If it's written by any of the people who wrote Picard, forget it and let the man rest in peace.
this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2024
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EHhhh, I love O'Brien, but lately I think Trek has been relying way too much on nostalgia. I'd rather have new characters instead.
Same. Although it's kind of a tradition to have the old actors on, and it can be fun, but it's better when used to contrast how the new Treck is different / evolving
This right here. I liked how TNG did it. Series premier bring an oldster in to launch, maybe have a special episode or two with another.
If we really wanted Colm back, have it in the premier of Starfleet Academy where the new cadets are going through a hall of distinguished professors and have an elderly O'Brien do a cameo with a sample of one of his lectures. Nice to connect the show to lore and nostalgia but short enough to let the new cast stand on their own.
That said, I agree with Colm. Let O'Brien stay as he is. He had a perfect send-off.
I see this argument a lot, but outside of PIC S3 and the NuTrek reboots (I would still argue those were not relying on nostalgia but I understand the argument in favor) which post-Enterprise Star Trek "relies" on nostalgia?
The most frequent criticisms I've seen of Discovery and Picard S1&2 are that they weren't similar enough to previous Star Treks. Lower Decks references the older shows a lot but is obviously not trying to imitate them. SNW is the closest I think you could get to a "relying on nostalgia" series and it is more frequently described as feeling "fresh" and seems to be the most well-received.
It's more about the trajectory of nuTrek than the whole of it. Discovery and the first two seasons of Picard did try to do new things and move the franchise in new directions, but now Discovery is cancelled in favour of SNW and Picard season 3 discarded so much the first two seasons had done in order to dive into nostalgia hard - and its success led to a lot of speculation about a "Star Trek Legacy" series that would double down on the fanservice approach even further. So it does feel like there's a trend towards "safer" nostalgic content.
And sometimes even fairly minor things just rub me the wrong way, like the Daniels reveal in Discovery. They just feel so arbitrary, and make the universe feel so mush smaller for no purpose.
I specifically asked for examples of shows outside of Picard Season 3 that "rely" on nostalgia. And "Star Trek Legacy" is not even a real show!
Picard is super relevant, though. If we're talking about an alternate reality where Picard S3 never happened, then yeah, I'd agree that complaints about nostalgia are a little over blown. I don't see why that would be a discussion worth having, though. Picard did happen, and so did a whole lot of discussion about a possible Legacy show, and if you're wondering why you hear complaints about nostalgia, that's a big part of why.
That's not the entirety of it, though. Outside of Picard, I'll say that Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks absolutely trade heavily in nostalgia. I can't agree with your view that either don't count. Having a fresh style doesn't change the fact that SNW is set on the classic Enterprise and is continuing to introduce more and more classic Trek characters. And Lower Decks built a whole episode around the reuse of a specific cave set from TNG, of all things. A huge amount of its humour and appeal is definitely based in nostalgia.
I will say that it looks like Starfleet Academy on a good course to do it's own thing, Picardo notwithstanding, so I'm not saying the franchise has gone completely bankrupt or anything. I just think there's enough nostalgia going around that it's pretty valid to feel a little put off by it if one is so inclined.
"Based in" and "trade heavily" are not the same as "relies on" which is what the comment I was responding to said "Trek" was doing. You've made a very good case that it does not.
The distinction is lost on me, but cheers.
By lately do you mean since 2017?
Well yeah, 2017 was only... oh god... oh no....
Meaney had always struck me as the ultimate working actor, fairly ambivalent about Star Trek beyond it being a job (which is fine).
It's hard to imagine him turning down an offer, were it too come in.
He’s also still getting tons of regular work outside sci-fi. He’s got a comedy with Paul Reiser coming out later this year that looks pretty funny, too.
He doesn’t need to go back to Trek, and I’m glad for that.
Regarding Kate Mulgrew, Prodigy made a lot of sense for her given her talents as a voice actor. (RIP Infinity Train)
Don't forget the ultimate Star Trek voice acting gig, Gargoyles.
I thought you were going to say X-COM 2 - War Of The Chosen.
I could see something with some sort of 25th century plot with O'Brien and Bashir being enjoyable. The O'Briens would be empty-nesters by then, with Miles in a late life crisis right when a shady-as-heck Bashir draws him into some vague top secret mission.
Still, if anyone wants to see some more O'Brien suffering, there's always the IDW stuff. Honestly, probably half of why I kept reading was the morally gray man Harry Kim grew up to be. 😁
Can we get a sitcom where O'Brien and Bashir move into a duplex condo in San Francisco with their kids and grandkids and all sorts of family friendly hijinx ensue?
And Elim Garak's the weird uncle.
I feel like Dennis the buffer buff from the Lower Decks S3 Premiere was intended to be O’Brien, (Transporter enthusiast, war veteran) but for whatever reason it didn’t pan out…
… which I honestly felt worked out for the best. Dennis was like my grandpa.
O’Brien is my favorite character in all of Trek. And as much as part of me would like to see him again, sometimes a character’s story is over and that’s ok!
If anyone earned their retirement, it's Miles O'Brien. Maybe he could show up for one scene, where he lets the rest of the team know that, just like Wolverine did in First Class.
But he is the canonically most important person in starfleet history!
I like to think that, whatever it is that earns O’Brien that distinction, it had already happened by the end of DS9. Probably some technical wizardry he came up with while hacking together Cardassian and Federation technology. Just something he did to get the job done, but that would be fully appreciated as a genius piece of work with huge applicability sometime well after his death.
It wouldn’t fit if he were honoured during his lifetime, true.