In the course of my interweb travels, I find myself encountering a number of interesting subjects. This next one is directly connected to this blog post and concerns what constitutes ‘true Star Trek‘.
If you click on the tweets you’ll be able to see the entire thread. I’ll offer up my take on it – and I want to stress this is only my personal take on it.
I dare say that the blog post missed the mark a little, as during the course of a discussion on Twitter with the original ‘tweeter’ it became clear just what his position was. Exhibit A, this tweet:
Wow, you set the bar so low, literally any high-minded fiction can reach it. Anyway, that's your own #TrueTrek, but it's meaningless.
— ST-v-SW.Net (@STvSW) October 25, 2017
The derision of someone else’s opinion on what Star Trek is and what it means is pure arrogance. It’s not far off outright saying ‘it’s not Trek unless I say so’.
Exhibit B…
Stimulus, response. Don't want ugly, don't be ugly. As for #TrueTrek, come up with better for same idea. I'll wait.
— ST-v-SW.Net (@STvSW) October 25, 2017
This is in relation, regardless of claims to the contrary, to ‘who started it’. It’s pretty much a childish blame game, whilst denying it to be a blame game (see Exhibit C as well). It’s apparently more important to apportion blame than to resolve the issue.
Exhbit C…
The division's already been made by those #Tardifan who refused to allow others to be even a wee bit skeptical. #StarTrekDiscovery
— ST-v-SW.Net (@STvSW) October 25, 2017
Linked to Exhibit B. I can just as easily argue any division is the result of people implying their vision of what Star Trek is should somehow override other peoples’ opinions. This idea that one opinion should be treated as near enough objective fact, whilst baiting/trolling people who disagree, is no different from the very attitudes being criticised in the tweet!
In short, I can easily argue, based on what I’ve observed, that people were so prepared to hate Discovery, even before it had aired, that they were ridiculing fans for being prepared to give the show a chance. Now the show is underway, that rhetoric has only increased.
And for the record, if one of the fans of the show who has been going as far as to issue death threats to people criticising Discovery, you are as bad, if not worse. People are allowed to criticise and dislike Discovery. You can like the show and still criticise elements of it. There’s zero excuse for threatening people who hold different opinions.
Exhibit D…
So in other words, you can't come up with a better description that distinguishes un-rebooted Trek from rebooted. Mmkay.
— ST-v-SW.Net (@STvSW) October 25, 2017
The nuts and bolts of the ‘#TrueTrek’ hashtag. It seems for Trek to be ‘true’ it must adhere to a particular timeline. Hence the distinction between the ‘Prime’ universe (DSC, TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT) and the Kelvin timeline (the 2009 movie, Into Darkness and Beyond). It also bears noting that the tweeter here regards and treats Discovery as a reboot, but that flies in the face of official statements on the subject, which, despite pronouncements to the contrary, carry more weight than his opinion.
Of course, the timeline or universe any given part of the franchise is set in has no bearing on whether or not the particular film or show is ‘true’. It’s part of Star Trek lore. It carries and conveys the messages of the franchise. Despite the implication (and despite the attempt to turn it around) that ‘Prime’ = better (Prime can simply mean one or first), Prime does not mean ‘more true’.
And Exhbit E.
For Trek to be ‘true’, it need only remind us of what we can accomplish if we seek to better ourselves and work together.
— Ben Berwick (@darth_timon) October 25, 2017
I’ll stick by my tweet here, very happily.
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