No it seems to treat all aspects equally. Need a show of force at the border, send Starfleet. Need to map unexplored space, sent Starfleet. Need to check on a colony, send Starfleet. Need to defend the Federation, send Starfleet.
What are your controversial Star Trek opinions?
- Thread starter Amasov
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They're a fleet of all trades.
Donations have really spiked for some reason.
If the overall intent of the franchise was for Starfleet to not be a military, the writing where it is concerned has been piss-poor for sixty years.
Or... the Klingons didn't get weaker, but Starfleet got much stronger and matched up more evenly.
The Klingons did have a brief war with the Federation at the beginning of DS9 season 5.
Too much LDS in the Sixties.
Even in the TNG Writers Bible.
Gene Roddenberry, in the series' original Writer/Director's Guide (the "bible") was very specific on the subject;
While StarFleet does have a Military Duty when the time comes, it's not a 100% pure Military Organization.
That's why I call it a Hybrid Service Organization.
It has Military in it's operation & responsibility, but it isn't full Military All the time.
It has other priorities that take precedence when not in combat mode.
It doesn't mean StarFleet doesn't have the Military aspect, it sure does, but it's more than just that.
Gene Roddenberry, in the series' original Writer/Director's Guide (the "bible") was very specific on the subject;
While StarFleet does have a Military Duty when the time comes, it's not a 100% pure Military Organization.
That's why I call it a Hybrid Service Organization.
It has Military in it's operation & responsibility, but it isn't full Military All the time.
It has other priorities that take precedence when not in combat mode.
It doesn't mean StarFleet doesn't have the Military aspect, it sure does, but it's more than just that.
Someone’s hopes and dreams of a thing doesn’t change what the thing is.
Indeed. Somebody's always going to be right, and somebody's always going to be wrong.
Much like modern militaries.
"Starfleet is not a military organization, its purpose is exploration" - Captain Picard
Not to mention the countless times it has been reiterated time and again that Starfleet's mission is to "Boldly Go Where No Man Has Gone Before". Yes, it is a military. No, it's not primarily a military.
I really don't understand why that is so difficult to understand.
But in our IRL world, it's experssedly called out that we have Militaries in a traditional sense.
That's different from Gene's Roddenberry's world and his vision where it wasn't a traditional military.
Blame Gene Roddenberry, he's the one with the vision for StarFleet to be more than just Military in space.
Because the preponderance of evidence is that it is based mostly on the 1960's view of the military.
Everyone and their cousin has that one line, and ignores everything else said and done. Because if you don't then the argument disintegrates.
I mean, for an explorer, Ron Tracey was good enough to burn down thousands of attackers with his hand phaser. See: "The Omega Glory".
That could happen as well, Klingons stayed the same & StarFleet advanced.
And it wasn't nearly as one sided as what we saw in DISCO S1
"No ordinary x" ≠ "Not an x at all"
It's easiest to compare Starfleet to the US Coast Guard which, yes... is military. But also, when at not at war... it's primary function is NOT warfare or military matters. More precisely, Starfleet is like all the US "uniformed services" rolled into one organization. It's the Coast Guard. It's NOAA. It's the Public Health Corps. and yeah, it's the Army and Navy as well. It's a particularly terrible army, but it is one. It's almost as if combat isn't its primary function, and they tend to use repurposed starship personnel from other disciplines when faced with a combat situation...
...almost as if, its primary function is not warfare. Odd.
...almost as if, its primary function is not warfare. Odd.
Roddenberry had some really unworkable ideas for TNG. The show didn't free itself from those ideas, which were inconsistent with TOS, TAS and the movies, until he kicked the bucket. Once he was out of the picture, writers and directors immediately set to fixing things, and you can see it in the demeanor of the show.
it's easier to just handwave or outright ignore those few lines and accept the bulk of the facts the shows present from TOS onward. Same as with a couple of throwaway lines about money
the preponderance of information in the series is that Starfleet is military. It is modeled after a navy. Roddenberry was high off his own supply by the time TNG rolled around, and still hurt that he'd lost virually any influence over the movies, where from TWOK onward, Startleet was shown in an even more martial light.
I would say that Starfleet is a military, but that the people giving orders and those who take on the missions are "better" people. More interested in the common good than personal power.
Military shouldn't be seen as a dirty word.
Don't forget NASA & Academia.
Remember, StarFleet Academy is a 4 year institution with Majors in nearly every STEM field possible.
Not saying it is, generalizing to make a point. A dress shirt is as much of a shirt as a polo shirt.
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