“Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms. […] If we cannot learn to actually enjoy those small differences, to take a positive delight in those small differences between our own kind, here on this planet, then we do not deserve to go out into space and meet the diversity that is almost certainly out there.” ― Gene Roddenberry
Gene Roddenberry also did a shitload of cocaine and wanted Counselor Troi to be a nymphomaniac with four breasts
Much like Gene himself.
:volcelawayteam:
We can’t all be perfect.
Not everyone can be Gene Roddenberry, no
Infinite forehead ridges in infinite combinations.
humanity
Hegelian idealist utopianism, the complete opposite of Marx
Trekkies who maintain Gene was a crypto-moaist
No he was a crypto posadist. In star trek we go to space only after nuclear WW3 and do so with dolphins
Woah feels like I need to watch it maybe ?
Maybe start with The Next Generation, though. While Roddenberry was probably ahead of his time w/r/t how he depicted race/ethnicity in the original series, his misogyny - even if it was par for the course in the 60s - can make it tough to watch. In the world of TOS, women are eye candy on the ship (in non-leadership capacities, can have women managing men after all) and are there really just so the men can get with them. Also it just isn’t very good, it’s kinda goofy.
Also, first season is a little rough of TNG so try to stick it out. It gave rise to the antonym of “jump the shark” which is “grow the beard” (a main character grew a beard and the show got better at the same time).
Ah , so when I hear that next gen is bad , by the fanbois that is what they mean ?.that they love misogyny ugh !!
Ngl, 30% of Trek is problematic if not downright unwatchable. Doesn’t stop it from being some of the best TV with some of the most thoughtful characters you’ll ever see. Star Trek is a study in contradiction.
Do you mean original reception when it aired or 90s BBS/forum reaction that extends to modern day?
The original reception was mixed and filled with a lot of doomerism and anxiety that TNG just did not live up to the TOS cast at all. TOS was actualy a very big mainstream hit, famously the TV network didn’t realize this until they saw the actual ratings with the white middle class family type so TNG had large shoes to fill. To be fair TNG S1 and S2 are the worst in Trek.
But by the time TNG got to S3 and 4 the show had a major reform and they started putting out consistent fan favorites, Best of Both Worlds was a smash hit for a season finale two parter etc. By S07 there was some fatigue setting in.
On the other hand the 90s fandom had evolved with DS9 taking a major different path leading to a smaller but more dedicated fan base and Voyager was a return to what the producers though the average viewer wanted i.e TNG the continuation. Voyager was a failure in that aspect but it does have some decent episodes and it stands on its own flaws and successes.
So with all that context these days when people say TNG was bad they’re almost certainly referring to the bad S01 and S02 and not realy comparing to TOS.
The TNG Movies are very divisive too, some hardcore fans hate them specialy Generations. I don’t particularly like them either but for other reasons(Patrick Stewart is just a moron realy).
Woah thats a lot of info !! My flatmate is a fan , but i have never watched or discussed so idk what he means by the originals !
I heard the network told him they could have women in leadership positions or the guy with the pointy ears. But I can’t find a source for that
It’s a series filled with hope for the future, that never says getting to that place will be easy. It very consistently tackles social issues such as religion, gender identity, capitalism, and the relations of power. For example the Prime Directive - that Starfleet shall not interfere in the independent development of other cultures - is a classic ML vs anarchist problem. Does a powerful socialist state have the right to invade foreign planets and force them to conform to their ideas? The show runs into other species that challenge both sides of this debate with great frequency. For example the Borg are a communist hivemind that force others to join their hivemind through violence in their pursuit of distinctiveness to add to their swarm. A dark mirror to the Federation that shows what things would be like without the prime directive. Or, the Bajorans, a deeply religious species that were enslaved by the Cardassians for 50 years, who are weighing their options of whether or not they want to join the Federation now they’re free, and some are questioning why the Federation hasn’t done more for them.
“If we cannot learn to actually enjoy those small differences, to take a positive delight in those small differences between our own kind, here on this planet, then we do not deserve to go out into space and meet the diversity that is almost certainly out there.”
Maybe it’s just the culmination of nearly too much fucking time on this earth but I have seen literally zero proof that we will ever deserve to span past our current reach. Not that we’ll keep this burning rock chugging that long. My current spitball is ‘no more than 50 years till we have to figure out how to move humanity underground’.
To be fair, Gene couldn’t fathom it either without humanity first going through periods of domination from genetically modified übermenschen and then literal nuclear war with WWII Eastern Front levels of death and destruction.
A valid point to raise.
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then we do not deserve to go out into space and meet the diversity that is almost certainly out there
I felt this in my bones before I knew about that quote; so many
worshipers crave a space version of Manifest Destiny and often jerk off to “the Na’Vi are stupid and bad in Avatar and should be exterminated, actually” manifestos.The Na’vi are religious communists living in perfect harmony with their natural environment. Humans are a capitalist garbage species that bombed their home planet to shit and now its rain is acid. So according to Earth apologists, the correct course of action is for humans to exterminate the Na’vi so they can ruin Pandora too while still not solving the problems on Earth, and somehow that’s supposed to make things better
