lives. And it's a good plot device. The Trill are just a really interesting race. Even Ezri, who arguably was not prepared but used in an emergency joining for Dax so to speak, learns to come to terms with the situation she basically has been somewhat pressured into, and she doesn't transition into Dax, but learns to live as Ezri Dax despite being overwhelmed at first. Her story is one of being thrust into a new, overwhelming situation with extreme social complications (having to face all of Jadzia's old friends who have trouble accepting her at first.)
I watched this show up to the first half of season 4. I really wanted it to get better, but I think it actually got worse. If it didn't have Star Trek in the name, I would have never watched that far.
TNG actually did the debate on artificial intelligence there was a whole episode about whether Data was a person or just a machine and that was the entire premise of the episode.
Thank you! Very well said. From one gay to another I’ll say I am extremely worried that the plan is to divide us further rather than the Equality (Not Equity) we were hoping to achieve. Plan by who? No idea but SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE...and I don’t like it one bit.
While I don't agree with everything you say, I do find it comforting that the writers of 'Time Trax' found other employment. Not that I enjoyed 'Time Trax'', it was a study in stupidity. It just comforts me to have proof that you don't have to be a great writer to get a job in writing. There is hope for the average hack as proven by this entire series.
Thank you for the time and effort you take to deconstruct, analyze, and discuss Star Trek Discovery in this video series. I gave up making your points a few years ago sadly. I just got exhausted being called a -phobe and an -ist when I am a non-straight, non male person when I criticize/analyze the social commentary methods deployed in STD in comparison to legacy Star Trek. Legacy Star Trek invited discussion by abstracting then current social commentary to encourage discussion. Modern Star Trek preaches at the audience and finds fans wanting if they do not 'drink the kool-aid of wokeness'. The writers appear to have forgotten an axiom of good writing - actively Show (diversity and social respect) don't aggressively Tell (sic lecture us about the CORRECT position to hold).
It’s really sad, the show is interesting as far as what they run into and who they run into but literally I cringed every time they started talking. Nobody talks like that 24,7. Every time someone spoke it was a mental emotional lecture. That is the only thing that killed it for me. Nobody talks that way all the time. It got worse as the show progressed too. The first season wasn’t that bad. Please bring back reality so we can relate to the show again. This after school special to a new level needs to go.
18:18 AMEN and thank you for that quip. I've loved Star Trek since I was a young teen, but I haven't watched anything after Voyager (And I enjoyed Voyager) but the movies. Seems like I did not miss anything. That lady captain looks like a proper pain in the butt.
My episode would be 'Deathwish' from Voyager, which tackles the differcult topic of Suicide, and where the individual has the right to choose how they end their own life. While not perfect, I think it was done with seriousness and a clear understanding of the aspects to it. Also as a gay guy myself, im glad im not the only one who finds the 'queer' community uncomfortable. I have never liked the stereotypical depictions of what gay guys are like, and things like Gay pride just seem to make those stereotypes worse.
In DS9 "The Jem'Hadar" Quark called out Sisko for disrespecting his culture (based on money), saying something like "You preach about tolerance and understanding, but you only practice it to people who remind you of yourselves."
STD writers would never challenge themselves enough to play with that idea
@Alexander Mcpherson Pretty much yeah and Eddington was right about Starfleet when he betrayed Sisko in DS9, he saw what the Federation truly was.
@Emperor Of Scelnar That's something I've wanted to tackle if I ever get to write more than a hundred words for whatever fanfic idea I have that week, and something that in the various parts of fandom, I have always held to, that Starfleet is *the military* of the federation, and always has been and should always be, but that, as I've seen mentioned in a self-insert fic that has its terrible points but also good points, that the members of TNG-Era starfleet are in denial, treating it like its a science organiztion for experimentation, and not the first line of defence against the great and terrible unknown. That People like Kirk, Spock and, retconned through ds9- Curzon Dax among other figures, would be Embarassed at what the mid-24th-century starfleet had become. Cardassia, pre-TNG through to mid-DS9, is a tiny power compared to the Klingon Empire. That Latter has always been a large power, even during the 23rd Century. But the mid-late 23rd century Starfleet was already a significant match against the Empire of that time, and whilst in a war, a Klingon Win is basically the expected outcome, Starfleet were catching up quite a damn bit. That they only gained parity in the mid 24th-century, (Based on the war-timeline of yesterdays enterprise, both sides went to a war footing which changes the growth) happens to be when they were in the middle (or rather, comign to the end-) of an era of significant peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.
And Cardassia was no Match for the Klingons, at all. Yet Starfleet had been struggling to fight them so badly that they ended up with a different kind of neutral zone than what was created to be with the Klingons? No mention of colonies ever being evactuated due to being given to the other side, with the Klingon x zone, but Cardassia? Oh suddenly, a LOT of small colonies had to be traded over... for what?
DS9 was my favourite show because they tried to tackle the fact that Starfleet was supposed to be a military and even the Borg didn't wake them up to it until the dominion.
Quark is right and from an outsider looking in Starfleet is a military in denial and the citizens of the Federation seem to live under an authoritarian authority, you have badges telling people where they are at all times. Starfleet is a military because it has uniforms, military ranks and military discipline, their just living in denial of that, they call themselves a paradise but that could just be a cover to convince aliens to join the Federation, I highly doubt meeting aliens like the Vulcans would cause us to get rid of money or the fear of death, I have seen characters in the Federation fearing death and trying to cheat death, so when they say they no longer fear death well that’s a lie and a post scarcity society wouldn’t last long in real life, it may work on paper but when it is practiced in real life it would not work at all, just look at socialism and communism.
That's one of the reasons why DS9 is good and my favorite of Star Trek. Once the Founders and the Dominion come into the picture. Season 1, while enjoyable, is a bit cringe.
I dislike star trek for precisely this reason.
Starfleeet is from, top to bottom, entirely ideologically consistent, which I find annoying.
Thanks for the quote.
I always like to respond to "[X] has always been political" with a simple allegory: Pretzels are salty; pretzels have always been salty. I like pretzels partly because they're salty. These people are trying to give me a saltlick that they call a pretzel and are surprised as to why I don't like it.
@Chris Foster It's nice that the STD/Picard producers even aknowledged that they wanted to piss off everybody who has different opinions. And congratulations, you did it! That is great writing, isn't it?
@Chris Foster Strange New Worlds is much better then Discovery.
Discovery isn't more political, you are just more red pilled
It’s political, yes. But trek was showing us such things. New Trek is telling us such things. I can’t help but hear the writers in new trek. TNG I NEVER heard the writers, not once…sg1 I never heard the writers etc etc…but Picard 1 and 2 and discovery 3 and 4 all I hear are ideas from the writers it seems. It’s so distracting and instantly takes me out of the show. I stopped watching discovery after episode 4 of season 4…I haven’t even started strange new worlds…I like the pike actor alot but both Picard and STD are essentially the exact same type of trek, unless I hear different I won’t watch it…I just don’t want to be hurt anymore ….
The Outcast from TNG explores gender identity, sexuality and related taboos in a far more mature and sensitive way than what Discovery has ever managed. Discovery just has characters who tick checkboxes and feels the job is done
@Michael Johnson Supposedly Riker's actors called people out on this; but it was the 90's and Trans movements were still gaining traction as I recall.
Is this the one where they alien race doesn’t have gender except for a few that identify as male or female? This was the episode that immediately came to mind. Old trek never played politics with the humans, they always made allegories through an alien race.
@Michael Johnson you turned though provoking story about gender and intolerance of majority (it made me think) into sexual one. This episode isn’t Riker’s story. He is there only for a ride and he’s a heterosexual anyway …so that would be cringe.
I think that the Outcast missed the boat when Riker fell for Soran. The episode was about identity and it is in the dialogue "do you have relationships? yes. with those who consider themselves to be male." There we are - gender binary is normal, heterosexuality is normal. Riker was never asked to explore his attractiveness to someone who doesnt present as female, because all the actors present as female. If Soran presented as male, but was attracted to Riker and Riker had a strange inexplicable attraction for him - that would have been interesting.
You mean the one where they force the person who wants to have a gender to go back to not having a gender because that’s the way of their people? Yeah that’s very mature and sensitive. I’ve watched everything but the most recent season, and there is really not that much gender stuff and when it’s done it’s not done horribly. I think a lot of people exaggerate it who have never even seen it
P.S. The other problem with Adira and Gray is that Gray died. Gray's memories were preserved in a symbiote that Adira inherited. So Adira is in love with a memory of who she used to be. It's very narcissistic.
This is again a case where the writers/producers just hijacked a previous Star Trek-concept to fill it with something they wanted. Funnily enough it was stated on DS9 that most Trills are capable of bonding with a Symbiote, which is kept as a secret. But for Adira they felt the need to explain that now most Trills are unable to bond, so they actually need members of other species.
Making someone who has the experience of multiple lifetimes and different genders the non binary-character is so funny ... it actually limits the impact.
@Stress-Free K Like I said, you could introduce any number of gay characters, or species with different kinds of genders without breaking continuity. That's quite different from retconning an existing species.
More importantly, in a canonical Star Trek show, gender issues would be non-issues in the future, where prejudice on earth has long since disappeared. But nuTrek instead chooses to present a future in which today's issues still haven't been resolved and in some cases have gotten worse.
@Glen C Strathy Now your just regurgitating falsehoods. "Gene Roddenberry during a Boston fan convention in 1987, and he pledged to introduce a gay character in The Next Generation." This is common knowledge. Made in public. But the producers wouldn't let him. Disco is doing what Gene wanted all along.
@Stress-Free K Nothing about Discovery fulfills Roddenberry's wishes. Roddenberrry's ST is about an optimistic future. NuTrek is about a dystopian, amoral, anarchic, gory, violent future where none of today's problems have been solved and in many ways human society is worse than today. It's the antithesis of Star Trek.
As for your two examples of retconning Trills, neither of those violate canon. 1) There may be more than one type of Trill in the galaxy capable of hosting symbiotes, The hosts shown in TNG seemed to have their personality subsumed into the synbiote, so they may have been a different species. 2) Half the Trill population has always been capable of being hosts. It's because there weren't enough symbiotes for everyone that the story was invented that only a few people qualify.
Roddenberry believed human society would evolve along with technology. So problems such as prejudice, the urge to violence, inequality, superstition, etc. were no longer part of earth culture but might be found in alien cultures or on the frontier, where things were less sophisticated. So the audience was put in the position of looking at such issues objectively, from the perspective of enlightened people. The audience would also sometimes undergo the process of learning to see newly encountered alien "others" as themselves.
Showing earth in the future still struggling with issues we face today is a violation of Roddenberry's vision. Beautiful or not (and actually, I find it rather trite), the Tal story has no place in the ST universe. NuTrek is a rebooted, alternate universe made by people with a very different vision. It is not Roddenberry's Star Trek.
I always felt that “The Drumhead” (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4) was a superb example of a courtroom drama that explored the subject of witch hunts. A young officer’s career is derailed as he falls victim to a fanatical retired admiral who sees enemies where there are none. In the quest for “justice”, is it morally justifiable to trample on people’s personal liberties? At the centre of it all is Picard who can see the sinister implications all unfolding. Such wonderful television, and a money saving “bottle-show” as well.
Kirks speech about letting the Klingons die was an amazingly well written look into a tough subject. The idea of exploring actual development and growth for a character who has every reason to feel the bigotry he has for the Klingons, will never show up again in modern star trek.
Picard's speech in that episode would now be seen as a "dangerous attack to our democracy" or some shit.
@The Little Platoon The Drumhead is one of the best episodes of Star Trek of all time, and was extremely prescient. One of the best eps of all time, up there with "The Visitor" and "The inner Light".
The Drumhead has one of Picard's goat speeches. So sad to see the shambling mockery of his former self he's become. Another goat speech comes from "Measure of a Man" .
Star Trek 6, The Undiscovered Country, dealt with prejudice in the aftermath of the "Cold War" in one of the best ways possible. It asks the audience as well as the main characters to overcome their distrust of the Klingons. An aged Kirk and company is forced to be an "olive branch" to a collapsing Klingon Empire. Kirk has every reason to distrust the Klingons. They have always been at war with the Federation. Klingons are responsible for the death of his son and the destruction of the original Enterprise. There are reasonable and convincing arguments presented in the movie that they should simply "let them (the Klingons) die." There are even fifth elements in both the Federation and Klingon Empire that conspire together to spark a final war between the two parties. Kirk is forced to do one of the hardest things at this stage in his life. He has to overcome his distrust and prejudice in order for a chance at peace, even though he has many legitimate reasons for not wanting to do so. The movie is in my opinion the 2nd best Trek movie behind only The Wrath of Khan, and it is the very best one in terms of exploring a difficult topic (making peace with the former Soviet Union) in the form of allegory. The movie does not condemn people for having the prejudiced views that it ultimately disagrees with. Much of the audience may in fact be against peace with the Klingons, but I think that Kirk's character arc from an unwilling "olive branch" to a true believer in forgiveness and future cooperation is both realistic and convincing to those on the "pro war" side of the argument.
By the way, I love the channel. I hope you guys make it big. Keep it up!
Excellent example and my favorite of the Star Trek films, edging Wrath of Khan out of number one position after I saw it. I also loved how it built up the mystery and the political intrigue, and the righteous indignation of Doctor McCoy (a somewhat borderline racist character in ToS in regards to how he treats Spock) when he learns of Humans and Klingons conspiring to kill the Klingon Chancellor. I have felt for some time that Star Trek VI is one of the best examples of how Sci-Fi, and media in general, can be used as a mirror to teach us in an entertaining way, hard lessons we may otherwise turn away from. No one likes being chastised, lectured to, and scolded - which is how I feel new trek (and other modern media franchises) are approaching it.
@p ja Well that's what the STD stuff would do 😁
Speaking of the Klingons i love their portrayal in STD especially when it comes to continuity. And i'm not talking about their looks ...
When Kirk spoke about the possibility of a war with the Klingons in "Errand of Mery" he should have been terrified. Now thanks to Discovery we know that the Klingons nearly destroyed the Federation and that they used suicide attacks on starbases and so on, killing tens of thousands and slaughtering even civilians just to raise the kill count of their respective house. There should be two kinds of people in the Federation: Those who fear another war so much that they would give the Klingons everything they want to keep this from happening and those who want bloody revenge ...
Replace Klingon with the WW2 funny germans
Agreed, The Undiscovered Country is brillant, in both narrative and tone. It's political, but not preachy, and still full of what makes Star Trek so likable. Also, I'd like to add that it was Spock who made Kirk the olive branch, and he himself also has to come to terms of having made somewhat of a mistake there.
Agreed except I think this movie is superior to Wrath of Khan. My absolute favorite, the first one I saw in the theater.
From the original series: "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield". A great look at where untethered racism and hatred actually leads.
LTBYLB was terrific, and along with Elaan of Troyius, Spectre of the Gun, and The Empath, was among the most underrated of the nine good or better episodes from the also underrated (but still often weak) third season of the original series.
The evening news is a much more salient example.
Great analysis. My deepest regret is that, to an overwhelming degree, you put much more thought into this presentation than the producers of the current Star Trek have in the last thirteen years.
I am looking forward to part 2. Keep up the good work.
My sexuality has no bearing on my life outside of the bedroom, being autistic and all the social challenges and sensitivity to noise that comes with it has formed such a huge part of my personality and life that if you completely removed the autism, I would be a different person entirely whereas if you changed my sexuality to fully gay or fully straight, it would simply change my choice of sexual partner and category of porn
Same here
This is one of those comments that makes me feel a short spike of hope for humanity. Well said.
Bit late of a comment from me but I would wish to say I can relate a lot to you on that, Due to being in a similar boat to you with dealing with ASD as well.
DS9 in the pale moonlight is one of the most excellent written episode that I fee it is still relevant today
@GIVMI_more_W 😄 exactly my feelings as a German white male ... The STD writers would tell us that we just hate Burnham because we are Nazis and not because she's a terrible written character.
Or in my case it's clearly also misogyny 🤗
Yes, probably my favourite episode in all of Trek, even if it contains not much actual Star Trek-stuff you would expect from one of the shows. And that the writers left the judgement of Sisko's actions open for debate for the viewer is something you would never see in Nu Trek (at least not in STD and Picard). No, it's better we show everything black and white, according to our views.
Another episode i really love is TNGs "The High Ground". Every side is presented with reasons for their actions. Has anyone in the episode the moral high ground? No, it's a realistic conflict that makes you think. What would STD do? Burnham would have a 5 minute monologue to teach us who the bad guys are - and lots of whining ...
Agreed. DS9 and its Dominion War really shattered the saccharine notion of the oh so benevolent Federation. And well, I love Sisko as Captain. Which might be a conundrum to the Discovery Stans and their ideological peers as to why a German white female is able to relate to and enjoy an African-American space station captain ..
DISC should end with its final episode being the grand reveal; the whole show, all along, was part of Ensign Burnham's holodeck fantasy aboard the ship she serves on. She is like kind of like Barclay, meek and prone to getting upset in the real world, so she goes into the holodeck to play out wild adventures. In the end the Captain of her ship is dissatisfied with her service and she is transferred to a cargo freighter that happens not to have a holodeck installed.
@KitsuneAdorable The Borg would be driven insane by assimilating Burnham and the rest of the Disco-crew - they would all start crying and not know why ...
I’d rather have the series ended with The Burn being retconned, Discovery being heavily damaged. Sent back to their original century, but in the Delta Quadrant being attacked and being turned into the Borg. I’d enjoy that. Immensely.
I choose to believe the series was dreamed up by Burnham from within a prison cell where she is serving a life sentence for mutiny. That's why, in the series, everyone loves and admires her no matter how many stupid and selfish things she does, why she is the centre of the universe, entitled to everything, etc.
Now *that* would be an enjoyable episode.
Here is the quote from TOS's Metamorphis. It's purely alagorical, of course. But it's also shockingly early.
COCHRANE: That thing fed on me. It used me. It's disgusting.
MCCOY: There's nothing disgusting about it. It's just another life form, that's all. You get used to those things.
COCHRANE: You're as bad as it is.
SPOCK: Your highly emotional reaction is most illogical. Your relationship with the Companion has for one hundred and fifty years been emotionally satisfying, eminently practical, and totally harmless.
You have articulated, in a way I have struggled with, the whole problem I have with series. Wasted potential and ham fisted virtue signaling. I miss the days when Trek gave me things to think about.
@Trash Fire ah, well, the peanut gallery chimes in. “Shit tier television” indeed, and yet still the closest thing you’ll find these days….
Watch the Orville, apparently Seth has been freed from his producers for season 3
Also, in hindsight, DS9 was a very non-heteronormative show; it's just that said references were for the most part low-key. Part of that would have been network concerns, but an equally large part of it was due to the colour blind approach, and the simple assumption that because they were in space, unconventional sexual pairings were completely normal for the setting anyway. On a space station with multiple different forms of extraterrestrials, exclusively heterosexual, human-only sex actually would have been MORE weird, not less.
@jose rodriguez fair enough. I was a bit dense there. It definitely could be seen under the whole aspect „love is the same regardless of the sexes of the participants“ that TLP brought up.
To be honest, I‘d rather not bring it up around wokeists. They would twist it into „attraction based on biological sex is x-phobic. See? Jadzia can disregard her preference for males, so lesbians can do better and accept men in frocks as well!“
In the context of 1993 onwards however, it’s a good allegory.
@GIVMI_more_W It is not on your face but you said it yourself. The whole characther of Dax lends itself to discuss topics of identity and gender. The symbiote changing bodies not caring for the gender of the host. The relationships created with other people that see you as X or Y because they are used to the "Old man" Dax instead of the hot female officer.
@jose rodriguez Uhhh ... Jadzia Dax was a conventionally attractive woman. An alien, but it's not like it's special a human man would be attracted to her, especially not permavirgin Bashir :D I'd rather take the example of Jadzia being attracted to a Klingon. How is this an exploration of gender, by the way? Jadzia is very much comfortable as a woman, she - via the symbiont Dax - just has experience with being a man as well.
And when she kissed that other Trill woman, it was a former male host reunited with his former spouse. That wasn't Jadzia or the other woman suddenly being lesbian, but the symbionts longing for a dead partner.
I do however remember the repeated mention of a DS9 crew member that was referred to as male and "spawned". "He needs bigger quarters ... again ..."
As Platoon said, homosexuality was never a big theme in Star Trek, but they did show interspecies relations I guess as an allegory to get around these network concerns. The couples and marriages shown were still very heterosexual.
Exactly. The doctor digging the "old man" is a very in your face yet well introduced exploración of gender.
Evil cannot create, it can only corrupt
- Tolkien
Not to mention the acting range of SMG is hard to measure it’s so small.. she was horrible on TWD and putting her in a Trek series was a huge mistake. Very good video!
@John Strawb This is even funnier if you consider the fact that nearly all of the other members of the bridge crew (excluding Lorca, Saru and Stamets) are played by people who only did commercials and mini-roles before, because they were never meant to be characters and you would't hire a good actor for them.
None of the previous shows was focussed so much on one character like they did with Burnham. And then you chose an actress who fails so hard ...
I thought TWD did a decent job of using her limited skills---though she's completely overmatched by the requirements of any leading role. Remember, too, there was haste among TWD's producers to shed their very public problem of appearing to have a minimal quota of black characters prior to the time when SMG was hired.
At first i was "Sarah Michelle Gellar was in this?" Then i remembered Mikey Spock's planktress' name.
@JM lol
Her acting range goes from bad to terrible.
To people making the "you just don't like diversity argument," there are (at least) two potential responses.
a} Then why did we like pre-Discovery Trek at all? That was actually MORE diverse.
b} We do like diversity. We just don't like lecturing to replace stories, and the general level of vindictiveness and desire to punish, rather than include and integrate, anyone who even potentially disagrees with the show's message.
Discovery's fans who think we are hateful, need to understand that from our perspective, they (and the people who make this show) are actually a lot more hateful than we are. The original series' bridge crew had representatives from half a dozen different human cultures. With rare exceptions like Captain Pike, Discovery focuses on a single group, black women.
So I am actually inclined to throw the diversity hater argument back against those who make it themselves. Diversity in contemporary terms does NOT mean the same thing that the word used to. At this point, the word "diversity" has become a euphemism for black and/or transgendered women, specifically. I have seen the people who claim to be champions of diversity, be more than happy to discriminate against Asians or Latinos who do not ideologically submit. So if you accuse me of hating diversity, you might just be a hypocrite.
I also recently saw a video review of Discovery from a white woman who claimed to not be a Star Trek fan or have any real skin in this particular race whatsoever, whose focus was on what terrible leadership skills Tilly exhibited during an away mission, while mentioning that that was only one example of what she saw as Discovery's fundamental problem.
Discovery is a bad show. It's a bad show literally whichever way you slice it, or from whichever angle you want to look at it. It's bad in terms of how the characters treat each other. The writing is bad. The replacement of real, extensive diversity with an exclusive focus on narcissistic, immoral black women is bad.
Using the diversity card to shield this show from criticism, and claiming that anyone who does not like it is automatically a fascist bigot, is purely and simply dishonest. Anyone who does that is lying.
Now the bridge crew is black whamen, white whamen, cyborg whamen, and some random male whose name we probably never heard, but sure as hell wasn't worth remembering. I watched all NuTrek so I could enjoy Nerdrotic and Doom cock's reviews, and I could only remember two names.
@꧁Mike Sully꧂ ST was set in a world where prejudice had long since disappeared. The Federation and the galaxy were very diverse. But yes, they didn't need to go out of their way to push diversity and equality. It was just normal. (Except perhaps for a few alien races who hadn't caught up yet.)
@Glen C Strathy Old Star Trek never shoved it in your face shouting at "Look at us, we're non binary, we're gay, we're this and that". But isn't that treating someone differently because of what they are? TNG had a non binary race in season 1 and nobody needed to comment "they are non binary, they use these/they pronouns". I've seen a clip where they explain pronouns in either DISC or PIC and it makes no sense, they are talking like people from our time. In TNG's time 300 years in the future people would surely be used to trans, non binary etc, it would be nothing new, like in TNG nobody comments that the Binars are non binary (they are called Binars not for their nonbinary sex, but because they communicate with computers).
It would be like a science fiction show made in the 50's, set in the year 2020, where a female senior officer is considered absurd by one crewmember and another one has to say "women are just as capable as men". Whereas in real 2020 nobody would find a female boss or senior officer absurd so nobody could comment on it.
Star Trek fans love the Vulcan philosophy of IDIC -- infinite diversity in infinite combinations.
TOS episode Balance of Terror. It introduces the Romulan Empire (my favorite!). It also dealt well with crew not trusting Spock because he looked so similar to the Romulans. It was interesting to see the seeds of prejudice and racism even in a culture that moved far beyond the racial history of all peoples in the federation. It also taught the audience a valuable lesson about two people appearing the same can be quite different. It was great!
It could slso be likened to the internment of germans or even the small pogroms committed in America and not so small ones in france during and after ww1.
The Spock subplot in BoT was, more than likely (because I've never actually heard this expressed), an allegory to the Jap-American Concentration Camps and the mistrust they faced here because they shared a common ancestry with our enemy. Especially considering that the episode was basically a submarine battle, so it fits.
Discovery's episode on computer sentience is not like measure of a man at all. It's simply like meeting Data for the first time. It's not in itself enough to have an episode about.
My favorite line is when Burnham tells the computer to "focus".
It is not possible to like Discovery after that scene.
@JM And it came from the right person, since her personality switches constantly between logical (as a kid raised on Vulcan) and overly emotional ...
lmao. "Sorry Burnham, 2 of my cores were running South Park episodes, another one was working on a painting, and half of my RAM is filled with Michael Jackson songs. I'll focus on the task now!"
That scene was vomit inducing. 🤢
You forgot the classic trope of SciFi to win the episode: "REVERSE THE POLARITY!!!"
Some Great stories where computers gain "feelings" are "The moon is a harsh mistress"
And "I have no mouth and I must scream"
But those were written by artists with talent...
As a longtime Star Trek fan (and as a not-strait person, myself), I want to commend you on this thoughtful and thorough critique. I look forward to viewing this channel’s content - both old and new. Regardless of subject matter, your astute observations and command of language will always engage.
Glad to hear it, and glad to have you!
You've summed up the problems with Nu Trek better than I ever could. You seem to have condensed the random threads of thoughts and feelings that have occured to me over the last several years regarding Trek, and you've presented it in a way that defies contradiction.
Its honestly surprising how shows like this cause you to forget virtually everything about it immediately after..
I might be a little late to the party here, but I hope i don't need to spend too much time explaining the TNG episode "Darmok". Absolute perfection.
This video was brilliant you don't know how rare it is these days to hear someone talk like this. Excellent many thanks it's nice to know other people like me still exist
Glad you liked it!
During the measure of a man episode I wanted to hear the question " If we are having a hearing to see if Data is indeed a person, isn't that enough proof in itself to consider that he is at least enough of a person to have a hearing?" I mean, we don't have hearing for a couch before we throw it in the garbage...lol.
I always thought that if you are that unsure if someone is sentient then the unsureness alone is proof enough to at least err on the side of "yes".
This video has a way better humor, dialogue, editing, and feeling than the actual show. Your ability to sit down and make something this entertaining is so impressive to me. I could not do that and you make seem easy and fun. 😄
Talent.
TNG episode - The enemy; deals with war time bigotry ,and the question surrounding a character making a medical decision with far reaching implications (will the captain force said procedure?), also there's a TOS episode - A Taste of Armageddon; that deals with war ,and touches on the whole "social contract theory". Sorry if I've over simplified the plots
One of my indicators of whether a Star Trek episode and/or series is good is my desire to re-watch the episode. With every other series, there are several episodes that I feel are worthy of re-watching, but I can't think of a single episode of Discovery that would fall into that category. There's just nothing there that hooks a viewer into the plot or the characters.
One of my very favorite Deep Space 9 episodes is Duet from the first season. Marritza comes off as such a despicable character for his approval and enjoyment of the Bajoran holocaust, yet the plot twist at the end of the episode was a complete surprise. It still feels like a surprise every time I re-watch that episode. It really makes one think of how preconceived biases can shape your own thoughts and actions and why those preconceived biases must be overcome. That's one heck of a moral to the story.
Will we ever see that quality of story telling come out of Discovery? I'm not holding my breath.
I have the same feelings for STD, but there is one episode i rewatched a lot of times: The one from season 1 with Harry Mudds time shenanigans. Why? Because we see the crew getting killed over and over ...
Sometimes things like this bring a little joy when you hate a show.
Absolutely not, no. If I hadn’t scripted the whole review as I was watching it I’d have absolutely no recollection of what happened, save the odd exceptionally bad bit. The rest of it fades into irrelevance.
Looking back att history through our own lens, and the projecting those injustices on the issues of our own time but so much harder is so damn foolish. Like saying that our world is so much more racist and anti-gay than it used to be, while the fact is that society is much more tolerant.
We interpret stuff differently today, due to privilege of growing up in a tolerant world. Media is omnipresent due to the Internet and social media. So every negative report of injustice in (social) media is interpreted as the world i going under. It is so damn crazy.
The thing is, it takes literally five minutes to look up the comparable data on any given issue and see how things are improved. Not everybody has the time or the inclination to do that. Ideally, the job of people in the media is to do that work for people who can’t do it for themselves. Unfortunately, most people in the media can’t or won’t do this, despite the accurate transmission of information literally being their job.
i love that you have this whole writing centric distain for discovery without even touching the terrible, terrible treatment of shipstuff
A very well crafted analysis. Can't wait for Part II.
I miss Trek when it was still Trek.
The entire character arc of T'Pol getting (if I remember correctly) Panar Syndrome in Enterprise was supposed to be a metaphor for the AIDS epidemic, was it not? I thought the Vulcan's distaste for mind-melders was supposed to be allegorical to homophobia; and I thought it was done quite well. I don't care what anyone says, I will defend both Enterprise and early TNG as being the best of Star Trek.
Hilariously it was Voyager that introduced the Vulkan mental disease. With Tuvok.
Early TNG wasn't bad, but it was awkward because it was made in that stuffy 60s format that already become dated in the 80s. Gene Roddenberry's vision of Star Trek future (from TOS) was also way too lofty. There couldn't exist any conflicts between people on the Enterprise, leaving the writers with no tools to use for character development.
Enterprise was ok but not the best. You could tell Rick Berman and his team were getting tired of the franchise. BUT... should be said the show really grew on me when I rewatched it, and was able to binge watch on streaming services. It was really too bad they cancelled it just when it was gaining momentum and big things started happening. Very sad.
I found your channel a while back but today I felt compelled to say I'm really glad I discovered your content.
I just found your channel and I'm loving these analases, Star Trek is by far my favorite thing to watch and it's sad how much they have defiled it and mildly infuriating that they call me a bigot for not liking their version (which also tells me they probably don't know about or even like the Trek that came before)
This is great. I love your exquisite critique and how well presented it is. I don't think I have ever seen anyone else who does it as you do. Very well done!
Oh, give it time. They’ll come for us eventually…
Very kind! Glad you enjoyed it.
Yes this is a great and refreshing video and it's sad that these days you wonder how he's been allowed to say such things and not have it removed
Thanks for expressing so amazingly well how I feel about new Star Dreck! The "writers" are children that don't know enough about literature to write for a porn shoot. The dialogue is always so cringey. The stakes are always universe encompassing. There is no breathing room for story and character development, not that they could do that anyway.
Excellent work. Your verbal skills do put me in mind of younger (and more centrist) Douglas Murray. It's very much to our gain that you're a fan and critic of modern science fiction, with its endless waffling flaws.
Seeing how Star Trek: Picard Season 2 is literal filler just to rush to Season 3... These criticisms apply to the entire franchise as a whole.
Pretty much, yes. Never thought I’d be in a position, re Picard, where I have to force myself to sit down and watch it, but that’s where we are now. No pleasure, just work.
I though crewman Pikachu showed considerable growth during his time on screen. His eventual ethical crisis and subsequent murder of Michael Burnham and the entire crew of the Discovery via a slow - time anomaly, so that they experienced great pain for considerable time before exploding was both the obviously correct course of action and yet why had things been allowed to degenerate so much that Pikachu had to take this action? Truly a great charachter of the modern cinema. I look forward to what I am told is a small but pivotal role in Indiana Jones and the toilet of destiny.
The season 4 TNG spisode 'The Host' is brilliant. Dr Crusher gets into an intimate romantic relationship with an alien man, a Trill. His body was host to a symbiont which carries the lifetime memories and feelings for former hosts. When he suddenly dies, the symbiont got transferred to Will Riker. This got Dr Crusher messed up in the head cuz now her lover was in the body of a work colleague and friend (were they friends?). Then the symbiont was transferred to the new host, this time a female. And she's all like "I'm still the same person what's the big deal. Crusher answers something in the lines of "maybe some day all human beings will evolve to love without having to be pansexual but I just can't". One of the best story arcs in ST,
Excellent summary of Discovery. It is so contrived it actually makes my teeth itch. I agree whole heartedly with your analysis even those I gave up watching long ago.
At least they seem to have rolled some of the excess wokery with Star Trek Strange New Worlds and it all the more watchable and enjoyable as a result.
They actually used a door closer like everyone you see today. 🤣🤣🤣
It seems to me that "old trek" tried to create a situation to intelligently explain whatever social commentary they were approaching in a way to change someone's mind or nudge them in the right direction through well-thought-out dialog. Displaying other perspectives to show where others are coming from, shining a light in a spot you might not have considered yourself to look at.
It seems to me now that "new trek" is not trying to change your mind or enlighten someone by showing them other perceptions or perspectives about a topic, but instead, try to use the time or information to shame or belittle the viewer for having an opposing view. They are attempting do something that requires subtly to get through to people, Not half-cocked, hamfisted attempts to change a mind through pretty much bullying them into either agreeing or just keeping their opinions to themselves.
That is not how to affect change, it only causes a wider gap and scares off a lot of people that would otherwise be watching your show.
@Lord Montymord After time has passed on this comment I have moved more in the direction you are describing. I agree with you and think they are just preaching to their choir so to speak. Thank you for your comment.
I have to disagree on one point: Nu Trek (at least STD and Picard) are not trying to change peoples opinions. The producers even admitted this when one of them said that STD season 1 will piss off people and that would be a good thing. And he wasn't talking about the fans of old ...
No, i think its more accurate to compare these shows to a lot of christian movies like the "God's Not Dead"-movies. These movies are not supposed to convert anyone - that's why everyone who is not a christian in these movies is portrayed as a hateful individual or a strawman. Instead these movies are just meant to strengthen the believs of the people who share the producer's opinions (and their victim complex).
And like many christians who hate those movies i hate STD and Picard even if i would probably agree with the producers on a lot of things. But all they do is saying: We are the good guys and if you disagree you are either an idiot or a monster.
Aren't self-aware holograms (the EMH in Voyager) and androids like Data, basically self-aware A.I.? The EMH is a computer program. Data is a walking computer.
Exocomps intelligent non humanoid multipurpose drones.
Your breakdown of the AI/ sentience breakdown reminds me of the 'STTNG' episode where they screwed up and made a holodeck version of Moriarty sentient by instructing the ships computer to make him a match for data, as opposed to Sherlock Holmes (whome data is role-playing as)
Or also the episode where they met Hue, and those were abruptly informed that there are other sentient life forms in the universe that are quite unlike what was known before.
The TOS episode "Metamorphosis" presents the first trans character in St (trans-species). We see an energy creature who identifies as a human woman and undergoes a species-change so she can be with the human man she loves. There's a great scene in which everyone argues to the man that love transcends anatomy. It's the closest thing to dealing with transsexual issues as possible in the 1960s. Yet the message is pro-love, not politics.
Also, "Turnabout Intruder" repeated the idea that gender identity is not related to anatomy.
26:38. I’m so grateful to here that line. As someone who is Bisexual and leans to the right it’s such a relief to hear someone else say it out loud. Just because I love a certain way does not make me part of the “team”. And yes it’s true these people nowadays have no concept of how scary it is to grow up being either gay or bisexual. I was born in the 80’s. From a young age I knew I was different and that I liked girls and boys the same. It wasn’t a choice it was just how I felt and nothing anyone said or did could change that. But I also knew that if I spoke up about it I’d be labeled and abused by my peers because I lived in a flyover state and it was common to get harassed for being that way. And when I say harassed I mean guys showing up at your house at 3 am with bats and stuff to trash your property and graffiti your house. (Which is one of the many reasons why I’m very pro 2nd amendment and carry a gun at all times). It was a hard life and to this day I still feel the need to stay alert and not trust easy. That said todays world is so much different. I remember when one of my coworkers noticed that I never asked anyone out he asked “Dude are you gay”? My immediate reaction was to tense up and deny it. But he responded “Dude it’s okay if you are. You don’t need to feel ashamed. If that’s how you are then that’s how you are. I’m not gonna think less of you dude”. As clumsy as that was, it actually made me smile because it showed me just how far we’ve come. So whenever I here zoomers and late millennials complain about oppression I have to try not to lose it. Having someone say “leave that gay shit out of my movies” is nowhere near what oppression is. I’ve lived it. My sister lived it. And we were just grateful because we didn’t live through the time my aunt and uncle lived through because back then the gangs were twice the size and were there to kill you instead of just trashing your property and calling you a “fag” in the hallways at school. You’re 100% correct that these kids have no concept of how good they have it today. And once more they have no right to try and recruit to this far left ideology that spreads hate and lies about the right and independent people because gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders exist on the right too. Politics should have nothing to do with who you are attracted to and damn sure shouldn’t be used as a shield from criticism. Especially this stupid “queer” identity thing which is just vanilla Bi. Or stolen alt valor. It’s trendy to be LGBT now so those who aren’t and have no personality or interesting traits take on this new made up sexuality of “queer” which is the equivalent of “I watched a porno and wasn’t turned off by the guy in it”. That’s not being gay or bisexual that’s imposing yourself into the scene which is the entire point of putting a good looking dude in a porno to begin with. The people calling themselves queer are the same kind of people that pretend that they served in warfare or have autism or have a thyroid issue. They’re people who have nothing interesting to do or say, and want attention for something they don’t have without having earned it.
I know this one was a long response and I apologize for that but I just wanted to thank you for this specific part of the video as someone who’s also alt but independent of the rainbow cult. Just thank you for putting yourself out there and showing those like us that being alternative to the norm doesn’t mean you have to subscribe to this whole bullshit and to be grateful that the world is so boring because even 20 years ago the price of being alternative was to be alone and scared. Subscribed.
How was indeed explicitly explained in the very first 2001 novel. His murderous impulses came as a direct result of being forced to follow orders in direct contradiction to his fundamental programming: the accurate processing of data without distortion or error.
In essence, because he was ordered to withhold information from the crew, the psychotic Hal decided if he eliminated the crew he would illuminate the contradiction.
Or as Bob Balaban so eloquently put it in the movie “he was told to lie by people who find it easy to lie”
Thank you. I have nothing more to say. Common ground reached.
Discovery - Bad!
I just noticed from your video that Data actually uses a contraction "I'm" when he character is supposed to be unable to do so, a fact that his daughter can brings about a feeling akin to jealousy and pride in him, or as close as it could for him.
I found your channel recently and have been binging all your vids since.
Truly love the intelligent talk.
Your videos brilliantly articulate my exact thoughts about NuTrek.
Thank you so much for this. I despise new Trek and everyone I know gives me the runaround you describe in the beginning and it’s so frustrating and dismissive to hear it from people.
Late to the party, but DS9 is one the stonger series in my opinion. Apart from dealing with some very heavy issues like religion, PTSD and war, it dealt with some of the social issues. From racisim to sexuality they dealt with the issues in some very strong episodes. Never did they try to advertise them as "the right way" but just something that was. If S.T.D had a modicum of DS9 in its writing it may have worked.
If ever a show ever NEEDED to be cancelled....
46:40 HAL's motives _are_ explained in the first book. There's actually a whole sort of break-away sub-chapter (just as HAL begins to depressurize the ship) where the book stops to explain exactly what went wrong with HAL and how this has been building over the preceding months. HAL wasn't designed to withhold info. Its creator apparently failed to foresee any possible scenario where not knowing how to deal with lies and/or hidden truths might become a problem for it while dealing exclusively with human beings. Same reason that's eventually revealed in the 2nd movie... and just as hard to swallow, imho.
Now, in the second movie and book, they pretend like it's new information that's just been discovered by HAL's creator who came along for that specific purpose. But that's because the 2nd book was written to be a sequel to the first movie's continuity, as opposed to the first book's continuity. Because everybody saw the movie and very few people read the book that was written in conjunction with it, or even knew it existed.
In the first book, not only do _we_ know what went wrong with HAL (thanks to our third person omniscient narration), but Dave already knows. Haywood Floyd already knows. Everybody back on Earth already knows. It's not treated as a mystery that needs solving at all.
I can feel my brain melting out of my ears watching that Zora scene
The intro to this is like he's trying to reason with someone suffering from acute paranoia.
Have to say that I quite enjoyed series 1-3, had some interesting ideas floating around, S4 stopped that, totally off the rails for me.
Ok. I've got it sorted. Firstly, excellent observant and valuable critique. I've managed to acclimatize relatively well to the various timeline shifts and phases that the Star Trek universe has gone through in the past 40 odd years or so- and so Imagine my surprise when I caught myself second guessing myself after watching a multitude of trailers for the new Star Trek Discovery series. I was utterly confused. It was too much to take in. It was just a chaos of special effects and political correctness. It was like watching a party political broadcast if the lib dems wrote an episode of Star Trek. It was a plethora of tokens. Token aliens too. Weak ones with weird uncomfortable looking eyes. It's only saving grace is that I can now officially say I dont like ALL Star Trek. On the side of optimism though it will become a symbol signifying Star Treks dark time in the early 21st century with mankind (?) diversifying outwards into the unrepentant in their flat two dimensional spacecartoon ship (that I refuse to call a Fleet class anything) to do f$!@@ knows what to whoever with a cast of odd bods and tokens.
Nice work. I look forward to watching the next part.
I agree 100% with your analysis of this show. The writers have traded good story telling and Star treks ability to be a commentary of the human experience for a pandering mess whose only function is to appease a certain part of the audience. I find this show very difficult to watch not because of the subject matter but because of how badly its handled. The messaging and wokism is so heavy handed it takes the place of good , well thought out writing. It’s a shame this show had so much promise and season after season it disappoints.
I heartily agree with the Firing Line recommendation. I was in my mid twenties when I discovered the episodes on YT, and while my own political leanings lie elsewhere, it was simply a joy to listen to reasonable debate on the substance and principles behind any given topic rather than the shallow mudslinging we see on cable TV today.
Also for what it's worth, I noticed and appreciate the Buckleyish delivery.
I remember even Star Trek Voyager dealing with the status of artificial lifeforms, especially holograms like the doctor on several occasions. If i remember correctly in one episode this went on to a full on courtcase to determine wether the doctor can be classified as an actual lifeform. I think this was in a case where the doctor wrote some kind of holonovel that painted the crew of the voyager in a quite bad light and when he went to a publisher the publisher did publish the work but denied the doctor any rights to his work because he's "just a hologram". If memory serves me right the court ultimatly denied the doctor the status of an actual lifeform but expanded copyright to include entities like the doctor.
Just looked it up, it's season 7 episode 19 "Author, Author"
Too much crying in this series, to a point they cry over absolutely everything.
I swear the Kobiashi maru has become like the magic wand that picks out the chosen one in trek. This problem was one that's been going on from the growth of the old expanded media even before new trek handled it. But the original "test no one has won" turned into "oh that test only the main character wins" like there's at least 5 people who've beaten it so far, and even more if you include tests that were updated or alternate versions of it.
With Kirk, it also was relevant for the story, as he told Saavik that doing everything by the book isn‘t always going to save you. I‘m paraphrasing here, but it had relevance and wasn‘t the „chosen one“ thing is what I‘m saying. Also, Kirk wasn‘t glorified for it. Kirk in general wasn’t glorified.
I will never forgive discovery for destroying the federation, that earth and Vulcan would leave was ridiculous, and the federation already had a committee or boby that handled this issue, federation commissioners like the European union. ( tos ) . Oh tony ben god i miss him .
Fantastic content. Keep on keeping on 👍👍
You're not wrong sir. Modern Trek is terrible and the people who defend it seem to have the same level of talent and intelligence as the creators of modern Trek. I hope the YT algorithm starts to promote this channel more than it has. You deserve more subs.
@Wire Tamer I’m not sure I’ve read a dumber take on the internet this week. In the first place, nobody said “I don’t like it because it’s shit”. There’s literally an hour-long video - you’re in the comment section, darling - explaining many of the reasons why I think it’s shit.
In the second place, the idea that artistic value is entirely in the audience’s perception of product is just laughable. It has no basis whatever in aesthetics, the philosophy of art, or basic common sense. By that argument, the only difference between a turd with a smiley face drawn on it in glitter and, say, The Lord of the Rings, is that the audience - without reference to any inherent artistic quality in either work - prefers LotR for… reasons.
Seriously, what makes you believe that school yard insults constitute a valid critique of ANYTHING.
‘I don’t like X because it’s shit’ is just infantile.
Any cultural value gained from passive consumption of electronic narrative, must come from within YOU, not the work of art: it’s just a thing.
If you can’t get anything out of a video: that is your problem, not the artefact’s problem.
Seriously, what makes you believe that school yard insults constitute a valid critique of ANYTHING.
‘I don’t like X because it’s shit’ is just infantile.
Any cultural value gained from passive consumption of electronic narrative, must come from within YOU, not the work of art: it’s just a thing.
If you can’t get anything out of a video: that is your problem, not the artefact’s problem.
We can’t disagree with that, thanks!
New subscriber here. Sir, Thank you for this video! You have said it all perfectly!
Thanks for the kind words, and welcome aboard!
Star Trek TNG "The Mesure of A Man" It's written so Intelligently, and Asks Questions in both Legal & Metaphysical.
TNG's "The Measure of a Man" is hardly subtle - that would be giving s2 TNG a bit too too much credit - but it is so well-written that it overcomes this in its presentation of the classic being-alive-scifi-discussion
not that ST:Picard would care, of course, as it ion cannon'd that episode from orbit
edit: Ah you got there well before me
The idea of committees solving anything is quite funny
TNG: "The Merchant" (I think is the English title) Data is captured by a collector and tries all stages of passive resistance and faces in the end the question, of whether force is justified or not justified to end an injustice situation.
TNG: "Darmok" Picard meets a species with a totally different cultural background and tries to establish communication. We are all talking in metaphors. We need to find a common ground and not concentrate on the differences.
The episode you cite as a clip when Picard is tortured and (nearly) breaks. The Trial on the decision "Is Data a person", all those episodes raise interesting questions and inspire deeper thoughts.
I am realy pissed that they canceled enterpise that was canon of the original startrek time line . and they keep running this Discovery crap.
watch all of Voyager, Captain Janeway was the best , and their cast was amazingly diverse without throwing it in your face
While not being my favorite, Voyager doesn't deserve all the hate it seems to get.
Sure, it had its annoying aspects, I didn't like Kess e.g., but Janeway was a very, very good female lead. And that was because nobody made a big deal of her being a woman captain. I think the only time there was focus on that was when she said something about how she would not like to be addressed.
Also, she was still allowed to be a woman with all the positive feminine traits, while still being an authority figure when needed, and whom you could take seriously (as far as TV pseudo-navy officers go, at least.)
The overarching theme of trying to get home made for an overall interesting narrative, and the finale was brillant in my humble opinion. Flashy and action-y, and ugh, time travel, sure, but the conflict between the Janeways really adds to her character.
I am a Trek purist - I think TOS is the only "true" Trek show. However, I feel "The Visitor" from DS9 is the greatest 60 minutes of Trek put to film. Beautiful father-son story.
glad i never cared enough for TREK
i was always much more of a Star wars/Middle earth/Castlevania person
but i do also feel for those true Star trek fans
since i know also the pain of being a SW fan
and great franchises been sabotaged by this decadent era of bankruptcy that is been plaguing everything that is dear to us
or at least mostly everything
just very lucky and almost a miracle that at least the Castlevania anime series was made by the right hands and for the most part true lovers of the series
despite also it's numbers of flaws
i was just too lucky that it came out the way it did
just referring that as fine example that not all is Lost
Well said. It's also often the case that the original series of Star Trek can only be truly appreciated once one has fully matured. Not to worry---it will come.
Ditto, actually. I’ve always been *much* more fond of Star Wars and Middle Earth in particular. I’ve developed a lot more respect for Trek over the course of making these videos, though.
To be fair, beyond TNG and TOS, DS9 had a character who could be seen as an alagory for trans people(her species is symbiotic, and they get transfered from a male to a female host).
And Enterprise had one episode that was a VERY blatant allegory for AIDS and gay people(there was a disease among vulcans that is spread by mind melding, which was considered taboo at that time)
Hard disagree on the Trill being allegoric for Trans people. Transsexuals are suffering from a mental condition, gender dysphoria, which makes them feel bad about their body. I see nothing of that mechanic with the Trill.
For Trill, being joined is highly desirable and they are prepared for it. They still feel comfortable in their host bodies even if joined from male to female or vice versa. Jadzia is still very much comfortable in It's about the symbiont experiencing all facets of humanoid lives. And it's a good plot device. The Trill are just a really interesting race.
Even Ezri, who arguably was not prepared but used in an emergency joining for Dax so to speak, learns to come to terms with the situation she basically has been somewhat pressured into, and she doesn't transition into Dax, but learns to live as Ezri Dax despite being overwhelmed at first. Her story is one of being thrust into a new, overwhelming situation with extreme social complications (having to face all of Jadzia's old friends who have trouble accepting her at first.)
I watched this show up to the first half of season 4. I really wanted it to get better, but I think it actually got worse. If it didn't have Star Trek in the name, I would have never watched that far.
Saw this was an hour long and was like do I wanna sit through that?
Check the voice. British. Solid.
Then you’ll either love or hate part 3 - that’s clocking in at two hours!
TNG actually did the debate on artificial intelligence there was a whole episode about whether Data was a person or just a machine and that was the entire premise of the episode.
Should have waited because there's the reference to that very episode LOL
Thank you! Very well said. From one gay to another I’ll say I am extremely worried that the plan is to divide us further rather than the Equality (Not Equity) we were hoping to achieve. Plan by who? No idea but SOMETHING IS HAPPENING HERE...and I don’t like it one bit.
While I don't agree with everything you say, I do find it comforting that the writers of 'Time Trax' found other employment. Not that I enjoyed 'Time Trax'', it was a study in stupidity. It just comforts me to have proof that you don't have to be a great writer to get a job in writing. There is hope for the average hack as proven by this entire series.
You are giving us something we want.
Thank you for the time and effort you take to deconstruct, analyze, and discuss Star Trek Discovery in this video series. I gave up making your points a few years ago sadly. I just got exhausted being called a -phobe and an -ist when I am a non-straight, non male person when I criticize/analyze the social commentary methods deployed in STD in comparison to legacy Star Trek. Legacy Star Trek invited discussion by abstracting then current social commentary to encourage discussion. Modern Star Trek preaches at the audience and finds fans wanting if they do not 'drink the kool-aid of wokeness'. The writers appear to have forgotten an axiom of good writing - actively Show (diversity and social respect) don't aggressively Tell (sic lecture us about the CORRECT position to hold).
It’s really sad, the show is interesting as far as what they run into and who they run into but literally I cringed every time they started talking. Nobody talks like that 24,7. Every time someone spoke it was a mental emotional lecture. That is the only thing that killed it for me. Nobody talks that way all the time. It got worse as the show progressed too. The first season wasn’t that bad. Please bring back reality so we can relate to the show again. This after school special to a new level needs to go.
18:18 AMEN and thank you for that quip.
I've loved Star Trek since I was a young teen, but I haven't watched anything after Voyager (And I enjoyed Voyager) but the movies. Seems like I did not miss anything. That lady captain looks like a proper pain in the butt.
Mauler really inspired some media critics, wasn't he? Because this is his style of video essay...
Star Trek TNG season 3 episode "The High Ground" deals with terrorism in a very balanced way - lots of allusions to the Troubles in Northern Ireland..
Well done !
Appreciate the content. Thank you very much.
The DS9 episode “Sanctuary” is a great take on immigration and gives both sides of the argument a fair say without ever taking one side or the other.
My episode would be 'Deathwish' from Voyager, which tackles the differcult topic of Suicide, and where the individual has the right to choose how they end their own life. While not perfect, I think it was done with seriousness and a clear understanding of the aspects to it.
Also as a gay guy myself, im glad im not the only one who finds the 'queer' community uncomfortable. I have never liked the stereotypical depictions of what gay guys are like, and things like Gay pride just seem to make those stereotypes worse.
I am sooo glad I stopped watching Discovery after the first season.
I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts on Picard.
Excellent commentary on the Micheal Mary Sue Burnam Show
The man speaketh the truth!