XPost: rec.arts.sf.tv

On Wed, 12 Feb 2025 17:37:50 -0800, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 2/12/2025 12:31 PM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Wed, 12 Feb 2025 07:43:59 -0800, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

I have no problem calling Star Wars 'Science Fantasy'. But Star Trek is >>> science fiction. It isn't _hard_ SF, as it includes social changes but
SF has a long tradition of that as well. (And Doc Smith had no real
world science to base any of the psi based aspects of Lensmen upon even
at the time he wrote those books.)

I'd agree with you on classic Star Trek, but modern Star Trek is a
different beast. It's not anything about modern science or examining
how it would affect social changes anymore. It's soap opera in space
set against a background that mirrors current events. It's about the
drama and thus increasingly falls beneath the 'space opera' umbrella.

(That said, on -increasingly rare- occassion Star Trek does surprise
by being a bit deeper than usual... but so too does Star Wars
sometimes, albeit never in the main-line movies.)

Well, I don't know the current "state" of Star Trek. The last Trek show
I watched was season 2 of 'Orville'. Everything is on streaming now and
I don't do streaming.

I rise in defense of one of the newer Trek shows, _Strange New Worlds_.

Mrs. vallor and I have been watching it from the start -- an episode
here and there -- and we haven't been disappointed. Note that I don't
usually watch series', but this is an exception...

I'm a fan of TOS, which I grew up watching in syndication. SNW scratches
that itch, albeit with much better effects, and arguably better stories. Already, one story included a plot device where communication using
music was central to the plot, and the way they used it was
absolutely enchanting.

And while I agree that Star Wars is "space fantasy", Star Trek
is about as "SF" as you can expect on TV -- if not "Science Fiction"
then "Speculative Fiction".

Oh, and Captain Pike is the captain -- no "Kirk" Shakespearean over-acting
to be found. Number One is the first officer, and we just learned
something about her character that shows that the writers _are_ writing
_big_ character arcs. (We already saw some of that with Spock, Uhura,
and Pike, but this was a Big Deal about her past...)

So there's good drama -- in space! It also doesn't always take itself
so seriously, which is a welcome change from the TOS format.

I saw some of _The Orville_, and could appreciate what Seth was trying
to do with it. This is the "Trek" universe's answer to it.

(And I might have to look into that Star Trek MMO on Steam, if it is still around...)

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