You talk a lot about trust, and I think that’s an important factor. Sure, you can argue that the shows’ utopianism changed entirely because the powers-that-be warped the messaging. That’s probably true too, certainly now with the Ellisons at the top. But that’s pretty recent.

I think there’s also an aspect of how much viewers would be able to suspend their disbelief if they were served '60s or even '90s era scripts today. Especially TNG was very diplomacy focused and based in mutual respect. My guess is there has been an erosion of trust in Western society in the meantime. Again, ultimately because Capitalism, I’m sure — but in a broader sense than I interpret from your comment?

I dunno, I don’t have a neatly wrapped theory about this. Sorry if I go completely off on a tangent based on your comment.

I think the first season of Discovery tried to earnestly grapple with real world politics through the whole Klingon war/Mirror Universe arcs. All of Picard seemed to be about conspiracies and shadow governments, which certainly also speaks to its time of production… while dulling the shine on the utopian vision for the future.

And it’s not just badmirals and Section 31 that have been at issue. We’ve seen plenty of disgruntled pirates (read: regular-Joe capitalists) turned terrorists in the eyes of the Federation. Our main casts have visited enough dystopian “slum” planets in the past ten years, where criminals organise and prosper, that the idealism of Star Trek is depicted as precarious.

Way out in the 32nd century, as Osyraa bites into a Federation-produced apple, admiral Vance comments that “it’s made from our shit, you know”. Way to sell post-scarcity, buddy. Nobody wants to know how the sausage is made. I think the past decade of Trek has done a good job of postulating soft values, standing up for minorities and diversity. It’s been pretty shit (to stay in the vocabulary) at representing the very foundation of that sort of tolerance, though.

Trek should be a means to imagining the end of Capitalism, even if only as a background note for all kinds of weekly weird encounters and philosophical twists. But that is not just hard to depict in the 21st century — it’s actively being played as downright unsexy in the shows.

That’s a pretty nice haul judging from the photo you posted. Especially at the grand price of paying nothing 🙂

And they’re still on a trek through the stars? Seems to do what it says on the tin.

Okay, that was rude and nitpicky. But I’ll bite:

Read the article. Her voice was heard on every episode, but recorded separately. So, for example, the cast of TNG never met her until she showed up for her first guest spot as Lwaxana. Sirtis relates their (or her) initial reservations:

I didn’t meet Majel until she was a guest star on our show in the episode ‘Haven,’ and we didn’t bond immediately because she was the boss’s wife, and we were all a bit nervous because as a cast; we were a little rowdy

Note the distinction I put in italics.

That was a good read, it’s nice to have both her acting peers’ as well as Rod Roddenberry’s perspectives on her. I’m not sure I’ve read more than the equivalent of her Wikipedia entry before. Polite secondhand info, that is.

I’ve always enjoyed watching Majel whenever she’s on Trek. The first Number One, Nurse Chapel, Lwaxanna… and all the while, also the voice of the Enterprise. Geez, Gene may have been the mind behind the show, but she probably embodied it more than anybody outside of the main cast(s) 🤩

abandon [conservative] crew members on the planet.

I think introducing conservatives to an alien ecosystem is against the Prime Directive. Better to yeet them into the nearest ion storm without a space suit.

So that’s what the de-con chamber in Enterprise was for. Silly me, I thought it meant decontamination.

It’s mostly bloodworm sludge anyway.

Oh please let’s not 🤣

— Hey, you know how other shows make sequels to really great, memorable episodes?

— …yeah?

— I know how we can subvert that:

Yes, but hear me out: what if you pull down your shirt at the speed of ligh?. I posit that for just a second your belly will show through it.

I’m not gonna lie, that Vulcan salute oven mitt is top of my wish list now 🤩

But more generally, I feel the same way. I’ve enoyed most of what we’ve got since 2017, warts and all. It’s many years ago that I was last excited about a Trek movie, though, especially if it meant there wasn’t any new TV series being made.

I’ve never really had any illusions about the companies behind the franchise, but current Paramount… Ugh! Of course I’ve been aware of the anti-woke campaigning, but I’d never imagined it would actually creep into management.

It’s sort of hard to imagine any future show preserving real Trek humanism if the chuds are in charge now.

I had issues with “The trouble with Edward”; specifically the part about … eating aliens. Maybe it felt a little too much like something Earth people might actually do.

But generally speaking, Short treks had some genuinely good, fresh ideas. The one with Una and Spock stuck in a turbolift genuinely had me excited for SNW. Unfortunately, the singing peaked in the short version.

Yeah, the “interesting times” part is certainly true. More drama and intrigue on the top floor than on screen makes for unsurprisingly poor TV.

“I can live with that”.

In a post-apocalyptic hellscape because you couldn’t resist generating slop images? Yeah, that checks out.

Finally, the Doctor Who crossover we deserve.

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It must have been too good before. They needed it to be more general. /s

Something rotten at the core of Starfleet? Surely not…! 🤣

It’s an old chestnut, and well overdone by now, but the real question is whether they can give it a new spin, or simply make it work better than, say, in “Into darkness”.

At least they’re not pulling known characters out of mothballs for this, so I remain optimistic.