I've been seeing introduction posts here over the past while, particularly from #actuallyautistic and #neurodivergent people. And naturally they have a lot in common. But one thing in particular that intrigues me is that it seems that a high percentage of them mention #StarTrek as a favorite show. Now maybe this is just small sample size times coincidence, maybe even personal bias, but it does seem to happen far more often than I see any other show mentioned. So it has me wondering, is this true?
And if so, what is it about the show that makes it appealing to us? The adventure? The mystery? The plots? The characters? The appeal of space travel and exploration? The pro-science themes? The inclusiveness? The promise of a future where humans have solved their problems of poverty, discrimination, and war? Something else? What makes this more appealing to NDs over something else that is very popular, such as Star Wars? I have an idea as to the answer to these questions, but I'd love to hear other people's thoughts on the matter.
@actuallyautistic
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@murdoc Starfleet officers tend to follow the rules? And when they don't they can give very good reasons why they are not doing so. That is a very autistic trait (at least for me)!
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@murdoc oh, also, all work clothing simplified to a uniform that automatically tells people what your field of expertise is? I'm all for that.
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@murdoc @actuallyautistic
.
I did my time, as a kid with the original series and again for TNG, but I bombed out before DS9 ended and not far into the other one, Janeway.
.
Now it's "television," again, and really, some of the schlockiest, at least those older ones. Discovery wasn't that, it was the opposite, too scary for me.
.
Yes, the smarter future fantasy, I suppose. ๐
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@punishmenthurts @actuallyautistic
Yeah, the newer stuff isn't really Star Trek to me. The last good show was Enterprise. Although to be fair I haven't seen Lower Decks yet and I probably should. It just gets harder trying new things with each new disappointment.
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@murdoc @punishmenthurts @actuallyautistic
Lower Decks was good. Enterprise lost me when Archer got all entitled about bringing his dog down to an alien planet, wtf???
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@woozle @punishmenthurts @actuallyautistic
Lol, well that show wasn't perfect, but then none of them were.
I think that that particular point was supposed to be part of them showing how much there was even less rules about space travel at that time than TOS.
The thing I liked most about Enterprise was the overall story of how the Federation was created, which they sadly didn't get to finish properly.
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@murdoc @actuallyautistic It took me ages to even watch Star Trek, cause I assumed it would be a lot like Star Wars, which I have little interest in.
Wildly different, as it turns out. What I like about it is the social commentary. The wiki page about food (traditional cooking vs synthesized food) finally convinced me to give the show a shot.
I'm less interested in the space exploration aspect and aliens; for that I'd much rather watch or read space horror.
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@benetnasch @murdoc @actuallyautistic
For me, it was always the "better future" aspect -- although younger me found the gadgetry fun too (...although the emphasis on which devices interest me most has shifted quite a bit over the years).
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@murdoc @actuallyautistic Possibly geographic? As someone raised in the UK I'm more a Dr Who/Douglas Adams/Iain M Banks fan.
Which may be a culturally differentiated example of the same basic phenomenon, of course.
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@simon_brooke @actuallyautistic
Could be. I'm in Canada, but I do love Dr. Who & Douglas Adams.
(Well, did love Dr. Who. That's been waning for a while now.)
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@murdoc @actuallyautistic Doesn't Steve Silberman go into this a bit in his book Neurotribes? And I think the answer has a lot to do with the character of Spock.
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@OldAndCranky @actuallyautistic
I do'n't know, I haven't read it. An interesting point though.
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@murdoc @actuallyautistic It was all about Spock for me. The outsider trying to fit in, whose brain worked a bit differently than his crew mates. I was smitten. Still am, 58 years later.
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@OldAndCranky @murdoc @actuallyautistic Yeah. The first two things to come into my mind when reading the original post were 1. "Spock," and 2. "Or Data, I guess, depending on what your first exposure was."
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@murdoc @actuallyautistic
As a group, we do tend to be more into science fiction and fantasy, than perhaps others. Perhaps it's simply that they show worlds that aren't our own and the possibility for the world to become better than it is. Star Trek, even more than most other shows, was all about a world creation that centred on a logical and ethical premise that perhaps appeals to us more than most.
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@pathfinder @murdoc Yeah. In general there's a very principled rhetoric to the show, about truth and duty and honour. And autistic-coded characters are a big part of the show (Spock, Data, Seven, etc.). They differ from their castmates, but they're appreciated (generally).
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@Cassandra @murdoc
Yes, I think most of us can see ourselves in those characters and can agree with so much of the ethos in the show.
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@Cassandra @pathfinder
Even if those characters were handled a little clumsily at times. But given that we didn't know very much about neurodivergence back then, they did a pretty good job I think.
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@Cassandra @pathfinder @murdoc this is my thinking too. And autistic coded characters are valued.
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@pathfinder @actuallyautistic
But Star Wars was about fighting evil dictatorships, which autistic people like too, but then again so do most people. I have this feeling that it leaned more into fantasy/romanticism than Star Trek did, and that perhaps that is the difference?
To be clear, I like SW too, but I'd rather live in the Federation. (Unless Zeltros was an option, then I'd totally go for that. Lol.)
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@murdoc @pathfinder @actuallyautistic I feel Star Trek is more hopeful as even a lot of the times they are alone (as a lot of the adventures are about going to the undiscovered) the Federation and its values are somewhere in the Universe so you are not really alone.
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@Cattz @pathfinder @actuallyautistic
Yes, a very important theme in Voyager.
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@murdoc @pathfinder @actuallyautistic I could never get into Star Wars. Star Trek all the way for me
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@pathfinder @murdoc @actuallyautistic What I love most about Star trek is that humanity isn't in space to conquer or trade or fight or survive some threat, we're out there to learn and explore out of a spirit of curiosity, and to help if we can. (Or in Kirk's case out there to get laid, but we skip over that bit).
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@afewbugs @pathfinder @murdoc @actuallyautistic oooh good point
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@niamhgarvey @pathfinder @murdoc @actuallyautistic the premise of "We've solved all the problems on Earth! Hey, we're in a universe of cool shit let's go learn about it!" always made a lot of sense to me in a way that "Hey, let's conquer the galaxy and create a thousand year empire!" didn't because that's exactly what I'd do in a post scarcity society where everyone's needs were met so nothing needed to be fixed.
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@niamhgarvey @pathfinder @murdoc @actuallyautistic If we don't have to do anything to survive, why don't we go and try and figure out what those cool giant energy bugs are doing in that nebula? And on the way why not play obscure musical instruments, paint mediocre paintings and get super involved in a holographic rpg with some friends?
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@niamhgarvey @pathfinder @murdoc @actuallyautistic I mean that's definitely the best future I can possibly imagine
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@afewbugs it should be you out there instead of Musk and Bezos! If only, right? @niamhgarvey @pathfinder @murdoc @actuallyautistic
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@murdoc @actuallyautistic It was the technological advancements, the space travel, the peace. I mean, at the time automatically opening doors didn't exist. The doors on the TV series were opened by people on the other side (the stories from the actors about having to confidently stroll toward a door and hope the person on the other side would get their timing correct only to find out that they didn't are wild). The whole concept of a tricorder was mindblowing even though now we carry similar devices. We lived in the Cold War world where we expected The Day After to happen at any moment. The idealism was something to get excited about.
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@dweebish @actuallyautistic
Yeah, the tech was a big part of it for me too. :blob_cat_aww: But also the society and space exploration as well.
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@murdoc @actuallyautistic
Leading characters who work on pure logic and find the other humans around them puzzling and frustrating, of course.
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@murdoc @actuallyautistic I never figured out why I like Star Trek but not Star Wars. One thing I like about Star Trek is just very simple escaping into a different world, escaping from earth with all its suffering into a very captivating short story. The thing is, I can't really compare it to Star Wars because I never managed to watch (or read) Star Wars, I get bored immediately. So what about episode/story arc length? Autism often coincides with ADHD, could this be a factor in the community?
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@murdoc I think part of it is that while there are some interpersonal issues (I'm thinking ST:TNG), people (and aliens) are generally respected even if they're not understood.
There's a lot of "we're not going to automatically assume malice and try to talk it out first" before going to conflict. And given that a lot of us go to "Oh, we must have not explained our reasoning enough" when conflict is approaching, it probably feels very "yes, see, this is how you defuse conflict!" instead of what happens - where non-spicy people think we're making excuses.
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@murdoc @actuallyautistic I am also team Star Trek, but my partner, who prefers Star Wars over Star Trek, once said to me, that even he would prefer to live in a Star Trek Universe. For me it is mainly the teamwork of very different people/aliens who still find common grounds, but I also love the science. We are now both big fans of the new Strange New World series and very much looking forward to the new season.
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@neonmate @actuallyautistic
Yeah, I've found that most of the most interesting settings to be entertained by you do not want to live in. ST is a nice exception.
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@murdoc @actuallyautistic Before I knew I was autistic, Data was someone who spoke to me-the android trying to be human. ๐ค
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