Is Star Trek Science Fiction? Fantasy? Broadway Musical? Or something else...

G

Gatefan1976

Well Known GateFan
yongjin02 said:
a "winner" rating from GF and OM on this....

just how disparate can one word be? :icon_lol:
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Easy, we both got different things from it :)
Besides, OM and I argue -all- the time, it's a hobby :)
 
Overmind One

Overmind One

GateFans Gatemaster
Staff member
yongjin02 said:
the UT is just a plot device. yes, they tried to "explain" it in ENTERPRISE (just one more thing that show was burdened with; "explaining" the handy plot devices the writers used to get through script and production issues. the "invention" of transporters as a way to get someone a great distance came about AFTER the TPTB's original idea-landing the enterprise every time-was seen as too time consuming, and the 2nd idea-using the shuttles didn't work because the models were not built yet. so "voila" "presto magico-el transporto!"

IT WAS NOT inspired by or backed up by ANY science--only the economics of a show's production:

"According to The Making of Star Trek, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry's original plan did not include transporters, instead calling for characters to land the starship itself. However, this would have required unfeasible and unaffordable sets and model filming, as well as episode running time spent while landing, taking off, etc. The shuttlecraft was the next idea, but when filming began, the full-sized shooting model was not ready. Transporters were devised as a less expensive alternative, achieved by a simple fade-out/fade-in of the subject.[1]"

from wikipedia

the universal translator was a similar "convenience"

Clearly, Roddenberry and/or others could not let stand the notion of having humans and aliens communicating WITHOUT having learned the language(s) or had some translator

having an onboard person to trans for every planet encountered was anti thetical to the whole "explore new worlds" idea

and just having it go unexplained was not something the TPTBs could just let happen

so again-the UT was a prop of convenience-one we see "explained" by Hoshi in ENTERPRISE as a device that "learned" new languages' vocabulary,pronunciation,syntax,etc

but they never truly explained how it did that with languages the computer had no knowledge of in ref to newly encountered races

the same thing happens in many shows where it is just left alone. everyone understands one another and we are just to allow that every alien in the galaxy understands/speaks English with an American dialect!

SG1/SGA did this. they never explained it at all, though a small effort to kind of retcon the english as the off world lingo for the galaxy was attempted. In MOEBIOUS-when they went back in time to ancient Egypt-I dont remember who it was-(Daniel?) was teaching the ancient egyptians english

therefore, they and all others who followed in abduction off world, learned and spoke english

presumably, they also taught the various earth ppls-widely spread, chinese, mongols, celts,etc-english as well--somehow

that is why that "explanation" doesn't work--but I drift :icon_lol:
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Somebody did their homework...:daniel_new_anime021: I liked the transporter only before I read The Making of Star Trek and suddenly realized that the cool "saucer section" was an ACTUAL flying saucer which was supposed to land on other planets. The transporter was a convenience for budget, and the shuttles were added later. The Universal Translator was a similar trope.
 
Joelist

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Indeed!
 
Joelist

Joelist

What ship is this?
Staff member
Then there is this...

 
Rac80

Rac80

The Belle of the Ball
Recently watched Galaxy Quest again and am reminded how fanatical scifi fans are! ;) I feel Trek is mostly scifi with elements of fantasy! But essentially it shows the human experience!
 
heisenberg

heisenberg

Earl Grey
Overmind One said:
Star Trek is science fiction.

Star Trek is not it's characters, it's a concept. The TV show is centered around our familiar Enterprise cast, but the concept of Star Trek does not need them, or the Enterprise. Compare that with Star Wars and you cannot really do Star Wars without it's iconic characters, ships and locales. Take a cargo freighter which is not part of Starfleet, manned by non-Federation characters we have never seen and as long as the show centers around space journeys and new cultures and encounters with new alien races, using technology which has been explained and demonstrated as you watch, you still have Star Trek.

This is a major reason that NuTrek does not work. It mistakenly centers the story around the cast but destroys the universe of Star Trek which contains the whole reason that starships exist and why the technology looks and works the way it does. It takes the reason the Enterprise exists and what it's crew has committed to and discards it. JJ missed the point. It is not about the characters, it's about the Trek.
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Star Trek after looking at in further detail I can now safely say that the world is pure fantasy. A world like this cannot exist and will not exist ever. It will only exists for the super elitist who have more power and money than you and I ever will have.
 
YJ02

YJ02

Well Known GateFan
heisenberg said:
A world like this cannot exist and will not exist ever. It will only exists for the super elitist who have more power and money than you and I ever will have.
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i agree

and that would not happen without some heavy handed use of force

mankind, in general, is not going to give up "as is" for anything.

even in survival situations, real world- like a hurricane or earthquake

sure, it varies from culture to culture, but for the most part, the goodwill among survivors towards one another is generally short lived. the emotion and empathy shown to each other and the cooperation, they are all mostly just ways of dealing with shock and trauma

once reality sits in, it becomes every man/family for themselves

ppl who act like that on day one post dilemma, are those who are not in shock. they have grasped the situation and go into survival mode stealing, looting necessities, etc

niceness and altruism are not free. the price is paid for them in advance by society's rules being in place and a functioning "as is" daily world of utilities, water, shelter, food, med care firmly in place

so, any disruption or the creation of a 'star trek' planet will not happen without some massive global trauma and then a heavy armed hand picking up the pieces afterward

and, dont forget, the Trek planet did have that heavy hand post WW3 with the Eugenics wars and the dictators and wars that followed to establish order. only the arrival of the vulcans seemed to settle the planet down

and that, btw, to me, would make a good story; how the entire planet was introduced to the vulcans with a lack of the global comm system we have now and the war between the factions that was still going on. How was global peace established in the wake of their arrival and then the following events

so a story set between STAR TREK FIRST CONTACT and ENTERPRISE would appeal to me
 
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