How J.J. Abrams broke Star Trek
medium.com
From 1966 to 2023 and beyond, Star Trek has been at or near the center of attention… except for when JJ Abrams broke it, THREE TIMES.

I wasn’t even aware of Lemmy when I wrote this. I only joined yesterday, but not for the intent of promoting my pieces. I don’t monetize them, so there’s that. Aside from book work, this is one of the longest pieces I’ve ever written, and I write about a range of subjects. I hope you all like it :)

  • maegul@lemmy.mlEnglish
    53·
    1 year ago

    Welcome to lemmy!

    And great article!

    Discovery can sometimes be a touchy topic around here, as it prompts some arguably toxic negativity, but I thought it was important to try to outline, as you did, what the whole JJ reboot thing was about and how it has been problematic for Trek, Discovery being ground zero. Thanks!

    • Bonehead@kbin.social
      3·
      1 year ago

      The thing that people have to remember is that Discovery gave us Anson Mount and Ethan Peck. That alone should make up for any problems with pacing or character development.

      • maegul@lemmy.mlEnglish
        21·
        1 year ago

        It’s kind of a cursed defence though isn’t it?

        The thing that redeems a new trek show, which has traditionally always been about doing new and interesting things within the values of the franchise IMO …

        is the longish cameo of essentially rebooted characters that in many people’s view salvaged the franchise through their own successful spin off. Where, in my view, despite liking SNW a lot, it’s biggest problem as a contribution to the franchise is that it’s very close to being a reboot of TOS1 (though it’s not quite there yet and I hope it stays away) … which means we’re talking about a prequel giving birth to another prequel that verges on a reboot.

        All of that, for me, connects Discovery+SNW to the JJ/Kelvin legacy of what new and compelling Trek has to look like in a way that feels very distant from the legacies and approaches of TOS/TNG/DS9.

        1. Since and including the finale of season 1, either Kirk or Scotty have played major non-cameo roles in a majority of SNW episodes while taking air time from the other SNW characters. For me, this is unnecessary and is clearly toying with TOS reboot/prequel territory, while the interesting promise of SNW was to simply continue from the first pilot, doing what is technically a prequel but really filling in a missing gap of TOS era trek with its own premise and characters and so allowing a re-imagining of TOS trek without reverting to old (and tired IMO) characters.