Headcanon: Burnham is a TNG(ish) era character and Discovery is her Barclay-style holodeck program

trekfangrrrl

You can believe this or not, but this is not a criticism of Discovery. It is actually me rationalizing it in a way that I can enjoy it.

Anyway, I imagine Burnham as a somewhat Barclay type character that has social issues and uses the Holodeck as an escape. She creates this program where she is the main character and center of all the stories (and Spock's secret sister), similar to how Barclay was so different in his programs. Maybe it's even a form of counselor approved therapy to deal with emotional issues?

Thinking about it this way completely transforms the show for me, and at the end of the series I'm going to imagine her ending the program and wearing a TNG era uniform and exiting the holodeck. And smiling. And you know what? I'll smile too. Because that kind of a story actually makes perfect sense in the context of Trek!

As a bonus, the same could actually be true of Mariner. There is no reason the holodeck couldn't create holograms in animated style, and "wrap" someone in an animated costume to fit in with the world. So Lower Decks can also be Mariner's program!

theboxisred

trekfangrrrl#6910 wrote: »

You can believe this or not, but this is not a criticism of Discovery. It is actually me rationalizing it in a way that I can enjoy it.

Anyway, I imagine Burnham as a somewhat Barclay type character that has social issues and uses the Holodeck as an escape. She creates this program where she is the main character and center of all the stories (and Spock's secret sister), similar to how Barclay was so different in his programs. Maybe it's even a form of counselor approved therapy to deal with emotional issues?

Thinking about it this way completely transforms the show for me, and at the end of the series I'm going to imagine her ending the program and wearing a TNG era uniform and exiting the holodeck. And smiling. And you know what? I'll smile too. Because that kind of a story actually makes perfect sense in the context of Trek!

As a bonus, the same could actually be true of Mariner. There is no reason the holodeck couldn't create holograms in animated style, and "wrap" someone in an animated costume to fit in with the world. So Lower Decks can also be Mariner's program!

I have a different theory...

In the late 24th Century Burnham is an intellectually defective six-year-old child with a History Assignment who retreats to her Secret Hideout and uses a Bad Robot to program a holo-simulation as a means to present her project.
Eventually it becomes necessary for her to be locked into an isolated, non-networked holosuite to prevent her growing megalomania from harming society and in which she can be self-interested as she likes.

It's just a theory...

lazarus51166

If you have to rationalize something and go through that level of mental gymnastics to convince yourself its something else entirely to enjoy it, you not only do not enjoy it, you're acknowledging its utter trash to begin with. If you weren't you wouldn't need to do such things. Its not a very healthy thing to do

Unknown

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theboxisred

valoreah wrote: »

I am curious where the nuTrek Defense Brigade is. I am surprised they have not jumped all over this thread since it is critical of Discovery, and anything not glowing praise of any of the new series is frowned upon by them.

Indeed.
I'm more than a little shocked.

lazarus51166 wrote: »

If you have to rationalize something and go through that level of mental gymnastics to convince yourself its something else entirely to enjoy it, you not only do not enjoy it, you're acknowledging its utter trash to begin with. If you weren't you wouldn't need to do such things. Its not a very healthy thing to do

No lie detected.
On a semi-related note, when I was writing my review of Star Trunk: Packrat Season 3 I realized that I'd stumbled upon a truth; That every production since 2009 is a Freudian Slip of sorts admitting that even those behind said productions recognize that that which came before 2009 was a vastly superior product (with the possible exception of the Enterprise theme song).
That's the only reason I can fathom for the nearly non-stop barrage of references to things, stories, characters, and events from the earlier age.

anubis0sarvour

Fascinating.

As for myself, i subscribe to the theory that the events of the First Contact movie both restored the Original Timeline & created new timelines, of which the events of the series ENTERPRISE being the main New Timeline, with its own New Mirror Universe.
The ENT Timeline is continued in DISCOVERY, PICARD & possibly the movie NEMESIS (which i considered a possible alt TL even before finding the ENT TL Theory on YouTube). The Kelvin Timeline is a branch of of the FC-ENT-DSC-PIC timeline.

Now regarding the OP's Headcanon, i don't have an issue. If that's how they enjoy the series, then let them. Neither Cryptic Studios nor God has appointed any 'headcanon police', and anyone trying to be one needs their head examined, not whoever they 'feel' they are entitled to harass.

Live Long and Prosper.
🖖