All the worlds a stage...
In my case (and the case of most recovering academics and definitely most bloggers!) that world is more like a podcast studio (and not like a nice one, rather one where one of the participants is sitting on a bed, which is next to an IKEA desk which is also "the board")...
My DM (and yes, as an old person i urban dictionaried that to make sure i wasn't going to sound too stupid - turns out it's #5!) is a young fella, DM Steve, and as a young white man he has a lot of opinions (as i did {and do!} when i was/am a young white man).
Thus, it wasn't until the movies (and really not until the second - The Wrath of Khan) where any problem - with a monster of the week; or with the larger world (er, galaxy) - had real stakes. The Wrath of Khan ends in a victory, but it is partial, and at great cost (sorry, Spock!).
When The Next Generation (TNG) came about, it also began as a monster-of-the week series. Through its run of seven seasons there were 9 two-parters, but only one before the end of season 3 (and that was the series premiere, where both episodes aired on the same evening).
As TNG came in to its own, it started to venture away from the straight "one episode, one new problem" formula, and explore recurring conflicts in the larger world. First external, like Q, the Ferengi, the Crystalline Entity - but TNG also started to explore the concept that Star Fleet - the human institution at the core of the entire Star Trek Universe - was perhaps not infallible. I think first with "The Measure of a Man" where Star Fleet sanctions reclassifying Data, a graduate of their academy, as property.
More importantly, as the series progressed, was the relationship with the Borg - and particularly how Picard deals with them (and particularly the changes in his behavior after his assimilation). The Borg are the perfect test case - an enemy so heinous that any action to thwart would be justified. When Picard has the opportunity in Season 5's "I, Borg" episode to infect the Borg with what might constitute a genocidal pandemic he plans to use it right up until the last minute when he is swayed to take another course.
Picard's moral dilemma (much like his rampant revenge motive throughout much of First Contact, the best of the Next Gen films) is what makes it Star Trek. Roddenberry's vision was one of a future that had achieved much - an optimistic outlook to answer the dystopian imagining that makes up most science fiction. But the Star Trek universe is not a utopia. It is utopian in its ideals, but that work (like our work) is an ongoing project, toward betterment.
In Star Trek: Picard, there is a clear moral balance - "good guys" and "bad guys" (some are what we expect - e.g. Romulans bad | but some teams aren't matching our expectations - e.g. Borg, Star Fleet, or androids). What's unfamiliar about it is the pace - i expect that by the end of Season 1 we will have resolution of the moral order and clarity and what has gone wrong. It's a season-long episode, and good will triumph in the end (though perhaps just a partial victory).
The world of Star Trek isn't achieved. Even at its origin (whether that's TOS, Enterprise, Zefram Cochrane or even the Kelvin Universe reboot), the utopian ideal was a work in process. And a core value of the world is betterment. There were cracks in Star Fleet in The Undiscovered Country, TNG and DS9. Too long resting on its laurels assuming it was good because it was Star Fleet. In Insurrection, the corrosive corruption had taken full hold, and 10 years later when Mars is destroyed (by whom, we're not quite sure yet - though it sure seems it wasn't the synths), it has taken full hold... Selfish protectionism and the path of the human project seemingly lost...
In my case (and the case of most recovering academics and definitely most bloggers!) that world is more like a podcast studio (and not like a nice one, rather one where one of the participants is sitting on a bed, which is next to an IKEA desk which is also "the board")...
My DM (and yes, as an old person i urban dictionaried that to make sure i wasn't going to sound too stupid - turns out it's #5!) is a young fella, DM Steve, and as a young white man he has a lot of opinions (as i did {and do!} when i was/am a young white man).
...Among these [is] that Star Trek: Picard is not truly a Star Trek show. His premise is (i've been taught that the best way to argue is to first state your opponents case as well as they could have ever said it so they can only say, "i agree with that") that Picard isn't Star Trek... It lacks Gene Roddenberry's foundational vision that the future is bright and the human project (for early Star Trek read that as the American Project) is optimistic. DM Steve pointed to the fact the Raffi, the only major black (and female) character we've met (or seemingly will meet) lives in a trailer after her Star Fleet career has (been) ended, because she was Picard's right hand and he decided to quit.
Furthermore, the inclusion of swears is highly un-Star Trek (notable fanFeeds notwithstanding). DM Steve contends that the new show may be quality sci-fi (tho as yet that is to be determined), but it is decidedly not a part of the Star Trek universe, because it doesn't adhere to the defining vision...The story of Star Trek (production-wise) is complicated and varied. When The Original Series (TOS) was on TV, it was struggling for continued existence and was limited by the constraints of its era as a monster-of-the-week series with minimal character development. As a result, every problem was wrapped up by the end of the hour. TOS had just one single two-part episode in its three year run...
Thus, it wasn't until the movies (and really not until the second - The Wrath of Khan) where any problem - with a monster of the week; or with the larger world (er, galaxy) - had real stakes. The Wrath of Khan ends in a victory, but it is partial, and at great cost (sorry, Spock!).
When The Next Generation (TNG) came about, it also began as a monster-of-the week series. Through its run of seven seasons there were 9 two-parters, but only one before the end of season 3 (and that was the series premiere, where both episodes aired on the same evening).
As TNG came in to its own, it started to venture away from the straight "one episode, one new problem" formula, and explore recurring conflicts in the larger world. First external, like Q, the Ferengi, the Crystalline Entity - but TNG also started to explore the concept that Star Fleet - the human institution at the core of the entire Star Trek Universe - was perhaps not infallible. I think first with "The Measure of a Man" where Star Fleet sanctions reclassifying Data, a graduate of their academy, as property.
More importantly, as the series progressed, was the relationship with the Borg - and particularly how Picard deals with them (and particularly the changes in his behavior after his assimilation). The Borg are the perfect test case - an enemy so heinous that any action to thwart would be justified. When Picard has the opportunity in Season 5's "I, Borg" episode to infect the Borg with what might constitute a genocidal pandemic he plans to use it right up until the last minute when he is swayed to take another course.
Picard's moral dilemma (much like his rampant revenge motive throughout much of First Contact, the best of the Next Gen films) is what makes it Star Trek. Roddenberry's vision was one of a future that had achieved much - an optimistic outlook to answer the dystopian imagining that makes up most science fiction. But the Star Trek universe is not a utopia. It is utopian in its ideals, but that work (like our work) is an ongoing project, toward betterment.
In Star Trek: Picard, there is a clear moral balance - "good guys" and "bad guys" (some are what we expect - e.g. Romulans bad | but some teams aren't matching our expectations - e.g. Borg, Star Fleet, or androids). What's unfamiliar about it is the pace - i expect that by the end of Season 1 we will have resolution of the moral order and clarity and what has gone wrong. It's a season-long episode, and good will triumph in the end (though perhaps just a partial victory).
The world of Star Trek isn't achieved. Even at its origin (whether that's TOS, Enterprise, Zefram Cochrane or even the Kelvin Universe reboot), the utopian ideal was a work in process. And a core value of the world is betterment. There were cracks in Star Fleet in The Undiscovered Country, TNG and DS9. Too long resting on its laurels assuming it was good because it was Star Fleet. In Insurrection, the corrosive corruption had taken full hold, and 10 years later when Mars is destroyed (by whom, we're not quite sure yet - though it sure seems it wasn't the synths), it has taken full hold... Selfish protectionism and the path of the human project seemingly lost...
