And What exactly is Star Trek? What are the qualities which define it as a concept and are significant to fans have embraced for the better part of a century? At a time where the Democratic party is having arguments over who or what is a “real” Democrat, it’s interesting to see how this tracks with some of the debates among Trek fans over what Star Trek should or should not be.
Both Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard have people who enjoy each series. And both have a contingent of Star Trek fans who see the shows as a continuation of the direction started with J.J Abrams’s re-imagining of Trek, and loathe and whine about “NuTrek” not getting what the franchise is supposed to be. The arguments put forward by these true fans of “real” Star Trek are usually based in adhering ONLY to certain precepts (e.g., the Federation is good and a positive force for good in the galaxy, humanity has moved beyond all social ills, the characters should be exploring the unknown, etc.) and abhor any attempts to either move beyond those ideas or question them.
Star Trek is a fandom where every episode is judged by a certain segment as how well the details fits within everything which has come before it. Do the uniforms match? Do the ships look like what’s been established before? But most importantly, whether anyone will admit it or not, does this make me feel like what I felt when I watched this as a child?
Star Trek: Picard has generally been met by positive reviews, especially with the involvement of Patrick Stewart, but there is a significant element of the Trek community which has loudly objected to some of the characterizations, changes in tone to the Trek universe, as well as the use of profanity and more graphic violence within the series.
The latest episode of Picard is no different in courting controversy, but I must say it is probably my favorite episode of the series so far, and uses some old faces in really interesting ways.
What seemed in previews to be a comical farce, ended up as arguably one of the darkest hours ever put forward in Star Trek and ignited debate among some fans over whether the series is in keeping with Gene Roddenberry’s original vision, and whether it should matter.
Since Deep Space Nine, the direction of Star Trek has moved more towards long-story-arc serialization and questioning the nature of Trek itself. Is the quasi-utopia it represents really as good as it seems? What moral issues might arise in trying to maintain it? In doing this, the franchise has expanded the format of the franchise to be more than just following a Starfleet crew on a starship or space station as they have to deal with the problem-of-the-week with the aliens-of-the-week. Topics and ideas which were once verboten, like inter-personal conflict among humanity, interstellar wars, and corruption within the Federation and Starfleet that strike at the core of the franchise’s humanist values, are now part of the Trek canon.
This hasn’t went over well with everyone, especially a segment of fans who feel the Discovery and now Picard either don’t get the “heart” of Star Trek, or may not like the fact women and people of color are some of the ones at the forefront of Trek now.
The latest episode of Picard has the former captain of the Enterprise crossing paths with Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), who has a connection that’s important in finding Bruce Maddox and uncovering the Romulan-Synthetic conspiracy. The result is a peek into a corner of the Trek universe where the Utopian values of Roddenberry’s Federation do not hold, either in the depiction of the setting or for the choices made by the characters. In this way, Picard follows a group of characters for whom the Federation has failed them, and working on their humanity with a “little hope.”
For anyone who needs to catch up on what’s happened on Star Trek: Picard:
Among the more interesting aspects:
- The “Voyager” theme: The intro theme to Star Trek: Voyager plays immediately after Seven's conversation with Picard about "working" on regaining their humanity (0:29 in the video above). That final conversation between Picard and Seven is tonally weird overall, since it plays like a classic triumph of Trek values with Picard winning over Seven with ideas about finding their humanity. But then, in just moments, shifts to Seven disregarding it all before vaporizing Bjayzl. It's sort of a "Fuck Yeah, Seven!!" moment with phasers blazing, but overall it's a very sad moment and fate for the character.
- The market for Borg parts: Let me throw out a small nitpick/question. The plot for “Stardust City Rag” is centered around intertwining the search for Bruce Maddox with the horrible torture of Icheb for his Borg implants, and how this has made Seven of Nine a hardened cynic hellbent on revenge. But why would Borg implants be valuable in this future? Already in the Trek universe, even before Borg tech, body parts can be regenerated and there are implants available (e.g., Geordi's eyes, Nog's leg, etc., and that was stuff which would be two decades old at this point). Maybe the Borg ones are more advanced, but if someone is going to use stolen Borg tech for an advantage, why wouldn't they just undergo something like what was done to Dr. Bashir (i.e., the genetic engineering ban, by re-sequencing DNA to improve physical and mental performance) if they're going to go the illegal route?
- The torture and death of Icheb: This really caught me off guard. Went into this, based on the teaser, expecting a sort of heist farce (e.g., something similar to the Ferengi episodes on DS9) and this was so much darker and arguably the most dramatic hour yet with a young man having his eye torn out to start things off.
- To forget who we are: Icheb's torture is performed on "Planet Vergessen" in the "Hypatia System." Vergessen in German means "to forget" (i.e., Seven of Nine is said to be "rescuing the forgotten" in the Fenris Rangers), and Hypatia was an ancient female scholar whose life and murder have been used over the past two-thousand years as a martyr for different causes, including enlightenment and the feminist movement. Some folklore associates Hypatia’s murder as the inciting incident for the destruction of the Library of Alexandria (however, the library had already been lost during Hypatia’s lifetime). But both the use of Vergessen and Hypatia connects to the theme of forgetting one’s true self and lost history, which could be applied to the Borg’s victims, to Seven of Nine’s current state, to both Soji and Dahj, and to what the Federation once was and what it should be.
- A monstrous wolf and “Destroyer” at the end of all things: The Fenris Rangers take their name from Fenrir, a child of Loki and big bad wolf in Norse mythology who is foretold to be the killer of Odin during the events of Ragnarok. The wolf imagery has larger significance as well to the Romulans, whose name comes from the myth of twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, who are said to be the founders of Rome. According to the myth, after being abandoned by the river Tiber, Romulus and Remus are given help and suckled by a wolf (the Lupercal) until they were rescued by a shepherd. With the people of Trek’s Romulus abandoned to the darkness, once again they get help from a “wolf,” of a sort, and in this episode Seven is a female wolf at that. As to an in-universe explanation for why aliens would have names so connected to human mythology? The reason for this is pretty much explained by saying: “It’s a TV show,” but does have a quasi-canon/fan fiction explanation. Within Star Trek, the Greek/Roman gods actually existed, and were aliens which traveled from planet to planet, possibly influencing ancient Vulcan in the same way they did Earth.
- The new Maquis: The way Seven of Nine describes the Fenris Rangers, it sounds an awfully lot like the situation with the Maquis, with Federation officers (like Icheb) and others coming to help on the frontier of Federation space after the Federation withdrew and left innocent people to fend for themselves. Just instead of operating in the Cardassian Demilitarized Zone, it’s the former Romulan Neutral Zone, confirmed in this episode to no longer exist.
- Hell hath no fury like a former Borg scorned: While never stated outright, there were heavy hints Seven of Nine and Bjayzl were in a sexual relationship, with it stated Bjayzl used Seven’s trust (e.g., she knows Seven’s real name of Annika) to ambush Icheb. Guess things with Chakotay didn't work out? Also, I was hoping we might get some indication as to Janeway's fate (last seen in Star Trek: Nemesis as an admiral at Starfleet Command). But we don’t get any indication of the fate for any of the other Voyager crew members. If she is still alive, Janeway's relationship with Seven must be severely strained.
- The b-side to “Space Oddity”: The name of the planet, “Freecloud,” comes from the b-side for David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” which is titled “Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud.” The action takes place in Stardust City, as in Ziggy Stardust.
- The absence of order: This episode really made me wonder about the state of the Federation and Starfleet, even beyond what's happened with the Romulans. Freecloud is stated on-screen to be in the Alpha Doradus system. Alpha Doradus is a real binary star system, 169 light-years from Earth. Even if this is supposed to be at the edge of Federation-Romulan space, it still seems pretty lawless. From everything which has been said about the thinking behind Star Trek: Picard, it seems to take the direction of a Federation which has put up walls (hint, hint) and pulled back from being the “galaxy’s policeman.”
- The 75th Rule of Acquisition: QUARK!!! As someone who loves Deep Space Nine, it felt great to hear mention of "Mr. Quark of Ferenginar" (Armin Shimerman), and see the bar with "Dabo Tables" on Freecloud, which might indicate Quark has become so successful he's franchising. His brother Rom (Max Grodénchik) being the Grand Nagus probably comes in handy. Also, Mr. Mot seems to be a regular galactic Vidal Sassoon of hair. The overall feel of Freecloud is done about as well as Trek has ever done in conveying the idea of a port where there's danger and a whole other way of life based on greed, survival, and horrible people. It's strange. It feels like something that could exist. And all of the holographic visual ads as they approach Freecloud was weird at first, but a nice touch.
- Raffi’s regret: I haven't been the biggest fan of Michelle Hurd's character so far in the series, but I thought she killed it in this episode. Just an incredible job acting out the hurt of someone who wants a second chance, but can't get it no matter how sincere her words are.
- The Conclave of Eight?: During Raffi's conversation with her son, he mentions that part of her conspiracy theory was "The Conclave of Eight." Add that to Maddox's claim the Mars Attack/Synthetic conspiracy involves the Federation, and Agnes stating she's been "shown" something, and some questions arise. Could it involve eight people? Eight species? Eight members of the Federation who worked together to sabotage the rescue fleet? Also, the term "conclave" is usually used in connection with electing Popes.
- The mystery of why French people speak like the English?: Picard's (bad) fake French accent during the group’s operation to get Maddox is humorous, since A) Picard is French, and B) Trek has never really either acknowledged or explained why a Frenchman (and his family) speak like they're English in the 24th century (e.g., did the UK decide to conquer France during World War III). Also, the accent is actually a reference to a purported screen test Patrick Stewart tried when they were fleshing out the character of Picard for The Next Generation.
- Agnes shows her true colors: After all the trouble taken to find Maddox, he’s barely on board La Sirena minutes before Agnes (Alison Pill) murders him. Who exactly she’s working for, or her exact agenda is unknown, but she seems to truly believe his death is necessary. The only clue to the hows and whys is the scene between Commodore Oh (Tamlyn Tomita) and Agnes, where we don’t see what was said … or done. Could Oh have implanted something in her mind, through mind meld (if she is truly Vulcan)? Or is Agnes working directly with the Zhat Vash and had a hand in the synthetic attack against Mars?
- Wild ass theory/speculation corner: I’m almost certain we haven’t seen the last of Seven of Nine this season, but beyond that is ambiguous. Maybe a lot of people are androids and don’t know it. Maybe Narek (Harry Treadaway) and Rizzo (Peyton List) are really human agents undercover, working the officials at the Borg Cube and with the Zhat Vasj, and not truly Romulan? Maybe Soji will become a new Borg Queen, and reactivate the Cube? Maybe that's why she's referred to as the Destroyer? Maybe the Enterprise-E (or F) will show up in some way before this is all over? Maybe Picard and crew end up joining the Rangers?