Devil's Due...WTF???

I always considered this ep to be somewhat below average, but not really bad either, just some harmless fun in traditional Rodenberrian style.

 

The episode A Private Little War was pro-intervention and debatably pro-Vietnam (in a way), and it didn't seem to of had a effect on the social narrative of the day.

However, I think The Wounded would have made for a good TOS episode. A Starfleet officer sounding a warning about the resurgence of a old enemy (hopefully neither the Klingons or the Romulans), but his warning being suppressed for political reasons.

It's alway fun to have someone to hate, especially when the hate comes from ignorance.

 

I agree that Star Trek would not have that much an impact on public opinion concerning things like the Vietnam War.
Histroy being changed? How? I can only see that in a negative way, i.e. that with public support stronger the war might have continued and destroyed the lives of even more innocent civilians and poor young men drafted into a senseless conflict against their will.

The Peace Movement was important and, as always there were more sensible streams within it, who just wanted to end a conflict that was just one of many auxiliary wars of the power struggle between East and West for the benefit of everyone involved and wanted to stop the senseless feeding of young lives into the "war machine" and there were less sensible streams who ostracized and blamed damaged souls that, in a way, were as much victims of the whole things as the Vietnamese they were sent off to slaughter.

One of the MANY, MANY sad things about war is that it can turn even the most decent, sweet and moral of people into monsters, it strips the humanity off people.
While I agree that there were points in history were war was a necessary evil to prevent even greater, long lasting suffering, I think it should always be seen as merrily that, a necessary evil, never as glorious, let alone fun or an adventure.
Trek has a number of episodes that treat the theme very well. The "Hunted" from TNG's 3rd season comes to mind as well as the Wounded. Though what both are missing a bit is the civilian experience during conflicts. The most innocent people in any conflict who often get the highest amount of suffering heaped on them in he form of bombs that rain from the sky and terror and death marches and selected killings and rapes and plundering. That's a subject often less focused on.

Since it was Christmas today, lets all hope that eventual humanity will learn a better way than war and that we might some day reach a utopian state like Trek.
Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men.

 

You all mistake me. TOS would not be the avalanche, but merely the pebble that starts it. But it would be a pebble, falling where an avalanche would follow. We'll never know, will we?

 

^^^This!

Why would you need Ardra for the films when you have Q?

I'm sure after having dealt with the Borg and Q alone, Picard considered Ardra a minor irritant. Definitely not a worthy adversary for a feature film.

But then again, you have Insurrection, so that kinda shoots down my argument.

 

Ardra would have been a great villain for a film. With Q, it's always a battle of wits, which was hardly the kind of thing they did in the TNG films. Like Wrath of Khan, just give Ardra a ship and a motive and a chance to take her shot at Picard, and give Picard a reason to go after her (maybe she kills Wesley?)

The movie would be just fine. It'd also be nifty to have a female villain again. I'm not saying it would be the best film ever, but it probably could have been an entertaining one, and while I would LOVE to see Picard vs. Q on the movie screen, I just don't think, given the kinds of movies that were being made at the time and the kinds of movie the TNG production people were making at the time, that kind of film would have been anywhere near as good as it might have the potential to be.

 

I have to agree to disagree on that one. Ardra was a one-off con artist antagonist character. And she got caught, so she isn't even in the same league as Vash, as far as con artists go. I just don't see her as a film villain.

 

Vash was once Picard's sweetheart, so she's definitely not in the same league as Ardra who failed to interest him, in spite of working hard to do it.

 

Again, you may be overestimating STAR TREK's impact on public opinion back in the sixties. I don't recall "The Mark of Gideon" setting off a national conversation on overpopulation back in the day. Or "And Let That Be Your Last Battlefield" marking a major turning point in the Civil Rights movement.

 

I enjoy the episode. It does have more of a TOS feel to it in it's campy sensibilities, but it's a fun silly episode.

 

This is an episode for skeptics--and a good one.

I loved the old NBC Project: UFO.

We need more critical thinking

 

Star Trek is definitely not a franchise for bible thumpers...

 

Critical thinking, indeed. There isn't enough of that in many facets of modern life with the common ingrained attitude of school is for losers and why learn anything that doesn't help me find more money. It's really disappointing.

 

I take flawed but memorable over generic and forgettable any day.
Picard's scene in the end is good and despite its dramatic weakness the episode is the only dramatic illustration of Clarke's famous line that "any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" which comes to mind.

 

In my opinion, 'who watches the watchers' conveys the same message.

Later (DS9) such matters were dealt with less unambiguously ...

 

OK this is nitpicky, but at the end Ardra was arrested and taken into custody. She looked like she did at the beginning, which was the Ventaxian's image of their devil. So the question is: is this what she (or he) really looked like? If so, it's an amazing coincidence she just happened to look like that. However, by using holographic trickery she appeared as human and klingon "devils" as well. So was the con artist's appearance as Ardra also holographics?

 

Or it could have been prosthetic.

 

Maybe the Ventaxian did not have a very detailed/distinctive image of their devil? Maybe the legends just spoke of a "woman"

 

Probably a "woman", but possibly not even that, just a "person" or a "being" named 'Ardra', and the modern person took advantage of that.