Star Trek musings
Feb. 10th, 2006 08:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mari4212Okay, now that the decision to leave is off my mind, I can start thinking about other things. And for various reasons, the thing that popped into my mind was Star Trek meta.
Specifically, Star Trek meta about how the first four series defined what it ment to be human. (We're not counting Enterprise because that show destroyed itself so badly it's not even worth discussing. I stopped watching it, and I'm a born and raised Trekkie.)
In Star Trek, one of the primary questions that the series tend to ask of themselves is, what does it mean to be human? What are we about, what makes us who we are? And each series answers this question in a slightly different way.
In the Original Series, the main definition of humanity seemed to be compassion. That love for others, and the desire to help them was an ongoing theme throughout much of the series. Everything from Spock's oft repeated, "The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one", to the constant self-sacrifice of the crew for each other, speaks of that compassion for others. Remember the episode, "The Empath"? Or "The Devil in the Dark"?
In The Next Generation, ideas shifted. Yes, compassion was still there, and still important, but the main definition of humanity changed. From the first episode, "Encounter at Farpoint", onwards, one of the main themes was humanity's potential to grow and learn from our mistakes, to become better than we are right now. It was Picard's defense of humanity for Q, and it remained present in many episodes along the way. Actually, Data is the prime example of this, because it was in his growth and development that this theme is most prevalent. It is his growth that makes him gradually become more human.
Deep Space Nine is a bit trickier, because one of the main themes is not so much the morality of humanity, but the morality of war. And yet there still is a great deal of questioning about humanity. The first episode, "The Emissary", has Commander Sisko explaining humanity to the Wormhole aliens, and eventually he comes down to the fact that humans are the result of their memories and connections to others. Connection to others is big in this series, actually. Dr. Bashir is genetically modified, and those modifications have driven most of the others of his kind to some form of insanity, and yet he remains whole and (relatively) sane through his friendships, through the connections he makes to others.
And Voyager. To me, this show was really about staying true to your moral code. It was when they dropped their ideals out of expediency that they got into trouble, and perhaps the best examples of this are the episodes "Equinox", part one and two. We see two Federation vessels, one of which maintained its ideals, the other one did not. And the juxtaposition, and the changes each captain goes through, really brings home the point. When you learn what Braxton's crew was doing, there's a point at which many of them don't seem human anymore, like they've lost track of what they are. And when Janeway becomes obsessed with making them pay for what they've done, she becomes dangerous, and does forget who and what she is for a while. There are other episodes throughout the series which also show this theme, but that was one of the strongest and clearest examples.
Specifically, Star Trek meta about how the first four series defined what it ment to be human. (We're not counting Enterprise because that show destroyed itself so badly it's not even worth discussing. I stopped watching it, and I'm a born and raised Trekkie.)
In Star Trek, one of the primary questions that the series tend to ask of themselves is, what does it mean to be human? What are we about, what makes us who we are? And each series answers this question in a slightly different way.
In the Original Series, the main definition of humanity seemed to be compassion. That love for others, and the desire to help them was an ongoing theme throughout much of the series. Everything from Spock's oft repeated, "The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few, or the one", to the constant self-sacrifice of the crew for each other, speaks of that compassion for others. Remember the episode, "The Empath"? Or "The Devil in the Dark"?
In The Next Generation, ideas shifted. Yes, compassion was still there, and still important, but the main definition of humanity changed. From the first episode, "Encounter at Farpoint", onwards, one of the main themes was humanity's potential to grow and learn from our mistakes, to become better than we are right now. It was Picard's defense of humanity for Q, and it remained present in many episodes along the way. Actually, Data is the prime example of this, because it was in his growth and development that this theme is most prevalent. It is his growth that makes him gradually become more human.
Deep Space Nine is a bit trickier, because one of the main themes is not so much the morality of humanity, but the morality of war. And yet there still is a great deal of questioning about humanity. The first episode, "The Emissary", has Commander Sisko explaining humanity to the Wormhole aliens, and eventually he comes down to the fact that humans are the result of their memories and connections to others. Connection to others is big in this series, actually. Dr. Bashir is genetically modified, and those modifications have driven most of the others of his kind to some form of insanity, and yet he remains whole and (relatively) sane through his friendships, through the connections he makes to others.
And Voyager. To me, this show was really about staying true to your moral code. It was when they dropped their ideals out of expediency that they got into trouble, and perhaps the best examples of this are the episodes "Equinox", part one and two. We see two Federation vessels, one of which maintained its ideals, the other one did not. And the juxtaposition, and the changes each captain goes through, really brings home the point. When you learn what Braxton's crew was doing, there's a point at which many of them don't seem human anymore, like they've lost track of what they are. And when Janeway becomes obsessed with making them pay for what they've done, she becomes dangerous, and does forget who and what she is for a while. There are other episodes throughout the series which also show this theme, but that was one of the strongest and clearest examples.
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Date: 2006-02-12 04:27 am (UTC)This brings me to my next point: I think there is another level to that, and it was about finding common ground in someone who looks like a stranger. Star Trek exagerated it a bit by having very odd looking aliens, but it was basically about the ideal that the things that divide us are far greater than the things that unite us.
At least, that's what the theme was when Gene Roddenberry had an active hand in the series' creative direction. I think, after his death, the show took a bit of a different tone. This really becomes evident in TNG post season 4 or 5.
I think at this point, the show becomes about understanding differences rather than finding similarities. I think, often times, the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians and the Bajorans were used to show us that we wouldn't always be able to find understanding for The Stranger, but we must find compassion and respect. It might not be our place to understand, just to accept and let be. This was the real realization of boldly going where no one has gone before.
The Federation got called on being arrogant, simply assuming that they had it best, they were the most enlightened, etc. etc. And so, when "barbaric" Klingons, or "devious" Romulans, or "arrogant" Cardassians, or "backward" Bajorans called them on it, it just felt that much more obvious and disappointment.
Now, I think that the creative team introduced some of these themes very deliberately on the heels of the emergence of Globalization and Americanization. In that way, Trek was very contemporary and very relevant. Too often, Sci-Fi becomes trite and overly idealistic (to be honest, I think Gene's vision of Trek WAS a little overly trite and needlessly idealistic). I think by allowing a little bit of darkness into the Trek Universe, we actually got to see more admirable values from our heroes and less self-righteousness.
I'm starting to loose focus, so we'll stop right there and hope that something productive comes out of that.
Also, best of luck on all the school issues. I think it took real courage to do what you did. It's so easy to get wrapped up in the little universe that is college life and feel like there's no way out but to put your head down and finish (I did that, and I'm paying for it now). Best of luck in whatever comes next.