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Brad
Selfish Heathen
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Zone of Pain
 
2022-05-06, 23:22

I… I think I'm kind of speechless.

I don't know if that was actually good or if it simply wasn't a dumpster fire and by contrast just seemed good compared to the terrible writing, contrivances, soap operatic drama, and forced angst that Disco and Picard have been doling out. I feel like I just got a phone call from an old friend after having been in an abusive relationship for several years.

I'm talking about the pilot episode of the latest Star Trek spinoff Strange New Worlds. Now I'm sitting here trying to think through what I've experienced upon first viewing...

For the most part, at least the first episode of this new Trek show ticks pretty much all of the criteria for an enjoyable production that Disco and Picard far too often failed to meet:

- characters seem competent
- characters are acting like professional adults
- sets aren't cloaked in shadows
- wardrobe is well-tailored
- story pacing feels steady
- the plot is a rudimentary morality play but it isn't beating me over the head saying "THING BAD"
- the core problem isn't resolved by a nauseating CGI firefight or a magical MacGuffin
- it doesn't completely discard/rewrite/reimagine established canon at every opportunity
- no humanity/civilization/galaxy/universe-ending threat
- no season-long "mystery box" arc setup

Wait. Wait. What is this feeling?

Is that… is that… optimism? In live-action Star Trek in the 2020s??

It feels like a breath of fresh air so far. I hope I'm not just suffering from whiplash and that this still stands up on subsequent viewings. I had practically given up hope on seeing any worthwhile live-action Star Trek in the next decade, half expecting Trek would need to be "forgotten" and rebooted again some time later for a fresh start. Perhaps the Kurtzman curse of dark broody moody Trek is finally coming to an end. It's been a long road getting from there to here.

It ain't perfect, but I feel cautiously optimistic about Trek for the first in a long time.

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