It’s a slightly click-baity title, but as we’re still generating more content for our magazines, this one included, why not?
My Sci-fi unpopular opinion is that 2001: A Space Odyssey is nothing but pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. I’ve tried watching it multiple times and each time I have absolutely no patience for the pointless little scenes which contain little to no depth or meaningful plot, all coalescing towards that 15 minute “journey” through space and series of hallucinations or whatever that are supposed to be deep, shake you to your foundations, and make you re-think the whole human condition.
But it doesn’t. Because it’s just pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. Planet of the Apes was released in the same year and is, on every level, a better Sci-fi movie. It offers mystery, a consistent and engaging plot, relatable characters you actually care about, and asks a lot more questions about the world and our place in it.
Not sure if this is a hot take or not, but modern Star Trek sucks arse. The magic died with voyager, everything after that has been trite and forgettable. And I’m not even talking about those god awful movies.
Have you seen Lower Decks?
Good point, I forgot about that one. That’s perhaps the one exception I’ll make.
Strange New Worlds has also captured the magic that was Old Trek. And I am talking about the magic of the TOS! Definitely worth a check out. But I can agree that Disco and Picard are not for everyone.
Disco - New Trek for a New Audience.
Picard - Love letter for people who wanted an endcap to TNG and their favorite captain.
Lowerdecks - Pure Nostalgic fun!
New Worlds - Back to the original formula but this time with a VFX Budget.
Nice summary, though I should probably mention that I’m 19, so probably in the age bracket that ought to be enjoying new Trek, and yet I just can’t. It’s such an obvious downgrade in my opinion, and I know plenty of people my age who agree with me. Doctor Who has also endured a similar decline due to a succession of incompetent show runners, which is truly unfortunate.
Do the Janeway maneuver!
It depends a lot on who you ask.
Although I’m rather of the opinion that the “magic” died sometime before Voyager. It was already on the way out when the network executives tried to recapture The Next Generation with it, and also launch a new television network with it at the same time.
It just ended up trying to be both its own show, and a copy of another, not succeeding particularly well at both.
Voyager is definitely hit and miss, although I do like a lot of the stuff they did with the Borg, with the exception of the incredibly weird Borg queen. Also, Q’s dynamic with the Voyager crew is something truly special.
I love TNG though. It took awhile to truly get off the ground, but my god it was great once Gene Roddenberry finally left.
That’s a hot take.
Really? I thought that was basically the universally held opinion at this point. Gene Roddenberry had all sorts of sentimental ideas about what he wanted to do with the show, and it wasn’t until he left that the story really started to ramp up. I can think of so many episodes in season one and two that just shouldn’t have been there at all.
Well, new to me at least
Here’s a Quora thread I found which explains things quite nicely. Unfortunately I was unable to find a proper article.
https://www.quora.com/Beyond-writing-why-did-Star-Trek-The-Next-Generation-improve-so-much-after-season-2-The-extras-acting-music-and-everything-about-The-Royale-is-just-so-ridiculous-but-then-things-improve-so-much-Why
Roddenberry was definitely a genius, but he made his fair share of stupid decisions, particularly towards the end of his life.