That movie thing

Been seeing ads for Star Trek recently. Usually I perk up and think it looks like a fun actiony science fiction movie. Then I see which movie it is and get disappointed. Presumably the trailer is misleading to some extent but... the Enterprise crew should not be putting me in mind of space marines from Quake. It does not look or feel like Star Trek to me. It looks and feels like a potentially fun action adventure movie in space, one that happens to have familiar franchise and character names.

So, unless this film has some really magical quality that makes me revise my opinion when I see it... as far as I am concerned they have failed at making a Star Trek film. Which does not mean I think it is necessarily a bad film (though it might be), or that I am opposed to a franchise reboot (actually would have favoured an outright reboot rather than one which, according to what I have read of it, seeks an internal explanation for suddenly altered history).

What it does make me think is maybe we should have a franchise which fills the cultural role this film looks to be aiming for, so we can have that and the Star Trek role both filled. Although there's often been action in Star Trek, and I rather like seeing it there, I think the franchise is let down when it becomes the main focus (cf. Nemesis). Balance of Terror was a great episode not specifically for including combat but for what it used the battle to show about the characters and politics involved. It also happened to, I think, establish starship combat as more akin to submarine combat than dogfights, something which seems to have been forgotten since Generations. Then again, a lot of what has been going on since seems to have been attempts to replicate past successes.

But that's a digression. What I mean is, seeing these ads has had me thinking I would really like to see a science fiction franchise for which they would be accurately capturing the spirit. I want a science fiction series, television and film, in which the standard thing is big explosions and fights and heroic battles against evil with spaceships and all that jazz. I've never actually, really, seen something like that even though it has enough cultural presence already to suggest it would be very welcome. I want to have that show, that series, and I would really like to see it coexist with Star Trek.

As for Star Trek itself, my pre-film thoughts are that I want the franchise to be rebooted, because the existing continuity is worn out. However, I'd rather an outright reboot than the time travel messing about my reading suggests is happening. And it looks like this version might be more action-adventure than I'd prefer, where my ideal Star Trek is offering of utopian future and meditative on human nature (and not infrequently informed by violent conflict, yes).

So that's how it looks to me currently, and what I'd like to happen.

Little things

The phrase 'person with autism' probably counts as a pet peeve of mine. Phrasing like that frames it as something external which afflicts an otherwise 'normal' person and locks em away from the otherwise healthy and social life ey might otherwise have lived. I associate it strongly with pathologisation and cure-oriented thought.

Why write this now? Because I am poking around a charity to see if it is something I might want to support and their website is littered with the phrase. It grates on me every time I read it.

The event itself and affiiates do seem more focused on living support and helping programs - hopefully ones which are actually helpful and not abusive - rather than cure research, but it is jarring to be smacked in the face with 'disorder' so many times over such a short interval. One site even renamed it 'Asperger's disorder' from 'Asperger's syndrome'. Really, you're going to do that?

Also jarring to look at organisations ostensibly for my benefit but not... for me. Aimed at people other than the ones they ostensibly serve.

"The privilege of working with our client group is that participation in one of our programs is as enjoyable and fun as any leisure activity outside of work. Coupled with the fact that many people find volunteering satisfying and rewarding, we think that volunteers will find an authentic and meaningful way to spend their time whilst making a difference. The nature of our programs means that we are literally lucky enough to find the time to stop and smell the roses."

"The aims of this program are to:

introduce our clients to a wider circle of people;
increase community awareness of autism;
provide a positive, effective and satisfying way for volunteers to meet people with disabilities."

I... wasn't aware that providing services for autistic people is also a convenient way for normal people to meet some pleasant exotics.