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).
“Storm Front” parts 1 and 2 See this, and this for a plot summary.
In some ways it’s completely political, as it’s largely about World War II. There are a few elements I’d like to comment on:
A: There’s a bit of Nazi propaganda at one point. Part of it talks about the Nazis taking down the capitalists that were responsible for The Great Depression. This raises the question of whether the Nazis were left-wing or right or a combination of the two. It makes much more sense to put them solidly on the right. The Nazis economic policies were mixed in terms of their treatment of capital. But their policy on labor was not mixed- they got rid of the unions at the very beginning of their reign. Also, they emphasized nation and race much more than class. Lastly, it was conservative politicians that let the Nazis into government in 1933 (and for some years after that, conservatives were still involved in the Nazi state). (I go into more detail here)
B: A Suliban from the 22nd Century says that he didn’t know humans could be as war-like as they were during WWII, based on his knowledge of humans in the 22nd Century. Referring to humans on Earth who have not been at war with each other for many decades is a good idea. He also says that while searching for the Xindi and their weapon, Archer behaved in a way comparable to the humans during WWII (if he was referring to the Allies, that sort of makes sense, but if he was including the Axis, it makes no sense at all). I’m going to say more about this in the next review (below) (“Home”).
C: I realize there weren’t very many white, American characters in the Brooklyn parts of the two-parter, but I think it would have been more appropriate if there had been something that would briefly touch on the racism that people of color faced back then (one of the members of the resistance is a black woman). Also something about Jews being rounded up by the Nazis would have been nice.
Overall, I have mixed feelings about this two-parter. I am very interested in WWII, but so far I generally don’t like Star Trek stuff about WWII. I give it three stars out of five.
“Home” See this for a plot summary.
This episode was surprisingly full of political stuff. There are two subjects: How exploring the galaxy requires an ability to fight; and bigotry.
First the bigotry. There are basically three scenes for this. On Vulcan, T’pol’s mother gets upset about the idea of Trip and T’pol getting married and having children: “Do you really believe that a human and a vulcan can have a future together. Imagine the shame your children would endure.” This is probably a reference to their kids being part human and part Vulcan and being rejected by both Vulcans and humans.
As a result of the Xindi attack, many people on Earth became xenophobic about aliens, and Phlox encounters this. Travis and Malcolm stand up to the bigots, which results in a fight. Later, Hoshi is talking with Phlox about going down to Earth:
Hoshi: So you’re going to stay on the ship because of some loud mouth in a bar?
Phlox: My presence could provoke another incident- someone could get hurt....
Hoshi: This isn’t the way to deal with prejudice. The best thing is to show your face and remind people that there are aliens who don’t want to blow up the planet.
Phlox: I can’t blame those men for the way they reacted. Earth has survived a horrific attack. It’ll take time for the trauma to heal.
As far as how to respond to bigotry, I lean towards agreeing with Hoshi. But I’m open-minded about this and would respect the feelings of those who are the targets of bigotry.
On a related issue, I can’t agree with Phlox’s last words. I don’t believe that it was okay for people to express hostility towards Arabs and Muslims after 9/11.
Archer has a lot to say about the need for firepower while exploring. In general I would sort of agree with him, but some of what he says doesn’t make much sense to me. First, when the Captain of the second ship like Enterprise asks him for advice on which StarFleet officer would be best for Tactical (which covers both the weapons systems and the security force), Archer suggests filling that position with a member of the military (apparently StarFleet is not considered part of the military). He then also suggests having a team of military riflemen on board, as he did when he went after the Xindi. It seems like StarFleet can produce people like Archer’s tactical officer- it’s totally unnecessary to fill that position with a rifleman. On the other hand, having a squad of riflemen in addition to the tactical officers and crew is probably a good idea- it seemed to work well for Enterprise. It would probably make sense to have the Tactical officers and crew handle security on-board, and the military would help in the event of being boarded but would normally be available for away missions.
More generally Archer at one point advocates for a more isolationist policy, where StarFleet would stay close to Earth as a defensive force. He doesn’t seem to really mean it.
In the last post (while discussing the episode “Zero Hour”) I talked about how Archer did some things that were immoral during the mission to find the Xindi weapon. I basically said that although he shouldn’t be tossed in jail or even tossed out of StarFleet, he should get some punishment, to make other officers understand that there are consequences for breaking or bending the rules, even for hero Captains, and they should only do so when very necessary. There is nothing about him getting in any trouble in this episode, nor the three after it (I sometimes do reviews at a slower pace than I watch the episodes at). At the end of his de-briefing, the Vulcan ambassador says that he (Archer) did some immoral things, but says they were necessary for his mission to succeed.
It turns out that in some ways, Archer is doing what needed to be done about his immoral tactics. Mountain climbing with a fellow Captain (Erika Hernandez), Archer explains why he wanted to go climbing.
Archer: I figured this was the last place I’d run into anyone who’d want to shake my hand or take my picture or tell me I’m an inspiration to their children. If they knew what I’d done...
Hernandez: You did what any Captain would have done.
Archer: Does that include torture or marooning a ship full of innocent people- Cause I don’t remember reading those chapters in the handbook.
I’m still disappointed that he didn’t receive some kind of punishment, but that exchange is better than nothing.
Overall I give this episode three stars out of five.
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