Never meet your heroes. That’s an age old adage that most of us should probably live by.
That includes our fictional heroes as well. Especially during an age when it seems like every respective fandom on the planet is under siege by the toxic resistance to and hatred for change.
When CBS announced last summer that Sir Patrick Stewart was reprising his role as Jean-Luc Picard in as of yet unnamed Star Trek project (debuting in the fall of 2019 on its CBS Direct), fans went into a euphoric tizzy.
Star Trek: The Next Generation is considered by many Trek fans to be the crowning achievement in the Star Trek universe (or a very close second by those who disagree). And Patrick Stewart’s Emmy winning portrayal of Captain Jean-Luc Picard was one of the pillars that lifted the show to such lofty proportions (and kept it alive during the first two turbulent seasons).
The news was especially welcome by those who refuse to accept Trek’s current flag bearer, Star Trek Discovery. Finally, they declared with all the passion their keyboards allowed, real Star Trek is returning to TV. And therein lies the problem.
As soon as the news was announced, Stewart took to social media to reveal how genuinely happy he was to be returning to both the role and the Star Trek universe. But he was equally quick to caution that fans shouldn’t expect to see the same Picard we saw during his TV days (which is how many fans choose to remember the character since the Next Generation movies outside of First Contact fell flat). Stewart warned that Picard could well be a man changed by his experiences.
It’s a warning fans should heed. Considering Stewart’s considerable acting pedigree, it’s unlikely he would return to the role (let alone so eagerly) if it was just to sit in the same captain’s chair again. Stewart may have only agreed to return if there had been considerable growth in the character since he last inhabited him.
It’s also a fair narrative question as well. After all, how would the writers explain that Picard, one of best captains in Starfleet history and repeated hero of the Federation, hadn’t budged professionally in nearly twenty years?
The last time we saw Picard (2002’s Nemesis), his long time first officer and ships’s counsellor had gotten married and were off to another ship (where Riker had been promoted to Captain). Data had sacrificed himself to insure the survival of both Picard and the Enterprise (though possibly replaced by his recently discovered “brother”). And somewhere in the middle of all of that, Lt Commander Worf had accepted the job as Federation Ambassador to the Klingon Empire following his brief but eventful tour on Deep Space Nine.
If fans are expecting to see Picard, already armed with the best resume in the history of Starfleet (no offence to Captains Kirk, Sisko or Janeway, but how many times did they save humanity from just the Borg alone?) in the the same job on the same ship almost two decades later, they should give their heads a shake.
While said fans may hope to see Picard promoted to Admiral or Ambassador instead, Stewart mentioned the very real possibility that everyone’s favourite former captain may no longer even be a member of Starfleet.
If true, that would be one of the biggest changes to any popular science fiction character, let alone one with such a rabid popularity. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned in recent years, its that fans of all stripes loathe and hate change.
While we needn’t look much further than the uproar caused when producers announced that Jodie Whittaker would be the eleventh Doctor Who (premiering Oct. 7th on Space here in Canada), every new doctor has been met with their fair share of vitriolic nonsense (though none came close to Whittaker’s casting, which included a healthy share of sexism and misogyny).
How much toxicity have we witnessed among the Star Wars fandom, much of whom have viciously rebelled over the course the new movies have taken? While there’s a generous helping of misogyny and racism in that wave of unrest, I’ve argued that the contempt most fans feel for the new movies is that they aren’t providing the exact same thing the original movies did. That their greatest sin is that they’re daring to be different and embrace change. Most long time fans feel alienated as a result and are punishing the franchise both online and at the box office.
How much do we hear comic book fans complain that their favourite characters-many of whom have been around for half a century or more-never change (the answer to that question is ad nauseam. They complain about the lack of new stories ad nauseam)? But every time something is changed or new characters are introduced or writers try to break the cycle of stale status quo, fans rebel. Remember how people lost their minds when Captain America was revealed as a cosmically rewritten Hydra double agent in Secret Empire? The resistance to change (both among characters and creators) is at the very heart of the Comicsgate movement.
The Star Trek family is no stranger to this phenomenon. Discovery triggered more than its fair share of fan hatred during it’s first season. Forums were flooded with people only interested in complaining about the show and to call anyone who enjoyed it names. They had a myriad of complaints, but their resistance often boiled down to one root cause; change. Discovery wasn’t the same Star Trek they grew up with therefore it was an abomination. Remember the backlash when a character dropped an F-bomb? Public executions drew less ire.
As a result, angry fans disowned the show, labelled it a fraud and began a nostalgic campaign to celebrate everything pre-Discovery as “real Star Trek.”
And then there’s the customary wave of hatred any reboot goes through as fans of the original (sometimes decades old) react violently to a property reinventing itself for a new audience.
I could provide examples to support my argument for days, but if you’ve been paying attention lately you realize that fans in general consider the slightest change to their favourite characters sacrilege. The crime of change is unforgivable and met with swift and absolute condemnation. Evolution is an enemy that their favourite things have to be protected from at all costs.
Do we honestly think the seismic alterations Jean-Luc Picard is destined for will be received any differently?
I don’t want to brand all fans as disgruntled curmudgeons in love with an idealized past, using the Internet to scream at every kid on the planet to stay off their lawn. There are plenty of fans that welcome change with open minds, willing to give fresh ideas a fair chance. But I do confess, it’s beginning to feel like that tribe is becoming the minority.
And yes, Discovery defied the change-hating odds with its success. But that only serves to prove my point. Discovery was a show full of new characters and new concepts and it received nearly as much hate as it did accolades. Will that tolerance hold up in season two, when Captain Pike and a younger version of Spock will be featured prominently? Their inclusion is already triggering bitter tirades online.
Will a show starring an older and likely quite different Captain Picard receive the same courtesy?
Perhaps the bigger question is will the fans determined to give his new show a fair shot outnumber the ones who will tun their backs as soon as they learn it stars a different character from the cherished one they remember?
Image Paramount Pictures
