Why the Star Trek Universe is secretly horrifying
- Thread starter Shawnster
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Not a fan of "Vulcan Love Slave"?
Ferengi made. The Federation is too culturally dead even to produce cheap smut.
^^No, no, they're enlightened and have evolved beyond the need for cheap smut.
Hey, you're right, this is a horrifying idea.
Hey, you're right, this is a horrifying idea.
You don't see futuristic pop-culture because it too easily breaks the futuristic illusion. Look at Rebo & Zooty on Babylon 5. They brought in Penn & Teller in as stunt casting, not so much to try to sell that they were real future comedians, but as a lark to have fun and break the fourth wall. And their big joke from the future? It was a fart joke. "Zooty, zoot zoot." They couldn't come up with some future form of comedy so they went with flatulence. And please spare me the fanboy spin on how it speaks to the basic biological pathos of the human experience. I get it. Terrence and Philip get it too.
Occasionally they tried things on Trek, like Parrises Squares as a future sport and The Adventures of Flotter as future children's entertainment, but they did so sparingly, thank God.
Occasionally they tried things on Trek, like Parrises Squares as a future sport and The Adventures of Flotter as future children's entertainment, but they did so sparingly, thank God.
We ran out of war, famine, want and prejudice on Earth so we had to go looking for it.
The thing about Parrises Squares is that it is ridiculously violent, given the culture.
That's kind of the point of the Cracked video-the Federation is bored and sends out ships to find entertainment.
That video really hits me were I live.
This is entirely what the video gets wrong. We didn't go looking for it because we ran out of it here. You can't run out of any of those. You can easily make those things happen. They went into space out of curiosity and "brotherhood" and, yes, defense.
But that's just one part of their civilization. They're probably doing crazy amazing things within the Federation as well. They're raising new continents (Atlantis in "Family"), inventing new technologies (time machines in "We'll Always Have Paris," the post-warp Soliton Wave in "New Ground"), developing new relationships (Ilia/Decker), creating new lifeforms (Spock, Data, Genesis).
Q's remarks by the end of TNG about our future being not about "charting nebulas" but "exploring the unknown possibilities of existence" may be an indictment of Berman's, v. Roddenberry's, Trek. If the Federation seemed stale by VOY's time, if it needed the flashiness of war by DS9's, or the distractions of breakneck pacing and nostalgia by Abrams', to appear interesting, it's not because Utopia isn't interesting but because its presenters have no concept of it themselves.
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its just a old joke about ST not meant to be taken seriously
Like every other "After Hours" video, it's just a group of hipster pseudo-intellectuals parodying hipster pseudo-intellectuals. Though, I have yet to figure out if it's intentional or not.
It wasn't a fart joke, it was literally nonsense. It was intentionally meant to not mean anything to us, just as any number of jokes or memes from today wouldn't make sense or even be funny to someone from another era, like any other cultural phenomenon.
Babylon 5 also showed us at times what was considered popular music up then- it sounded like discordant crap but Sheridan was rocking to it.
Picard makes a speech once (IIRC it was in The Neutral Zone') about how mankind, once freed from the pursuit of material things, enabled people to focus on bettering themselves. The retort was that it was never about money, it was always about power. Picard did not have an answer...
Picard makes a speech once (IIRC it was in The Neutral Zone') about how mankind, once freed from the pursuit of material things, enabled people to focus on bettering themselves. The retort was that it was never about money, it was always about power. Picard did not have an answer...
Especially since children are allowed to play the game, despite it's lethal potential.
I think deep down there are some good points to be made. And I wish we could see more stuff about the pros and cons of a Utopian society. Perhaps there are people who lock themselves into holodecks for their entire lives. Or maybe there are large populations of humans who have hooked themselves into a computer for the sake of being entertained. Opposition is necessary for growth. Without it there is only stagnation.
I think there are some great stories to be told about liberty. Because there is a 0% chance that a government that has amassed such power as the Federation has will remain benevolent indefinitely. The reality is that you cannot depend on others for your freedom. It is something you must take for yourself. And you must have enough power and means to defend it from those with even more power who want to take it from you.
As far as their arguments about art and culture that's pretty ridiculous. That is clearly production related. Why don't they show the crew rocking out to the latest 22nd century pop sensation? Because it hasn't been created yet in our real world. Why don't you see modern music, art, etc.? Because you would have to pay out the butt in licensing fees. Shakespeare is far more accessible and cheaper.
I think there are some great stories to be told about liberty. Because there is a 0% chance that a government that has amassed such power as the Federation has will remain benevolent indefinitely. The reality is that you cannot depend on others for your freedom. It is something you must take for yourself. And you must have enough power and means to defend it from those with even more power who want to take it from you.
As far as their arguments about art and culture that's pretty ridiculous. That is clearly production related. Why don't they show the crew rocking out to the latest 22nd century pop sensation? Because it hasn't been created yet in our real world. Why don't you see modern music, art, etc.? Because you would have to pay out the butt in licensing fees. Shakespeare is far more accessible and cheaper.
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Picard said wanting to control your own life was a illusion ... that's their utopia?
Being powerless? This might appeal to some.
One persons utopia, is another person's life of horror. Not everyone want to live a life where things are provided for them, some people want to make their own way and achieve their own destiny.
To be specific, it was about the power to control your own life.
Picard said wanting to control your own life was a illusion ... that's their utopia?
Being powerless? This might appeal to some.
One persons utopia, is another person's life of horror. Not everyone want to live a life where things are provided for them, some people want to make their own way and achieve their own destiny.
Saw it a few years ago, it was always a flawed argument, if it was even meant to be taken seriously at all. The whole thing about not seeing works of art since the 20th century was already wrong, given that Enterprise showed how new movies were coming out in the mid-22nd century. Besides, we also never hear music from anything past the 1950s or so. Doesn't mean it never existed.
Randian bullshit.
I agree with @CorporalClegg. Freedom is not what you can scrounge for yourself with the barrel of a gun - that way lies madness, chaos and anarchy. Freedom is ensured for you by a benevolent government, because that is the only way that anyone can be guaranteed justice and freedom (good luck getting justice from a mob). And there is zero evidence that the Federation is anything but benevolent, Section 31 be damned.
Sure, the future is always in question, but that's the beauty of FICTION - the Federation is whatever the writers make it out to be. And until they make it evil, it's GOOD.
As for the real world: I don't pretend that my government is always right - some times it's acted terribly wrong - but in a general sense, I still trust it to look out for my best interests. Because there really is no alternative. When my country does good, I cheer it; when it does bad, I work within the system to change it. In the end, what else can you do?
To put it another way, I'll repeat my philosophy of life in a few simple sentences:
- Without government, there can be no law.
- Without law, there can be no order.
- Without order, there can be only chaos.
- With chaos, there can be only fear.
- With fear, there can be only death.
Sure, the future is always in question, but that's the beauty of FICTION - the Federation is whatever the writers make it out to be. And until they make it evil, it's GOOD.
As for the real world: I don't pretend that my government is always right - some times it's acted terribly wrong - but in a general sense, I still trust it to look out for my best interests. Because there really is no alternative. When my country does good, I cheer it; when it does bad, I work within the system to change it. In the end, what else can you do?
To put it another way, I'll repeat my philosophy of life in a few simple sentences:
- Without government, there can be no law.
- Without law, there can be no order.
- Without order, there can be only chaos.
- With chaos, there can be only fear.
- With fear, there can be only death.
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Where does freedom fall in to that?
No being argumentative, but rather fascinated by your codified philosophy.
No being argumentative, but rather fascinated by your codified philosophy.
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