Some Longterm Fans Of Star Trek Are Nervous About Alex Kurtzman - Why, And Is It Fair?

5. Star Trek's Inspirational Speeches

Star Trek Picard
Paramount

One user had this to say:

Now there's no Utopian view of a human oneness or even UFP in Trek. Everybody is screaming at each other. Where is the intelligent problem solving? The moral speech at the end of the episodes which ends the conflict? Why isn't Trek challenging my thinking on stuff anymore?

This goes back to the time of Gene Roddenberry, and actually brings to mind the edicts of Rick Berman as well. Roddenberry was very against the idea of conflicts between crew members. Spock, Kirk and McCoy may have bickered, but that was the worst of it. Riker and Picard generally only fought while in a mirror universe.

Deep Space Nine began to truly break away from this, though there were still plenty of speeches to be had and enjoyed. Voyager was a callback to the Next Generation, while Enterprise was both a mish-mash of everything that had come before, while striving to be something new.

The Utopia of the future was challenged in these series, while season 1 of Discovery seemingly swept that Utopia aside.

While Star Trek has always been about challenging the status quo, there is a very valid point raised here: where are the speeches that we miss from the older series? However, this is something that is (thankfully!) easily remedied.

In this post: 
Star Trek
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Seán is the host and head writer/presenter for TrekCulture, as well as a writer/presenter on WhoCulture and WhatCulture Horror. He has authored two novels, dozens of short stories, and hundreds of articles for WhatCulture. He holds a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from University College Dublin. As part of his work with TrekCulture, Seán has been invited to participate in collaborations with Roddenberry Entertainment, as well as contributing to several Star Trek community projects. An avid fan of Star Trek, Doctor Who, and the horror genre at large, Seán's expertise has helped develop these channels to the successes they are today. As host of the Ups & Downs series on TrekCulture, Seán has become internationally recognised for his positive yet critically informed approach to reviewing every episode of modern Star Trek, ensuring he is one of the go-to voices in the Trek community. Favourite Quote to describe himself: "I'm serious about what I do, just not always about the way that I do it"