Boldly Going Where No Blog Has Gone Before...

There tends to be a trend with all of my creative projects where they reach a point in which the overall flow gets lost amongst the chaos of everyday life.  This blog was no different.

I made a schedule, wrote down ideas, and tried to fill this blog to the brim with as many sections as possible to keep an engaged audience. It stopped because I stopped wanting to keep up with that exhaustive flow.  The tedious and time-consuming restrictions I imposed on myself needed to end at some point and this year is as much of an excuse to revitalize a creative project as any other time.  So, we’re trimming the fat on this baby.

From now on, I’m not going to promise what this blog will include, but media commentary is certainly at the heart of it.  Instead, let’s focus on what’s being ejected: the release date listings, the forced “Personal” section, and even the Retro/Modern Grade on reviews (it worked better as a Podcast format, anyway).

Here We Go...

Let’s talk about Star Trek (spoilers).  When I was very small, my parents can attest to my dancing around a coffee table to the theme of The Next Generation on re-runs.  I would easily call myself a lifelong fan of Star Trek, but I haven’t always been consistently as invested in the franchise as I could have been.  Now in my late 20s, I do have some very strong thoughts on it (namely, the Kelvin timeline's sequel efforts are dumpster fires). The very idea of an optimistic and enterprising future of original and deep voyages is a remarkable discovery for those who have not yet experienced the franchise.  I am obliged to say “franchise” instead of “series” because Star Trek encompasses several series all within the same timeline...well, in the Prime timeline.   In fact, here is a list of all of them with a general timeline to make this conversation easier:

Prime Timeline

• Star Trek: Enterprise
• Star Trek: Discovery - Seasons 1 & 2
• Star Trek (The Original Series)
• Star Trek: The Animated Series
• Star Trek Films I-VI
• Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG)
• Star Trek: Generations (Film)
• Star Trek: First Contact (Film)
• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9)
• Star Trek: Insurrection (Film)
• Star Trek: Voyager
• Star Trek: Nemesis (Film)
• Star Trek: Lower Decks (Ongoing)
• Star Trek: Picard (Ongoing)
• Star Trek: Discovery - Season 3 (Ongoing)

Kelvin Timeline

• Star Trek (2009)
• Star Trek: Into Darkness (Film)
• Star Trek: Beyond (Film)

Of course, there is a fairly significant problem with this listing: TNG, DS9, and Voyager all overlap as do the first three films with the TNG crew.  The continuity also gets a bit too finicky at times, particularly when speaking about the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s, while also having an episode with Enterprise characters going back in time to a modern-day 2003.

Regardless, let’s take a closer look at the end of this timeline...because it features a vital piece: Star Trek: Discovery.  That’s right.  The second entry in the entire canonical timeline is also the (current) final entry. This can be explained with a massive spoiler at the end of Discovery’s second season.

In it, the crew deems it necessary to take their ship carrying sensitive data out of the hands of a Section-31 A.I. through time.  The U.S.S. Discovery arrives 700 years later (yes, even after time travel has been declared a galactic crime thanks to the temporal cold war discussed in Enterprise).  They also arrive after the Federation has all but dissolved thanks to an event called “The Burn” in which all active dilithium (a space-ship’s power source to travel faster-than-light) was destroyed.  This places the Discovery with warp engines and its spore-drive in the unique position of being a one-of-a-kind ship in the year 3189.

It is for this reason, that I believe 2020 should be marked as a major victory for Star Trek fans.  We have a series that, just as it was starting to get a little stale, made a massive and welcome change that breathed new life into itself.  This move has also made a few continuity course corrections (though the Klingon appearance in Discovery is still a contradiction with the pre-existing canon).

Despite Discovery’s third season being the most recently-released (it’s only halfway through airing now), 2020 gifted us two series debuts: Picard and Lower Decks.  Let’s discuss Picard first.

Picard picks up several years after the titular character has left Starfleet behind in the wake of a strong disagreement he had with the organization.  A chance encounter with a young woman leads him to believe that his fallen friend, Data may somehow be connected to her.  There’s a central mystery to unravel here and the series goes in some excellent directions I dare not spoil here. If you enjoy Romulans, the Borg, and appearances from known characters, you’re in for a treat.

Finally, Lower Decks premiered this year and its reception has been divided.  Star Trek: Lower Decks is an adult-animation comedy series, which is being considered as part of the main universe’s canon.  It has fun guest-appearances, a very quirky style, and an incredible amount of imagination...and (surprisingly) gore.  This series is really something special.  With that said, I do not believe that anyone can truly enjoy this show without a good knowledge of Star Trek.  The show relies so much on its references that about 50% of the jokes might pass people by without having seen it before.  Even the jokes are fourth-wall breaking moments that reference inside jokes that fans have had for a long time.  

Regardless of how your 2020 has been thus far, I believe you can easily enjoy Star Trek in all of its iterations.  Star Trek is back in a big and exciting way and, if you haven’t seen the older shows, it’s definitely time to dive in.  I’d like to recommend Deep Space Nine and Enterprise for their more continuity and character-focused writing.  That said, all flavours of this particular treat we call Star Trek are good and each deserves your attention.

That's all for now.

Have a Great Week!

SF