It’s a slightly click-baity title, but as we’re still generating more content for our magazines, this one included, why not?
My Sci-fi unpopular opinion is that 2001: A Space Odyssey is nothing but pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. I’ve tried watching it multiple times and each time I have absolutely no patience for the pointless little scenes which contain little to no depth or meaningful plot, all coalescing towards that 15 minute “journey” through space and series of hallucinations or whatever that are supposed to be deep, shake you to your foundations, and make you re-think the whole human condition.
But it doesn’t. Because it’s just pretentious, LSD fueled nonsense. Planet of the Apes was released in the same year and is, on every level, a better Sci-fi movie. It offers mystery, a consistent and engaging plot, relatable characters you actually care about, and asks a lot more questions about the world and our place in it.
I mean, my unpopular opinion then would be that Discovery is not at all gritty and modern. Even in season 1 that drops off pretty quickly, but by S2 they’re all making big speeches and having emotional declarations about the spirit of Starfleet and saving the space whales and whatnot.
I do think it’s a pretty great adaptation of Trek to modern serialized TV narrative. I guess from that perspective, my unpopular opinion is that Discovery is to serialized shows what Strange New World is to episodic shows.