There has been a trend over many years where certain political ideologies are inserted into established sci fi and fantasy series, thus hijacking them into pathways for indoctrination. Oftentimes ignoring fundamental established facts of how those established universes work. One of the strengths of the science fiction/fantasy genre has always been that it is good for allegorical storytelling and is a perhaps easier place for some forms of social commentary. The one universal for every existing property that has been hijacked is that the established universe’s rules are ignored. Thus these insertions are not in service of allegory but seem more designed for indoctrination. Various methods of propaganda have been used throughout human history and this would seem to fit that. Another hallmark of such propaganda is that it is situational and is discarded when less expedient or could interfere with profits

Examples
-pretty much everything about Star Trek Discovery flies in the face of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek. Too many examples to cite here.

-Finn in the movies put out by Kathleen Kennedy. Pretending as if Lando never existed. Making Finn into a racist charicature in the second movie. Shrinking him on the posters in China.

Damn shame all of it. He wasn’t really established as his own character, which does a disservice to both him and John Boyega who is quite talented.

-everything with the last 2 seasons of Doctor Who. The Doctor is an archetype...the boy who never grew up. The girl who never grew up is a separate archetype and the 2 are not interchangeable. From the start in the 60’s Doctor Who was an ensemble show. Barbara was always portrayed as a highly intelligent woman, and she was the hero of many episodes. She saw the solution that saved everyone in one of the first few stories. Both Romanas were equals to the Doctor. Then there is the great Sarah Jane Smith who had her own spinoff series. Martha Jones was a doctor herself and also saved the world. Plus many, many others. Likewise Captain Jack Harkness was a very popular character who wound up in a very successful spinoff series, Torchwood.

-In the upcoming Dune movie they recast Dr Kynes as a black woman since the actress playing his daughter Chani is black. This was done in the service of so called representation. Yet it is not at all consistent with the story or universe. Or even their own movie since a Spanish actor is playing Stilgar. The Bene Gesserit are a major power that is feared and revered. Lady Jessica’s decision to have a son is what makes the entire story possible. Fremen tribes are ruled by coequal male naib and female sayyadina. The inspiration for my own username since I fully understand and appreciate just how powerful women are in the Dune universe.

-In Wheel of Time one of the universal themes of the series is the relationship between the men and women. Men think the women are meddling busybodies who have a tendency to get in over their heads. Women think the men are wool headed fools who can’t get by without them. There are elements of both truth and falsehood in both povs. In reality the men and women are very flawed and human and both are very powerful and important in different ways. Rumor is that the tv series will be more focused on the women, which fits with a lot of the agenda driven shows Amazon has made (The Expanse went woke in the 2 seasons it’s been with Amazon. The last season of Man in the High Castle killed 2 prominent male characters for no reason, which destroyed the series since they were integral to the story.)

-There are similar rumors of agendas being inserted into the upcoming Lord of the Rings series. None of which fit at all into the world Tolkien created. The man who wrote a female character like Eowyn almost a hundred years ago...who found the valor she sought in battle when she killed the Witch King, second only to Sauron.

Original Star Wars pre 2012. Star Trek TOS, TNG, DS9 & VOY. Doctor Who Hartnell-Capaldi. Dune. Wheel of Time. Middle Earth. All examples of amazing storytelling with excellent characters. The modern hijacking of all is quite disturbing and seems to either be done by people who don’t understand these universe or who actively wish to us them to promote certain political agendas that are fundamentally racist or sexist. The fact of this can be seen by comparing original characters to their modern counterparts. Who are better characters? Uhura, Captain LaForge, Worf, Cassidy Yates, Geordie and Tuvok or Michael Burnham. Finn or Lando. Rey or Leia, Padme, Ahsoka, Mara, or Jaina. Can any of the Doctor Who Companions really hold a candle to Barbara, Sarah Jane Smith, the Romanas, or Martha Jones.

No modern characters really stand up as good characters since they are just there to serve an agenda. And that agenda seems to matter a whole lot more than good storytelling. For crying out loud they are now actively SEGREGATING ON STAR TREK DISCOVERY! Clearly the opposite of Roddenberry’s vision and the antithesis of everything I love about real Star Trek.

Agenda over storytelling clearly doesn’t work. The falling ratings and lack of merchandising tell that story. So why do these shows that seem to be more propaganda and indoctrination persist? Why does it seem like the only place to look for good storytelling is the past?

I’m also starting to wonder if part of what went wrong with Peace Talks/Battle Ground isn’t some of this same agenda over storytelling. Why Harry’s jokes just didn’t seem right. Some other vague oddness. That rather horrific ending. Or even some of the mindset that drives this agenda manifesting in real life since it holds that being competent is bad as is working hard and succeeding based on merits. Thoughts?

Why is it that so many companies are going down this route when it’s clear that customers don’t want this?

I just want good storytelling with relatable characters. Some actual escapism and fun.

And for those to whom it matters. No, I am not a man and I’m not white either. Also know more than my fare share of persecution from a wide variety of sources.

None of that should actually matter. The points I raise and arguments I present should be the only factors that have any bearing whatsoever on this. I really miss having new fun shows to enjoy. Having witnessed the destruction of so much that I love has been very heartbreaking.

I'd have to say Luccio's assessment is acurate based on what I know. This never bothered me at all. The world was different then and no one truly knew the reality of the horror until the Nazis were defeated and the Allies liberated the concentration camps. My family is Jewish and my grandfather served in the war. He never spoke of what he saw, though. What I know is from what I learned in school and my own research given my personal interest in the subject. There was this one documentary I saw once that was quite good, but I can't for the life of me remember its title.

Luccio is also getting at something deeper, I think. Evil people don't see themselves as evil. Hitler didn't think he was evil and there were people who agreed with him. Personally I thought her take on the issue aligned with the facts as far as I know them and also brought out a more nuanced take on human nature that I appreciated. YMMV but it didn't bother me at all.

I'd be fine with this if the PT+BG itself had been written better. It wasn't at all and just didn't sound or feel at all like Jim had written it. It lacked the normal description & world building. Just very disjointed and both numbing & exhausting to read. I hadn't had to force myself to finish a Dresden Files book until PT and BG was even worse. The whole thing was weirdly predictable and transparent (like the Ethniu vision thing). Its like a totally different person wrote it.

I guess things like a character being in one place and then suddenly being somewhere else could be attributed to a multiverse. If that's so it wasn't done well at all.

You're not gonna convince me that Harry Dresden didn't think of his daughter at all during the multiple times he wanted to die, nor that him not unleashing enhanced pyrofuego when Murphy was killed was a multiverse thing.

Frank Herbert's Dune is an excellent example of how to tell a super complex story well. PT+BG was flat out badly written, and even worse if it was supposed to be multiverse. Its as if Jim completely forget everythinf about the entire series.

Just wanted to pop in and apologize to the people I tried to reassure during the 6 year wait. I never should've defended Jim, and the shitstorm story I wasted time reading shows. I am so, so sorry I ever had any faith or trust in Jim, much less hope that he'd be able to write a good book after so much time off. Shame since I loved this series.

Good news is I'm now used to living without new Dresden Files and I've picked up some new books during th wait.

I've noticed some really frustrating inconsistencies with both how Jim writes and the characters themselves in both Peace Talks and Battle Ground. There really aren't any words for how upsetting this is, since Dresden Files was my last fandom standing.

It seems he has left off with a lot of the normal description and world building, leaving most of the story to dialogue. Feels really jarring and hard to follow at times.

Then all of the character don't seem like themselves. I've been in a massive reread so I know how these characters act. There are moments where it happens like a real Dresden Files book and everyone is in character. Then things seem off. There's one moment where a character says stuff that another character should be saying. How in the heck did this get past the betas and editors? Assuming the betas and editors are compenent and Jim's not surrounded by yes men who won't tell him when he's lost the plot.

It also doesn't feel like there's been enough build up to what the Fomor are. Makes it hard to get into the story. Plus how it seems like 90% of the story seems to happen off screen...though that could be helped with more exposition.

I get that his life was chaos and he was experimenting with these books. I know all too well how stuff can happen that totally disrupts everything. I was just hoping for a Dresden Files book where the characters, including Harry, were in character. I understand the problems with his publisher. I was willing to forgive all this until I got to this one part where one charcter is speaking another character's dialogue.

I wanted to like this. With everyting going on, I needed this to be enjoyable. Instead its just something else that's screwed up and gone. Really don't see how the series recovers from this. Its been a fun ride and I'm grateful for 15 good books. Looks like it just ends with Skin Game and I need to find a new series to enjoy.

I thought Jim had mentioned at an event that the publisher was really eager to get the book out ASAP once it was done. Its been a while so i don't remember which con panel it was that he said this.

The good news is I've had more time for my reread. The bad bews is I'm about halfway through Changes and there's no info.

I had the exact same thought.