Exactly. It's well known that the Klingons and Romulans in the OS were allegories for China and Russia back when Roddenberry and crew created them. That those countries are no longer the same type of threats now (now being more economic threats than immediate military ones) doesn't change the relevance of the stories. DS9 was written before Bush took office, and well before 9/11. Yet its stories of war, and the dangers of a government actually harming its citizens as it tries to protect them, became relevant as hell once we got the false invasion of Iraq, the Patriot Act, etc. And of course, so much of the stories that took place on DS9 dealing with the mundane lives of family, friends etc., could have been told in the Civil War, WWI, or WWII. There's always those stories of the homefront, as people try to go on with their lives despite the world waging war all around them.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Mr. Worf" <hellomahog...@gmail.com> To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Sent: Sunday, September 20, 2009 12:22:17 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] J.J. Abrams Says 'Star Trek' Will Boldly Go Allegorical I agree Keith. There are episodes from the original series that are still valid and will remain so until we totally change our behavior as people. On Sat, Sep 19, 2009 at 9:04 PM, Keith Johnson < keithbjohn...@comcast.net > wrote: I disagree with the author's assertion that tackling modern issues can date a show. It's *how* they're tackled that could be the problem, and frankly, I'm not all that impressed with Orci and Kurtzman as writers. So yeah, i can see them being clumsy and making the allegory work badly. But issues of colonialism, conquest, greed, war, terror, religious intolerance, territorialism, political unrest--all have been relevant for as long as humans have been around, and will remain so. I can pull up an ep of the OS now, dealing with the first coming of Romulans, and see a great show dealing with a long gone enemy resurfacing, prejudice based on old battles. I can watch all of DS9 dealing with the Dominion War, and see issues of people trying to keep the home fires burnin during a war, trying to stay truth to one's morals (Section 31), the loss of civil liberties (when Starfleet declared martial law on Earth to stop the Changelings). All are relevant now and will be again in the future. If such topics became dated, most of the black-and-white movies made before 1960 would be a waste of time, and they're obviously not. Again, it has to do with the writers, not the topic. And I don't want to see prejudice dealt with via the Spock/Uhura romance, but I guess that's because i just hate that whole storyline. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tracey de Morsella" < tdli...@multiculturaladvantage.com > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com , ggs...@yahoo.com Sent: Saturday, September 19, 2009 11:24:11 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern Subject: [scifinoir2] J.J. Abrams Says 'Star Trek' Will Boldly Go Allegorical by Elisabeth Rappe Sep 17th 2009 // 10:02AM http://www.cinematical.com/category/ http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/17/j-j-abrams-says-star-trek-will-boldly-go-allegorical/ rumormonger/ Whenever J.J. Abrams , Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman are pinned down, the talk inevitabley turns to the Star Trek sequel. They're only just beginning to toss around story ideas, but Hero Complex managed to pry a little more news out of Abrams & Crew, who hinted that Trek might start tackling contemporary issues. "In many ways a sequel will have a very different mission. It needs to do what [Gene] Roddenberry did so well, which is allegory," says Abrams. "It needs to tell a story that has connection to what is familiar and what is relevant. It also needs to tell it in a spectacular way that hides the machinery and in a primarily entertaining and hopefully moving story. There needs to be relevance, yes, and that doesn't mean it should be pretentious." Orci echoed Abrams, noting that it had been one of the biggest criticisms of the new Trek. "One of the things we heard was, 'Make sure the next one deals with modern-day issues.' We're trying to keep it as up-to-date and as reflective of what's going on today as possible. So that's one thing, to make it reflect the things that we are all dealing with today." When asked if "modern day issues" meant war, terrorism, and torture, Orci agreed that was "an approach" they were taking. Continued below the jump The quotes have caused quite a discussion in the movie news-o-sphere to a mixed response. Many feel that the films should reflect the original 1960s series and hint at social issues. Others feel that such blatant allegory can make a film feel very dated in a few short years, and want Trek to just stick to telling good adventure stories. After all, taking a political stance stands to alienate many moviegoers, though controversy is always welcome from a publicity point of view. Star Trek is definitely heading into problematic waters. Sci-fi has always been at its best when it reflected the modern world, but it is such a fine line to tread because you don't want your sci-fi epic to be full of thinly disguised Communists when the geopolitical climate changes. While I think issues of pre-emptive strikes, war, and torture might be general enough to be forever relevant, I worry that trying to tackle them will just be clumsy. It already feels dated in some ways, and it's difficult to imagine Starfleet saying anything new on the subject. If Star Trek is going to tackle something I hope they go gentle, and tackle prejudice through Spock and Uhura's relationship. There's some racial and gender issues there just waiting to be mined for a background story. Tracey de Morsella, Managing Producer The Green Economy Post http://greeneconomypost.com tra...@greeneconomypost.com -- Bringing diversity to perversity for 9 years! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
