As noted, DS9 nis on most every night. But I don’t like to watch them, because of the reason others like DS9 so much - the season’s long story arc. I have no idea where they are and I don’t remember it enough to figure it out. I can try to guess where theya re in the war, or say, “Hey, City on the Edge of Forever is on! Let’s watch it instead.”
I suspect Chakotay’s tribe would be unrecognizable to moderns. I figure with the two large wars, and things getting all mixed up, and records lost, the history of native Americans got lost. His tribe is probably half one real tribe, and half Disney.
Yes, but it was a fictional tribe (the Rubber Tree people from Central America) that was originally given the gift of intelligence by some white aliens. One of them was played by the guy who played Elaine’s boss in Seinfeld (Richard Fancy).
While it is exactly as racist as that sounds (SFDebris considers it the worst and most racist episode in the franchise), I don’t 100% blame them. They were fooled by a charlatan of a Native American consultant. So at least they were trying, unlike other big companies that tried to exploit Native Americans.
As a native…I blame them. They were blinded by their White Savior complex. This was AFTER the abominable Journey’s End which featured such gems as:
!. Wheaton: “We’re doing an Indian episode!!” Oh that’s great, is that like a “Jew Episode” or a “Black episode” Tell me more.
Bullshit mumbo-jumbo spiritualism white guilt for Picard. Picard (AND JANEWAY) are people of reason…UNTIL of course it comes to “Indian spiritualism”. Then its all “HMMMMMMMMM”
3, Dialogue such as “Picard! What are you going to do about your Indians!!” Oh they arn’t settlers? They arn’t colonists? This Cardassian is calling them Indians??
Easily one of the worst DS9 eps! The other contenders being any one with Vic Fontaine or Grand Nagi.
Most science fiction shows go way overboard for Native Americans. In the glorious future of the 24th century no one believes in God, ghosts, vampires, psychic healing, crystal power, chiropractors, or any woo that the early 21st century believes in. But Native Americans! They really have “powers”. They are the one allowed spiritualistic group.
A woman claiming to be the Devil herself is obviously a charlatan, but Native Americans are “one” with the cosmos. They can help Westley understand his abilities as a time/space genius.
And it’s not just Star Trek. In the final Jack Williamson Humanoid novel, the humanoids had pacified and controlled every human in the universe, controlled their every thought and action, for their own good, of course. Except for the Native Americans, who have the Wisdom to run their own lives unmolested by The Humanoid Touch.
I just have to ask. I don’t know of anyone in the world actually named “Westley,” as opposed to “Wesley,” but I often see it spelled this way on the internets. I wonder what gives.
I rewatched Deep Space Nine on Netflix a few years ago. I found I liked it better the second time around than when it originally aired. I was a teenager back when if was first on the air, and I think when I was that age I preferred the “alien of the week” format of TNG. Watching it again as an adult I could appreciate the political and religious intrigue of DS9 more.
Confusing the name with Westley from The Princess Bride, maybe?
Actually, I have a vague recollection of people deliberately misspelling the name because they hated the character so much.
Which, damnit, was *not *Wil Wheaton’s fault. The writers just didn’t know what to do with the character, so he became the go-to for either doing really dumb things to get an episode started or really smart things to solve the episode’s problem. Given what he had to work with, Wheaton did a decent job and could have done better, as is evidenced by his work in movies like Stand By Me or guest roles in other series like The Big Bang Theory or Criminal Minds.
What gives is I trusted spellcheck. I didn’t care enough to look it up, and got bit.
I work with a “Westly” so I guess I blurred Wesley and Westly and got Westley. (interestingly, the only one flagged as incorrect by the software is the one I know personally.)
I’m one of the small group that never hated “the boy”. He had bad episodes. But, they ALL had bad episodes. Is Wesley worse than Pulsaki? I hated her entire season. Is he worse than the worse use of The Goddess of Empathy and her catsuit? Wesley wasn’t that bad.
I never hated him at all…and what he was in Final Mission is what he should have been all along. A little defensive, a little arrogant, father issues, a little mouthy and a nice contrast with Picard.
I liked his scene in The Bonding, explaining how he used to hate Picard, but not any longer. I got the impression Picard never realized before how much it affected Wes.
I enjoyed *DS9 *a lot, and *VGR *much less so overall, but both came to natural and mostly-satisfying conclusions. No particular reason to take them into the movies (although then-Adm. Janeway appeared in ST Nemesis, I believe), and the studio already had other *ST *iterations in mind.
Incidentally, I thought Wesley’s best episode was “The First Duty,” where he grapples with misplaced loyalty, peer pressure, survivor guilt and his admiration of Picard. Damn fine episode (plus it’s got Boothby the Academy groundskeeper and hey, there’s Richard Fancy again!): The First Duty (episode) | Memory Alpha | Fandom
