Children of Mars

DVD, Short Treks (Children of Mars)

Finally they release the last of the 'Short Treks' for those who don't consume via streaming, as part of the 'Picard' Season 1 set. At least we got it in the end, even if for the sake of completeness it should have been part of the 'Short Treks' DVD release which featured all nine others in that anthology series that very much lived up to its name - the 'Short' part, though not the 'Treks.' But then very little of the current-gen productions feels like Trek and I came to this with no expectations whatsoever, knowing how little enjoyment or pleasure I had in the other shorts (or, for that matter, 'DSC,' nor even 'Picard' really!), it was just an exercise in finishing the complete set, though of course this particular entry was of slightly higher importance in its position of being setup for 'Picard.' Despite that, I didn't watch it until after seeing the full series and then going back because I had the impression from the title and images I'd seen that this was going to be only tangentially connected and not, as it first sounded, an essential prequel to what was the most anticipated Trek since the end of 'Enterprise.' I was right, it's completely unnecessary viewing.

The title suggests, once again, a 'Dr. Who' style, but they were, and are a series aimed at children so its natural that they want to include examples, but Trek is not for children, at least it's not designed for them though it is a family franchise which it would be good for children to see (up until the modern films and 'TV' shows which are demonstrably unsuitable for younger audiences!), and was indeed the age I first came to it. So it's not for children, but it is suitable for children, and I didn't find myself wishing as a child that there were children aboard Kirk's Enterprise - in fact when we saw children on Picard's Enterprise it was often slightly irritating, with young Alexander Rozhenko a rather annoying addition, even if it created more drama and character for Worf. It was left to 'DS9' to make childhood relevant with Jake and Nog, and really they were closer to adolescence than junior school age. Not that I'm saying there should be no children in Trek, decreeing like an angry Picard (no children on the Bridge!), just that it's not Trek's strength, nor does having a story centred on schoolchildren endear me to the current generation. It's yet one more thing that makes it unlike Trek once again, and this time the kid-ification is in the extreme: it's all about these two schoolgirls that are having a rough time because their parents (or parent, it seems broken families are just as common in the 24th Century as now - another punch in the eye for the Utopia we used to get, now replaced with brokenness that shows humans haven't worked out their problems after all, unless I'm reading too much into it, but we never see another parent), are away working on Utopia (the only Utopia we get in modern Trek), Planitia Shipyards.

About the only good thing I can take from this episode is the reassurance of a Trek staple: that starships are made in the zero gravity of space, not planetside as we saw in 'Star Trek XI.' I guess the designing and partial putting together of components occurs on Mars, but the assembly of the final article happens in a spacedock, as it should. So that's good. Otherwise, this is as stupidly contemporary as 'DSC' and 'Picard' have been, with no sign of the improved Federation members in childhood, they're just as savage and unpleasant as today's children would be, far from the imagined future Trek used to give us - at one point I thought I was watching 'Cobra Kai,' with the two little tykes battering each other against the lockers in 'High School' like it was modern day Earth! Who do they think their target demographic is, because it certainly isn't young adult to middle-aged males any more, and that goes for the rest of current Trek, too, none of it having the feel of Trek, none of it carrying the messages and carefully constructed lore and consistency of aliens and technology. Oh sorry, no we do get a message: the two rivals bond over their joint loss (or as Kurtzman puts it: how our petty differences are irrelevant in the big picture), at the destruction of Utopia Planitia - I ask you, would a junior school really show the latest news of an annihilating attack on a Federation facility without the sensitivity to think that some of the pupils would have family members there? This isn't true to the psychology of today, let alone a much more developed one of three hundred plus years hence! And I hated that the Vulcan teacher or Principal (I'm assuming he's Vulcan from that austere look, but now that 'Picard' has gone back to the flathead Romulan variant, who knows?), showed some shock in his face at the news because that's NOT how a Vulcan would react, he would take it calmly and solemnly, but the writers and producers are clueless about Trek and the way its pieces work, intent on making it as contemporary as possible for all those mainstream viewers that don't care about such things, at the expense of the loyal viewers that do!

I suppose there would have been some interest in this short being centred around Utopia Planitia, because it has a lot of history to it and so a surprise attack there would leave you wondering what was going on and anxious to find out in 'Picard,' but having seen that and knowing all about it, well, what little they told us (synthetic lifeforms attacked because… slavery? Hatred of non-synths? I can't actually recall, which shows how poorly they get their key points across), it was old news and I was already put off by the focus on a couple of horrible little schoolgirls overlaid by a pop music track in the usual way of attempting to heighten the emotion of it all because Trek is now aimed at women and girls and so everything has to be overtly concerned with feelings. That's what turned me off 'DSC' more than any of its other myriad problems, and I will say that at least with 'Picard' it did generally feel a little more grounded, a little more adult in how it approached character's sorrows, but not much and still nowhere near the far more appropriate and moving way Trek used to portray such things. There wasn't really much time to be melodramatic in an episode that lasts a mere nine minutes (including credits), but this was yet another reason for me to stop watching modern Trek.

Wow. Did I really say that? Me, who has been invested in Trek for almost thirty years is almost ready to give up on new Trek? I suppose when they do stop printing the discs and I no longer have the option to watch I'll at least have been prepared for it, and perhaps that's when it'll start to return more to a Trek that I actually like, that would be ironic. Until then, I keep buying the DVDs because Trek taught optimism, even if now it's changed its tune to be miserable and unhappy, like it doesn't know its identity any more and seeks to be like all the other sci-fi out there, and as long as it can be successful that way it'll go on losing its uniqueness and I'll go on returning to the original five series' and ten films because that's where Trek ended for me.

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