Nostalgia: Is it poison, pleasure, or both?

As with other people in the technology industry, I am a nerd. I have all of the trappings of a nerd, including a proclivity toward fantasy and classic Sci-Fi shows like Star Trek and franchises like Star Wars. It pretty much comes with the territory if you work in this profession, and we tend to judge you negatively if you don’t have a predilection toward one or the other. Spoiler alert: I enjoy both, but I am a Star Trek type.Star Trek type.

This month on the Paramount Plus streaming service marks the season 3 return of Picard, the Star Trek spinoff series starring British actor Patrick Stewart in his titular role from Star Trek: The Next Generation, which ran from 1987 to 1994. This season is particularly notable in that it reunites (with substantial screen time) most members of the original cast, therefore bringing closure to a beloved show that many felt never truly got the ending it deserved, even with the four films starring those actors that came afterward. Most of the original cast is in their early to mid-70s; Patrick Stewart is 82.

Tired Trek

Don’t get me wrong; these folks look good for their age — I hope to be as ambulatory and active as they are if I am lucky to make it that long. However, none are well-suited for the action-oriented storylines that are the hallmark of modern ADHD-driven Sci-Fi television programming. Naturally, they are supplemented by younger (and springier) cast members so that the spaceship they are flying on — the Titan, a dead ringer for the Enterprise — isn’t perceived altogether as a 55-and-over community in space.

I’m not a fan of Picard. Save for Strange New Worlds — which for all practical purposes, is a reboot of the original concept from 1965 with an all-new cast playing the original characters with some novel add-ons and works as a proven formula — I’m not a fan of any of the current crop of live-action Star Trek shows. For many reasons, Discovery was a terrible show, and I am glad Paramount canceled it this week. Its fifth season, airing in early 2024, will be the last. I had a lot of hope for it, but it didn’t live up to its promise despite the fresh ideas it brought early in its development.

While it sounds like I am overly grousing, I am still about as staunch a Trek supporter as there is. I’ll sign up for any trivia contest; I’ll watch The Original Series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and even the forsaken Enterprise on any given Sunday when I don’t have anything else I want to stream. And yes, I subscribe to Paramount Plus, so I pay to watch all of these shows I am criticizing. But I think Trek may need a good five or ten-year rest after Strange New Worlds completes its run, and Paramount should consider halting development on any more Trek-derivative projects so as not to dilute the property further.

Nostalgia drives consumption, but it stifles innovation

This dissatisfaction with a tired concept comes down to a single thing: overreliance on nostalgia. And my problem with nostalgia being the primary creative well in the current entertainment media being shoved down our throats is not just limited to Star Trek; it’s also Star Wars, Marvel, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and just about every product coming out of Hollywood today.

Nostalgia drives a huge amount of consumption in the entertainment industry. It is not just limited to TV and film but also pervasive in the food and restaurant industry, the automotive industry, and other industries where marketing and advertising make or break products. Consumers like the familiar, things that remind them of past stuff, but it has to be fresh enough while not being too alien — a difficult balance.

I am admittedly a victim of this, given my preference for Strange New Worlds (massive nostalgia effect but simultaneously shiny and new) over Discovery (not familiar enough to be recognizably Star Trek) and Picard (recognizably Star Trek but old and tired). But this desire for the nostalgic forces us into a creative rut, preventing new and innovative things from being worked on and released.

Give us new stuff, and leave the classic material alone

I have said in the past that I would gladly burn all of Star Trek, Star Wars, Marvel, Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and every major revenue-generating franchise to the ground if we could produce the dozens of unrealized script treatments from decades of award-winning SF novels that are currently sitting in “development hell” so we can get some fresh content. Perhaps I am being completely unrealistic about my expectations of an industry that is all about licensing, merchandising, and milking franchises for as long as possible. Still, I’m bored as hell by what I am watching lately.

The alternative, however, is not “refreshing” older content. When you mess with the familiar and attempt to revise it to suit modern sensibilities it often backfires because then you are messing with something revered, even if it is dated.

Such is the case with the literary works of Roald Dahl and Ian Fleming, which have recently come under "Sensitivity Review” by their copyright holders. So what is next, AI-assisted editing of the classic 1960s James Bond films to make them more socially acceptable to 21st-century cancel culture? Sometimes we must accept things as being dated and observe them from the perspective of being products of when they were produced. No amount of visual and dialogue manipulation will make almost 60-year-old Dr. No or Goldfinger look like they work in a 2020s context — so enjoy it for what it is, and yes, criticize it for what it is.

When nostalgia works

Nostalgia, however, is not all toxic. Sometimes it’s pleasurable and can be a positive experience, such as when it is interactive, like retro-gaming, or when listening to old music, especially when you are sharing gaming and music with other people who haven’t experienced it, such as your children and grandchildren, in which it becomes new to them.

I recently got to play with some new products by Victor Audio. This nostalgic brand is probably only easily recognizable to the Baby Boomer generation, which made phonographs and vinyl records and later became known as RCA.

If you’ve got a vinyl record collection in your attic, or you like the look of old-fashioned jukeboxes, Victor Audio has you covered. Their Bluetooth-enabled turntables are inexpensive (starting at $99) and will pair with your existing connected speaker systems (Amazon Echo, Apple HomePod, generic Bluetooth) and have classic styling that makes them look like 1950s-1970s audio components. My wife and I had a blast going through her collection from high school, loading each record, looking at the album art, and queuing them up with the stylus. However, I am partial to their $129.00 “Broadway” Bluetooth speaker, which resembles an old 1950s Wurlitzer jukebox. It has multi-mode colored LED lighting, so it looks great in the dark. I have this unit in my home bar connected to an inexpensive Echo Dot, so I can stream any music or audio content I want. It also has a CD player and an FM radio tuner built-in.

Do you know what I’m nostalgic for? The 1980s. That’s when I was in high school and college, my first exposure to social drinking. My recollection of that time is a bit hazy, considering that alcoholic consumption was almost always accompanied by regret shortly afterward.

One drink from the 80s that is often associated with regret is Jägermeister. It’s a German liqueur with an herbal, bitter flavor, and it’s syrupy sweet, often consumed ice cold in shots and to excess. Many people won’t drink it anymore because of bad memories from overconsumption. But Jäger is really just a German version of an amaro, an entire family of bitter Italian liqueurs that mixologists often use in smaller amounts to add extra character to craft cocktails.

Recently I got to try the Jägermeister Cold Brew liqueur after not having tasted the original for many years, and I like it a lot. It tames some of the other liqueur flavors by blending it with cold-brew coffee extract and cacao. You can drink it cold in shots, and it’s nice as an after-dinner digestif.

Here’s a cocktail using Jäger Cold Brew, Cognac, and Ancho Reyes Liqueur. It’s nostalgic and yet fresh.

WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GO GO

• 1.5oz Jägermeister Cold Brew (Regular Jäger will also work with strong coffee added)
• 1.5oz VS Cognac or Mexican Brandy (Fundador, Torres, etc.)
• .25oz Ancho Reyes (Green or Brown, the Green is spicier)
• Shake with ice, and pour into a chilled cocktail glass with ice.