How To Do Reboots

Some time ago, I expressed support for Marvel's decision to make Thor a woman. Since then, I've been thinking a lot about what constitutes an effective reboot in the context of comic books. I say 'effective rather than 'successful' because it's actually really easy to measure whether or not something was successful. In this context, if a thing made money, it was a success. I'm more interested in, obviously, the effectiveness of reboots. Not what makes them lucrative, but rather what makes them good.

After a good deal of rumination, here's what I came up with.

Reboots have to bring something new to the table, ideally based on whatever major change the writers decided to make. What do you mean by that?" My imaginary audience asks in unison. Well, in order to answer that, let's look at the new, female Thor again, shall we?

Previously, the person who carried the mantle of Thor was a man. Now, the reverse is true. What this means is that Lady Thor has to be a character in her own right. If your rebooted character acts exactly the same as their previous incarnation, then there's no point in rebooting said character in the first place. The new version must respond to stimuli differently than those that came before her. She must make her own decisions. Essentially, the rebooted character has to be able to stand on their own.

This is a very difficult task, because if the rebooted character abandons the essence of her predecessor, then she sort of ceases to be that character at all. This results in a kind of balancing act, wherein the new character must be different while still maintaining a significant link to the original. Finding that happy medium is, in my humble opinion, the most important part of any reboot.

To do this, try to identify the most important aspect of the original character. Once you know what really makes them tick, you can play with that in interesting ways. Explore traits in as many new areas as possible. If rebooted characters must respond to stimuli in new ways, confront them with new stimuli. We’ve never seen the real Thor react to a giant, fire-breathing rabbit rampaging around the city, so putting Lady Thor in that context helps make her into a new person. Make sure to maintain some of Thor's machismo, though. The link still needs to exist.

Just something to think about.

(For those interested, my initial post about Lady Thor and diversity is here.)

Moving Forward: A Poem

(After “The Protector,” by Charly Palmer)

  The line you crossed was a wall you broke down

You hacked at it with pickaxes and hatchets

Steely resolve in your eyes

Though the monolith crumbled slowly

Though it took eons for the stones to fall away

You soldiered on

You and a hundred others 

shattered the barriers

You know there’s still work to be done

You are ready to dig up the hatchet

 they forced you to bury

The fight isn’t over

But you’ve already won

One Minute to Midnight: A Poem

Dust blankets the ground

toxic snow in June

The clocks have stopped ticking,

the voices have been swallowed by the air

Midnight approaches

huddled underground, 

hidden from the lights

that strobe in the sky

glued to one another

as though your hearts are tied

You wait.

Ancestor Songs: A Poem

The sun burns the clouds away

And scatters the birds

The blue sky is blinded by white

But the fieldworkers pay it no mind

Sweat runs in rivers down their faces

But there are still baskets to weave

There are still stories to tell

Why I Love Star Trek

All of the best science fiction, in my humble opinion, is that which introduces the reader, or watcher, or whatever, to scenarios or ideas that they would not otherwise encounter. Or, failing that, places philosophical questions that are not uncommon into a context that allows them to be viewed from an alternate perspective.

Star Trek does this with an unparalleled frequency and zeal. While one could argue that the various incarnations of Star Trek are more or less philosophical than others, I think there is good philosophy in every Star Trek series. I don't agree with all of it, but I think every question the show raises is worth exploring, if only for curiosity's sake.

The Original Series of course dealt with a lot of the social and political issues of the 1960s, but the other shows seemed rather interested in exploring the more abstract, ubiquitous philosophical questions that stood the test of time, as it were. These are questions that everyone who has ever lived has asked themselves at some point or another. They're questions that, in some cases, still have yet to be answered.

One example that comes to mind is the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Measure of a Man," which explores the question of whether the android Data was a Starfleet officer, or whether he was really just Starfleet property. In it, Data expresses certain wishes and seems to have a will of his own, but at the same time, he has no emotions. It isn't as if denying him those wishes would cause him any kind of suffering.

This episode was one of many that explored interesting ideas and morally ambiguous questions.

Interestingly, my favorite episode of Star Trek that deals with morality comes from a series that is often regarded as the worst of the bunch. It's an episode of Enterprise called "Cogenitor." Enterprise as a series takes place at a time in Starfleet history before the Prime Directive was ratified, and this episode explores some of the reasons why non-interference became such an important value for the Federation.

On the one hand, it asks, "Well, shouldn't you intervene if you see some injustice occurring?" It does this while also wondering whether it is a wise idea to interfere with a culture that you don't entirely understand. And what I really like about this episode and the show as a whole, is that while it leans in the direction of non-interfeerence, it leaves the question a little bit open, so that the viewer has agency. We are exposed to new ways of thinking, but it is left up to us what we do with the knowledge we are given.

That's why I love Star Trek.

Just something to think about.

Ink in My Veins: A Poem

If you want to be

Like the masters-

Write, paint, create-

Like the masters

You must become the master

Of letting go.

Cut, slice, chop

Every word must earn

Its way onto the page

Ink is more valuable than blood

Don’t waste a drop

Confessions of a Founding Father: A Poem

Listen up:

I’m only going to say this once.

Pay attention.

I never chopped down the fucking cherry tree.
I'm not some prim and proper elder statesman, 
oozing wisdom from every orifice.

People who tell you that are liars.

Guess what.

I can tell those.
That's how I got this job.
But I don't want it anymore.
I like booze and women
and I hate Ben Franklin. Pompous ass.
I don't want to spend my entire life in some dusty hall
arguing with a bunch of stuffy idiots.
I don't want to lead.
I want to live.