Thoughts on Star Trek
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Red Alarm: There are big fat spoilers ahead. Especially for Starfleet Academy, Enterprise, and Voyager. Continue at your own discretion.
I love Star Trek. I watch some form of it every week. I read the books. I listen to podcasts. I think a lot about it. I also have thoughts about some fans' reactions to things. These are some of those thoughs put into text. It's a bit random but can be put into two categories:
- Canon and writing
- Controversial or divisive episodes
Canon and writing
First things first: Star Trek is - yes, I'm going to say it - a tv show (*gasp*), and not a historical record. I am not a writer, so what do I really know, but I cannot imagine that the people in any Star Trek writers' room don't know what they are writing about, and I also don't think they don't know how to write a story.
Does that mean that everything they write is great? Of course not. Because it isn't. But accusing them of not knowing Trek is just stupid.
Yes, there are questions still unanswered after 8 of 10 episodes of the first season of Academy.
E.g. I still wonder why they never talk about "telepathy" when it comes to the Betazoids' abilities. They are always saying they are "empathic" or "sensing things".
I also wonder why we don't get to see Khionia proper or have a confrontation between Darem and his parents (who are actually there in the background, somewhere) in episode 7 "Ko'Zeine".
Or, how did the War Collage cadets deal with the death of B'Avi in episode 6 "Come, Let's Away"? Who are the Dar'Sha (Genesis' people)? What were the Jem'Hadar up to these past 800 years? And while we're at it, the Founders and Vorta? etc.
However, I am very sure there are reasons for this. Wether these reasons are story related or have to do with production or budget concerns, I do not know. But if they are about the story, we will eventually get to know. That's what's called a "story arc". Be patient! At least I hope there will be enough time for that. (Please let there be a third season! 🤞) And if the reasons are on the production side, there may be an explanation about that too sometime in the future. I just simply refuse the notion that the writers and producers do not know what they are doing. It's us who do not know what they are doing.
I wrote the majority of this post right before episode 8 "The Life of the Stars" came out. The question I had about why the Doctor did not seem to be very interested in SAM, even though we know from Voyager that he used to be very interested in other holograms, was originally part of the little list of questions above. But in that episode it was finally answered: It turns out he was still suffering from the loss of his daughter in Voyager's "Realy Life". This is such a deep cut that claiming the writers "don't get Star Trek" is plain idiocy. It also shows that story arcs are a real thing.
In any case: Half the fun, at least for me, in reading or watching stories is to fill in gaps with my own imagination. Some call it "head canon". I'm a big fan of that. It also helps to always remember that this is a tv show made my humans under certain circumstances and constraints.
Well, and if it turns out that the story is flawed, disappointing, and will not have any conclusion, or at least non that we would have hoped for, we'll simply have to live with it. That should not be too difficult to do. It's fiction, one story among hundreds and thousands, and no life depends on it.
Controversial or divisive episodes
There are quite a number of controversial episodes across the franchise. They tend to divide the fans into two factions: the ones who agree with whatever the character did, and the ones who disagree. It seems to be an "you're either with us or against us" situation. But why? I see these episodes a bit differently: For me, they are thought experiments.
Take Enterprise's "Damage" for example. Captain Archer decides to rob a peaceful and harmless group of people of their warp coil to repair the Enterprise. Doing that means that this group - a shipful of Illyrians - will take years to reach their destination instead of a much shorter time. Archer full well knows that he is crossing a line here, but still does it.
In another Enterprise episode, "Anomaly", Archer puts a prisoner in an airlock and by slowly removing the air inside forces him to give him a certain information.
Let's not forget Voyager's "Tuvix". Tuvok and Neelix get merged into Tuvix in a transporter accident. Tuvix is a completely new person. Tuvok and Neelix are essentially dead, though could be gotten back by killing Tuvix. Tuvix wants to live. But Janeway decides to kill him in order to get Tuvok and Neelix back.
There are many more, but I'll stop here.
I don't think it's the goal here to pick a side. It's Story, not real life. I do not have to actually make a decision like Archer or Janeway have to do in their stories. I do not have to pick a side. The purpose of Story, as I see it, is to make you think about the situation, the problem it presents for the characters, and how they deal with it. It is, as I said, a thought experiment. How do you feel about what is happening? How do you feel imagining to be either character? Why? What do you think would you do in that situation? The answers to these questions do not have to be definitive. You may find yourself thinking about them for a long time. Maybe even for the rest of your life. Maybe your answers to those questions even change over time. And that is not a flaw on your side.
All that does not mean that we have to like these scenes or episodes. We can discuss if it is ok to see Strafleet captains do these things, especially since we as fans like to see Starfleet and the Federation as a "socialist utopia", and our heroes to be almost flawless. But also that can be seen as a purpose of Story: To understand that no one, not even fictional characters in a better future, is perfect. That's uncomfortable, maybe even painful, or disappointing. It's ok to feel that way. Interesting then is to sit with that and think about why that is.
Story can be pure entertainment. But it can also be a prompt for introspection. In the end it's everyone's own decision how to react.
In addition, as I said above, since this is fiction and not fact, you are indeed allowed to build your own canon. What you see on screen is merely an offer. It's the universe the script writers are working in. But Star Trek is a multiverse - even in canon - and no one says you can't build your own.
BTW, I have written about canon and what to do with it before in the post Alpha Canon, Beta Canon, Head Canon. Or: Do we get robbed of stories and adventures with our heroes when they die seemingly unnecessary deaths on screen? So if you want a snarkier take on that, go read it.
Live long and prosper. 🖖 (And help manifesting that third season of Academy.)
- Elena.
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