I hadn't forgotten about this! Life has just been a lot lately.
On thinking about it, I think a lot of it is that I haven't seen a lot of Trek. I've watched a fair bit of TNG (though maybe not even half of it, and barely any from season 1), a smattering of DS9, a bunch of the movies, Picard season 1, and parts of the first seasons of both Discovery and Lower Decks. I've never seen any Voyager, Enterprise, or (most relevant here) TOS.
I've absorbed so much Star Trek love from hanging around my fellow nerds, though! I want to watch and enjoy more. But often it's hard: I quit DS9 before I got to most of the moments I hear love for because I couldn't stand the 90s sexism, I wanted to like Picard and Discovery but they were just massively frustrating, and I've heard enough from people who didn't grow up on TOS and tried watching it as adults that I know not to even go there.
And so, yeah, Strange New Worlds doesn't offer much that's new, but that's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for Trek that remembers that it can be funny, that doesn't need to come with warning labels about a main character or two who are awful or about episodes (or even whole seasons!) that are better skipped. I like how it brings the occasional bit of queer or trans normalization into what I recognize as the backstory to the foundation of the franchise. Watching an episode of SNW feels like watching an episode of TNG that a friend who knows TNG a lot better than I do picked out for me-- some I like more than others, sure, but it's always a good time. And I'm enjoying getting stories about Spock and Uhura and Kirk and so on, who I've read long Tumblr posts about but whose original context I know wouldn't be likely to enjoy.
(It may be worth noting here that I mostly don't read fanfic. I can see how these enjoyment propositions could be different if I were a regular fic reader!)
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2023-09-02 06:58 am (UTC)On thinking about it, I think a lot of it is that I haven't seen a lot of Trek. I've watched a fair bit of TNG (though maybe not even half of it, and barely any from season 1), a smattering of DS9, a bunch of the movies, Picard season 1, and parts of the first seasons of both Discovery and Lower Decks. I've never seen any Voyager, Enterprise, or (most relevant here) TOS.
I've absorbed so much Star Trek love from hanging around my fellow nerds, though! I want to watch and enjoy more. But often it's hard: I quit DS9 before I got to most of the moments I hear love for because I couldn't stand the 90s sexism, I wanted to like Picard and Discovery but they were just massively frustrating, and I've heard enough from people who didn't grow up on TOS and tried watching it as adults that I know not to even go there.
And so, yeah, Strange New Worlds doesn't offer much that's new, but that's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for Trek that remembers that it can be funny, that doesn't need to come with warning labels about a main character or two who are awful or about episodes (or even whole seasons!) that are better skipped. I like how it brings the occasional bit of queer or trans normalization into what I recognize as the backstory to the foundation of the franchise. Watching an episode of SNW feels like watching an episode of TNG that a friend who knows TNG a lot better than I do picked out for me-- some I like more than others, sure, but it's always a good time. And I'm enjoying getting stories about Spock and Uhura and Kirk and so on, who I've read long Tumblr posts about but whose original context I know wouldn't be likely to enjoy.
(It may be worth noting here that I mostly don't read fanfic. I can see how these enjoyment propositions could be different if I were a regular fic reader!)