Kara Babcock

I read, write, code, and knit.

7 Articles Tagged with “Star Trek”

  1. Changing my mind about Star Trek: Discovery

    Season 3 fixes so much I disliked about the first two seasons.

    Last year, I made my peace with Star Trek: Discovery (DISCO). I recognized that even though the show doesn’t hit me the same way some of the previous series do, it has merits and it’s understandable why some people enjoy it so much. I concluded:

    I will watch you because you are Trek, even if you are not my favourite flavour of Trek, and I will enjoy you as much as I can, even if I will never enjoy you as much as I do DS9 or TNG. And that’s ok, just as it’s ok for other Trekkies not to enjoy some of the classic series and to find in DISCO their favourite version of Trek.

    I wrote that post just as season 3 ended, but it took the trailer for season 4 (coming out next month) to galvanize me into watching season 3, which I did over the course of the last two weeks. My overall impression? It’s actually not that bad. Watchable, even!

    The first two seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) are infamously bad compared to the rest of the series. Indeed, many curated lists of “must watch” TNG episodes suggest skipping most of those…

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  2. Making my peace with Star Trek: Discovery

    Three years ago, when Star Trek: Discovery (or DISCO as we call it) premiered, I didn’t like it. Now, as its third season draws to a close, I have decided to go back and finally watch season 2. I wanted to give DISCO another chance, and I promised myself that I would go in with fresh eyes and an open mind. My verdict? Well, it’s complicated—season 2 is a lot better than season 1, and I am willing to own that many of the critiques I levelled in that 2017 blog post do not hold up. Yet at the end of the day, I can’t bring myself to say that I liked season 2 of DISCO.

    What was I wrong about in that first blog post? I was critical of how the show handles its characters of colour, and I argued that DISCO doesn’t take enough risks. I think, in hindsight, neither of those critiques are fair—especially not for season 2. I can see now that the writers and producers of this show have tried hard to push the boundaries of what we consider to be “Star Trek,” in a good way, and in my initial defensiveness I wasn’t…

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  3. Star Trek: Picard is Star Trek meets Mass Effect

    A long time ago now, it seems, I wrote a post about how the then-new Star Trek: Discovery was #NotMyStarTrek. I haven’t watched later seasons, but I stand by the post in general. You can imagine my delight when Patrick Stewart agreed to star in a new Star Trek series that is actually a sequel. He reprises his role as the venerable Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

    I like Star Trek: Picard much, much more than Discovery. For some people, this show still won’t be “Trek enough.” There’s a lot more violence (which I don’t like) and profanity (whatever); the show is definitely trying to appeal to what audiences have come to expect since the Star Trek I remember from the late ’90s, early ’00s. Nevertheless, about 8 or 9 episodes into the season, I finally realized why I was enjoying this series so much: it reminds me of Mass Effect.

    Spoilers for the entire first season of Star Trek: Picard, , as well as the Mass Effect trilogy, follow!

    With some notable exceptions, like the time Star Trek: Deep Space Nine visited Earth for a two-parter, the Star Trek universe has…

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  4. Star Trek: Discovery is #NotMyStarTrek

    My unexpected optimism for Star Trek: Discovery is fast turning to disappointment.

    No spoilers for this week’s episode, although I do want it on record I’m incredibly disappointed that after going to the effort of casting formidable women of colour, this show seems intent on fridging them. WTF.

    I’ve been reading a lot of behind the scenes things about TOS as I rewatch it. One thing is clear: Star Trek was ahead of its time in almost every way. From its storytelling to its acting to its design and production, it departed from the norms of television in the 1960s. Roddenberry and co. took a risk, and it paid off.

    The more I watch of Discovery, the more I’m convinced of a few things. Firstly, I don’t think Discovery is trash in the way I think the new movies are trash. It is a quality production, with excellent acting and characterization, and it’s trying to tell a compelling story that, magical spore-drives aside, could make for some good science fiction.

    But it’s not Star Trek. At least, it isn’t my Star Trek in the way that the first four live-action TV series (and … OK … yes ……

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  5. Star Trek: Discovery's premiere was its Kobayashi Maru

    (No spoilers for the show, btw.)

    Cater to the diehard fans who have eagerly consumed all the Trek, all the time, for half a century. Rekindle the love of Trek in those fans for whom the latest movies or series were less than stellar. Introduce a whole new generation of viewers, with the expectations of today’s television production styles and storytelling, to the universe and ethos of the franchise.

    There is no way Star Trek: Discovery could have lived up to all the expectations heaped upon it. The premiere of this series is a Kobayashi Maru.

    Believe me, I am incredibly surprised to find myself in the role of Discovery apologist. I have been very sceptical of the show since it was first announced—but most of that has been because of the way CBS has seemed so half-hearted and haphazard in its production, rather than the actual show itself. And maybe some of it is because I am so, so thrilled to see Star Trek returning to TV—and so, so, scared it’s not going to be good.

    Following the premiere (of which I only watched the first episode, because bed times), the question of whether or not this new series…

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  6. Back off! Get your own franchise!

    I've given it a great deal of thought, for it's a complicated subject. However, I now believe that rebooting Star Trek is not a good idea.

    The new Star Trek film, premiering this Friday, is a "prequel" in the sense that it takes place prior to the original series, but not a prequel in the sense that it actually results in an alternate timeline.((Yes, time travel--prepare for headaches.)) This allows J.J. Abrams to effectively shed the burden of forty-three years of Star Trek continuity and boldly go where Star Trek has never, never gone before.((Namely, Spock and Uhura. Yeah, that's right.)) Well, for the record, I think J.J. Abrams is wrong.

    Yes, yes, I'm well aware that for many people, J.J. Abrams is God, and oh-em-gee-how-could-you-say-such-a-thing?!

    I'm not against rebooting Star Trek's continuity per se. After all, Ronald D. Moore reimagined Battlestar Galactica, and that turned out rather well. Star Trek arguably has a more developed universe than Battlestar Galactica, however, which requires far more careful handling than simply overwriting the timeline. In that respect, Star Trek is more similar to Dune.((Seriously, who are you trying to fool, Brian Herbert?)) It's not the reboot that worries…

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  7. Merry Christmas

    Merry Christmas. :D

    I had a pretty good Christmas, all things considered. Excellent turkey ... enough candy to hospitalize me ... good movies. I got Star Trek: Legacy and Sid Meier's Civilization IV.

    If you were thinking of buying Star Trek: Legacy, let me save you the time: don't. I am not overreacting. In the short time I played the game I found it to be utterly dissatisfactory. Firstly, there is no intro scene, no exciting opening cinematic, except for an overly-long one for the developer, Mad Doc. Secondly, the mouse behaves with jerky movements on the menu, making any action twice as hard to execute. In missions (which can't be saved while in progress) the controls are confusing, the graphics are lacklustre, and any good things were siphoned from Star Trek: Starfleet Command III. There is no coherent tutorial, just a series of hint screens that inconveniently disrupt gameplay during the mission--so I have no idea what I'm doing. Incidentally, there's nothing to indicate that the game is paused after I press "Pause" except the fact that the Romulans stopped shooting at me.

    Civilization IV, on the other hand, looks exciting. I only tried out the tutorial before…

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