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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 40m

Like David Gerold:

Who are we? And to me that's the essential question that's always been in science fiction.

annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 40m

I think I got us off on the wrong track.

I think we largely agree that there is no moral or ethical dilemma, no philosophical exploration about us.

That is enough for me to say that it's a bad episode. I think most writers would agree.

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 1h

But I forgot I was talking about relationships. Do we know why any relationship happened in any new Star Trek? Why does Tyler? Love Burnham? Or vice versa?. She was together with Book, they spent a year together, but why do they love each other? I'm just saying, is it any worse than SNW?

annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 1h

I mean, especially the first two seasons of disc were people running around and flamethrowers on the bridge, plot twists, and phasers firing and wars and mirror Universe shenanigans. What did it all amount to? Burnham gives a bomb to pacify the Klingon Empire? Why is that even a story?

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 1h

I have not. But I'm not a fan of Picard, although I don't know what season she wrote. But certainly the idea of having a bunch of racists in the Federation was terrible and also forgotten at the end of the season one.

annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 1h

How could it be about philosophical exploration if it's not about us? If all you have is a trolley problem where you have to choose between two bad outcomes, what is the philosophy of that? What's the moral? What is the ethical principle and the dilemma?

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 2h

KIRK: You were a psychiatrist once. You know the ugly, savage things we all keep buried, that none of us dare expose. But he'll dare. Who's to stop him? He doesn't need to care. Be a psychiatrist for one minute longer. What do you see happening to him? What's your prognosis, Doctor?

annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 2h

Well, A New Hope could be an episode like where no man has gone before, but would you have:

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 11h

Yes, but I think you can make similar criticisms about all new Trek - it seems far more interested in meaningless action and soap opera. But I am glad she is coming around finally.

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 12h

I think Star Wars (1978) seemed like sword and sorcery because you had the knights, swords, people walking around in robes and the spiritual power of the force (midichlorians were introduced until prequels). And so people called that fantasy, despite its similarity to westerns or samurai films.

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 13h

Maybe a little long, but it's a great tragedy. A great tragic figure is someone who falls victim by their strengths. So we know the villain's complex, motivations and arc. It's such a hard thing to write that they ignore it at the season finale.

annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 13h

Ok, but the thing that makes it different than the movie The Enemy below (other than the great adoption), is the discrimination against Spock.

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 13h

And what is the necessary science fiction? How does it affect the characters? How do they then drive the plot and illustrate the moral?

Unless my memory escapes me , There is no necessary science fiction, it's plot driven, not character driven and there's no moral. So it's a bad episode.

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 13h

Yet all the great Star Trek episodes are about us. They are about the meat of those difficult decisions. Measure of a Man, Tapestry, The Inner Light, Far Beyond the Stars, The Visitor, Dr. Bashir, I presume, Lineage, The Cage. Moral dilemmas about us.

But not this episode. It is not about us.

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 15h

Maybe he spent some time in the chair at Tantalus before working for Kirk

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 15h

It doesn't have any science fiction writers except for Kirsten Beyer who did Star Trek Picard and worked on Discovery. Also a lot of people from Nancy Drew.

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 15h

They tried to get me to hate her. She was "young", immature, timid and lacked leadership. She was nervous, socially awkward, and unqualified. The story had to wait for her to get through this.

But when she escaped from that, it was refreshing.

annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 15h

In lineage, B'Lanna chooses to either change the race of her daughter or not. That's the Sci-Fi. She chooses not to, and could hurt her daughter, but the benefit is she is true to herself, and that's the moral. It is not a difficult decision that has nothing to do with who we are as humans.

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 15h

All dramatic fiction involves difficult decisions, sacrifice and choice. It is these decisions in life that we want to tell stories about. We don't want stories that have nothing to do with the difficult decisions we make as humans. Let me give you an example in the next post.

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 20h

Well that's just a trolley problem, an element of many stories. It can't be the whole thing. There's no moral here. The Sci Fi is not an allegory for anything that drives Janeway's decision. We don't split and combine people.

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 1d

I thought the Supreme Court said that was a violation of everything that is holy.

annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 1d

The problem is people probably see them as protecting illegal immigrants. What you need are pictures of legal immigrants illegally detained, injured or harassed. A "Floyd" - without a criminal past, as it were.

annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 1d

Not that they should have done any of it. Why would you give somebody dyslexia? What point does it serve? Why did they change this character? If you want to add dimension to a character then show me You shouldn't "tell me" anything about him. That's what good writing is, showing not telling

annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 1d

"I've heard the term. It's a spatial order dysphasia. Much like dyslexia."

we learn about this when we see Spock sitting by himself and not talking to anyone. This is why fans interpret this as being neurodivergent and I think that's what we're meant to believe.

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annoyingliberal.bsky.social @annoyingliberal.bsky.social · 1d

Well, not really. Opinions can be tested if they are true or false. The question is, is New Star Trek just a rip off by a million dollar corporation, or is it like "Star Trek" as it was coined by its original creators?