Well... do you think there's even the remotest possibility that this will be anything other than a man-hating, postmodernist deconstruction wankfest? The premise appears to be that Picard's Starfleet career ended in disgrace after some catastrophic event about which he feels an overwhelming sense of guilt. Bearing in mind Kurtzman's total desecration of Spock in STD, this already looks like it's shaping up to be the next Last Jedi or Hell Bent.
I'd dearly love to be proven wrong, but given the cultural context, I couldn't be more sceptical.
I'd dearly love to be proven wrong, but given the cultural context, I couldn't be more sceptical.
In the modern cultural context, not even Rick and Morty was safe from feminist ruination in the end.
I'd hate to speculate on Picard's chances.
Season 3 of Rick and Morty had many problems, but there weren't any SJW elements in it at all. At least, none that I can think of. It's one of the few shows right now that doesn't have any feminist ideals.
SomeCallMeEnglishGiraffe wrote:Season 3 of Rick and Morty had many problems, but there weren't any SJW elements in it at all. At least, none that I can think of. It's one of the few shows right now that doesn't have any feminist ideals.
There weren't per se any major SJW elements in the stories themselves, but behind the scenes there was a more 'woke' attitude (presumably in backlash to Trump's victory) that there needed to be more women on the writing team, and more focus on female character like Summer and Beth even though they were the most boring characters on the show (or at least they became the most boring characters when they were put under the spotlight that much).
Now sure, maybe there are women writers out there who could work wonders if given a Rick and Morty episode to do, but it seems to me that the new influx of female writers were picked more for the sake of representation/positive discrimination than merit, and because of which the writing quality suffered.
And the result was a rather crap season in which Beth and Summer became the focus and all the violent hi-jinks involving Rick were still intermittently happening around them but no longer with the same rhyme or reason, but just on the flimsiest excuse which suggests the writers didn't care anymore (almost like Season 22). It was no longer more than the sum of its parts.
stengos wrote:Even Voyager had some good points (although i thought that was mostly shit tbh).
I find the problem with Voyager was that it carried on too long. There came a point around Series 4 and 5 where the writing seemed to be a lot sharper, but it also was becoming more of a foregone conclusion they were going to get home (I suppose it always was but the stakes and sense of distance were there initially but started diminishing as the show went on). And I think if they had got home at the end of either season, it would've given the audience a real 'high'.
Instead they dragged it out another two seasons.
I think when a show drags out a foregone conclusion for too long, and the stakes keep diminishing rather than rising, the audience inevitably loses interest, which I pretty much did.
I have to say I never managed to get into Enterprise.
Well... this certainly looks much more promising than I expected. I remain sceptical, and it still has a hell of a lot to prove, but there's now at least room for a little cautious optimism. Patrick Stewart looks to be in fine form, it's great to see Data and Seven of Nine again, and it looks like much more care has been been taken in regards to continuity than in other recent projects I could mention but prefer to pretend don't exist.
On the downside, it does appear to be introducing another overpowered Mary Sue character, but as long as she's reasonably likeable, well-written and well-acted, I think I can live with that. Honestly, if I were to list the most irritating things about Disney's bastardisation of Star Wars, Rey wouldn't even make the top ten. Pop culture has deteriorated to such an extent that the mere act of not being hateful, bigoted, anti-male propaganda is an achievement at this point. All I want is a show that's true to the spirit of the franchise, treats its established lore/characters with respect, and is free of man-hating subtext. If Picard can deliver that, and it's worst offence is a silly narrative cliché, then I'm prepared to be charitable.
Obviously, the biggest concern by far is the fact that Kurtzman was involved at an early stage, the silver lining being that if the first season manages to be decent in spite of his vile presence, then it can only get better as it moves on without him. We'll see...
Posts : 3093 Join date : 2017-02-10 Location : Aussieland
No, but my interest has plummeted anyway following Stewart's interview saying that it's all a metaphor for Brexit and Trump anyway. In other words, more loony lefty paranoid sore loser whining. Pass.
Posts : 4622 Join date : 2018-02-01 Age : 25 Location : Essex
iank wrote:No, but my interest has plummeted anyway following Stewart's interview saying that it's all a metaphor for Brexit and Trump anyway. In other words, more loony lefty paranoid sore loser whining. Pass.
I have Prime so i intend to watch it soonish. At the moment i am wading my thru Man in the High Castle season 3.
I thought Star Trek was always loony lefty paranoia anyway: Perfect society, no scarcity, no profit mentality, all working for the good of society regardless of self interest. On the whole its tended to work quite well as tv drama. The only drawback was that Shatner couldnt act. George Takei neither come to think of it. But Spock, Scotty and Bones were excellent. And Nichelle was hot (in the original show).
stengos wrote:I thought Star Trek was always loony lefty paranoia anyway: Perfect society, no scarcity, no profit mentality, all working for the good of society regardless of self interest.
I don't find this in any way objectionable. Besides the anti-male subtext, one of my main problems with Discovery - or what little I saw of it - was that it appeared to be a complete abandonment of Roddenberry's vision of the future. People often throw the same accusation at DS9, but while it does depict (sometimes serious) moral failings in its main characters, Roddenberry's vision is still very much treated as something to aspire to, even if we as imperfect beings aren't always able to live up to it. It shows the principles of the federation being tested to their limit by a war with an uncompromisingly brutal enemy, yet coming out of it relatively unchanged, still favouring peaceful, diplomatic solutions to conflict whenever possible.
In contrast, Discovery gave us an entire crew with no sense of moral duty, who actually seemed to revel in being arrogant, mean-spirited, nihilistic little shits, and no one to root for.
stengos wrote:I thought Star Trek was always loony lefty paranoia anyway: Perfect society, no scarcity, no profit mentality, all working for the good of society regardless of self interest.
I don't find this in any way objectionable. Besides the anti-male subtext, one of my main problems with Discovery - or what little I saw of it - was that it appeared to be a complete abandonment of Roddenberry's vision of the future. People often throw the same accusation at DS9, but while it does depict (sometimes serious) moral failings in its main characters, Roddenberry's vision is still very much treated as something to aspire to, even if we as imperfect beings aren't always able to live up to it. It shows the principles of the federation being tested to their limit by a war with an uncompromisingly brutal enemy, yet coming out of it relatively unchanged, still favouring peaceful, diplomatic solutions to conflict whenever possible.
In contrast, Discovery gave us an entire crew with no sense of moral duty, who actually seemed to revel in being arrogant, mean-spirited, nihilistic little shits, and no one to root for.
I agree with you. I loved DS9. Really enjoyable series about an outlying Federation post in regular close contact with non federation species. Not just the Cardassians but Bajorians, Ferengis and others. This allowed them to contrast Federation staff with non-Federation. So i thought Roddenberry's vision of the future remained intact but it was contrasted quite starkly with societies that were different to it.
STD stank imho. I only saw series 1 and that was enough. Although i liked Isaacs character none of the others appealed to me. As an actor Isaacs gave the show some much needed gravitas. And then they kill him off leaving nothing.
I found the debut episode fairly inoffensive, but it didn't grab my interest. I didn't actively decide to stop watching, it just made such little impression that I forgot it even existed. I'm now very glad I did.
I had decided to wait and see how it ended before I decided whether or not to watch it. It looks like not. How the hell could have anyone thought killing off Picard and then turning him into an android was a good idea? As far as I'm concerned, there hasn't been any real Star Trek since Enterprise was cancelled in 2005.
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