Text | Sheng Haoyang
Contrary to the broadcast order of the series, the promotion of the Star Trek series in mainland China began with "Star Trek: Enterprise" in 2001, before which only the animated version was broadcast in some regions, and the popularity was extremely low, and the Taiwanese imported version circulating among some science fiction fans was also little known.
Star Trek: Enterprise Season 1
"Enterprise" began broadcasting in 2001 and was cut in the fourth quarter of 2005, just in time for the booming domestic folk subtitle group, so it became the first "Star Trek" series to be fully translated.
The plot of The Enterprise is set after the eighth film in the series, First Contact, and takes place approximately 110 years before the Original Series. At this time, the Federation of Stars had not yet been formed, and the Enterprise (NX-01) was the first Earth starship with a warp 5 engine and the ancestor of the protagonist starship numbered NCC-1701 in the Original Series.
The Story of The Enterprise is too far away from the Original Series, which is set in the first contact between humans and Klingons in 2151. In the following hundred years, the Interstellar Federation and the Klingon Empire continued to rub, and in 2244-2245, the Donato V War broke out.
In the previous chronology, from 2245 to 2267, when the two sides rekindled the war, the story of Star Trek: Discovery fills this gap: in 2256, The First Mate michael Burnham of shenzhou encountered the Klingons during a space exploration, and as an opportunity, the Federation of Stars and the Teku Witch Horse, who reunified the Klingon 24 families, fought a starship war, and both sides suffered heavy losses, which was the plot of the first two episodes of "Discovery".
Star Trek: Discovery
The liberal and inclusive Star Trek has adhered to the principle of diversity since the original series, and the main members include Russians, black women and Asians, but it is still impossible to surpass the "white male number one" and "white male number two" mentality in the choice of actors.
Star Trek: The Beginning Season 1
This version of the casting also affected the three movies after the restart, because according to the number of scenes, the three characters with the most plots are white men, which seems to be not politically correct enough today, so it can only be mentioned to Uhura to the position of heroine, in order to increase the role and even let her fall in love with Spock.
In contrast, in "Discovery", the first mate who appears at the beginning is a very masculine black man, the captain is also Asian, both are women, even if there is emotional entanglement, it is in line with the spirit of LGBT.
In "Enterprise", the female science officer from Vulcan also staged a love triangle with the human male captain and the human male captain, 16 years outside the play, 100 years after the play, the new generation of protagonists finally became human beings raised by the Vulcans, the thickest object of the arrow in the play is the deceased female former boss, worthy of a role that 100% meets the standards of the new era diversity and will never fall into reality.
However, the actor's race is only related to the reality standard, the human beings in the vast sea of stars should be regarded as the same species, the founders of the Interstellar Federation in addition to humans, there are Vulcans, Andorians and Terralets, and more than 150 planets have been added.
The inclusiveness of Star Trek is reflected in the supreme guiding principle, and the idealism of peace and exploration is the core spirit of the series. As a result, the first two episodes of Discovery look exactly like a subversive joke, with the Federation calling for "we're here for peace" several times, followed by a brutal slap in the face by reality.
As a science fiction series that takes place in the near future, the theme of "Star Trek" is always closely related to current affairs in the United States and the international situation: "The Original Series" was born in the 1960s, in the Cold War period when the United States was mired in the quagmire of the Vietnam War, so it called for racial unity and was very romantic; "The Next Generation" had Klingons joining the Interstellar Federation, indicating the end of the Cold War; "Deep Space Nine" was later than "The Next Generation", with the theme of cultural conflict and political cooperation; "Voyager" ended in 2001. Telling the story of the return of the Voyager, which was thrown 70,000 light years away, it can be inferred from the plot that it must be full of optimism; but after "911", "Enterprise" not only ended hastily, but from the second season onwards, it was full of various "conspiracy theories" and "terrorist attacks" from aliens.
Discovery chose to return in 2017, when isolationism was once again prevalent and racial problems were increasingly serious, and the TV station that originally rejected the "Original Series" was the CBS, and the new Klingon spiritual leader Teku Wuma not only embraced Klingon supremacy, but also expressed his disgust at the idea of federal peace and equality, and the political implications behind it were self-evident.
The first two episodes of "Discovery" can be seen as the background of the story, a separate one-and-a-half-hour movie, starting with the third episode of Burnham's rescue as a treasonous criminal, and the reunion with several former colleagues, the plot can be really unfolded.
Although the captain of the Discovery is a white male, according to the law of "white man equals villain", the captain first despises the cosmic law and declares that he will use the spore technology for war, and then raises the "alien" creatures that appear in this episode at the end of the episode, and the captain seems to be no good.
Discovery is also not a starship that has been mainly exploratory and communication in previous episodes, and its scientific research work seems to exist to show the dark side of the Federation, and it is no wonder that some people speculate that this "Discovery" is actually part of a secret intelligence organization - "Area 31" that has never been officially recognized by the Federation.
Also a prequel series, Discovery and the Original Series are far closer to the Enterprise, with Michael Burnham having been adopted by Sarek and his human wife Amanda, and Spock is siblings.
Judging from the current plot trend, it is difficult to imagine that the humanistic "Original Series" only happened 10 years after "Discovery". The much-maligned "Enterprise" at least ends with the blueprint for the construction of the Interstellar Federation, showing a vision of a world of unity.
How will Discovery end? Perhaps thankfully, it is only a prequel that will eventually be put into the timeline of history, just as the research on spore technology will never succeed, otherwise the plot of "Voyager" cannot be established, the peace talks between the Federation of Stars and the Klingon Empire will eventually come, and the reality may not be so beautiful.