Monday Media Musings: To Boldly Go...

     I'm more a Star Wars guy than a Trekker. I was too young to see Star Trek TOS in the first blush of it's prime time debut, and too old to get too drawn into TNG and DS9 and Voyager- I watched some of them, watched all of  TOS in syndication. I do recall the Star Trek Saturday morning Cartoon that just pretty much rehashed the plot of a number of TOS episodes...as did some of TNG.

     I saw up through STIV(the Voyage Home) but didn't really stay dedicated to that movie franchise like I have to some others. I recognize the importance of Star Trek as a cultural phenomenon and a societal mirror, and I recognize it's value.

     Right about now, you are thinking "what a freaking downer post. He came not to praise the Trek, but to bury it." Guess what? I Didn't bring a shovel.

     The Star Trek reboot that sprang fully formed from the mind of J.J. Abrams is brilliant, and I loved the first two films. They do seem to lose about a full Enterprise each movie, and Beyond seemed muddled, although a second viewing might clear some of that. I love the cast, I love the pacing, I love the TOS tropes that get flipped or turned sideways. The fantastic re-imagining by way of an altered timeline, some edgier relationships and some Firefly-style shoot-em-up is my cup of tea. It takes itself seriously but not too seriously.

     But I'm not here for that either. I'm here for the other thing Star Trek inspired. The Spoofs...

     I was old enough that I got to see Quark in primetime.

not this:(although I did see him in primetime)

this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quark_(TV_series)

     It was not a brilliant parody, but it was entertaining. They hit out at various Sci-fi tropes in their 8 episode run. You can find them on DVD now, if you are interested.

    Then in 1999, we got this piece of brilliance:

Galaxy Quest

     The Premise actually called me back to a Story in an old Star Trek Anthology, Visit to a Weird Planet Revisited by Ruth Berman. In the story, Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley find themselves on the real, actual, according-to-Hoyle U.S.S. Enterprise and have to face down a Klingon commander. The stories in these anthologies, along with the novels that followed the series were some of the first pre-internet fan-fiction.

     In Galaxy-Quest, of course, the semi-retired and typecast actors from the Galaxy-Quest T.V. series are making their living doing conventions and charging for autographs.  At one of these conventions, they meet representatives from an alien culture who have based their way of life on the show, and need the help of the original crew to save their civilization. If you haven't seen this...I'm not sure what to say except SEE IT IMMEDIATELY. By the Sons of Warvan, Tim Allen may do a better Shatner than Shatner. This is also a movie that makes me miss Alan Rickman all the more.

     Which brings me to now.

The Orville

     Seth MacFarlane is an interesting character. I Haven't decided yet if this is a spoof, or a serious insipred-by, or what it wants to be when it fully spreads it's wings. I think in a lot of ways the show doesn't even have the answers to these questions. First episode was ...meh, entertaining enough. Second episode was better, funnier, but the third episode took a bite of some meat. And seriously chewed. I'm not going to spoil anything here, but I personally think that the show deserves a chance to find out what it can be, and I have a new respect for MacFarlane based upon the note he ended episode three on. It took guts to not go for the happy ending and I think it was the right choice.