I forgot you were a classic fan - no bad thing, in my book! And for what it's worth, my wife and I also watched a great deal of Xena back in the day. 😁
Thanks for these further comments - interesting reading! I feel you are entirely correct that classic Trek engaged with war stories from a more engaged position because of the shadow of World War II and the wars that followed after. Even the nature of starship combat in classic Trek is essentially modelled upon capital ship confrontations - which was central to the war in the Pacific, where the US was most active, and after that conflict ended essentially vanished from military practice. TNG, to some extent, inherits this tradition but - as you say - with writers who had no direct experience of warfare to draw against.
As for digital gaming - I work professionally in games, and would be the first to suggest that playing virtual tag with toy guns does not expose anyone to any aspect of war, and that to my knowledge nobody has come close to representing authentic warfare in a game format. Strategy games capture one element though: the potential for command to treat the boots on the ground as expendable resources. This experience is conveyed all-too-well through games, although it does not chill us as perhaps it should.
Finally, I think the desire to go back is more credible than you paint it here. I have found that there are people who have a kind of 'future lust' for whom the idea of waking up a century later is appealing, but that these are a strict minority, and the majority are so bound to their community that to be torn from them represents a significant psychological cost. However, I do think that your point about the battle they left is salient. I think it speaks well of the episode, however, that we can have these kinds of discussions about its content!
Many thanks for sharing your thoughts! Greatly appreciated.
I so wanted TNG to stay 'dark and exciting' - owell! 😆
I'm flabbergasted than any TNG fan hasn't seen "Yesterday's Enterprise"! 😱 You should definitely give this one a go, it's a genuine classic.
I forgot you were a classic fan - no bad thing, in my book! And for what it's worth, my wife and I also watched a great deal of Xena back in the day. 😁
Thanks for these further comments - interesting reading! I feel you are entirely correct that classic Trek engaged with war stories from a more engaged position because of the shadow of World War II and the wars that followed after. Even the nature of starship combat in classic Trek is essentially modelled upon capital ship confrontations - which was central to the war in the Pacific, where the US was most active, and after that conflict ended essentially vanished from military practice. TNG, to some extent, inherits this tradition but - as you say - with writers who had no direct experience of warfare to draw against.
As for digital gaming - I work professionally in games, and would be the first to suggest that playing virtual tag with toy guns does not expose anyone to any aspect of war, and that to my knowledge nobody has come close to representing authentic warfare in a game format. Strategy games capture one element though: the potential for command to treat the boots on the ground as expendable resources. This experience is conveyed all-too-well through games, although it does not chill us as perhaps it should.
Finally, I think the desire to go back is more credible than you paint it here. I have found that there are people who have a kind of 'future lust' for whom the idea of waking up a century later is appealing, but that these are a strict minority, and the majority are so bound to their community that to be torn from them represents a significant psychological cost. However, I do think that your point about the battle they left is salient. I think it speaks well of the episode, however, that we can have these kinds of discussions about its content!
Many thanks for sharing your thoughts! Greatly appreciated.
Chris.
That's a discussion always worth having! ❤