One thing I always found funny about the enterprise opening, was (aside from the attempt to inject life into a dying franchise by replacing the orchestral score with the sappiest most nonthreatening pop song ever devised) was the historical revisionism. Note that in an opening depicting humanities earliest days of exploration, all the way to the rise of manned spaceflight the USSR is notably absent.
Yeah it did what U.S. movies do regarding Russia and WW2 (now more than before really) - just erases them from playing any significant part in world history.
It was much more militaristic & 'exceptionalist' than the relatively touchy-feeely Next Generation. Like that 9-11-ish plot about hunting down the cosmic terrorists who burn a giant gash across Earth. Out with the sensitive Frenchmen, women, black & alien captains - in with the big-jawed white father figure. It rewrote the whole Star Trek 'creation myth' as overt military ass-kicking, rather than friendly 'first contact' and looking for pals across the universe. It was quite angry and pessimistic for a Star Trek show/movie - aliens were all untrustworthy in it.
I should point out I've never been a 'Trekkie', but it's fascinating how each version reflects the image that the U.S. military wants to project during respective periods (and with that, national ideals of 'masculinity'). Enterprise was much more harsh and unforgiving than previous versions - very neocon.
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One thing I always found funny about the enterprise opening, was (aside from the attempt to inject life into a dying franchise by replacing the orchestral score with the sappiest most nonthreatening pop song ever devised) was the historical revisionism. Note that in an opening depicting humanities earliest days of exploration, all the way to the rise of manned spaceflight the USSR is notably absent.
Yeah it did what U.S. movies do regarding Russia and WW2 (now more than before really) - just erases them from playing any significant part in world history.
It was much more militaristic & 'exceptionalist' than the relatively touchy-feeely Next Generation. Like that 9-11-ish plot about hunting down the cosmic terrorists who burn a giant gash across Earth. Out with the sensitive Frenchmen, women, black & alien captains - in with the big-jawed white father figure. It rewrote the whole Star Trek 'creation myth' as overt military ass-kicking, rather than friendly 'first contact' and looking for pals across the universe. It was quite angry and pessimistic for a Star Trek show/movie - aliens were all untrustworthy in it.
I should point out I've never been a 'Trekkie', but it's fascinating how each version reflects the image that the U.S. military wants to project during respective periods (and with that, national ideals of 'masculinity'). Enterprise was much more harsh and unforgiving than previous versions - very neocon.
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