star-trek

When Utopias Become Dystopias

I really am getting old, aren’t I? I was looking into the new Star Trek series, Starfleet Academy, a bit earlier. There was a time, not that long ago, when the prospect of a new Star Trek series would have made me ridiculously excited. It would have been all I could think about. I knew how infatuated I had been by the previous Star Trek series, and would be looking forward to that continuing:: epic stories about wonderful characters exploring the galaxy.

Now though, that giddy excitement has been replaced with a deep resentful cynicism. Star Trek is not by any means what it once was: the epic stories it once told us of a United humanity’s exploring the galaxy have been replaced with puerile streams of cliches and nostalgia. I no longer have any interest in watching such tripe. Of course, a large part of the problem is the fact that I no longer respect the country Star Trek comes from. There is no denying the fact that Star Trek is an inherently American franchise, and that the vast majority of its characters are ultimately American. Despite its claims to multiculturalism, the future Star Trek shows us is ultimately an American one, and after so long letting it slide I’m afraid that is a notion which I now find repugnant.

The last future humanity needs is one where America dominates, or at least the America we now have. A future where yanks fly around in star ships, doing whatever they want having dominated all other cultures on earth. I have no interest in watching a television program made by the fools who elected Trump, whose country is now descending into the depths of fascism; a program portraying the world remade in their image, where their culture stands over all others. A future where everyone speaks English in American accents, plays baseball and listens to New York jazz. 

While I daresay that I will never stop loving characters like Picard, Worf or Miles O’Brian, the utopian future Star Trek shows us seems repugnant and dystopian under the current light. What we took to be a future of unity now seems like one of dominance and control. Or rather, the culture which such enticing stories came from has now transformed from a bastion of tolerance and opportunity to one of repression, dominance and hatred. The storyteller has transformed, so the stories change too: a realm of unity and acceptance now seems, in this deranged Trumpian epoch, like one of conformity. Contemporary America casts a deep shadow over all of Star Trek, so if Star Trek can be said to reflect America – as it always has – then I have no interest in it.

A Breaking Bad Film?

I suppose it is fair to say that it has been a bit of a rough week. Not just generally, where international affairs seem to be steadily progressing from bad to worse, but for me personally. Due to a bug or something I haven’t felt at all myself, and at one point was in fact beginning to get rather worried. However, I’m glad to say that has now passed – as I knew it would – and I once again feel like my usual, curious self.

One of the best things about this week, on the other hand, was that I’ve been continuing to enjoy Breaking Bad. As I wrote a few days ago, until very recently I was completely ignorant of it, I suppose having previously dismissed it as just another American mass entertainment franchise. Just a few days later, though, and I can’t get enough of it. I’ve been binge-watching it, and am already well into the second season.

I think it might well be the ‘something new’ I was looking for – after all, there are only so many times you can watch James Bond films or Star Trek episodes. It seems fresh and novel, like completely uncharted territory: new characters to get to know, as well as new ideas and themes to explore. To be honest, knowing there’s still so much to find out is quite a wonderful feeling.

However, I must admit that there is one nagging question which has already occurred to me: did Breaking Bad ever get a cinematic outing? Did it ever have a filmic manifestation? Obviously, I could simply google whether a Breaking Bad film was ever made or not, but the question nonetheless seems quite interesting in itself. For one, how might the highly complex characters I’m now watching being developed slowly over several seasons be translated into film? And how could you get the same balance of scientific gravitas and criminal transgressiveness?

Structurally of course, films and episodic franchises are very different things: one is self contained where the other is spread out over several hours. Yet fictions created as one can be adapted for the other, the obvious example being Star Trek. As a cinephile, I would be intrigued to find out if there ever was a film adaptation of Breaking Bad, or see what one might look like. It has a combination of academic intelligence and outright subversiveness I have never come across before – a dynamic which I would absolutely love to see transposed to the big screen. I’m now really looking forward to digging a little deeper.

And to think, all this came about due to my shave at the weekend!

Going Off Star Trek

I am, of course, a huge Star Trek fan. I’ve loved Star Trek since my family and I used to watch it every Wednesday evening when I was growing up. I especially liked it’s reassuring, optimistic vision of the future, in which humanity has overcome our petty differences and come together to explore space as one united civilisation. Recently, though – ie in the last few months – something about that vision hasn’t been sitting so well with me: perhaps I’m just getting old and cynical, but what once looked like a united, cooperative humanity, to be honest now just feels like America and American culture writ large. By that I mean, where Star Trek claims to present us with a united Earth culture, if you actually look at it, it’s pretty obvious that the characters and cultural structures we’re presented with are fundamentally American. It is an American film and television franchise after all. The future Star Trek presents us with is one where American culture and the American mindset has somehow risen to dominate the entire globe.

Until now, that has sat comfortably with me, or at least I’ve let it slide. Recently, however, the vision of such an Americanised future has felt more and more insulting. Since their second election of Trump especially, the inherent arrogance of it has become more and more apparent: what gives Americans the right to assume they will dominate humanity’s future? Why will First Contact take place in North America, and why is Starfleet Headquarters in San Francisco? Why are these starships crewed mostly by Americans? Indeed, how conceited do Americans have to be to presume that the supposed warp barrier will be broken by a lone maverick from Montana, particularly given that many Americans currently seem convinced that the world is flat and/or was summoned into existence by an imaginary creator being?

Obviously, Gene Roddenberry intended his future to be global and united, famously putting a Russian at the helm of the first Starship Enterprise at the height of the Cold War. Yet these days such things feel more and more like shallow, hollow gestures, varnishing over an America-centric future where their culture is the only one that matters. And at a time where distain for America is growing and it no longer has any claim to the respect it once had, frankly what once felt so optimistic now feels like gut-wrenching arrogance.

Section 31? Err, no thanks

Given that I’m such a self-confessed Trekkie, you may be wondering why I haven’t said anything on here about Section 31. If you haven’t heard of it, Section 31 is the new Star Trek film starring Michelle Yeoh which was released a week or so ago on Paramount Plus. To be honest, though, as much as I usually love all things Trek, I can’t say I’m that enthusiastic: from the trailers, it doesn’t look like it has anything to do with the kind of Star Trek I grew up loving and want to see the return of. Rather than a thought-provoking drama about a starship crew going out and exploring the galaxy, this appears to be some kind of naff action film. The reviews I have seen don’t make me enthusiastic either. More to the point, rather than having a cinematic release, Section 31 is only watchable online. As I wrote here a few entries ago about the Bond films, I still firmly believe films like this should be enjoyed in cinemas; releasing films over the web reduces them down to mere distractions. I’m thus afraid that this is yet another instance of what was once a big cultural entity losing it’s way and being turned into yet another piece of generic streamable pap.