WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS EXTREMELY MINOR FIRST-FIVE-MINUTES SPOILERS FOR A NEWBLACK MIRROREPISODE EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH.
Robert Daly dreams in digital nostalgia, like so many lonely men his age.
His female subordinates want him; his male subordinates want to be him; his hair is perfect.
Credit: Everett Collection
He bases this virtual world on a TV show from his youth calledSpace Fleet.
It was visionary, is how Robert explains the show.
Netflix has it these days.
that ran sporadically from 1966 through 2005.
Roberts the apparent protagonist of this seasons standout episode, U.S.S.
Callister, which begins as a spot-onTrekparody, capturing the phaser-precise rhythms of the 50-year-old original series.
Plemons and Milioti are both great in complicated roles, him nerdy but authoritative, her cheerful then terrified.
This is a long episode, running over an hour.
Itsthe best episode ofBlack Mirrorthis season.
Its also the bestStar Trekepisode of the millennium.
It shouldve had more competition this year.Star Trekwas back on TV twice in 2017.
There is the official franchise extension,Discovery, halfway through a season of glitching on CBS All-Access.
MacFarlane himself stars as Captain Ed Mercer, and hes surrounded himself with veteranTrekwriters and actors.
Ive watched all ofDiscoveryand a bit ofOrville.
The big story of this nine-episode chapter was The Starfleet-Klingon War.
Discoverywas born of confusing chaos, reflecting a lot of cooks in the kitchen.
Co-creator Bryan Fuller departed the series, replaced in day-to-day operations by Gretchen J. Berg and Aaron Harberts.
Co-creator Alex Kurtzman has a key role, too.
But until the war is over, none of us can have it.
Now youre fierce warriors, all.
This was meant to sound like an empowering Crispins Day, and it sounded to me like war-hawk propaganda.
The cast ofDiscoveryis good, but struggling with material that takes them all over the map.
Then theres Ash Tyler (Shazad Latif), who mightliterallynot be himself.
To the extent that there is any excitement aroundDiscovery, it comes from the Fan Theory sub-basement.
Is Tyler really Tyler?
The good stuff is coming, as soon as we finish off Khan and the Klingons!
Thats whatThe Orvillewants to be.
Every episode feels so much like a middling hour of late-90sTrekthat the show earns points for sheer aesthetic precision.
Characters even learn lessons about, like, leadership, just like Wesley Crusher always did.
This was also the surprising-to-nobody problem with the rebootedX-Files and the MacFarlane factor doesnt really help.
TheFamily Guycreators work has always radiated a weird combination of teen-friendly vulgarity and old-fashioned TV concepts.
In his own private cinematic universe, hes the commander of a starship: Sound familiar?
Both shows miss something essential aboutStar Trek.
Both of these reboot strategies are familiar.
Say, did you hear that thisStar Warsis going to be darker than the last one?
Oh look, they destroyed theEnterpriseand built theEnterprise-A!
By taking an analytical step back, U.S.S.
You watch this episode and wonder: Was theEnterprisealways a toxic workplace?
BothDiscoveryandThe Orvilleyearn for a utopian society beyond those issues, and there is some honor in that yearning.
The cast ofDiscoveryis casually diverse, andThe Orvillehas given its whole ensemble A-plot episodes.
This is nominally part ofTrektradition everyone gets along!
but its easy to overstate Roddenberrys utopian ideology.
Roddenberry himself was a difficult man, and so theres something endlessly clever in the basic DNA of U.S.S.
Damn it, U.S.S.
Callister isexciting, smart and fun and scary, boldly going wherever it wants to.
ShouldntStar Trekaspire to that?
But thenBeyondwas a box office disappointment, and Abrams attention wandered back to theStarfranchise he actually loves.
Maybe well still get the HemsworthTrekfilm.
And, then again, maybe Paramount is willing to try something completely different.
Important not to get too caught up in this possibility, I think.
I love the idea because why not:Star Trekneeds something new, and Tarantino counts.
The film has no real reputation at this point.
It was less successful thanDjango Unchained.
Or maybe he thinks it would be cool if Captain Kirk snaps some necks and drops some f-bombs.
That could work, too!
Its all in the execution; Tarantino writes beautiful f-bombs.
