I have a feeling that, of all the Treks he didn’t produce, he’d have liked Lower Decks the most. It’s still mostly “humans got better” future, which I think was his core tenant.
TNG was also very much — not utopian; I can’t think of a word that implies that the human race evolved socially; “utopia” would imply everything was perfect for everybody. But he obviously hoped we’d be progressive.
I love DS9, but it’s a step backwards socially. There’s a darkness in the Federation. It’s there in most of the other series, post-TNG, and maybe a little in later TNG seasons, too.
The culmination of all this is the newest series, Section 31. All of Roddenberry’s ideals have simply been shit-canned. The Federation has a black ops section that’s basically cold war CIA; they go around assassinating people and manipulating cultures.
I think this just reflects the zeitgeist. It’s hard to be optimistic now, whereas when ST:TOS was produced we were on the moon, the cold war was fading, and mankind was reaching for the stars. TOS reflects that, and Section 31 reflects exactly how optimistic we are about the future, and current affairs.
It’s depressing. And - to get back to my premise - while Lower Decks was faithful to cannon, and didn’t ignore Section 31, I felt it captured the original general optimism about the future: that we’d be a better, more progressive society. And I think that would have appealed to Roddenberry.
Ahh don’t you blame DS9 for kurtzmann’s bullshit. Cherry picking motherfucker has warped concepts.
You literally have DS9 going “section 31 is the antithesis of everything we wish to be, we need to destroy this antiquated cancer” and kurtz is in the corner scribbling down notes on how to build the puppy mincing machine
I’m not blaming DS9! It’s one of my favorites in the series. But it really didn’t feel like Star Trek; it was petty dark, most of the time, with a lot of questionable ethics. It was all rationalized and the setting made absolute sense, but still… it strayed far from TOS.
not really, I mean in-universe TOS had a death penalty for going to a planet of superpowered telepaths. Women couldn’t be starship captains…and lemme tell you as a woman, there are a lot of problems with TOS.
Couldn’t be? Is that cannon from TOS, or do we just have no examples of women captains? Which episode was that in? I can believe it, but it would surprise me. Uhura was a full lieutenant, which is an officer rank.
But, yeah, it was a broadcast television series produced in the 60’s and a lot of that seeped through despite Roddenberry’s efforts to normalize interracial relationships and minority equality.
Your username, ironically, underscores that it wasn’t all optimistic progressive future. Although, I guess that was a decade later; the space race had mostly wound down, we’d been through disco and punk was peaking.
No, the missing letter did not escape my attention.
I have a feeling that, of all the Treks he didn’t produce, he’d have liked Lower Decks the most. It’s still mostly “humans got better” future, which I think was his core tenant.
TNG was also very much — not utopian; I can’t think of a word that implies that the human race evolved socially; “utopia” would imply everything was perfect for everybody. But he obviously hoped we’d be progressive.
I love DS9, but it’s a step backwards socially. There’s a darkness in the Federation. It’s there in most of the other series, post-TNG, and maybe a little in later TNG seasons, too.
The culmination of all this is the newest series, Section 31. All of Roddenberry’s ideals have simply been shit-canned. The Federation has a black ops section that’s basically cold war CIA; they go around assassinating people and manipulating cultures.
I think this just reflects the zeitgeist. It’s hard to be optimistic now, whereas when ST:TOS was produced we were on the moon, the cold war was fading, and mankind was reaching for the stars. TOS reflects that, and Section 31 reflects exactly how optimistic we are about the future, and current affairs.
It’s depressing. And - to get back to my premise - while Lower Decks was faithful to cannon, and didn’t ignore Section 31, I felt it captured the original general optimism about the future: that we’d be a better, more progressive society. And I think that would have appealed to Roddenberry.
Ahh don’t you blame DS9 for kurtzmann’s bullshit. Cherry picking motherfucker has warped concepts.
You literally have DS9 going “section 31 is the antithesis of everything we wish to be, we need to destroy this antiquated cancer” and kurtz is in the corner scribbling down notes on how to build the puppy mincing machine
I’m not blaming DS9! It’s one of my favorites in the series. But it really didn’t feel like Star Trek; it was petty dark, most of the time, with a lot of questionable ethics. It was all rationalized and the setting made absolute sense, but still… it strayed far from TOS.
not really, I mean in-universe TOS had a death penalty for going to a planet of superpowered telepaths. Women couldn’t be starship captains…and lemme tell you as a woman, there are a lot of problems with TOS.
a lot.
Couldn’t be? Is that cannon from TOS, or do we just have no examples of women captains? Which episode was that in? I can believe it, but it would surprise me. Uhura was a full lieutenant, which is an officer rank.
But, yeah, it was a broadcast television series produced in the 60’s and a lot of that seeped through despite Roddenberry’s efforts to normalize interracial relationships and minority equality.
Dude. infamously turnabout intruder.
You hit the nail on the head.
Your username, ironically, underscores that it wasn’t all optimistic progressive future. Although, I guess that was a decade later; the space race had mostly wound down, we’d been through disco and punk was peaking.
No, the missing letter did not escape my attention.