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).
There are several episodes in VOY that involve the question of whether or not holograms are alive, and/or feature conflict between holograms and organic beings. I’m going to ignore that part of VOY, it’s a bit too philosophical, and comparing the maltreatment of holograms to the maltreatment of, for example, Black people, seems stupid. Although I kind of make an exception for The Doctor (it’s impossible to be a fan of ST and not do that) I lean towards saying that holograms are not life forms, but I don’t feel like going into it.
“Virtuoso” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.
“Memorial” See this for a plot summary.
A pretty poverful episode about war crimes It’s more or less comparable to some actions by the US military in Vietnam, the Holocaust, and some others although those two seem to be the most comparable with what happens in this episode. It also illustrates the tension between the soldiers who want to cover it up and those who wanted to go public with what happened.
As far as Vietnam, I’ve heard from good sources that massacres (usually very small) of Vietnamese civilians by the US military were common. Besides things like the testimony of John Kerry, and other similar testimony, I also find reasons to criticize America’s intervention in Vietnam in two novels about that war by Nelson DeMille. One reason I consider those novels to be good for people arguing with supporters of the Vietnam war, is that DeMille saw combat in Vietnam and as far as I can tell based on reading most of his novels, he’s more of a Hawk then a Dove. It seems that would probably mean that when he writes unflattering things about the US involvement in Vietnam during that era, it’s not driven by ideology, it’s driven by what he saw and heard in Vietnam. The novels are “Word of Honor” and “Up Country.” The former is more connected to this episode than the latter is.
In general, I believe it is VERY important that such atrocities are not forgotten and that those responsible should be held accountable. Memorials at the sites of massacres will help make it less likely that such crimes will be repeated. War crimes trials would have a similar effect.
I give this episode five stars out of five.
“Tsunkatse” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it three stars.
“Collective” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.
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