...
Finally, there is a tone to Trek that tells us that we can better human beings and that we should be idealistic about the future and what we have the potential to be.
On THAT, I think Discovery missed the mark. It's not just the OMG GRITTY that does it-- DS9 was plenty dark and gritty-- but it never lost that core idealistic tone no matter how dark it got. Discovery is a bit too cynical to feel like Star Trek.
And that is what screams to me. Because the one word, the one word you will find repeated again and again in all the serious examining of Trek
over the many decades now...
Optimism. Humanity post WWIII learned it's lessons, we graduated. We built starships to explore the endless
possibilities in space and through that exploration expand ourselves. Sagan's "Dreams are maps.", "Cartographers of human purpose"
The difficult aliens and all kinds of obstacles to exploration for drama's sake are there to challenge our leveled up humanity and show us
the way.
And if necessary spend time around Orion slave girls god forbid. Tough missions sometimes keeping ratings up. But always
they would remind us regularly with either a whole episode or at least a brief scene. Why, why are they aboard these starships,
why challenge ourselves so far from home.
Voyager's dedication plaque quotes Tennyson
"For I dipt into the future far as human eye could see;
Saw the Vision of the world and all the wonder that would be."
That's the spine of Star Trek.
They didn't include it. Like a suspension bridge without cables if we were looking at it from an engineering perspective, it can't be a bridge.
Trek is sort of a bridge isn't it? From now to what we wish we could become.
I would ask them why? Would they give an intentional reason they did this or stare at me like a deer in the headlights? Perhaps just laugh and
step on Roddenberry's "box" in front of me.
What else out there is positive about humanity's future?
Dystopia and war reigns supreme. It's almost like it's not Sci Fi these days
unless it contains those things.