Star Trek

Books, Movies, Theatre, Lectures Movies, Shows, and Theatre
1

I absolutely love the Star Trek Universe. It presents a future in which reason reigns, knowledge of the universe is continually searched for, and the incredible ability of the mind to solve problems. In just about every episode of every Star Trek series they encounter a new feature of the universe, a new problem that faces them that they must quickly solve; and just about every time they solve these problems brilliantly.

I think Dr. Hurd says it best when he states:

Star Trek offers a rare glimpse into a world of heroes, where the reasoning individual mind solves problems successfully and confidently. Both the old and new series are, on the whole, inspiring as well as entertaining. Although a fantasy concept, Star Trek challenges us to project ourselves into a future where individuals consistently and heroically utilize reason, instead of reliance on emotions, whims, or superstition, to solve their dilemmas.

Star Trek is no sterile glorification of technology without reference to mind. The rational mind – that is, the individual human soul or spirit – is the essence of what drives this show and its characters. Its themes, such as individualism vs. collectivism (in the case of the evil Borg), are both relevant and timeless. Its heroes are individuals of both intellect and action. Star Trek is as much – or more – a work of philosophy and psychology as a work of science fiction. If the central purpose of art and entertainment is to project life as it might be and ought to be, as the philosopher Aristotle argued, then Star Trek fulfills its mission quite well.

Psychologically, the shows are magnificently refueling. They give you a refreshing, clean sense that the human mind is efficacious and can solve problems. You will walk away from most of the movies or episodes with a feeling that competence and thought, if diligently applied, can and will conquer adversity. You will experience the sensation, “If this is where mankind can go, then this is where I can go.”

My favorite series are Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager and my favorite movies include The Wrath of Khan (Star Trek II), The Undiscovered Country (Star Trek VI), Star Trek: First Contact, and Star Trek: Nemesis. Even when certain episodes and series include mystical or collectivist themes in part (such as elements of the series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek V: The Final Frontier), on the whole they are still quite enjoyable.

By far, I would say that The Next Generation and Voyager are my favorite TV series of all time.

Anyone else enjoy the world of Star Trek?

2

i never got into star trek, although i had plenty of friends who liked it. i think i got turned off it because in the first episode i watched they brought someone from our time to theirs and the guy asked them where he could buy food and the captain (patrick stewart) tells him they abolished the need for commercial goods a long time ago and that now everything was free to everyone. it was a long time ago so i’m not sure about the details. i was not an objectivist back then…but thought that the idea about not having to pay for commercial goods to be too unrealistic. also i always thought the aliens looked too human-like.

that said…i have nothing against trekkies or anything. my high school chem professor (my fave teacher) used to come dressed as a different star treck character every hallowen and knew klingon. i was always more into the spy genres …currently i’m a fanatic of Alias. :stuck_out_tongue:

p.s. i found a website that has a paragraph about the man i mentioned, guess he was trying to check his portfolio.

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Empire/Essays/Trek-Marxism.html

3

I love Star Trek. I liked the original, and the Next Generation.

Deep Space 9 was nice…

The future these series portray is usually benevolent and heroic - which is exactly the vision humanity needs. While the details aren’t always correct (example - the abolition of money, which Dagny brought up) - the sense of life is generally good.

4

While I am a fan of the Next Generation TV show, it does have a socialist/commie bent. The link Dagny posted is worth a read and is on the mark.

While I give the writers credit for portraying the Borg as the collectivist evil that they are, the Federation is different only in degrees. That is, if the Borg represents pure communism, the Federation is socialist in nature. The alien race which is most concerned with trade and profit (the Ferengis) are always portrayed negatively. Also take a look at the Next Generation movie - Star Trek: Insurrection. Not only is it a love letter to the environmentalist movement but it also takes a stance which is pro labor union!

5

Dagny,

While I will grant the point that Star Trek is not perfect and what you brought up is a flaw, I think that you give this flaw too much credence. If one takes a look Star Trek as a whole (the many series and the movies combined) I think one would find that the kind of things the author of the article you posted make up 5-10% of what takes place. author basically takes every concrete example of collectivism and altruism in Star Trek, blows them completely out of proportion, assumes that they apply to every character and every series, and then makes wild conclusions. I do not think that that article should be taken very seriously at all.

Whatever flaws Star Trek has in this regard, their main focus is on the exploration of the unvierse and the expansion of their knowledge and for that reason is a very wonderful and fulfilling show. I suggest putting your pre-conceptions aside and checking it out! Especially Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager :stuck_out_tongue:

6

I think that Star Trek, especially the new episodes, on a more fundamental level, shows the contradictions between modern day philosophy and science. When the issue at hand is scientific in its nature, and can be solved only by means of subjecting nature to man, then you’re in for an exciting and mind-boggling episode. However, when they get into philosophical questions, then A is everything except A. Things then stop making sense and you can actually see the characters preach collectivism no matter how incredibly stupid the situation is. Exceptions are most welcome (one of which is the episode where captain Picard says that wonderful sentence which I will never forget: “With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably.”).

However, sometimes I just don’t want to hear their babbles. The Kirk episodes, where Spock keeps repeating “Needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” make me want to puke. And he claims it is logical that it is so.

DS9 series are full of this collectivist propaganda. Not to say that the climax is often completely ruined by the interference of the Bajoran prophets who continually claim that they’re smarter than us, yet they can barely comprehend the concept as simple as timeline.

I agree that The Next Generation and Voyager are the best episodes one can see on TV, but surely there are still many episodes which I find really boring or even annoying.

7

Captain Jean-Luke Picard is my hero! Always rational; always calm; even in the face of incredible danger. It seems like some of you are concentrating to much on the negatives; blowing them way out of proportion. Ayn Rand was a fan of Victor Hugo even though their philosophies were very different. It was his ability to create drama and write incredibly descriptive pieces that won Ayn Rand’s respect.

8

source,

I agree with what you said. Especially with Deep Space Nine one can see a lot of instances that you refer to. However, from my experience with Star Trek so far the episodes extolling science and reason are more plentiful than those discussing contradictory philosophy.

Keep in mind, Star Trek is a fantasy concept. When the characters are put into weird situations like phenomena based on the concepts of quantum mechanics and such, I do not think the point is to extol irrational science. It seems to me that the point of putting the characters into this very complex and weird situations is rather to emphasize the strength of their reasoning capacities and their strength in encountering new situations.

Furthermore, I agree completely with what Michelangelo has said. Most of the people that have posted here so far have focused way too much on the negatives. I do not claim that Star Trek is perfect, but it certainly has its great points.

If you can not focus on the positives of Star Trek, I’d suggest avoiding Deep Space Nine. I find that it tends to focus more on some of the more irrational themes that Star Trek has been known to cover. The Next Generation and Voyager however concentrate much more on the exploration and scientific aspect. :smiley:

9

RationalEgoistSG,

I was very dissapointed with the episode of DS9 when Sisko entered the wormhole to face the fleet of Jem-Hadar ships, just to have the prophets make them disappear. However, in this same episode I loved captain Sisko when he “negotiated” with the propets to make them help. He proved himself to be more intelligent than the gods of Bajor.

What bothers me from then on is that Gene Roddenberry didn’t realize that fact.

10

Source,

As a matter of fact, that very episode was shown on SpikeTV this past Friday night, including the first episode of the two parter as well. It’s such a great conflict (I absolutely love the multiple shots of the massive Starfleet fleet of 600+ ships). The space battle between the two massive fleets is a total dream for a Star Trek dork like myself. :confused:

I HATE what happens in the wormhole. While I really like Sisko’s resolve to protect the Alpha Quadrant, the end of that episode is such a cop-out.

Despite the negative influence of mysticism (Bajor) and collectivism (Odo and the Great Link), DS9 is starting to grow on me. I really enjoy the characters of Garak, Bashir, O’Brien, and Odo (to an extent).

Before knowing much about it, I thought the Defiant was a pretty weak ship (seeing how it is so small). But when I finally saw some episodes with it in use, I thought that it’s ability to cloak and it’s massive firepower is quite cool!

11

I HATE what happens in the wormhole. While I really like Sisko’s resolve to protect the Alpha Quadrant, the end of that episode is such a cop-out.

Yes, that’s what I’m talking about. It completely ruins the climax. What I said, however, was about the scene when the prophets talk to Sisko for the last time, when he convinces them to help. While I think that the climax was ruined because the prophets intervened, I find it really exciting that Sisko, as a human being, found such a trivial logical fallacy in the thinking of the gods and showed it to them directly. An ordinary prophet, like Jesus or Buddha, if they really ever talked to a being they considered supreme (not that I think they did, but let’s suppose for the sake of the argument), would blindly believe everything they were told. But not Sisko! He confronted the gods; he defied them and proved himself to be right. I really liked that. Despite that, I still think that the climax that was building up through the rest of the two episodes was completely ruined. The scene with the prophets in this episode was like a scene cut out from some other story.

Despite the negative influence of mysticism (Bajor) and collectivism (Odo and the Great Link), DS9 is starting to grow on me. I really enjoy the characters of Garak, Bashir, O’Brien, and Odo (to an extent).

I don’t think that Odo adds up to the influence of collectivism in the story. Although he’s shown that he’d really want to be in the link, he’s being quite an individualist for choosing to abandon his home in order to fight for what’s right. As for Bashir, I like him in general, for his genious. But I also resent his feeling guilty for being genetically modified. It’s the same as feeling guilty because you’re better than others. As for Garak and O’Brien, I like them too. I liked Jadzia Dax too, but I really don’t like Worf and the Klingons in general. I also dislike the Ferengies, because they’re like Marxist capitalists (capitalists the way Karl Marx would describe them) - they steal, cheat, offer and receive bribes and latinum is like their religious icon, etc. However, I still like Quark in some episodes, because despite of his cowardice, he has shown to be very skilled in negotiation.

Before knowing much about it, I thought the Defiant was a pretty weak ship (seeing how it is so small). But when I finally saw some episodes with it in use, I thought that it’s ability to cloak and it’s massive firepower is quite cool!

Yeah, I didn’t think of it much either, particularly when they said that it could tear itself apart if it should fire all phasors at once. I remember the scene from “The First Contact” movie, when Defiant was fighting the Borg cube. Sometime during that scene, Picard or Riker contacted the Defiant which was under Worf’s command, and said “Tough little ship.”

Worf answered “Little?!”

I only figured out why he used that tone when I saw the Defiant in a few battles in DS9 series. It is a great ship. And it’s quite sad that it’s the only battleship that the federation has. At least the human part of it.

And I really like it’s cloaking ability too. However, I dislike the reason because of which it is the only ship the federation has which has this cloak. Remember the Khittomer accord?

12

While I think that the climax was ruined because the prophets intervened, I find it really exciting that Sisko, as a human being, found such a trivial logical fallacy in the thinking of the gods and showed it to them directly.

Agreed. I think they play way too much of an important role in the story however, especially, from what I remember of the series finale. (I do not really remember the series finale though, so don’t say anything about it!) B)

Sisko definitely has his good moments though!

Most of the episodes I have seen so far are the episodes shown on SpikeTV in “Trek Uncut” on Friday nights. As a result, most of Odo’s behavior that I have seen has involved the Founders and the Great Link. Still though, I agree with you that there are elements of his character that I really like: his overwhelming confidence as a security officer, his trying to understand the nature of aspects of “solid” life (a la Data in TNG), and his comical dislike of Quark.

I haven’t seen too much of Bashir, but I did see him in the pilot episode and I really liked his youthful optimism and ambition. Also, I really enjoy the storyline of Garak and Bashir having philosophical discussions every day at lunch, if only I could enjoy the same! Speaking of Garak, I find him to be quite an enjoyable character. Not only is he intelligent but he has great wit, charm, and sarcasm.

While the Klingons and Worf have their problems, I do like their physical strength and the importance they place on honor. Even though they place such a high emphasis on family honor, which is wrong, they still also place a strong emphasis on individual honor which I find to be admirable.

I have not experienced much about Dax’s character, but damn is she quite a beautiful woman! :smiley: (Yes, I am aware that she is really the host to a very old man. :stuck_out_tongue: )

I really like O’Brien for his excellence in engineering and ability to solve problems (classic of pretty much all Star Trek characters of course!) While I enjoy Major Kira’s ferocity and strength of convinction, she seems to be the perfect embodiment of a Kantian. She believes in reason and science in application to the material world but then has all sorts of nonsensical religious beliefs (as a Bajoran).

As for the Ferengis, while it is definitely true that they represent a false picture of capitalism, there are still aspects of them to admire. Like you pointed out Quark is quite the negotiator. But also, I’d like to point out that at no time (at least from what I have seen) do they portray the Ferengis as morally evil or reprehensible in any way. They do seem to indicate that a life directed solely around profit is misguided, but I do not think that they are indicating that selfishness is morally wrong per se. Also, Quark has been shown to overcome his cowardice in certain episodes. In fact, in the episode that we were referring to with Sisko and the prophets, Quark overcame his cowardice and killed (or maybe stunned) two Jem-Hadar soldiers and freed Kira and the resistance on DS9. Also, the other Ferengi (whose name escapes me) was the first one to sabotage the Dominion’s efforts at disabling the minefield around the wormhole and continued to press Quark to do the same (despite the very apparent danger that this posed.)

And yes, I’ve often wondered why Starfleet has not equipped more of its ships with cloaking devices, and has not built more warships. The answer to this seems simple though, in that it makes for MUCH BETTER storylines if the ship with the characters on them do not have cloaks, are not invincible, and do not have absolutely amazing firepower. Imagine if, when The Enterprise first encountered the Borg, all they need to do was enable their cloaking device or using the massive firepower that they posses? How boring that would have been, hehe. Furthermore, having both those qualities in Federation starships seems to run contrary to the essential purpose of Starfleet: the scientific exploration of the universe and meeting new civilizations. B)

13

Howdy all,

Maybe I am simple, but the way I see it all television has a looter/collectivist tinge to it. I would add to that 99% of TV is worthless bullsh*t, at least in my opinion.

That being said Star Trek in all it’s varieties is part of that rare 1% of television that is worth spending the time to watch. Unless of course it is the 420th time you saw the episode. :smiley: In which case maybe you should pick up a book or look to see if another channel is showing an episode you have only see half a dozen times.

14

That being said Star Trek in all it’s varieties is part of that rare 1% of television that is worth spending the time to watch!

Are you kidding? Star Trek IS that 1% of TV programme that is worth watching.

OK. I’m kidding. But there’s practically nothing else I like to watch on TV. Sometimes I see some comedy show like “The Nanny” or “The New Statesman”, or a cartoon, but that’s about it. I don’t even watch the evening news anymore.

15

Agreed. I think they play way too much of an important role in the story however, especially, from what I remember of the series finale. (I do not really remember the series finale though, so don’t say anything about it!)  :stuck_out_tongue:

I haven’t seen the finale yet. They’re showing the episodes now on national TV for the first time here in Croatia.

… his overwhelming confidence as a security officer, his trying to understand the nature of aspects of “solid” life (a la Data in TNG), and his comical dislike of Quark.

Exactly one of the qualities why I like Odo and Quark - whenever I see them together, I just can’t stop laughing!

While the Klingons and Worf have their problems, I do like their physical strength and the importance they place on honor. Even though they place such a high emphasis on family honor, which is wrong, they still also place a strong emphasis on individual honor which I find to be admirable.

I always thought of honor as an attribute of the second-hander. However, what you may mean by “individual honor,” could be called integrity.

Also, the other Ferengi (whose name escapes me) was the first one to sabotage the Dominion’s efforts at disabling the minefield around the wormhole and continued to press Quark to do the same (despite the very apparent danger that this posed.)

That other Ferengi’s name is Rom. Rom’s son, who is a young ensign in Star Fleet, is called Nog.

The answer to this seems simple though, in that it makes for MUCH BETTER storylines if the ship with the characters on them do not have cloaks, are not invincible, and do not have absolutely amazing firepower.

I’ve always thought that the opposite was true. Give the good guys everything they realistically CAN have, and make the bad guys even stronger. I think that the Dominion could handle Star Fleet having a fleet of cloaked ships. But it’s quite true - I still await the resolution of the war impatiently, exactly because it seems that right now, Star Fleet has no way to win. Oh god, I hope that the prophets won’t interfere! :smiley:

16

Are you kidding? Star Trek IS that 1% of TV programme that is worth watching.

Well there is also Stargate, Stargate: Atlantis, and Farscape if you have the Sci Fi channel. Oh! Comming next year also on the Sci Fi channel, Battlestar Galactica!

17

Well there is also Stargate, Stargate: Atlantis, and Farscape if you have the Sci Fi channel.  Oh! Comming next year also on the Sci Fi channel, Battlestar Galactica!

There is such a thing as a Sci-Fi channel? Is that on satellite?

If it is… well, I’m just going to have to turn the dish somewhere else because hotbird (at least I think it’s hotbird’s signal I’m receiving) is such a dull satellite! All I’m getting are loads of german channels, loads of channels that sell loads of stuff and some from poland and the rest of europe. After Cartoon Network moved to cable TV, there isn’t a single english program on that satellite left. So I just don’t watch it any more.

18

I also am a big fan of Star Trek: Voyager and have been buying the DVD sets as they have been coming out. At first glance it appears to be one of those awful PC programs, with a woman Captain, Native American first officer, Black security officer etc. etc. But it really isn’t.

Here is an exchange between a Borg (a member of a giant intergalactic communist collective) and Seven of Nine - someone who escaped from the collective. The episode is called “One.”

Borg: Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero One, you have left the collective. It was a foolish decision. Now you are alone, you have lost the many, you are only one, you have become human, weak, pathetic. Humans do not have our strength, they are imperfect, now you are imperfect as well.

Seven: No.

Borg: You will not survive. You can not survive without the collective.

Seven: I will adapt.

Borg: By becoming weaker, less perfect?

Seven: I will adapt as an individual.

Borg: One. One alone. A Borg can not be one.

Seven: I will become stronger.

Borg: A borg can not be one. She will die as one. Weak, detached, isolated. One Borg can not survive.

Seven: I am an individual. I will survive alone.

Borg: No. You are weak. You will die alone.

Seven: I can survive alone.

Borg: Seven of Nine. Resistence is futile.

Seven: I am Seven of Nine. I am alone, but I will adapt.

19

In my opinion, Star Trek was the most benevolent universe type science fiction ever produced. Its view of man is uplifiting if not always consistent. However, it does seem that most of its writers are some version of collectivists as their vision of the future seems to depict some type of socialist utopia: no money, no private busiesses (except the Farangi who are therefore punished by bieng horrifically ugly), Starfleet (ie government) controlls pretty much everything from research to mining to defense to exploration, etc, etc.

Also, whenever they dable with explicit philosophy, they can get pretty bad: “the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one” for example. Not to mention their 30 year tribute to the mind-body dichotomy, ie the entire Vulcan race.

All that being said, its good tv and worth watching. I particularly liked last season’s Enterprise. The entire season revolved around one plot arch, the race to destroy the Xindi weapon of mass destruction that would destroy Earth. The show abandoned its pacifism of the prior two seasons and in many cases “took the gloves off.” Archer was stronger and determined and the plots revolved around justice. Even the names of the villians reflected the war against terrorism; ie “Suliban” - Taliban and “Xindi” - Sunni.

And the season finale was some cliff hanger. Next season will undoubtedly tell the tale of the legendary “Romulan Wars” of the 2160s. No self respecting defender of liberty should miss that. :slight_smile:

20

That other Ferengi’s name is Rom. Rom’s son, who is a young ensign in Star Fleet, is called Nog.

Rom is Quark’s brother and their mother is nammed Moogie:)

She isn’t allowed to wear clothes either…he he he. :huh: