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.
“Repentance” See this for a plot summary.
A pretty good episode about various aspects of the crimimal justice system. It’s made clear that some large majority of the Starfleet crew are against the death penalty. There’s also some stuff about how inmates are atttacked by guards and about food and drink being given to inmates inconsistently (the former I’m sure happens in US prisons, but the latter, I’ve never heard of that happening here)
Another aspect is about racism resulting in certain races being disproportionately represented in prisons and also more likely to be executed. (that’s another feature of America’s prison system)
I give it four stars out of five.
“Prophecy” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.
“The Void” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.
“Workforce” parts 1 and 2 See this and this for a plot summary.
It’s not clear whether or not the power station they work at is public or private. In any case, what was happening was pretty messed up. Even if it is public and therefore it might seem that ST is taking a swipe at the public sector, that’s not so bad. It’s not like the public sector is above criticism or something.
Anyway, a good two-parter, I give it three stars out of five.
“Human Error” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.
“Q2” see this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.
“Author, Author” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.
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