Let's talk Discovery

I have been watching Star Trek: Discovery since it started airing, so I've also been having my opinions on the show since that moment. My initial opinion was that the show was nice, but it wasn't all that Trek. However, with half a season (well, more like three fifth, but that's where we're getting the mid-season break) behind us, my views have changed somewhat and I feel it's time to speak up about it.

The show has been getting flak for a number of things since before the first episode aired. The show's main problem has always been its continuity. When photos leaked of actors in Klingon make-up, people weren't even sure whether these were Klingon because they looked rather different from what we'd come to expect from Klingons. The show's look was also criticized for being closer the Kelvin timeline than to what would make sense for the place in continuity this show said it was situated in.

However, when considering all the problems with continuity, you've also got to keep in mind that the franchise already made big changes before. The distinct look of The Original Series wasn't at all preserved for the movies and The Next Generation. Of course, this show takes place much closer to the original, so that's why people want to hold it up to higher standards when it comes to that.

Well, I'm feeling that we should actually just cut them some slack. Take the uniforms, they don't quite fit in with the established timeline. However, it should be noted that the uniform changed a lot in the past as well. Does it really matter, though? At the end of the day, it's more important that today's viewers like these uniforms than that you can imagine them being used at this point in time. In fact, that's always been a main factor in uniform designs. You can't really say that Deep Space 9's change was done for the viewer; it was clearly done to keep up to date with the era of filming the show.

Star Trek: Enterprise tried much harder to fit in its time. It was designed with the idea that this ship predated NCC-1701 (TOS's Enterprise). It featured uniforms that could have been a predecessor to what we'd seen so far, and as more limited with its technology and featured a number of prototypes of what became staples of the franchise later on.

That, I believe, is part of the reason it never really resonated with the public it wanted to have. Or rather, the different kinds of public it wanted to have. It both wanted to cater to new viewers by giving the whole thing a fresh look and a new feel, but at the same time it also worked really hard on making it fit in the timeline. This was most visible when story lines focused on things from other series, but were very restricted in which ways they could do this.

That's why I'm not too bothered by the change in technology. We get joysticks and HUDs, which isn't really in line with the view of the future that The Original Series painted. However, that future was in line with a vision of the future from the sixties. This show is simply more consistent with a current view of the future. It would be in line with the established timeline to show data disks, but people would laugh at it, since we've got more wireless technology today than they even imagined for the future when designing the original Star Trek.

There's still a couple of things that feel out of place. They tried holographic communications in a previous series set over a hundred years after this one, but they couldn't make it work then, so they abandoned it. It's strange that we see it here then. Ultimately, it's not too consequential really. However, the same can't be said for the holodeck that they have introduced without naming it. That would seem a direct violation of chronology. The fact that we now seem to be routinely using warp-capable shuttles also seems somewhat out of place.

The Klingons are something else that seems to have changed more than would seem to be reasonable. To be honest, though, the change is about is as big as the change in them was from The Original Series to the movies and The Next Generation. This also nicely sidesteps the fact that rubber forehead aliens got to be heavily criticized about halfway through The Next Generation-generation of Star Trek shows.

Then, the real problem of the way Klingons look comes in the form of something that Enterprise did. For a very long time, the change was simply chalked up to the fact that the times and budget has changed. The old look of the Klingons was also something that wouldn't have held up in that era of film making. However, Deep Space 9 subtly introduced that the difference actually existed in the show itself, and Enterprise went out of its way to cement the story of how the change happened into the canon of the show.

However, it definitely looks to me that they are going to address this. The virus that caused the change in looks seems to be something that is going to come into focus soon, if you consider one of the fan theories, which since the latest episode seems rather hard to deny. I wouldn't be surprised if they are going to go with the idea that the Klingons looked different before the virus. That would retcon some things, but not nearly as much as the blatant change seems to suggest at first look. Besides, this way we do get Klingons in line with today's production values. I think we owe it Discovery to let them show us how this plays out before judging them too harshly.

That also goes for the cloaking technology that the Klingons possess. Everybody knows they didn't have that technology at this point in time and it's a widely held believe that they acquired the technology from the Romulans. However, in the latest episode, the Klingon cloak seems to get beaten by the federation already, so that might be the reason they abandon it soon after. This might even get them a reason to pursue the technology with the Romulans. We ought to see how this plays out.

In a way, the Spore Drive falls in the same category. However, people complain a lot less about it. That's because it's a universe changing technology and nobody expects the writers to miss that. So, it's more or less a given that they will give a reason for the branch of technology being abandoned sooner or later and nobody believes the writers won't explain to us why that's going to happen.

In general, I rather liked what I've seen. While it's not always perfect Trek, it's solid science fiction nonetheless. On top of that, it has been trying a lot to bring back the Trek even if that took them a couple of episodes to get to. It's a rocky start, but I would say it's in a way more Trek than The Next Generation was during its first season. I mean, it had a very rocky first season as well and it did redefine for a large part what Star Trek was, for which it simply needed time.

That last part is also part of the problem here, I think. I've noticed a number of instances where the new show was made to feel more like The Original Series than anything from The Next Generation era. And well, the latter is far more season and more recent. A lot of people will miss that fact when the series goes further back in Star Trek history.

There are still things I don't like. Mudd's second appearance definitely fits that bill. I mean, I don't really see any mortal - especially one in Federation Space - having such a powerful device. However, omnipotent beings were plot devices in Trek since the sixties, so they're definitely trying. And I liked what I've seen so far, and I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt when it comes to the future. And I definitely needed something to fill the Dark Matter-sized hole left in my life.

Space Opera: some observations

With both Dark Matter and Killjoys having just begun their second season a week ago, I feel it's about time I take some time to write about Space Operas once again. Most of this could have been written during the first season of each of the shows, but I didn't actually do so then, so I'm doing it now.

Observations

With Space Opera having come back after such a long period of almost nothing, you basically say we are in a new generation of the genre. What are the things that stand out in this generation so far?

Tasers are hot

Whether it's the bad guys using them for torture and stealthy take-overs or the government trying to do things in a non-lethal way (but often still being more brutal than necessary), everyone is using tasers. Both Dark Matter and Killjoys went with more futuristic "Shock sticks", whereas The Expanse went with traditional tasers, giving the feel that the future isn't all that different after all.

Aliens are not

It's just humans everywhere. Aliens are nowhere to be seen. The only exception to this was Otherspace, which had non-corporeal aliens. However, the only times these aliens could be "seen" they were pretending to be human. Unlike Stargate Universe did some time ago, we do often get fully populated galaxies, it's just that all that population is human.

Space zombies

Everyone's doing space zombies in some sort or form. There's different stories behind each show's zombies but somehow space zombies are a craving that is shared by all the writers.

Space is gorgeous

Of course it depends on resolution and black-quality of your screen, but there's a lot more possible in sfx these days and it shows. Even the low-budget shows like Otherspace showed us some gorgeous outer-space shots. Dark Matter was the one coming up the poorest in this regard in my opinion, but even they upped their sfx game for the second season.

Interpersonal conflict is important

One of the ideas that Gene Roddenberry was very keen to build Star Trek on was the fact that the human race had grown beyond interpersonal conflict. Every other show has some form of this conflict, but there's a lot more of this in this generation if you ask me. Dark Matter is all about people who don't know themselves and trust is a big issue there. Killjoys has a closer team, but what happens between the team members is ultimately what drives much of the plot for the first season. The Expanse has people fighting everywhere, but one of the clearest examples might be the "main crew" which does a lot of fighting before they really start considering themselves a crew. Otherspace was just about a single crew, so much of what they do is getting on each other's nerves. It's always been there, but I feel it's even more there now.

Star Trek

I'm very much looking forward to what the new Star Trek will bring to the table early next year. Many of the observations above wouldn't quite fit the Star Trek brand, which is filled with aliens, doesn't really have a suitable place for taser and doesn't feature interpersonal conflict. It will be interesting to see where they take the genre, even if it's uncertain whether it will be suitable for watching by real Trekkies.

Other shows

The interest in the genre seems to have died down a bit. When the entire pie was on the table, everyone wanted a piece of it. Now, there are three solid shows eating that pie, leaving little for any new venture. Both the Blake's 7 remake and Space: 2099 seem to have died a silent death. Of the other things that were in various stages of development, nothing had been heard for some time, so I assume they aren't getting made. I also haven't been able to find anything hinting towards more new things being developed.

I can understand it. I mean, three shows is a lot and I doubt enough people would be willing to watch yet more Space Opera. That said, I would have loved to hear of more Space Opera, because I definitely would want to watch another series.

Space Opera in 2015 [on tv]

For five years, we haven't had a single space opera on tv. The five years before that, there were only one or two series that were able to brave the executives. But finally, 2015 marked the return of the genre to our living rooms. And when it rains, it pours.

It's clear that the genre was wide open and many people were looking to fill that hole. Last year brought us 4 series: Dark Matter, Killjoys, The Expanse and Other Space. I'll just write about them all in turn.

Other Space

Other Space was the only of the four series that came to our screens in the first quarter of the year. It was released all at once in April on Yahoo Screen, as part of their original content offering. It takes space opera and marries it with comedy. It's more like Hyperdrive than Red Dwarf in the sense that it truly is space opera comedy, not comedy that happens to be set on a spaceship. However, even then it goes a step further than Hyperdrive. Instead of every detail serving comedy, there's a space opera story and space opera comedy, creating a mix that I don't think has ever been done before.

The show was clearly produced on a very low budget, but I'd say that adds to its charm rather than detracting from it. The show also showed that space scenes can look amazing these days, even when the money is limited. It's also eight episodes of half an hour each, making it a rather short watch. And on top of that Yahoo lost too much on their original content to continue with any of it, meaning that the chance of a second season seems rather remote. If you like the genre, I'd definitely recommend watching. Just fit it between the other things your watching.

Dark Matter

In June, the space opera program really started gaining traction. Dark Matter was the first of the non-comedy space operas. It is also the most traditional space opera that aired in 2015. It put a crew in a fancy ship and let them struggle with space travel and all that entails. It added a twist, though: the crew is suffering from group amnesia. Even though they are able to figure out who they are by the end of the first episode, they aren't too willing to truly assume the same identities and that's one of the things that influences almost every story.

Not every angle they took was truly interesting and every once in a while there seemed to be a bit of a plot hole as the writers seemed to forget about things in previous episodes (and thus didn't care to mention why this was approached in a similar way). However, the problems got less as the show settled into a good rhythm and by the end it was pretty good. It still didn't quite hit the sweet spot for me, but I was hungry enough for space opera to not care the least bit.

Dark Matter is due for another thirteen episodes this year, meaning that we'll definitely get to enjoy more space opera. That of course also means that the cliff hanger that ended the first season will not have to go unresolved.

Killjoys

Killjoys. This is the gem of the year, in my books. It premiered less than a week later than Dark Matter, but it takes quite a different approach with a rather small cast. Though it is implied that there's more to known space, the show sticks to a single star system. Like any good Space Western. Because that's what the show is. It may not be as literal in its Western part as the archetypal Firefly, but it but it does forego the exploration of the wide universe for the scavenge for the next paycheck in a smaller, known system. Oh, and much of that system lives on the outskirts of the law, with bounty hunters - or killjoys in local slang - running much of the show.

The show really took me in with these three characters living on one ship and going on the missions while also uncovering things about their own pasts and and going off on personal quests from time to time. This first season got into its groove quickly and really feels like a story with a beginning, a middle and an end. Though they did leave more than enough questions open for the future of the series, it did also wrap things up nicely.

Unlike any other space western I know of, Killjoys got its second season greenlit without a hitch. I mean, it has only had ten episodes, so it's not even at the length of Firefly yet, but things are looking well. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more of this in 2016.

The Expanse

The year was closed off with the first four episodes of The Expanse. It's a little harder to write about a show that has barely begun, but so far it looks enjoyable if a little convoluted. The hopes for this series were high as it was rumored to be the show to fill the shoes that the reimagined Battlestar Gallactica left. However, I don't think it quite lives up to that standard. We'll just have to see where it goes. Visually, though, this show is just stunning.

The show is set in a relatively close future where humanity is active both on Mars and the meteor belt. The whole system is on edge as hostilities seem to be able to break out at just about any moment and in the mean time air and (more importantly, it would seem) water is a scarce commodity. There seem to be some plot holes in this whole setting in my opinion, but nevertheless this brings us a number of story lines that all have their interesting sides. However, it is still quite hard to pinpoint what it is all about with all these different threads.

Ascension

A special mention goes out to Ascension. It didn't get beyond a mini-series and in the USA it actually aired December 2014 (in Canada it was early 2015, so it still sort of counts), but it was quite worth the watch. I have no idea where the show would have gone if it had continued, but is a quite clever show and puts a nice twist on the space opera genre.

It revolves around a generation ship sent out into space some fifty years ago, traveling at near-light speeds. Basically, it hasn't encountered anything and it's really just about dealing with some of the problems of space travel, but more even about the challenges of a generation ship. A whole social structure emerged and the internal politics are a joy to watch. And yeah, there's some things I just can't tell because it would spoil part of watching...

The future

With two series being renewed for a second season and a third continuing its first into the new year, it looks unlikely that we'll be starved for space opera again any time soon. But it seems there is even more in the pipelines. Syfy mentioned working on four different space opera pilots nearly three years ago and only one of them has had any known result (Ascension, which was known as Sojourn back then), so I personally still hold some hope that more will be created from that avenue. Three years may be a lot not to hear anything, but for the creation of a tv series, it's really not all that crazy (though my hope may fade if we don't hear something soon now). In the mean time, there's talks of remakes for Blake's 7, Lost in Space and Space: 1999. Additionally, there also seems to be some decent progress on the tv version of Ringworld. And of course, Trek is coming back to the format of tv series in early 2017.