In which Trek movie is Starfleet best represented

[Luke Lightsaber]

I'd have to say TMP and TVH, are really the only Trek films where the entire Starfleet comes across as a very highly advanced culture that does its best to help out galaxy wide problems.

In TWOK and Undiscovered Country, we see the seedy side of the Federation, the people trying to destroy the Klingon Culture, and Dr. Marcus and her scientists creating a torpedo that needs planets as testing grounds. Yeah, they were civillian Scientists, but they were able to order around Federation starships.

Also, in TSFS, Starfleet retires the Enteprise, and refuses to even help Kirk recover Spock from Genesis despite Kirk and Spock saving Earth many times in the past. True, Earth and Vulcan had a tough time together in Enterprise, but by Kirk's time, you'd think that Starfleet would more than help out the Vulcans, and Sarek.

 

[stonester1]

In TSFS, they didn't believe Kirk's tale of Vulcan mysticism. Federation culture is very secular, and they tend to dismiss such talk outright.

 

[Sheliak]

First Contact

 

[The Old Mixer]

The TOS movies did fall into the trap of setting up the Starfleet bureaucrats as straw men to make our heroes look more heroic. On that basis, I might have to go with TMP as the movie that best portrayed the Enterprise crew as part of Starfleet, rather than an exception to it.

 

[cultcross]

^ an AAZ?

In TSFS, they didn't believe Kirk's tale of Vulcan mysticism. Federation culture is very secular, and they tend to dismiss such talk outright.

Which is particularly silly given that the Vulcans are founding members of... The Federation.

 

[stonester1]

So are a whole bunch of other races. But that doesn't mean that Starfleet is going to deploy one of their ships based on what their brass would view as dogma.

 

[Luke Lightsaber]

But Spock was a well known member of Starfleet! He more than gave his life to save Earth many times over. Surely Starfleet could have honored Sarek's request.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

That didn't matter to Command...

 

[Luke Lightsaber]

Yeah, that sucks. I bet the Klingon delegate had something to do with that.

 

[The Borg Queen]

Star Trek: Insurrection.

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Insurrection/

Analysis

We learned something very interesting about the Federation government structure in STI: the Federation considers all star systems within its borders to be its property, even if the Federation has never explored these systems and has established no contact whatsoever with their native societies. "We have the planet, they have the technology". Admiral Dougherty was not acting on his own- he had the approval of the Federation Council. This indicates that the decision to remove the Ba'ku from their world and render it uninhabitable to harvest the life-extending "metaphasic particles" was actually sanctioned at the highest levels of the Federation government.

The implications of this fact are far-ranging: the Federation, due to the limitations of warp drive, has not explored the vast majority of star systems in its own territory, particularly the regions of its territory which are far from its heavily populated areas (near their borders with the Romulan Star Empire and the Klingon Empire). However, they have arbitrarily drawn borders around a large region of space and they have staked sovereign claim to all of the systems in this territory!

This is very similar to the European colonists' behaviour when they invaded North America in the 17th and 18th centuries. They staked sovereign claim to most of the continent in the name of their monarch, simply by virtue of declaring that it belonged to them. They had not explored this land, nor had they negotiated any sort of ownership transfer with the natives. When they found natives occupying the land that they had unreasonably staked claim to, they simply removed them by force (sometimes sanctifying their behaviour by talking them into signing treaties they didn't understand, so they would have paper justification). Similarly, the Federation has apparently staked claim to a large region of space even though it has not explored or colonized most of it, and inconvenient occupants of that territory can be forcibly moved out of their homes if the Federation decides to seize control of their systems.

Conclusion

The Federation has revealed dangerously self-contradictory policies which can potentially lead to the centrifugal disintegration of their society given enough time and the right external stimuli. Enough non-member star systems in its territory would render the entire Federation government structure highly unstable, particularly if those non-member systems choose to follow activist policies.

How many other societies will they find in their territory which foolishly expect to have independence of action and sovereign territorial rights? What if some of these societies are as advanced as the Federation? What if they are more advanced? In the scale of Federation technology and warp drive, Federation space is vast. Much of it remains unexplored. How can the Federation expect to maintain order and law within their own territory if they permit non-member star systems total autonomy? If they do not permit non-member star systems total autonomy, how can they call themselves a true democracy? Perhaps more importantly, what right do they have to stake claim to territory which they do not occupy, and in some cases have barely explored?

These inherent flaws in the Federation's government structure will inevitably lead to conflicts, such as the conflict seen in STI. But more conflicts are inevitable- the signs are all in place: the Maquis betrayal, the treacherous deception of the Romulan government to bring them into the Dominion War, the use of biological warfare against the Founders, and evidence of a decidedly undemocratic "democracy" add up to a growing body of evidence that the Federation's government cares less and less about moral imperative, while giving more and more emphasis to military and strategic expediency. It is inevitable that advanced non-member systems, and/or other governments in the quadrant, will take notice of this fact and react accordingly.

Says it all, really.

 

[stonester1]

But Spock was a well known member of Starfleet! He more than gave his life to save Earth many times over. Surely Starfleet could have honored Sarek's request.

Yes, but again, to deploy a valuable warship into an area top top TOP secret?

Try that with the modern US Navy, a well known ambassador requesting that a veteran Captain be allowed to take a cruiser or submarine off into an area where something hush hush is going down, based on what they would see as a fable?

What Admiral is going to authorize that?

None of them.

 

[-Brett-]

Probably First Contact. It's the only one in which Starfleet (apart from the main characters) manages to act decisively and not get their asses completely handed to them.

 

[The Old Mixer]

^Actually, it's only because our heroic crew disobeys Starfleet's orders that they're able to save the day...so once again Starfleet act as straw men.

 

[Colonel Midnight]

I'd say (*bracing for heat*)... TUC.

Mainly because it has, to me, all the elements of Starfleet (good and bad, obviously) being represented.

The CinC conference following the Praxis explosion (including the reminder that 'this briefing is Classified', the repeated attempts to call back the ENT, etc.

Again, YMMV.

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[Peach Wookiee]

TUC did show Command pretty well...

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

There's been a bit of Starfleet mismanagement in nearly all the films.

TMP: The Enterprise is the only starship in range; not only that, but it's the only ship available in the home system and it's not even finished yet.

TWOK: The Reliant unaware that the solar system of Ceta Alpha had changed so dramatically from the previous survey of the system 15 years ago. No one had bothered to check on Khan. Once again, the Enterprise, an undermanned training vessel, is the only ship in range.

TSFS: Excelsior is disabled by the removal of a few components. Admiral Morrow displays ignorant attitudes in regards to "Vulcan mysticism."

TVH: Probably the best example of Starfleet at its best. During the Probe Crisis, they are quick to respond even though the entire planetary defense system and the ships in the system are disabled. The President issues a general warning.

TFF: The Enterprise is sent on a dangerous mission with the potential of action despite being undermanned and with major systems problems.

TUC: Starfleet officers conspire to assassinate both the Chancellor of the High Council and the President of the United Federation of Planets.

GEN: Starfleet pushes for a showy launch of the Enterprise-B.

FC: Starfleet decides to keep it's most experienced officers, Picard and Riker, with dealing and beating the Borg out of the battle.

INS: Starfleet and the Federation Council decide to evict an entire population from their world with dubious rational.

NEM: Starfleet is slow to respond to a threat from the Romulan Empire, leaving the Enterprise on its own.

 

[archeryguy1701]

I have to say Insurrection. We have seen movies and episodes where we see the less than savory members of Starfleet, but up until this movie (as far as I'm aware), we have never seen Starfleet as a whole make a majorly incorrect and greedy decision. It's a more realistic view on Starfleet than the goody-goody organization that occassionally has a few bad employees. That story had so much more potential than what we saw on screen.

 

[SonicRanger]

TSFS makes everyone besides our heroes look stupid: the Excelsior and its captain, the Grissom and its captain, and everyone in Spacedock too, from the dockyard crew and security guards to Mr. Adventure and Admiral Morrow.

 

[Candlelight]

TVH: Probably the best example of Starfleet at its best. During the Probe Crisis, they are quick to respond even though the entire planetary defense system and the ships in the system are disabled. The President issues a general warning.

Yet despite Starfleet's experience with hundreds of species, Spock is the only person to decipher the probe's signal...

 

[cultcross]

TVH: Probably the best example of Starfleet at its best. During the Probe Crisis, they are quick to respond even though the entire planetary defense system and the ships in the system are disabled. The President issues a general warning.

Yet despite Starfleet's experience with hundreds of species, Spock is the only person to decipher the probe's signal...

And pretty much instantly, as well.