What if Archer helped the Valakians?

[MurphyCooper]

I always had a problem with this episode - not helping the Valakians. Yes they would have been interfering in the evolution of another planet, but I don't believe that justifies allowing an entire species to die out like they would have been doomed to.

 

[valkyrie013]

They did give them a medicine to stop it temporarily.
I would have given it to them but put a 0rice on it. When able, leave the planet for another so the other species can grow.

But if they were far from space flight .. I'd let them pass since it was natural.

 

[MurphyCooper]

They did give them a medicine to stop it temporarily.
I would have given it to them but put a 0rice on it. When able, leave the planet for another so the other species can grow.

But if they were far from space flight .. I'd let them pass since it was natural.

They had encounters with other races, and sub-light travel, and were actively seeking help from other races.

 

[somebuddyX]

The science of the episode has people write off this a lot, which is fair. But I think there's some good ideas in the episode in how it wants to put Archer in the shoes of the Vulcans who came to Earth a century ago, and give him some perspective on what it means to help an entire race and how long he's have to do it. Basically even if the episode was better written and made sense there's no way Archer would be helping these dudes, as like some lesson about interfering in cultures. But it's also a bit stupid. I like someone elses idea from another comment that at episodes end the Vulcans should fly in, chastise the humans as a bunch of morons and give the Valakians the cure.

 

[Lord Hierarch]

The Vulcans would've probably used to try and argue that humanity is meddling too much in other species affairs.

The decision was made when Archer consulted Phlox and T'Pol and ultimately decided to follow the Vulcan's policy.

 

[Oddish]

If Archer had helped the Valakians, he would probably take some crap from the Trekkie community for allowing the Mink to stay enslaved.

Because he did not (significantly) help the Valakians, he now takes crap for being genocidal and listening to a doctor who had limited understanding of evolution.

Like Janeway with Tuvix and Sisko with the Romulans, Archer had to face his Kobiashi Maru.

 

[Guy Gardener]

But the Mink would not have stayed enslaved very long, they would organize, and then butcher the Valakians in their sleep, to step on up, which is probably what happened.

 

[Lord Hierarch]

But the Mink would not have stayed enslaved very long, they would organise, and then butcher the Valakians in their sleep, to step on up, which s probably what happened.

I imagine the dominant Valakians would go full genocide on the Menk out of fear of replacement.

Hmm. Has the generic shade of the great replacement theory. Or ethnic genocide.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I imagine the dominant Valakians would go full genocide on the Menk out of fear of replacement.

Hmm. Has the generic shade of the great replacement theory. Or ethnic genocide.

The Valakians are too arogant to notice, just like Rome with the Visigoths.

 

[Oddish]

But the Mink would not have stayed enslaved very long, they would organize, and then butcher the Valakians in their sleep, to step on up, which is probably what happened.

Nah, the Valakians would skin them and turn them into coats. A "full length Mink" would become the must-have article of apparel on the planet.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

Just for the record, they’re the Menk.

 

[Lord Hierarch]

Just for the record, they’re the Menk.

What they are is an evolutionary dead end Valakian victory!! Exterminate! Exterminate! Homo superiorius rex!!!

One of the authors, Christopher Bennet, had a tyrant/dictator that Kirk mentioned as coming from Sauria.

A passing thought came to mind is WI instead of using the Saurians, he used the Valakians. Revisit the issue of the Prime Directive vs Vulcan policy and its use in the nascent Federation and how a first case example with the Valakians and Menk being told about their issue.

 

[Oddish]

I really wish we could determine how the audience would have reacted if Archer had made the opposite choice, i.e. give the Valakians the cure. I mean, the consensus seems to be that the general audience...
- Supports Sisko's actions regarding the Romulans.
- Opposes Janeway's decision to split Tuvix.
- Opposes Archer's favoring the Menk over the Valakians. It's referred to as genocide, anyway.
...but who knows for sure? Only way would be to shoot a new ending for each episode, then show it to a completely unaware test audience.

 

[Guy Gardener]

You're all, Phlox included, assuming that the Valakian's dna turning into custard was some weird natural event, that alien super science could easily stand on its neck.

What if it was Menk terrorism?

They poisoned the well.

If it was a wmd, and not grumpy mother nature, then Phlox's cure was not going to work.

 

[Oddish]

I guess it's possible that the Menk (Mink, Menk, Mank, Monk ) had a secret high tech terrorist organization that brought down the Valakians... but it seems just a bit farfetched, even by Trek standards. And Trek standards allow for random human to salamander transformations and ship's doctors having steamy romance with lamps.

 

[Farscape One]

I guess it's possible that the Menk (Mink, Menk, Mank, Monk ) had a secret high tech terrorist organization that brought down the Valakians... but it seems just a bit farfetched, even by Trek standards. And Trek standards allow for random human to salamander transformations and ship's doctors having steamy romance with lamps.

Romance with a lamp? Absolutely impossible.

Romance with a candle, on the other hand...

 

[Ragitsu]

(Mink, Menk, Mank, Monk )

You missed "Munk" and "Mynk".

 

[Oddish]

You missed "Munk" and "Mynk".

And Mēnk, Mönk, and Mənk but you gotta stop sooner or later.

Point is, this decision by Archer appears unpopular, but we don't know how the reaction to the opposite choice would be. In the end, the point of this episode was a rather sloppy attempt to justify the still-nonexistent Prime Directive. "Cogenitor", with its gut-kick of an ending, would do the job better.