Least favorite Trek
- Thread starter KayArr
- Start date
At least they weren't always making it obvious. It's not so much that they did allogories as that they tended to bop you over the head with it. The Bajor thing was exactly like the middle east, no deviations really. At least when they were doing the Vietnam era stuff, they didn't do it by having an alien species that were stand ins for the Vietnamese and an alien species for the Russians. Either people get stupider or writers got lazier, or both.
ENT was just plain Blahs-Town to me. I tried so hard to like it too. I realized ENT had truly lost my interest when I began getting up during the commercials and not returning immediately once the show resumed. Had never before done this disappearing act during any other Trek series.
Actually, the Bajor/Cardassia situation could just as easily have been Korea/Japan. And even if it was primarily an allegory to the Mid-East, the signifiers kept slip-sliding around in ways which kept you guessing: were the Cardassians the Israelis? Were the Bajorans? Or were the Bajorans the Palestinians? The writers said the Cardassians were Nazis. How does that fit in?
And if the Hill People and Villagers of "A Private Little War" weren't pretty clearly Vietnamese, complete with a native species of gorilla, and the Klingons weren't the Russians, what the hell were they? And how about Lokai and Bele? Lokai was (a distorted caricature of) Malcolm X in space and Bele could easily have been waving the stars and bars and singing "Sweet Home Alabama." He was even a Creationist, for fuck's sake!
Oh, and how about the Space IRA of TNG's "The High Ground?" Or the black/latino street gangs that were the Kazon* and their erstwhile white oppressors now victims (gotta love the paranoid guilt) that were the Traeb? Must I go on?
*Here Voyager had its liberal cake and racistly ate it, too: in the episode with the Traeb, we're told that the Kazon were vicious and fucked up thanks to years of Traeb oppression. Okay, as a black man who has seen what the centuries have done his people and their culture, I'll accept that. But then later, Seven of Nine tells us the Borg never assimilated the Kazon because they were an inferior breed. Yeah. Right. Motherfuckers.
And if the Hill People and Villagers of "A Private Little War" weren't pretty clearly Vietnamese, complete with a native species of gorilla, and the Klingons weren't the Russians, what the hell were they? And how about Lokai and Bele? Lokai was (a distorted caricature of) Malcolm X in space and Bele could easily have been waving the stars and bars and singing "Sweet Home Alabama." He was even a Creationist, for fuck's sake!
Oh, and how about the Space IRA of TNG's "The High Ground?" Or the black/latino street gangs that were the Kazon* and their erstwhile white oppressors now victims (gotta love the paranoid guilt) that were the Traeb? Must I go on?
*Here Voyager had its liberal cake and racistly ate it, too: in the episode with the Traeb, we're told that the Kazon were vicious and fucked up thanks to years of Traeb oppression. Okay, as a black man who has seen what the centuries have done his people and their culture, I'll accept that. But then later, Seven of Nine tells us the Borg never assimilated the Kazon because they were an inferior breed. Yeah. Right. Motherfuckers.
Yeah--but DS9's allegory was its reason for existing--it was in your face all the time. For the other 4--they did other allegories about other issues, and did tons of shows that weren't allegories at all. The other 4 had more variety. DS9 was about occupations, bad tempers, and war week in, week out.
Didn't they? "I'm black on the right side of my face and he's black on the left side of his face. Therefore he must die," wasn't bopping you over the head? Tasha Yar's anti-drug speech wasn't hitting you over the head? ENT's Vulcan arc was an Iraq war critisism that was a subtle as... well, the Iraq war. That's just off the top of my head. I love Trek dearly, but subtlty has never been it's strong suit. On ANY of the series.
I have to disagree again. I saw as much, if not more, parallels to Nazi Germany as to the middle east.
Uhm, the Yangs and the Kohms? Yankees and Communists? Subtle? Hitting you over the head?
I forgot one! I forgot one! Need I remind you of the tale of the Suliban?
Sorry, but your just plain wrong here. DS9 had more variety than any of the others. It could be funny, it could be dark, it could be righteous, it could be questionable, it could be mysterious, you name it.
And since the war with the Dominion took up all of the last TWO seasons, and the occupation was over before the first episode even began, I have to really wonder how much DS9 you've really seen.
And the show was never about the war. The show was always about the characters. The war just became a backdrop. It also had the least techno-babble of any modern Trek. Certainly a plus.
Perhaps you'd care to enlighten people with what Enterprise gave us that no other incarnation of Star Trek ever had done previously?
And if we're going for in your face allegory as being bad, you can pretty much write off all of season 3.
You seem to be confusing DS9's central theme as being prevalent throughout every minute of every episode, which wasn't the case. Well, at least not until the last 8/9 episodes.
Actually, a lot of commentary that I've read says that Enterprise had the least technobabble.
Why do the DS9ers have to be right and everyone who likes Enterprise and Voyager have to be wrong? I've read some pretty convincing arguments that ALL FIVE Treks are crap--but I love 3 of them, like 1,and dislike 1. To each his or her own. You are right--I haven't seen much DS9 because it bored me to tears the first two seasons. I voted for In the Pale Moonlight for the Captain's Log based on the opinion of you fine folks here, then 'lo and behold, that was dull, too. But I wouldn't call you wrong for loving it, and I would never write that there are only 2 choices for the worst Trek--now that's a little over the top.
ETA: What Enterprise gave me that no other Trek did was Archer, Trip, T'pol, Phlox, Mayweather, Reed, and Sato.
Why do the DS9ers have to be right and everyone who likes Enterprise and Voyager have to be wrong? I've read some pretty convincing arguments that ALL FIVE Treks are crap--but I love 3 of them, like 1,and dislike 1. To each his or her own. You are right--I haven't seen much DS9 because it bored me to tears the first two seasons. I voted for In the Pale Moonlight for the Captain's Log based on the opinion of you fine folks here, then 'lo and behold, that was dull, too. But I wouldn't call you wrong for loving it, and I would never write that there are only 2 choices for the worst Trek--now that's a little over the top.
ETA: What Enterprise gave me that no other Trek did was Archer, Trip, T'pol, Phlox, Mayweather, Reed, and Sato.
I never said you were wrong to like any Trek show you want. I like all of them personally, and own every piece of Trek ever made.
I just said that you were wrong about DS9 being about "about occupations, bad tempers, and war week in, week out".
Because, you know, it wasn't and you are.
I just said that you were wrong about DS9 being about "about occupations, bad tempers, and war week in, week out".
Because, you know, it wasn't and you are.
While the name Suliban is based on the Taliban, they aren't really an allegory for them, as far as I can tell. There are definitely similarities between the Suliban and different groups throughout history (ignoring the genetic engineering stuff, of course), although I can't think of a good example off the top of my head.
