
Charlie's Diary: Why I Hate Star Trek (2009) - Tomte
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2009/10/why_i_hate_star_trek.html
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BugsJustFindMe
> _As you probably guessed, this is not how I write SF — in fact, it 's the
> antithesis of everything I enjoy in an SF novel._

That's fine, but it misses the point of Star Trek. Star Trek isn't science
fiction. Star Trek is morality plays in space. The tech isn't supposed to
matter except insofar as it allows for certain metaphysical explorations like
transporter duplication events and resource abundance. The tech isn't the
point. The tech exists to explore ( _gasp_ ) "the interpersonal relationships
among the cast".

Is Stross just saying that he doesn't like genres other than hard SciFi? I
mean, that's OK. People can like different things.

~~~
Pamar
On the other hand, while I read only _Accellerando_ and all the Laundry novels
so far (so I might have a limited viewpoint on his work), I would argue that
"interpersonal relationships among the cast" is not really his forte...

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fuball63
> "The biggest weakness of the entire genre is this: the protagonists don't
> tell us anything interesting about the human condition under science
> fictional circumstances."

The author mentions Voyager by name and references Next Generation characters,
but refers to Deep Space Nine as "the one with the space station".

DS9 explores the impact of futuristic society on humanity more than the others
because it takes place in a stationary setting within a complex geo-political
dispute. So far I like it best out of OST, TNG, and Voyager.

~~~
milesvp
DS9 was really ahead if it’s time. It tried to do series wide story arcs long
before it became standard and almost a decade before the networks tried to
ruin Firefly by airing them out of order. It holds up surprisingly well, even
if I feel it failed to fully realize it’s potential.

In any event, it’s certainly the only Star Trek I feel the need to binge
occassionally, and it definitely helped me get through a lot of rough nights
dealing with twin infants last year.

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hliyan
The opposite of this would be shows like _House, M.D._ , where the
technicalities (i.e. the medical facts) are central to the plot, as opposed to
being elaborate McGuffins.

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zrobotics
I've only watched a few episodes, but isn't house just medical mcguffin of the
week? Every episode I've seen has certainly followed that arc, it's always
some exceedingly rare malady that only house is smart enough to diagnose.

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cbanek
Thank you for posting this. I was just joking at work a few days ago about how
my job sounds like Geordi's babble. Open source X doesn't connect to Y because
of Z? Well I'll just reroute to the auxiliary EPS grid and use the main
deflector dish.

(PS - I love Star Trek, but even I realize that this is ridiculous)

