Star Trek Picard and Strange New Worlds

[viper37]

Side note: Federation is totally against genetic modifications. Ok, fair enough. But we have Bashir, and now Number One who are both genetically modified and serving (granted, for Bashir it was a close call, and for #1 it's not "official" with her bosses yet, but still). Does La'an count as genetically modified? I understand that she's descended from augmented humans, but I'm not sure I caught whether she herself is augmented? Also, I assume if your ancestors were augmented, but you had no modifications - I assume that's fine, since she's serving in Starfleet under a VERY prominent name?

She is not.  
Spoiler:

There is no mention of it other than her being a natural.

[viper37]

The article takes especial umbrage with using footage of Jan 6th in Pike's speech about the descent into WW3, and that Stacey Abrams showed up in the Disco S4 finale as President of Earth, and that Trek now clearly endorses one political party, and that people don't want those real world references in their sci-fi escapism.

Babylon 5 had an episode about a family refusing to accept surgery for their son as it was removing the soul from his body.  In the end, the doc performed the procedure and the father killed his son.

In TNG, they established that all lawyers had been killed before or during WW3 (that explains why not many lawyers here seem to watch this show  ).  They promote equality among all, there is no money (no capitalism) and the only race that is actively pursuing capitalism is generally viewed as evil and cowardly.
In one episode, Riker falls in love with a androgynous being that has no gender.

In DS9, they had a same sex kiss, once.  The Ferengis are mocked for their cowardice, their greed and the total absence of women's rights.  There's a black captain and no one takes issue with it in the universe, no one ever talks of skin color.  I can't remember if Voyager had anything special.  They had an episode about misinterpreting and reinventing history, but beyond that...  And also, I can't remember any particular stuff of Enterprise.

It's not really new that scifi tries to advance social progress.  Discovery went a little too far, because they spent way too much time on transgender issues.  1 and half season worth of this is way too much for that subject.  Just deal with it and advance the plot.

[Josquius]

I remember DS9 going SUPER into black history month stuff. A fair few episodes with timey wimey Sisko in the past dealing with race issues

I'm only a few eps into the latest series of discovery but I'm not noticing too much transgender stuff other than one transgender couple being characters, and they're being dealt with pretty straight up with their plot being nought to do with trans issues?

[viper37]

I remember DS9 going SUPER into black history month stuff. A fair few episodes with timey wimey Sisko in the past dealing with race issues

Funny, Derspiess said mostly the same thing some years ago
It was one episode.  It was a dream sequence of some sort, due to some scifiesqe thing I can't remember (wasn't a warp core breach though, that I'm sure ).  He lived a past life as a black writer in the 30s.  A woman writer was also hired by the same company with 'Odo' as the manager and they both served as ghostwriter for a white man.

The other episode you might think of, which involved time travel and Sisko was him assuming the role of Gabriel Bell, a revolutionary hero of some sort in the 21st century, after the real one was killed by muggers while defending him. 

But it had nothing to do with race, it was about class warfare, where the poors were confined to some space and totally dependent on government help for basic living while the rich lived in beautiful buildings and had no problems finding work/working.  It was the beginning of the social revolution that ultimately led to the Federation's ideals.  Sometime between that and Kirk's birth, they killed all lawyers and abolished money.

I'm only a few eps into the latest series of discovery but I'm not noticing too much transgender stuff other than one transgender couple being characters, and they're being dealt with pretty straight up with their plot being nought to do with trans issues?

I believe they spent way too much time on this couple where nothing is really happening.  They discuss how she wants to be referred as "They", how the symbiot thing is very similar to modern transgender issues, etc, etc, and I feel it just takes too much time in the show.

There's a gay couple.  They're married.  They don't discuss it ad vitam aeternam.  It's there, it exists, they share an embrace or a kiss, that's all.  Not much focus on their domestic issues or couples therapy.

I'd feel the same if the spent all this time on a hetero couple.  There are plenty of other shows that explores couple's relationships of all kinds.  I'd wish Star Trek was about sci-fi, weird phenomenons, alien-humans relations, space battles, etc. That you casually bring in some modern issues in it, fine.  But don't spend half a season around one couple's relationship.

[crazy canuck]

I think I love #1 - doesn't hurt that she has a strong resemblance to Mrs. CC in our younger years   

[viper37]

I think I love #1 - doesn't hurt that she has a strong resemblance to Mrs. CC in our younger years   

She was Mystique in the first X-Men movies.

[HVC]

Wow, didn't know CCs wife was an actress

[crazy canuck]

Wow, didn't know CCs wife was an actress

She made poor life decisions and weighed herself down with the likes of me.   

[Syt]

Only a few minutes in, but:

[Syt]

That was a fun, far more lighthearted episode (we don't really get those outside of Lower Decks and Prodigy anymor ... ). I hate the (MAIN TROPE) of the episode, and it's often more cringe-inducing than good (Farscape also had a very fun episode around a similar concept), but I did end up enjoying it.

Some really good comedic stuff. Like Una's and La'an's different interrogation techniques.

[FunkMonk]

That episode of Strange New Worlds is probably my favorite piece of Nu Trek. I really enjoyed it. A fine piece of television.

This show is genuinely good. I am very happy Trek is finally finding its footing in this new generation of Trek shows.