It may surprise no one to learn that I'm a member of a private group on Facebook devoted to Star Trek (for the record, I'm also a member of one devoted to comics). The idea is to celebrate Trek and share memes, and for the most part it's good to see the silliness that the other members share. Lots of memes about Garak being "that bitch" or Captain Picard telling dad jokes, as well as sharing actual news about Trek shows. And because it's a private group, it's not overrun by trolls who are pissed off about Trek's supposed wokeness.
Sometimes, though, the relentless positivity of the group gets to me. Not everybody feels this way, but there's a vibe that everything that's new in Trek is automatically good, and taking it a step further, that any criticism of it is just one of those trolls I mentioned above.
I've gone on the record as being a little underwhelmed with some of the most recent Trek. My issues aren't culture-war issues, but quality issues: what I've seen of Discovery and Picard has some good points, but also frequently veers too much toward the bombast and special effects of the movies, rather than the cerebral messages of the TV shows. Discovery is more guilty of this, since both seasons that I've seen feature big battles at the end. Discovery also does a really poor job developing characters, which was something the shows in the 80s and 90s always did better.
But whenever I air these criticisms in the group, I feel like I'm the only one willing to point out that these new shows aren't perfect. Nobody's been shitty to me about it, but a bunch of memes shared on the group feature people getting mad that people are liking the new Trek shows, or mad that they're canon, or whatever.
This attitude (also present on that comics group) seems to be an outgrowth of the days when liking Star Trek or comics or Star Wars was a niche interest, and you risked becoming a social pariah if you said you were into them. It definitely comes from the days when superhero movies didn't rule the box office and when Trek shows were relegated to weird, off-brand networks like UPN. Back then you didn't have as much Trek or comics content, so even if it was bad, you had to be loyal to it.
We don't have to now, though, because as I say, superhero movies rule cinemas and there are no fewer than five Trek shows in production right now (Discovery, Picard, Lower Decks, Prodigy and the upcoming Strange New Worlds). Even in what I call Star Trek's "imperial phase" in the 90s, there were never more than two series in production: The Next Generation ran concurrently with Deep Space 9 for a few seasons, then when it ended Voyager ran alongside DS9 until that ended.
So I understand where the attitude on the groups comes from. But at its worst, this relentless cheerleading for whatever happens on Star Trek can shut down honest discussion about the shows just as much as those churlish gatekeepers who complain that adding gay characters or non-White male protagonists ruins the show.
Again, though, I can understand that when there's so much vitriol aimed at progressive shows, the first impulse on hearing criticism is to assume that it's motivated by this vitriol. I pointed out once that a use of the word "fuck" in Discovery was gratuitous, and was met with "Oh gawd, are you one of those?" I had to explain that, no, I'm not "one of those", but the thing bothered me because it was clearly put there to show that Trek had "grown up" or something, rather than any story- or character-driven need for swearing (I love Data's "Oh, SHIT" in Generations, btw).
That's the internet in microcosm, of course. People lose their shit at each other on social media so easily because in 99% of cases when someone says something shitty, they're doing it on purpose and in bad faith. We've had 20 years to understand that some people are only there to troll, and so the response has been a quick "fuck you" and a blanket block. The problem's only gotten worse as various organizations have learned that they can get a lot of exposure by amplifying misinformation and shittiness... so it's no surprise that misogynistic pick-up artist sites also carry reviews of new Star Wars movies decrying the fact that women have the lead roles.
There's not really an answer or a fix to all this. Private groups like the ones I'm part of are a good way to keep social media from turning too shitty (although they're also turning out to be good vectors to spread QAnon or anti-vax propaganda, which is also shitty). Arguing also doesn't help: if I say I don't like something in Discovery, that's my opinion, and all I can do is respect the opinions of those in the group who feel differently.
It would be nice, though, if the good-faith actors on the internet weren't so on-their-guard against trolls all the time, so that we could admit that these new shows could be better. That would require there to be fewer trolls, though, so I'm not holding my breath.
In the meantime, I need to watch the next seasons of Discovery and Picard, and see if they're an improvement on what I've already seen. Because, like my more boosterish friends, I want to see good Star Trek, Star Wars and other nerd content.
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