Less Phasers, More Politics

Since we know that Strange New Worlds will be ending in about 20 episodes and don't have a clue if Starfleet Academy will go beyond the first season, I've been thinking about what I'd like to come next for Star Trek.

If it were up to me, I'd like to expand Star Trek TV shows beyond Starfleet. One of the things I liked most about the first season of Picard (and I think the first season was the most interesting and the best season) was that many of our heroes may have come from Starfleet, but none of them were Starfleet officers. Starfleet was there, but wasn't central. I'd like to see more of that sort of thing.

If we're not on a Starfleet starship, I think we should focus on a group from the Federation's diplomatic corp.

A smallish diplomatic team of Federation citizens from many different worlds would have a starship and travel around the Alpha and Beta Quadrants to different worlds and starbases getting involved with political and diplomatic intrigue.

I'd set the series after Picard so the show can explore things like the Alpha Quadrant's recovery from the Dominion War, the destruction of Romulus (which was ignored after the first season of Picard), and the Ferengi joining the Federation.

New worlds would be visited.

Alliances would be forged.

If the series need to have a legacy character to be hung on, I'd bring back Molly O'Brien. After Picard she'd be in her late 30s/early 40s which is the perfect age for her to be leading a diplomatic team for the Federation. She was born on a starship. She grew up, practically, on Bajor and (if you count the relaunch books) Cardassia. She has experience with lots of non-humans and non-Federation citizens.

I don't know if Hana Hatae is still acting. It'd be great to use the same actress, but -- for no good reason that I know of -- they recast Bruce Maddox, so... you know, there's precedence.

I see great potential for political and spy stories with this setup. Which I guess means Section 31 could show up. If they do, can we please go back to how they were portrayed in Deep Space 9 and Enterprise? You know, when they were the bad guys. Section 31 is the antithesis to what the Federation and Starfleet stand for. They should always be the enemy. They are never in the right.

And, while I often enjoy serialization in TV shows, can we tone it down some? Take it back to an older style of TV serialization? One of the things I disliked about Picard and Discovery was how our heroes kept losing over and over until the last episode. Why can't they have some real victories? Wven if the victories don't relate to the season long arc? Maybe move to the Enterprise season 4 style of serialization and do 2-3 episode arcs. I thought that worked really well.

That's what I'd like to see out of a new Star Trek. I'll be there for whatever, though.

The "Q" Word

 I don't like the "Q" word.

I don't like saying it and I don't like hearing or reading it.

When I sing along with "All That Jazz" I always stumble over that part.

The word's supposed to have been reclaimed, right? People in the community use the word all the time. It's spoken on news reports by reporters who aren't part of the community. I remember reading an interview with a young actor who said acknowledged that she is both heterosexual and cisgender, but has always considered herself "Q." Then why do I cringe every time I hear the word? Shouldn't I be okay with the word by now? Everyone else seems to be.

Part of it is probably the hate an vitriol that was spewed when the word was used while I was a kid.

Back then the word "gay" was used to mean not good, but I don't remember hearing it said with hate. It was just sort of a casual way to dismiss things that people didn't like.

The "Q" word, on the other hand, was always said with hate. To be called "Q" was to be a horrendous, vile thing.

Boys played a game called smear the "Q" at recess. The goal of the game was to tackle the "Q," the person who caught the ball, as hard as possible. (Why anyone choose to catch the ball is beyond me.) Many walked away with scraped knees and bloody noses. This game was played whenever the year duty teacher was distracted.

All this is burned into my head.

And maybe part of my aversion to the word is because I was rejected by the community. I was told that my identity doesn't exist or doesn't belong within the community because people like me have it easier than others. The community is a weird place. There are lots of Gs who say Bs shouldn't be part of the community and both have people in denial about the Ts. I don't get it. Uplifting anyone helps to uplift everyone. Right?

Anyway...

A long time ago I read an article that compared the reclamation of the "Q" word with the reclamation of the "N" word. Except I've never hear A Martinez or Leila Fadel use the phrase "'N' culture" on Morning Edition, but they use the phrase  "'Q' culture" more than I'm comfortable with.

I'm not writing this to say that people should stop using the word. If you feel like the word's been reclaimed good for you. I'm going to continue to cringe when I read or hear the word. I'm going to continue to not say it. You do you.