Last week Starfleet Academy debuted and something odd happened. If you’re a regular to any Trek news or discussion site, you noticed a spike. Even our usually sleepy Facebook profile went from a handful of likes to over 2,000, am good chunk of which got deleted. It wasn’t a normal spike, certainly not normal for a debut show, not normal to be everywhere and – to be frank – not normal in terms of comments. It was a mix of disturbing and sad. Disturbing for the high amount of bigoted and sexist memes and commentary that seemed to mock murdered US citizens. For a subculture of fandom that grew up praising – to the point of gloating – that Star Trek was about intellectualism and inclusion, it certainly showed that as a fandom, and a united international culture, we’ve taken more steps backwards than forwards. That’s not right. And it’s certainly not what Star Trek is about.
When lurking on the internet these days it sometimes feels that the best way to piss off a Star Trek fan is by giving them more Star Trek. This isn’t anything new. By this point we’ve all seen the response to the announcement of the Next Generation in the 80’s. We’ve seen the reports with jokes about Deep Space Nine being the anti-Trek.
Even the franchises own creator would fight against the changes made for The Wrath of Khan. And yet, decades later these are the templates for what we see as not only the best of Star Trek, but it’s template. And here we are again in another cycle where we repeat the same as before. Enterprise was once an affront to Star Trek and now people post about humming Faith of the Heart. Even the formation of the Kelvin Timeline is seen with a certain rose tint from people who fifteen years ago would dedicate hours of keystrokes to decrying the blasphemy of anyone other than William Shatner as Kirk.
Modern technology and a rise of social media where the clicks and ad revenue is made by manufactured ragebait just make it weird. Granted, it’s not just social media. I’ve had the unfortunate situation of attending a Star Trek convention that featured the entire cast of Discovery, and was pretty much a weekend long Discovery promotional event, and having someone sit down next to me, spot a Section 31 pin (I was wearing a black cyberpunk style shirt, it was a lazy day one costume, shoosh!) and tell me what was wrong with everything Discovery. I sat there listening and, even if it made sense, it just baffled me. Why are you paying this much money to see Sonequa Martin Green, Jason Isaacs and everyone else just to seek people out and moan?
It’s not unique to Star Trek, of course. Other franchises including Star Wars and Doctor Who – even Eastenders and WWE – have got the same treatment. But there’s a certain subset of fandom on all levels, emboldened by this idea that just because everyone has a platform, that their word is gospel and that they must tell everyone else that their opinions and tastes are inherently wrong. And by the Gods, they’ll tell people. Multiple times a week I’ll see the same three comments recycled ad infinitum or conversations where there’s a ham-fisted reason to bash something that was made without Rick Berman hanging around the costume trailer (less said the better there).
I don’t think the recent era’s of Star Trek are perfect. But I don’t think it ever has been – and neither did the rest of the fandom who’d laugh with each other reading Phill Farrand’s nittpickers guide! Time, age and the years to turn a one shot experience into comfort viewing has given us a tilted view. We saw things we connected with. SFC was built on original series fans. The bulk of us were TNG fans. I’m a DS9 guy and can give you fifty reasons why. Some of us, at least one CO, discovered Star Trek in 2009. My eleven year old son was obviously around Trek for a bit, but his Star Trek is Dal and Gwen on board Prodigy.
If a younger audience see’s something they connect with – whether that’s the feeling of hopelessness of Kelvin Kirk, to the frustration of asserting a pronoun, to having a lifetime of egotistical importer syndrome like Mariner – then let them enjoy things. Maybe they’ll see what you see and connect. Maybe they’ll see something different and connect in a way you couldn’t.
They certainly won’t connect if you tell them how wrong they are. Once upon a time we could see a negative and put it down. Now? There’s a dedicated focus to telling you what not to like that doesn’t come with a letter in a magazine. It comes with a chorus, an argument, a fight to the bitter end to say blue is red.
We’re not here to dig our heels in and make you like what we like. If the hope we’re aspiring to is unity and understanding, we can’t gate keep the ideal until we live by it. If we are Starfleet, we should practice what we preach.
If you want to dislike a show because it doesn’t appeal, don’t mock and belittle others for enjoying it. Don’t berate ‘woke’ because, seriously, that doesn’t need an inclination. If Jet Reno’s existence upsets you, and you want to scream at people for having an opposite view, maybe a show about finding universal peace isn’t for you.
Starfleet is for everyone. Everyone is welcome. And no one, absolutely no one, should feel unwelcome here.
About the author
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