Star Trek was on life support until Trek '09 came around. So many young Trekkies now got started on those movies and saw that it wasn't something that only your white friend's dad watched. Bad or not, the fandom is bigger and more diverse than ever because those movies were made.
Bad or not, the fandom is bigger and more diverse than ever because those movies were made.
Oh shit, I finally get to say this unironically: but at what cost?
Is enlarging the Fandom good for the Fandom or just good for the shareholders? Does inviting in a crowd of people who fundamentally enjoy a different kind of show enrich the Fandom?
By analogy, Hexbear could probably be much bigger if we didn't ban and bully libs. Would that necessarily be a good thing?
Is enlarging the Fandom good for the Fandom or just good for the shareholders?
It's the latter. I've been through this cycle a few times in my life. Some thing starts out with very niche appeal. Fans enjoy thing. Fans convene. Thing get more popular. The creator dies/cashes out/is forced out. Capitalist IP holder focus tests the hell out of thing for "mass market appeal". IP holder runs the ol reliable "respecting existing fans while appealing to new generations" marketing spin. Then it is driven until the wheels fall off.
This is by no means important, but the Fallout franchise is something that used to mean a lot to me. The first two games were pretty fantastic imo. Since it's been taken over by Bethesda, it is absolutely more popular and made a lot of cash, but the theme and feel of the first games is long gone. Fallout is now Fallout™ where internal consistency doesn't matter, but who cares? It's just a video game.
But they don't enjoy a different show. Just because a kid's first food is chicken nuggets doesn't mean their palate is ruined. I've met many young fans who after seeing the movies went back to watch the older shows and loved them just as much as older fans.
Same. I grew up on TNG and I tried to watch Discovery and it just... wasn't it. It feels like every other generic sci-fi series out there now. I always think it's funny that people like to shit on the "people sitting in a room debating space politics" trope, but that's what I liked about it, even as a kid.
TNG (at least after the first season and a half or so) is just an incredible show. It asks complex moral and philosophical questions, and actually takes them seriously. I was very young when it was on the air, and Picard was also a really excellent non-toxic male role model: decisive and commanding , but also kind, thoughtful, and emotionally intelligent. That was pretty rare in the late 80s and early 90s.
Yeah it’s like someone who is really into DC superhero movies. It’s literally unfathomable to me. I’m not the biggest Marvel capeshit fan but I understand their appeal and they are well put together technically speaking. DC movies are shambling abominations and barely qualify as film
Except those new fans were fans of some abomination that wasn’t actually Star Trek, and appealing to this audience eventually resulted in Discovery and Picard. Time has shown going this route was a mistake
Did you read the comment where I said lots of new fans go back and watch older series and fell in love with them? Plus Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Prodigy are all great Trek shows. They've made more than two.
I got into it bc my communist friends were always going on about it and I’ve only watched up to the first season of voy. The nutrek stuff doesn’t look super appealing but to each their own
It would be fine if the style of Trek that the original fans liked wasn't sidelined for over a decade, and if Strange New Worlds was actually an advancement of the formula rather than a retread of things we've already seen with a higher budget. It just feels like Trek is a shadow of its former self, and that the best Trek show is the parody from the Family Guy.
Maybe a new show will come out, or Strange New Worlds will start to get really good in its third season (like every previous Trek series lmao), and we'll just remember the 2010s as Trek's "Dark Ages".
Prodigy is really good albeit geared towards a tween-ish audience. Lower Decks is also more than parody. Its stories are pure Trek and the whole show drips with Mike McMahan's genuine love of the franchise. It really feels like people judge this stuff purely from promotional materials rather than actually give it a chance.
Star Trek was on life support until Trek '09 came around. So many young Trekkies now got started on those movies and saw that it wasn't something that only your white friend's dad watched. Bad or not, the fandom is bigger and more diverse than ever because those movies were made.
Into Darkness is :haram: tho
Oh shit, I finally get to say this unironically: but at what cost?
Is enlarging the Fandom good for the Fandom or just good for the shareholders? Does inviting in a crowd of people who fundamentally enjoy a different kind of show enrich the Fandom?
By analogy, Hexbear could probably be much bigger if we didn't ban and bully libs. Would that necessarily be a good thing?
It's the latter. I've been through this cycle a few times in my life. Some thing starts out with very niche appeal. Fans enjoy thing. Fans convene. Thing get more popular. The creator dies/cashes out/is forced out. Capitalist IP holder focus tests the hell out of thing for "mass market appeal". IP holder runs the ol reliable "respecting existing fans while appealing to new generations" marketing spin. Then it is driven until the wheels fall off.
This is by no means important, but the Fallout franchise is something that used to mean a lot to me. The first two games were pretty fantastic imo. Since it's been taken over by Bethesda, it is absolutely more popular and made a lot of cash, but the theme and feel of the first games is long gone. Fallout is now Fallout™ where internal consistency doesn't matter, but who cares? It's just a video game.
But they don't enjoy a different show. Just because a kid's first food is chicken nuggets doesn't mean their palate is ruined. I've met many young fans who after seeing the movies went back to watch the older shows and loved them just as much as older fans.
Legitimately weirds me out that anyone likes any nuTrek, including the new shows.
Same. I grew up on TNG and I tried to watch Discovery and it just... wasn't it. It feels like every other generic sci-fi series out there now. I always think it's funny that people like to shit on the "people sitting in a room debating space politics" trope, but that's what I liked about it, even as a kid.
TNG (at least after the first season and a half or so) is just an incredible show. It asks complex moral and philosophical questions, and actually takes them seriously. I was very young when it was on the air, and Picard was also a really excellent non-toxic male role model: decisive and commanding , but also kind, thoughtful, and emotionally intelligent. That was pretty rare in the late 80s and early 90s.
Yeah it’s like someone who is really into DC superhero movies. It’s literally unfathomable to me. I’m not the biggest Marvel capeshit fan but I understand their appeal and they are well put together technically speaking. DC movies are shambling abominations and barely qualify as film
Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Prodigy are all solid Trek.
Except those new fans were fans of some abomination that wasn’t actually Star Trek, and appealing to this audience eventually resulted in Discovery and Picard. Time has shown going this route was a mistake
Did you read the comment where I said lots of new fans go back and watch older series and fell in love with them? Plus Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Prodigy are all great Trek shows. They've made more than two.
I got into it bc my communist friends were always going on about it and I’ve only watched up to the first season of voy. The nutrek stuff doesn’t look super appealing but to each their own
It would be fine if the style of Trek that the original fans liked wasn't sidelined for over a decade, and if Strange New Worlds was actually an advancement of the formula rather than a retread of things we've already seen with a higher budget. It just feels like Trek is a shadow of its former self, and that the best Trek show is the parody from the Family Guy.
Maybe a new show will come out, or Strange New Worlds will start to get really good in its third season (like every previous Trek series lmao), and we'll just remember the 2010s as Trek's "Dark Ages".
Prodigy is really good albeit geared towards a tween-ish audience. Lower Decks is also more than parody. Its stories are pure Trek and the whole show drips with Mike McMahan's genuine love of the franchise. It really feels like people judge this stuff purely from promotional materials rather than actually give it a chance.