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The Aligorical Aliens!

jazzstick

jazzstick

Lieutenant Commander
Red Shirt
Hey my Trekkie Peeps!


Ok so aligorically speaking who are the races of Star Trek?

Here's loosly what I can see both some charactoristics in common and parallels:


Federation: US/UN

Klingons: Russians

Romulans: China

Cardassians: Nazi Germany

Bajorians: A cross between Isreal and The Jewish Peoples of Europe who got killed by the Nazi Regime.

There are a bunch more but I'm at a loss...

Your thoughts?
 
Ferengi were supposed to be similar to Yankee Traders. Basically Capitalists with out scruples.

Klingons were The Soviets.
 
You mean symbolically, not allegorically.

An allegorical alien race would be like the one in "Let That Be Your Last Battlefied," where the men from Charon are black one side and white on the other. That race represents an idea, a concept---in this case, it's racism.
 
My thoughts:

Federation: United Nations / Cooperation

Vulcans: Logic

Klingons: Honor/War (also I have always equated them with Medieval)

Romulans: Roman Empire / Uncooperative

Cardassians: Any Nazi/Totalitarian Regime

Bajorians: Any society/people who were oppressed and regained freedom

Ferengi: Extreme Capitalism
 
Are you talking races that appeared more than once?
Because TOS was chock full of allegory or symbolism without being subtle. I don't think I need to spell out the equivalent races in "A Private Little War", "Patterns of Force" or "Omega Glory"
 
I think people look too much into things. The Klingon Empire was by communist standards an imperialist society. Last I checked Kruschev and Brezhnev didn't fight to the death for leadership of the Soviet Union. The Romulan Star Empire was also a place where class mattered. The Cardassian Union was more a military dictatorship than a fascist regime as well. Just take the Trek races at face value... most of them aren't very deep... and leave it at that.
 
R. Star said:
I think people look too much into things. The Klingon Empire was by communist standards an imperialist society. Last I checked Kruschev and Brezhnev didn't fight to the death for leadership of the Soviet Union. The Romulan Star Empire was also a place where class mattered. The Cardassian Union was more a military dictatorship than a fascist regime as well. Just take the Trek races at face value... most of them aren't very deep... and leave it at that.
Click to expand...
There's no doubt that the Klingons in TOS were stand in for the Soviets. A point made more explicit in the Undiscovered Country. In TNG and beyond they moved beyond and into being Space Biker/Viking/Samurai. While the Soviets didn't engage in hand to hand combat to become leaders they did engage in other tactics that ended in the deaths of their opponents.

The Romulans are partly a stand in for the Chinese ( the mysterious foe we have no real contact with) and also Nazis. The plot of Balance of Terror is lifted from a WWII set war film The Enemy Below. The only other major Romulan story from TOS is "the Enterprise Incident" which was inspired by the Pueblo Incident". The classism of Romulan Society is a later addition.

Being "allegories" doesn't mean a 100% replication.
 
TNG sort of mixed up the Klingons and Romulans I think. In ""Balance of Terror" the Romulan Commander tells Kirk they are creatures of duty. Somehow, that gets assigned to the Klingons instead in TNG, leaving the Romulans floundering for a contemporary parallel. The Chinese connection surprises me, as I don't believe I ever heard it assigned to them until recently.

Borg - Americans, consuming everything through homogenization of cultures.
 
Journey to Babel.

The Federation is the UN
Vulcan is America
Tellar is China
Coridan is Taiwan

Should the Coridan planets be admitted into the Federation (UN)? The Coridan planets are claimed by some races like Tellar (China), races who want to keep it out of the Federation (UN), others support it's admission - Vulcan (America).

:)
 
Melakon said:
TNG sort of mixed up the Klingons and Romulans I think.
Click to expand...

I think that already happened in the bridge simulator at the beginning of ST II (unless it was deliberate to remind the well-educated cadets that this was just a simulation ;))

Melakon said:
Borg - Americans, consuming everything through homogenization of cultures.
Click to expand...

Ouch. A very interesting thought. :lol:

The one stereotype I'm still not entirely convinced is that the TOS Klingons presented citizens of the Soviet Union. I mean, you don't add a Russian crew member (Chekov) to appease the Soviets and then use the Klingons as carbon copies of the Red Army.

Especially with the portrayal of Kang in "Day of the Dove" and keeping the Hornblower allusions in mind, he reminded me rather of a Spanish captain (the antagonists in most of Hornblower's adventures) who tried to seize Kirk's ship (to take and claim the ship as a "prize").

Bob
 
The Klingons came before Chekov. Star Trek was created in the early/mid sixties and reflected the attitudes of that time in many ways. The role the Klingons played also evolved with the times and with each appearance. From brutal totalitarian to "friendly" rival to admirable foe.
 
Chekov was created to appeal to fans of The Monkees. Chekov bears a resemblance to Davy Jones. The Chekov appeasing the Soviets thing is just Roddenberry press puffery.
 
Romulans were supposed to be the Roman Empire if it had lasted until the 23rd century.
 
T'Girl said:
Journey to Babel.

The Federation is the UN
Vulcan is America
Tellar is China
Coridan is Taiwan

Should the Coridan planets be admitted into the Federation (UN)? The Coridan planets are claimed by some races like Tellar (China), races who want to keep it out of the Federation (UN), others support it's admission - Vulcan (America).

:)
Click to expand...

You think VULCAN is AMERICA?

Am I missing something about my own country? :lol:

What qualities do you think Vulcan has that we have?

Vulcan's whole story about nearly destroying themselves and then devoting their lives to pure logic seems like something that COULD happen to America one day. But right now? I don't think so?

Just curious/wondering why you equated those two.
I am curious as to the reasons behind it?
 
Melakon said:
Chekov was created to appeal to fans of The Monkees. Chekov bears a resemblance to Davy Jones. The Chekov appeasing the Soviets thing is just Roddenberry press puffery.
Click to expand...

That's what I've always heard as well. When my daughter first saw Chekov in a TOS rerun she flipped out and thought it was Davy Jones for a second. Then he spoke and killed it for her. :wtf:
 
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