I’m curious to creck some of the new stuff out but it all looks so not Star Trek
By New Trek I mean Discovery, Picard, Strange New World and Lower Decks
Wow that’s a lot of series.
I like the optimism of Star Trek and apparently a lot of New Trek kind of abandons that? 
Lower Decks is the best Trek anything they’ve made since the 90s. I haven’t watched Strange New Worlds but i hear it’s okay. Picard was fucking terrible. Discovery had the same writers so probably also not good.
For the longest time I resisted watching Lower Decks for various reasons. Then I did the give-it-three-episodes-at-least thing. I was sold on it by the end of the first episode. This wisecracking boatrocking social butterfly who’s talked up as some sort of combat badass is, in fact, a combat badass - but a traumatized one who’s doing the what-you-are-in-the-dark thing as a whole new career. Smuggling free farm equipment to locals she may never see again, for no reward whatsoever, just to better the lives of those strangers? That is totally an Ensign James T. Kirk kind of move.
Mariner is the kind of character that could easily have been written very badly, but the Lower Decks writers accomplished a miracle and made her work. She’s an incredibly compelling main character for a Star Trek series. Easily the best since Sisko. And Tawny Newsome is a ridiculously talented voice actor. I have to believe she’s a trekkie in her own right because when Mariner makes commentary leaning into meta commentary territory, Newsome puts the perfect tone of voice into the line. Mariner feels like one of us!
And the show as a whole has the heart of Trek. It’s not about massive space battles or YELLING AS DRAMA. It’s about our reaction to discovering the wonders of the universe, the potential of humanity to do great things if we could just stop murdering each other, about personal ethics and principles, how sometimes right doesn’t mean legal and sometimes legal doesn’t mean right, all that good stuff.
Lower Decks is okay. Picard is like the fantasy of an old man dying in a nursing home, who wishes he could just see is friends one more time.
Picard is like the fantasy of an old man dying in a nursing home, who wishes he could just see is friends one more time.
But they have dementia and they’re hallucinating half of their reveries
Picard is like the fantasy of an old man dying in a nursing home, who wishes he could just see is friends one more time.
I wish, Picard is more like a harrowing combination of elder abuse and adult children either too apathetic or scared to take the keys away from their grandpa with dementia long after it’s clear he’s a danger to himself and others if he keeps driving.
I am once again telling people to watch Star Trek: Prodigy. A group of alien kids held as prisoners on a mining world steal a Starfleet ship from their captor and learn about Starfleet as they work to return the ship to Earth.
It hits all the notes of gorgeous animated space adventures, introduces fun new characters who learn about the Trek galaxy at the same time as the audience, and handles legacy characters extremely well. It’s also a quasi-sequel series to Voyager so you’ll see characters like Janeway and Chakotay (who is actually written well this time) but it’s a great introductory series since the focus is on the new crew.
Paramount pulled it from streaming last year but Netflix picked it up while the rest of the franchise is trapped in the burning house of Paramount+.
Fwiw I find value in all the new shows and think they each have something fun or interesting to offer if you’re willing to give it a chance.
so like voyager plus like a smattering of the basic premise behind galaxy quest?
sounds way more interesting then i thought it was!
As far as Discovery and Picard goes, the writers commit some absolutely hideous crimes with regards to not just the canon but the entire philosophy and moral foundation behind 90s leftism Trekism.
First understand the bad influences from some of TNG and DS9. We can go back to DS9 and how TNG fans thought that was too dark for Gene’s vision too, which is also true.
This is worth an essay of its own but DS9 managed to tackle some topics from a much more realistic and materialist basis than TNG managed to achieve. If you see how TNG is about enjoying the utopia while DS9 is about Actualy Existing Utopia. If you want to be realy edgy you can make some comparison between the struggles of AES and the ideals behind the communist revolution.
Sadly the hack team of writers took these worst parts as inspiration. From completely misunderstanding(reality more like just appropriating it because they’re fraud hacks) the purpose of Section 31, to trivializing the use of violence by the crew to solve problems and worst of all, to casually displaying this violence on screen for shock value only.
So bringing this back to Discovery here is the mini-review of just some of their faults, specificaly S1-2, S3 I only watched RLM review and S4 nobody cares because they did what they should’ve done(an actual reboot in the future not a prequel):
#1- A main character mutiny on the first episode. This isn’t Data telling Worf to suck it up I’m your boss now(One of the best scenes in Trek’s history) but literaly the person we’re first introduced to trying to impose her own rightous views over the Captain. Yes Trek captain is supposed ot be THE hero, the MC. We get decades worth of nerd debates between who is better Trek captain and on STD S1 premiere we have a nobody officer, who we’re supposed to like, subverting this expectation. This comes in the wake of nuTrek trying to become more like Star Wars.
#2 STD S1-2 in general lacked a strong captain. Lorca was a decent character as a villain, but the series puts the role of Data/Worf/Geordi all into MB. I hate when chuds said MB was basicaly Jesus, but realisticaly, she was a Mary Sue in the worst sense. Yes we get the introduction of Pike and he becomes a good character. But anyone can see he isn’t the MC, he isn’t actualy in command except operationaly(the command ritual), in reality S2 is about MB just as S1.
#3-The gratuitous use of extreme violence. Of course TNG movies and some of DS9 shares the blame too, afterall crew gets captured and tortured is a Trek trope. But given the episodic nature these events are disconnected and regarded as one off moments, they’re not a major plot point or a distinctive narrative point of a whole season. Yes Chain of Command is about torture, but it is obvious how they handle the topic completely differently.
In chain of command Picard’s torture is a complex part of the mental game between himself and the villain. The villain for his part doesn’t do it just for pleasure either and the audience doesn’t get to see the most extreme moments. Better yet, the final message is about Picard’s eventual mental victory as a survivor. I wont review the episode here, you can find these elsewhere, but there is a reason CoC is one of TNG’s best episode.
Compare this to the extreme violence and torture in STD and Picard and you can very clearly see these elements are used as nothing but shock value for a modern audience that is already numb to violence on TV. You can maybe excuse and say this isn’t that much of a shock to your average Netflix viewer. But it certainly should be for the 90’s Trek nerd refusing to move on from 30 years ago.
Finaly some YT links to bring the point home
Obligatory
Leonard Nimoy Explains What is Wrong with Star Trek Discovery
RLM Star Trek Discovery Season 2 In a Nutshell
RLM Star Trek Discovery Season 2 - re:View
Bonus
Eye Torture Fetish in Star Trek Discovery / Picard / Lower Decks Compilation
The Difference between TNG and Star Trek Discovery / Short Trek
Michael Burnham is Space Jesus . Star Trek Discovery Compilation
Eye Torture Fetish in Star Trek Discovery / Picard / Lower Decks Compilation
Jesus fucking christ. This is the exact kind of shit I hate about about New Trek. Goreporn is not only one of my least favorite writing crutches but its also the opposite of what Star Trek is supposed to be focused on.
It screams of producers meddling and thinking “Duuuh Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead were gritty and violent and popular so if we make our show more like that we will be popular too!”
Stupid capitalism homogenizes everything because they think it’s a safe bet.
What happened to boldly going where no one has gone before?
Data telling Worf to suck it up I’m your boss now(One of the best scenes in Trek’s history)
I cannot tell you how much I miss this kind of drama. Nobody yelling, no quippy bullshit, no ridiculous strawman to make sure the audience can understand who is in the right or wrong even if they’ve had a lobotomy. It’s understandable how both characters came to this disagreement. It’s tense but the professionalism remains. They’re both even surprisingly emotionally honest, even vulnerable, at the end and communicate it clearly and maturely.
What happened to this? This wasn’t unique to Star Trek back in the day.
I blame the TNG movies honestly, while some bits and pieces are good they ruined the series and if you haven’t already you should read Michael Piller’s book about writing for Insurrection, he basically exposes Patrick Stewart for being a(the?) major intellectual drive behind turning the movie away from the past TV experiences.
In general though I don’t watch western TV much at all, maybe a dozen shows throughout my whole life so I can’t say, but I definitely think much of TNG’s personal relationships would be seen as boring and too professional these days.
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Lower decks good, I skipped the rest
Lower Decks was excellent.
So was Prodigy, but treat it like a miniseries or you’ll be disappointed at how short it is.
100% agree on both points
Discovery and Picard suck, SNW is more like old trek but its best plots to the point I watched were either ripped from old star trek episodes or stolen from sci fi authors
The Orville
I concur. I haven’t watched anything recent, but I remember the first two seasons being more “Star Trek” than anything else available at the time.
Season 3 of The Orville is even more Star Trek than the first two. And if you liked The Orville, you will really like Lower Decks.
Nice, I think I just stopped watching after season 2. I’ll have to pick it back up.
The Orville is pretty mid overall, though admittedly with some great episode in there, but boy does it really know how to prey on my nostalgia. Just look at it’s opening titles. That ship design is so Trek without being Trek in the best possible way. I just wish it hadn’t tried to be funny and took itself seriously instead.
I think the thing that makes most nostalgia baiting repellent is it doesn’t understand what I’m nostalgic for, it just points at some intellectual property they bought that I used to like, looks to the camera and says “WOW ISN’T THAT EPIC”. I want the spirit of the thing to be passed on in something new, not to be told the thing I like is cool and be invited to circle jerk over it.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
SNW is good, but lacks its own identity. It can get pretty derivative, especially the first season. Like they’ll just lift plots from TOS, then retcon a whole species and make it an Alien clone, then they’ll slap a Trek skin over an Ursula K Le Guin short story, then they’ll do the Buffy musical episode. Some of the character work is good though. Mbenga had a hell of an episode in season 2.
Orville is ok generic Trek but really uneven. The show starts really cringe, but the Isaac arc is genuinely great. Isaac is generic Data but more robotic, and harder to understand, so a little more scary… and they play with that. The Moclans are generic Klingons, but their plots feel extremely TNG. The biggest problem with the show is Captain Seth McFarlane who drags down every episode he’s in. He’s written as a sympathetic sexpest, it’s just afwul. Whenever you get an episode about him, he’s just begging to be back with his ex and being pathetic.
People like Lower Decks, but I find it to be shouty and obnoxious. The latest season was better. But it also leans heavily into “remember this reference” jokes, which a lot of people like because at least it’s aware of source material, but just comes across as cheap nostalgia bait to me.
Disco is terrible. I truly wanted to like it. Every season I’d be hyped for the season’s plot arc, then they ALWAYS screwed it up.
Picard is unwatchable, imo. People say it redeems itself in season 3, but I won’t be baited again.
then they’ll slap a Trek skin over an Ursula K Le Guin short story
To be fair, it’s a story I think should work very well with a Trek skin. It’s a simple but poignant ethical dilemma, and there are plenty of interesting ways to rebut or expand on it if you wanted to give it a twist. It’s short enough to be adapted into an episode comfortably. How they failed to stick the landing on that one is beyond me.
Thee biggest problem with the show is Captain Seth McFarlane who drags down every episode he’s in. He’s written as a sympathetic sexpest, it’s just afwul. Whenever you get an episode about him, he’s just begging to be back with his ex and being pathetic.
You’re absolutely right, but it’s both amusing and shocking to me that this was the real problem with his character. Like surely the self-insert character so the family guy-guy, not a career actor, can play out the fantasy of every nerd would either be embarrassingly “bad ass” or terribly acted (or likely both)?
Instead he’s too pathetic and gross but honestly surprisingly well acted. I ended up thinking I could actually like Seth McFarlane playing a captain, just not writing one.
I agree about Omelas being good to adapt for Trek (and about the fumble). I just mention it because it fits into a bigger trend where SNW does a lot of recycling.
I just find it a hard show to judge because it hasn’t shown us quite enough original material yet. When they have, it’s been a mixed bag. But I’m more hopeful about SNW than the others right now.
I enjoyed Lower Decks. Picard was like wannabe Firefly. Discovery was gritty doomer, kinda. I wandered off after the second or third season and never made my way back. Never watched SNW.
Don’t sleep on The Orwell.
The Orwell is really good
The Orwell
(p sure you mean The Orville)
Lmao, yeah.
Picard was like wannabe Firefly
I just rewatched Firefly and I don’t see this comparison. Could you elaborate?
Not firefly, but Serenity. Strange girl appears and is a mysteriously great fighter… Etc etc
Not in story in any way, just vibes. Plucky ragtag group with a ship off on an adventure against the man type of thing. I did not watch past the first season so idk about beyond that.
. I did not watch past the first season so idk about beyond that.
You aren’t missing anything
Kinda what figured. If I hadn’t been watching the first season with a friend I’m not sure I would have finished it.
Strange New Worlds is pretty redeeming as far as New Trek goes. I feel like it’s still missing something that the classics had, but it’s still so much better than Discovery
SNW is missing the optimism and hopefulness. I know OG Star Trek had a lot of episodes about space battles or weird space diseases, but the crux of it was morality lessons about how future humanity had overcome all the social ills of the modern day. Star Trek has gotten a lot less daring in addressing issues from today I think. Discovery tried to do something similar to climate change with The Burn, but that never hit right with me. SNW has a few episodes about humanizing refugees.
SNW has had a few episodes directed by a trans woman, and a few trans characters show up but it doesn’t feel like much is being addressed. It feels like the bare minimum of representation rather than transgression. The main crux is the stories about spaceships. I want Star Trek to do that again, feel transgressive. Even TNG and DS9 still had that transgressive attitude towards the show, injecting in commentary about current human life and how it can be made better.
The “Burn” is honest to god the worst piece of lore in Trek history, probably in major science fiction history
Just a complete inability to appreciate the scale, continuity, and coherence of a setting, it’s like it was made by someone who doesn’t like Star Trek and is annoyed other people like it, so decided to burn and salt the setting for the sack of a half-baked climate change analogy
At least they had the decency to chuck it a 1000 years ahead of the main setting’s timeframe
Yeah that’s about how I felt. It’s like someone hated Star Trek’s rosy optimism and wanted to destroy it. “What if your spaceship show about a brighter future was actually bad and everyone died in a big explosion.” Completely missing the point of the show and the setting.
Lower Decks is great a real love letter to the TNG era. SNW is ok bit too prequely at times but has a great cast and good enough plots.
Prodigy is actually one of the better ones if you can accept the youth focus angle.
Lower Decks is great and SNW is classico style trek and is also good. Disco is very up and down and Picard just fucking sucks, haven’t seen any episode of Prodigy but have heard it’s really good
To counter the popular opinion (nuTrek is garbage), Jessie Gender often posts about how newer Star Trek shows are pretty good and worthy sequels (and often exceed some older ones too). I don’t always agree with her, but I respect her Star Trek knowledge and opinions.
Here are some videos on specific shows. I opted for the most recent video I could find, unless it covered only a specific latter season:
Star Trek Discovery is Exactly What the Franchise Needed
Star Trek Prodigy Season 1 Review - Trek’s Best First Season?
Star Trek Lower Decks is a Must Watch (Even For Non-Trekkies)
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S1 - An Unhinged Critique
A trip of slightly older videos that are broader in scope -
A Critique of Modern Star Trek - By A Fan
Why Modern Star Trek Is Actually Great
A Message To Modern Star Trek Haters
And some general Star Trek videos by her that are great:
A Complete (& Unhinged) Guide to Watching Star Trek
Star Trek Explained (As Simply As Possible)
Fox News Doesn’t Understand Star Trek
Sex in Star Trek: Exploring Gene Roddenberry’s Sexual Frontier
Why Spock’s Sexuality is so Dang Controversial (SEX IN STAR TREK BONUS)
Star Trek: The Next Generation - A Sexual Retrospective
Star Trek Doesn’t Understand Eugenics
And some interviews she’s had with people making Star Trek:
Talking With Star Trek Picard USS Enterprise-F Starship Designer
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Producer on Ursula K. LeGuin, Radical Empathy & Writing
Chatting With Jack Quaid - The Boys, Star Trek Lower Decks
I Interviewed “Star Trek: Lower Decks” Creator Mike McMahan!
Making Star Trek Music with Lower Decks Composer Chris Westlake
GOOD post
Thank you. I started writing it when this post had 2 comments and by the time I finished, it had over 20. Hopefully, OP manages to see this and doesn’t just dismiss nuTrek.
I have seen your comment and will have a look at these!
Thank you for taking the time to write all that
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