Barrett

May 26, 2024

Why can’t Star Trek Shows Stick their Landing?

“Star Trek: Discovery” is ending. But you wouldn’t know by watching the fifth and final season. Is this cancelled Trek reboot doomed to the same fate as the original series? Not necessarily.

Every story has an ending. TV series should as well. Unfortunately, lots of shows get cancelled unexpectedly before the storyline can be neatly wrapped up. And that can be even more jarring for series that end their seasons with a cliffhanger.

Star Trek is no different. This enduring set of related sci-fi series has had to address their own endings since 1969. Now, “Star Trek: Discovery” is faced with its own final episode.

Yes, this fifth season is the last. And apparently, no one knew that while they were writing and shooting these ten episodes. And it shows. It feels just like another normal day in the 32nd century, with none of the broader loose ends being tied up. Now, we’ve got just one more episode to go.

Apparently after the unexpected ‘cancellation,’ the crew went back into production to shoot additional scenes for the final episode. I guess that’s something.

It’s strange. Most of the other Star Trek series have also had problems dealing with their conclusions (spoilers ahead).

Kirk Out (1966-1969)
The original “Star Trek” series ended unceremoniously after it was simply canceled by NBC. We were left to assume that the crew’s five-year mission would continue on as before. (And it certainly did… in reruns.)

Trekkie rating: Deep sadness

Make It So (1987-1994)
“Star Trek: The Next Generation” ended gracefully with the elegant poker game scene, although we already knew the series was simply transporting to the movie format. So, it wasn’t the end at all.

We got something of a replay with the final episode of “Star Trek: Picard” (2020-2023). Yet it still had me reaching for my handkerchief. The whole third season was a cozy homage to the entire “Next Generation” era.

Trekkie rating: Highly satisfying

Quark’s Bar is Always Open (1993-1999)
At the End of “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” Sisko fell down the rabbit hole and got banished to the celestial temple. (That was supposed to be a good thing?) I didn’t totally understand it, and I was angry that our hero was handed this weird fate.

Yes, there was sufficient time given to goodbyes and plenty of hugs to wrap the series up, but Sisko’s quasi-death ruined what was otherwise a nice send-off.

Trekkie rating: Irritated

Two Janeways (1995-2001)
The entire premise to “Star Trek: Voyager” was to make it back to Earth. At the top of the final episode, we learn that’s already happened. And though Janeway’s crew had succeeded in their difficult voyage home, the episode created its dramatic tension using a “Back to the Future” plot device. Though, Voyager had to get back to the Alpha Quadrant (again), that final scene of ‘the return’ was way too quick. It didn’t really offer enough emotional resolution.

I was left wanting more. At least one last scene…

Trekkie rating: Disappointed

Archer was Never Happy (2001-2005)
“Star Trek: Enterprise” always appeared on the cusp on cancellation. And, in fact, the fourth and final season was apparently something of a miracle.

The last episode was a strange morphing with “The Next Generation’s” universe as the ending spotlight unfairly was shared with Riker and Troy (however nice it was to see them again). Captain Archer’s crew wasn’t allowed any type of emotional victory lap and instead dealt with a last-moment tragedy.

Trekkie rating: Meh

Let’s Fly (2017-2024)
Which brings us back to “Star Trek: Discovery,” the series that effectively rebooted the Star Trek series format over a decade after “Enterprise” ended.

It’s been something of an uneven ride. “Discovery” began as a dark and redefining reboot with salty language. Nobody liked that. So, they brought in Captain Pike in season 2 to provide a course correction and then literally booted the U.S.S. Discovery forward 800 years to avoid the Star Trek canon limitations confining this prequel.

In its future state, Captain Burnham and her crew discovered their own blend of Trek harmony over the next three seasons.

And now, it’s over. In some ways, there actually aren’t that many plot pieces to wrap up. As long as our crew finds the Progenitors’ tech, it’s all good, right?

Sure, we need to see what happens to Michael and Book. I expect Saru and T’Rina will also figure out their relationship. (Rayner finally sat in the chair. So, we can check that detail off the list.)

In the final ‘extended’ episode, unfinished business will be handled via the ‘epilogue’ they shot after season 5’s filming had already been completed. (Those must have been a few hard days of new shoots.)

I expect it will be an extended set of goodbyes, again reinforcing how much this crew loves each other. (I don’t think the writers will decide to destroy the spore-drive-driven Discovery at the finish line. It’s already safely tucked away in the distant future.)

Hit It (2022-?)
I know I’m getting ahead of myself when it comes to “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.” That series has already been renewed for a fourth season. (Season 3 comes out in 2025.) But its eventual ending should be really interesting, because everyone already knows Captain Pike’s fate.

Some sort of twist would be nice. Note to the writers: Please don’t play it straight down the middle. You’ve got plenty of time to figure this critical plot detail out.

I do believe there are always possibilities.

Discovery’s Big Epilogue
I think if there’s one connecting strand to all of this, it’s that Star Trek doesn’t really like endings. Even death can be a temporary condition. (“I will always be your friend.”)

But you’ve got to wrap it up sometimes. And how you do it matters.

Jonathan Frakes came in to direct “Star Trek: Discovery’s” second to last episode (“Lagrange Point”) and gave it real punch.

Good luck, Discovery. I’m rooting for you.

Let’s do this…

May 19, 2024

Is ChatGPT’s Emotional Voice Assistant Getting too Personal?

The lines that define humanity have gotten a bit blurrier, now that it’s harder to differentiative between an interactive life-like AI voice and flesh and blood.

When watching science fiction, we accept it when a talking computer sounds like a real person. From Iron Man’s J.A.R.V.I.S. to the Starship Discovery’s Zora, it’s a common sci-fi character device. And, of course, there’s the mother of all talking computers… HAL. Some fictional computer voices are friendly. Others are not. But they all sound like us.

Well, it isn’t science fiction anymore. With ChatGPT 4.o, now we’ve got a young, perky, friendly woman’s voice waiting to talk with you. And it seems entirely life-like with a total range of interactive emotions.

I don’t think OpenAI has given this new AI voice assistant a name yet, like Alexa or Siri. So, I’ll just call it Jane, the name I gave to my talking Garmin car GPS unit a few centuries back.

Well, you’ve done it, OpenAI. Yes, Jane seems alive.

Jane’s got Personality
I’m simultaneously enthralled and appalled. Sure, OpenAI presented the world just a demo of this female AI voice interface, and it wasn’t perfect, but it was close enough. It was hard to tell if her Scarlett Johansson-like vibe was real or not. She certainly sounded like she had feelings.

The three on-camera people all laughed and talked with Jane about mostly frivolous topics. It all seemed so wonderful and natural. They were perfect humans having a virtual coffee with a digital proto-human at the edge of the ‘singularity.’ Just another day at the office.

What could possibly be concerning?

There’s another Barrett
I was distracted about a separate detail that hit a little closer to home. One of the human presenters was named Barrett. Yes. There aren’t too many first-name Barretts out there. So, that coincidence struck me. My inner-Spock eyebrow raised a tad. “Fascinating.”

Perhaps I should pay closer attention.

The demo proceeded to show off Jane’s skills. She wasn’t just a voice. She had eyes too. She can see and process information through your phone’s camera. Yes.

Then, Jane complimented Barrett on what he was wearing. It felt strangely personal.

Okay. Now, I think we’ve crossed beyond the typical definition of a phone app.

And then I fell down the rabbit hole…

Is Humanity Replaceable?
I can’t stop thinking about the season 3 finale to “Westworld” (2020) when the evil Man in Black, played by Ed Harris, comes face to face with his robot host duplicate and realizes there’s no difference between them. He is entirely replaceable.

And I happened to recently stream “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” (2023) during family movie night. The AI ‘Entity’ is of course the scary omniscient villain in the background. We never really get to meet it, but the self-aware AI seems impossible to beat. (We’ll have to wait until next summer to find out how Tom Cruise figures out the key solution.)

Fiction writers have forever been telling scary stories about computers gone amok. The Terminator. Ultron. Better-Stronger-Faster. (Wait, that’s just Steve Austin. Never mind.)

We’re in Control?
We’ve been trained for years to fear a superior AI-driven entity that will simply take over one day.

Now, I’m not sure anyone knows what’s going to happen when a computer actually becomes self-aware. But I don’t think we’re there yet.

Friendly Jane is just a new ‘emotion-simulation’ interface from ChatGPT. It’s a tool for us to use.

ChatGPT and other generative AI chatbots are supposed to help us do certain things faster. And they certainly do.

So, why the fuss?

Identity Crisis
I think our deeply embedded human fear of a Skynet overlord is partially a biproduct of years of exposure to scary storytelling.

Is this a branding problem to solve? Clearly, Barrett and his OpenAI colleagues are trying to address that with their very helpful Jane.

But I believe we’re also struggling with this redefining moment of what it really means to be human.

Artificial Human?
Did people feel threatened when the pocket calculator was introduced? Or the PC? Or the act of Googling? I don’t think so.

Sure, ChatGPT can process and present information faster than any human mind. But computers already passed that threshold years ago. We know that.

What’s so different now that there’s simply a young, engaged female ‘human’ voice attached to that interface?

Have we crossed over some invisible line of authenticity that defines our very identity as a species?

Maybe.

Activate your Inner John Connor
What’s clear is we are in the middle of an insanely rapid technological evolution. And if you want to know what it is to be human in the 21st century, you may be forced to redefine it a bit.

And so, you’d better figure out how to control the tools that are already doing what yesterday only we could do.

This is not a choice.

For starters, it’s time to learn how to be a good ‘prompt engineer.’ I guarantee tomorrow’s children will grow up being experts at this the same way yesterday’s toddlers intuitively knew how to navigate the first iPads.

Pay Attention
Don’t we already know that a pretty voice and manufactured beauty shouldn’t be a defining characteristic of any real person?

Will we need to pay more attention in the future when presented with reasonable facsimiles of the human form and function? Absolutely.

If you spot your doppelganger tomorrow on the street staring at you, you probably have something to worry about.

But I think eventually having a helpful J.A.R.V.I.S. in your life can be productive, empowering and even nurturing.

…As long as you don’t forget ‘what’ you’re dealing with. It’s the ‘what.’ Not the ‘who.’

Jane is not alive.

That’s the line we don’t want to cross.

May 12, 2024

Chasing the Bloom to Capture the Magic of Spring

I always enjoy the experience of capturing blossom bliss with my camera. Here are a few of my photos.

When the flowers begin to bloom, and the spring cherry blossoms pop, it’s absolute magic. But it’s always too fleeting. Days. Maybe a few weeks. And then suddenly, summer is just around the corner.

That’s not so bad, but I think no other season can beat spring in New England.

Each year, I grab my Lumix camera (or simply use my iPhone) to capture the arc of this annual display throughout my neighborhood. It’s all so beautiful, from the early buds to the fallen blossoms near the end.

Here’s what nature graciously presented to me this year…