Episode of the Week: The Neutral Zone

[Jeyl]

Yeah, but this episode doesn't want to dwell on Romulans or outposts. It wants to dive deep into that good old human condition.

Picard: Here's what I propose. You can't stay on the Enterprise, but I have arranged for us to rendezvous with the USS Charleston, bound for Earth. They will deliver you there.

Lol. This sounds less like a proposition and more like a sentence. Aren't propositions supposed to have the option to agree or disagree with what ever was proposed?

Ralph: Then what will happen to us? There's no trace of my money. My office is gone. What will I do? How will I live?
Picard: This is the twenty fourth century. Material needs no longer exist.
Ralph: Then what's the challenge?
Picard: The challenge, Mister Offenhouse, is to improve yourself. To enrich yourself. Enjoy it.

Can the same be said about the Vulcans? Klingons? Romulans? Ferengi? Betazoids? Andorians? Cardassians? Bajorans? Tholians? Androids? OR HUMANS? Why doesn't Picard recommend a different race or society that would fit Ralph's personality? I'm sure his trade expertise would be a value to the Ferengi and other words that have trade and currency. But no, just because Ralph is human, he must adhere to the new human ways whether he wants to or not.

So the episode is over and we can finally end the first season of the TNG era with another condescending remark

Riker: It's a pity we can't take them ourselves. Having them on board is like a visit from the past.
Picard: That would take us in the wrong direction. Our mission is to go forward, and it's just begun.

Geezos cripes. It's one thing to openly mock 20th century humans and preach about how infantile they are and how awesome humans of the 24th century have become, it's another to paint them as a 'wrong direction' especially when the first officer considers those three humans as signs that we could never have reached the 20th century.

And this whole "wrong direction" thing regarding our past? Screw you Picard. The past can enlightening and educational to those who seek to understand it. People have sacrificed, cured diseases, sought peace with enemy nations, accomplished what many thought were impossible, and you don't give a crap about it. I'm almost scared to imagine what Picard would think of all the war memorials dedicated to the men and women who gave their lives in the line of duty. Actually, I have a good idea.

Picard: Barbaric, infantile costume wearing savages.

Like unto angels and gods indeed Picard.

[MacLeod]

Picard's line has nothing to do with the past, it's more to do with seeing whats beyond the next star. If the Enterrpise took them back the ship would be heading home instead of exploring foward.

Still their is a nice little DW referrence in this episode.

[MikeS]

Jeyl wrote:

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I have arranged for us to rendezvous with the USS Charleston, bound for Earth. They will deliver you there.

I'd forgotten to mention the USS Charleston. Sister ships USS Samba, USS Bolero and USS Gangnam Style. Members of the "Dance" class of ships.

[Jeyl]

MacLeod wrote:

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Picard's line has nothing to do with the past, it's more to do with seeing whats beyond the next star. If the Enterrpise took them back the ship would be heading home instead of exploring foward.

That's so old trek thinking. Haven't you seen the new movies? Star Trek is all about Earth now.

[throwback]

I can't remember a movie which had exploration as its theme. Is it hard to write a film about exploration?

I think that of the 12 films, there have been only one or two that didn't begin on or near Earth or didn't involve a threat to Earth.

[CorporalCaptain]

throwback wrote:

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I can't remember a movie which had exploration as its theme. Is it hard to write a film about exploration?

I think that of the 12 films, there have been only one or two that didn't begin on or near Earth or didn't involve a threat to Earth.

Heh.

Of all 11 films to date, only Insurrection had no scenes on or near Earth.

[MikeS]

Making Insurrection the most "trek-like" and best film to date. I've been screaming about that for years!

[Melakon]

What's ironic is Picard considers himself an amateur archeologist, but tells these people to bugger off.

[The Mirrorball Man]

throwback wrote:

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I can't remember a movie which had exploration as its theme. Is it hard to write a film about exploration?

Yes it is. "Exploration" is not really a theme. "Revenge" is a theme, "love" is a theme, "finding yourself" is a theme. Usually what we call a theme in fiction has something to do with characters, not with plot.

Exploration can be used as a plot element, a backdrop for some other, more tightly focused theme. But even then, it's a lousy plot element, because exploration never ends. You just move from place to place and see things that no one has ever seen, and when you've seen them, you move to other places that no one has ever seen and so on. There's no dramatic tension to be found there.

[Captrek]

By general consensus, the best episodes of TOS and TNG are, respectively, The City on the Edge of Forever and the two-parter The Best of Both Worlds. The former takes place mostly on Earth, while the latter concerns a threat to Earth and reaches its climax in the immediate vicinity. Hmm.

[inflatabledalek]

Melakon wrote:

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What's ironic is Picard considers himself an amateur archeologist, but tells these people to bugger off.

Though in fairness, that's a character trait he was given after this (Contagion was the first to mention it wasn't it?) so you could argue it was the later episodes contradicting his complete disinterest in the past here.

A flimsy defence for a flimsy episode, one I'm fairly (haha) neutral on. Good Romulan stuff (including a fantastic new ship design) but yeah... the humans. Yeuch. Pretty much fully covered by everyone else but... yeuch.

[BillJ]

MikeS wrote:

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Making Insurrection the most "trek-like" and best film to date.

[CorporalCaptain]

Captrek wrote:

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By general consensus, the best episodes of TOS and TNG are, respectively, The City on the Edge of Forever and the two-parter The Best of Both Worlds. The former takes place mostly on Earth, while the latter concerns a threat to Earth and reaches its climax in the immediate vicinity. Hmm.

Excellent point.

And I'll add that a part of The Cage--the very first Star Trek episode ever made--took place on Earth, during one of Pike's illusions.

[Jeyl]

I think Earth is boring. I don't watch Star Trek to see the planet I'm living on be the center of attention in the most predictable manner possible. If Deep Space Nine showed us anything, it's that there is a whole galaxy of characters who aren't human that have stories to tell that aren't hinged on benefitting humans or Earth

After all, aren't the aliens, planets, cultures and even our interactions with them what make's Star Trek unique compared to every other science fiction series?

[Melakon]

^ This is one reason Roddenberry avoided Earth stories in TOS.