I love @startrekcbs. It's what I've been dreaming of since my age 13 disappointment with The Next Generation. In 1987, from a kid who saw the opening night premiere of TMP in Hollywood, TNG was beige, sexless, cheap, and slow. Really slow. Overall: just too safe.
@startrekcbs By 1987, I'd experienced the Genesis trilogy in real time, marveling at ILM's groundbreaking CG, crying the theater, overhearing very meta conversations about Trek from older fans/family. The whole nine. TNG's weaknesses in 87-88 made me conjure and visualize a show like DSC.
@startrekcbs I wanted a show that picked up the aspirations of TMP and made them work - instead of the decision that was ultimately made with the Genesis trilogy. I wanted a show that was futuristic and weird, with characters who have internal lives and are still hoping to get laid.
@startrekcbs One thing that stuck with me in the late 80s, as everyone discussed how supposedly horrible TMP was, is that I loved the un-knowability of V'ger in The Motion Picture.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek likes to point out that the outside of V'ger and the inside were two different FX companies - a product of the movie's mad, expensive rush to production. But the artistic result is something like 'god.' It's a matter of perspective and mystery.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek I see Discovery as the closest thing to Roddenberry's ideas before Paramount fired him and made the franchise more nostalgic and militaristic. It's alienating some people and getting people really fired up. It's ambitious enough to actually - create disagreement.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek Where TMP's un-knowability was enhanced by the fact that you could only watch it on your parents' crappy SD television set, DSC has the inverse problem - it's a rich, dense energy bar of HD streaming television - and anyone who can watch it, can watch it 20x a day if they choose.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek Not only can you watch it 20x a day, you can watch and read criticism endlessly - criticism not from esteemed critics, but from randoms around the world. DSC is extremely knowable - like your partner's pores.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek I am inspired to begin this mega-thread of meta-criticism by watching @Trekspertise's S2 Review, and having generally settled on Ketwolski as the best of the worst among Star Trek critics, because I think this issue of Knowledge is a bit part of the Fandom wars.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @Trekspertise describes DSC as exhausting for a fan of older Trek, because there's so much going on. He somehow translates that in to an imbalance in the writing. But we know the "somehow" he's implying, it's the turnover in writing staff.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise The implication among so many of these Trek critics is that Fuller's DSC was pure, it was the Real Thing. Kurtzman, who was always less of a Trek lover than his former partner Bob Orci, but had the producorial drive to run a franchise, is cast as the interloper.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise It started with Robert Burnett and now Mark Altman's doing the same thing, upholding the idea that Fuller's Trek would have been better and Kurtzman ruined it. Because they have access to Fuller, but most definitely not to @StarTrekRoom, their data supports their theory.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom Truth is, none of these esteemed Star Trek lovers were in the room and whatever version of events we learn down the road will be one person's point of view of many. TOS had three distinct show runners and achieved greatness amid great tumult, ambition, and personal failings.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom So when I see teh downstream @startrekcbs criticism from people who are not even remotely in or near the film and television industry, I hear the echoes of Burnett's initial response to DSC on Collider, bouncing off the Internet comment culture of open bigotry and hate.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom That includes nearly all of Twitter, sorry. It includes the bigotry constellation of Doomcock, Mecha, Nerdrotic, as well as the people I call the Accoomodaters, like Ketwolski, Trekyards, Trekspertise, who don't really know anything about the industry.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom What qualifies these commenters? It's always the same thing: Knowledge. Burnett, Altman, Dochterman - all certified experts. Trekyards: single issue experts. It's in Trekspertise's name ffs. But the assumption that knowledge of the past makes for good criticism is deeply flawed.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom In 1980s Burbank there was a D&D show on San Fernando where you could play Starfleet Battles and other RPGs on big backroom tables. There was a sign on the wall that said, "No discussion of "Real Star Trek" on these premises." In a way, I think those old nerds got it.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom The Indian guru Jiddu Krishnamurti had an aphorism to the same effect: 'Knowledge is the obstacle of learning."
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom Strangely, I was set off on this thread by @Trekspertise's focus on the writers room and the decisions that they made - to focus on twists and reveals. Because that's the heart of this: the Trek geeks we deem qualified to comment are unduly focuses on what they know and...
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom ...when it's appropriate for @StarTrekRoom to reveal something new, different, or contradictory. To anyone who reads this tread, ffs, pull your head out of your ass in 2020. Stop letting knowledge get in the way of learning.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom This is mostly about DSC, but also Star Wars. Our new entries in these mega myths are meant to be rewatched, the reveals are intended to fade into the background over time. They're the least important things. Slowing Down, as @Trekspertise calls for, is simply nostalgia.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom The people who need to slow down and think are the critics, because sadly, I haven't seen a single Star Trek critic who has criticized what teh show is about, what the show means, or how its philosophy 'adds its distinctiveness' to Star Trek's overall philosophy.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom I feel as though, for the last 2-3 years, I've read nothing but 'horse race coverage' of Discovery. Y'all remember when John Stewart went on CNN's Crossfire and murdered the show on live television? I do. Star Trek criticism needs the same thing, for the same reason.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom Editorial focus on 'news' creates a demand for conflict, which turns into reporting on the 'horse race' at the expense of - everything else. For DSC, the conflict has been coverage of fandom wars over canon, authenticity, and bigotry.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom And yet... Star Trek Discovery Season 2 tells us exactly what it's about when Burnham narrates a revision of the Star Trek invocation: "
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom Space. The Final Frontier. Above Us. Around Us. Between Us. We have always looked to the stars to Discover who we are. And hidden there is a message. The secret made of space and time. Visible only to those open enough to receive it. 
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom Could this possibly be more revealing? Yet the clip isn't even on YouTube. Fans don't even discuss it. Superduper Special Experts like Rob Burnett and Mark Altman don't even attempt to discuss it, and certainly not the YouTubers accommodating a hater algorithm.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom I've meditated on @StarTrekRoom's S2 invocation quite a few times this last year. It's definitely not just about Discovery and Michael Burnham. In fact, it wisely encompasses the TMP-Genesis narrative arc.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom TMP tells the story of our hero's discovery of an unstoppable threat that turns out to be another child of NASA, like Starfleet. Our middle-aged heroes, still spouseless and selfish, find a child seeking reconciliation from a parent who had forgotten it.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom The next four movies are are then, more or less about the same thing with tragic ends. Khan, Genesis, David - they are all wayward children of Starfleet's best intentions, and all will end in tragedy because their parents failed them through neglect, egotism, and cheating.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom TVH is basically that same parental tragedy, projected back on to 20th century ancestors, with a happy ending.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom These subtexts to TMP-TVH have always been present, but they lay fallow and undiscussed by a fandom that mostly occupied itself with novels and ship porn.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom I love Star Trek Discovery because, regardless of how the sausage was made or perhaps because of the sausage making process itself, has achieved a thematic purpose that encompasses Kirk's 5YM, his TMP-Genesis arc, all the way to Saru's metamorphosis and Pike's tragic fate.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom In 2020, as we all look ahead ot PICARD and DSC S3, let's start here.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom We have plenty of time to read better-researched articles about Chabon, Paradise, Kurtzman... and names that nobody bothers to discuss, like Olatunde Osunsanmi. Criticism has failed entirely to discuss theme, which is what writers and writers rooms care perhaps most deeply about.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom Theme is what Roddenberry and Coon cared most about, and it's way way more fun to argue about theme than pander to bigots and trolls.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom So back to @Trekspertise's S2 Review, which suggests that it would have been better if Airiam's memories had been parsed throughout the season rather than compressed into one episode. This is a fine suggestion, but it's also symptomatic of the thing I'm grinding my axe against.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom Competing with personal canon and head canon. In this case,
@Trekspertise knows how he'd tell the story, so he's not open to learning/discussing the MEANING of S2 or Airiam's story. Instead, it's an opportunity to showcase his knowledge. This is the way of the Lousy Trek Critic.
@Trekspertise knows how he'd tell the story, so he's not open to learning/discussing the MEANING of S2 or Airiam's story. Instead, it's an opportunity to showcase his knowledge. This is the way of the Lousy Trek Critic.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom @Trekspertise also uses a phrase, "forcing us to care for her," expressing cynicism as to why the audience should care about a character's internal life, that I've heard over and over from Lousy Trek Critics. There's got to be a good reason to discuss Chick Stuff™.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom But that's exactly what DSC is, it's shifting the Mission of Star Trek to include both the 5YM and the TMP-Genesis arcs. The mission is simultaneously Starfleet and personal. When we see Terralysium in S3, she will confront her 'Ceti Alpha Solution' directly and personally.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom I just want to remind anyone reading that the highly vaunted Genesis trilogy was torn away from Roddenberry and largely created by Ivy educated, to the Manor borne types who did not love Star Trek. Perhaps part of the problem w DSC is that it IS created by people who love Trek.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom Because when I think about the S2 invocation, mission statement (whatever), I see a deep and abiding love for both halves of the 5YM-TMP/Genesis arc - in a way that TNG and VOY never really even aimed for, and ENT never got to finish.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom Discovery wants its heroes to go where no one has gone before, but not at the expense of their loved ones and their families. The compartmentalization of work as a man's business and everything else as as a feminine distraction is obsolete.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom It gives me incredible joy to compare my thesis against Pike, because damn. Everyone loved that story and I'd argue that in part, we feel nostalgia for his obsolete tragic character, who only found love in the form of an alien chimera, but redeemed himself through self sacrifice.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom And hold on, Jeff. You're only talking about S2. Well, then.
Let me remind you that S1 (including comics) was a brilliant, wildly ambitious work of 'behavioral science' fiction - with its prismatic look at Trauma.
Let me remind you that S1 (including comics) was a brilliant, wildly ambitious work of 'behavioral science' fiction - with its prismatic look at Trauma.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom In AA and in recovery, you'll hear people talk about "acting out," when they describe behaviors that they often engage in when giving in to their addiction or trauma. I love that S1 began with Burnham acting out, trying to get another hit off of her 'superiority,' and failing.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom In that moment, Burnham was forced to confront her Kohlinar, her Kobayashi Maru, and her Khan all at once. And like Spock and Kirk, her failure was just a prelude to her redemption.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom I'm sorry, but I have a performative YAWN for anyone who says it was too fast. Anything less would be too slow for those of us waiting four decades after TMP for smart, ambitious Star Trek.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom Yes, DS9. I know it's so great that one of the writers made a documentary about how great his achievement was. But it was very smart and ambitious about things that I do not want Star Trek to be ambitious about, like being a messiah, a terrorist, justifying genocide, etc.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom So this is where @Trekspertise's S2 Review smacks me in the face with how the Lousy Trek Critics remind me of V'ger... they're children of the Berman era, who actually think that, like, Spock is not the protagonist of all of Star Trek, and why not a show that picks up on Sisko?
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom Friends, Countrymen, lend me your ears. Spock is the protagonist of all of Star Trek. Star Trek is, in effect, his family story. It doesn't matter if you disagree. Kurtzman and Orci pitched this to JJ, who agreed, and now Kurtzman runs @startrekcbs.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom The only written document of this that I know of is Bob Orci's thread on @TrekMovie's comment boards, possibly deleted after he was fired for being an alcoholic conspiracy theorist.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom @TrekMovie But I read it, he explained it, and it's settled law now. Because Kurtzman's next show is about... Picard, a guy who mind melded with Sarek, a guy who is no less intimate with Sarek than Burnham.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom @TrekMovie You think Sarek won't be in Picard, do you?
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom @TrekMovie For the DS9 Truthers out there, god bless ye, merry ladies and gentlemen, but DS9 began Star Trek's precipitous dive in ratings, ad revenue, merchandise sales, and is today the least streamed show.
@startrekcbs @inglorioustrek @Trekspertise @StarTrekRoom @TrekMovie Unroll me please @threadreaderapp
