I assume you mean Cold Front?
ENT episodes worthy of (academic) discussion?
- Thread starter Eddie Roth
- Start date
Storm Front?
Sounds like a fun seminar! 
I agree about impossible-choice, no-win scenario episodes such as "Similitude," "Cogenitor," and "Dear Doctor." Lots of discussion potential there. I'd add "Damage," but I agree with bluedana that it would need a lot of setup.
Also, polarizing episodes that some fans adore and other fans despise, such as "Twilight" or "A Night in Sickbay," might be interesting, simply because they have been perceived so differently by viewers.
I agree about impossible-choice, no-win scenario episodes such as "Similitude," "Cogenitor," and "Dear Doctor." Lots of discussion potential there. I'd add "Damage," but I agree with bluedana that it would need a lot of setup.
Also, polarizing episodes that some fans adore and other fans despise, such as "Twilight" or "A Night in Sickbay," might be interesting, simply because they have been perceived so differently by viewers.
I agree with Cogenitor, Damage, Anomaly, Similitude...
I guess one could discuss Dear Doctor as an example of the ways that the concept of evolution (or a warped understanding of it), or science in general, can be used to justify ethically questionable decisions.
I guess one could discuss Dear Doctor as an example of the ways that the concept of evolution (or a warped understanding of it), or science in general, can be used to justify ethically questionable decisions.
This seems like an example of reading gender issues that aren't there. Implying that T'Pol fails because she is a woman, rather than because she has a drug addiction (even though T'Pol has shown herself to be a good commander in every other situation when she had to take command) is the kind of absurd PC reasoning that, if taken further, would lead to every female character being portrayed as a perfect, infallible Mary Sue. Men can be flawed and make mistakes all the time, but god forbid a woman is the same, then we should cry out that it's sexist and that she's only making mistakes because she is a woman.
Exactly. If they weren't intentional, then doesn't that mean they made their way into the episodes without anybody consciencly knowing about it? It's those kinds of things that would make for great debate.
One thing I sure nobody intended, but is there none-the-less, is this.... In IAMD, an Asain woman and a black man win in the end. However, this only happens in an "evil" universe. Could lead to some interesting discussions.
Actually, I thought the moral of IaMD II was "success is the best revenge" (for the two least used characters on the show).
While excessive PC is really annoying, I don't think T'Pol's portrayal - from the 3rd season on - is very fair. I gave the example of Azati prime, but the issue is larger than that. Yes, T'Pol has become a drug addict and that's why she fails in the critical moment, but can we imagine Archer becoming drug addict or even Trip, or Malcolm? To begin to take drugs was extremaly irresponsible for a person in T'Pol's position of command in first place and much as I like T'Pol as character I must say that she is portrayed as too much frail personality and too given to temptations. I cannot help suspecting that it is connected with the gender issue, but I suppose its a topic for a separate thread - here we are just offering ideas
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Concering T'Pol's mainlining trellium, I would point to Phlox's complicity in "Damage" in keeping her incapacitation a secret. I was appalled that Phlox would put the entire crew -- not to mention Enterprise's Most Important Mission to date -- at risk to shield T'Pol.While excessive PC is really annoying, I don't think T'Pol's portrayal - from the 3rd season on - is very fair. I gave the example of Azati prime, but the issue is larger than that. Yes, T'Pol has become a drug addict and that's why she fails in the critical moment, but can we imagine Archer becoming drug addict or even Trip, or Malcolm? To begin to take drugs was extremaly irresponsible for a person in T'Pol's position of command in first place and much as I like T'Pol as character I must say that she is portrayed as too much frail personality and too given to temptations. I cannot help suspecting that it is connected with the gender issue, but I suppose its a topic for a separate thread - here we are just offering ideas
I never thought of it that way. Interesting.
While excessive PC is really annoying, I don't think T'Pol's portrayal - from the 3rd season on - is very fair. I gave the example of Azati prime, but the issue is larger than that. Yes, T'Pol has become a drug addict and that's why she fails in the critical moment, but can we imagine Archer becoming drug addict or even Trip, or Malcolm? To begin to take drugs was extremaly irresponsible for a person in T'Pol's position of command in first place and much as I like T'Pol as character I must say that she is portrayed as too much frail personality and too given to temptations. I cannot help suspecting that it is connected with the gender issue, but I suppose its a topic for a separate thread - here we are just offering ideas
I don't think it is gender, I think it is Vulcan/outsider. "Better than thou" and void of emotiion gets seduced by a taste of what her race works so hard to suppress. She spent so much time criticizing humans for their emotions and then got addicted to the drug that let her experience emotions for herself.
Well, I think it was gender all right. Could we even imagine Spock tempted to take drugs? Vulcan behaving emotional is always an interesting topic, but in case of Spock emotions were always forced on him. An he was half-human, so in theory he could be weaker than an average Vulcan.
T'Pol is shown rather vulnerable from the first season on (Fusion), but what could be explained and eventually justified in that case, simply doesn't work in 3rd season. First of all, what is the result of her taking drugs? She becomes sexually interested in Trip and even jealous of his relationships with other women. She is afraid that he could think that she is old. How very "female".
Worse than this, when she finally begin to cure herself, her only preoccupation seems to be to maintain the secret and to worry that she will never be free of emotions. What about her professional responsability? She should have confessed to Archer, in first place. She should be worrying about the people who died because she wasn't able to think clearly while in command. She should resign or at least offer her resignation. Yet somehow she manages to get away with all this - and, interestingly enough, she is forgiven by the audience. Why? Archer has been bashed and bashed without pause for his not very brilliant behaviour in ANIS. T'Pol has done incomparably worse things: why isn't she condamned with the same severity? Because she is a woman?
This could be a topic for discussion - in which cases does another objective override the doctor/patient confidentiality, if ever?
Exactly. We can't compare her with Trip or Malcolm or Archer because they're not Vulcans. We might only speculate "would T'Pol get addicted to Trelium-D if she was a male Vulcan character".While excessive PC is really annoying, I don't think T'Pol's portrayal - from the 3rd season on - is very fair. I gave the example of Azati prime, but the issue is larger than that. Yes, T'Pol has become a drug addict and that's why she fails in the critical moment, but can we imagine Archer becoming drug addict or even Trip, or Malcolm? To begin to take drugs was extremaly irresponsible for a person in T'Pol's position of command in first place and much as I like T'Pol as character I must say that she is portrayed as too much frail personality and too given to temptations. I cannot help suspecting that it is connected with the gender issue, but I suppose its a topic for a separate thread - here we are just offering ideas
I don't think it is gender, I think it is Vulcan/outsider. "Better than thou" and void of emotion gets seduced by a taste of what her race works so hard to suppress. She spent so much time criticizing humans for their emotions and then got addicted to the drug that let her experience emotions for herself.
For a discussion about gender, Unexpected and Stigma B-plot offer a lot of material. IMO they show double standards that ENT writers were not immune to. Trip was practically sexually abused in the former and sexually harassed in the later, and in both cases it was treated as a comedy.
Let's imagine this:
1) Hoshi, while communicating with a race of aliens the ENT has met, becomes friendly and flirts with a male alien; she doesn't go any further - or so she thinks - because she considers it unprofessional and dangerous, but the alien convinces her to participate in a telepathic activity that involves playing in the sand with her hands. A little later, after they part ways with the aliens, she finds out, to her shock, that she is pregnant, even though she has no idea how this could have happened. It turns out that the alien impregnated her - the telepathic ritual was actually the aliens version of reproductive process, even though he never told her what it really was. Everyone on ENT finds it hilarious, and the episode is a lighthearted comedy.
2) Dr Phloxina, ship's Denobulan doctor, is visited by Feezal, one of her three husbands (each of whom have three wives in turn, according to the Denobulan customs). The lively, charming man is completely open about the fact that he finds Hoshi very attractive. He keeps making overt sexual innuendo at her all the time. She is extremely uncomfortable, and tries to avoid him, then she tries to politely let him know that she can't have any kind of relationship with a married man - not to mention that this is someone married to her co-worker. Feezal, however, just smiles and continues with the same behavior. Hoshi worries about Phloxina's reaction, but when she finally comes clean to her, the doctor asks her why she is rejecting her husband's advances, if she dislikes him for some reason or finds him unattractive, then encourages her to go for it. Hoshi is uncomfortable, and explains that she has been brought up to stay away from married men. Phloxina and her husband laugh at the silliness of human sexual morality. This is a comic B-plot.
