This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.
I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)
Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).
“Emissary” Parts 1 and 2. For plot summaries, see this and this.
Although DS9 is one of my two favorite series, I was never a big fan Sisko being the Emissary, especially considering how towards the end of the series it turns out he’s not completely human- and it’s not like he’s part alien, he’s more supernatural (at least that’s how it seems to me). I’m also not interested in the lengthy effort at explaining to the wormhole aliens about linear existence.
On that note I should say that I generally like the religious/spiritual aspect of DS9. ST has generally suggested that jettisoning religion is part of the development of humanity along with world government, universal acceptance of multiculturalism, a shift from militarism to exploration with Starfleet, and some kind of democratic socialism. The only (or at least almost only) religious people in ST are aliens, but with the exception of the Klingons it wasn’t discussed much. It was nice to see a people like the Bajorans who are friendly to the Federation with some religion and spirituality, especially considering how those beliefs are often referred to as having helped them deal with and throw off the Cardassian Occupation.
So, I have mixed feelings about that part of Emissary. It of course sees the discovery of the wormhole, without which DS9 would be about 1/3 as interesting as it is. Considering how the station is stuck in one place, without the wormhole they’d either have to use the same setting more and more often, or they’d have to spend a lot more time traveling to places further away, which probably wouldn’t have worked. Also, of course, the wormhole brings the Dominion, which is a great part of the overall ST story.
They briefly introduce Nog, one of my favorite secondary characters on DS9. They also introduce what I find very interesting and often humorous, how Sisko was friends with the Dax symbiant when the symbiant had an old man as a host, and now the host is a young woman. Of course all the other characters are introduced.
I think that’s about it. It’s a good episode- far from one of my favorites but very necessary to get the series going. I give the two parts together two out of five stars.
“Past Prologue” For the plot summary, see this.
This episode raises issues about how guerrillas respond to the end of the foreign occupations they’re fighting.
1) The Cardassians, although they kept many objects sacred to the Bajoran people and made clear in several ways that they still didn’t respect the Bajorans, did end their occupation of Bajor and Bajor had a new government. But a small faction of the resistance (the Khon-Ma) continue attacks on Cardassia, to “punish” them for half a century of occupation. Now, horrible things WERE done to the Bajorans, but punishment isn’t appropriate in that situation. And that’s not a common reaction. Looking at post-Apartheid South Africa, there seems to have been VERY little turning of the tables, probably close to ZERO. Based on their record during The Troubles of almost NEVER intentionally killing civilians and based on how little support there is since 1997 for continuing armed struggle even while British rule more or less (less) continues, it seems very unlikely that Irish republicans will engage in that sort of behavior when the British leave. There will probably be a VERY small amount such behavior, or more likely, NONE. (the impression given in this episode is that the Khon-Ma had done A LOT to inflict punishment on Cardassia)
2) At one point the main Khon-Ma character says that he wants “Bajor for Bajorans.” To some degree this is fine in general, although depending on what is meant, there’s possibly a problem. For one thing, there are people left on Bajor who are either half Cardassian/half Bajoran, or in some cases, completely Cardassian. Also, although this would be a matter for the Bajorans, I think it would be good for them to join the Federation (at one point they almost joined, but when Sisko had a vision and advised them not to at that point, they decided not to). Federation membership is probably incompatible with “Bajor for Bajorans” as Federation citizens from elsewhere would have to be welcomed, not to mention, their independence would be limited. As I’ve explained here, Sinn Fein and the nationalist community have good anti-racist records and welcome people from outside Ireland (except of course people trying to police and run part of Ireland). They welcome people who come for brief periods of work and also probably consider people who immigrate to become Irish to some degree. Unless it’s made clear that it’s not excluding people who should be made to feel welcome, I’m not a big fan of phrases like “Bajor for Bajorans”
3) It also raises the issue of third party intervention. It seems like it was a good idea for the Bajoran provisional government to invite Starfleet to establish a presence after the Cardassians left. Cardassia might have continued seriously hurting Bajor if given a free-hand, implementing some kind of neo-colonialism, occasionally attacking, that sort of thing. Bajor also got some technical assistance with reconstruction and some advice on political development. And those are the benefits before the wormhole was discovered, which, without the Federation presence, would have resulted in Cardassia re-occupying Bajor as a base from which to control the wormhole. And, although it’s complicated by his role as the emissary and there’s at least one debatable kind of exception, Sisko (throughout the series) does a good job of respecting Bajoran independence. This reminds me of what I wrote about the role of the international community as Ireland is united, as it will be someday. My thoughts on that are here.
Overall a good episode, I give it three out of five stars.
“A Man Alone” For the plot summary, see this.
This episode is significantly about character development, plus the main plot story about a murder. It’s when the friendship between Jake and Nog starts, and that’s a good part of the series. It’s mostly just a mystery story, besides the character development and the establishment of a school for children on DS9. There’s three political issues that come up:
1) Odo, not trained in the human rights culture of the Federation, and having learned his job under the Cardassians, feels that he can throw anyone off the station if he wants to, and Sisko has to explain that that’s not how it works.
2) When Keiko starts up a school, we hear more about how the Ferengi believe in something that’s more or less a pure market system of economics and business, and that it’s a very important part of their culture. As you would guess, I don’t like that much, but I like to interpret this part of the role that Ferengis have in ST series as meaning “capitalism would look something like this if it weren’t for various forces like organized labor, the left, progressives, and most liberals.” I mean, American capitalism could be worse, our society could be even more capitalist.
3) We also hear, perhaps for the first time in ST, that the Ferengi are ridiculously sexist, although we learn more about that later. You could say something similar about this that I said about capitalism above. It also sets the scene for some later episodes where that sexism is seriously challenged.
The mystery is good, although probably better the first 1-2 times I saw this episode. Overall a good episode, I give it two out of five stars.
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