I basically just gave three (or at least 2, as the DISCO one maybe is a bit iffy) examples of modern Star Trek scrutinizing the means despite the obstensibly good ends.

Also, another example is S2 E2 “Ad Astra Per Aspera” borderline almost literally puts “the moral cost of the means” (keeping good genetically modified people like Una out of Starfleet) that is ostensibly done for the ends of preventing another Eugenics Wars. I wouldn’t hesitate to call this episode one of the best in the whole franchise, very much in the tradition of court case ethical discussion episodes like “Measure of a Man”.

I don’t think one can make a blanket statement about newer Star Trek quitting “believing something”; sure, it may be uneven in quality (maybe more than classic)*, but dismissing all of “NuTrek” out of hand is akin to throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

: I mean, there’s whatever DIS season 2 was, Section 31, most of PIC, etc., but also, it’s not like good swathes of classic Trek aren’t also kind of crap - I mean, there’s the time Riker murdered his clone and nobody batted an eye, as well as TOS S3, TNG S1, and the inconsistency of VOY. Even in the good classic episodes, it’s not like every one is “do the ends justify the means” - in addition to other ethical themes, classic Trek still had room for simply "Cool sci-fi s** happened and we have to deal with it", not to mention episodes focused on interpersonal drama like “Data’s Day” or any of Deanna’s “Oh f*** my mother is on board” episodes.

I would say it depends.

I mean, the ends not justifying the means is kind of the entire point of DISCO S1 (whether or not the rest of DISCO embodied it is a different matter); Burnham has to let go of what Lorca summarizes as “Universal law is for lackeys. Context is for kings.” or in other words, the ends often justify the means.

Also, SNW is better about it, than say, PIC; for instance, SNW S3 E7 “What is Starfleet?” from 2025, for all its flaws (including in some ways being very similar to TNG “Tin Man”), basically has the crew going “WTF! The ends (saving an alien race from a war they didn’t start) do not justify the means (enslaving a sentient space whale)!” Also, SNW 1x06 is basically “ends don’t justify means”, although mostly because it basically copied “The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas”.

A long time ago, I tried to tune a Piper voice using Majel Barrett’s speech from her reading of the novel “Q In Law”, but I didn’t get very far - just a small amount of training data collected.

I agree; for reasons other people have discussed in detail here, I think Majel Barrett is probably one of the least ethically ambiguous actors you can do this with.

He’s using the magic he knows. He’s believing.

Honestly, I wouldn’t be mad if we got a The Magicks of Megas-tu prequel even if it breaks a bunch of canon and they use a convenient memory wipe to solve all the problems, mostly because it would involve TAS getting any canon recognition whatsoever.

Well then, you might enjoy “The Guy Who Didn’t Like Musicals”…

I can get it being back by the 32nd century, but I still wonder why Nova Squadron (or any elite academy group beyond a simple honors society) came back in Prodigy relatively shortly after:

1. The Locarno incidents
2. That time Red Squad tried to take over THE ENTIRE FREAKIN’ FEDERATION.

It’s not saying to be a jerk to people.

“Masking” is when a person with autism hides associated mannerisms in order to blend in with neurotypical people (make themselves “more palatable”), such as avoiding hand stims or atypical (but still healthy) reactions of enthusiasm.

“Unmasking” doesn’t mean giving up anything you do to be considerate of others (such as not giving unsolicited 15 minute rants about my hyper fixations); it just means not trying to pretend to be a neurotypical person, consciously or subconsciously, and to just be your authentic self, autistic self.

“Alla maraine! Count to four! Alla maraine, then three more! Alla maraine, then you’ll see. Alla maraine, you’ll come with me!”

Ah, yes, Star Trek, the “dead serious” show.

I felt better once they got out the prisons; the ship aesthetics have some generic sci-fi aesthetic to them, but having the reds in them makes it feel overall much brighter and Trek-y. Honestly, even though it’s not as bright as TNG, just being able to actually see scenes was nice.

Late gen Z, generally modern indie centric tastes; there might be a deeper genre name than that, but that’s what I can think of off the top of my head. Also has some 70s-90s stuff, including picking up a few of my favorite They Might Be Giants songs, mostly Lincoln-era stuff.

I don’t know.

If anything, me and my younger sibling were actively annoyed by a lot of the show’s music choices, and modern show music in general. In both this show and recent Stranger Things seasons, they put music in every single moment, even moments that should be silent.

Based on what @ValueSubtracted mentioned, maybe the signing is something to do with when you’re Tan Elbrum-level powerful, telepathic communication isn’t a good idea?

Also, I felt like they did demonstrate some telepathic, not merely empathic, ability in the episode; I’ve only watched it once, so I can’t quite recall my evidence, but it seemed they could get surface-level thoughts beyond emotion, like “you’ve lost someone” instead of just “grief”. I wonder if it’s a consent/pushing too hard thing, somewhat like soothing and rioting in Mistborn; if the average Betazoid tries to get beyond the surface level of thought, the target will be able to tell, and their privacy will feel invaded.

So glad you’re back. Almost lost my mind.

Wonder if Chris Westlake is coming back for this one, since he did both Solar Opposites and Lower Decks.

It’s incredibly ironic this show is coming out on Amazon, though.

Or yt-dlp.

It’s solidly okay. I wish it were in brush form like Photoshop was, and I wish it were better-optimized; it’s written in Python and a bit slow. I think Photoshop GPU accelerates this.

Still, usable for a lot of things.

I don’t think they’re doing so much of a TOS reboot as a TOS continuation with some retconning and reusing some SNW sets and cast.

I’ve heard it floated around that it would depict the start of Kirk’s mission, which TOS didn’t depict, showing the crew already relatively comfortable with the ship. Personally, I’d like them to something of a year 4/5 that takes place either during or after TAS. As I mention elsewhere in this thread, I think “Yesteryear” would be an awesome remake; it could be pulled off in one 50 minute episode (already double TAS length), but I think it would be awesome to extend it to a two parter.

Not sure I’d want a full TOS reboot, but I think a few more retcons wouldn’t hurt so long as they’re in the overall spirit of Trek.

What I’ve mentioned before that I think would be interesting to see is a remake of the TAS episode Yesteryear. Most TAS stories are probably best left as such, or else they would lose their campy charm, but I think Yesteryear could benefit, especially from the dramatic storytelling recent live action Trek has focused on. We could get so much good Vulcan lore out of it, and I’d hope they could do awesome set and costume design.

In my ideal episode, it’s still weeks to months until Sarek takes in Burnham; I feel like otherwise, Spock wouldn’t have to be going back in time to save himself.

To be fair, 5 seasons has become a miracle for any scripted television to attain, period. Heck, even 3 is lucky these days.

Also, I have a feeling they’ve known 5 seasons was the length for a while and have written the ending in a way that allows them to end the show largely on their own terms.