Still Trekkin'

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Because I couldn't think of anything for this week's post, and especially because I'm sure you're all dying to know, I thought I'd update you on where I'm at with my late-in-life Star Trekking. 

We completed Deep Space Nine a while ago and I do miss that crew. We also watched the four Next Generation movies, and with those done that means my time with Worf (Michael Dorn) is sadly at an end. I do have a soft spot for the stoic Klingon. 

As I write, we're most of the way through season 2 of Voyager. Gaping wide holes in logic aside, I'm enjoying it and feeling affinity with members of its crew too, particularly Tuvoc (Tim Russ). I seem to be drawn to characters who have a stern exterior but who are actually rather vulnerable and practise stringent self-control unless something makes them crack. My favourite line so far is Tuvoc pointing out that we must 'not mistake composure for ease'. It struck me to the core.

A key theme coming up in recently watched episodes is debates around the ethics of murder, execution, suicide, self-sacrifice and the right to die. These are issues that many of us may think are clear cut, but when presented with nuanced specific cases, the clarity becomes fogged. Elsewhere, the franchise continues its veiled metaphors for queerness, often in the development of quite moving bromances, slowly edging towards its viewership and Paramount permitting it to explore non-normative experiences of sexuality and gender.



In my search for comfort on the heavy days where exhaustion renders me useless, I've come across the videos from 'Star Trek Day' last summer where Wil Wheaton and Mica Burton hosted panels from each series. It's quite moving to see so many retained friendships and tributes to lost colleagues. Interestingly, they discuss new audiences thanks to platforms such as Netflix, and still get fanmail from teenagers. I myself may never have watched the shows if not for what for me is a minimal-effort second chance. 

I've always felt that when it comes to films or TV we're made to feel we ought to have seen already, that we see them when the time is right for us. For me, Star Trek has provided something to look forward to, an adventure to have while stuck at home, and a 'framily' to be with when I can't see my own - they are essentially large-scale house-share family dramas with sitcom inflections wrapped up in a guise of sci-fi, after all.

We've got quite a bit more trekking to do: five more seasons of Voyager, then Enterprise and Discovery. It's just as well I'm not planning to emerge from isolation anytime soon.

 

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