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How did Trek Become Such a Phenomenon?
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<blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 6157777" data-attributes="member: 8835"><p>star trek was fun, and slightly educational. The morality plays probably informed a good many of us on right and wrong and stuff.</p><p></p><p>the technology also inspired a good many of us. Countless tech and science people cite Star Trek as an inspiration.</p><p></p><p>Sure, not all the stories and actions they took made sense from a modern sensibility. But then, why doesn't Batman kill the Joker? Same reason Trek doesn't kill Khan and Archer rescues the Klingons. Because they are trying to be better than taking the deadly option.</p><p></p><p>I'm a big fan of killing bad guys. Dead bad guys don't strike back. Ender's Game taught us that. But I respect somebody taking the harder road to preserve life, albeit at higher risk.</p><p></p><p>I'm going to put forward that something is wrong with us and our society, that we don't see anything wrong with every Batman movie resulting in the death of the villain, compared to just about every Batman comic resulting in batman catching the bad guy and taking great pains to establish that Batman doesn't kill.</p><p></p><p>The same is true of Star Trek and its silly plots. It'd be trivial for the Enterprise to kill every villain of the week. The self-imposed constraints they try to follow are what we aspire to. Aside from stupid writing where they try to avoid breaking the Prime Directive by breaking the Prime Directive.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, Star trek is great because I like it. I prefer it over Star Wars. I don't think of it as some example of Utopia. Merely a future where we spend more time exploring and solving problems than struggling to screw each other over.</p><p></p><p><mention>Kaodi</mention> asked where our present vision is, I suggest that's Firefly and BSG. Those shows are great, but they wallow in our own bad behaviors. I think DS9 was aimed to be the trek equivalent, but BSG in particular fine tuned that in a sci-fi show.</p><p></p><p>What Trek gave us was a setting where we COULD rise above our petty self-absorbed crap. Being set in the future is the implication that we might not be there now, but we CAN get there. A show with a modern setting like that would be viewed as hokey and unrealistic because the protagonists are self-absorbed like we are. A show set in the future can acknowledge that we USED to be self-absorbed, but we got better.</p><p></p><p>I think Trek had enough flawed characters to show that this ideal hadn't been fully reached, but that the majority society was decent and not like the degenerates we percieve our current world to be comprised of. A societal evolution still has its throwbacks.</p><p></p><p>Lastly, what Trek gave us is good memorable characters. TOS got three seasons, and everybody knows who Kirk, Spock, Bones and Scotty is. A fair number of people know who Picard is. The other shows ramp down in "common knowledge" name recognition. There are zillions of novels written in all the Trek series. There's even a Eugenics Wars series.</p><p></p><p>Trek is popular because it got the formula right.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Janx, post: 6157777, member: 8835"] star trek was fun, and slightly educational. The morality plays probably informed a good many of us on right and wrong and stuff. the technology also inspired a good many of us. Countless tech and science people cite Star Trek as an inspiration. Sure, not all the stories and actions they took made sense from a modern sensibility. But then, why doesn't Batman kill the Joker? Same reason Trek doesn't kill Khan and Archer rescues the Klingons. Because they are trying to be better than taking the deadly option. I'm a big fan of killing bad guys. Dead bad guys don't strike back. Ender's Game taught us that. But I respect somebody taking the harder road to preserve life, albeit at higher risk. I'm going to put forward that something is wrong with us and our society, that we don't see anything wrong with every Batman movie resulting in the death of the villain, compared to just about every Batman comic resulting in batman catching the bad guy and taking great pains to establish that Batman doesn't kill. The same is true of Star Trek and its silly plots. It'd be trivial for the Enterprise to kill every villain of the week. The self-imposed constraints they try to follow are what we aspire to. Aside from stupid writing where they try to avoid breaking the Prime Directive by breaking the Prime Directive. Anyway, Star trek is great because I like it. I prefer it over Star Wars. I don't think of it as some example of Utopia. Merely a future where we spend more time exploring and solving problems than struggling to screw each other over. <mention>Kaodi</mention> asked where our present vision is, I suggest that's Firefly and BSG. Those shows are great, but they wallow in our own bad behaviors. I think DS9 was aimed to be the trek equivalent, but BSG in particular fine tuned that in a sci-fi show. What Trek gave us was a setting where we COULD rise above our petty self-absorbed crap. Being set in the future is the implication that we might not be there now, but we CAN get there. A show with a modern setting like that would be viewed as hokey and unrealistic because the protagonists are self-absorbed like we are. A show set in the future can acknowledge that we USED to be self-absorbed, but we got better. I think Trek had enough flawed characters to show that this ideal hadn't been fully reached, but that the majority society was decent and not like the degenerates we percieve our current world to be comprised of. A societal evolution still has its throwbacks. Lastly, what Trek gave us is good memorable characters. TOS got three seasons, and everybody knows who Kirk, Spock, Bones and Scotty is. A fair number of people know who Picard is. The other shows ramp down in "common knowledge" name recognition. There are zillions of novels written in all the Trek series. There's even a Eugenics Wars series. Trek is popular because it got the formula right. [/QUOTE]
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