Seth MacFarlane explains what was good about Star Trek TNG

[stargazer01]

I found this vid. Do you agree with him? Why?

I know many here are big fans of Star Trek DS9.

Some think The Orville is more Trek than the new movies and shows. I still haven't seen Discovery, but I've noticed many long time Trek fans aren't big fans. Same thing with the new movies.

[Powerboy]

I'm a big fan of DS9 but I do essentially agree with him. As has been pointed out, DS9 and all subsequent versions of ST kind of did away that with ideal of a near perfect human future where humans are better than they are now. And the ratings dropped despite more action.

A friend of mine was introduced to ST through TNG and also loves TOS but doesn't care for anything after that and she's very self-aware about why, because the stuff after TOS and TNG don't give that perfect human future feeling.

But I think all the Trek shows had a moral center and said something about humanity. Yes, even Voyager and Enterprise. I haven't seen Discovery.

The recent movies are a different case. As one reviewer rightly put it, there was a time when ST was about something and had something to say. The movies were just about action and glorying in their own mythology.

[j9ac9k]

I think it's become more and more difficult to just pretend that things are going to work out fine without acknowledging that we are so far from fixing our own society. The original series was created at a time when there were very few voices outside the mainstream and the more those voices became heard, the more it became apparent we can't just assume that our current society is headed towards the utopia that the Federation represents. The more we become aware that the status quo of our own society may not be on the side of progress, the less people can emotionally align with a show that seems to support society's status quo. This is what's being expressed in "ST:Into Darkness" and the "Picard" show. (although ST had been poking holes in the perfection of the Federation long before that)

[WebLurker]

Star Trek always mirrored the real world, esp. the US and how Americans saw themselves. Since in the real world, we've had a rude awakening that we never really progressed that much, from civil unrest to a monster in the White House and a divided nation, it makes sense that Star Trek would explore that as we consider what our future will be.

[j9ac9k]

Star Trek always mirrored the real world, esp. the US and how Americans saw themselves. Since in the real world, we've had a rude awakening that we never really progressed that much, from civil unrest to a monster in the White House and a divided nation, it makes sense that Star Trek would explore that as we consider what our future will be.

The thing I think is becoming more clear is that not all Americans share a common viewpoint, lens or mirror.(this "rude awakening" you refer to is from the standpoint of the portion of America who were unaware, not the Americans who were living it) One segment of America had the luxury of public self-reflection because it was afforded the ability to frame the discussion. Roddenberry, while progressive, still came from the viewpoint of someone who had a voice and power. He was trying to promote inclusivity from the viewpoint of someone who was "on the inside." As powerful as that was at the time, and it's a testament that his vision still stands, but there will always be something missing in that he couldn't speak as a true outsider. And as many people support and encourage equality, there are so many who still resist that voice, the truth of the outsider in America, because it isn't their voice and not the America they know. That's why analogies with aliens, A.I.s and mutants were so much more palatable, that's why DS9's "Far Beyond the Stars" struck such a chord and is still relevant today and partly why there's such division in the U.S. now. A lot of people just don't want to hear it to the point where terms like "pc" and SJW" become convenient ways to reduce and demean the discussion to a thing that's easily derided and dismissed.

[Starter Set]

Star Trek always has been meant to be an optimistic take on the futur of mankind.

And why not? If you want your grim and depressing fix you can always go play some warhammer 40k lol. I completely agree with Seth here.

Optimistic doesn't mean naive though, and Star Trek never was that. Look at TNG for example, that's a rough world shown there and the Federation sure as hell isn't always the knight in white armor.

[Powerboy]

I think the perfect future aspect was breaking down before the end of TNG. There was a Voyager episode that kind of exemplified the problems by default. The crew found themselves on Earth in the mid 1990s and it's pretty much the world we know. Where is Khan? Shouldn't his genetic super people be ruling the Earth? Oh, that's been pushed back a couple of decades.

But, by now, the hopeful feeling of what the future would be has broken down. September 11 not in itself but in the sheer ethnic and religious bigotry that it brought to the surface. A strong move towards racial, gender, sexual orientation, globalism, science and non-simplistic gender identity only to have half the country rebel in a fit of racism, sexism, sexual orientation bigotry, tribalism, anti-science and trans bigotry while claiming it is none of the above.

Of course, the bright side is that at least half the country now supports things like gay rights, racial equality, science and globalism, things that would be unheard of a few decades ago. I think that, given our tribal mentality and people with strong religious leanings that a world government is a sign of the end of the world because a writer in the Bible was taking metaphorical potshots at the Roman Empire, the global one world government that Star Trek envisions will be the hardest to ever bring about.

On a more basic level, just the Khan thing, for me, is sort of a "pulling me out of the story" reminder that Star Trek has diverged from the real world and trying to retcon it just even more draws attention to it.

[Starter Set]

September 11 pretty much destroyed in one day all the progress who were made during the 90's against the hydra of racism and hate.

Truly a dark day.