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The Emperor's New Cloak

A boring brute. "Rules of Obedience" Odo would have been much more fun to play around with. And they could still have had him explode, he just oozes together like the T-1000 afterward.
 
Well it's certainly the weakest of the DSN Mirror Universe episode, and not exactly high on my re-watch list.
 
I don’t think Kinky Kira was a bad idea, if they were going to do the “So ridiculously over the top it’s funny” route, but they didn’t go quite ridiculous enough for it to work.

Berman era Trek was economically progressive but too afraid of contemporary audiences to really be socially progressive. It presented a future where everyone was equal and could follow their dreams regardless of social divisions, and everyone lived by 80s heteronormative social standards by choice.
 
As a child of the AIDS crisis, I can tell you that in the 80's and immediately after, normalizing homosexuality was much more of a problem. Try to remember that today's culture of tolerance is the result of a decades long, carefully coordinated media campaign. Back in the days of the AIDS crisis (the disease was new then, and considered 100% fatal), even the press was demonizing homosexuality. So, what would be considered homophobia today was pretty normal then.

It's easy to fight for social justice when you don't have a business to run. When you have to worry about things like your bottom line or paying your employees, you tend to be more pragmatic.
 
The only decent people in the Mirrorverse seem to be the Ferengi, and one of them dies every episode.

Nog didn't seem great, and there's also Smiley, Spock, T'pol...

It wasn't perfect. Look at the whole "women can't be captains" thing in TOS.

I never understood that interpretation of that line.

Those where Sisko was some sort of 20th century writer were also weird.

:crazy:
 
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I never understood that interpretation of that line.
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Oh really! That seems rather straightforward. When Janice Lester said that, Kirk just agreed that it wasn't fair and said nothing, He didn't even flinch at that statement, which he would have done if it was false.
 
Oh really! That seems rather straightforward. When Janice Lester said that, Kirk just agreed that it wasn't fair and said nothing, He didn't even flinch at that statement, which he would have done if it was false.

Or perhaps he just thought arguing with a crazy person was counterproductive.
 
Oh really! That seems rather straightforward. When Janice Lester said that, Kirk just agreed that it wasn't fair and said nothing, He didn't even flinch at that statement, which he would have done if it was false.

As a kid I just assumed she meant no room for a wife/relationship in his life, not women can't be captains. Number One was a first officer over a decade earlier: were we supposed to think she'd hit the 23rd century glass ceiling?
 
As a kid I just assumed she meant no room for a wife/relationship in his life, not women can't be captains. Number One was a first officer over a decade earlier: were we supposed to think she'd hit the 23rd century glass ceiling?

Yes, but in that pilot, Pike also said something about being uncomfortable with women on the bridge which is a surprisingly misogynistic remark for someone from an "enlightened" future...
 
Or perhaps he just thought arguing with a crazy person was counterproductive.
He could still have shown something on his face like "that again!" if you see what I mean. He was completely wooden (for an actor who's known for overplaying things which he did a lot of in that episode.) which IMO is tacit approval.
 
Pike also said something about being uncomfortable with women on the bridge which is a surprisingly misogynistic remark for someone from an "enlightened" future...

You have to take these remarks in the context of the time period. Remember that women couldn't even vote for the first 140 years of this country's history. Unlike what you saw in "Profit and Lace", female equality does not occur overnight.
 
He could still have shown something on his face like "that again!" if you see what I mean. He was completely wooden (for an actor who's known for overplaying things which he did a lot of in that episode.) which IMO is tacit approval.

If he's deliberately not reacting because he doesn't want to set Lester off again, a wooden face is exactly what you'd expect.
 
You have to take these remarks in the context of the time period. Remember that women couldn't even vote for the first 140 years of this country's history. Unlike what you saw in "Profit and Lace", female equality does not occur overnight.

It's true that in 1969 when "Turnabout Intruder" was made a lot of landmarks for women's equaility hadn't happened yet. Ms. magazine hadn't popularized Ms. as a marriage-unspecific title for women (1971). Title IX Equality in Education Act didn't pass until 1972.

On the other hand, there already was a woman with the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy - in the Navy Nurse Corps, promoted to captain in July 1967.

And the first woman unrestricted line officer reached captain's rank in 1973 and admiral in 1976.

There are a lot of ways it was hard for Star Trek to stay 200 years ahead of its time, but a woman as a captain should not have been one of those ways. It was clearly happening soon if they'd paid attention.
 
It's easy to say that with the benefit of hindsight. Not so easy when you're still in the present.
 
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