Finally got caught up on last week’s STAR TREK: DISCOVERY episode, while recovering from whatever errant rhinovirus I brought back from Gallifrey One.
Over the last couple of years, I have been repeating a mantra: “All art is subjective.” I was saying it A LOT during the discussion of THE LAST JEDI, DOCTOR WHO and GHOSTBUSTERS: ANSWER THE CALL. In both of these, loads of people who adored previous installments of the respective series abhorred the new installments.
“Not my STAR WARS.”
“Not my TREK.”
”Not my WHO.”
“Not my GHOSTBUSTERS.”
Some of the people who have been the loudest critics of these new versions have been folks who worked in the production of these dynasties. They have more behind-the-scenes knowledge of where the showrunners and creators meant things to go than I ever will.
In the last year, we’ve been watching DISCO roll out, and seeing that Alex Kurtzman was playing several long games with the plot points. The Klingons, the mycelial network, the Mirror Universe. The payouts have been mixed — I’m still bored with the shakeout of the Klingon power struggle, and if I don’t see that again for a while I’ll be happy. However, the entirety of Season 2 has been nothing short of a revelation, and I think it’s the best TREK we’ve seen in quite some time. Maybe going back to the best of VOYAGER and DEEP SPACE NINE. This includes DISCO S02E05, “Saints Of Imperfection,” which was simply sublime. (I won’t talk about plot points for the episode, as CBS is still holding to their stupid All Access paywall for it, and the Jordan Peele TWILIGHT ZONE series, and more.)
(Also: if Tilly dies, we riot. Plain and simple.)
I unabashedly loved THE LAST JEDI. ANSWER THE CALL was a wonderful GHOSTBUSTERS film (could have used a touch less Wiigisms, and more McKinnon). I have had problems with Series 11 (reboot) of DOCTOR WHO (Jodie Whittaker is skronchly wonderful, but I’ve found the writing to be truly lazy in points), but two of the episodes — “Rosa” and “It Takes You Away” — belong in the conversation for my favorites in the Reboot era.
Again: all art is subjective. It’s just the way I perceive the shows. If you hated any of the bits I mentioned above? That’s completely fine.
When I think of the way people view these franchises, I think of the painting of the three vinegar tasters I first saw when I was studying Buddhism. From Wikipedia:
The three men are dipping their fingers in a vat of vinegar and tasting it; one man reacts with a sour expression, one reacts with a bitter expression, and one reacts with a sweet expression. The three men are Confucius, Buddha, and Laozi, respectively. Each man’s expression represents the predominant attitude of his philosophy: Confucianism saw life as sour, in need of rules to correct the degeneration of people; Buddhism saw life as bitter, dominated by pain and suffering; and Taoism saw life as fundamentally good in its natural state. Another interpretation of the painting is that, since the three men are gathered around one vat of vinegar, the “three teachings” are one.
If you think Rian Johnson ruined STAR WARS with THE LAST JEDI, you have that freedom to think that. If you despise the Kurtzman reign on STAR TREK, go right on ahead.
However, I choose to look at each of these new chapters in these venerated sagas with an open mind. A new generation of storytellers has the reins now, and each came to their respective properties with the same love for them as the rest of us loonies — probably moreso, since they know that they have four or five decades of canon and expectations on their backs, and still show up to work every day to keep producing the shows and movies.
Once again: you wanna rant and rave about how wrong those visions are? Completely fine. Your prerogative. They’re certainly not your TREK, or WARS, or whatever. Just don’t scowl too much when folks like me are choosing to enjoy them.
The vinegar doesn’t always have to be sour, or bitter.
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