Observations on Science Fiction · 3:07pm May 6th, 2021
- I personally find a chaotic wild west of competing empires and planets and cults and such far more interesting than some Star Trek utopian Galactic Convention of Species or the United Terran Alliance or something. Aside from, in my opinion, far better representing what a future in space would probably look like, I think that such settings have this certain air of freedom about them, which you don't really have when everyone's constrained by a galactic bureaucracy.
- Mind you, giant governments can be done well. The Imperium in Dune, for example, not only works for in-universe logistical and economic reasons (i.e. dependence on a single commodity from a single planet for all long-distance travel), but also because the society itself has an arc, with feudal infighting giving way to a stagnant theocracy, and eventually fracturing. And while Lucas himself may be a hack, the Galactic Republic he created is a fascinating portrayal of a late-stage democracy--conspiracy, corporate interests, and rising extremism set fire to this horrible, corrupt system where all the different planets and species barely tolerate each other, their loathing surpassed only by their apathy.
- Calling Earth 'Terra' is just dumb. I get that they're trying to be all space age and use a new name to show a 'new humanity' and shit, but it just comes across as obnoxious. It's like humanity became elves or something.
- Watch Legend of the Galactic Heroes (1988).
New? The name Terra dates from early roman time and was the goddess of the earth.
I agree with the rest though :)