wolven7 | I Could Write Better Star Trek Than JJ Abrams.

So I know that gender identity issues weren't being discussed anywhere near as close to the mainstream in 1990 as they are today--so much so that it's unlikely that it even occurred to the writers At All--but the conversation about Lal's "needing to choose gender" and the attendant reinforcement of the presupposed gender binary in the STTNG episode "The Offspring" makes me cringe a bit.

It all kind of falls in the same realm of "unquestioned and audience-friendly categories of humanity" from which a lot of Science Fiction has always suffered, because "that's just the way things are." Binary gender (and the essentialism that follows therefrom)? Check. Pinocchio complexes for all the machine consciousnesses? Check. Even knowing what I know about the themes and behind-the-scenes of TV in the late 80's a through mid-90's, it just gets so frustrating.

I want to write the new StarTrek series that picks up after the Star Trek: The Next Generation eps "Quality Of Life" & "Evolution," and the Data-centric events of Star Trek Nemesis. We would rejoin Starfleet as it's in the midst of dealing with the repercussions of Data's death--and B-4's development-- in the face of the growing galactic (and possibly INTERgalactic) presence of the Nanites, & the growing sentience--and Alterity--of both the Exobot species and B-4.

The show would then jump ahead several years to follow the travels of one Admiral--now Ambassador--LaForge (LeVar Burton), who has been, coaxed out of retirement by the opportunity to both carry on the spirit of The Enterprise, & honour the memory of a long lost friend.

I mean, I'd watch the hell out of that show, wouldn't you?