Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
Star Trek: Discovery Should Stay Away From the Borg
5 views
Skip to first unread message
Ubiquitous
Apr 8, 2019, 11:34:02 AM4/8/19
to
Over on Vulture, writer Devon Maloney has written an article in favor of the
fan theory that Star Trek: Discovery is slowly revealing that the problem of
rogue AI Control is actually the origin story of the franchise's greatest
villains, the Borg. I must respectfully disagree that this is a good idea.
Maloney's essay is compelling, a nuanced argument for why she thinks
Discovery is correct to be traveling this potential Borgian path. She gives
us a deep dive into the Borg's Trek history and cultural significance, rooted
in their creation as an entity reflective of anxieties around technology in
the '80s and '90s. An updated take on Discovery, argues Mahoney, would
reposition the Borg for our era:
Because let's be honest, the Borg's pursuit of perfection bears an
uncanny resemblance to Silicon Valley's obsession with productivity
and efficiency. Transhumanism in pop culture is on the rise, and
culturally we're becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of
marrying the organic and inorganic. When it comes to explaining how
a computer program might become powerful enough to raze countless
intelligent civilizations, no faraway robo-planet could possibly
make more sense in this era, or be more impactful on the Star Trek
mythos, than "a machine-learning threat-assessment program created
by a lawless Space CIA realizes sentient life is the ultimate threat
and starts taking matters into its own hands."
Maloney's not wrong in putting forth this supposition for a modern-day Borg.
Her take is fascinating and persuasive. I wish she wrote for Discovery! My
problem, however, is that it's hard for me to believe this sort of deft
philosophical reflection was on the minds of the Star Trek: Discovery writers
if Control is, indeed, meant to be the Borg's retconned origin story. I see
it more like a "Dude, what if we totally invented the Borg this season?" with
resounding high-fives around the writers' room.
Star Trek: Discovery is generally not given over to delicate writing, and it
can wield its one-liners and morality plays with the subtlety of an anvil.
It's difficult to imagine that they're bent on considering the current-day
sociopolitical ramifications of the Borg's villainy (if indeed Control is a
sort of proto-Borg).
Too often, Discovery seems to grab for what is bright and shiny in the
history of Trek and glom onto it. What's Star Trek`s fan-favorite alien race?
Klingons! Let's reinvent them and make them our first-season antagonist. Who
is Star Trek's most beloved character? Leonard Nimoy's Spock. Let's make our
protagonist his sister and throw Spock into the cast for good measure. What's
the key to season 1's mystery? The ever-popular mirror universe! Who should
be this season's captain? What about Christopher freakin' Pike? What's that
in the sky? It's a bird, it's a plane, it's the USS Enterprise. And on and
on.
Don't get me wrong: every Star Trek series-and certainly the reboot movies-
have leaned on the nostalgia of those that came before, and built from the
worlds and people previously established. My problem is that condition is so
stark on Discovery, a show still struggling to tell us who its main bridge
crew are beyond "smart" and "good" and "sometimes sad." I find myself
desperate for Discovery to create more that is just its own, to spend time
developing new characters and their backgrounds rather than letting
fanservice drive so much of the show's momentum. I like Discovery; I just
think it's capable of being better, and referential callbacks have become
tiresome.
To be fair, Discovery struck out on its own with this season's Red Angel/time
travel/7 signals plotline-but if that all adds up to the reveal that Control
is how the Borg began, I feel exhausted rather than elated. Maloney argues
that if the Borg are coming, Discovery has utilized "a newfound narrative
restraint in building up to this reveal." And it's true Control has not yet
droned "YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED." It did, however, speak the words "struggle
is pointless" on last week's episode, which is running "resistance is futile"
through a thesaurus.
In my opinion, Discovery shouldn't get too much credit just for managing not
to show its entire hand or scatter its cards across the table in a fit of
pique. It's worth mentioning that the Borg have also more than had their time
in the sun-see Voyager, Star Trek: First Contact-and there's little about the
idea of hanging out with them again that appeals to me. Their unknown origin
was an interesting puzzle best left unsolved. Even in our era of reboots, not
everything needs to be rebooted.
I hope that the show will let the Borg, in all their mysterious inception,
remain that way. I guess we should count our blessings that at least the Red
Angel wasn't revealed to be Seven of Nine come to warn Discovery from the
future.
--
Democrats (2016): We must believe the results of the Mueller investigation!
Democrats (2019): We don't believe the results of the Mueller investigation!
fan theory that Star Trek: Discovery is slowly revealing that the problem of
rogue AI Control is actually the origin story of the franchise's greatest
villains, the Borg. I must respectfully disagree that this is a good idea.
Maloney's essay is compelling, a nuanced argument for why she thinks
Discovery is correct to be traveling this potential Borgian path. She gives
us a deep dive into the Borg's Trek history and cultural significance, rooted
in their creation as an entity reflective of anxieties around technology in
the '80s and '90s. An updated take on Discovery, argues Mahoney, would
reposition the Borg for our era:
Because let's be honest, the Borg's pursuit of perfection bears an
uncanny resemblance to Silicon Valley's obsession with productivity
and efficiency. Transhumanism in pop culture is on the rise, and
culturally we're becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of
marrying the organic and inorganic. When it comes to explaining how
a computer program might become powerful enough to raze countless
intelligent civilizations, no faraway robo-planet could possibly
make more sense in this era, or be more impactful on the Star Trek
mythos, than "a machine-learning threat-assessment program created
by a lawless Space CIA realizes sentient life is the ultimate threat
and starts taking matters into its own hands."
Maloney's not wrong in putting forth this supposition for a modern-day Borg.
Her take is fascinating and persuasive. I wish she wrote for Discovery! My
problem, however, is that it's hard for me to believe this sort of deft
philosophical reflection was on the minds of the Star Trek: Discovery writers
if Control is, indeed, meant to be the Borg's retconned origin story. I see
it more like a "Dude, what if we totally invented the Borg this season?" with
resounding high-fives around the writers' room.
Star Trek: Discovery is generally not given over to delicate writing, and it
can wield its one-liners and morality plays with the subtlety of an anvil.
It's difficult to imagine that they're bent on considering the current-day
sociopolitical ramifications of the Borg's villainy (if indeed Control is a
sort of proto-Borg).
Too often, Discovery seems to grab for what is bright and shiny in the
history of Trek and glom onto it. What's Star Trek`s fan-favorite alien race?
Klingons! Let's reinvent them and make them our first-season antagonist. Who
is Star Trek's most beloved character? Leonard Nimoy's Spock. Let's make our
protagonist his sister and throw Spock into the cast for good measure. What's
the key to season 1's mystery? The ever-popular mirror universe! Who should
be this season's captain? What about Christopher freakin' Pike? What's that
in the sky? It's a bird, it's a plane, it's the USS Enterprise. And on and
on.
Don't get me wrong: every Star Trek series-and certainly the reboot movies-
have leaned on the nostalgia of those that came before, and built from the
worlds and people previously established. My problem is that condition is so
stark on Discovery, a show still struggling to tell us who its main bridge
crew are beyond "smart" and "good" and "sometimes sad." I find myself
desperate for Discovery to create more that is just its own, to spend time
developing new characters and their backgrounds rather than letting
fanservice drive so much of the show's momentum. I like Discovery; I just
think it's capable of being better, and referential callbacks have become
tiresome.
To be fair, Discovery struck out on its own with this season's Red Angel/time
travel/7 signals plotline-but if that all adds up to the reveal that Control
is how the Borg began, I feel exhausted rather than elated. Maloney argues
that if the Borg are coming, Discovery has utilized "a newfound narrative
restraint in building up to this reveal." And it's true Control has not yet
droned "YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED." It did, however, speak the words "struggle
is pointless" on last week's episode, which is running "resistance is futile"
through a thesaurus.
In my opinion, Discovery shouldn't get too much credit just for managing not
to show its entire hand or scatter its cards across the table in a fit of
pique. It's worth mentioning that the Borg have also more than had their time
in the sun-see Voyager, Star Trek: First Contact-and there's little about the
idea of hanging out with them again that appeals to me. Their unknown origin
was an interesting puzzle best left unsolved. Even in our era of reboots, not
everything needs to be rebooted.
I hope that the show will let the Borg, in all their mysterious inception,
remain that way. I guess we should count our blessings that at least the Red
Angel wasn't revealed to be Seven of Nine come to warn Discovery from the
future.
--
Democrats (2016): We must believe the results of the Mueller investigation!
Democrats (2019): We don't believe the results of the Mueller investigation!
anim8rfsk
Apr 8, 2019, 12:39:59 PM4/8/19
to
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 03:10:26 -0700 Ubiquitous<web...@polaris.net> wrote:
Star Trek: Discovery Should Stay Away
--
Join your old RAT friends at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1688985234647266/
Star Trek: Discovery Should Stay Away
--
Join your old RAT friends at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1688985234647266/
Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha
Apr 8, 2019, 1:21:46 PM4/8/19
to
I thoughty the Borg were boring as stupid to begin with.
--
Terry Austin
Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.
--
Terry Austin
Vacation photos from Iceland:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/QaXQkB
"Terry Austin: like the polio vaccine, only with more asshole."
-- David Bilek
Jesus forgives sinners, not criminals.
Mike Van Pelt
Apr 8, 2019, 3:31:38 PM4/8/19
to
In article <q8fpl9$tlj$2...@dont-email.me>,
Time travel? Again?
gag
I am so done with Trek's over-use of the time travel thing.
They destroyed Enterprise with it. (Admittedly, Enterprise had
other glaring problems, but that idiotic "temporal cold war"
thing was the major brain damage. The setting had the potential
to produce something really good.)
I was hearing a few good things about what Discovery was doing
this season, but if they're "doing the time plot again", I'm
completely not interested.
(cue hilarious Tom Smith song)
--
Mike Van Pelt | "I don't advise it unless you're nuts."
mvp at calweb.com | -- Ray Wilkinson, after riding out Hurricane
KE6BVH | Ike on Surfside Beach in Galveston
Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:
>To be fair, Discovery struck out on its own with this season's
>Red Angel/time travel/7 signals plotline ...
>To be fair, Discovery struck out on its own with this season's
Time travel? Again?
gag
I am so done with Trek's over-use of the time travel thing.
They destroyed Enterprise with it. (Admittedly, Enterprise had
other glaring problems, but that idiotic "temporal cold war"
thing was the major brain damage. The setting had the potential
to produce something really good.)
I was hearing a few good things about what Discovery was doing
this season, but if they're "doing the time plot again", I'm
completely not interested.
(cue hilarious Tom Smith song)
--
Mike Van Pelt | "I don't advise it unless you're nuts."
mvp at calweb.com | -- Ray Wilkinson, after riding out Hurricane
KE6BVH | Ike on Surfside Beach in Galveston
Your Name
Apr 8, 2019, 4:06:47 PM4/8/19
to
On 2019-04-08 19:31:37 +0000, Mike Van Pelt said:
> In article <q8fpl9$tlj$2...@dont-email.me>,
> Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:
>>
>> To be fair, Discovery struck out on its own with this season's
>> Red Angel/time travel/7 signals plotline ...
>
> Time travel? Again?
>
> gag
>
> I am so done with Trek's over-use of the time travel thing.
> They destroyed Enterprise with it. (Admittedly, Enterprise had
> other glaring problems, but that idiotic "temporal cold war"
> thing was the major brain damage. The setting had the potential
> to produce something really good.)
>
> I was hearing a few good things about what Discovery was doing
> this season, but if they're "doing the time plot again", I'm
> completely not interested.
>
> (cue hilarious Tom Smith song)
Time travel tends to be the lazy-ass, talentless people's way of doing
> In article <q8fpl9$tlj$2...@dont-email.me>,
> Ubiquitous <web...@polaris.net> wrote:
>>
>> To be fair, Discovery struck out on its own with this season's
>> Red Angel/time travel/7 signals plotline ...
>
> Time travel? Again?
>
> gag
>
> I am so done with Trek's over-use of the time travel thing.
> They destroyed Enterprise with it. (Admittedly, Enterprise had
> other glaring problems, but that idiotic "temporal cold war"
> thing was the major brain damage. The setting had the potential
> to produce something really good.)
>
> I was hearing a few good things about what Discovery was doing
> this season, but if they're "doing the time plot again", I'm
> completely not interested.
>
> (cue hilarious Tom Smith song)
an episode / "story arc" since they can do whatever ill-fitting
nonsense they want and then simply press the big red 'Reset' button at
the end to pretend it never happened. :-(
There's a similar lazy problem with the idiotic 'everyone in the
Holodeck' episodes.
Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha
Apr 8, 2019, 5:15:35 PM4/8/19
to
Your Name <Your...@YourISP.com> wrote in
news:q8g9kk$gh8$1...@gioia.aioe.org:
I did like the TNG episode where they blew up the Enterprise just
before every commercial break. There was a certain appeal to the
idea, however overused and trite the Groundhog Day meme is.
news:q8g9kk$gh8$1...@gioia.aioe.org:
before every commercial break. There was a certain appeal to the
idea, however overused and trite the Groundhog Day meme is.
>
> There's a similar lazy problem with the idiotic 'everyone in the
> Holodeck' episodes.
>
And a hundred other stale, overused tropes.
> There's a similar lazy problem with the idiotic 'everyone in the
> Holodeck' episodes.
>
anim8rfsk
Apr 8, 2019, 6:03:51 PM4/8/19
to
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 14:15:34 -0700 Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha
It was annoying that they brought somebody from Kirk's time to the future,
and that it was Kelsey Grammar instead of anyone we'd ever heard of, and then
that they never mentioned him again ...
> > There's a similar lazy problem with the idiotic 'everyone in the
> > Holodeck' episodes.
> And a hundred other stale, overused tropes.
--
and that it was Kelsey Grammar instead of anyone we'd ever heard of, and then
that they never mentioned him again ...
> > There's a similar lazy problem with the idiotic 'everyone in the
> > Holodeck' episodes.
> And a hundred other stale, overused tropes.
--
Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha
Apr 8, 2019, 6:16:16 PM4/8/19
to
anim8rfsk <anim...@cox.net> wrote in
news:0001HW.225BFCC600...@NEWS.EASYNEWS.COM:
I'm wondering what was more annoying, that it was "somebody from
Kirks' time to the future," that it was "somebody we'd never neard
of," or that it was Kelsey Grammar, who, admittedly, has a face
you'd never get tired of punching.
news:0001HW.225BFCC600...@NEWS.EASYNEWS.COM:
Kirks' time to the future," that it was "somebody we'd never neard
of," or that it was Kelsey Grammar, who, admittedly, has a face
you'd never get tired of punching.
anim8rfsk
Apr 8, 2019, 6:34:29 PM4/8/19
to
Mon, 08 Apr 2019 15:16:15 -0700 Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha
"Kirk's time" and "nobody we've heard of" is a double whammy. I assume it was
so they could use standing sets and uniforms.
so they could use standing sets and uniforms.
Mike Van Pelt
Apr 8, 2019, 7:24:35 PM4/8/19
to
In article <XnsAA2B910E467...@69.16.179.42>,
movie.
That was a decent episode. The trick of figuring out what
was going on, and getting clues inserted into the next
interation seemed pretty clever to me at the time, but I
haven't seen that episode since its original broadcast.
The thing that annoyed me was they did the blowing up of
a starship *right* in that episode where they blew up
the Yamato. But for the "Groundhog Day" episode? Feh.
Plastic model full of black powder again. (Or, CGI made
to simulate a plastic model full of black powder.)
>I did like the TNG episode where they blew up the Enterprise just
>before every commercial break. There was a certain appeal to the
>idea, however overused and trite the Groundhog Day meme is.
Though TNG did it quite a few years before the Bill Murray
>before every commercial break. There was a certain appeal to the
>idea, however overused and trite the Groundhog Day meme is.
movie.
That was a decent episode. The trick of figuring out what
was going on, and getting clues inserted into the next
interation seemed pretty clever to me at the time, but I
haven't seen that episode since its original broadcast.
The thing that annoyed me was they did the blowing up of
a starship *right* in that episode where they blew up
the Yamato. But for the "Groundhog Day" episode? Feh.
Plastic model full of black powder again. (Or, CGI made
to simulate a plastic model full of black powder.)
Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha
Apr 8, 2019, 7:50:59 PM4/8/19
to
m...@web1.calweb.com (Mike Van Pelt) wrote in news:SKQqE.90188
$DD7....@fx05.iad:
> In article <XnsAA2B910E467...@69.16.179.42>,
> Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>I did like the TNG episode where they blew up the Enterprise just
>>before every commercial break. There was a certain appeal to the
>>idea, however overused and trite the Groundhog Day meme is.
>
> Though TNG did it quite a few years before the Bill Murray
> movie.
It wasn't a new idea then, either.
wank, fairly typical of Star Trek.
Only episode of TNG I ever really *liked* was the one where Q shows
Picard how is life would have turned out if he hadn't been a
hellion at the academy. (Only episode with Q that didn't make me
want to punch everyone involved in creating that character in the
nuts with a sharp stick, too.) Every other episode ranged from
"Yawn, now they're ripped off TOS again" to "how can a script
writer be that stupid and still be able to walk and breathe at the
same time?"
$DD7....@fx05.iad:
> In article <XnsAA2B910E467...@69.16.179.42>,
> Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha <taus...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>I did like the TNG episode where they blew up the Enterprise just
>>before every commercial break. There was a certain appeal to the
>>idea, however overused and trite the Groundhog Day meme is.
>
> Though TNG did it quite a few years before the Bill Murray
> movie.
>
> That was a decent episode. The trick of figuring out what
> was going on, and getting clues inserted into the next
> interation seemed pretty clever to me at the time, but I
> haven't seen that episode since its original broadcast.
The "getting clues inserted into the next iteration" was techno-
> That was a decent episode. The trick of figuring out what
> was going on, and getting clues inserted into the next
> interation seemed pretty clever to me at the time, but I
> haven't seen that episode since its original broadcast.
wank, fairly typical of Star Trek.
>
> The thing that annoyed me was they did the blowing up of
> a starship *right* in that episode where they blew up
> the Yamato. But for the "Groundhog Day" episode? Feh.
> Plastic model full of black powder again. (Or, CGI made
> to simulate a plastic model full of black powder.)
>
And it's not like they couldn't afford better.
> The thing that annoyed me was they did the blowing up of
> a starship *right* in that episode where they blew up
> the Yamato. But for the "Groundhog Day" episode? Feh.
> Plastic model full of black powder again. (Or, CGI made
> to simulate a plastic model full of black powder.)
>
Only episode of TNG I ever really *liked* was the one where Q shows
Picard how is life would have turned out if he hadn't been a
hellion at the academy. (Only episode with Q that didn't make me
want to punch everyone involved in creating that character in the
nuts with a sharp stick, too.) Every other episode ranged from
"Yawn, now they're ripped off TOS again" to "how can a script
writer be that stupid and still be able to walk and breathe at the
same time?"
0 new messages