Star Trek: Section 31

[UN Spacy]

 

[kalvasflam]

now that's something I'd actually watch.  the dirty side of the trekverse.  where we screw our enemies and not care about the consequences.

[Bolt]

Hmm. Could be fun..

Very un-Star Trek..

[Seto Kaiba]

Pass... I'm thoroughly sick of seeing the current CBS staff try to turn Star Trek into Warhammer 40,000.

[Sildani]

You too? They seem to be running away screaming from the enlightened eutopia-ish Federation Roddenberry envisioned. 

[kalvasflam]

I haven't watched the current Trek, so I wouldn't know, but I think it would be a nice counter point to the original TNG and even DS9.  Which is, the Federation is a force for good (propaganda), it's worth preserving (self importance), and sometimes, we need to get dirty to face the threats both external and internal that can tear it apart (finally, some truth)

Also, TOS was not all sunshine and unicorn, there were some pretty dark situations that just happened to be dealt with by a living legend.  (That and the fact that Roddenberry realized NBC needed stuff that had conflict for prime time, because near Utopia just doesn't sell as well.  Sure, he put in a lot of hints about Federation being a utopia, but not really on the frontiers.)

One final point, Yeoh should be pretty good in the role considering that she did a fair job portraying the devil mother in law to be in Crazy Rich Asians.  (You can see the ruthlessness oozing out of her)

Edited January 15, 2019 by kalvasflam

[Seto Kaiba]

4 hours ago, Sildani said:

You too? They seem to be running away screaming from the enlightened eutopia-ish Federation Roddenberry envisioned. 

Yeah, it really seems to me like they'd be a lot happier writing for Battlestar Galactica or a similar dystopian series.

 

 

3 hours ago, kalvasflam said:

I haven't watched the current Trek, so I wouldn't know, but I think it would be a nice counter point to the original TNG and even DS9.  Which is, the Federation is a force for good (propaganda), it's worth preserving (self importance), and sometimes, we need to get dirty to face the threats both external and internal that can tear it apart (finally, some truth)

Deep Space Nine did a pretty good job showing the external and internal conflicts... from the attempted coup by a member of the Starfleet brass to the Dominion and Klingon Wars.

Mind you, Star Trek was designed to be an optimistic future.  The Federation IS a force for good because of what it stands for: the desire for peaceful coexistence, nonviolent conflict resolution, scientific and intellectual endeavor, and a fundamental respect for the diversity of life in all its myriad forms.  It's worth preserving precisely because of what it stands for.  It's not perfect, but it's an enormous aspirational step up from what we have today.  That aspirational aspect of it was, as they say, the point.  It's not propaganda, in-universe or otherwise... the Federation is meant to be emblematic of what we could achieve if we got our sh*t together as a species.  The kind of xenophobia and general bigotry on display in Discovery is about as far from Gene's vision as it's possible to get.

"Getting dirty" does not fundamentally entail compromising one's principles... which was, amusingly enough, the late realization had by Burnham at the end of Discovery's first season.  Starfleet might have to occasionally bust heads to preserve truth, justice, and freedom in the galaxy... but by golly they'll bust heads with the utmost civility and to the bare minimum necessary to get the job done because those busted heads are people too.

 

3 hours ago, kalvasflam said:

Also, TOS was not all sunshine and unicorn, there were some pretty dark situations that just happened to be dealt with by a living legend.  (That and the fact that Roddenberry realized NBC needed stuff that had conflict for prime time, because near Utopia just doesn't sell as well.  Sure, he put in a lot of hints about Federation being a utopia, but not really on the frontiers.)

As a point of order, said frontier generally wasn't part of the Federation (yet).

Sisko gave a better summation of it with the "Saints in Paradise" speech from "The Maquis"... but, then again, the colonies out in the DMZ and Bajor were also technically NOT part of the Federation ("yet" in the case of Bajor).

The Federation is a pseudo-utopia, so most of the space adventure takes place beyond utopia's borders.

 

3 hours ago, kalvasflam said:

One final point, Yeoh should be pretty good in the role considering that she did a fair job portraying the devil mother in law to be in Crazy Rich Asians.  (You can see the ruthlessness oozing out of her)

She was, frankly, quite good as the prime universe Georgeau... to the extent that she was essentially the only character on the show who seemed to realize how a Starfleet officer should behave.