• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Spoilers Strange New Worlds 1x01 - "Strange New Worlds"

Rate the Episode

  • 1 - Excellent

    Votes: 147 45.9%
  • 2

    Votes: 81 25.3%
  • 3

    Votes: 60 18.8%
  • 4

    Votes: 12 3.8%
  • 5

    Votes: 5 1.6%
  • 6

    Votes: 4 1.3%
  • 7

    Votes: 5 1.6%
  • 8

    Votes: 6 1.9%
  • 9

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 10 - Terrible

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    320
  • Poll closed .
The Gorn are being established here as lacking empathy and having a very alien reproductive cycle and sense of values. All of that is completely consistent with their appearance in "Arena."

I'm going to try to re-watch Arena tonite. It might be consistent with their original appearance, but don't you think this characterization completely negates the anti-prejudice message of TOS’s Arena, of not judging people(or species) based on their physical appearances?

I'm not saying its inconsistent or some kind of plot-hole.
 
Vulcan's do not have sex for pleasure is a hill I'm willing to die on.

hx5LePO.jpg
 
That whole premise dies in the face of T'Pring having been fooling around with Stonn in Spock's absence.
They were not betrothed to each other and it's pretty obvious they had been planning to eliminate Spock with the Kal-if-fee.
Not to completely sidetrack the thread, but I always laugh at how mean T'Pring ends up. She schemed to have Spock go so far as to be Court-Martialed and punished for killing Kirk so she could end up with Stonn and get Spock out of the way.
 
Vulcan's do not have sex for pleasure is a hill I'm willing to die on. Its a very human idea that sex is something to do for recreation.
Seems like a small hill for dying but to each their own, right? Just for clarity, as has been pointed out by others, sex for pleasure is well documented throughout the animal kingdom here on Earth.

Oh wait, we're not talking about Earth. Right. However, my interpretation of the source material is colored by my own life experiences just as yours probably is. Mine is no less valid. I have no personal stake in the matter. I'm sure all the people who think Kirk and Spock were lovers are also disappointed (though ever hopeful). I like the layers and depth this heretofore unexplored aspect of Spock and T'Pring relationship brings to the overall story.

What ways would you bring depth to this younger version of Spock's unexplored history for a modern audience?
 
I'm going to try to re-watch Arena tonite. It might be consistent with their original appearance, but don't you think this characterization completely negates the anti-prejudice message of TOS’s Arena, of not judging people(or species) based on their physical appearances?

I'm not saying its inconsistent or some kind of plot-hole.
The moral to the story of "Arena," such as it was, was more about the need for the Federation to consider how its actions looked from the perspective of the Gorn instead of insisting that there was nothing provocative implied by them. In other words, it was about respecting the Gorn point of view, especially when it came to occupying space that they claimed.
 
what is being contradicted is fan assumption
A persistent problem with fandoms.

Maybe "mean" isn't the right word, (Cranky?) but at least based on this episode, La'an is another Burnham/Raffi-type who continually pop up in Kurtzman productions, even his non-trek related ones.
I see no similarities between those characters. Or do you mean "assertive women" as opposed to the more passive ones?
 
I'm going to try to re-watch Arena tonite. It might be consistent with their original appearance, but don't you think this characterization completely negates the anti-prejudice message of TOS’s Arena, of not judging people(or species) based on their physical appearances?

I'm not saying its inconsistent or some kind of plot-hole.
To carry that comment a little further does that mean Arena negates Balance of Terror?
 
Also, if a Vulcan regularly has sex, why would they even undergo Pon Farr?
To reproduce. That's where the whole "in heat" thing comes into play.

The Gorn are being established here as lacking empathy and having a very alien reproductive cycle and sense of values. All of that is completely consistent with their appearance in "Arena."
Yesssssss.

Maybe "mean" isn't the right word, (Cranky?) but at least based on this episode, La'an is another Burnham/Raffi-type who continually pop up in Kurtzman productions, even his non-trek related ones.
I see little commonality between the three characters.
 
The actual main moral of "ARENA" is that Humans don't need to act upon their baser instincts.

Kirk even says it out loud later in "A Taste of Armageddon"...

“We're human beings with the blood of a million savage years on our hands, but we can stop it!
We can admit that we're killers, but we're not going to kill today."
 
Were the Gorn in a Balance of Terror? I'm not sure what you're getting at.
That prejudice leads to poor assumptions. Mr. Styles was prejudiced against Romulans not even from his own experience. He had to learn to treat Spock better despite his Romulan bigotry.
 
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top