I just remembered. There was an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where the supposedly “repressed underclass” turned out to be something different.
In the 5th season episode “The Perfect Mate,” Dr. Crusher was convinced that the female empathic metamorph Kamala was being forced to be nothing more than a housewife for the rest of her life. However, it turned out that Kamala’s number one aspiration really was to become a man’s bonded mate.
She did have the misfortune of wanting to bond with the wrong man, but that was the extent of her “oppression.” It’s not like she wanted to climb mountains or become a starship engineer but was instead consigned to a life of drudgery scrubbing floors or anything.
In the context of the yet-to-be-invented Prime Directive, Trip was wrong wrong wrong wrong wrong.
In the context of wanting to abolish slavery throughout the galaxy, the only thing Trip did wrong was not give the Cogenitor an incentive to go back to her/his planet and incite a Cogenitor Revolution for Freedom. (How long could the current system of oppression last, if Cogenitors said “Give me equal rights or I won’t make any babies for you!”?)
(But what’s with Trip’s notion that it was wrong for the Cogenitor not to “get” to share in taking care of the babies she/he produced? That assumes an instinct to bond with ones offspring. Sure, humans of both sexes have this instinct, and the females within the majority of species on Earth have this instinct, but it’s hardly universal. Oh, wait, I forgot, this is Trek – aliens not only look like humans, they have psychology indistinguishable from humans too. :rolleyes: )
I thought this was the not-serious one, because the other one’s so serious… But it looks like EVERYWHERE is serious!
Damn them for giving us something interesting to talk about!
As re: the episode - I’d say Trip was right morally, and wrong methodologically*.
*That was your seven-syllable word for the day. Hope you enjoyed it.
Tomorrow, it’ll be planotopokinesia.
[SPOILER]The Vissians demand that Captain Archer return their Cogenitor to them, despite the fact that the Cogenitor has asked for Asylum. Archer reluctantly hands over the Cogenitor to them. A little while after the Vissian ship departs, Captain Archer receives a distrubing message from them.
Archer calls Trip onto the carpet and tells him what the Vissian captain just told Archer:
The Cogenitor that they had returned to the Vissians was a panda in disguise.[/SPOILER]
Hope this helps.
Prime Directive doesn’t really apply here because the Vissians were the more advanced of the two and were more than happy to share.
What Tripp was doing was trying to better what he saw as a repressed person.
Being the lesser of the two species, he (Tripp) was bound to get it all wrong, even though his motives were just (humanly speaking). Because, Vissians are not human.
Tripp fucked up. And someone else paid the ultimate price for it. If he really wanted to accomplish some good, research! Find out all you can about the subject. Then, make an informed decision.
But, instead, he acted like me. He jumped in and tried to make a difference. Sometimes, that actually works out. IRL, I have yet to figure out the formula.
That’s why, in the other thread, I was so sad for Tripp. He tried to do good to a fellow being. But, he fucked up.
And I still say it’s a good show. Not in comparison to the sucky eps we’ve all hated, but on its own merits.
Some of you may hold other opinions, fine. This is mine.
I submit that the Vissian captain fucked up by missing a golden opportunity to bellow, “Though it take a thousand years, we … will … be … free!” in his best Narn voice.
I’ll have you know that that outrageous sweepback of the standard Centauri male hairstyle is anything but pointy!
And I know this because I just got the newly-released B5 Complete Second Season DVD set! Woo hoo! (Now, hurry up and release season 3, WB! I wanna see “Severed Dreams” in anamorphic widescreen!)
