Since experiencing Star Wars fandom firsthand with the audience disappointment in the prequels, I’ve always felt a strange sense of sympathy for George Lucas whose rabid fan base jump on his later mistakes without seeming to appreciate that their whole obsession would never exist without George Lucas in the first place.
Who knows what would have happened to Gene Roddenberry if he lived past 1991?
Perhaps, it takes an outsider to the phenomenon to admit that his original vision seems outdated, naïve, and somewhat thin. Like any pop culture phenomenon that’s had a few reinventions, the Star Trek brand has gone in several directions at once, yet even a quality stand-alone film like Star Trek (and for the record, I like both sequels) can be derided by fans of the original simply because it’s different from the (perhaps unrealistically optimistic) version they’re attached to. What those fans might take for granted (let’s assume there’s some heavy overlap between the JJ Abrams series haters and Discovery cynics) is that Star Trek was dying before 2009. Enterprise was a massive flop, Voyager massively overstayed its welcome, and not all reboots were sure things. The series was dying for a new angle.
Discovery does have the same ambition behind it, but perhaps it aims a bit too much for the dark side and although I haven’t seen BSG, it does seem derivative of something else which cheapens the reinvention. An analogy is that some people felt Daniel Craig’s James Bond, while a solid reinvention, was too much a flavor of the moment by borrowing from Jason Bourne. Personally, I’m not sure how much of a need I have for Star Trek in comparison to the version of me in the 1990’s that gobbled up DS9 and gave Voyager a solid chance. For now, I’m taking it episode by episode rather than committing to a full season.
It’s possible that “Lethe” was the one that will hook me. It’s the first time a cliffhanger occurred that made me want to know what’s next. For a long time, Star Trek was a show that relied on the same molds (the curious outsider, the family man or woman, the by-the-book officers, the Captain who wrestles with morality the most) and there’s a lot of new here.
The lower deck angle with Sylvia is getting progressively better but the senior staff isn’t particularly present outside of Saru and Stamentz, considering Burnham is sort of a highly trusted temp at this point. There is a guy in sick bay who Stamentz was sort of hate-flirting with, but I’m not sure if he’s THE doctor or just a doctor. Because of that, it’s nice that we have a new crew member in Ash Tyler (either the actor or the character’s name, I’m too lazy to look it up now) join.
There’s also a sexy sex scene which hit me completely by surprise: I didn’t get a sexual vibe from those two (won’t spoil it) at all. There’s still a disconnect between how interesting the show thinks Lorca is and how interesting he actually is but provided the right story arc, it’s possible he could carry the show. What’s interesting to note is that Lorca might be pretty low on the anti-hero scale because his redeeming qualities are mostly about how he might win the war in a Machiavellian way and viewers at home might not care that much about winning a war as it seems hostilities with other alien races are fairly constant in the Star Trek universe. Why didn't Picard or Sisko compromise their principles completely if it was an option for Lorca?
No comments:
Post a Comment