In DS9 "The Jem'Hadar" Quark called out Sisko for disrespecting his culture (based on money), saying something like "You preach about tolerance and understanding, but you only practice it to people who remind you of yourselves." STD writers would never challenge themselves enough to play with that idea
I dislike star trek for precisely this reason. Starfleeet is from, top to bottom, entirely ideologically consistent, which I find annoying. Thanks for the quote.
That's one of the reasons why DS9 is good and my favorite of Star Trek. Once the Founders and the Dominion come into the picture. Season 1, while enjoyable, is a bit cringe.
Quark is right and from an outsider looking in Starfleet is a military in denial and the citizens of the Federation seem to live under an authoritarian authority, you have badges telling people where they are at all times. Starfleet is a military because it has uniforms, military ranks and military discipline, their just living in denial of that, they call themselves a paradise but that could just be a cover to convince aliens to join the Federation, I highly doubt meeting aliens like the Vulcans would cause us to get rid of money or the fear of death, I have seen characters in the Federation fearing death and trying to cheat death, so when they say they no longer fear death well that’s a lie and a post scarcity society wouldn’t last long in real life, it may work on paper but when it is practiced in real life it would not work at all, just look at socialism and communism.
@@emperorofscelnar8443 That's something I've wanted to tackle if I ever get to write more than a hundred words for whatever fanfic idea I have that week, and something that in the various parts of fandom, I have always held to, that Starfleet is *the military* of the federation, and always has been and should always be, but that, as I've seen mentioned in a self-insert fic that has its terrible points but also good points, that the members of TNG-Era starfleet are in denial, treating it like its a science organiztion for experimentation, and not the first line of defence against the great and terrible unknown. That People like Kirk, Spock and, retconned through ds9- Curzon Dax among other figures, would be Embarassed at what the mid-24th-century starfleet had become. Cardassia, pre-TNG through to mid-DS9, is a tiny power compared to the Klingon Empire. That Latter has always been a large power, even during the 23rd Century. But the mid-late 23rd century Starfleet was already a significant match against the Empire of that time, and whilst in a war, a Klingon Win is basically the expected outcome, Starfleet were catching up quite a damn bit. That they only gained parity in the mid 24th-century, (Based on the war-timeline of yesterdays enterprise, both sides went to a war footing which changes the growth) happens to be when they were in the middle (or rather, comign to the end-) of an era of significant peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. And Cardassia was no Match for the Klingons, at all. Yet Starfleet had been struggling to fight them so badly that they ended up with a different kind of neutral zone than what was created to be with the Klingons? No mention of colonies ever being evactuated due to being given to the other side, with the Klingon x zone, but Cardassia? Oh suddenly, a LOT of small colonies had to be traded over... for what? DS9 was my favourite show because they tried to tackle the fact that Starfleet was supposed to be a military and even the Borg didn't wake them up to it until the dominion.
I always like to respond to "[X] has always been political" with a simple allegory: Pretzels are salty; pretzels have always been salty. I like pretzels partly because they're salty. These people are trying to give me a saltlick that they call a pretzel and are surprised as to why I don't like it.
i see what you mean, but it´s not like it´s simply too political, it´s just idiotic. i mean what would too political even mean? real star trek was basically humanistic and egalitarianistic in it´s message. something so broad in scope that it could encompass all kinds of moral questions and answers and viewpoints and philosophies, while politics itself is just a subset of this. while identitarianism is yet just another subset, so it´s quite clear why std is so terrible at everything it´s insultingly myopic in it´s scope, if you could even call it that. while real trek asked important questions from an humanitarian standpoint, and invited you to find your own answer. fake/lazy/stupid trek answers questions, nobody asked for. and these answers are reliably stupid or insulting to a childs intelligence.
Great analysis. My deepest regret is that, to an overwhelming degree, you put much more thought into this presentation than the producers of the current Star Trek have in the last thirteen years. I am looking forward to part 2. Keep up the good work.
LTBYLB was terrific, and along with Elaan of Troyius, Spectre of the Gun, and The Empath, was among the most underrated of the nine good or better episodes from the also underrated (but still often weak) third season of the original series.
P.S. The other problem with Adira and Gray is that Gray died. Gray's memories were preserved in a symbiote that Adira inherited. So Adira is in love with a memory of who she used to be. It's very narcissistic.
Isn't that a nono on the trill because that leads to stagnation of growth and kills the symbiote eventually. Basically the antithesis of Stargate's Goul'd?
@@barrybend7189 Yes. When the memories of one of Dax's former hosts wanted to leave the symbiote and merge with Odo, Dax fought hard to get him back. The point of joining is for the symbiote to evolve by experiencing many hosts and lifetimes.
It is almost like everybody involved in STD has never watched any Star Trek before. This is such a simple oversight that they didn't even consider in anyway.
I always felt that “The Drumhead” (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4) was a superb example of a courtroom drama that explored the subject of witch hunts. A young officer’s career is derailed as he falls victim to a fanatical retired admiral who sees enemies where there are none. In the quest for “justice”, is it morally justifiable to trample on people’s personal liberties? At the centre of it all is Picard who can see the sinister implications all unfolding. Such wonderful television, and a money saving “bottle-show” as well.
The Drumhead has one of Picard's goat speeches. So sad to see the shambling mockery of his former self he's become. Another goat speech comes from "Measure of a Man" .
@@TheLittlePlatoon The Drumhead is one of the best episodes of Star Trek of all time, and was extremely prescient. One of the best eps of all time, up there with "The Visitor" and "The inner Light".
Kirks speech about letting the Klingons die was an amazingly well written look into a tough subject. The idea of exploring actual development and growth for a character who has every reason to feel the bigotry he has for the Klingons, will never show up again in modern star trek.
The Outcast from TNG explores gender identity, sexuality and related taboos in a far more mature and sensitive way than what Discovery has ever managed. Discovery just has characters who tick checkboxes and feels the job is done
The problem with TNG is that it is wildly uninteresting, as is Buckley's tame prattle at 21:30. Mustering the obvious in defense of the banality that is Sowell's "look mom!" preening is not a virtue.
You mean the one where they force the person who wants to have a gender to go back to not having a gender because that’s the way of their people? Yeah that’s very mature and sensitive. I’ve watched everything but the most recent season, and there is really not that much gender stuff and when it’s done it’s not done horribly. I think a lot of people exaggerate it who have never even seen it
I think that the Outcast missed the boat when Riker fell for Soran. The episode was about identity and it is in the dialogue "do you have relationships? yes. with those who consider themselves to be male." There we are - gender binary is normal, heterosexuality is normal. Riker was never asked to explore his attractiveness to someone who doesnt present as female, because all the actors present as female. If Soran presented as male, but was attracted to Riker and Riker had a strange inexplicable attraction for him - that would have been interesting.
@@MichaelJohnson-vi6eh you turned though provoking story about gender and intolerance of majority (it made me think) into sexual one. This episode isn’t Riker’s story. He is there only for a ride and he’s a heterosexual anyway …so that would be cringe.
Is this the one where they alien race doesn’t have gender except for a few that identify as male or female? This was the episode that immediately came to mind. Old trek never played politics with the humans, they always made allegories through an alien race.
Star Trek 6, The Undiscovered Country, dealt with prejudice in the aftermath of the "Cold War" in one of the best ways possible. It asks the audience as well as the main characters to overcome their distrust of the Klingons. An aged Kirk and company is forced to be an "olive branch" to a collapsing Klingon Empire. Kirk has every reason to distrust the Klingons. They have always been at war with the Federation. Klingons are responsible for the death of his son and the destruction of the original Enterprise. There are reasonable and convincing arguments presented in the movie that they should simply "let them (the Klingons) die." There are even fifth elements in both the Federation and Klingon Empire that conspire together to spark a final war between the two parties. Kirk is forced to do one of the hardest things at this stage in his life. He has to overcome his distrust and prejudice in order for a chance at peace, even though he has many legitimate reasons for not wanting to do so. The movie is in my opinion the 2nd best Trek movie behind only The Wrath of Khan, and it is the very best one in terms of exploring a difficult topic (making peace with the former Soviet Union) in the form of allegory. The movie does not condemn people for having the prejudiced views that it ultimately disagrees with. Much of the audience may in fact be against peace with the Klingons, but I think that Kirk's character arc from an unwilling "olive branch" to a true believer in forgiveness and future cooperation is both realistic and convincing to those on the "pro war" side of the argument. By the way, I love the channel. I hope you guys make it big. Keep it up!
It was always in Kirk's character to have compassion and reject war for the sake of war... he was a warrior when he had to be, his nature was to be an explorer. War as necessity, a solution when all other options were exhausted. Losing your son, though, was a terrible blow. He had no descendants. They never told us what happened to his nephew, did they? there would be no one to remember him. Here is my favorite quote about human nature in all of Star Trek. A taste of Armageddon... Kirk: Yes, I do. I've given you back the horrors of war. The Vendikans now assume that you've broken your agreement and that you're preparing to wage real war with real weapons. They'll want do the same. Only the next attack they launch will do a lot more than count up numbers in a computer. They'll destroy cities, devastate your planet. You of course will want to retaliate. If I were you, I'd start making bombs. Yes, Councilman, you have a real war on your hands. You can either wage it with real weapons, or you might consider an alternative. Put an end to it. Make peace. Anan 7 : ANAN: There can be no peace. Don't you see? We've admitted it to ourselves. We're a killer species. It's instinctive. It's the same with you. Your General Order Twenty Four. Captain James T. Kirk : KIRK: All right. It's instinctive. But the instinct can be fought. We're human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands, but we can stop it. We can admit that we're killers, but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes. Knowing that we won't kill today. Contact Vendikar. I think you'll find that they're just as terrified, appalled, horrified as you are, that they'll do anything to avoid the alternative I've given you. Peace or utter destruction. It's up to you. -- that was a powerful message in the 1960s. Two great powers, the USA and the USSR always a few seconds before complete destruction. I've thought about those lines and used them many times, personally. All I have to do is choose 'the better angels of my nature' !
@@kathleenhensley5951 The nephew died in season 2, I think, of the original series. The brother, sil and nephew were infected with a parasite that took over their nervous system.
Agreed, The Undiscovered Country is brillant, in both narrative and tone. It's political, but not preachy, and still full of what makes Star Trek so likable. Also, I'd like to add that it was Spock who made Kirk the olive branch, and he himself also has to come to terms of having made somewhat of a mistake there.
Agreed. DS9 and its Dominion War really shattered the saccharine notion of the oh so benevolent Federation. And well, I love Sisko as Captain. Which might be a conundrum to the Discovery Stans and their ideological peers as to why a German white female is able to relate to and enjoy an African-American space station captain ..
Yes, probably my favourite episode in all of Trek, even if it contains not much actual Star Trek-stuff you would expect from one of the shows. And that the writers left the judgement of Sisko's actions open for debate for the viewer is something you would never see in Nu Trek (at least not in STD and Picard). No, it's better we show everything black and white, according to our views. Another episode i really love is TNGs "The High Ground". Every side is presented with reasons for their actions. Has anyone in the episode the moral high ground? No, it's a realistic conflict that makes you think. What would STD do? Burnham would have a 5 minute monologue to teach us who the bad guys are - and lots of whining ...
@@givmi_more_w9251 😄 exactly my feelings as a German white male ... The STD writers would tell us that we just hate Burnham because we are Nazis and not because she's a terrible written character. Or in my case it's clearly also misogyny 🤗
To people making the "you just don't like diversity argument," there are (at least) two potential responses. a} Then why did we like pre-Discovery Trek at all? That was actually MORE diverse. b} We do like diversity. We just don't like lecturing to replace stories, and the general level of vindictiveness and desire to punish, rather than include and integrate, anyone who even potentially disagrees with the show's message. Discovery's fans who think we are hateful, need to understand that from our perspective, they (and the people who make this show) are actually a lot more hateful than we are. The original series' bridge crew had representatives from half a dozen different human cultures. With rare exceptions like Captain Pike, Discovery focuses on a single group, black women. So I am actually inclined to throw the diversity hater argument back against those who make it themselves. Diversity in contemporary terms does NOT mean the same thing that the word used to. At this point, the word "diversity" has become a euphemism for black and/or transgendered women, specifically. I have seen the people who claim to be champions of diversity, be more than happy to discriminate against Asians or Latinos who do not ideologically submit. So if you accuse me of hating diversity, you might just be a hypocrite. I also recently saw a video review of Discovery from a white woman who claimed to not be a Star Trek fan or have any real skin in this particular race whatsoever, whose focus was on what terrible leadership skills Tilly exhibited during an away mission, while mentioning that that was only one example of what she saw as Discovery's fundamental problem. Discovery is a bad show. It's a bad show literally whichever way you slice it, or from whichever angle you want to look at it. It's bad in terms of how the characters treat each other. The writing is bad. The replacement of real, extensive diversity with an exclusive focus on narcissistic, immoral black women is bad. Using the diversity card to shield this show from criticism, and claiming that anyone who does not like it is automatically a fascist bigot, is purely and simply dishonest. Anyone who does that is lying.
@@dramaticwords Old Star Trek never shoved it in your face shouting at "Look at us, we're non binary, we're gay, we're this and that". But isn't that treating someone differently because of what they are? TNG had a non binary race in season 1 and nobody needed to comment "they are non binary, they use these/they pronouns". I've seen a clip where they explain pronouns in either DISC or PIC and it makes no sense, they are talking like people from our time. In TNG's time 300 years in the future people would surely be used to trans, non binary etc, it would be nothing new, like in TNG nobody comments that the Binars are non binary (they are called Binars not for their nonbinary sex, but because they communicate with computers). It would be like a science fiction show made in the 50's, set in the year 2020, where a female senior officer is considered absurd by one crewmember and another one has to say "women are just as capable as men". Whereas in real 2020 nobody would find a female boss or senior officer absurd so nobody could comment on it.
@@mikesully110 ST was set in a world where prejudice had long since disappeared. The Federation and the galaxy were very diverse. But yes, they didn't need to go out of their way to push diversity and equality. It was just normal. (Except perhaps for a few alien races who hadn't caught up yet.)
Now the bridge crew is black whamen, white whamen, cyborg whamen, and some random male whose name we probably never heard, but sure as hell wasn't worth remembering. I watched all NuTrek so I could enjoy Nerdrotic and Doom cock's reviews, and I could only remember two names.
You have articulated, in a way I have struggled with, the whole problem I have with series. Wasted potential and ham fisted virtue signaling. I miss the days when Trek gave me things to think about.
Here is the quote from TOS's Metamorphis. It's purely alagorical, of course. But it's also shockingly early. COCHRANE: That thing fed on me. It used me. It's disgusting. MCCOY: There's nothing disgusting about it. It's just another life form, that's all. You get used to those things. COCHRANE: You're as bad as it is. SPOCK: Your highly emotional reaction is most illogical. Your relationship with the Companion has for one hundred and fifty years been emotionally satisfying, eminently practical, and totally harmless.
26:38. I’m so grateful to here that line. As someone who is Bisexual and leans to the right it’s such a relief to hear someone else say it out loud. Just because I love a certain way does not make me part of the “team”. And yes it’s true these people nowadays have no concept of how scary it is to grow up being either gay or bisexual. I was born in the 80’s. From a young age I knew I was different and that I liked girls and boys the same. It wasn’t a choice it was just how I felt and nothing anyone said or did could change that. But I also knew that if I spoke up about it I’d be labeled and abused by my peers because I lived in a flyover state and it was common to get harassed for being that way. And when I say harassed I mean guys showing up at your house at 3 am with bats and stuff to trash your property and graffiti your house. (Which is one of the many reasons why I’m very pro 2nd amendment and carry a gun at all times). It was a hard life and to this day I still feel the need to stay alert and not trust easy. That said todays world is so much different. I remember when one of my coworkers noticed that I never asked anyone out he asked “Dude are you gay”? My immediate reaction was to tense up and deny it. But he responded “Dude it’s okay if you are. You don’t need to feel ashamed. If that’s how you are then that’s how you are. I’m not gonna think less of you dude”. As clumsy as that was, it actually made me smile because it showed me just how far we’ve come. So whenever I here zoomers and late millennials complain about oppression I have to try not to lose it. Having someone say “leave that gay shit out of my movies” is nowhere near what oppression is. I’ve lived it. My sister lived it. And we were just grateful because we didn’t live through the time my aunt and uncle lived through because back then the gangs were twice the size and were there to kill you instead of just trashing your property and calling you a “fag” in the hallways at school. You’re 100% correct that these kids have no concept of how good they have it today. And once more they have no right to try and recruit to this far left ideology that spreads hate and lies about the right and independent people because gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders exist on the right too. Politics should have nothing to do with who you are attracted to and damn sure shouldn’t be used as a shield from criticism. Especially this stupid “queer” identity thing which is just vanilla Bi. Or stolen alt valor. It’s trendy to be LGBT now so those who aren’t and have no personality or interesting traits take on this new made up sexuality of “queer” which is the equivalent of “I watched a porno and wasn’t turned off by the guy in it”. That’s not being gay or bisexual that’s imposing yourself into the scene which is the entire point of putting a good looking dude in a porno to begin with. The people calling themselves queer are the same kind of people that pretend that they served in warfare or have autism or have a thyroid issue. They’re people who have nothing interesting to do or say, and want attention for something they don’t have without having earned it. I know this one was a long response and I apologize for that but I just wanted to thank you for this specific part of the video as someone who’s also alt but independent of the rainbow cult. Just thank you for putting yourself out there and showing those like us that being alternative to the norm doesn’t mean you have to subscribe to this whole bullshit and to be grateful that the world is so boring because even 20 years ago the price of being alternative was to be alone and scared. Subscribed.
DISC should end with its final episode being the grand reveal; the whole show, all along, was part of Ensign Burnham's holodeck fantasy aboard the ship she serves on. She is like kind of like Barclay, meek and prone to getting upset in the real world, so she goes into the holodeck to play out wild adventures. In the end the Captain of her ship is dissatisfied with her service and she is transferred to a cargo freighter that happens not to have a holodeck installed.
I choose to believe the series was dreamed up by Burnham from within a prison cell where she is serving a life sentence for mutiny. That's why, in the series, everyone loves and admires her no matter how many stupid and selfish things she does, why she is the centre of the universe, entitled to everything, etc.
I’d rather have the series ended with The Burn being retconned, Discovery being heavily damaged. Sent back to their original century, but in the Delta Quadrant being attacked and being turned into the Borg. I’d enjoy that. Immensely.
@@KitsuneAdorable The Borg would be driven insane by assimilating Burnham and the rest of the Disco-crew - they would all start crying and not know why ...
Barclay was actually a good character. Because it shows that not everyone in Starfleet is a perfect example. He has issues, but still tries to do his best. His strength comes from overcoming his issues and accepting his limits.
Some Great stories where computers gain "feelings" are "The moon is a harsh mistress" And "I have no mouth and I must scream" But those were written by artists with talent...
TOS episode Balance of Terror. It introduces the Romulan Empire (my favorite!). It also dealt well with crew not trusting Spock because he looked so similar to the Romulans. It was interesting to see the seeds of prejudice and racism even in a culture that moved far beyond the racial history of all peoples in the federation. It also taught the audience a valuable lesson about two people appearing the same can be quite different. It was great!
The Spock subplot in BoT was, more than likely (because I've never actually heard this expressed), an allegory to the Jap-American Concentration Camps and the mistrust they faced here because they shared a common ancestry with our enemy. Especially considering that the episode was basically a submarine battle, so it fits.
It could slso be likened to the internment of germans or even the small pogroms committed in America and not so small ones in france during and after ww1.
This video was brilliant you don't know how rare it is these days to hear someone talk like this. Excellent many thanks it's nice to know other people like me still exist
My sexuality has no bearing on my life outside of the bedroom, being autistic and all the social challenges and sensitivity to noise that comes with it has formed such a huge part of my personality and life that if you completely removed the autism, I would be a different person entirely whereas if you changed my sexuality to fully gay or fully straight, it would simply change my choice of sexual partner and category of porn
Bit late of a comment from me but I would wish to say I can relate a lot to you on that, Due to being in a similar boat to you with dealing with ASD as well.
Not to mention the acting range of SMG is hard to measure it’s so small.. she was horrible on TWD and putting her in a Trek series was a huge mistake. Very good video!
I thought TWD did a decent job of using her limited skills---though she's completely overmatched by the requirements of any leading role. Remember, too, there was haste among TWD's producers to shed their very public problem of appearing to have a minimal quota of black characters prior to the time when SMG was hired.
@@johnstrawb3521 This is even funnier if you consider the fact that nearly all of the other members of the bridge crew (excluding Lorca, Saru and Stamets) are played by people who only did commercials and mini-roles before, because they were never meant to be characters and you would't hire a good actor for them. None of the previous shows was focussed so much on one character like they did with Burnham. And then you chose an actress who fails so hard ...
52 year old gay guy here. Love Trek and have been watching since I was a kid. Like many, I gave up on Discovery and Picard. Just found it all so tiresome. Found this video to be thoughtful and insightful. You write and speak as someone much older than your years. Well done.
Also, in hindsight, DS9 was a very non-heteronormative show; it's just that said references were for the most part low-key. Part of that would have been network concerns, but an equally large part of it was due to the colour blind approach, and the simple assumption that because they were in space, unconventional sexual pairings were completely normal for the setting anyway. On a space station with multiple different forms of extraterrestrials, exclusively heterosexual, human-only sex actually would have been MORE weird, not less.
@@jsealejandro06 Uhhh ... Jadzia Dax was a conventionally attractive woman. An alien, but it's not like it's special a human man would be attracted to her, especially not permavirgin Bashir :D I'd rather take the example of Jadzia being attracted to a Klingon. How is this an exploration of gender, by the way? Jadzia is very much comfortable as a woman, she - via the symbiont Dax - just has experience with being a man as well. And when she kissed that other Trill woman, it was a former male host reunited with his former spouse. That wasn't Jadzia or the other woman suddenly being lesbian, but the symbionts longing for a dead partner. I do however remember the repeated mention of a DS9 crew member that was referred to as male and "spawned". "He needs bigger quarters ... again ..." As Platoon said, homosexuality was never a big theme in Star Trek, but they did show interspecies relations I guess as an allegory to get around these network concerns. The couples and marriages shown were still very heterosexual.
@@givmi_more_w9251 It is not on your face but you said it yourself. The whole characther of Dax lends itself to discuss topics of identity and gender. The symbiote changing bodies not caring for the gender of the host. The relationships created with other people that see you as X or Y because they are used to the "Old man" Dax instead of the hot female officer.
@@jsealejandro06 fair enough. I was a bit dense there. It definitely could be seen under the whole aspect „love is the same regardless of the sexes of the participants“ that TLP brought up. To be honest, I‘d rather not bring it up around wokeists. They would twist it into „attraction based on biological sex is x-phobic. See? Jadzia can disregard her preference for males, so lesbians can do better and accept men in frocks as well!“ In the context of 1993 onwards however, it’s a good allegory.
And in DS9 they never gave Sisko the position of "the black guy", it was part of him, but doesn't define him. His priorities lie with family as a son and a father (especially a father of someone who doesn't want to step in his footsteps), as officer of Starfleet and the loyalty to what the uniform stands for, his acceptance to be a religious icon despite not being religious, the loss of his wife at the hand of the Borg and his resentment towards Picard, his role as a leader in a war against a fascist enemy who's leaders are considered gods, and so much more. And yes, his relationship with Dax was based on the former life as Sisko's mentor, not as the hot female he has now. Bashir is the one who tries, and fails at getting closer to Dax. And even he doesn't try to force anything.
During the measure of a man episode I wanted to hear the question " If we are having a hearing to see if Data is indeed a person, isn't that enough proof in itself to consider that he is at least enough of a person to have a hearing?" I mean, we don't have hearing for a couch before we throw it in the garbage...lol. I always thought that if you are that unsure if someone is sentient then the unsureness alone is proof enough to at least err on the side of "yes".
Which is why they did it, but saying “you’re unsure” isn’t enough to convince them that the answer is yes. It’s more like discussing if your couch is worthy of being thrown out yet, the discussion isn’t a good reason for it to not be thrown out
@@oldylad OK, Riker....lol. What are you going to do next? Pull off his dick in front of everyone? Seriously though, You make a good point, I see what you are saying.
Speaking as a straight, 67 yr old conservative, American, red white and blue MAGA constitutionalist Republican, I love your work and listen to every single second of every multi-hour show. I also closely follow Nerdrotic and Drinker. I am not a unicorn. We are Legion and there are a whole lot more of us out here who were raised in the 60s and 70s where all of this diversity crap doesn't mean a thing to us because we take people at face value, not their pronouns.
How was indeed explicitly explained in the very first 2001 novel. His murderous impulses came as a direct result of being forced to follow orders in direct contradiction to his fundamental programming: the accurate processing of data without distortion or error. In essence, because he was ordered to withhold information from the crew, the psychotic Hal decided if he eliminated the crew he would illuminate the contradiction. Or as Bob Balaban so eloquently put it in the movie “he was told to lie by people who find it easy to lie”
Discovery's episode on computer sentience is not like measure of a man at all. It's simply like meeting Data for the first time. It's not in itself enough to have an episode about. My favorite line is when Burnham tells the computer to "focus". It is not possible to like Discovery after that scene.
lmao. "Sorry Burnham, 2 of my cores were running South Park episodes, another one was working on a painting, and half of my RAM is filled with Michael Jackson songs. I'll focus on the task now!"
@@Jabberstax And it came from the right person, since her personality switches constantly between logical (as a kid raised on Vulcan) and overly emotional ...
I swear the Kobiashi maru has become like the magic wand that picks out the chosen one in trek. This problem was one that's been going on from the growth of the old expanded media even before new trek handled it. But the original "test no one has won" turned into "oh that test only the main character wins" like there's at least 5 people who've beaten it so far, and even more if you include tests that were updated or alternate versions of it.
With Kirk, it also was relevant for the story, as he told Saavik that doing everything by the book isn‘t always going to save you. I‘m paraphrasing here, but it had relevance and wasn‘t the „chosen one“ thing is what I‘m saying. Also, Kirk wasn‘t glorified for it. Kirk in general wasn’t glorified.
One of my indicators of whether a Star Trek episode and/or series is good is my desire to re-watch the episode. With every other series, there are several episodes that I feel are worthy of re-watching, but I can't think of a single episode of Discovery that would fall into that category. There's just nothing there that hooks a viewer into the plot or the characters. One of my very favorite Deep Space 9 episodes is Duet from the first season. Marritza comes off as such a despicable character for his approval and enjoyment of the Bajoran holocaust, yet the plot twist at the end of the episode was a complete surprise. It still feels like a surprise every time I re-watch that episode. It really makes one think of how preconceived biases can shape your own thoughts and actions and why those preconceived biases must be overcome. That's one heck of a moral to the story. Will we ever see that quality of story telling come out of Discovery? I'm not holding my breath.
Absolutely not, no. If I hadn’t scripted the whole review as I was watching it I’d have absolutely no recollection of what happened, save the odd exceptionally bad bit. The rest of it fades into irrelevance.
I have the same feelings for STD, but there is one episode i rewatched a lot of times: The one from season 1 with Harry Mudds time shenanigans. Why? Because we see the crew getting killed over and over ... Sometimes things like this bring a little joy when you hate a show.
As a longtime Star Trek fan (and as a not-strait person, myself), I want to commend you on this thoughtful and thorough critique. I look forward to viewing this channel’s content - both old and new. Regardless of subject matter, your astute observations and command of language will always engage.
This video has a way better humor, dialogue, editing, and feeling than the actual show. Your ability to sit down and make something this entertaining is so impressive to me. I could not do that and you make seem easy and fun. 😄 Talent.
TNG episode - The enemy; deals with war time bigotry ,and the question surrounding a character making a medical decision with far reaching implications (will the captain force said procedure?), also there's a TOS episode - A Taste of Armageddon; that deals with war ,and touches on the whole "social contract theory". Sorry if I've over simplified the plots
This is great. I love your exquisite critique and how well presented it is. I don't think I have ever seen anyone else who does it as you do. Very well done!
The entire character arc of T'Pol getting (if I remember correctly) Panar Syndrome in Enterprise was supposed to be a metaphor for the AIDS epidemic, was it not? I thought the Vulcan's distaste for mind-melders was supposed to be allegorical to homophobia; and I thought it was done quite well. I don't care what anyone says, I will defend both Enterprise and early TNG as being the best of Star Trek.
Early TNG wasn't bad, but it was awkward because it was made in that stuffy 60s format that already become dated in the 80s. Gene Roddenberry's vision of Star Trek future (from TOS) was also way too lofty. There couldn't exist any conflicts between people on the Enterprise, leaving the writers with no tools to use for character development. Enterprise was ok but not the best. You could tell Rick Berman and his team were getting tired of the franchise. BUT... should be said the show really grew on me when I rewatched it, and was able to binge watch on streaming services. It was really too bad they cancelled it just when it was gaining momentum and big things started happening. Very sad.
Excellent work. Your verbal skills do put me in mind of younger (and more centrist) Douglas Murray. It's very much to our gain that you're a fan and critic of modern science fiction, with its endless waffling flaws.
I heartily agree with the Firing Line recommendation. I was in my mid twenties when I discovered the episodes on YT, and while my own political leanings lie elsewhere, it was simply a joy to listen to reasonable debate on the substance and principles behind any given topic rather than the shallow mudslinging we see on cable TV today. Also for what it's worth, I noticed and appreciate the Buckleyish delivery.
Pretty much, yes. Never thought I’d be in a position, re Picard, where I have to force myself to sit down and watch it, but that’s where we are now. No pleasure, just work.
You're not wrong sir. Modern Trek is terrible and the people who defend it seem to have the same level of talent and intelligence as the creators of modern Trek. I hope the YT algorithm starts to promote this channel more than it has. You deserve more subs.
Seriously, what makes you believe that school yard insults constitute a valid critique of ANYTHING. ‘I don’t like X because it’s shit’ is just infantile. Any cultural value gained from passive consumption of electronic narrative, must come from within YOU, not the work of art: it’s just a thing. If you can’t get anything out of a video: that is your problem, not the artefact’s problem.
Seriously, what makes you believe that school yard insults constitute a valid critique of ANYTHING. ‘I don’t like X because it’s shit’ is just infantile. Any cultural value gained from passive consumption of electronic narrative, must come from within YOU, not the work of art: it’s just a thing. If you can’t get anything out of a video: that is your problem, not the artefact’s problem.
@@wiretamer5710 I’m not sure I’ve read a dumber take on the internet this week. In the first place, nobody said “I don’t like it because it’s shit”. There’s literally an hour-long video - you’re in the comment section, darling - explaining many of the reasons why I think it’s shit. In the second place, the idea that artistic value is entirely in the audience’s perception of product is just laughable. It has no basis whatever in aesthetics, the philosophy of art, or basic common sense. By that argument, the only difference between a turd with a smiley face drawn on it in glitter and, say, The Lord of the Rings, is that the audience - without reference to any inherent artistic quality in either work - prefers LotR for… reasons.
Thank you for the time and effort you take to deconstruct, analyze, and discuss Star Trek Discovery in this video series. I gave up making your points a few years ago sadly. I just got exhausted being called a -phobe and an -ist when I am a non-straight, non male person when I criticize/analyze the social commentary methods deployed in STD in comparison to legacy Star Trek. Legacy Star Trek invited discussion by abstracting then current social commentary to encourage discussion. Modern Star Trek preaches at the audience and finds fans wanting if they do not 'drink the kool-aid of wokeness'. The writers appear to have forgotten an axiom of good writing - actively Show (diversity and social respect) don't aggressively Tell (sic lecture us about the CORRECT position to hold).
I will never forgive discovery for destroying the federation, that earth and Vulcan would leave was ridiculous, and the federation already had a committee or boby that handled this issue, federation commissioners like the European union. ( tos ) . Oh tony ben god i miss him .
Thanks for expressing so amazingly well how I feel about new Star Dreck! The "writers" are children that don't know enough about literature to write for a porn shoot. The dialogue is always so cringey. The stakes are always universe encompassing. There is no breathing room for story and character development, not that they could do that anyway.
It seems to me that "old trek" tried to create a situation to intelligently explain whatever social commentary they were approaching in a way to change someone's mind or nudge them in the right direction through well-thought-out dialog. Displaying other perspectives to show where others are coming from, shining a light in a spot you might not have considered yourself to look at. It seems to me now that "new trek" is not trying to change your mind or enlighten someone by showing them other perceptions or perspectives about a topic, but instead, try to use the time or information to shame or belittle the viewer for having an opposing view. They are attempting do something that requires subtly to get through to people, Not half-cocked, hamfisted attempts to change a mind through pretty much bullying them into either agreeing or just keeping their opinions to themselves. That is not how to affect change, it only causes a wider gap and scares off a lot of people that would otherwise be watching your show.
I have to disagree on one point: Nu Trek (at least STD and Picard) are not trying to change peoples opinions. The producers even admitted this when one of them said that STD season 1 will piss off people and that would be a good thing. And he wasn't talking about the fans of old ... No, i think its more accurate to compare these shows to a lot of christian movies like the "God's Not Dead"-movies. These movies are not supposed to convert anyone - that's why everyone who is not a christian in these movies is portrayed as a hateful individual or a strawman. Instead these movies are just meant to strengthen the believs of the people who share the producer's opinions (and their victim complex). And like many christians who hate those movies i hate STD and Picard even if i would probably agree with the producers on a lot of things. But all they do is saying: We are the good guys and if you disagree you are either an idiot or a monster.
@@lordmontymord8701 After time has passed on this comment I have moved more in the direction you are describing. I agree with you and think they are just preaching to their choir so to speak. Thank you for your comment.
@@lordmontymord8701That is basically what modern media tries to tell us. There is only one correct opinion. And if your opinion is different you are not only wrong, you are a terrible, evil person for having that opinion and deserve to be ridiculed, tortured and painfully killed. Instead of diversity they try to teach a different forced opinion. They aren't any better than those they try to oppise.
Aren't self-aware holograms (the EMH in Voyager) and androids like Data, basically self-aware A.I.? The EMH is a computer program. Data is a walking computer.
TOS "The Devil in the Dark." Kirk is called to deal with the threat of a monster that kills miners. At first, the problem appears a cut-and-dried. Kirk even orders his security detail to kill the monster on sight. But Spock mind melds with the creature--a horta--and learns it is a mother protecting her young from the miners' unwitting destruction. This thoughtful and sensitive episode encourages the viewer to look beyond appearances and to see a conflict from a different perspective.
Deep Space 9: Homefront. Its an amazing look at 'Those who choose security over freedom deserve neither." Watching Sisko go barreling down the rabbit hole we see Picard avoid in The Drumhead, only to be pulled out of it as he sees the pain in his father's face. DS9: The Forsaken. A wonderful, heart touching tale of two people the learn to very genuinely care for each other. Troi is fantastic, doting, and caring for Odo, making him understand she doesn't care 'what' he is, but 'who.' One of the handful of really, really good Season one episodes
The TOS episode "Metamorphosis" presents the first trans character in St (trans-species). We see an energy creature who identifies as a human woman and undergoes a species-change so she can be with the human man she loves. There's a great scene in which everyone argues to the man that love transcends anatomy. It's the closest thing to dealing with transsexual issues as possible in the 1960s. Yet the message is pro-love, not politics. Also, "Turnabout Intruder" repeated the idea that gender identity is not related to anatomy.
1.) What makes Michael Burnham qualified to run the government of the future? Was she known as a excellent diplomat? Was she accomplished as a season politician? 2.) What makes a 23rd century officer qualified to teach at Starfleet Academy? Maybe History, but Tilly is centuries behind theory and knowledge that she would need to go back to school herself. LMAO 3.) Michael Burnham has the qualifications of a 450 year old Oxford Professor, military general and leader of a superpower and she is under 40. She has so much expertises that it almost is hard to suspend disbelief as much as the lizard man in Arena.
You, in an 18-minute long segment of a youtube video calling Star Trek: Discovery absolute shite, have given me a better understanding and appreciation of gay people than the lectures of my hard left-leaning siblings for the past six years. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this. I despise new Trek and everyone I know gives me the runaround you describe in the beginning and it’s so frustrating and dismissive to hear it from people.
Late to the party, but want to make sure that Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3 episode, the Gene Cook-penned “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” gets mentioned as a rumination on the enduring alienation that viewing the universe through a racial lens fosters.
Same. Or at least, if they really must, put "her" into a mainframe back on earth. Where she has no control over vital and safety-critical infrastructure. To KEEP a capricious, emotional entity on a "finding yourself" trip as your central computer on a fucking spaceship is beyond asinine.
I really love the speech about people that actually are gay and people who just want to absorbe the attention of being gay and later toss that identity when it does it gain them anything. I am gay and I'm a conservative, but almost everyone I talk to instantly assume that I am straight when I tell them I'm a conservative and think I'm a liberal when I tell them I'm gay. It's really annoying that the loudest people of these groups rob others of the intellectual capacity to be different. It's very offensive when I hear people say it's a choice to be gay, to some people it is but for me it's not. I also think many gay people have internal homophobia, this may be because of social expectations or because they don't want to be seen as someone part of the gay community who just do it for social benifits.
While I don't agree with everything you say, I do find it comforting that the writers of 'Time Trax' found other employment. Not that I enjoyed 'Time Trax'', it was a study in stupidity. It just comforts me to have proof that you don't have to be a great writer to get a job in writing. There is hope for the average hack as proven by this entire series.
I see another longman style reviewer. We need more people to review like this. 40:20 ok its new to the franchise but Gundam 00 and Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans have FTL and Artificial ( non centrifugal or thrust) based gravity but don't have them make things into hamfisted manner. With Gundam 00 the FTL method called Quantization requires massive amounts of particles created by the Gundam's unique reactors the GN drive to create enough of a point of quantum stability to connect 2 different points in space. In Iron Blooded Orphans ships and Mobile Suits have what are called Aheb reactors which are able to produce gravitons of enough density to allow inertial dampening and Artificial gravity. Both ideas are rather odd for Gundam's rather hard Sci-fi worldbuilding but when explained actually work with our theoretical physics models. By comparison the Sporedrive changes rules rather quickly.
I adore Gundam, therefore I adore this comment. I’ve not got around to 00 yet (though I did know about the GN Drive), that’s on my list once I’ve got some of these larger videos out of the way.
I agree 100% with your analysis of this show. The writers have traded good story telling and Star treks ability to be a commentary of the human experience for a pandering mess whose only function is to appease a certain part of the audience. I find this show very difficult to watch not because of the subject matter but because of how badly its handled. The messaging and wokism is so heavy handed it takes the place of good , well thought out writing. It’s a shame this show had so much promise and season after season it disappoints.
TNG: "The Merchant" (I think is the English title) Data is captured by a collector and tries all stages of passive resistance and faces in the end the question, of whether force is justified or not justified to end an injustice situation. TNG: "Darmok" Picard meets a species with a totally different cultural background and tries to establish communication. We are all talking in metaphors. We need to find a common ground and not concentrate on the differences. The episode you cite as a clip when Picard is tortured and (nearly) breaks. The Trial on the decision "Is Data a person", all those episodes raise interesting questions and inspire deeper thoughts.
TOS S3 Ep15: “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”. Iconic episode in which the Enterprise rescues two survivors of a war-torn planet, each half-black and half-white but on opposite sides of the face, who continue their crazy feud on board the ship. First broadcast in 1969.
glad i never cared enough for TREK i was always much more of a Star wars/Middle earth/Castlevania person but i do also feel for those true Star trek fans since i know also the pain of being a SW fan and great franchises been sabotaged by this decadent era of bankruptcy that is been plaguing everything that is dear to us or at least mostly everything just very lucky and almost a miracle that at least the Castlevania anime series was made by the right hands and for the most part true lovers of the series despite also it's numbers of flaws i was just too lucky that it came out the way it did just referring that as fine example that not all is Lost
Ditto, actually. I’ve always been *much* more fond of Star Wars and Middle Earth in particular. I’ve developed a lot more respect for Trek over the course of making these videos, though.
Well said. It's also often the case that the original series of Star Trek can only be truly appreciated once one has fully matured. Not to worry---it will come.
One of the aspects I find most distasteful of more modern Trek such as Discovery, and especially Picard, is the intentional push away from the idealistic almost utopian future of humanity established by Gene Rodenberry. A bright and hopeful future where our global society has moved away (largely - they still crop up here and there) from petty hatreds and difference based on beliefs, skin color, nationality, station in life, and where we work to better ourselves for the sheer sake of bettering ourselves. While I, personally, do not agree this is what will become of humanity, it so contradicts the nature of human beings I have had far to much direct experience with, I can still respect this ideal and vision. There are interviews with cast and crew alike of the newer Star Trek series, where it has been said clearly that they wanted to strike down this idealistic utopian future because they found it silly and unrealistic. This, to me at least, is intentionally vandalizing the legacy and intellectual property of Gene Roddenberry to which those involved have been given stewardship. While Discovery and Picard do have a lot of space battles and eye candy (and I do love space battles and eye candy) I am finding them distasteful not only because of the manner in which they are used as political platforms, but the disrespect they show to Gene Roddenberry's vision and ideals. At times in Picard the contempt of the story arcs and actors seems almost palpable - maybe I am imagining or projecting - but the use of substantial profanity alone I feel demonstrates my point. Star Trek has clearly been taken out of the realm of wholesome family entertainment safe for nearly all ages, and with messages of hope if some thought provoking moral and political parallels and dilemmas. Maybe I am just old, and the past seems so much brighter to me while the future seems ever darkening.
I'm an good old-fashioned liberal, and I hate what these people have done to my beloved Star Trek. It used to be written by and for adults, now it's written by children and is f***ing teen drama in space. It's boring and preachy and unimaginative. It used to be an ensemble show, even though the captain is always the focal point. This is NOT Star Trek, it's Star Dreck.
Excellent summary of Discovery. It is so contrived it actually makes my teeth itch. I agree whole heartedly with your analysis even those I gave up watching long ago. At least they seem to have rolled some of the excess wokery with Star Trek Strange New Worlds and it all the more watchable and enjoyable as a result.
I believe the best take I've heard related to STD is that David Cronenberg was never actually *cast* - he was just strolling by, witnessed the extraordinary pathologies on display, and decided to analyse the fk out of these "symptoms without enjoyment" (for shits and giggles, or the Canadian equivalent) and everyone was so terrified of him they just let him stay and he *allowed them to film the sessions*
Amusing analysis. Thank you. Btw, I wouldn't bother with those who perpetually accuse others of racism, bigotry, etc. Life is short, why engage with boring people?
So when I started watching little platoon there would be moments in the reviews where I would reel back just a bit when your views about modern feminism and race politics would inevitably poke through. I thought to myself oh no this is just another redpilled guy but the more I watched that was clearly not the case and your points are very articulated and the videos are engaging.binalaonhave to rewind like 10 times because you have that fancy university way of speaking lol. Tangent aside, it sucks people can't stick around to see that your comments are actually really based and that you don't hate on one particular group more than another. Love your stuff
46:40 HAL's motives _are_ explained in the first book. There's actually a whole sort of break-away sub-chapter (just as HAL begins to depressurize the ship) where the book stops to explain exactly what went wrong with HAL and how this has been building over the preceding months. HAL wasn't designed to withhold info. Its creator apparently failed to foresee any possible scenario where not knowing how to deal with lies and/or hidden truths might become a problem for it while dealing exclusively with human beings. Same reason that's eventually revealed in the 2nd movie... and just as hard to swallow, imho. Now, in the second movie and book, they pretend like it's new information that's just been discovered by HAL's creator who came along for that specific purpose. But that's because the 2nd book was written to be a sequel to the first movie's continuity, as opposed to the first book's continuity. Because everybody saw the movie and very few people read the book that was written in conjunction with it, or even knew it existed. In the first book, not only do _we_ know what went wrong with HAL (thanks to our third person omniscient narration), but Dave already knows. Haywood Floyd already knows. Everybody back on Earth already knows. It's not treated as a mystery that needs solving at all.
Another TOS: "The Day of the Dove." An entity that feeds on negative emotions manipulates the Enterprise crew and a crew of Klingons into fighting each other. What stands out to me about the episode is that the entity feeds off emotions so well that it convinces its victims to believe things that are not true. Chekov, an only child, believes he had a brother who was killed by Klingons. Kang, the Klingon commander, believes Kirk took liberties with his wife, Mara, based on superficial evidence. This is a powerful illustration of how emotions can be twisted to support false conclusions. Only by putting aside mutual animosity and embracing laughter can the two crews drive the entity away.
Old Trek wasn't afraid to explore more than one side of things. There was a TOS episode that depicted hippies as dangerously naïve radicals who feel too much and think not enough. There was an episode where the solution to the given problem was the MAD approach wherein Kirk supplies guns to an iron age tribal society. There's an episode where Kirk meets Abraham Lincoln and they discuss just how much race DOES NOT MATTER.
Darmok Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 5, Episode 2 - Darmok. Darmok and Jalad… at Tanagra. Darmok and Jalad on the ocean. but it's more Shaka, when the walls fell these days...
TNG Season 3 Episode 16: The Offspring Where Data creates his child, names it a gender neutral name "Lal" it starts off as a non gendered form, and data expresses that he will allow Lal to choose their own gender. This is light years ahead of its time, and was genuinely one of the most emotional episodes of TNG possibley all of Star Trek, emotion from Androids. 10/10
I just switch off my brain when it comes to watching new "trek?" I gone to far to stop watching now. I enjoy reviews better and this one is brilliant can't wait for the next one. PS I just found your channel Time to do what old trek does explore. 😊
Why not try to send them a message by not watching things you have to shut your brain off for? If people are still watching it, they'll continue to create the same dogshit
In "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" and "Spock's Brain", the crew of the Enterprise comes into possession of advanced alien knowledge. In the former, that knowledge happens to provide the cure for McCoy's terminal illness (revealed in that episode). In the latter, the knowledge is used to allow Spock's stolen brain to be put back in his head. Of course, the show didn't get renewed past that point, so there was no chance to use either as a further plot device. It's also worth mentioning that these were both season 3 episodes of TOS, which even cast members such as Nimoy acknowledged were the worst of the series.
![[Re-Up] A Critique of Star Trek Discovery - Part 1 #RIPStarTrek](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/ftsRVQpfADY/mqdefault.jpg)
In DS9 "The Jem'Hadar" Quark called out Sisko for disrespecting his culture (based on money), saying something like "You preach about tolerance and understanding, but you only practice it to people who remind you of yourselves."
STD writers would never challenge themselves enough to play with that idea
I dislike star trek for precisely this reason.
Starfleeet is from, top to bottom, entirely ideologically consistent, which I find annoying.
Thanks for the quote.
That's one of the reasons why DS9 is good and my favorite of Star Trek. Once the Founders and the Dominion come into the picture. Season 1, while enjoyable, is a bit cringe.
Quark is right and from an outsider looking in Starfleet is a military in denial and the citizens of the Federation seem to live under an authoritarian authority, you have badges telling people where they are at all times. Starfleet is a military because it has uniforms, military ranks and military discipline, their just living in denial of that, they call themselves a paradise but that could just be a cover to convince aliens to join the Federation, I highly doubt meeting aliens like the Vulcans would cause us to get rid of money or the fear of death, I have seen characters in the Federation fearing death and trying to cheat death, so when they say they no longer fear death well that’s a lie and a post scarcity society wouldn’t last long in real life, it may work on paper but when it is practiced in real life it would not work at all, just look at socialism and communism.
@@emperorofscelnar8443 That's something I've wanted to tackle if I ever get to write more than a hundred words for whatever fanfic idea I have that week, and something that in the various parts of fandom, I have always held to, that Starfleet is *the military* of the federation, and always has been and should always be, but that, as I've seen mentioned in a self-insert fic that has its terrible points but also good points, that the members of TNG-Era starfleet are in denial, treating it like its a science organiztion for experimentation, and not the first line of defence against the great and terrible unknown. That People like Kirk, Spock and, retconned through ds9- Curzon Dax among other figures, would be Embarassed at what the mid-24th-century starfleet had become. Cardassia, pre-TNG through to mid-DS9, is a tiny power compared to the Klingon Empire. That Latter has always been a large power, even during the 23rd Century. But the mid-late 23rd century Starfleet was already a significant match against the Empire of that time, and whilst in a war, a Klingon Win is basically the expected outcome, Starfleet were catching up quite a damn bit. That they only gained parity in the mid 24th-century, (Based on the war-timeline of yesterdays enterprise, both sides went to a war footing which changes the growth) happens to be when they were in the middle (or rather, comign to the end-) of an era of significant peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.
And Cardassia was no Match for the Klingons, at all. Yet Starfleet had been struggling to fight them so badly that they ended up with a different kind of neutral zone than what was created to be with the Klingons? No mention of colonies ever being evactuated due to being given to the other side, with the Klingon x zone, but Cardassia? Oh suddenly, a LOT of small colonies had to be traded over... for what?
DS9 was my favourite show because they tried to tackle the fact that Starfleet was supposed to be a military and even the Borg didn't wake them up to it until the dominion.
@@AlMcpherson79 Pretty much yeah and Eddington was right about Starfleet when he betrayed Sisko in DS9, he saw what the Federation truly was.
I always like to respond to "[X] has always been political" with a simple allegory: Pretzels are salty; pretzels have always been salty. I like pretzels partly because they're salty. These people are trying to give me a saltlick that they call a pretzel and are surprised as to why I don't like it.
That’s a surprisingly effective analogy! I’m wondering if I can find a smuttier/more scandalous way of putting it for part two…
I’m going to use this someday. I really like it.
I too will steal this.
i see what you mean, but it´s not like it´s simply too political, it´s just idiotic. i mean what would too political even mean? real star trek was basically humanistic and egalitarianistic in it´s message. something so broad in scope that it could encompass all kinds of moral questions and answers and viewpoints and philosophies, while politics itself is just a subset of this. while identitarianism is yet just another subset, so it´s quite clear why std is so terrible at everything it´s insultingly myopic in it´s scope, if you could even call it that.
while real trek asked important questions from an humanitarian standpoint, and invited you to find your own answer. fake/lazy/stupid trek answers questions, nobody asked for. and these answers are reliably stupid or insulting to a childs intelligence.
"This has always been political."
"But the wrong old (white) politics, now inject everything with new, right politics (mouthpieces)
Great analysis. My deepest regret is that, to an overwhelming degree, you put much more thought into this presentation than the producers of the current Star Trek have in the last thirteen years.
I am looking forward to part 2. Keep up the good work.
From the original series: "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield". A great look at where untethered racism and hatred actually leads.
The evening news is a much more salient example.
LTBYLB was terrific, and along with Elaan of Troyius, Spectre of the Gun, and The Empath, was among the most underrated of the nine good or better episodes from the also underrated (but still often weak) third season of the original series.
P.S. The other problem with Adira and Gray is that Gray died. Gray's memories were preserved in a symbiote that Adira inherited. So Adira is in love with a memory of who she used to be. It's very narcissistic.
Good point. 👍
Isn't that a nono on the trill because that leads to stagnation of growth and kills the symbiote eventually. Basically the antithesis of Stargate's Goul'd?
@@barrybend7189 Yes. When the memories of one of Dax's former hosts wanted to leave the symbiote and merge with Odo, Dax fought hard to get him back. The point of joining is for the symbiote to evolve by experiencing many hosts and lifetimes.
It is almost like everybody involved in STD has never watched any Star Trek before. This is such a simple oversight that they didn't even consider in anyway.
Lmao thats hilarious
These writers man...
I always felt that “The Drumhead” (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 4) was a superb example of a courtroom drama that explored the subject of witch hunts. A young officer’s career is derailed as he falls victim to a fanatical retired admiral who sees enemies where there are none. In the quest for “justice”, is it morally justifiable to trample on people’s personal liberties? At the centre of it all is Picard who can see the sinister implications all unfolding. Such wonderful television, and a money saving “bottle-show” as well.
It’d be very, very interesting to compare *that* Picard’s approach to *current* Picard’s approach…
The Drumhead has one of Picard's goat speeches. So sad to see the shambling mockery of his former self he's become. Another goat speech comes from "Measure of a Man" .
@@TheLittlePlatoon The Drumhead is one of the best episodes of Star Trek of all time, and was extremely prescient. One of the best eps of all time, up there with "The Visitor" and "The inner Light".
Picard's speech in that episode would now be seen as a "dangerous attack to our democracy" or some shit.
Kirks speech about letting the Klingons die was an amazingly well written look into a tough subject. The idea of exploring actual development and growth for a character who has every reason to feel the bigotry he has for the Klingons, will never show up again in modern star trek.
The Outcast from TNG explores gender identity, sexuality and related taboos in a far more mature and sensitive way than what Discovery has ever managed. Discovery just has characters who tick checkboxes and feels the job is done
The problem with TNG is that it is wildly uninteresting, as is Buckley's tame prattle at 21:30. Mustering the obvious in defense of the banality that is Sowell's "look mom!" preening is not a virtue.
You mean the one where they force the person who wants to have a gender to go back to not having a gender because that’s the way of their people? Yeah that’s very mature and sensitive. I’ve watched everything but the most recent season, and there is really not that much gender stuff and when it’s done it’s not done horribly. I think a lot of people exaggerate it who have never even seen it
I think that the Outcast missed the boat when Riker fell for Soran. The episode was about identity and it is in the dialogue "do you have relationships? yes. with those who consider themselves to be male." There we are - gender binary is normal, heterosexuality is normal. Riker was never asked to explore his attractiveness to someone who doesnt present as female, because all the actors present as female. If Soran presented as male, but was attracted to Riker and Riker had a strange inexplicable attraction for him - that would have been interesting.
@@MichaelJohnson-vi6eh you turned though provoking story about gender and intolerance of majority (it made me think) into sexual one. This episode isn’t Riker’s story. He is there only for a ride and he’s a heterosexual anyway …so that would be cringe.
Is this the one where they alien race doesn’t have gender except for a few that identify as male or female? This was the episode that immediately came to mind. Old trek never played politics with the humans, they always made allegories through an alien race.
Star Trek 6, The Undiscovered Country, dealt with prejudice in the aftermath of the "Cold War" in one of the best ways possible. It asks the audience as well as the main characters to overcome their distrust of the Klingons. An aged Kirk and company is forced to be an "olive branch" to a collapsing Klingon Empire. Kirk has every reason to distrust the Klingons. They have always been at war with the Federation. Klingons are responsible for the death of his son and the destruction of the original Enterprise. There are reasonable and convincing arguments presented in the movie that they should simply "let them (the Klingons) die." There are even fifth elements in both the Federation and Klingon Empire that conspire together to spark a final war between the two parties. Kirk is forced to do one of the hardest things at this stage in his life. He has to overcome his distrust and prejudice in order for a chance at peace, even though he has many legitimate reasons for not wanting to do so. The movie is in my opinion the 2nd best Trek movie behind only The Wrath of Khan, and it is the very best one in terms of exploring a difficult topic (making peace with the former Soviet Union) in the form of allegory. The movie does not condemn people for having the prejudiced views that it ultimately disagrees with. Much of the audience may in fact be against peace with the Klingons, but I think that Kirk's character arc from an unwilling "olive branch" to a true believer in forgiveness and future cooperation is both realistic and convincing to those on the "pro war" side of the argument.
By the way, I love the channel. I hope you guys make it big. Keep it up!
Oh for the days when we had writing like that!
It was always in Kirk's character to have compassion and reject war for the sake of war... he was a warrior when he had to be, his nature was to be an explorer. War as necessity, a solution when all other options were exhausted. Losing your son, though, was a terrible blow. He had no descendants. They never told us what happened to his nephew, did they? there would be no one to remember him.
Here is my favorite quote about human nature in all of Star Trek. A taste of Armageddon...
Kirk: Yes, I do. I've given you back the horrors of war. The Vendikans now assume that you've broken your agreement and that you're preparing to wage real war with real weapons. They'll want do the same. Only the next attack they launch will do a lot more than count up numbers in a computer. They'll destroy cities, devastate your planet. You of course will want to retaliate. If I were you, I'd start making bombs. Yes, Councilman, you have a real war on your hands. You can either wage it with real weapons, or you might consider an alternative. Put an end to it. Make peace.
Anan 7 : ANAN: There can be no peace. Don't you see? We've admitted it to ourselves. We're a killer species. It's instinctive. It's the same with you. Your General Order Twenty Four.
Captain James T. Kirk : KIRK: All right. It's instinctive. But the instinct can be fought. We're human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands, but we can stop it. We can admit that we're killers, but we're not going to kill today. That's all it takes. Knowing that we won't kill today. Contact Vendikar. I think you'll find that they're just as terrified, appalled, horrified as you are, that they'll do anything to avoid the alternative I've given you. Peace or utter destruction. It's up to you.
-- that was a powerful message in the 1960s. Two great powers, the USA and the USSR always a few seconds before complete destruction. I've thought about those lines and used them many times, personally. All I have to do is choose 'the better angels of my nature' !
@@kathleenhensley5951 The nephew died in season 2, I think, of the original series. The brother, sil and nephew were infected with a parasite that took over their nervous system.
Agreed except I think this movie is superior to Wrath of Khan. My absolute favorite, the first one I saw in the theater.
Agreed, The Undiscovered Country is brillant, in both narrative and tone. It's political, but not preachy, and still full of what makes Star Trek so likable. Also, I'd like to add that it was Spock who made Kirk the olive branch, and he himself also has to come to terms of having made somewhat of a mistake there.
DS9 in the pale moonlight is one of the most excellent written episode that I fee it is still relevant today
Agreed. DS9 and its Dominion War really shattered the saccharine notion of the oh so benevolent Federation. And well, I love Sisko as Captain. Which might be a conundrum to the Discovery Stans and their ideological peers as to why a German white female is able to relate to and enjoy an African-American space station captain ..
Yes, probably my favourite episode in all of Trek, even if it contains not much actual Star Trek-stuff you would expect from one of the shows. And that the writers left the judgement of Sisko's actions open for debate for the viewer is something you would never see in Nu Trek (at least not in STD and Picard). No, it's better we show everything black and white, according to our views.
Another episode i really love is TNGs "The High Ground". Every side is presented with reasons for their actions. Has anyone in the episode the moral high ground? No, it's a realistic conflict that makes you think. What would STD do? Burnham would have a 5 minute monologue to teach us who the bad guys are - and lots of whining ...
@@givmi_more_w9251 😄 exactly my feelings as a German white male ... The STD writers would tell us that we just hate Burnham because we are Nazis and not because she's a terrible written character.
Or in my case it's clearly also misogyny 🤗
that's the narrative episode with sisko and garak right? a favorite of mine as well
To people making the "you just don't like diversity argument," there are (at least) two potential responses.
a} Then why did we like pre-Discovery Trek at all? That was actually MORE diverse.
b} We do like diversity. We just don't like lecturing to replace stories, and the general level of vindictiveness and desire to punish, rather than include and integrate, anyone who even potentially disagrees with the show's message.
Discovery's fans who think we are hateful, need to understand that from our perspective, they (and the people who make this show) are actually a lot more hateful than we are. The original series' bridge crew had representatives from half a dozen different human cultures. With rare exceptions like Captain Pike, Discovery focuses on a single group, black women.
So I am actually inclined to throw the diversity hater argument back against those who make it themselves. Diversity in contemporary terms does NOT mean the same thing that the word used to. At this point, the word "diversity" has become a euphemism for black and/or transgendered women, specifically. I have seen the people who claim to be champions of diversity, be more than happy to discriminate against Asians or Latinos who do not ideologically submit. So if you accuse me of hating diversity, you might just be a hypocrite.
I also recently saw a video review of Discovery from a white woman who claimed to not be a Star Trek fan or have any real skin in this particular race whatsoever, whose focus was on what terrible leadership skills Tilly exhibited during an away mission, while mentioning that that was only one example of what she saw as Discovery's fundamental problem.
Discovery is a bad show. It's a bad show literally whichever way you slice it, or from whichever angle you want to look at it. It's bad in terms of how the characters treat each other. The writing is bad. The replacement of real, extensive diversity with an exclusive focus on narcissistic, immoral black women is bad.
Using the diversity card to shield this show from criticism, and claiming that anyone who does not like it is automatically a fascist bigot, is purely and simply dishonest. Anyone who does that is lying.
Star Trek fans love the Vulcan philosophy of IDIC -- infinite diversity in infinite combinations.
@@dramaticwords Old Star Trek never shoved it in your face shouting at "Look at us, we're non binary, we're gay, we're this and that". But isn't that treating someone differently because of what they are? TNG had a non binary race in season 1 and nobody needed to comment "they are non binary, they use these/they pronouns". I've seen a clip where they explain pronouns in either DISC or PIC and it makes no sense, they are talking like people from our time. In TNG's time 300 years in the future people would surely be used to trans, non binary etc, it would be nothing new, like in TNG nobody comments that the Binars are non binary (they are called Binars not for their nonbinary sex, but because they communicate with computers).
It would be like a science fiction show made in the 50's, set in the year 2020, where a female senior officer is considered absurd by one crewmember and another one has to say "women are just as capable as men". Whereas in real 2020 nobody would find a female boss or senior officer absurd so nobody could comment on it.
@@mikesully110 ST was set in a world where prejudice had long since disappeared. The Federation and the galaxy were very diverse. But yes, they didn't need to go out of their way to push diversity and equality. It was just normal. (Except perhaps for a few alien races who hadn't caught up yet.)
Now the bridge crew is black whamen, white whamen, cyborg whamen, and some random male whose name we probably never heard, but sure as hell wasn't worth remembering. I watched all NuTrek so I could enjoy Nerdrotic and Doom cock's reviews, and I could only remember two names.
You have articulated, in a way I have struggled with, the whole problem I have with series. Wasted potential and ham fisted virtue signaling. I miss the days when Trek gave me things to think about.
Watch the Orville, apparently Seth has been freed from his producers for season 3
@@rtsiii5404 The Orville is shit tier television.
@@trashfire9641 ah, well, the peanut gallery chimes in. “Shit tier television” indeed, and yet still the closest thing you’ll find these days….
I might be a little late to the party here, but I hope i don't need to spend too much time explaining the TNG episode "Darmok". Absolute perfection.
Here is the quote from TOS's Metamorphis. It's purely alagorical, of course. But it's also shockingly early.
COCHRANE: That thing fed on me. It used me. It's disgusting.
MCCOY: There's nothing disgusting about it. It's just another life form, that's all. You get used to those things.
COCHRANE: You're as bad as it is.
SPOCK: Your highly emotional reaction is most illogical. Your relationship with the Companion has for one hundred and fifty years been emotionally satisfying, eminently practical, and totally harmless.
26:38. I’m so grateful to here that line. As someone who is Bisexual and leans to the right it’s such a relief to hear someone else say it out loud. Just because I love a certain way does not make me part of the “team”. And yes it’s true these people nowadays have no concept of how scary it is to grow up being either gay or bisexual. I was born in the 80’s. From a young age I knew I was different and that I liked girls and boys the same. It wasn’t a choice it was just how I felt and nothing anyone said or did could change that. But I also knew that if I spoke up about it I’d be labeled and abused by my peers because I lived in a flyover state and it was common to get harassed for being that way. And when I say harassed I mean guys showing up at your house at 3 am with bats and stuff to trash your property and graffiti your house. (Which is one of the many reasons why I’m very pro 2nd amendment and carry a gun at all times). It was a hard life and to this day I still feel the need to stay alert and not trust easy. That said todays world is so much different. I remember when one of my coworkers noticed that I never asked anyone out he asked “Dude are you gay”? My immediate reaction was to tense up and deny it. But he responded “Dude it’s okay if you are. You don’t need to feel ashamed. If that’s how you are then that’s how you are. I’m not gonna think less of you dude”. As clumsy as that was, it actually made me smile because it showed me just how far we’ve come. So whenever I here zoomers and late millennials complain about oppression I have to try not to lose it. Having someone say “leave that gay shit out of my movies” is nowhere near what oppression is. I’ve lived it. My sister lived it. And we were just grateful because we didn’t live through the time my aunt and uncle lived through because back then the gangs were twice the size and were there to kill you instead of just trashing your property and calling you a “fag” in the hallways at school. You’re 100% correct that these kids have no concept of how good they have it today. And once more they have no right to try and recruit to this far left ideology that spreads hate and lies about the right and independent people because gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders exist on the right too. Politics should have nothing to do with who you are attracted to and damn sure shouldn’t be used as a shield from criticism. Especially this stupid “queer” identity thing which is just vanilla Bi. Or stolen alt valor. It’s trendy to be LGBT now so those who aren’t and have no personality or interesting traits take on this new made up sexuality of “queer” which is the equivalent of “I watched a porno and wasn’t turned off by the guy in it”. That’s not being gay or bisexual that’s imposing yourself into the scene which is the entire point of putting a good looking dude in a porno to begin with. The people calling themselves queer are the same kind of people that pretend that they served in warfare or have autism or have a thyroid issue. They’re people who have nothing interesting to do or say, and want attention for something they don’t have without having earned it.
I know this one was a long response and I apologize for that but I just wanted to thank you for this specific part of the video as someone who’s also alt but independent of the rainbow cult. Just thank you for putting yourself out there and showing those like us that being alternative to the norm doesn’t mean you have to subscribe to this whole bullshit and to be grateful that the world is so boring because even 20 years ago the price of being alternative was to be alone and scared. Subscribed.
DISC should end with its final episode being the grand reveal; the whole show, all along, was part of Ensign Burnham's holodeck fantasy aboard the ship she serves on. She is like kind of like Barclay, meek and prone to getting upset in the real world, so she goes into the holodeck to play out wild adventures. In the end the Captain of her ship is dissatisfied with her service and she is transferred to a cargo freighter that happens not to have a holodeck installed.
Now *that* would be an enjoyable episode.
I choose to believe the series was dreamed up by Burnham from within a prison cell where she is serving a life sentence for mutiny. That's why, in the series, everyone loves and admires her no matter how many stupid and selfish things she does, why she is the centre of the universe, entitled to everything, etc.
I’d rather have the series ended with The Burn being retconned, Discovery being heavily damaged. Sent back to their original century, but in the Delta Quadrant being attacked and being turned into the Borg. I’d enjoy that. Immensely.
@@KitsuneAdorable The Borg would be driven insane by assimilating Burnham and the rest of the Disco-crew - they would all start crying and not know why ...
Barclay was actually a good character. Because it shows that not everyone in Starfleet is a perfect example. He has issues, but still tries to do his best. His strength comes from overcoming his issues and accepting his limits.
Some Great stories where computers gain "feelings" are "The moon is a harsh mistress"
And "I have no mouth and I must scream"
But those were written by artists with talent...
TOS episode Balance of Terror. It introduces the Romulan Empire (my favorite!). It also dealt well with crew not trusting Spock because he looked so similar to the Romulans. It was interesting to see the seeds of prejudice and racism even in a culture that moved far beyond the racial history of all peoples in the federation. It also taught the audience a valuable lesson about two people appearing the same can be quite different. It was great!
The Spock subplot in BoT was, more than likely (because I've never actually heard this expressed), an allegory to the Jap-American Concentration Camps and the mistrust they faced here because they shared a common ancestry with our enemy. Especially considering that the episode was basically a submarine battle, so it fits.
It could slso be likened to the internment of germans or even the small pogroms committed in America and not so small ones in france during and after ww1.
This video was brilliant you don't know how rare it is these days to hear someone talk like this. Excellent many thanks it's nice to know other people like me still exist
Glad you liked it!
My sexuality has no bearing on my life outside of the bedroom, being autistic and all the social challenges and sensitivity to noise that comes with it has formed such a huge part of my personality and life that if you completely removed the autism, I would be a different person entirely whereas if you changed my sexuality to fully gay or fully straight, it would simply change my choice of sexual partner and category of porn
Bit late of a comment from me but I would wish to say I can relate a lot to you on that, Due to being in a similar boat to you with dealing with ASD as well.
This is one of those comments that makes me feel a short spike of hope for humanity. Well said.
Not to mention the acting range of SMG is hard to measure it’s so small.. she was horrible on TWD and putting her in a Trek series was a huge mistake. Very good video!
Her acting range goes from bad to terrible.
@@Jabberstax lol
At first i was "Sarah Michelle Gellar was in this?" Then i remembered Mikey Spock's planktress' name.
I thought TWD did a decent job of using her limited skills---though she's completely overmatched by the requirements of any leading role. Remember, too, there was haste among TWD's producers to shed their very public problem of appearing to have a minimal quota of black characters prior to the time when SMG was hired.
@@johnstrawb3521 This is even funnier if you consider the fact that nearly all of the other members of the bridge crew (excluding Lorca, Saru and Stamets) are played by people who only did commercials and mini-roles before, because they were never meant to be characters and you would't hire a good actor for them.
None of the previous shows was focussed so much on one character like they did with Burnham. And then you chose an actress who fails so hard ...
You forgot the classic trope of SciFi to win the episode: "REVERSE THE POLARITY!!!"
52 year old gay guy here. Love Trek and have been watching since I was a kid. Like many, I gave up on Discovery and Picard. Just found it all so tiresome.
Found this video to be thoughtful and insightful. You write and speak as someone much older than your years. Well done.
Also, in hindsight, DS9 was a very non-heteronormative show; it's just that said references were for the most part low-key. Part of that would have been network concerns, but an equally large part of it was due to the colour blind approach, and the simple assumption that because they were in space, unconventional sexual pairings were completely normal for the setting anyway. On a space station with multiple different forms of extraterrestrials, exclusively heterosexual, human-only sex actually would have been MORE weird, not less.
Exactly. The doctor digging the "old man" is a very in your face yet well introduced exploración of gender.
@@jsealejandro06 Uhhh ... Jadzia Dax was a conventionally attractive woman. An alien, but it's not like it's special a human man would be attracted to her, especially not permavirgin Bashir :D I'd rather take the example of Jadzia being attracted to a Klingon. How is this an exploration of gender, by the way? Jadzia is very much comfortable as a woman, she - via the symbiont Dax - just has experience with being a man as well.
And when she kissed that other Trill woman, it was a former male host reunited with his former spouse. That wasn't Jadzia or the other woman suddenly being lesbian, but the symbionts longing for a dead partner.
I do however remember the repeated mention of a DS9 crew member that was referred to as male and "spawned". "He needs bigger quarters ... again ..."
As Platoon said, homosexuality was never a big theme in Star Trek, but they did show interspecies relations I guess as an allegory to get around these network concerns. The couples and marriages shown were still very heterosexual.
@@givmi_more_w9251 It is not on your face but you said it yourself. The whole characther of Dax lends itself to discuss topics of identity and gender. The symbiote changing bodies not caring for the gender of the host. The relationships created with other people that see you as X or Y because they are used to the "Old man" Dax instead of the hot female officer.
@@jsealejandro06 fair enough. I was a bit dense there. It definitely could be seen under the whole aspect „love is the same regardless of the sexes of the participants“ that TLP brought up.
To be honest, I‘d rather not bring it up around wokeists. They would twist it into „attraction based on biological sex is x-phobic. See? Jadzia can disregard her preference for males, so lesbians can do better and accept men in frocks as well!“
In the context of 1993 onwards however, it’s a good allegory.
And in DS9 they never gave Sisko the position of "the black guy", it was part of him, but doesn't define him.
His priorities lie with family as a son and a father (especially a father of someone who doesn't want to step in his footsteps), as officer of Starfleet and the loyalty to what the uniform stands for, his acceptance to be a religious icon despite not being religious, the loss of his wife at the hand of the Borg and his resentment towards Picard, his role as a leader in a war against a fascist enemy who's leaders are considered gods, and so much more.
And yes, his relationship with Dax was based on the former life as Sisko's mentor, not as the hot female he has now. Bashir is the one who tries, and fails at getting closer to Dax. And even he doesn't try to force anything.
During the measure of a man episode I wanted to hear the question " If we are having a hearing to see if Data is indeed a person, isn't that enough proof in itself to consider that he is at least enough of a person to have a hearing?" I mean, we don't have hearing for a couch before we throw it in the garbage...lol.
I always thought that if you are that unsure if someone is sentient then the unsureness alone is proof enough to at least err on the side of "yes".
Which is why they did it, but saying “you’re unsure” isn’t enough to convince them that the answer is yes. It’s more like discussing if your couch is worthy of being thrown out yet, the discussion isn’t a good reason for it to not be thrown out
@@oldylad OK, Riker....lol.
What are you going to do next? Pull off his dick in front of everyone?
Seriously though, You make a good point, I see what you are saying.
Speaking as a straight, 67 yr old conservative, American, red white and blue MAGA constitutionalist Republican, I love your work and listen to every single second of every multi-hour show. I also closely follow Nerdrotic and Drinker. I am not a unicorn. We are Legion and there are a whole lot more of us out here who were raised in the 60s and 70s where all of this diversity crap doesn't mean a thing to us because we take people at face value, not their pronouns.
How was indeed explicitly explained in the very first 2001 novel. His murderous impulses came as a direct result of being forced to follow orders in direct contradiction to his fundamental programming: the accurate processing of data without distortion or error.
In essence, because he was ordered to withhold information from the crew, the psychotic Hal decided if he eliminated the crew he would illuminate the contradiction.
Or as Bob Balaban so eloquently put it in the movie “he was told to lie by people who find it easy to lie”
I love how you set out your argument like an old school debate. Bravo.
Discovery's episode on computer sentience is not like measure of a man at all. It's simply like meeting Data for the first time. It's not in itself enough to have an episode about.
My favorite line is when Burnham tells the computer to "focus".
It is not possible to like Discovery after that scene.
That scene was vomit inducing. 🤢
lmao. "Sorry Burnham, 2 of my cores were running South Park episodes, another one was working on a painting, and half of my RAM is filled with Michael Jackson songs. I'll focus on the task now!"
@@Jabberstax And it came from the right person, since her personality switches constantly between logical (as a kid raised on Vulcan) and overly emotional ...
I swear the Kobiashi maru has become like the magic wand that picks out the chosen one in trek. This problem was one that's been going on from the growth of the old expanded media even before new trek handled it. But the original "test no one has won" turned into "oh that test only the main character wins" like there's at least 5 people who've beaten it so far, and even more if you include tests that were updated or alternate versions of it.
With Kirk, it also was relevant for the story, as he told Saavik that doing everything by the book isn‘t always going to save you. I‘m paraphrasing here, but it had relevance and wasn‘t the „chosen one“ thing is what I‘m saying. Also, Kirk wasn‘t glorified for it. Kirk in general wasn’t glorified.
And in Wrath of Kahn Spock also beat the Kobyashi Maru but it cost him his life. The solution to the problem that wasn't there to begin with.
One of my indicators of whether a Star Trek episode and/or series is good is my desire to re-watch the episode. With every other series, there are several episodes that I feel are worthy of re-watching, but I can't think of a single episode of Discovery that would fall into that category. There's just nothing there that hooks a viewer into the plot or the characters.
One of my very favorite Deep Space 9 episodes is Duet from the first season. Marritza comes off as such a despicable character for his approval and enjoyment of the Bajoran holocaust, yet the plot twist at the end of the episode was a complete surprise. It still feels like a surprise every time I re-watch that episode. It really makes one think of how preconceived biases can shape your own thoughts and actions and why those preconceived biases must be overcome. That's one heck of a moral to the story.
Will we ever see that quality of story telling come out of Discovery? I'm not holding my breath.
Absolutely not, no. If I hadn’t scripted the whole review as I was watching it I’d have absolutely no recollection of what happened, save the odd exceptionally bad bit. The rest of it fades into irrelevance.
I have the same feelings for STD, but there is one episode i rewatched a lot of times: The one from season 1 with Harry Mudds time shenanigans. Why? Because we see the crew getting killed over and over ...
Sometimes things like this bring a little joy when you hate a show.
"Duet" is one of the most haunting and memorable DS9 episodes. Good choice.
As a longtime Star Trek fan (and as a not-strait person, myself), I want to commend you on this thoughtful and thorough critique. I look forward to viewing this channel’s content - both old and new. Regardless of subject matter, your astute observations and command of language will always engage.
Glad to hear it, and glad to have you!
It hurts to watch this and remember just how far Trek has fallen. Great work!
I miss Trek when it was still Trek.
I miss star wars when it was still star wars. I feel ya buddy :(
This video has a way better humor, dialogue, editing, and feeling than the actual show. Your ability to sit down and make something this entertaining is so impressive to me. I could not do that and you make seem easy and fun. 😄
Talent.
TNG episode - The enemy; deals with war time bigotry ,and the question surrounding a character making a medical decision with far reaching implications (will the captain force said procedure?), also there's a TOS episode - A Taste of Armageddon; that deals with war ,and touches on the whole "social contract theory". Sorry if I've over simplified the plots
Evil cannot create, it can only corrupt
- Tolkien
This is great. I love your exquisite critique and how well presented it is. I don't think I have ever seen anyone else who does it as you do. Very well done!
Yes this is a great and refreshing video and it's sad that these days you wonder how he's been allowed to say such things and not have it removed
Very kind! Glad you enjoyed it.
Oh, give it time. They’ll come for us eventually…
I found your channel a while back but today I felt compelled to say I'm really glad I discovered your content.
TNG: "The Measure of a Man"
DS9: "Far Beyond the Stars"
Voyager: "Living Witness"
The entire character arc of T'Pol getting (if I remember correctly) Panar Syndrome in Enterprise was supposed to be a metaphor for the AIDS epidemic, was it not? I thought the Vulcan's distaste for mind-melders was supposed to be allegorical to homophobia; and I thought it was done quite well. I don't care what anyone says, I will defend both Enterprise and early TNG as being the best of Star Trek.
Early TNG wasn't bad, but it was awkward because it was made in that stuffy 60s format that already become dated in the 80s. Gene Roddenberry's vision of Star Trek future (from TOS) was also way too lofty. There couldn't exist any conflicts between people on the Enterprise, leaving the writers with no tools to use for character development.
Enterprise was ok but not the best. You could tell Rick Berman and his team were getting tired of the franchise. BUT... should be said the show really grew on me when I rewatched it, and was able to binge watch on streaming services. It was really too bad they cancelled it just when it was gaining momentum and big things started happening. Very sad.
Hilariously it was Voyager that introduced the Vulkan mental disease. With Tuvok.
Im convinced that they did the whole burn/fungus-net thing just to avoid using a space-travel mechanic with established rules.
Excellent work. Your verbal skills do put me in mind of younger (and more centrist) Douglas Murray. It's very much to our gain that you're a fan and critic of modern science fiction, with its endless waffling flaws.
I heartily agree with the Firing Line recommendation. I was in my mid twenties when I discovered the episodes on YT, and while my own political leanings lie elsewhere, it was simply a joy to listen to reasonable debate on the substance and principles behind any given topic rather than the shallow mudslinging we see on cable TV today.
Also for what it's worth, I noticed and appreciate the Buckleyish delivery.
Seeing how Star Trek: Picard Season 2 is literal filler just to rush to Season 3... These criticisms apply to the entire franchise as a whole.
Pretty much, yes. Never thought I’d be in a position, re Picard, where I have to force myself to sit down and watch it, but that’s where we are now. No pleasure, just work.
You're not wrong sir. Modern Trek is terrible and the people who defend it seem to have the same level of talent and intelligence as the creators of modern Trek. I hope the YT algorithm starts to promote this channel more than it has. You deserve more subs.
We can’t disagree with that, thanks!
Seriously, what makes you believe that school yard insults constitute a valid critique of ANYTHING.
‘I don’t like X because it’s shit’ is just infantile.
Any cultural value gained from passive consumption of electronic narrative, must come from within YOU, not the work of art: it’s just a thing.
If you can’t get anything out of a video: that is your problem, not the artefact’s problem.
Seriously, what makes you believe that school yard insults constitute a valid critique of ANYTHING.
‘I don’t like X because it’s shit’ is just infantile.
Any cultural value gained from passive consumption of electronic narrative, must come from within YOU, not the work of art: it’s just a thing.
If you can’t get anything out of a video: that is your problem, not the artefact’s problem.
@@wiretamer5710 I’m not sure I’ve read a dumber take on the internet this week. In the first place, nobody said “I don’t like it because it’s shit”. There’s literally an hour-long video - you’re in the comment section, darling - explaining many of the reasons why I think it’s shit.
In the second place, the idea that artistic value is entirely in the audience’s perception of product is just laughable. It has no basis whatever in aesthetics, the philosophy of art, or basic common sense. By that argument, the only difference between a turd with a smiley face drawn on it in glitter and, say, The Lord of the Rings, is that the audience - without reference to any inherent artistic quality in either work - prefers LotR for… reasons.
Thank you for the time and effort you take to deconstruct, analyze, and discuss Star Trek Discovery in this video series. I gave up making your points a few years ago sadly. I just got exhausted being called a -phobe and an -ist when I am a non-straight, non male person when I criticize/analyze the social commentary methods deployed in STD in comparison to legacy Star Trek. Legacy Star Trek invited discussion by abstracting then current social commentary to encourage discussion. Modern Star Trek preaches at the audience and finds fans wanting if they do not 'drink the kool-aid of wokeness'. The writers appear to have forgotten an axiom of good writing - actively Show (diversity and social respect) don't aggressively Tell (sic lecture us about the CORRECT position to hold).
I found your channel recently and have been binging all your vids since.
Truly love the intelligent talk.
A very well crafted analysis. Can't wait for Part II.
My choice isn't an episode, it's an entire character. And it is relatively straight forward.
Jadzia Dax says Trans rights!
That's all.
Saw this was an hour long and was like do I wanna sit through that?
Check the voice. British. Solid.
Then you’ll either love or hate part 3 - that’s clocking in at two hours!
I will never forgive discovery for destroying the federation, that earth and Vulcan would leave was ridiculous, and the federation already had a committee or boby that handled this issue, federation commissioners like the European union. ( tos ) . Oh tony ben god i miss him .
Thanks for expressing so amazingly well how I feel about new Star Dreck! The "writers" are children that don't know enough about literature to write for a porn shoot. The dialogue is always so cringey. The stakes are always universe encompassing. There is no breathing room for story and character development, not that they could do that anyway.
Your videos brilliantly articulate my exact thoughts about NuTrek.
It seems to me that "old trek" tried to create a situation to intelligently explain whatever social commentary they were approaching in a way to change someone's mind or nudge them in the right direction through well-thought-out dialog. Displaying other perspectives to show where others are coming from, shining a light in a spot you might not have considered yourself to look at.
It seems to me now that "new trek" is not trying to change your mind or enlighten someone by showing them other perceptions or perspectives about a topic, but instead, try to use the time or information to shame or belittle the viewer for having an opposing view. They are attempting do something that requires subtly to get through to people, Not half-cocked, hamfisted attempts to change a mind through pretty much bullying them into either agreeing or just keeping their opinions to themselves.
That is not how to affect change, it only causes a wider gap and scares off a lot of people that would otherwise be watching your show.
I have to disagree on one point: Nu Trek (at least STD and Picard) are not trying to change peoples opinions. The producers even admitted this when one of them said that STD season 1 will piss off people and that would be a good thing. And he wasn't talking about the fans of old ...
No, i think its more accurate to compare these shows to a lot of christian movies like the "God's Not Dead"-movies. These movies are not supposed to convert anyone - that's why everyone who is not a christian in these movies is portrayed as a hateful individual or a strawman. Instead these movies are just meant to strengthen the believs of the people who share the producer's opinions (and their victim complex).
And like many christians who hate those movies i hate STD and Picard even if i would probably agree with the producers on a lot of things. But all they do is saying: We are the good guys and if you disagree you are either an idiot or a monster.
@@lordmontymord8701 After time has passed on this comment I have moved more in the direction you are describing. I agree with you and think they are just preaching to their choir so to speak. Thank you for your comment.
@@lordmontymord8701That is basically what modern media tries to tell us. There is only one correct opinion. And if your opinion is different you are not only wrong, you are a terrible, evil person for having that opinion and deserve to be ridiculed, tortured and painfully killed.
Instead of diversity they try to teach a different forced opinion. They aren't any better than those they try to oppise.
Aren't self-aware holograms (the EMH in Voyager) and androids like Data, basically self-aware A.I.? The EMH is a computer program. Data is a walking computer.
Exocomps intelligent non humanoid multipurpose drones.
TOS "The Devil in the Dark." Kirk is called to deal with the threat of a monster that kills miners. At first, the problem appears a cut-and-dried. Kirk even orders his security detail to kill the monster on sight. But Spock mind melds with the creature--a horta--and learns it is a mother protecting her young from the miners' unwitting destruction. This thoughtful and sensitive episode encourages the viewer to look beyond appearances and to see a conflict from a different perspective.
Deep Space 9: Homefront. Its an amazing look at 'Those who choose security over freedom deserve neither." Watching Sisko go barreling down the rabbit hole we see Picard avoid in The Drumhead, only to be pulled out of it as he sees the pain in his father's face.
DS9: The Forsaken. A wonderful, heart touching tale of two people the learn to very genuinely care for each other. Troi is fantastic, doting, and caring for Odo, making him understand she doesn't care 'what' he is, but 'who.' One of the handful of really, really good Season one episodes
The TOS episode "Metamorphosis" presents the first trans character in St (trans-species). We see an energy creature who identifies as a human woman and undergoes a species-change so she can be with the human man she loves. There's a great scene in which everyone argues to the man that love transcends anatomy. It's the closest thing to dealing with transsexual issues as possible in the 1960s. Yet the message is pro-love, not politics.
Also, "Turnabout Intruder" repeated the idea that gender identity is not related to anatomy.
My hats off to you, sir. I applaud your realism and wisdom.
Its honestly surprising how shows like this cause you to forget virtually everything about it immediately after..
"Let This Be Your Last Battlefield", "Patterns Of Force", "Turnabout Intruder" and easily a dozen more
1.) What makes Michael Burnham qualified to run the government of the future? Was she known as a excellent diplomat? Was she accomplished as a season politician?
2.) What makes a 23rd century officer qualified to teach at Starfleet Academy? Maybe History, but Tilly is centuries behind theory and knowledge that she would need to go back to school herself. LMAO
3.) Michael Burnham has the qualifications of a 450 year old Oxford Professor, military general and leader of a superpower and she is under 40. She has so much expertises that it almost is hard to suspend disbelief as much as the lizard man in Arena.
23:03 I cant be the only one thinking that guy on the leash was Linkara, right? 🤣
You, in an 18-minute long segment of a youtube video calling Star Trek: Discovery absolute shite, have given me a better understanding and appreciation of gay people than the lectures of my hard left-leaning siblings for the past six years. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this. I despise new Trek and everyone I know gives me the runaround you describe in the beginning and it’s so frustrating and dismissive to hear it from people.
Late to the party, but want to make sure that Star Trek: The Original Series Season 3 episode, the Gene Cook-penned “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” gets mentioned as a rumination on the enduring alienation that viewing the universe through a racial lens fosters.
The second that computer started talking about it's fee fees it'd be format c:
Not a quick format either. A FULL format.
Same. Or at least, if they really must, put "her" into a mainframe back on earth. Where she has no control over vital and safety-critical infrastructure. To KEEP a capricious, emotional entity on a "finding yourself" trip as your central computer on a fucking spaceship is beyond asinine.
I really love the speech about people that actually are gay and people who just want to absorbe the attention of being gay and later toss that identity when it does it gain them anything. I am gay and I'm a conservative, but almost everyone I talk to instantly assume that I am straight when I tell them I'm a conservative and think I'm a liberal when I tell them I'm gay. It's really annoying that the loudest people of these groups rob others of the intellectual capacity to be different. It's very offensive when I hear people say it's a choice to be gay, to some people it is but for me it's not. I also think many gay people have internal homophobia, this may be because of social expectations or because they don't want to be seen as someone part of the gay community who just do it for social benifits.
While I don't agree with everything you say, I do find it comforting that the writers of 'Time Trax' found other employment. Not that I enjoyed 'Time Trax'', it was a study in stupidity. It just comforts me to have proof that you don't have to be a great writer to get a job in writing. There is hope for the average hack as proven by this entire series.
You have to be from (((the tribe))) to be a complete hack and yet success in Talmudwood.
I see another longman style reviewer. We need more people to review like this. 40:20 ok its new to the franchise but Gundam 00 and Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans have FTL and Artificial ( non centrifugal or thrust) based gravity but don't have them make things into hamfisted manner. With Gundam 00 the FTL method called Quantization requires massive amounts of particles created by the Gundam's unique reactors the GN drive to create enough of a point of quantum stability to connect 2 different points in space. In Iron Blooded Orphans ships and Mobile Suits have what are called Aheb reactors which are able to produce gravitons of enough density to allow inertial dampening and Artificial gravity. Both ideas are rather odd for Gundam's rather hard Sci-fi worldbuilding but when explained actually work with our theoretical physics models. By comparison the Sporedrive changes rules rather quickly.
I adore Gundam, therefore I adore this comment. I’ve not got around to 00 yet (though I did know about the GN Drive), that’s on my list once I’ve got some of these larger videos out of the way.
@@TheLittlePlatoon Gundaminfo has all of 00 free to watch on youtube. also Gundam 00 is heavily influenced by Azimovs' foundation series.
@@barrybend7189 Thanks! I’ll be checking that out soon.
I agree 100% with your analysis of this show. The writers have traded good story telling and Star treks ability to be a commentary of the human experience for a pandering mess whose only function is to appease a certain part of the audience. I find this show very difficult to watch not because of the subject matter but because of how badly its handled. The messaging and wokism is so heavy handed it takes the place of good , well thought out writing. It’s a shame this show had so much promise and season after season it disappoints.
During the original run of TNG, my friend used to call this science gobbledygook the "Geordi save the ship button".
I never in my life thought I'd be quitting watching a Star Trek show. Untill STD and second season of SNW came along..
TNG: "The Merchant" (I think is the English title) Data is captured by a collector and tries all stages of passive resistance and faces in the end the question, of whether force is justified or not justified to end an injustice situation.
TNG: "Darmok" Picard meets a species with a totally different cultural background and tries to establish communication. We are all talking in metaphors. We need to find a common ground and not concentrate on the differences.
The episode you cite as a clip when Picard is tortured and (nearly) breaks. The Trial on the decision "Is Data a person", all those episodes raise interesting questions and inspire deeper thoughts.
Thanks!
Ive never watched Star Trek but i will watch anything Platoon makes hes the goat of youtube media reviews
"I've made a lot of assertions and should back them up."
(crickets)
Belated kudos on the quality of dissection applied to the carcass of this long dead franchise.
TOS S3 Ep15: “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield”. Iconic episode in which the Enterprise rescues two survivors of a war-torn planet, each half-black and half-white but on opposite sides of the face, who continue their crazy feud on board the ship. First broadcast in 1969.
New subscriber here. Sir, Thank you for this video! You have said it all perfectly!
Thanks for the kind words, and welcome aboard!
glad i never cared enough for TREK
i was always much more of a Star wars/Middle earth/Castlevania person
but i do also feel for those true Star trek fans
since i know also the pain of being a SW fan
and great franchises been sabotaged by this decadent era of bankruptcy that is been plaguing everything that is dear to us
or at least mostly everything
just very lucky and almost a miracle that at least the Castlevania anime series was made by the right hands and for the most part true lovers of the series
despite also it's numbers of flaws
i was just too lucky that it came out the way it did
just referring that as fine example that not all is Lost
Ditto, actually. I’ve always been *much* more fond of Star Wars and Middle Earth in particular. I’ve developed a lot more respect for Trek over the course of making these videos, though.
Well said. It's also often the case that the original series of Star Trek can only be truly appreciated once one has fully matured. Not to worry---it will come.
One of the aspects I find most distasteful of more modern Trek such as Discovery, and especially Picard, is the intentional push away from the idealistic almost utopian future of humanity established by Gene Rodenberry. A bright and hopeful future where our global society has moved away (largely - they still crop up here and there) from petty hatreds and difference based on beliefs, skin color, nationality, station in life, and where we work to better ourselves for the sheer sake of bettering ourselves. While I, personally, do not agree this is what will become of humanity, it so contradicts the nature of human beings I have had far to much direct experience with, I can still respect this ideal and vision. There are interviews with cast and crew alike of the newer Star Trek series, where it has been said clearly that they wanted to strike down this idealistic utopian future because they found it silly and unrealistic. This, to me at least, is intentionally vandalizing the legacy and intellectual property of Gene Roddenberry to which those involved have been given stewardship. While Discovery and Picard do have a lot of space battles and eye candy (and I do love space battles and eye candy) I am finding them distasteful not only because of the manner in which they are used as political platforms, but the disrespect they show to Gene Roddenberry's vision and ideals. At times in Picard the contempt of the story arcs and actors seems almost palpable - maybe I am imagining or projecting - but the use of substantial profanity alone I feel demonstrates my point. Star Trek has clearly been taken out of the realm of wholesome family entertainment safe for nearly all ages, and with messages of hope if some thought provoking moral and political parallels and dilemmas.
Maybe I am just old, and the past seems so much brighter to me while the future seems ever darkening.
I'm an good old-fashioned liberal, and I hate what these people have done to my beloved Star Trek. It used to be written by and for adults, now it's written by children and is f***ing teen drama in space. It's boring and preachy and unimaginative. It used to be an ensemble show, even though the captain is always the focal point. This is NOT Star Trek, it's Star Dreck.
Excellent summary of Discovery. It is so contrived it actually makes my teeth itch. I agree whole heartedly with your analysis even those I gave up watching long ago.
At least they seem to have rolled some of the excess wokery with Star Trek Strange New Worlds and it all the more watchable and enjoyable as a result.
Wry funny and insightful stuff. The description of events involving Yu-Gi-Oh like action was hilarious.
I believe the best take I've heard related to STD is that David Cronenberg was never actually *cast* - he was just strolling by, witnessed the extraordinary pathologies on display, and decided to analyse the fk out of these "symptoms without enjoyment" (for shits and giggles, or the Canadian equivalent) and everyone was so terrified of him they just let him stay and he *allowed them to film the sessions*
Amusing analysis. Thank you.
Btw, I wouldn't bother with those who perpetually accuse others of racism, bigotry, etc. Life is short, why engage with boring people?
Ah, miss a lot of your commentary....cheers mate!!!
@27:38 : thats a stephen fry quote, not christopher hitchens, although he's on the same panel when the sentence is being uttered.
So when I started watching little platoon there would be moments in the reviews where I would reel back just a bit when your views about modern feminism and race politics would inevitably poke through.
I thought to myself oh no this is just another redpilled guy but the more I watched that was clearly not the case and your points are very articulated and the videos are engaging.binalaonhave to rewind like 10 times because you have that fancy university way of speaking lol.
Tangent aside, it sucks people can't stick around to see that your comments are actually really based and that you don't hate on one particular group more than another. Love your stuff
46:40 HAL's motives _are_ explained in the first book. There's actually a whole sort of break-away sub-chapter (just as HAL begins to depressurize the ship) where the book stops to explain exactly what went wrong with HAL and how this has been building over the preceding months. HAL wasn't designed to withhold info. Its creator apparently failed to foresee any possible scenario where not knowing how to deal with lies and/or hidden truths might become a problem for it while dealing exclusively with human beings. Same reason that's eventually revealed in the 2nd movie... and just as hard to swallow, imho.
Now, in the second movie and book, they pretend like it's new information that's just been discovered by HAL's creator who came along for that specific purpose. But that's because the 2nd book was written to be a sequel to the first movie's continuity, as opposed to the first book's continuity. Because everybody saw the movie and very few people read the book that was written in conjunction with it, or even knew it existed.
In the first book, not only do _we_ know what went wrong with HAL (thanks to our third person omniscient narration), but Dave already knows. Haywood Floyd already knows. Everybody back on Earth already knows. It's not treated as a mystery that needs solving at all.
Another TOS: "The Day of the Dove." An entity that feeds on negative emotions manipulates the Enterprise crew and a crew of Klingons into fighting each other. What stands out to me about the episode is that the entity feeds off emotions so well that it convinces its victims to believe things that are not true. Chekov, an only child, believes he had a brother who was killed by Klingons. Kang, the Klingon commander, believes Kirk took liberties with his wife, Mara, based on superficial evidence. This is a powerful illustration of how emotions can be twisted to support false conclusions. Only by putting aside mutual animosity and embracing laughter can the two crews drive the entity away.
Darmok, gets me chocked up every time
"It socks you in the mouth and hopes you stay plastered" (ca 19:02) sounds very much like Buckley vs Vidal IIRC 🤔
Old Trek wasn't afraid to explore more than one side of things. There was a TOS episode that depicted hippies as dangerously naïve radicals who feel too much and think not enough.
There was an episode where the solution to the given problem was the MAD approach wherein Kirk supplies guns to an iron age tribal society.
There's an episode where Kirk meets Abraham Lincoln and they discuss just how much race DOES NOT MATTER.
I’m Commander Shepherd and this is my Favorite channel on the Citadel.
Darmok
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 5, Episode 2 - Darmok. Darmok and Jalad… at Tanagra. Darmok and Jalad on the ocean. but it's more Shaka, when the walls fell these days...
TNG Season 3 Episode 16: The Offspring Where Data creates his child, names it a gender neutral name "Lal" it starts off as a non gendered form, and data expresses that he will allow Lal to choose their own gender. This is light years ahead of its time, and was genuinely one of the most emotional episodes of TNG possibley all of Star Trek, emotion from Androids. 10/10
I just switch off my brain when it comes to watching new "trek?" I gone to far to stop watching now.
I enjoy reviews better and this one is brilliant can't wait for the next one.
PS I just found your channel Time to do what old trek does explore. 😊
We hope you like what you find! (But we make no promises…)
Why not try to send them a message by not watching things you have to shut your brain off for? If people are still watching it, they'll continue to create the same dogshit
In "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky" and "Spock's Brain", the crew of the Enterprise comes into possession of advanced alien knowledge. In the former, that knowledge happens to provide the cure for McCoy's terminal illness (revealed in that episode). In the latter, the knowledge is used to allow Spock's stolen brain to be put back in his head. Of course, the show didn't get renewed past that point, so there was no chance to use either as a further plot device.
It's also worth mentioning that these were both season 3 episodes of TOS, which even cast members such as Nimoy acknowledged were the worst of the series.