I just rewatched the TOS episode "Arena" last night. I'd given it a near perfect score the first time through, and it held up pretty well this second time around. If anything, it was helped by watching it on the small screen this time:
What struck me strongly this time was how justified the Gorns were. We're discussing the morality of the Gorns' actions here. Basically, brutal as the Gorn response to the Cestus III incursion was, if you liken it, say, to the experience of the Wampanoag, then not only were the Gorn justified, it was really their best option..
The writers of the episode seemed to know that, too. Kirk, Spock, McCoy all note that they may likely have been in the wrong, and the episode ends with the suggestion that the Federation and the Gorns might someday get along. Certainly, this was the road taken in the 70s game Star Fleet Battles.
So I was rather dismayed to find that the Gorns in Disco/SNW are essentially
.
Now, I get why they decided to use the Gorns -- one could plausibly say that the "legends" about strange subspace message in that poorly charted region of space could also include vessels lost to unknown causes. And if the Feds and the Gorns have big empires, then first contact could be a mushy, drawn-out sort of thing.
And I can understand why the writers made the Gorns extra icky -- after all, if Kirk is going to find them so repulsive, they need to look more icky than a pro-wrestler in a green lizard suit.
But turning the Gorns into aggressors from the beginning,
basically undercuts the whole message of "Arena". Because now the Gorns aren't just an overly vigilant, but basically sympathetic race. They're cold-blooded (haha) murderers, and they kind of deserve whatever they get.
So I'd rather the writers had made up a new race and saved the Gorns for another, post-TOS show. Honestly, the Gorns would have been a good pick for what the Klingons ultimately became, a race of martial, somewhat ruthless, but basically honorable beings, but obviously effects costs would have been prohibitive in the 80s.
Just my two cents. How do you feel about the NuGorns?
What struck me strongly this time was how justified the Gorns were. We're discussing the morality of the Gorns' actions here. Basically, brutal as the Gorn response to the Cestus III incursion was, if you liken it, say, to the experience of the Wampanoag, then not only were the Gorn justified, it was really their best option..
The writers of the episode seemed to know that, too. Kirk, Spock, McCoy all note that they may likely have been in the wrong, and the episode ends with the suggestion that the Federation and the Gorns might someday get along. Certainly, this was the road taken in the 70s game Star Fleet Battles.
So I was rather dismayed to find that the Gorns in Disco/SNW are essentially
lizard Aliens(tm), using humans as egg carriers
Now, I get why they decided to use the Gorns -- one could plausibly say that the "legends" about strange subspace message in that poorly charted region of space could also include vessels lost to unknown causes. And if the Feds and the Gorns have big empires, then first contact could be a mushy, drawn-out sort of thing.
And I can understand why the writers made the Gorns extra icky -- after all, if Kirk is going to find them so repulsive, they need to look more icky than a pro-wrestler in a green lizard suit.
But turning the Gorns into aggressors from the beginning,
making their habits so utterly disgusting, making them commit vivisection to obviously sentient beings,
So I'd rather the writers had made up a new race and saved the Gorns for another, post-TOS show. Honestly, the Gorns would have been a good pick for what the Klingons ultimately became, a race of martial, somewhat ruthless, but basically honorable beings, but obviously effects costs would have been prohibitive in the 80s.
Just my two cents. How do you feel about the NuGorns?
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