2 Ups And 7 Downs From Star Trek: Strange New Worlds 3.7 — What Is Starfleet?

In our article version of the UPs & DOWNs for Through the Lens of Time, we gave Beto an UP for his persistence as a filmmaker in getting to the facts. Oh, how fortunes have quickly reversed! It is a resounding DOWN this week for the young documentarian. Whatever deontology he was following went out of the airlock. In came a series of questions post-title, one more leading than the last.

It is telling that the piece was narrated by Beto himself, and that from the opening minutes. There is no better way to get your point across than to insert yourself everywhere. This isn't a nature or history documentary; there is no need for a voice-over at all. Including one is simply amateurish. It is certainly not winning any awards.

As the introduction proceeds, Beto lays out his bumbling research questions — each of which would be more at home on some backwater 23rd century conspiracy forum. As for his interview technique, Beto might well have just asked, 'Is Starfleet evil?' and be done with it. A good documentarian also tends to care about — take an interest in — their subjects (or at least pretends to). Beto, by comparison, was unnecessarily cruel at times, provoking the crew with an unhealthy delight. To mention Uhura's Academy friend as he did was more than deliberate. It was beyond the pale. In a post-scarcity world (even before replicators), 'I'm just doing my job' doesn’t quite carry the same weight. Instead, if you're bad at it, if you're mean with it, 'my job' just makes you sound like a spoilt brat.

In the end, this wasn't a documentary about Starfleet. This was a day or two in the life of Umberto Ortegas, grudge to bear, with recurring characters. Aside from clips from previous episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, there was no footage other than that taken aboard the Enterprise during its mission with the Lutani and the Jikaru.