Don’t forget the rampant bigotry against genetically “enchanced” individuals. Bashir was almost thrown out of Starfleet and banned from practicing medicine because of something his parents choose to do before he was even concieved. His father ended up in prison. All because a war that happen 3-4 centuries in the past and was confined to Earth. Humans then proceeded to enforce their views on genetic engineering on the entire Federation.
It’s a huge shame DS9 never brought Offenhouse back for an episode. One of the novels had him serving as the Federation’s ambassador on Ferenginar. I would’ve loved to see him interacting with Zek onscreen.
I always thought so—especially considering the actual nature of two of the guests; one’s a musician who’s just happy to be alive and wants to party, and the other’s a woman* who’s scared and confused about where she is, what’s happened to her, and where her family is. (She’s the one who didn’t sign up for being frozen—her husband decided on it after her death)
This also plays into another avenue of smugness—apparently it was Roddenberry’s position that 24th century humans would no longer fear death or mourn the dead (even children), viewing dying as a normal part of life. Especially odd for them to be judgmental in this instance—Crusher included—seeing as the cryonic suspension worked exactly as intended. These people, none of them even especially old, were able to be resuscitated, with their fatal medical problems cured, and can now go on to live happy lives for many more years—and considering how long humans have been seen to live in the TNG era, that might be a century or more.
Y’know, a lot of 24th century trek makes a creepy amount of sense if you assume the Federation uses a lot of propaganda and social conditioning to keep their utopia working. Granted, by all indications, it seems to be something that actually works without too many horrific downsides, but still underhanded and a bit repressive. The problems really start when the Feds have to interact with people or situations too far outside their perfect comfort bubble…or the writers get lazy that week. Whichever comes first.
*A “homemaker,” as listed on the data they recovered from the ship—a term Data is unfamiliar with, and surmises is “some sort of construction work.” :rolleyes: Yeah, stupid moo-cow breeder—get out of the kitchen, sister!
Some of the best Trek is when Fed members are forced to interact with those outside their comfort zone!
There was an episode where Geordi and Westly were laughing at and ridiculing the ship beloning to a man who was the leader of a colony, as he said it might not be much but the humble rust bucket of a shuttle was his colonies only means of transport. I always wanted to see more of the poor people that must populate the Trek-verse!
That is the one good thing from Star Trek 5. Having Spock’s brother reject the Vulcan way, and it indicated that there were others who felt the same way.
Wesley was always a dick; the best thing he ever did was leave the show.
As for Geordi, he proved how righteous he was by refusing the set of eyes Riker conjured up for him. (Also what an idiot he was, IMHO.)
In the same episode, Picard refuses to let Riker save an injured child, then gives himself a pat on the back for having done so. In Riker’s place, I’d’ve said “Fuck you, Froggie!” and zapped Picard into molecules.
I can appreciate the idea of a renegade Vulcan; I just wish they hadn’t made him a sibling (even a half-sibling) of Spock. I fail to see what that added to the story.
Oh, indeed! The problem with the problem is when it leads to the crew attempting genocide-by-inaction, and/or the writers default to “the Federation can do no wrong” when resolving the story.
I see the Federation as a metaphor for the US. Our system of government/economy/etc. is the best so we need to convince the ignorant peons (and that’s not meant as an insult Mr. Ambassador) to do things our way - even if their system works for them.
There is that episode where Worf’s human step brother has become “more involved than needed” with a woman on a planet he was studying that is about to get wiped out by a disaster. Picard and crew are cool with letting them all die needlessly until they find out that GASP there is a fetus down there that might have a claim to Federation citizenship! Ok now we gotta save them, first contact just went out the window.
That’s not how that episode went. Check it again. They told him to be a good scientist and let their civilization disintegrate, and he instead beamed them to the holodeck.
At this point, yes, we receive prime directive smugness, when, like a parent confronted with a child bringing a stray kitten home, Picard’s all, “Well since they’re on my ship now, I suppose I can let this one village of an entire civilization live; especially since I can do it in a way that barely inconveniences me in any way shape or form.” Seriously, what a douche.
Worf only finds out on the holodeck that Not-Cassidy is preggers. Seems to me Paul Sorvino could have saved everyone a whole lot of trouble by admitting he banged the natives from the get go.
Vulcans who rejected “the Vulcan Way” have been part of Trek since TOS. They’re called Romulans. Vulans & Romulans are the same species. I always though that angle wasn’t played up as much as it could’ve been.
Yea you’re right, god that episode made me so angry! Picard saying he has done damage to their culture, WHAT?! They would have been dead! At least this episode had the excuse that it would have been almost impossible to beam a whole planet on board one ship, in others the planet killing disaster was nothing more than a few minutes of work for the Enterprise.
Were these episodes supposed to be seen seriously? Or was it a way to give flaws to the Fed?
EDIT:Oh and of course the Fed and Picard end up right in the end cuz one guy killed himself, a guy who would have been dead anyway no matter what.
I love how the Fed can’t distinguish between cultural imperialism and stopping a world killing disaster.
TOS was a different matter entirely. If Picard was the liberal arts professor bitching to you about everything you like, Kirk was like that bad boy with tattoos who stands you up on a date to go and steal bikes. Sure, he’s an unprincipled douche bag. But you can’t help but love him!
I believe that is the whole “Roddenberry” thing. Gene Roddenberry believed in a future utopian society where people did not seek to acquire material wealth, did not go hungry or even suffer much illness or want. This inevitably led to many episodes of the Star Trek crew both original series and TNG violating the “prime directive” by interfering in other cultures which did not measure up. This thought process persisted even after Roddenberry’s death, because it was defended by his wife, “Nurse Chappel” in the series. It is only within the past few years that Star Trek has become more about entertainment and less about making a social statement.
I think that you are right, although I did not think that Gene Roddenberry’s intent was to spoof the US. A lot of people want the US to get involved in other country’s internal issues because they feel that what the offending country is doing is wrong or immoral. Take for example, those countries that have female circumscision, or China’s human rights abuses. Fortunately, the US is not really constrained by any “prime directive,” so we can meddle away.
When TOS ran it was the middle of the Vietnam war, and the consequences of meddling were all too clear. The one episode clearly about Vietnam was very ambivalent. When Kirk interfered it was usually because he got himself in a situation where overturning the stagnant culture was the only way out. He seldom went in intending to meddle.
Picard often talked about the need to not interfere, but wound up acting just like Kirk - for instance in the first season show when Weasly got into trouble for breaking Mr. Wilson’s window with the baseball.
The introduction to the novelization of the first ST movie had something about the “new human movement” - which the TOS cast was definitely not a part of. I doubt Roddenberry wrote the novelization but I bet he had something to do with the forward. I got the impression that the new humans were smug, and I can see Picard and company coming from that school.
