Notes on Star Trek

[osprey_archer]

My friend M. is back in town, and we've been marathon watching original series Star Trek. We're about halfway through the first season; here are just some things that have struck me about the show.

1. It's less tokenistic than I was expecting. I was rather under the impression that Uhura and Sulu were the only people of color on board ever, but the casting directors actually do a pretty good job that sometimes Random Joe Crewman needs to be black, or Hispanic, or whatever. The writers totally deal with race by assimilating everyone into the Borg collective an idealized version of white middle class America, though.

2. It's more sexist than I remembered, and I'm not just talking about the miniskirts or Kirk's Babes of the Week. : The story in The Menagerie, right, is that a couple of decades ago a ship crashed on a planet full of telepathic aliens, who controlled the one crew member who lived through it by planting illusions in her head and tormenting her whenever she did something she didn't like.

At the end of the episode she's offered the chance to leave the planet and go home, and she's all "No, I can't! My beauty is all an illusion! I'm actually ugly and deformed because of the injuries I suffered during the crash!" Leaving aside the fact that Federation technology could probably mitigate the worst of it - everyone accepts that it's preferable for her to stay on the planet with the psychotic aliens who torture her than go home and be ugly. Jesus.



I'd say "Well it was the sixties, you can't expect too much"; but The Avengers was also a sixties show, and Breakfast at Tiffany's is a sixties movie; the blindness is clearly Roddenberry's, not just culture's.

3. The fact that Spock is so awesome is due entirely to Leonard Nimoy and his amazing ability to represent the entire range of human emotion with only a quirk of his eyebrows, because the character as written is totally a straw man for why Logic Is Not Enough.

I have no idea why the writers of Star Trek felt the need to point this out at such great length, because as far as I know the only character ever written who upheld the idea that Logic Is All Anyone Ever Needs, Bitch is Sherlock Holmes.

4. I get the very strong feeling - not just from Star Trek, but from The Avengers and Man from U.N.C.L.E. as well - that people in the sixties had a very uneasy relationship with technological advancement. All of these shows have episodes devoted to technology gone wrong (which is still a popular theme) coupled with extensive discussions about how humans are more important than machines, which have mostly fallen by the wayside.

5. All this aside, it's still a cracktastically fun show.

Comments

[goldjadeocean.livejournal.com]

I think Point #3 is much more understandable if you've read much 50s/60s science fiction. It really frequently was the era of the hero whose logic is superior to everything else in the universe, ever. And yeah, #4 is right on the money.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

That makes significantly more sense. Mind, I still think the argument could have been more nuanced, but at least they were arguing against something specific rather than chasing a personal anti-logic bugaboo.

Similarly I expect the sixties horror of technology gone wrong was a reaction against fifties ideals of PROGRESS. After the Cuban missile crisis and Silent Spring and thalidomide progress must have looked considerably less shiny.

[melonbutterfly.livejournal.com]

To point #,2 one might argue that there really are people (women and men) like that, who'd make such a decision. It's her right to decide like that, and even with such an explanation as her "beauty", it's legitimate. I think it's a good thing that nobody tried to make her reconsider her decision, that nobody acted like she didn't have the mindset to make such a decision or that she's stupid/wrong for basing her choice on her appearance.
Besides, I believe it was pretty much established by the end that the aliens didn't feel like experimenting with humans anymore but would allow her (and Pike) to stay if they wanted, but it'd be a totally free decision and they won't try to play with them anymore. If there had been any doubt about that, Spock certainly wouldn't have brought Pike to them, would he?
And the short skirts! So many people are complaining about how sexist they are, but I think it's a credit to how non-sexist they are, because even though most women wear them (not all of them, some wear pants, everybody can decide for themselves which they want, and as a side note, they're wearing short pants under them), nobody treats them less for it. Even nowadays when a woman with a short skirt walks by some guys whistle or she is treated like she's worth less, but there, nobody cares.

Sorry if I come across a little strong here, your opinion is valid and I understand what you're basing it on, I just wanted to make a few points :)

To #4, yeah, I watched a documentary about that. There were people who were terrified of the quick progres in technology; just seventy years ago (in the sixties) the first car was invented, and now human is landing on the moon. There were entire communities of people who smashed PC screens as representatives for modern technology together because they thought it was evil.
It was the fear of the unknown, and if it is a vaild one is still left open--the question is, what are feelings? If they are just chemicals, then it surely is entirely possible to allow a robot to have them, at least by the time we have advanced far enough to have AI.
Now, I don't feel like getting philosophical xD
Sorry for the Very Long Comment!

PS: To #3, Nimoy rules! Do you know that episode where the whole crew is affected by some virus or something and everything falls apart? There's that scene where Spock is finally affected too, and he becomes all emotional and cries and all, it's heartbreaking. The script meant to make it a humorous scene, but Nimoy was all like "no way" and played that scene (tears included!) in one take, without script. It's awesome.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Normally I would agree with you about the excellent feminist message of Pike not trying to override her decision - but honestly, I don't think she was competent to make the decision; not because she's female but because she's been held captive and tormented for eighteen years, and someone should at very least have an extremely thorough discussion with her about why she wants to stay with her tormenters, even if they have promised to be nice.

I would also expect Pike to be less trusting about the aliens' promise to play nice, but original series Star Trek characters are always awfully unsuspicious so that's not entirely fair.

Even given the generally shoddy nature of Star Trek original series plots, I think The Menagerie is particularly incoherent - why is Spock's court martial dropped at the end, for instance? Obviously it has to be for the show to go on, but there's no reason intrinsic to the story why it should be.

The problem with the miniskirts = choice thing, for me, is that the Star Trek women continue to wear them in ridiculous situations - like, when they're beaming down to the surface of a planet which is probably overflowing with scratchy things just waiting to attack their unprotected legs. It all says to be me that someone wasn't thinking beyond "Women! Miniskirts! Sexy!", certainly not all the way to feminist theory about clothing choices.

I have a very vague memory of that episode from ages ago, when I was in my first Star Trek phase. I seem to remember that I found Spock's breakdown quite worrisome: obviously the situation was DIRE if it made even my beloved Spock cry.

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

3. spock does get a little more developed in later seasons, i think, or maybe that was just all the k/s fic i read. : P

also, i so feel compelled to make some arty thing with "logic is all one ever needs, bitch" on it now.

4.well, and also communism. i mean there was fear about the nuclear bombs to an extent we might not be able to imagine today (i think?)...also there's this bit in some season, maybe number 2, where they get mad at checkov because his country taught him "bad history." they don't call it that in the least, but the idea of the little exchange is "America Is Right, Take That Soviet Union!" and it pisses me off.

5. YES. oh man, yes.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the later seasons since I was eleven, but I remember Spock as being even more awesome in them (and the show as being somewhat tauter and better written, although I'm not sure how much I trust my opinions as an eleven-year-old.)

Also, you should TOTALLY MAKE THAT ARTY THING. Because it would be fabulous. And then you should post at on your LJ so I can pet it and love it and call in George (or possibly Spock).

Oh yes, Communism definitely. I haven't seen a Communist episode yet in Star Trek but I'm sure they'll get around to it eventually - certainly once Chekov's onboard they won't be able to resist. I miss Chekov. He was one of my favorites when I watched Star Trek when I was eleven, and he's not a crewmember till season 2. :(

Also, I am working on the comments for parts 1 & 2 of your story.

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

you should TOTALLY MAKE THAT ARTY THING. (i just learned how to use italics in comments, isn't it exciting? )

haha, sure! what form are you thinking? i can't decide if it's more of a quote icon, or something else... fake movie poster, or wallpaper, or SOMETHING. : P

Also, I am working on the comments for parts 1 & 2 of your story.

um, have i mentioned lately that you totally rock?

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I think you might need to edit the quote down a bit to fit it on an icon ("LOGIC is all you need, bitch" maybe?), but it would be totally awesome and I would spend the next month trying to write something eminently snarky and logical to post with it.

um, have i mentioned lately that you totally rock?

I think you have, but it's always great to hear it again.

[visualthinker11.livejournal.com]

okay, so icon-arts is done... i acutally put it in my latest icon batch. (with credit, of course!) i hope that's okay.

well it's totally deserved. ; )

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

I HAVE BEEN QUOTED ON AN LJ ICON! HURRAH!

I've been off the internets for the week or I totally would have replied sooner. Now that I'm home, I'll also go through part 3 of your story - it should be done by Sunday at the latest.

[radio-silent.livejournal.com]

hahaha, really it was no problem. <3

awesome- it'll actually be a bit before i get part 4 to you, because while it's all typed up it still needs a scene of angst sos the conflict can actually seem conflict-y. if that makes any sense.

(oh, yes, and this is me from my other account. because i'm too lazy to switch usernames occasionally.) : P

[exuberantself.livejournal.com]

You didn't even mention the true awesome of DeForest Kelley!

My primary issue with Star Trek (in general, not just TOS) is that, thematically, it's like being smacked with a crow bar.

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

The entry was getting too long. I figured I had better cut it off before people started going "LA LA LA tl;dr LA LA LA." (Admittedly that point probably takes longer to reach when the topic is Star Trek, but still.)

Only a crowbar? I was thinking more like a sledgehammer, or possibly a nuclear warhead. :) I have found the episodes to be much more enjoyable when I actively block out the THEME and focus instead on mocking Kirk's romantic adventures and swooning over Spock.

[exuberantself.livejournal.com]

...I wonder why I said "crow bar." That doesn't seem like the right choice at all. I love how it's completely obvious what things I post after work.

I agree, though, the show's easier to appreciate when you ignore the preachiness altogether...it's downright fun then.