Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century characters

[Jeyl]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

As for how the TNG crew reacted to them...they acted pretty much the same way normal 20th century people would react to finding time-lost survivors of the 15th Century. We're always going to think we're doing things better than our ancestors did, that's just our nature.

That would have made the b-plot for the 20th Century humans more dynamic, but unfortunately that was not the intent of the episode. Maurice Hurley pretty much just wake up, act the same way they did from the 20th century, and all Picard does in the end is tell them to grow up.

 

[T'Girl]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

Yeah, the guy is basically a total moron (a business man who presumes that a company lasts three centuries is incompetent) who doesn't understand anything ...

Ralph Offenhouse's occupation was as a financier. The oldest bank in the world currently is the Italian Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which is 540 years old. The oldest stock brokerage, Antwerp Bourse, is 552 years. Some banks in America are over two centuries old. So for Ralph to find himself 370 years in the future, it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibilities (al least in his own mind) that his financial institution would still exist is some form.

... and then he is supposed to be at once cognitively quick? Not really believable

Ralph likely got where he was prior to his death by being good at reading people and quickly evaluating situations.

Or he was simply scared and trying to hang on to what he knew of his life. The episode points in that direction.

Ralph did say that it was never about money and possessions, it was to being in control of his own life, his destiny, his fate. He probably was scared.

 

[Ghrakh]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

Yeah, the guy is basically a total moron (a business man who presumes that a company lasts three centuries is incompetent) who doesn't understand anything and then he is supposed to be at once cognitively quick? Not really believable.

Yeah, the guy should have watched star trek first so he'd have a good idea of what the future would be like.

 

[EmperorTiberius]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

It's one of my favorite episodes. The humans are the interesting part, not the Romulans.

 

[horatio83]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

Yeah, the guy is basically a total moron (a business man who presumes that a company lasts three centuries is incompetent) who doesn't understand anything ...

Ralph Offenhouse's occupation was as a financier. The oldest bank in the world currently is the Italian Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, which is 540 years old. The oldest stock brokerage, Antwerp Bourse, is 552 years. Some banks in America are over two centuries old. So for Ralph to find himself 370 years in the future, it wouldn't be outside the realm of possibilities (al least in his own mind) that his financial institution would still exist is some form.

... and then he is supposed to be at once cognitively quick? Not really believable

Ralph likely got where he was prior to his death by being good at reading people and quickly evaluating situations.

Or he was simply scared and trying to hang on to what he knew of his life. The episode points in that direction.

Ralph did say that it was never about money and possessions, it was to being in control of his own life, his destiny, his fate. He probably was scared.

The guy talked about his stocks, not about his house bank. The average lifespan of a company is far below a hundred years and as he lacked this knowledge he was plain incompetent. I wouldn't entrust one cent to such an utter moron.

 

[BillJ]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

The guy talked about his stocks, not about his house bank. The average lifespan of a company is far below a hundred years and as he lacked this knowledge he was plain incompetent. I wouldn't entrust one cent to such an utter moron.

Just because a company name doesn't last several centuries doesn't mean the company can't continue on in differing forms. Or else they wouldn't have been talking about Fleet Bank being sued for slavery reparations several years back.

You don't like the episode, which is fine. But your attempts to pick Offenhouse behavior apart have totally failed.

 

[horatio83]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

I like the episode very much and merely pointed out the utter incompetence of this "business man".
I understand that people have this mythical idea about companies lasting forever but, well, it is just a myth. Excusable in the case of an uneducated John Doe, inexcusable in the case of a guy who prides himself in being a successful investor.

 

[BillJ]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

I like the episode very much and merely pointed out the utter incompetence of this "business man".
I understand that people have this mythical idea about companies lasting forever but, well, it is just a myth. Excusable in the case of an uneducated John Doe, inexcusable in the case of a guy who prides himself in being a successful investor.

As long as he lays out a line of succession for his affairs, there's no reason his personal wealth wouldn't continue to grow while he was incapacitated.

You seem to pick on him because he's out of the loop. He has no historical context in which to evaluate his situation. He didn't know of cryonics being a fad and that him and the other two were the only ones to be revived. He has no way of knowing that a nuclear conflict would wipe out six hundred-million people and shattered the economy.

We never once see these people offered someone who could give them a history refresher. They're shown how to work the food slot and left in a room. They don't even show them how to work a computer station so they can find things out on their own.

Offenhouse was simply flying blind and without information assumed things continued on the course he thought they would.

 

[BillJ]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

Here's a law firm that can trace its roots to the mid-sixteenth century...

http://www.ts-p.co.uk/about-us/our-history

 

[Jonas Grumby]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

I understand that people have this mythical idea about companies lasting forever but, well, it is just a myth. Excusable in the case of an uneducated John Doe, inexcusable in the case of a guy who prides himself in being a successful investor.

Two posters now, T'Girl and BillJ, have shown you examples of real life institutions that have lasted for multiple centuries. Also, are you unaware that a person's financial holdings do not cease to exist just because his bank closes its doors?

 

[horatio83]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

So what? I could name companies that lasted for a week. The average lifespan of a company matters for an investor, not the extremes of the distribution.
By the way, good luck getting your deposits back when a bank goes bankrupt.

 

[BillJ]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

So what? I could name companies that lasted for a week. The average lifespan of a company matters for an investor, not the extremes of the distribution.
By the way, good luck getting your deposits back when a bank goes bankrupt.

FDIC...

 

[Jonas Grumby]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

^ Horatio83, you just blew yourself out of the water. It is now apparent that you have not even a rudimentary understanding of financial matters.

 

[BillJ]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

^ Horatio83, you just blew yourself out of the water. It is now apparent that you have not even a rudimentary understanding of financial matters.

Well, he's from Europe I believe. Maybe they don't insure deposits over there?

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

Let's ease up on this debate before somebody gets pissed off.

 

[BillJ]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

Let's ease up on this debate before somebody gets pissed off.

No worries on my end.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

^ Nor mine. I'm cool.

 

[horatio83]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

^ Horatio83, you just blew yourself out of the water. It is now apparent that you have not even a rudimentary understanding of financial matters.

Says the guy who thinks that companies last for centuries.

 

[BillJ]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

^ Horatio83, you just blew yourself out of the water. It is now apparent that you have not even a rudimentary understanding of financial matters.

Says the guy who thinks that companies last for centuries.

The last company I worked for was started in 1858 and shows no signs of dissolving any time soon.

 

[Jonas Grumby]

Re: Would the Neutral Zone have better without the 20th century charac

Says the guy who thinks that companies last for centuries.

I could point out, yet again, how multiple posters here have already shown you some that have. Or that a little research of your own would show you that there are many more than just the ones already specifically cited. Or that where you really go wrong is in your apparent belief that a seasoned financier would entrust the safety of his holdings to any one institution, or that when a financial institution goes "out of business," its assets simply disappear. But since we've been cautioned not to piss anyone off, I'll just let it drop.