Ummm..it could happen

[RobertScorpio]

What STAR TREK episode, or movie, do you think is the most realistic. Meaning that they come upon a planet, or maybe they use a technology, or whatever...but at the time you watched it you thought,hey, that could happen..

Rob
Scorpio

 

[Michael]

I always loved the realism of TNG's First Contact (the episode). I think that's more or less how we would react to an alien species.

 

[JustKate]

TNG's "The Measure of a Man" -- the one where a court has to determine if Data is sentient -- is a really good and "realistic" (within a Trek standard of realism) one. Another of my favorites from TNG is "The Hunted" -- I think that's the right name. It's the one where this species has created genetically modified fighters for a war, but once the war is over, they don't know what to do with the modified people. I remember there was even a discussion about a debate in the planet's parliament or whatever about a program to rehabilitate the fighters, but the program wasn't funded because it was too expensive. That reminded me of SO many congressional and legislative debates! It was really real.

A LOT of DS9 was really realistic as well. DS9 almost specialized in realistic fiction.

 

[msbae]

The message behind the story for Insurrection can and does happen in the real world. Like Picard said, every culture that's forced to relocate is usually destroyed in the process. Examples include: the American Indian, European Jews, the natives of virtually every British colony, etc. etc. etc.

 

[RobertScorpio]

I always loved the realism of TNG's First Contact (the episode). I think that's more or less how we would react to an alien species.

Yeah..I agree with you on this one. It was a pretty good episode with a great pay off at the end when their President of the World squares off with Q over the method of FC...

Rob
Canary

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

A LOT of DS9 was really realistic as well. DS9 almost specialized in realistic fiction.

The first two seasons with the Bajor arc WERE the Iraq War. All the way from squabbling religious factions to terrorism funded by foreigners with an agenda.

 

[JustKate]

Oh, yes. In fact, the first two seasons were a LOT of wars.

 

[Chuckling]

Truth's often stranger than fiction. Disregarding the method of time travel, I can easily imagine future humanity having to pay for past mistakes a la Star Trek 4 "The Voyage Home" and an answer needing to be found.

Chuckling

 

[Dale]

I always loved the realism of TNG's First Contact (the episode). I think that's more or less how we would react to an alien species.

Yeah..I agree with you on this one. It was a pretty good episode with a great pay off at the end when their President of the World squares off with Q over the method of FC...

Rob
Canary

The bald guy with the French name and the English accent is called "Picard," not "Q." I can understand your confusion since both frequently appear in a captain's uniform.

 

[Zachary Smith]

TOS's "Balance of Terror" could easily have been set aboard a submarine and a ship in WWII.

 

[Yeffrey]

Threshold


In the spirit of the the episode I will predict that the first warp flight from Earth will occur not in Montana but off of a lost rowboat in the middle of the Pacific Ocean

 

[JiNX-01]

Demons/Terra Prime. Bigotry and fear of the alien won't die with the arrival of E.T.

 

[Michael]

Demons/Terra Prime. Bigotry and fear of the alien won't die with the arrival of E.T.

Very true. How could I forget about those?

 

[Red Ranger]

I always loved the realism of TNG's First Contact (the episode). I think that's more or less how we would react to an alien species.

Yeah..I agree with you on this one. It was a pretty good episode with a great pay off at the end when their President of the World squares off with Q over the method of FC...

Rob
Canary

"Squares off with Q"? You must be thinking of a different ep!

I agree with those of you who cited First Contact and The Hunted as among the more realistic ST eps.

Despite the fantastic idea of a parallel earth in Miri, I also thought something like the biological holocaust envisioned in the ep could and can happen. Humanity, in it's arrogance, tried to create a fountain of youth and instead created a deluge of death!

Red Ranger

 

[Red Ranger]

A LOT of DS9 was really realistic as well. DS9 almost specialized in realistic fiction.

The first two seasons with the Bajor arc WERE the Iraq War. All the way from squabbling religious factions to terrorism funded by foreigners with an agenda.

Agreed. The Cardassian occupation of Bajor and its aftermath can easily be compared many of our conflicts, to Nazi Germany's aggression before and during World War 2, to the Israeli occupation of Palestine, to the U.S.'s Vietnam War. -- RR

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

TOS's "Balance of Terror" could easily have been set aboard a submarine and a ship in WWII.

And of course it was, as "The Enemy Below."

The thing about "First Contact" is that it was executed as if the Malcorans were us and the Enterprise folk were the "flying saucer people" - right down to the notion of tabloid UFO stories. I thought it was funny that the first two Feds to reveal themselves - Picard and Troi - were the shortest folks on TNG. "Little people from outer space."

 

[EEE]

It may be obvious, but many miss it... DS9's Little Green Men is a documentary.














*grin*

 

[kissthestar]

That DS9 ep in which homeless people are ready to pop is real now.

 

[Mistral]

Yeah, the story of the Bell Riots rings a little too close to home. That's my vote.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

The first two seasons with the Bajor arc WERE the Iraq War.

Another eerie parallel: "A Piece of the Action." Outside interference inspires the natives to run amok with gangsterism as they vie for control of their fragmented society. Too bad we don't have any handy-dandy stun rays to make everyone behave.

"Mirror, Mirror" struck me as plausible - it's less fascism than just wild capitalism without any civilized constraints, and meritocracy taken to an insane extreme. Starship captains are loose-cannon pirates who are encourage to be "entrepreneurial" in extracting wealth and advantage from alien worlds. If you can figure out how to stab the boss in the back, you've proven you're better than him, so why shouldn't you get his job?

The Mirror Universe has something more interesting going for it than the nonsensical leather lesbians parade that DS9 turned it into.