The Intellectual Content of Star Trek

The Texas Mercury ^ | August 2002 | Hank Parnell

[Bobby777]

LOL ... I've got a copy of "Killdozer" ... it's the best asteroid-inhabited-by-an-evil-blue-alien-intelligence-lands-on-an-island-and-possesses-a-Cat-D9-bulldozer-and-fries-and-squashes-unsuspecting-construction-workers movie ever made! LOL! ... got a few other ones that were campy that I liked from back then ... "Gargoyles" (Bernie Casey and Scott Glenn!) ... "Satan's Triangle" (Kim Novak and Doug McClure) ... and finally "The Horror at 37,000 Feet" with Buddy Ebsen and William Shatner ... these films are a hoot!

[Flyer]

Emotion, passion, "faith" were always extolled; reason and logic shown to be empty, inadequate, and worthy only of derision and mockery

That's the trouble with tribbles. . .

---

[jalisco555]

Hilarious article. I must dissent with the author's opinion on Stargate SG-1. I'm working my way through the first season on DVD and I kind of like it. The blond Captain (she must get promoted to Major in a later season) does get on my nerves sometime.

[jalisco555]

Am I the only one on this thread to remember "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet"

I never saw the tv show but I read all the books when I was a kid. Boy, did I want to grow up to be him!

[SubMareener]

Gene Roddenberry discribed Star Trek as "Wagon Train" set in the stars. That is all he was trying to do.

[Hacksaw]

But what about Deep Space Nine? Except for the first couple of seasons, the show was about fighting off a suicidal and unrelenting enemy who worshipped a false god. Parallels??? Pretty good writing and direction on the show too. IMHO, it was one of the best Sci-Fi serials to date.

Yes, Deep Space Nine was the best of the spin-offs. Very little PC BS.

[Freebird Forever]

I am invoking FreeRepublic General Order 24: Any posted article that mentions Ann Coulter must be accompanied by pictures of Ann.

FR has 23 general orders more worthy of note then this?

[strela]

FR has 23 general orders more worthy of note then this?

I think you've hit on a great thread of its own. We need to codify the "25 FR Rules of Acquisition" or "The 25 FR General Orders."

[Cincinatus]

Click HERE for another FR thread a long, long time ago on this very topic, in a galaxy far, far away..

[Tijeras_Slim]

I think the last seasons of DS9 (my favorite of the ST franchise) were in response of the very strong showing made by B5 with the overall series theme concept. Even television can be improved by competition (unless it's a race to the basement currently being run in "reality" shows.)

[willieroe]

Who's the most pretentious non-talent in all of science fiction?
Everyone except Issac Asimov.

I would disagree with this.
Fredrik Pohl is quite conservative, and a Grandmaster of Sci-Fi.
I would also include Greg Bear, but he is quite hard core Sci-Fi. More Sci then Fi.

-Maigrey-

[Jonah Hex]

And I have to throw in Robert Heinlein. (Although I admit his work hasn't translated well to either the small or big screen.)

[forsnax5]

... these films are a hoot!

Try to find "Killer Klowns From Outer Space" to add to that collection... :)

[strela]

I have to throw in Robert Heinlein. (Although I admit his work hasn't translated well to either the small or big screen.)

You are correct - there hasn't been a single film based on any of Heinlein's works that I would walk across the street to see. Somebody could make a mint if they could do a successful trilogy of the events in "Time Enough for Love" and/or the Future History. Out of all the Heinlein books I've seen butchered on the screen, this one IMO has the best possibility of being made into something watchable.

Peter Jackson is doing a fine job with Tolkien's source material; if he gets antsy for a project in the future, maybe he'll take this one on.

[Tokhtamish]

I agree that the final seasons of DS9, the continuous plot lines, the Dominion War, were a direct steal from the Shadow-Vorlon War and the Earth Civil War in B5. But more accessible. A problem B5 always had was that like a soap opera you just couldn't start watching it without having a long time fan explain to you the plots and secrets and relationships. This was a series where a casual comment in season 1 would rebound with devastating force in season 4.

The difference that always struck me is that the ST universe was one without resource constraints. The entire Federation Fleet is wiped out in battle with the Borg and the episode airily concludes with the statement that it will be rebuilt in six months (?!). Did Japan recover from Midway in six months ? Not just the ships and planes were lost but all those irreplaceable crack pilots. In B5 the core issue is President Clark's "Empire of Earth" policies vs the desire for freedom by the outer colonies. Central government vs local government resource allocation conflicts. The way politics actually works.

Also the role of religion. B5 always had its own religion. The mysterious, awesomely powerful Vorlons disguise themselves in powered suits because, as Kosh explained, "Everyone would recognize me". And the gradually explained timeless war between the Vorlons with their order and obedience ideology and the Shadows who foment war and chaos in service to their Darwinian ideology. The Bajoran mythology is a direct borrowing of Sinclair-Valen from B5.

[Tokhtamish]

An episode I truly despised about ST-TNG was the one where they reintroduced the Romulans.

First the Enterprise found this capsule of frozen 20th century people they reanimated. One of them was a stock capitalist who kept demanding to "call his office", as if his old company were as eternal as the Catholic Church. He threatens to use his influence to get Picard fired, not comprehending that his rolodex of bigshot friends are all dead. What does Picard do ? He personally goes to him and pleads with him to stay off the intercom. Who is the captain of that ship ? Who is in charge ? Kirk would have thrown his ass into the brig which would have been the correct thing to do with someone disrupting ship functions.

The capitalist is a self-important fool who does not understand that his power and wealth are all gone and Picard is incapable of enforcing discipline.

[tictoc]

And I won't even go into the anti-semitic overtones of the Ferengi, short, greedy, funny-looking dishonest guys with big ears, noses and bad taste.

??

I love Quark the Ferengi and his timeless wisdoms (my favorites are Rule of Acquisition #59 "Free advice is seldom cheap" and Rule #13 "Anything worth doing is worth doing for money"!

Unfortunately I am afflicted with a congenital lack of talent for making money hand over fist, so Quark and his compatriot PELGAR, the famous Internet advice columnist, are exactly what this tiny-skulled hew-mon needs to keep the bill collector from kicking down my door.

[Scully]

Saturday morning ping!

[Publius6961]

You think that the old Star Trek was bad?

I must confess that I was a real fan, collected every episode, knew them by name had favorites and not so favorite...

Got my daughter hooked on it (her favorite was Devil in the Dark but then she read Charlottes Web 37 times, before she set aside childish things.)

My favorite was always Requiem for Methuselah.

Regardless of how spotty the original was, I happened to stumble on a new incarnation called simply "Enterprise".
Starring that time travelling do-gooder from "Quantum Leap"

I managed to force myself to watch about half of it.
When this captain berated and threatened to shoot the captain of a freighter who had the temerity to resist space pirates, I bailed.

The obvious parallel to trying to "understand" evil (911) instead of blindly lashing out (survival is "lashing out" in the 25th century), made me sick.

Good riddance to bad rubbish...

PC and multiculturalism and cultural relativism.
Bah. Humbug.