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).
“Acession” See this for a plot summary.
This episode raises the issue of caste systems and caste discrimination. I don’t think there’s much debate about this so I’ll just say that people should not be discriminated against in that manner and people’s work should not be mandated based on who their parents were.
I give this episode two stars out of five.
“Rules of Engagement” See this for a plot summary.
A fairly non-political episode. One thing I’d say is that Worf is lucky the ship he fired at was full of dead people. As he admitted, he should have identified it before firing.
It’s a good episode, I give it three stars out of five.
“Hard Time” See this for a plot summary.
For the most part a non-political episode, although it does sort of have something to say about punishment for crimes. The method described in the episode seems very questionable. The upside would be that you don’t lose a lot of your life, but it also means that people who turn out to be innocent can’t be released before their sentence is completed- the memories are there forever. There’s also something wrong with messing with someone’s head like that. There’s also the part where it’s all punishment and no rehabilitation- no counseling, no training, none of that. So, overall I would say it’s a bad way of dealing with crime.
A good episode, I give it three stars out of five.
“Shattered Mirror” See this for a plot summary.
A fairly non-political episode, although there is one brief statement against torture. Here’s why torture should not used:
1) It’s simply immoral- I think almost everyone would agree, even some of those who say that it’s effective and should be used in some cases.
2) It’s likely to get bad information. People will say whatever they think will end the torture.
3) When news of it gets out to the public it will affect global opinion negatively and will negatively affect morale among most of the American population and much of the American military.
I’m not a huge fan of the mirror universe episodes, so I give this one two stars out of five.
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