Inspired by gregorum's post concerning issues with startrek.website, which is ironic as lemmy.world is a bit glitchy right now and isn't letting me upload and had to use my alt here.
I believe the implication is a lot of the people that ran the reddit Star Trek communities were the ones that migrated to startrek.website. You can imagine the quality of average Redditors that choose to moderate the star trek subreddits.
Is it tho? Other than the com badges, every random screenshot I see of Discovery looks like a totally different sci-fi franchise. Especially when the characters are holding phasers.
It, like every series before or concurrently, approaches the universe differently. They all have changes in style, effects, base premise, and acting. It's Trek all the same. Doesn't mean we have to like it.
I can't say if I like it or hate it as a whole; haven't watched the show it yet (so please don't assume this or my previous statement are meant to disparage; that wasn't my intention). But I also haven't seen Strange New Worlds, which still aesthetically looks like Trek to me from images I have seen. The vibe and tone are way different. Discovery looks like it is trying to be dark and gritty, which isn't very trekky IMO. Which is one of the two main reasons I still haven't watched it (the other being Paramount+ fuckin' sucks)
You're kind of right. Discovery S1 was trying to be a dark, prestige drama. It felt a lot more like BSG than Trek. I haven't watched it since it premiered but I don't remember hating it, though I didn't love it either.
They fired their show runner pretty early, so there is another tone shift from S2 onward. The tone becomes a lot more like the new-Trek movies, and later much more like Strange New Worlds. Take a look at screenshots from Season 4 compared to Season 1 to see just how much it shifted stylistically.
The real issue isn't aesthetic or tonal, it's that the writing is excruciating.
I liked the "hand held one person cross galaxy transporter that can move someone from Earth to Qo'noS that fundamentally changes all aspects of several galactic civilizations including the concept of space travel via starship, but is for some reason never used or mentioned again by anyone in the universe because Abrams clearly gave no fucks at all about the source material and just invented something so utterly 'not trek' because he wrote himself into a corner and didn't care about anything except the giant check he got."
I liked them. They're the first time my wife got interested in Star Trek and an appreciation for sci-fi. It's very hard getting people into this stuff using old studio shows from the 20th century.
My first new Trek was TNG, which I enjoyed, along with DS9. Then, I just lost interest and didn't stick with anything until the Kelvin movies. That got me back in, though Discovery nearly killed it, then Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks reeled me back in.
The Kelvin movies are not the Trekkiest Trek media but they aren't horrible movies.
Of course, nothing has yet to dethrone GalaxyQuest as the best Star Trek movie of all time.
By the sideburns of Season 3 Kirk, just have fun with whatever flavor of Trek you have and let's stop Elaan of Troyiusing over nothing. Let's bitch about the Animated Series instead!
And it's always Discovery when these posts are made, isn't it. Because Discovery never tried to be Star Trek in anything but name and when fans backlash, it's always the fans' fault, not the show's fault (Paramount/CBS astroturf the shit out of this online, imo). Picard sucks too for similar reasons, and I just said so on an internet forum. So what?
Maybe I wish these shows hadn't got made because they were a giant waste of resources, but at the end of the day, I'm still enjoying LD and SNW. But no, I can't tell the world what a pile of dogshit Discovery is, oh no, that makes me a shitty fan who deserves to be banned.
Speaking of which, let me tell you about /r/startrek - those assholes can fuck themselves and if startrek.website is infected with that particular mind virus, it can fuck itself too. Being intolerant of opinions about a stupid tv show is far worse than any particular opinion could possibly be.
This is the kind of thing that kept me out of the fandom for years. I have zero interest in hearing how bad you think Discovery or Enterprise or whatever is, but by God you and everyone else will be sure to explain it to everyone repeatedly. It's tiring seeing it time and time again. I've enjoyed the shows, you didn't, that's fine. At least you aren't belittling the people that do like it, but that happens, too.
It reminds me of the Simpsons fans and their weekly discussions about which was the last great season. Who cares? It's just an opinion. Can't we just enjoy things we like?