Tag: science fiction

Different Means Different

First off, I’m finally back! I’m going to rededicate myself to writing something on this page at least once a week.

Now, on with the point….

After rewatching “Rogue One”, I’m watching some of the special features. Something Kathleen Kennedy (then head of Lucasfilms) said resonated with me. Not just about Star Wars, but also Star Trek and almost every other intellectual property that is going through a revival or renewal right now.

“We can go through a period of nostalgia, but what are we going to do with future generations who want to step into their own era of this vast mythology and universe called ‘Star Wars’?”

I think that fits just about every fandom out there. What have been many of the complaints about the new Star Wars and Star Trek movies?

– “It breaks canon.”
– “It doesn’t match my memories.”
– “The feeling is different.”
– “Why is suddenly so much diversity?”
etc.

As Spock observed about V’Ger, the fandom had reached its limit and it must evolve. Same with Doctor Who and a new woman actor. No, it isn’t the same as what you grew up with, and that’s fine.

No, “Star Trek Discovery” doesn’t look like the original TOS, and that’s fine too. It looks great, and has fantastic acting. Production technology is different now. Audiences expect different, more robust stories. The Kelvin timeline Star Trek stories are more energetic for a more action-oriented audience, but they can still ask interesting science fiction questions.

Different doesn’t mean bad. Different doesn’t even necessarily mean better.

Different means different.

IDIC

New Star Trek Coming

I’m excited about the new Star Trek series coming next year. For those who don’t know, CBS announced a new Star Trek series to start in January 2017. It will be on their All Access streaming service. (http://www.startrek.com/article/new-star-trek-series-premieres-january-2017)

I have mixed feelings being excitement and apprehension. I’m excited that Star Trek is coming back to television, really where it does best. And I’m hopeful that it will be great. The fact they have Bryan Fuller as showrunner is reason for hope. In addition to Hannibal and Pushing Daises, he was responsible for many of the best episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. They also have announced that Nicholas Meyer is a writer on the show. He was responsible for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, partially responsible for Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and responsible for Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. With talent like this, CBS is certainly not messing around.

I’m also excited about the rumours that it will be set in the prime timeline instead of the JJ-verse timeline. Though, given the fact that Paramount owns the Star Trek movie rights and CBS owns the TV rights, it makes sense. The rumours also say that it will be set immediately after Undiscovered Country. Or at least the first season will be. There are talks that the new series might be anthology-based, with each season in a different area and time. This could be interesting.

Amidst the excitement, there is also apprehension. Enterprise had such promise, and they dropped the ball. (At least until the last season.) But these people at the helm give me a lot of hope for it.

There are some things I’d like to see. One, I would really like it if it wasn’t the Enterprise again. Except maybe if they want to do stories with the Enterprise-B or -C. What would be even better is if they had a female or, even better, and alien captain. That Klingon in Undiscovered Country (I forget her name) was right. With all the talk about multi-culturalism, the Federation is still a very humans-only club. It would be nice to see some more diversity. That’s one of the things that was really good about DS9.

So, we’ll just have to see. I’ll give the first season a chance. I’m too much a fan of Babylon 5 to stop after only a few episodes, and too much a fan of Star Trek to not give it a chance to fly.