It has been many months, once again, since my last post. Life has been getting in the way of more creative pursuits, and, to be honest, the motivation to write has simply not been there. But today, I feel like I have got to a place of more calm than much of the last year, and it occurred to me that re-firing The Wasteland up again might be a good idea. I have still been keeping a journal and a film database of all cultural artefacts I consume, enjoy, or regret, so it is time to address some of that vast backlog (almost 350 articles) and put it on the blog!
So, I wanted to start with something really easy and accessible for me to talk about while I get back in the groove and talk about things I really liked. Therefore, I am going to rip-apart something that I didn’t hate, but thought was mind-numbingly average: Star Trek Discovery. Now, I am a huge Trekkie – I still watch the original series, Next Generation, and all the old movies and new ones regularly. When Star Trek is good, it is very good; the perfect blend of intelligent ideas, entertainment, colour, and morality drama. When it is bad, it just gets bogged down in either the science or over-plotting about dull characters no one cares about.
Discovery is the latter. It looks like Star Trek – the spaceships and costumes and tech and cool gadgets are all there – it just doesn’t entirely feel like Star Trek because the stakes are reduced to soap opera level, involving a plethora of characters so dull you couldn’t possibly care. And I really tried, for about 8 episodes back in early 2021, when I had about a year of absorbing everything else good available. I just had to admit defeat and confess: I found it very boring and unmemorable. The cast was so lacking in Star charisma and any X-factor at all that the storylines and relationships just became a blur of grey noise. OK, it is more than 3 years ago. But I honestly couldn’t tell you a single thing about the plot or any of the main characters. The entire show has left zero impression on me.
And I feel like this is a normal response. Even die-hard Trekkies found it hard to give praise beyond a reasonable average. Imdb lists most episodes in season 1 as mid 7s, a sign that, although fine and perfectly inoffensive, it is also completely unremarkable. Of course, I didn’t get that far, but it doesn’t look to have improved with time. And the fact it got as many series as it did (series 5 only ended on May 30th 2024), is testament to the fact that the fans will watch any old crap with the Star Trek logo on it.
What a shame, that given the infinite expanse of space and posibility, this is what they come up with – very uninspired, very bland, very forgettable. There will always be more ground to cover in this universe that is enjoyable, but not with these characters, these actors, and these writers. Out of sympathy for their efforts, I am not even going to mention anyone’s name. No one deserves derision for the failures of this show – they just don’t deserve recognition either. Back to the drawing board, I guess.
Rating: 5.5/10
The Wasteland 