No disagreement here. This is one reason there’s still a big swath of DS9 that I haven’t seen.
And even though Enterprise is in my opinion not nearly as bad as it’s reputed to be, and is even very good (apart from that song), I have no plans to rewatch, especially S3.
In retrospect, TOS being almost entirely episodic was more of an aside to my comment. It has little or no bearing on the point about whether TOS was commentary on its time or not.
In my “head canon” we are indeed in the Mirror Universe, and the “good Federation” is on the other side of the mirror.
That said, while there’s no denying that Trek is now darker in general, there have always been stories about dark forces and bad people within the Federation too. A rogue Starfleet captain somehow turning a whole planet into Nazis comes to mind, but that’s far from the only example.
Maybe the point was that a utopian, post-scarcity society is well and good, but even such a society will have its criminals, bigots, megalomaniacs, etc. Making the human race solely a force for good is a constant struggle and a worthy goal, but not an achievable end state.
That may not be quite what Roddenberry had in mind, but I think it’s more or less necessary to make watchable drama that isn’t just the Good Deed of the Week.
Does newer Trek take the darkness too far? I don’t know. My objection to the Abrams movies is that they’re shitty and utterly unnecessary. (Marking myself as an old curmudgeon, because I also know these movies had some success in bringing younger fans into the fold.)
My objection to Discovery is mostly that it’s very silly and all around ill-advised as a prequel to TOS.
After two episodes, I don’t have a solid opinion on Picard. I think there’s room for it to have an optimistic perspective overall, but that remains to be seen. Until we find out, I won’t be surprised that it’s also loaded with 21st century action-movie tropes.
Clearly Picard and his group are those to aspire to. Not everyone in this show is the bigot you claim they all are. Lets look at fictionally what has happened in the last 30 years of Trek history. Multiple Borg invasions, the Dominion War, rise of groups like the New Essentialists Movement, the Synth revolt and then the collapse of the Romulan empire (to which we are slowly finding out what happened.)
With all that, and with the asshole admirals we always get (even back in TOS) and the Federation (which is more than just Earth remember) made the hard decision to not help Romulus. Sure it sucks, it pissed off alot of people but look at the justification the show has given so far (from episode 2)
Starfleet admiral: We tried to help the Romulans for as long as we could. But even before the sythns attacked Mars, 14 species within the Federation said “Cut the Romulans loose, or we’ll pull out.” It was a choice between allowing the Federation to implode or letting the Romulans go.
PIcard: The Federation doesn’t get to decide if a species lives of dies.
Admiral: Yes we do. We absolutely do. Thousands of other species depend on us for unity, for cohesion. We didn’t have enough ships left. We had to make choices.
I buy it in the fictional world we have here. Humanities “greater good” can only go so far and has potential for breakage. How it survives that and overcomes is the story I want to see. If everyone was all happy and together holding hands in Roddenberry’s noble (but ultimately flawed) look of the future, it would make for some boring as hell television.
If Picard ever kisses a Black Woman the series is over. Did #1 lick his lips?
This series is a swan song. I think the drift of the show isn’t their take on what the Federation is, so much as what it’s become. And is there a chance to help this monolithic institution find itself again, boldly going where it once has gone before.
Yes. In very specific ways that reflected the times.
I have yet to see it, so I can’t speak to that. It might be what we need to see, though. The question is, is Picard still inspired by the ideals the federation was built on? If so, it’s still there.
So the ideals live on in them? Again, haven’t seen it yet, but sort of got that from the trailers. As long as the kernel of Roddenberry exists that’s what matters I think. It’s still an ideal to aspire to.
Most definitely! Here is the rest of the exchange between Picard and the Starfleet CNC that I quoted above:
Admiral: But the great Captain Picard didn’t like his orders.
Picard: I was standing up for the Federation, for what it represents, for what it should still represent!
Admiral: How dare you lecture me?
Picard: Ignore me again at your cost.
Admiral: My cost?
Picard: You are in peril, Admiral.
Admiral: There’s no peril here. Only the pitiable delusions of a once-great man desperate to matter. This is no longer your house, Jean-Luc. So do what you’re good at. Go home.
To which Picard leaves and says fuck it, I’ll form my own crew and get the job done.
Well, I for one am excited to see it.
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