Can Star Trek be compatible with the themes of LOST?
In many ways, the initial setup of Voyager is identical to Lost. A group of people get lost.
The difference:
-
a lot of the character growth in Lost is spiritual, often involving perspective, or at least acceptance. For example, comprehending that their original situations back home weren't rosy.
-
contrast Voyager, in which we already know that the Federation is, for the most part, a post-scarcity paradise. On the surface, the only people for whom this would apply are the Maquis members.
-
importantly, except for a few characters on DS9 and several of the films, the major theme of Trek is exploration and testing humanity's reaction to alternate scenarios...not about internal explorations concerning emotional and spiritual development.
I believe there were 3 major chances in VOY where such a theme could have been explored - missed chances.
-
the 37's as a 2- or 3- parter. Unfortunately, any poignancy was limited to a single scene, with the theme of solidarity, when no one showed up to stay in delta quadrant.
-
Endgame. future Janeway could have mature as a person, and accepted that the events after her Voyager return were overall a positive thing, rather than having zero character growth in the intervening years, the entire time planning to go back in time. (In this case, 'home' would be Voyager and not Federation space.)
-
Year of Hell, with the Krenim captain, very similar circumstances as Janeway in Endgame.
Posted Apr 13, 2013, 11:40 PM UTC · edited