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New Star trek series, will "take on Trump and Brexit"

Carna

Banned

The new “Star Trek” series starring Sir Patrick Stewart isn’t being explicitly billed as “woke,” but it seems the series’ star, who will reprise his role as the legendary Enterprise captain, Jean-Luc Picard, believes “Star Trek: Picard” will have a message for anti-immigrant leaders and global isolationists.

The series will have a “more pessimistic take” on Starfleet, the quasi-military arm that handles discovery, research, and, generally, law enforcement duties for the United Federation of Planets, according to Newsweek. Stewart described the fictional organization, now years past the events of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and the subsequent Star Trek films, as hopelessly corrupt and cruelly “isolationist” in the face of a galactic refugee crisis.

Picard, which will debut January 23 on CBS All Access, portrays a corrupted federation, which has turned isolationist in response to a Romulan refugee crisis, caused by the destruction of their home world by a supernova in the year 2387. That same event spawned the parallel timeline setting for 2009’s “Star Trek” reboot movie and its two sequels,” the outlet reported late last week.


Stewart’s Picard, whom Stewart refers to as a paragon of virtue (a description that fits the character as he’s long been portrayed) will stand up “for the federation, for what it should still represent,” as the character says in a clip from the show: “Everything he does is filled with innate integrity. He fights for the things he believes in. And he’s very willing to collaborate once you’re on the same wavelength.”

But Stewart will play the role, he says, as a way of injecting some of his own virtue into a world torn by Brexit and by President Donald Trump, he tells Variety Magazine in an extensive profile.

“Picard,” he notes, is “me responding to the world of Brexit and Trump and feeling, ‘Why hasn’t the federation changed? Why hasn’t Starfleet changed? Maybe they’re not as reliable and trustworthy as we all thought.”

Stewart goes on to describe both the United Kingdom and the United States as “f***ed.”


But even if “Picard” depicts a United Federation of Planets beseiged by a refugee crisis, there’s little to compare what’s happening to the worlds of “Star Trek” to the world of today. For starters, the Federation has unlimited resources, both real and manufactured, to provide a struggling group of aliens (even if the “Prime Directive,” which prohibits Starfleet from taking an active role in a species’ development might present some ethical issues with a major recovery effort). The United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe as a whole do not.

And that’s if you don’t consider precisely what the Romulans are — a long-term villian in the Star Trek universe, whose efforts at fomenting unrest and even civil war are well documented.

But how the “refugee crisis” in “Star Trek” is treated remains to be seen. A series true to Gene Roddenberry’s vision would take the history of the show and its characters into account, but it also wouldn’t shy away from having a political point of view — perhaps even one that differs from Stewart’s own.

I mean, I wasn't expecting Patrick to be in favor of Trump or Brexit. but this is getting ridiculous. I am not a superfan of Trump, or invested in politics enough to give a hoot. but it's outright jarring to see Star Trek do weird shit like this for the sake of relevance (I actually think the 2009 film was a bad omen of sorts)
 

Cravis

Member
Ugh. ....



iziymc2.gif
 
Star Trek TNG worked because it was "post-partisan", envisioning a future where humans united under a common cause while still allowing differences in beliefs, respecting alien races via The Prime Directive yet still standing up for their own sense of justice and morality. The show talked about a child's right to life, the sentience of a self-aware AI, transgender acceptance, the morality of self-defense and killing, drug abuse, sex norms, addiction to videogames/media, immaturity, duty, mental illness, and pretty much every "serious" topic one could think of, through the lens of Roddenberry's optimistic sci-fi paradigm.

To go against that would be a betrayal of the spirit of the original show and it should be judged accordingly.
 

Hinedorf

Banned
Star Trek Discovery is my absolute favorite of any Star Trek show/movie so I'm staying hyped and positive for Picard, can't wait for Discovery S3.


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cryptoadam

Banned
Rodenburry must be rolling in his grave. They really want to destroy Star Trek I guess, go woke go broke.

They should include a #metoo storyline as well. And then a storyline where the romulans refuse to wax the balls of a trans trebil.

This sounds highly illogical.

Live Woke and don't prosper.
 

Nester99

Member
Star Trek was always woke.

first interracial kiss on television.

They just did a great job at telling great stories and not bashing you over the head with it.

I think this article is reaching. This is not ghostbusters. Calm down and let it play out.
 

Stouffers

Banned
If you’re conservative, you’ve long had to separate the art from the artist when it comes to entertainment. I think Stewart the actor is amazing and this doesn’t change anything. It also helps that I think Trump is a joke. My politics don’t align with Stewart’s but there’s at least some common ground ;)
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future



I mean, I wasn't expecting Patrick to be in favor of Trump or Brexit. but this is getting ridiculous. I am not a superfan of Trump, or invested in politics enough to give a hoot. but it's outright jarring to see Star Trek do weird shit like this for the sake of relevance (I actually think the 2009 film was a bad omen of sorts)
Star Trek has always been like this. It was 'woke' before 'woke' existed.
 

Weiji

Banned
“The series will have a “more pessimistic take” on Starfleet, the quasi-military arm that handles discovery, research, and, generally, law enforcement duties for the United Federation of Planets”

so like... has anyone writing this actually watched TNG?

I’m not sure how the above quote is possible unless Picard himself is gonna be a nazi?

I wanna watch Riker choke out a black alien for selling cigarettes and then spit on it’s corpse. He’s always had a great evil grin.
 

Darkmakaimura

Can You Imagine What SureAI Is Going To Do With Garfield?



I mean, I wasn't expecting Patrick to be in favor of Trump or Brexit. but this is getting ridiculous. I am not a superfan of Trump, or invested in politics enough to give a hoot. but it's outright jarring to see Star Trek do weird shit like this for the sake of relevance (I actually think the 2009 film was a bad omen of sorts)
'Member when countries like Mexico were destroyed by supernovas?

I 'member.
 

ZehDon

Gold Member
Star Trek has always had political themes are part of its core concept, so this isn’t a major ripple, but I always felt it’s themes were the vision of a future where partisan politics fell by the wayside. Where humanity finally learned the God damn lessons history has been trying to teach us since we discovered fire. That’s the part that always spoke to me, anyway. A corrupted Star Fleet and preachy real world analogies doesn’t really interest me. That’s not what I liked about TNG, Voyager, DS9, or even the films.
Fingers crossed it’s actually good, with a real solid story.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
So, a Star Trek show promotes openness and inclusiveness? Colour me shocked. Have you ever watched a decent Star Trek series? Of course, with the authors of garbage fire Discovery, you never know what may happen to Star Trek Picard, but Star Trek taking a stance againt isolationism is very true to the nature of Star Trek. Star Trek was always a left-leaning utopia (and when it was not utopia, it was dealing with the issue of how far one may go to protect Utopia, in DS9).
 

nikolino840

Member
So, a Star Trek show promotes openness and inclusiveness? Colour me shocked. Have you ever watched a decent Star Trek series? Of course, with the authors of garbage fire Discovery, you never know what may happen to Star Trek Picard, but Star Trek taking a stance againt isolationism is very true to the nature of Star Trek. Star Trek was always a left-leaning utopia (and when it was not utopia, it was dealing with the issue of how far one may go to protect Utopia, in DS9).
In cardassians i Always see nazists and in bajorans the jews
 
The thing that's starting to bug me about this woke crap, ever since the British election where the overtly Pro Brexit party won in an absolute landslde, is the frankly just spiteful, open contempt for democracy or the opinions of most people.

'Taking on Brexit' automatically means you're telling most of the population of Great Britain not to watch. How does that make any sense from a financial perspective?

How out of touch have these media companies become that they're putting their odd, obviously fringe beliefs and opinions above both making a product most people would enjoy and profitability?
 

Gavin Stevens

Formerly 'o'dium'
Trump is an utter cu... hes... well yeah.

But I didn’t want my Trek involved in it. I use it to get away from how had people like Trump are. But oh well...
 

Mihos

Gold Member
Star Trek was founded on social commentary for the most part, like making sure a russian was part of the crew when Russia was the biggest boogieman of the time. I remember when Janeway was announced to be the captain of that series. They usually put in there without being overly preachy about it.

It probably would be a little better if they just did it and not signal that this is what its about, now it will be all some people will see when they watch it.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
Star Trek was founded on social commentary for the most part, like making sure a russian was part of the crew when Russia was the biggest boogieman of the time. I remember when Janeway was announced to be the captain of that series. They usually put in there without being overly preachy about it.

It probably would be a little better if they just did it and not signal that this is what its about, now it will be all some people will see when they watch it.
yeah i mean Trek was always political but it's not like they were "This series is all about Reagan!" they touched on some topics, cos they explore a variety of issues.

agree strongly with the bold. perhaps it's just a symptom of our broken media. to the media "politics" = "Trump talk". they are unable to view any story without seeing how they can fit Trump in there somewhere. wouldn't be surprised if actors were prepped to bring up Trump, if only to get more articles written.

saying the word "Trump" to a journalist is like jingling keys in front of a baby. it mesmerizes them.
 
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mcz117chief

Member
Well don't Watch ds9
How is DS9 pandering? I get that there are some instances of writers giving their opinions on events and they feel out of place since they aren't explained properly (like the jab at the Catholic church for prosecuting Galileo, which isn't black and white as most people think). But aside from those, quite rare, instances the show is way more diverse and interesting than TNG. So many species, environments, different characters, moral codes etc. unlike TNG where everyone is a choir boy (I love TNG as well btw).
 
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nikolino840

Member
How is DS9 pandering? I get that there are some instances of writers giving their opinions on events and they feel out of place since they aren't explained properly (like the jab at the Catholic church for prosecuting Galileo, which isn't black and white as most people think). But aside from those, quite rare, instances the show is way more diverse and interesting than TNG. So many species, environments, different characters, moral codes etc. unlike TNG where everyone is a choir boy (I love TNG as well btw).
Ds9 Is the most political serie..when i was young i found boring..now i love It!

The fact Is that Star Trek was Always leftist and liberal, there's no Wall Borders on the new earth...take for example the double episode when dax sisko and Bashir are in a old century of the earth

And the duo cardassia/bajor Is a hot topic and Is the main lore
 
Ds9 Is the most political serie..when i was young i found boring..now i love It!

The fact Is that Star Trek was Always leftist and liberal, there's no Wall Borders on the new earth...take for example the double episode when dax sisko and Bashir are in a old century of the earth

And the duo cardassia/bajor Is a hot topic and Is the main lore
The eventual elimination of currency as well. Star Trek Earth took a hard shift away from capitalism at some point post WWIII. I'm not sure if it could be described as a socialist utopia but it leans heavily in that direction.

I don't mind politics in my fiction. My issue with what I would describe as "woke" storytelling is that it's so focused on hammering home an agenda to an audience that it becomes a distraction. The best science fiction is almost always a commentary on society/politics but it also knows how to weave that into a compelling story without needing to telegraph its themes.

For a bad example watch this week's Doctor Who.

I am a climate change believer and that episode was pure preachy garbage that ruined a perfectly good premise.
 

nikolino840

Member
The eventual elimination of currency as well. Star Trek Earth took a hard shift away from capitalism at some point post WWIII. I'm not sure if it could be described as a socialist utopia but it leans heavily in that direction.

I don't mind politics in my fiction. My issue with what I would describe as "woke" storytelling is that it's so focused on hammering home an agenda to an audience that it becomes a distraction. The best science fiction is almost always a commentary on society/politics but it also knows how to weave that into a compelling story without needing to telegraph its themes.

For a bad example watch this week's Doctor Who.

I am a climate change believer and that episode was pure preachy garbage that ruined a perfectly good premise.
Never watched dr Who..
But inner light was about climate change too
 

Blond

Banned
Honestly I'm surprised that people here are complaining like suddenly Star Trek wasn't taking on social issues before this.

-Integration of races into American society and minorities in positions of power
-The rise of homelessness in America (There's literally an episode talking about late stage capitalism and tent cities in 2020 America)
-Militarism against citizens (the amount of cities with army gear now are insane)
-Sexism and Feminism towards Women

That's just what I can think of off the top of my head. Why is this different?
 

Ironbunny

Member
Honestly I'm surprised that people here are complaining like suddenly Star Trek wasn't taking on social issues before this.

-Integration of races into American society and minorities in positions of power
-The rise of homelessness in America (There's literally an episode talking about late stage capitalism and tent cities in 2020 America)
-Militarism against citizens (the amount of cities with army gear now are insane)
-Sexism and Feminism towards Women

That's just what I can think of off the top of my head. Why is this different?

How is it helping anyone or the show itself to remake brexit and orange man bad in Star Trek universe? If anything Star Trek has been a uniting experience for most people and not the opposite. Yes you can tackle difficult questions in it but please do it in a meaningful way. Hopefully the show runners are wiser then what Patrick Stewart is showing to be here.
 

Blond

Banned
How is it helping anyone or the show itself to remake brexit and orange man bad in Star Trek universe? If anything Star Trek has been a uniting experience for most people and not the opposite. Yes you can tackle difficult questions in it but please do it in a meaningful way. Hopefully the show runners are wiser then what Patrick Stewart is showing to be here.

You and everyone here don't even know how this will be written other than clickbait titles and hot takes. My family has stories about the reactions to the multi-cultural crew, especially the kiss, from the very original Star Trek.

How did it help the show back then? They could've made the entire crew white, but they didn't, and the public reacted accordingly to the point the only way the stories were closed are by a bunch of movies.

The shows were as good as they were back then because they tackled issues and pushed buttons while the issues we're fresh in public memory.

I don't remember this amount of discourse at anything that drew relations to the bush-era let alone Clinton. But it's better to be ignorant and angry than reasonable I guess.
 
I always thought it was more about Israel ans Palestine with the whole emphasis on the Cardassian "occupation" of Bajor and all.
This is precisely the difference these modern woke writers and sadly many in this thread aren't understanding.

Both of these interpretations of the Cardassian/Bajoran conflict are valid, as are several other comparrisons I can think of, because the writers took real world problems and used them as inspiration for their story.

They resonate with us today, as do even the stories using the politics of the 1960's, because they speak to real world problems we can all understand, taken objectively, superimposed on a fictional setting and people that only share the problems, not the actual specific issues, and paint it with an optimistic, futurist bent that looks at how our basic shared humanity could overcome it, usually through compromise and understanding.

The current woke tripe just takes whatever politics they don't like, reduce it to a strawman caricature, change the names and drop it into a setting it stands out like a sore thumb in.

It's just spiteful hate and public ridicule of the people in real life they disagree with and despise, which makes for bad entertainment and most of the audience either feeling directly insulted or embarrassed to associated with it.
 
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