Imagination Connoisseur, RRTNZ, spent some early years in Canada and found a little thrill in seeing some of the locations selected for ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.’ ST:SNW shoots in Toronto.
Oh, Canada!
Dear Bob,
I know you have mixed feelings about Strange New Worlds ( as do I), but after watching episode 3 I had to share something with you. Something about the power of nostalgia and personal connections to places – and the dopamine hit that these phenomena cause.
SNW is filmed in Toronto, and it always gives me a little thrill of nostalgia when I see locations that I know ( as much as I hate to admit it, I got the same thrill from those parts of season 1 of Discovery, when they were in exterior locations – including Kelso Conservation area, which I’d worked at for years )
Anyway, this week opened with some heavily CGI-modified, but still recognizable, shots of Ontario Place. I have attached some of them below.
After my family left the UK we lived in Toronto – and I still have a father and sister in Canada. As a youth, many times I went to Ontario Place (it was home to the Cinesphere, Canada’s first IMAX cinema). It also had some terrific bars and a had a concert venue which hosted some great bands – sadly those are now closed.
While I’ve lived in New Zealand for over 25 years, it’s home much more so than Wales or England, or even Canada. I still feel a connection to those places from my youth.
So, back to Star Trek, this week’s episode was, well….complete nonsense, but irrespective of that I still experienced a real tingle of joy at seeing those places again.
As such, if you’re feeling down and out about the ridiculously poor state of modern Star Trek, check out a movie or show that features a place you have a positive personal connection to. You’ll enjoy the same hit of dopamine that I experienced today. That little joyous reminder that only memory and connection can bring – one of the great things about being human.
Hopefully, you’re feeling okay and this letter made more sense than episode 3 of ST:SNW.
Look forward to catching up, sooner or later
Cheers and LLAP mate,
– RRTNZ
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