Lilkes Waxes on Trek
May. 16th, 2005 10:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penfold_xOn the occassion of the end of Star Trek:
One of the good things about the End of Trek: I’ll never have to listen to the bitching of fans. The more I troll the message boards and forums and Usenet groups, the more I’m convinced that the entirety of Trek Fandom is made up of people devoted to proving the inadequacies of the thing they supposedly love. ... Complaints and trekkier-than-thou nitpickery. Ye canna change the laws of fandom.
Amen, brother. Testify!
I watched Voyager, I defended it, I thought it found its legs eventually and did some nice work. But it had a crippling problem: boring characters who never changed.
Yeah, that pretty much killed it for me. I watched the first ep, realized they were going to be Lost in Space for years, and realized I didn't care if this particular crew ever made it back home. Oops.
“Deep Space Nine“ was everything the nerds and geeks say they want from TV sci-fi, but oh, how they picked the nits. Half the fanbase peeled off during DS9, because it didn’t have with Patrick Stewart screwing up his shiny mug and saying “Engage” in his patented stentorian baritone.
But I was there. I was hardcore. Patrick Stewart can shine his head; he's got nothing on Brooks. And it all had the benefit of beingreal much less utopian. What might happen if some nut actually tried to create Roddenberry's dream? Fascism, inevitable war, and lots of oppressed people wondering why the alleged good guys won't lift a finger to help them.
Next Generation has many “classic” moments, but so much drearily earnest tripe – and in retrospect the Federation looks so weak and touchy-feely it’s a wonder the Romulans didn’t just knock them over for target practice.
Preachy and ineffectual; it's the Worst of Both Worlds.
During the Next Generation series I think [Worf] resigned his commission six times to join the Klingons in some pointless internecine scrum, and of course every time he got his old job back. Done with meddling in the affairs of a nominal ally in a way that contravenes all Federation laws and traditions, are you? Jolly good; we kept your room waiting for you. It’s all there, even that stupid sculpture in the corner with the balls on sticks.
I think it was supposed to be a chair. I bet![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
banzai knows.
But Enterprise – ah, now that was something different. I am tired of defending the show, and have never understood why it attracted such ire. Especially the last season, which was one long love letter to the entire history of Star Trek. Some people didn’t buy Scott Bakula as a captain – as someone who never watched Quantum Leap very much, he was new to me, and I bought it from the start. I liked the bitter little Limey as the weapons officer; I though Trip brought someone quite rare to the show – really good TV acting that found things in the character not present in the script. The Doctor – the requisite disinterested alien commenting on these curious Humans – was expertly rendered; Herbert West’s Andorian was another wet kiss to the fans on six different levels. Jolene Blalock, the Vulcan chick, was . . . painfully attractive, and the only actor to ever suggest that Vulcans had emotions that needed suppressing.
I must admit I didn't give Enterprise a fair shake, and I'm regretting it now, particularly as I am not paying Paramount the king's ransom they demand for ST DVDs.
One of the good things about the End of Trek: I’ll never have to listen to the bitching of fans. The more I troll the message boards and forums and Usenet groups, the more I’m convinced that the entirety of Trek Fandom is made up of people devoted to proving the inadequacies of the thing they supposedly love. ... Complaints and trekkier-than-thou nitpickery. Ye canna change the laws of fandom.
Amen, brother. Testify!
I watched Voyager, I defended it, I thought it found its legs eventually and did some nice work. But it had a crippling problem: boring characters who never changed.
Yeah, that pretty much killed it for me. I watched the first ep, realized they were going to be Lost in Space for years, and realized I didn't care if this particular crew ever made it back home. Oops.
“Deep Space Nine“ was everything the nerds and geeks say they want from TV sci-fi, but oh, how they picked the nits. Half the fanbase peeled off during DS9, because it didn’t have with Patrick Stewart screwing up his shiny mug and saying “Engage” in his patented stentorian baritone.
But I was there. I was hardcore. Patrick Stewart can shine his head; he's got nothing on Brooks. And it all had the benefit of being
Next Generation has many “classic” moments, but so much drearily earnest tripe – and in retrospect the Federation looks so weak and touchy-feely it’s a wonder the Romulans didn’t just knock them over for target practice.
Preachy and ineffectual; it's the Worst of Both Worlds.
During the Next Generation series I think [Worf] resigned his commission six times to join the Klingons in some pointless internecine scrum, and of course every time he got his old job back. Done with meddling in the affairs of a nominal ally in a way that contravenes all Federation laws and traditions, are you? Jolly good; we kept your room waiting for you. It’s all there, even that stupid sculpture in the corner with the balls on sticks.
I think it was supposed to be a chair. I bet
banzai knows.But Enterprise – ah, now that was something different. I am tired of defending the show, and have never understood why it attracted such ire. Especially the last season, which was one long love letter to the entire history of Star Trek. Some people didn’t buy Scott Bakula as a captain – as someone who never watched Quantum Leap very much, he was new to me, and I bought it from the start. I liked the bitter little Limey as the weapons officer; I though Trip brought someone quite rare to the show – really good TV acting that found things in the character not present in the script. The Doctor – the requisite disinterested alien commenting on these curious Humans – was expertly rendered; Herbert West’s Andorian was another wet kiss to the fans on six different levels. Jolene Blalock, the Vulcan chick, was . . . painfully attractive, and the only actor to ever suggest that Vulcans had emotions that needed suppressing.
I must admit I didn't give Enterprise a fair shake, and I'm regretting it now, particularly as I am not paying Paramount the king's ransom they demand for ST DVDs.
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Date: 2005-05-17 03:05 am (UTC)realmuch less utopian. What might happen if some nut actually tried to create Roddenberry's dream? Fascism, inevitable war, and lots of oppressed people wondering why the alleged good guys won't lift a finger to help them.Wordy McWord. *kisses you* You have just reminded me that I've been meaning to write a "Why the Prime Directive Is Frequently Crap" essay for some years now- since the end of DS9's run at the very least. This, of course, will require me to go back into the archives and watch some old Trek for reference purposes, so it wouldn't be something that would be completed quickly. But.
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Date: 2005-05-17 12:16 pm (UTC)Yes, the reason why TOS was so often good was the Kirk went around entirely ignoring the Prime Directive. Once they tried to live by it...
IMO, DS9 was also very good because I could care about the characters. I had a lot harder time with those floating on "the warship with a daycare center."