[Locke]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Its interesting to me how you and Monahammer are really bothered by this series while I'm giddy for it. And I'm the guy that my fellow 6th grade elementary school nerds called "The Critic" for criticizing everything during the height of TNG.

I have nothing but a deep loathing hatred for Seasons 1 and 2 and mostly agreed with all the haters in the Youtube community (RLM, Critical Drinker, Dave Cullen) who were super dour on the horribleness of Trek since Discovery and Picard s1&s2.

I think what changed my mind is many of those reviewers were given a preview of 6 episodes (or some all of the series) and they have gone out of their way to make videos explaining that this season is actually very good and a real homecoming for TNG by the end.

That gives me hope and optimism for a childhood franchise which I've expected nothing but terribleness from for the last 2 years.

I agree there's lot of cringe and I especially hate nu-Trek's propensity of having all main characters arguing/insulting each other on the bridge and then cutting to shots of the junior crew looking at each other like "wtf are we supposed to do now". Star Trek is about the best of the best, doing their best jobs out there in a professional navy.

TNG was always the gold standard of keeping decorum and respect and ensuring the crew feels confident in their leadership. Nu-Trek (including this series) does not get this at all since the new mantra of new television seems to be to create tension by having interpersonal conflict all the time. Nu-Trek would be like walking into your company seeing your CEO and CFO having a throw down about how the ship is sinking (every day) and you wondering if you'd have the job by next week.

Roddenberry's rule was no interpersonal conflict in the crew and hence they always had to work together against external forces. This is the thing that is most sorely lacking and makes these new series not feel like Trek.

This always gets posted but I just don't why the new writers/producers don't get this basic fundamental part of Star Trek.

Okay, a few things.

Yes I am heavily critical, I'm that way of all of Star Trek for the most part, partly because it is supposed to be this wonderful vision and as a show it does have a preposterous, campy element to it.

Whining about Star Trek is almost as good as being rewarded with quality Star Trek because, and lets be honest, a good big chunk of Star Trek is godawful.

What makes you a fan is liking most of it anyways, especially for the parts that you do enjoy.

Thats why Flames fans make ideal Star Trek fans. We've really been taught to embrace the self-loathing and extreme criticism.

But if its bad, I'm going to call a spade a spade.

Picard has been bad so far. Seasons 1 and 2...lets be honest. What makes me more critical, and I wouldnt say 'bothered' but I suppose it may fit, is that I just dont like what they're doing or how they're going about doing it.

Picard is a robot.

Think about that for a minute.

Really...is there a reason for that? Well yes, because being a robot has cured his Space Dementia. Is there a reason for that? They wrote it in, either because they wanted to make him a robot...which is dumb. Or because they thought they were going to come back around to it, got lost and then had to resolve space dementia somehow.

"Crap. Forgot about Space Dementia. F' it. Make him a robot. Yes...the rubes buy that..."

Season 2 had a ton of promise and I cant recall seeing a season of TV hit the skids in what was, if we're honest, a pretty impressive derailment.

They're borrowing heavily from almost all of the movies which could be okay if they just werent so ham-fisted about it. We wanted to see our favourite characters again which we're getting, but they are a bajillion years old and frankly, I dont much care for the Universe that they live in.

Starfleet sucks now. Its bad now.

You have this long, generational, noble tradition with all of these great Captains and Officers who explored the galaxy and the whole thing has turned into a bickering bureaucracy. Nobody cares about anything but their careers now. Which...when you're not getting paid, really seems like it shouldnt be the ultimate focus.

They're supposed to be doing these things for the sake of the betterment of society....and they're not. All they seem to care about is themselves and their careers and not getting in trouble so they're overlooked for promotion.

Is that really the ultimate result of the work and sacrifice of people like Picard, Kirk, Sisko, Spock, Janeway, etc? They sacrificed so much to build a crappy Galactic Bureaucracy?

Its not even just that they're not this Elite Spacefaring Exploration Organization anymore, its that it seems like they plundered the inmates of a mental asylum, put them in pajamas and plunked them on starships to watch them squabble with each other. In Space.

I will be critical, but that doesnt mean I hate it, necessarily. I do actually loathe Discovery. I didnt even 'hate' Enterprise which was, up till now, the weakest of all Trek offerings.

And in this series right now the only character that actually seems 'in character' and interesting is Worf!

Worf!

Let that sink in!

That alone should be setting off alarm bells that a show is in dangerous territory.

Wow. That was quite a rant. How to finish this off?

Hmmm...oh yeah, and Roddenberry was a coke-addled lunatic. And thats not an opinion. But coke-addled lunatics can still do some great stuff.