T w e n t y S i d e d

So on top of dealing with an emotional crisis for the last few weeks, work schedules had to significantly change this week. As someone who relies heavily on routine and task completion this has thrown me off significantly. The dogs just reminded me again that things are not going the way they’re supposed to, as they have interrupted me once again, resulting in two of the dogs going out for a quick romp. Normally everyone would be home right now, just finishing dinner and preparing for the upcoming week. This keeps shorting out my editing, and eventually I decided to just throw out what I was writing and start something new.

It did occur to me pretty quickly last week that my post on Star Trek lore kind of wandered off-topic and never really addressed the point I intended to make. Steve Shives’ video was about how Starfleet is never really held accountable for mistakes, even when episodes, story arcs, or even entire properties really indicate that they should be. Starfleet Academy is the most recent and glaring example, and the entire first season seems to be making the point. Bringing back Holly Hunter’s character to lead Starfleet and start training a new generation (heh) of cadets, especially the one she is most directly responsible for harming prior to the series start, sets up a tacit acknowledgement that “just doing what is right according to the rules” was *probably not the best decision*. And then in the end, as I wrote, they bring it all to a boil to make the message clear….and then just throw it out the window. Really weakly, too. They don’t just water the message down, they literally run away from it.

I want to be clear this doesn’t *ruin* the series. Not for me, not for anyone I know who enjoyed the show. But it was, in my opinion, a bad choice. It made the conclusion…anticlimactic. I am looking forward to the next season and I’m sad at the moment we already know it will be the last. Of course, things can change. Remember that the people in charge, more than anything else, want to make money and spend as little as possible. If they “cancel” a series it’s because they think that will make them more money in the long run, for whatever reason. Those reasons may be stupid and wrong, but I don’t think it’s a conspiracy. I think it’s greed.

How that ties in to “lore” is similar. I don’t think the decision to chicken out on the story elements in the end was because of some kind of hidden agenda…I think the creators were faced with “we can’t have Starfleet be perceived as the bad guy on an ongoing basis. We already have bad guys in this show, viewers will be confused if we directly attack Starfleet as well. Plus, Starfleet is ALWAYS the good guy; they represent people trying their hardest and doing their best. We can’t violate that belief!” That’s a consequence of lore. And it stretches back to the original series. Starfleet can’t ever be shown to make a mistake that isn’t addressed before the end of the current plot. Because Starfleet is supposed to represent a better humanity than the one watching the TV series. Star Trek got more and more daring about testing that, but even when “Starfleet is the bad guy,” think Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, it’s effectively Starfleet that addresses the problem. Or mostly passively exists while the problem is solved, which is how Starfleet usually passes the time.

Anyway, that’s the thesis statement: Starfleet ultimately couldn’t be the bad guy in Starfleet Academy despite being portrayed that way because the lore says Starfleet isn’t the bad guy, even when they are. It’s just too a big a step to take for most producers. I have no doubt we will see it someday, maybe sooner rather than later. But Academy backed away at the last minute.

I recently discovered “coffee bars” in Vietnam look and work similar to what in the United States used to be called “strip clubs.” Maybe they’re still called that, I don’t know. DJ, lots of cheap seating at low tables, dance platforms, and mostly women wearing lingerie or club wear (some men, usually dancing topless in jeans). No nudity of any kind, although while searching to confirm details I kind of got the impression there are places where clothing removal takes place. The DJs and music selection are given much more prominence, with nightcore mixes of song snippets from the 1980’s to present day receiving custom-mixed bridges, intros, and breaks. While the dancing entertainment is very akin to a U.S. dancer club (someone I know who worked at such a place years ago could emulate the dancing and point to the various movements as the type of thing you would learn to do on your first night) the DJ performance is more similar to club DJs from the Northeast of the U.S. Creating mixes, joining them for long playlists. I study pop music and this has been fascinating.

Before deleting, the post I was working on discussed movies where “the bad guys wins.” This was initially prompted by a video discussing an episode of The Twilight Zone, from 1985 if I remember correctly, where a Vietnam War vet uses psychic powers at a diner in response to the oppressive actions of a local police officer. The episode manages the difficult job of making it clear the veteran is likely responsible for the deaths of dozens, maybe even hundreds of people; but unintentionally and despite his ongoing efforts to prevent harm. The police officer is most directly responsible for the incident that ensues, and appropriately receives his own comeuppance. And in the end, this particular encounter ends the life of the main character…but we’ve already been informed other Vietnam War vets can do the same things he can, and they’re out there…somewhere. Compare this with the movie Fallen starring Denzel Washington. I know people who love this movie, although I was surprised to see the consensus opinion these days seems much worse than I remember. My own view is that it’s kind of a serious take on Chucky (although the killer is never a doll). The killer can relocate to a new body by touch and Fallen lays out red herrings with glee from the very beginning, only to reveal the final answer was never brought up before.

This ties in to “establishing lore” as well, you know. As with any mystery, the ability to perceive the clues in the story is important to the audience. Or at least some of the audience. I am reminded of the confrontation scene in Murder By Death where Lionel Twain accuses the collection of mystery author/detective composites they frequently “…made [mysteries] impossible to solve by withholding clues, or introducing new characters at the last minute.” Of course, you don’t need any of that lore to enjoy Murder By Death, itself; Neil Simon is commenting mostly on the TV and big screen performances of detectives that first appeared in novels and short stories in the early 20th century. When you can’t present every clue from a story in a screenplay because it would make the finished product fourteen hours long, changes have to be made. Only rarely do those changes produce a superior product. Not necessarily *less entertaining* mind you, and that’s certainly the point of, say, David Suchet portraying Hercule Poirot. But less accurate and intellectually satisfying, definitely.

I have tried playing the original Vindictus twice in the past two weeks, and I’ve got something getting hung up with the controls. Just going through the tutorial level things work great until at some random point I lose control of the mouse. I have not spent much time finding the problem, yet. This is an older game that I only picked up because several people started making a fuss (possibly paid) about the remake/sequel/successor game coming out soon.

Likewise, I saw only today an advertisement for Metro 2033 with the tagline “Return to the metro.” Yet I can find no reason for these ads, yet. If anyone knows, feel free to mention it.

That’s it for now, see you soon!

Paige Francis He/him