Way to Insult Your Fanbase, Discovery
It’s little secret I’m not a fan of the new Star Trek movies, or their new series, Discovery (2017 – ) , and Picard (2019 – ). They’re dumb bland action that mimic the Star Wars aesthetic while abandoning everything that’s made the genuine Star Trek franchise majestic. Majestic? you might think dubiously. Yes. Because think about it: how many science fiction series and/or movies offer a positive interpretation of the future? The Terminator features machines becoming sentient and trying to wipe out human life. Alien boasts a cold, corporate future, and then a bunch of xenomorphs that wipe out humans for fun. The Matrix tells us the Earth was eviscerated…
To Bleak or Not To Bleak
The original Lost in Space series (1965 – 1968) began as serious science fiction, before descending into campy humour and outlandish storylines. But it worked because it found its voice, and has since become a cult classic. The rebooted Lost in Space (2018 – ) has not only gone the serious route, but has also become gritty, bleak, and largely joyless. It’s a motif a lot of contemporary movies and series use. Arguably, the template for this began with Christopher Nolan’s Batman Begins (2005), and was popularised with the follow-up, The Dark Knight (2008). Then just about everybody decided this was the way to go, as if it was a…