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BY ANY OTHER NAME: Rojan and the cubes
- Thread starter Rowdy Roddy McDowall
- Start date
That's an interesting scene (I admit I was surprised that the male redshirt wasn't the one to die).
Rather than "random unknowing," I'd think of it as deliberate neutrality--or maybe just plain apathy for which one it'd be; I don't think Rojan thought that one or the other would have been more persuasive to remain alive. I think that as a non-human, he saw them as equals, so he thought the point of his persuasion was specifically his ability to kill--not whom he'd kill.
Rather than "random unknowing," I'd think of it as deliberate neutrality--or maybe just plain apathy for which one it'd be; I don't think Rojan thought that one or the other would have been more persuasive to remain alive. I think that as a non-human, he saw them as equals, so he thought the point of his persuasion was specifically his ability to kill--not whom he'd kill.
Each time I watch this episode, I carefully try to follow the cubes through the scene. I agree that the director/crew got it right - the female crew member's cube was destroyed.
I can't say what Rojan was thinking when deciding which to destroy, but the writer certainly did give it thought. In destroying the woman's cube, it gave a greater impact to the story - remember the context of the time.
As an aside, when watching the episode I often wonder did the restored crew member have a headache, or other assorted bumps and bruises from being tossed about while in a 'dehydrated' state?
I can't say what Rojan was thinking when deciding which to destroy, but the writer certainly did give it thought. In destroying the woman's cube, it gave a greater impact to the story - remember the context of the time.
As an aside, when watching the episode I often wonder did the restored crew member have a headache, or other assorted bumps and bruises from being tossed about while in a 'dehydrated' state?
I'd love to have this part elaborated on (I didn't live through the context of the time, by the way). If it was the woman that survived, it'd be a sort of damsel-in-distress situation--is the impact the fact that the situation didn't allow for woman-saving to occur? (Also, is it somewhat good/refreshing that the damsel-in-distress cliche was thereby avoided?)
I'm also wondering, what if it wasn't revealed right away who the survivor was?
Except they aren't 10-sided, nor are they cubes. They're 14-sided (d14 to all the D&D players here
). AKA tetradecahedron.What I always wondered is where they got stored for the duration of the episode, and what the fallout was when they were restored. It must have been hellishly disorienting, to put it mildly.
I kept thinking about the remaining crew and the Kelvins casually walking around the halls littered with those shapes. You'd think someone might be conscientious enough to stow them all in a big room somewhere, where they'd be safe. I wouldn't want to bargain bin them into a huge pile—imagine the chaos if one of the Kelvins blithely restored the entire pile all at once! Phone booth cramming, Kelvin style.
And why did the Kelvins send a "generation ship" from Andromeda if they could...
Hey, Doc Ostrow! Stop juggling your patients!
And why did the Kelvins send a "generation ship" from Andromeda if they could...
Hey, Doc Ostrow! Stop juggling your patients!
Even at the highest warp speed they could manage, it still took more than one Kelvan lifespan to get from one galaxy to the other. That's why they would need a generation ship.
Orion Press has a series of rather scarifying stories about the Kelvans, not to be read by the squeamish.
Orion Press has a series of rather scarifying stories about the Kelvans, not to be read by the squeamish.
I think Metryq meant, why didn't the Kelvans reduce themselves to cubes for long term travel, with their equipment set to automatically restore the crew once it reached our galaxy.
The savings in life support system resources and food would be simply vast.
Maybe is just me, but a woman's death has more impact than a man's does. It elicits more sympathy, and generates more loathing for perpetrator. Coupled with Kirk's obvious 'fondness for the ladies' this is the writer's way to clearly delineate the Kelvins as evil.
It would, but maybe there isn't any automatic switch on their belt gadgets? In any case, risking the whole crew in such fragile forms wouldn't be a very smart move. It takes hardly any effort at all to crush those polyhedrons.
Cuboctahedrons, not dodecahedrons. A dodecahedron has 12 identical faces, each face being a regular pentagon.
Given the context of the time (and even today) that scene has a big impact. Yes, because the girl is cute and we don't know much of her...she elicits sympathy. However, the fact that a black male character lives over the damsel who is a white....kind of buys into the entire Star Trek idea. I'm sure there can be articles or 'stuff' written about Rojan's choice, and if he did or didn't actually know who the cubes were. Furthermore, maybe he knew of Earth's past or maybe the 23rd century treatment of non-white human characters - if that still existed. Remember Sisko, even in the 24th century was still bothered by racism from Earth's past, hinting that there was possibly racism during his own time period.
We have to remember this episode is from the 1960s where black characters in films and television had a high mortality rate. Again, even today in films - especially horror films - the black or non-white characters are usually the ones to 'buy it' first or, at least, not make it to the end of the show. I recall being happy about Will Smith's Captain Steven Hiller being the hero in a summer blockbuster - and not dying - in Independence Day. So, while I feel for Julie Cobb's character, I think it's interesting who lived and who died. It's a very poignant Star Trek moment.
We have to remember this episode is from the 1960s where black characters in films and television had a high mortality rate. Again, even today in films - especially horror films - the black or non-white characters are usually the ones to 'buy it' first or, at least, not make it to the end of the show. I recall being happy about Will Smith's Captain Steven Hiller being the hero in a summer blockbuster - and not dying - in Independence Day. So, while I feel for Julie Cobb's character, I think it's interesting who lived and who died. It's a very poignant Star Trek moment.
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Same here, though the process was almost identical to that of the "dehydrator machine" in the 1966 Batman movie, which didn't creep me out at all.
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