We’re living in an interesting time for Star Trek. After more than a decade where it seemed unlikely, for the first time since the ‘90s multiple series are in production at the same time -but they’re Star Trek as we’ve never seen it before. Star Trek shows distinctly tailored to a new era of television that is quite different from the one that saw The Next Generation through to Enterprise. Everything from number of episodes to visual effects budgets to mode of accessibility itself has evolved drastically. And for dramatic genre T.V. especially, there are new requirements to be met in a post-Game of Thrones age. Non-serialization is out for one, the standalone episode is a thing of the past -meaning shows have to be started from the beginning and episodes can’t be missed. Subject matter must not be self-censored, formerly off-limits things such as sex, swearing, certain levels of violence, and that which is called “moral complexity” should instead be embraced. And these shows have to look cool, so that they appear worth the time in such a television environment saturated with dozens of other shows trying to do the same.
Now that all sounds very institutionally risk-averse, opaquely commercial and creatively stifling (because it is), but the formula is not without merits. In fact it can often be more compelling than similar shows of decades past, where they’re looking to The Wire as a model rather than T.J. Hooker. And of course I like many an irritating Star Trek fan (and also Ira Steven Behr) would point out that Deep Space Nine laid arguably some of the groundwork for this kind of television, itself hitting the perfect middle ground in my opinion between these two types of shows: provocative, thematically intrepid, complex in character, halfway serialized, but also optimistic, charmingly restrained, good-humoured, and a bit camp.
Of course you have Star Trek: Lower Decks, an animated comedy from some of the people behind Rick and Morty that takes its’ name from an excellent TNG episode, and which I haven’t yet seen. But it certainly appears to be fitting into its own archetype of adult animated comedies. This whole new franchise expansion was developed and continues to be overseen by Alex Kurtzman, whose career as a screenwriter, producer, and director has been spotty if we’re being generous (the best thing he’s written might honestly be his and Roberto Orci’s script for the 2009 Star Trek). He’s also a credited co-creator on two series, neither of which is Lower Decks. 
There are some very curious similarities and even more curious differences removed from the aforementioned standard contemporary creative and structural choices, between Star Trek: Discovery, which launched in 2017 and is on its third season as of October, and Star Trek: Picard which premiered earlier this year. Most strikingly, both shows are unusual for Star Trek in that they more or less revolve around the arc and actions of a single character -however only one of them is open with this, to the point it is titled after the character in question. Star Trek: Discovery though suggests itself to be another ensemble series in the vein of the franchise tradition, with one character elevated as ostensible team leader. However the first subversion in this is the fact that Discovery’s lead Michael Burnham, played by Sonequa Martin-Green, is not the ships’ captain as per convention, but has a more nebulous rank that shifts between first and second officer depending on her commanding officer (inevitably if the show goes long enough, she will become a captain herself). In spite of this, she’s often the most important person on the ship, and the show never strays too far from her. She’s surrounded of course by other significant crew members, but the show is never as interested in their drama or development as Michaels’. It’s not quite Clara Oswald Syndrome, as she’s never purported to be the most important person in the universe, but she is at the centre of and deeply involved in every noteworthy beat.
Picard also disproportionately centres its’ lead character, in this case the beloved returning bastion of justice and diplomacy, Jean-Luc Picard -once again played by the incomparable Sir Patrick Stewart. However in this case, he’s more the focal point of his own doing rather than circumstance. Also, I’m sorry, but Picard is just a much stronger and more compelling character -an advantage of him having seven seasons and four movies on his Discovery counterpart. Yet, he’s still not the centre of attention as much as her, as the show is pretty equitably split between his story and that of new character Soji (Isa Briones) -an unaware android in the process of discovering the truth of her existence. Overall the show is pretty good about this, giving the new characters room to breathe and grow, and though they don’t get much more episode screen-time than the supporting cast of Discovery, I was far more invested in them from early on than I was the likes of that shows’ Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp) or Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif), or even Michael herself.
That might be the main issue with Michael and the way her show builds her up. Discovery is prone to telling us how great and interesting she is without necessarily showing it. She’s a leader and confident and generally compassionate, but after the early episodes, her personal drive has often been confused and her ego a bit grating. To compensate for the weak character writing and to clarify how big a deal she is, she was retconned into Spock’s backstory as his hereto never-before-seen adopted sister (and the series is ostensibly set in the main timeline of Star Trek, not long before the original series, thus connecting her with the iconic Leonard Nimoy), that only ever amounts to some modest sibling drama between the two. Martin-Green is good though, these faults in her make-up are more indicative of issues within the larger structure and creative choices of the series, which chooses its’ storylines it seems out of a desire for easy conflict or big stakes or thrilling action (the Mirror Universe, Section 31, war with the Klingons) over the more subtle subjects of series past.
Though in fairness another thing Discovery and Picard share is that neither show is all that interested in the franchise’s mission statement. Very little of the exploration for which Starfleet primarily exists is done in either series -again a casualty of these shows not being allowed to be episodic. There has to be an overarching conflict of war or conspiracy or a single thing that is being chased. Of course this is a casualty of any short-form piece of Star Trek media. But this doesn’t necessarily have to limit the shows, as the exploratory theme doesn’t have to literally mean space travel. Indeed the best episodes of the Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and even Voyager were ones that explored ideas and concepts as well as other worlds and regions of space.
And Picard does a pretty good job interrogating a singular idea, even if it is just one idea and one that has become incredibly common in science-fiction the closer we get to A.I. It seems like the season two episode of TNG, “The Measure of a Man” was the primary influence going into Picard, right down to a guest character from that episode, Bruce Maddox, being a very significant figure in this series. Extrapolating off of it, the self-sacrifice of Data (Brent Spiner) in Star Trek: Nemesis eighteen years ago, Picards’ closeness to him, and the still underdeveloped nature of androids in this universe on a larger scale, such artificial life forms (now called “synthetics” or “synths” because android doesn’t sound cool enough) is where Picard is fixated. Themes of autonomy, oppression, gaslighting, vengeance, fearmongering, all relating to the subject of androids and their personhood, permeate the series -which takes more of a Blade Runner approach in terms of their integration into the world. The show really wants to be that film, as it heavily influences the aesthetic of Picard as well -which bears little resemblance to that which had been the norm of TNG, DS9, and Voyager. Ships are lit more dimly now (even more than Voyager), Chicago is seen to be almost cyberpunk in design, and technologies, most notably an abundance of holographic screens, are subscribed far more to a current envisioning of the future instead of something more naturally evolved from the original show.
Aesthetic is also something that Discovery has altered drastically to a more obtrusive end. Where Picard has the excuse of being a sequel series (and set further into the future than any Star Trek show yet: the turn of the twenty-fifth century), Discovery is a prequel set shortly before the original series, the aesthetic of which it doesn’t even attempt to adhere to. From the elaborate ship designs to the militaristic uniforms to the 21st century comparable technology, nothing would suggest the bright, colourful, cheap, and charmingly minimalist world of the original Star Trek was right around the corner. They utilize a few of that era’s sound effects in the cacophony of everything constantly going on, but little else. The second season brings the inconsistency into sharper contrast by more starkly connecting it to the original series, with Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) and Spock (Ethan Peck) as major characters. The Enterprise even makes an appearance with an attempt by the shows’ designers to find a middle ground by way of lighter sets, a variation on the original uniforms, and a joke about doing a way with holographic communication. But each of these gives way before too long to Discovery’s own take on things, which is often cold and unappealing.
Nonetheless, nostalgia is still a driving factor, it’s the crutch that the second season uses a lot. And yet nostalgia, by which I mean fan service, is way more prominent in Picard -with countless references made to not just TNG, but the other shows and movies set in that immediate timeline. Not only are specific episodes and conflicts recalled, but characters show up, both major and minor. And obviously it’s a delight to see Jonathan Frakes and Marina Sirtis as Riker and Troi again, as well as Voyager’s Jeri Ryan coming back as Seven of Nine, and Jonathan Del Arco as notable ex-Borg Hugh -indeed a secondary thread of the series explores the continuing traumas of ex-Borgs, with a large portion of the plot taking place on a defunct cube. Brent Spiner’s return as Data is a tad awkward, given how much the actor has obviously aged where the character should not -but the show is aware of this and deals with its usage of the character ultimately in a very fitting way. In fact, the fan service rarely gets in the way of the storytelling, with perhaps the exception of some of Seven’s role which only marginally impacts the primary narrative. Rather the references fill out the world, make it feel more connected where the aesthetic connections fail.
And despite so many legacy characters returning, the new ones still make a solid, compelling impression. From the aforementioned Soji to Alison Pills’ android expert Agnes Jurati, Santiago Cabrera’s rogue ex-Starfleet pilot Cristobal Rios and his cabal of holograms, Evan Evagora’s Elnor, a Romulan bodyguard, and Michelle Hurd’s spurned colleague of Picards’, Raffi Musiker. There are even a couple Romulan staff at Picard’s chateau, played by Orla Brady and Jamie McShane, who are too interesting for the mere pair of episodes they appear in. 
Discovery on the other hand, though not bereft of such characters, doesn’t tend to use them well. Doug Jones’ Saru and Mary Wiseman’s Sylvia Tilly have managed alright, I love Tig Notaro for her small appearances; but Jason Isaacs’ Captain Lorca, easily the most engaging character of the first season was written out near the end through a twist not nearly as smart as the writers seemed to think. Though his successor in Mount was alright, his unique controversial presence was missing from season two. The show has a second great recurring performer in Michelle Yeoh, but similarly has no idea how to utilize her. And once again, the only character Discovery seems really interested in you caring about is Michael.
Neither of these shows is all that recognizable from what Star Trek used to be. In this T.V. environment, Star Trek as it used to be may not be able to come back. But of the two, one has definitively a stronger grasp on how to maintain the ethos of Star Trek within the rules of the new genre television. Picard is flawed for sure, but it is contemplative, asking questions and entertaining the kind of depth I recall most fondly in TNG and DS9. Moreover, it’s a well-written show that understands its characters and conflicts; and though I’ve got nerd issues with aspects of its universe, those don’t actually matter and I kind of like the universe it has rebooted for itself. Yet Picard works best as a one-off miniseries in spite of a conclusion engineered to set up future seasons. Season two of Discovery ends on an interesting set-up for the next season too, but I have far less confidence in it. Because Discovery has been a much clumsier series thus far that is neither interested in being a conventional Star Trek series, nor willing to really cultivate an identity for itself among other recent sci-fi media. It’s a show that desperately needs to expand its scope and rely less on such dull avenues of drama -which a third season might be able to do. After all TNG didn’t hit its’ stride until its’ third season. But at this point in time I find that Picard often surprised where Discovery disappoints. It too has the possibility of falling short in its second season, though I’m much more excited to give it a chance. 
These two shows are of course just the beginning of this new CBS Star Trek experiment. In addition to Lower Decks, a Section 31 spin-off of Discovery is being developed which I have absolutely no interest in (Section 31 as a concept has never been handled as well as it was on DS9), as is a series supposedly following the adventures of Pike, Spock, and Number One on the Enterprise called Strange New Worlds -which I am intrigued by. The creators of The O.C. are developing a show set at the Academy, and a kids’ series for Nickelodeon called Star Trek: Prodigy is set to premiere next year. It all sounds bizarre, but also weirdly exciting. It’s the sign of Star Trek becoming more diverse as an intellectual property. And this is a good thing. Because the truth is that the cloth both Discovery and Picard are cut from is not the only one. There are countless new ways to make Star Trek today, and any of them are valid enough to earn the mantle, so long as they strive to boldly go where no one has gone before.
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/JordanBosch
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jordan_D_Bosch
Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/jbosch/
Comments
Post a Comment