Star Trek: Picard

[Cyke]

I get the point you articulate, but I'd submit that a characterization where The Federation is a facade stretched a cross a bleak, rotted reality is not Star Trek. It's a neat premise, a wonderful comment on American history, and makes for great sci-fi.

However, ST was intended to be set in a future where our better angels had the upper hand, even if they hadn't completely won the day. Roddenberry took it too far, especially in the early seasons of TNG, but the underlying vision of hope is ST's core.

I sometimes feel like creators that want to present this more cynical interpretation of Trek are like those comicbook writers that want to write superheroes, but go overboard trying to prove they're not writing kid's stuff.

I do suspect this is the underlying plot for Discovery Season 3. Yes, the Federation has survived for a thousand years, but survive doesn't mean thrive, necessarily. So then the question is, now that the Federation's been deconstructed, how do you reconstruct it in a way that adheres to its mission, vision, and values that saw it at the height of its influence and well-being for Federation citizens.

DS9 kind of touched upon it with the Dominion War, but it was through crisis. In Discovery it could very well be that the crisis has long passed and people gave up, so how do you inspire them again to unite and work towards that idyllic, utopian future.

[DrNewGod]

I do suspect this is the underlying plot for Discovery Season 3. Yes, the Federation has survived for a thousand years, but survive doesn't mean thrive, necessarily. So then the question is, now that the Federation's been deconstructed, how do you reconstruct it in a way that adheres to its mission, vision, and values that saw it at the height of its influence and well-being for Federation citizens.

DS9 kind of touched upon it with the Dominion War, but it was through crisis. In Discovery it could very well be that the crisis has long passed and people gave up, so how do you inspire them again to unite and work towards that idyllic, utopian future.

Cue a swipe of Andromeda.

[Cyke]

Cue a swipe of Andromeda.

Sure, and DS9 was a swipe of Babylon 5 and Voyager a swipe of Battlestar Galactica. But DS9 is still a classic.

...

*cough*

[BeastieRunner]

Sure, and DS9 was a swipe of Babylon 5 and Voyager a swipe of Battlestar Galactica. But DS9 is still a classic.

...

*cough*

The Babylon 5 argument in TBBT is probably my favorite geek argument of the show because I was fully on Sheldon's side.

[Powerboy]

I get the point you articulate, but I'd submit that a characterization where The Federation is a facade stretched a cross a bleak, rotted reality is not Star Trek. It's a neat premise, a wonderful comment on American history, and makes for great sci-fi.

However, ST was intended to be set in a future where our better angels had the upper hand, even if they hadn't completely won the day. Roddenberry took it too far, especially in the early seasons of TNG, but the underlying vision of hope is ST's core.

I sometimes feel like creators that want to present this more cynical interpretation of Trek are like those comicbook writers that want to write superheroes, but go overboard trying to prove they're not writing kid's stuff.

Oh I agree. It may be realistic but it's just not Star Trek.

I wonder if it's time we can't pretend Star Trek is our future like we did in the 60s and 70s and just have to accept it as a feel good Utopian future that will never be.

[Powerboy]

Oh I agree. It may be realistic but it's just not Star Trek.

I wonder if it's time we can't pretend Star Trek is our future like we did in the 60s and 70s and just have to accept it as a feel good Utopian future that will never be.

Then again, that's too pessimistic. Racial rights. Women's rights. Gay and Trans rights and so on. Always threatened but always fought for. There are aspects of the Star Trek future in the real world to hope for.

[DrNewGod]

Oh I agree. It may be realistic but it's just not Star Trek.

I wonder if it's time we can't pretend Star Trek is our future like we did in the 60s and 70s and just have to accept it as a feel good Utopian future that will never be.

Or...and this what Ioved about Discovery.1...maybe we could have a Trek that's true to the vision of a better tomorrow, but not a projection of 1960s America.

[Powerboy]

Or...and this what Ioved about Discovery.1...maybe we could have a Trek that's true to the vision of a better tomorrow, but not a projection of 1960s America.

True. I think every version of Star Trek is a projection of the era in which it was made.

[Deathstroke]

I loved the series unquestionably right up until the events of the last episode. Not that it wasn't entertaining but the consequences left me with questions that I'm not sure what I think of them at this time.

[Styles]

[SJNeal]

I. Can't. Wait!!!

They're gonna have to CGI the hell outta John de Lancie though...

[ZeroBG82]

I. Can't. Wait!!!

They're gonna have to CGI the hell outta John de Lancie though...

Why would they have to CGI John de Lancie? Just throw in a line explaining his aged appearance is meant to match, and taunt, an aged Picard. It's a very Q thing for him to do, really.

[Styles]

Why would they have to CGI John de Lancie? Just throw in a line explaining his aged appearance is meant to match, and taunt, an aged Picard. It's a very Q thing for him to do, really.

Yup, he's done it before

[ChrisIII]

PICARD in a few ways was pretty much an alternate version of ALL GOOD THINGS's future, but much more optimistic.

Kind of curious about PARADISE LOST. In TOS's SPACE SEED it was a reference to Khan being exiled to Ceti Alpha V (Khan also has copies of the books in his Cargo bay home in TWOK). Given that the Soong family did their own experiments with augments (In ENTERPRISE), maybe that's a possibility somehow for a plotline if Spiner comes back. It's also the name of a DS9 episode where starfleet almost becomes a dictatorship.

[SJNeal]

Why would they have to CGI John de Lancie? Just throw in a line explaining his aged appearance is meant to match, and taunt, an aged Picard. It's a very Q thing for him to do, really.

I was being facetious. Hence the .