Years ago I did what you might call “reviews” of Star Trek episodes. I mostly just briefly noted what progressive politics were involved and sometimes used that as an excuse to talk about similar situations in reality.
Last year I finally watched all five seasons of Babylon 5, another sci-fi show, one I had thought of watching once in a while stretching back a couple decades. It isn’t as political or as progressive as ST but there’s some good stuff there- in fact, on one issue, a progressive take on the working-class and/or labor movement, B5 is better than ST. Because there is so little progressive material, I’m going to do one post for every four episodes reviewed, and only mention the episodes that have some progressive political stuff. I might ignore some of the more minor and/or less unique stuff about conflict resolution because from what I remember, it’s very common in this series. Also, although less so than is the case with Star Trek, multiculturalism is a big part of Babylon Five and I will also only be commenting on that when it goes further than usual. There are issues raised about telepaths- I’m going to completely ignore stuff about telepaths when reviewing these episodes. I also will probably say nothing about the conflict with the evil race the Shadows- sure, I could say Trump is as evil as they are or compare them to Nazi Germany, but that’s kind of silly (I’m sure there is nothing political about the Shadows, they’re just evil, like the Borg or the Empire). And I might skip most of the stuff about the conflict between B5 and the Earth government- I don’t remember it involving stuff like a strong capitalist agenda or racism or something.
**Season 4, Episode 12 “Conflicts of Interest”** See this for a plot summary.
We learn a little bit more about Mars and it indicates something that I had kind of missed earlier. I still believe that the Earth-Mars conflict (before the Civil War) is comparable to the conflict between London and the original 13 American colonies. I am suddenly unsure if there was bigotry towards the colonists and if I should have known (from an earlier episode) there was hostility towards people born on Mars that might be considered racial. We learn in this episode that judges on Mars are appointed from Earth and are biased against those born on Mars. There was a weaker indication of this kind of stuff earlier, but I decided that it was a mistake by the writers, or that it was POLITICAL (not racial (or "planetary?")) bias and I ignored it.
**Season 4, Episode 13 “Rumors, Bargains, and Lies”** See this for a plot summary.
About 25 episodes earlier, the Minbari government, the Grey Council (GC), was dissolved. Without it, conflicts have arisen between the religious and warrior castes (there is also the workers caste but they weren’t mentioned in this episode). Delenn’s aide says that the GC suppressed the conflicts between the three castes but couldn’t erase them.
Delenn heads for Minbar and meets a leader of the warrior caste. She appeals to him for a solution where neither caste is the victor, believing that if one of them won it would break the delicate balance of Minbari society. But it turns out that the warrior caste isn’t as interested in dialogue and compromise as they pretended to be.
**Season 4, Episode 14 “Moments of Transition”** See this for a plot summary.
This episode is the conclusion of the conflict over power on Minbar. There is one issue that comes up and has little to do with the how the conflict is resolved.
That is the question of when is it acceptable to go to war. Although I am generally against war and assume it is horrible for everyone involved, I believe that sometimes it is justified and/or helpful and/or necessary. The leader of the Warrior Caste (Shakiri) says that wars should only be fought for practical gains, not for religious reasons or other principles.
I am sticking with my earlier impression that the Religious Caste is not as religious or (anywhere near) as right-wing as, for example, the Taliban, so I’m open-minded about what they might call a holy war. I might assume it would be less offensive to me than campaigns in reality that might be called holy wars- in general the Crusades would be examples, and so would Cromwell’s war in Ireland, etc.).
As far as wars for practical gains, I wouldn’t be surprised if the vast majority of such wars would be offensive to me- they would probably be clearly imperialist wars (i.e. Indian Wars here, or the Indonesian occupation of East Timor).
I am open-minded about supporting wars that are for progressive principles. Of course one obstacle is the fact that people who might be called neo-imperialists can and will spin what they’re doing as principled. A recent example of that I believe was the Persian Gulf War (the 1991 conflict). Ones that I would have supported would be WWII (it was far from totally invulnerable to criticism, but I believe it was overall a pretty good cause and 99% of the time the Allies fought honorably), and perhaps the two conflicts the US was involved with in the former Yugoslavia.
Going back to the episode, it turns out that the junior leader of the Warrior Caste who seemed to double-cross Delenn at the end of the last episode actually WAS cooperating with her to some degree. Shortly after that, with Minbari cities being destroyed because of the war, Delenn (who has become possibly THE leader of the Religious Caste) surrenders.
As the Warrior Caste are formalizing the surrender, Delenn says something about how their surrender doesn’t mean they are giving up the right to participate in Minbari politics. Although I like her very next move, I’m not sure what to think about that statement by her. The Religious Caste was in a very weakened position. I don’t know if the anti-fascist side in the Spanish Civil War demanded such a right after they were defeated. And the ANC seemed to RELUCTANTLY agree to a limited and very brief period of sharing power with what I think would be called a post-Apartheid, overwhelmingly white party.
In any case, she basically challenges Shakiri to settle the conflict the way inter-caste conflicts were settled before the Grey Council by standing in some kind of heat beam. The first leader to leave the beam and live loses (this was developed partly because Minbari felt that leaders should risk death in conflict just as much as their soldiers did). Delenn enters the beam but Shakiri is hesitant until a junior leader calls him a hypocrite for refusing to risk his own life. Shakiri enters, then leaves. Delenn is then carried out by the junior leader.
The very best part of this episode is at the end. Traditionally the Grey Council has nine members- three from each of the three castes- worker, religious, and warrior. Forming a new GC Delenn gives two seats to the religious caste and two to the warrior caste, and FIVE to the workers caste. Although I think it’s a little flawed, for the most part her little speech justifying that is worth quoting. She seems to be speaking mostly to the other two castes:
“You had forgotten the Worker caste, hadn’t you? When our two sides fight, they are the ones caught in the middle, forgotten until it is their time to serve, to build and to die. They build the temples we pray in, the ships you fight it. They look to us to guide their hands. But prayers are fleeting and wars forgotten. What is built endures. They do not wish to conquer or convert, only to build the future. And now they will have that chance. The Religious caste and the Warrior caste will advise and counsel. We will serve, as is proper. Religion and war must act in the service of the people- not the other way around.”
My favorite parts are underlined.
**Season 4, Episode 15 “No Surrender, No Retreat”** See this for a plot sumamry.
At the end of the previous episode it was learned that Earth Alliance forces massacred civilian passengers of a space ship, killing thousands. Sheridan decides that enough is enough.
First, though, he needs to secure defensive forces for B5. He talks about the mutual support treaties that members of the League of Non-Aligned Worlds have with Earth and says that in exchange for the security Sheridan’s forces have been providing for those worlds, the treaties must be torn up and those planets must each provide one large military vessel for the defense of B5. He also, on a more ethical note, reminds them that the President of Earth is a xenophobe promoting mistrust of aliens.
While trying to get the Narn leader G’Kar to sign a joint statement about both races supporting Sherdian, the Centauri ambassador Mollari describes them both as patriots. Although he played a role in ENDING his race’s near genocidal occupation of Narn worlds, he also played a role in BEGINNING and SUSTAINING it for about a year. G’Kar was a leader, in exile, of the resistance on Narn. They might both be patriots, but there is a huge difference between them when you look just a little deeper.
The vast majority of the episode is about Sheridan going on the offensive in what would probably be seen as an important and medium-sized space battle between Sheridan’s fleet and six Earth Force ships that might be compared to battleships. One enemy ship is destroyed, one leaves the battle rather than fight for a corrupt government, one leaves without plans to take orders from Earth anymore, another stays to defend the planet they were earlier laying siege to, and two fully defect to Sheridan’s command. I find this sort of thing inspiring. Even if we look throughout human history and all over the world, I’m MUCH more an opponent of the military than a fan, but some times they do good, and the idea of senior officers defecting to support the re-instatement of freedom and/or democracy in their nation is great. I am not real familiar with this, but I know that in the mid-1970s elements of the Portuguese military overthrew a fascist dictatorship and, within a small number of years a democracy was created.
Showing posts with label caste. Show all posts
Showing posts with label caste. Show all posts
Friday, February 23, 2018
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Babylon 5 Reviews I
Years ago I did what you might call “reviews” of Star Trek episodes. I mostly just briefly noted what progressive politics were involved and sometimes used that as an excuse to talk about similar situations in reality.
Last year I finally watched all five seasons of Babylon 5, another sci-fi show, one I had thought of watching once in a while stretching back a couple decades. It isn’t as political or as progressive as ST but there’s some good stuff there- in fact, on one issue, a progressive take on the working-class and/or labor movement, B5 is better than ST. Because there is so little progressive material, I’m going to do one post for every four episodes reviewed, and only mention the episodes that have some progressive political stuff. I might ignore some of the more minor and/or less unique stuff about conflict resolution because from what I remember, it’s very common in this series. Also, although less so than is the case with Star Trek, multiculturalism is a big part of Babylon Five and I will also only be commenting on that when it goes further than usual. There are issues raised about telepaths- I’m going to completely ignore stuff about telepaths when reviewing these episodes. I also will probably say nothing about the conflict with the evil race the Shadows- sure, I could say Trump is as evil as they are or compare them to Nazi Germany, but that’s kind of silly (I’m sure there is nothing political about the Shadows, they’re just evil, like the Borg or the Empire). And I might skip most of the stuff about the conflict between B5 and the Earth government- I don’t remember it involving stuff like a strong capitalist agenda or racism or something.
**Season 4 Episode 8 “The Illusion of Truth”** See this for a plot summary.
This episode is about the presidential propaganda TV station doing a story about Babylon 5, promising to be relatively objective and expose viewers to B5’s point of view. What is broadcast though is a dishonest attack on B5.
Some things worth noting as they stand out more than the general lies and propaganda of the story about B5:
1. A report that gov’t forces on Mars are making progress against the resistance there.
2. In a newly reconstituted senate, there is a McCarthyist “Committee on Anti-Earth Activities." Apparently some or many or most caught up in the witch-hunt are “hospitalized” so that they can “one day return to society [as] active and productive citizen[s].”
The story about B5 is so full of nonsense that I’m not going to cover all of the details or explain what was done by referring to the scenes being filmed in the first half of the episode. The main theme is that in general the B5 rebels are self-hating humans who believe they are inferior to aliens in every way and that is why they are (the show alleges) subservient to aliens.
A last few notes on economic justice on B5. Lennier is showing the journalists “Down Below” and they have a conversation about it, most of which is new information:
Lennier:“ Babylon 5 has always had an under-class. People who come here in search of a better life and find themselves stranded when they run out of money. They become a cheap workforce for some of the less reputable businessmen.
Journalist: So, they’re exploited.
Lennier:Sometimes, yes. The captain stops it when he hears of it. He’s instituted work programs so that they can earn money while helping to repair the station.
…..
Lennier: This is Doctor Stephen Franklin. He operates a free clinic for these people.
**Season 4 Episode 9 “Atonement”** See this for a plot summary.
This episode is overwhelmingly about the Minbari.
In an earlier review I defended Delenn against allegations she was something comparable to (you might say) a leader of Al-Qaeda and I said some nice things about the Minbari. Although my defense of Delenn stands (she DID transform herself into a hybrid of human and Minbari and she IS in a serious relationship with a human), apparently Minbar officially bans inter-species marriages. Her clan (part of the religious caste) didn’t approve of her transformation and seem inclined to oppose her taking a human as a mate. For that reason she must do a ritual called the “dreaming” where she is confronted with elements of her past.
The leader of the Minbari (in her memories that are explored), Dukhat, says that humans are reportedly primitive and dangerous. Considering that Earth is not comparable to the Federation of Star Trek, this is a fairly progressive statement. The Grey Council (the leadership of the Minbari) all argue that they should not make contact with Earth for different reasons:
1) The workers caste worried about competition with another source of food. The specific reference to food is a little weird but in general it's far from unheard of- a massive chunk of the American working-class, even large chunks of the labor movement, do see foreign workers as competition. In reality (and maybe in the world of Babylon 5) that’s a very unhelpful stance to take. I’m not saying it’s totally unreasonable for workers to feel that way, but it can often fuel racism which is even less helpful and there are better ways to create and protect jobs here.
2) The religious caste is “worried about the impact of strange, primitive ideas.” This erodes my opinion that they are not conservative, but also could be relatively harmless (relative to clear-cut xenophobia).
3) The warrior caste believe they should not associate with “inferior” cultures. Again, more or less xenophobic, but the warrior caste has never been illustrated as a positive part of Minbari society.
A big part of this episode revolves around the opening shots of the Earth-Minbar War. In addition to not speaking the other’s language, part of the explanation is that the humans didn’t recognize the traditional warrior caste approach with gun ports open (i.e. ready to fire). They mean it as a non-threatening “gesture of strength and respect”- the approach is “open-handed.” In general it might not be totally ridiculous for the warrior caste to see that as something unlikely to start a war. But when they describe it as “open-handed” it’s just not true. Open gun ports is like showing a fist.
Earlier in the episode Delenn supports a course of action in relation to humans that is fairly constructive and diplomatic. But after Dukhat is killed, she wants blood and casts the tie-breaking vote in favor of war. Later after that first battle was over she reverts back to her earlier stance and tried to pull a blood-thirsty nation and military back from the abyss of war. Another member of the planetary leadership, demanding blood minutes earlier, now seems to have followed Delann and says that they should have made contact with the humans BEFORE a war started.
At the end we learn that a historical political/religious/military leader of Minbar (who was not Minbari but human) fathered children with a Minbari woman. 1,000 years later his descendants can’t be counted they are so numerous. Delenn uses the fact that before her transformation she already had human DNA inside her (so it doesn’t matter if she has children with a human (they wouldn’t be completely Minbari anyway)) to defend her plans with Capt. Sheridan.
One other detail about the episode. Sheridan sends two of his men to Mars to establish contact with the resistance there. I remember the first time I watched this show I wasn’t very interested in that part of the Earth Civil War, but I have changed my mind.
**Season 4 Episode 10 “Racing Mars”** See this for a plot summary.
There are two small progressive political items.
1. First the two men meeting with the Mars resistance are given cover stories that involve them being married to each other. To be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if the writers put that in there partly for some laughs, but considering the episode they did about HIV/AIDS I think it’s safe to also see it as a serious statement against homophobia.
2. At one point the Pope is referred to as a woman!
**Season 4, Episode 11 “Lines of Communication”** See this for a plot summary.
There are three political aspects to this episode.
1. We learn that the caste system on Minbar is breaking down. At it’s extreme, the warrior caste in one city left the religious caste to die by expelling them from the city, thus forcing them to walk through the elements to the nearest city. The warrior caste are also creating their own leadership to replace the Grey Council.
2. Captain Sheridan’s emissary to the Mars resistance tells them that after the Earth Civil War is over, Mars will be independent.
He also criticizes them for bombing civilian targets. It’s unclear exactly what he means. That comment seems inspired by a bombing at a hotel that was aimed at members of the security forces but which was carried out in a way that unsurprisingly killed 10 civilians as well (it’s not known how many members of the security forces were killed). I go into more detail about whether or not IRA attacks were terrorism here, but briefly, even if the targets of a bomb are combatants in very close proximity to civilians, if no effort is made to avoid civilian death it sounds more or less sort of like terrorism to me.
Sheridan’s representative says that civilian casualties turn off people, including those who should be supporting a struggle for liberation. I think that’s very true. But it seems like many western progressive supporters of Hamas (the party in the Palestinian territories) don’t get that. Hamas’s military wing, in their offensive activities (their operations) largely targeted civilians (and seem to have allowed other factions in Gaza to target civilians). As far as I can tell, their rival, the PLO, seems to have failed miserably to achieve victory for their people in the Peace Process, and I get the impression a lot of progressives criticize them for that and some other stuff. To those who focus on that failure and who then turn to Hamas, I say that whatever mistakes the PLO have made that weakened the Palestinian struggle, at least they didn’t damage it as much as Hamas' military wing has because of attacks on civilians they carried out or permitted.
Last year I finally watched all five seasons of Babylon 5, another sci-fi show, one I had thought of watching once in a while stretching back a couple decades. It isn’t as political or as progressive as ST but there’s some good stuff there- in fact, on one issue, a progressive take on the working-class and/or labor movement, B5 is better than ST. Because there is so little progressive material, I’m going to do one post for every four episodes reviewed, and only mention the episodes that have some progressive political stuff. I might ignore some of the more minor and/or less unique stuff about conflict resolution because from what I remember, it’s very common in this series. Also, although less so than is the case with Star Trek, multiculturalism is a big part of Babylon Five and I will also only be commenting on that when it goes further than usual. There are issues raised about telepaths- I’m going to completely ignore stuff about telepaths when reviewing these episodes. I also will probably say nothing about the conflict with the evil race the Shadows- sure, I could say Trump is as evil as they are or compare them to Nazi Germany, but that’s kind of silly (I’m sure there is nothing political about the Shadows, they’re just evil, like the Borg or the Empire). And I might skip most of the stuff about the conflict between B5 and the Earth government- I don’t remember it involving stuff like a strong capitalist agenda or racism or something.
**Season 4 Episode 8 “The Illusion of Truth”** See this for a plot summary.
This episode is about the presidential propaganda TV station doing a story about Babylon 5, promising to be relatively objective and expose viewers to B5’s point of view. What is broadcast though is a dishonest attack on B5.
Some things worth noting as they stand out more than the general lies and propaganda of the story about B5:
1. A report that gov’t forces on Mars are making progress against the resistance there.
2. In a newly reconstituted senate, there is a McCarthyist “Committee on Anti-Earth Activities." Apparently some or many or most caught up in the witch-hunt are “hospitalized” so that they can “one day return to society [as] active and productive citizen[s].”
The story about B5 is so full of nonsense that I’m not going to cover all of the details or explain what was done by referring to the scenes being filmed in the first half of the episode. The main theme is that in general the B5 rebels are self-hating humans who believe they are inferior to aliens in every way and that is why they are (the show alleges) subservient to aliens.
A last few notes on economic justice on B5. Lennier is showing the journalists “Down Below” and they have a conversation about it, most of which is new information:
Lennier:“ Babylon 5 has always had an under-class. People who come here in search of a better life and find themselves stranded when they run out of money. They become a cheap workforce for some of the less reputable businessmen.
Journalist: So, they’re exploited.
Lennier:Sometimes, yes. The captain stops it when he hears of it. He’s instituted work programs so that they can earn money while helping to repair the station.
…..
Lennier: This is Doctor Stephen Franklin. He operates a free clinic for these people.
**Season 4 Episode 9 “Atonement”** See this for a plot summary.
This episode is overwhelmingly about the Minbari.
In an earlier review I defended Delenn against allegations she was something comparable to (you might say) a leader of Al-Qaeda and I said some nice things about the Minbari. Although my defense of Delenn stands (she DID transform herself into a hybrid of human and Minbari and she IS in a serious relationship with a human), apparently Minbar officially bans inter-species marriages. Her clan (part of the religious caste) didn’t approve of her transformation and seem inclined to oppose her taking a human as a mate. For that reason she must do a ritual called the “dreaming” where she is confronted with elements of her past.
The leader of the Minbari (in her memories that are explored), Dukhat, says that humans are reportedly primitive and dangerous. Considering that Earth is not comparable to the Federation of Star Trek, this is a fairly progressive statement. The Grey Council (the leadership of the Minbari) all argue that they should not make contact with Earth for different reasons:
1) The workers caste worried about competition with another source of food. The specific reference to food is a little weird but in general it's far from unheard of- a massive chunk of the American working-class, even large chunks of the labor movement, do see foreign workers as competition. In reality (and maybe in the world of Babylon 5) that’s a very unhelpful stance to take. I’m not saying it’s totally unreasonable for workers to feel that way, but it can often fuel racism which is even less helpful and there are better ways to create and protect jobs here.
2) The religious caste is “worried about the impact of strange, primitive ideas.” This erodes my opinion that they are not conservative, but also could be relatively harmless (relative to clear-cut xenophobia).
3) The warrior caste believe they should not associate with “inferior” cultures. Again, more or less xenophobic, but the warrior caste has never been illustrated as a positive part of Minbari society.
A big part of this episode revolves around the opening shots of the Earth-Minbar War. In addition to not speaking the other’s language, part of the explanation is that the humans didn’t recognize the traditional warrior caste approach with gun ports open (i.e. ready to fire). They mean it as a non-threatening “gesture of strength and respect”- the approach is “open-handed.” In general it might not be totally ridiculous for the warrior caste to see that as something unlikely to start a war. But when they describe it as “open-handed” it’s just not true. Open gun ports is like showing a fist.
Earlier in the episode Delenn supports a course of action in relation to humans that is fairly constructive and diplomatic. But after Dukhat is killed, she wants blood and casts the tie-breaking vote in favor of war. Later after that first battle was over she reverts back to her earlier stance and tried to pull a blood-thirsty nation and military back from the abyss of war. Another member of the planetary leadership, demanding blood minutes earlier, now seems to have followed Delann and says that they should have made contact with the humans BEFORE a war started.
At the end we learn that a historical political/religious/military leader of Minbar (who was not Minbari but human) fathered children with a Minbari woman. 1,000 years later his descendants can’t be counted they are so numerous. Delenn uses the fact that before her transformation she already had human DNA inside her (so it doesn’t matter if she has children with a human (they wouldn’t be completely Minbari anyway)) to defend her plans with Capt. Sheridan.
One other detail about the episode. Sheridan sends two of his men to Mars to establish contact with the resistance there. I remember the first time I watched this show I wasn’t very interested in that part of the Earth Civil War, but I have changed my mind.
**Season 4 Episode 10 “Racing Mars”** See this for a plot summary.
There are two small progressive political items.
1. First the two men meeting with the Mars resistance are given cover stories that involve them being married to each other. To be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if the writers put that in there partly for some laughs, but considering the episode they did about HIV/AIDS I think it’s safe to also see it as a serious statement against homophobia.
2. At one point the Pope is referred to as a woman!
**Season 4, Episode 11 “Lines of Communication”** See this for a plot summary.
There are three political aspects to this episode.
1. We learn that the caste system on Minbar is breaking down. At it’s extreme, the warrior caste in one city left the religious caste to die by expelling them from the city, thus forcing them to walk through the elements to the nearest city. The warrior caste are also creating their own leadership to replace the Grey Council.
2. Captain Sheridan’s emissary to the Mars resistance tells them that after the Earth Civil War is over, Mars will be independent.
He also criticizes them for bombing civilian targets. It’s unclear exactly what he means. That comment seems inspired by a bombing at a hotel that was aimed at members of the security forces but which was carried out in a way that unsurprisingly killed 10 civilians as well (it’s not known how many members of the security forces were killed). I go into more detail about whether or not IRA attacks were terrorism here, but briefly, even if the targets of a bomb are combatants in very close proximity to civilians, if no effort is made to avoid civilian death it sounds more or less sort of like terrorism to me.
Sheridan’s representative says that civilian casualties turn off people, including those who should be supporting a struggle for liberation. I think that’s very true. But it seems like many western progressive supporters of Hamas (the party in the Palestinian territories) don’t get that. Hamas’s military wing, in their offensive activities (their operations) largely targeted civilians (and seem to have allowed other factions in Gaza to target civilians). As far as I can tell, their rival, the PLO, seems to have failed miserably to achieve victory for their people in the Peace Process, and I get the impression a lot of progressives criticize them for that and some other stuff. To those who focus on that failure and who then turn to Hamas, I say that whatever mistakes the PLO have made that weakened the Palestinian struggle, at least they didn’t damage it as much as Hamas' military wing has because of attacks on civilians they carried out or permitted.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Babylon 5 Reviews H
Years ago I did what you might call “reviews” of Star Trek episodes. I mostly just briefly noted what progressive politics were involved and sometimes used that as an excuse to talk about similar situations in reality.
Last year I finally watched all five seasons of Babylon 5, another sci-fi show, one I had thought of watching once in a while stretching back a couple decades. It isn’t as political or as progressive as ST but there’s some good stuff there- in fact, on one issue, a progressive take on the working-class and/or labor movement, B5 is better than ST. Because there is so little progressive material, I’m going to do one post for every four episodes reviewed, and only mention the episodes that have some progressive political stuff. I might ignore some of the more minor and/or less unique stuff about conflict resolution because from what I remember, it’s very common in this series. Also, although less so than is the case with Star Trek, multiculturalism is a big part of Babylon Five and I will also only be commenting on that when it goes further than usual. There are issues raised about telepaths- I’m going to completely ignore stuff about telepaths when reviewing these episodes. I also will probably say nothing about the conflict with the evil race the Shadows- sure, I could say Trump is as evil as they are or compare them to Nazi Germany, but that’s kind of silly (I’m sure there is nothing political about the Shadows, they’re just evil, like the Borg or the Empire). And I might skip most of the stuff about the conflict between B5 and the Earth government- I don’t remember it involving stuff like a strong capitalist agenda or racism or something.
**Sesason 3 Episode 12 “Sic Transit Vir”** See this for a plot summary.
Although the details were a bit unclear, part of this episode is about a Centauri, Vir, operating something like an underground railroad for Narns. Apparently he gets them off the Centauri-occupied Narn Homeworld and sent to better places. Speaking of which, we get more details of what the occupation is like. It’s even more genocidal than we knew earlier. Entire villages are wiped out. In fact, what Vir did might be more comparable to what was done by some people who helped Jewish people survive the Holocaust. The widespread and extreme racism of the Centauris towards the Narn is also illustrated some more.
**Season 3 Episode 19 “Grey 17 is Missing”** See this for a plot summary.
There is one political thing. After Delenn, the minbari Ambassador to B5, agrees to lead the anti-Shadow force the Rangers, her rival in the minbari gov’t tells her he won’t accept that. He’s military and thinks his caste should lead the Rangers. He says that is the tradition on Minbar, but Delenn (a member of the religious caste) points out that he violated that tradition when he took her seat after she was expelled from the leadership (a leadership that is supposed to have three members from each of the three castes (religious, warrior, and worker)). I almost didn’t review this episode but in season 4 there are a few episodes about minbari politics. Also, the military leader says something interesting about Delenn. He says: “a religious zealot propelled by prophecy into a position of military and political power? Always a bad idea”
In general of course I agree with that. But in this fictional case, if she’s representative of the religious caste, it must be a pretty good religion- better than Christianity in general, for example. I am trying to remember some specifics but in general minbari society seems a lot better than many very religious societies in real life. Delenn has expressed no bigotry, has undergone a transformation to strengthen relations between the minbari and humans, ends up marrying a human, attended a Christian religious service, is a strong advocate for peace, etc. She IS religious enough that she might be close to a zealot, but I think she doesn’t go that far with her religious beliefs.
On a related note, I am a little disappointed that the religious and warrior castes each have 1/3 of the leadership. That’s a lot. The military shouldn’t have that much power especially since it’s formal and they can recruit allies from the other two castes to win votes on policy, etc. And even though I am sort of religious, I don’t like the idea of the officially religious sector of society having that much power either. On the other hand, the idea of the workers having 1/3 of state power is better than most societies in reality.
**Season 3, episode 21 “Shadow Dancing”** For a plot summary see this.
There is one thing that I think is worth mentioning even though it’s sort of been mentioned before. While in a very poor part of B5 a tourist says to her husband: “President Clark says that people like this are the result of social problems, not economic problems.” First it confirms that Clark is a class warrior. Also, I imagine that he meant “bad morality” when he said “social problems.”
**Season 3 Episode 22 “Z’ha’dum”** For a plot summary, see this.
As I explained above, I was pretty sure there was nothing about the conflict with the Shadows that was political enough for me to mention. This episode is probably the only exception. (Part of why I say the Shadows are non-political is that they appear to be: without the societal divisions we see in reality; without ANY tradition of (or struggle for) democracy; without any recognizable capitalist or socialist tendencies; without any bigotry similar to what we have in reality; without any dissidents; and perhaps without imperialism as we know it in reality)
Sheridan travels to the Shadow Homeworld and listens to their human allies explain the philosophy of the Shadows. Here are some of their statements:
“[they] believe that strength only comes from conflict.”
“you bring two sides together, they fight. A lot of them die. But those who survive are stronger, smarter, and better.”
In response to Sheridan mentioning the destruction of entire races, one says “a few get lost along the way.”
They say similar things about the history of humanity, and attribute early space exploration and the development of atomic fission to war. They also say that Sheridan’s coalition building with the other races is getting in the way of their plans.
It’s incredibly darwinian, genocidal and fascist. Although war can encourage experimentation and invention, A) at least one thing developed in that context (splitting the atom) shouldn’t have been pursued and B) I’m certain that humanity could have invented the rocket without the help of Nazi Germany and could have pursued space exploration without the the Cold War. Although I wouldn’t expect this transformation to happen overnight or anytime soon, if we took all the money spent on “Defense” and invested it in research for things like medicine, we could save a lot of lives and improve a lot of lives.
Last year I finally watched all five seasons of Babylon 5, another sci-fi show, one I had thought of watching once in a while stretching back a couple decades. It isn’t as political or as progressive as ST but there’s some good stuff there- in fact, on one issue, a progressive take on the working-class and/or labor movement, B5 is better than ST. Because there is so little progressive material, I’m going to do one post for every four episodes reviewed, and only mention the episodes that have some progressive political stuff. I might ignore some of the more minor and/or less unique stuff about conflict resolution because from what I remember, it’s very common in this series. Also, although less so than is the case with Star Trek, multiculturalism is a big part of Babylon Five and I will also only be commenting on that when it goes further than usual. There are issues raised about telepaths- I’m going to completely ignore stuff about telepaths when reviewing these episodes. I also will probably say nothing about the conflict with the evil race the Shadows- sure, I could say Trump is as evil as they are or compare them to Nazi Germany, but that’s kind of silly (I’m sure there is nothing political about the Shadows, they’re just evil, like the Borg or the Empire). And I might skip most of the stuff about the conflict between B5 and the Earth government- I don’t remember it involving stuff like a strong capitalist agenda or racism or something.
**Sesason 3 Episode 12 “Sic Transit Vir”** See this for a plot summary.
Although the details were a bit unclear, part of this episode is about a Centauri, Vir, operating something like an underground railroad for Narns. Apparently he gets them off the Centauri-occupied Narn Homeworld and sent to better places. Speaking of which, we get more details of what the occupation is like. It’s even more genocidal than we knew earlier. Entire villages are wiped out. In fact, what Vir did might be more comparable to what was done by some people who helped Jewish people survive the Holocaust. The widespread and extreme racism of the Centauris towards the Narn is also illustrated some more.
**Season 3 Episode 19 “Grey 17 is Missing”** See this for a plot summary.
There is one political thing. After Delenn, the minbari Ambassador to B5, agrees to lead the anti-Shadow force the Rangers, her rival in the minbari gov’t tells her he won’t accept that. He’s military and thinks his caste should lead the Rangers. He says that is the tradition on Minbar, but Delenn (a member of the religious caste) points out that he violated that tradition when he took her seat after she was expelled from the leadership (a leadership that is supposed to have three members from each of the three castes (religious, warrior, and worker)). I almost didn’t review this episode but in season 4 there are a few episodes about minbari politics. Also, the military leader says something interesting about Delenn. He says: “a religious zealot propelled by prophecy into a position of military and political power? Always a bad idea”
In general of course I agree with that. But in this fictional case, if she’s representative of the religious caste, it must be a pretty good religion- better than Christianity in general, for example. I am trying to remember some specifics but in general minbari society seems a lot better than many very religious societies in real life. Delenn has expressed no bigotry, has undergone a transformation to strengthen relations between the minbari and humans, ends up marrying a human, attended a Christian religious service, is a strong advocate for peace, etc. She IS religious enough that she might be close to a zealot, but I think she doesn’t go that far with her religious beliefs.
On a related note, I am a little disappointed that the religious and warrior castes each have 1/3 of the leadership. That’s a lot. The military shouldn’t have that much power especially since it’s formal and they can recruit allies from the other two castes to win votes on policy, etc. And even though I am sort of religious, I don’t like the idea of the officially religious sector of society having that much power either. On the other hand, the idea of the workers having 1/3 of state power is better than most societies in reality.
**Season 3, episode 21 “Shadow Dancing”** For a plot summary see this.
There is one thing that I think is worth mentioning even though it’s sort of been mentioned before. While in a very poor part of B5 a tourist says to her husband: “President Clark says that people like this are the result of social problems, not economic problems.” First it confirms that Clark is a class warrior. Also, I imagine that he meant “bad morality” when he said “social problems.”
**Season 3 Episode 22 “Z’ha’dum”** For a plot summary, see this.
As I explained above, I was pretty sure there was nothing about the conflict with the Shadows that was political enough for me to mention. This episode is probably the only exception. (Part of why I say the Shadows are non-political is that they appear to be: without the societal divisions we see in reality; without ANY tradition of (or struggle for) democracy; without any recognizable capitalist or socialist tendencies; without any bigotry similar to what we have in reality; without any dissidents; and perhaps without imperialism as we know it in reality)
Sheridan travels to the Shadow Homeworld and listens to their human allies explain the philosophy of the Shadows. Here are some of their statements:
“[they] believe that strength only comes from conflict.”
“you bring two sides together, they fight. A lot of them die. But those who survive are stronger, smarter, and better.”
In response to Sheridan mentioning the destruction of entire races, one says “a few get lost along the way.”
They say similar things about the history of humanity, and attribute early space exploration and the development of atomic fission to war. They also say that Sheridan’s coalition building with the other races is getting in the way of their plans.
It’s incredibly darwinian, genocidal and fascist. Although war can encourage experimentation and invention, A) at least one thing developed in that context (splitting the atom) shouldn’t have been pursued and B) I’m certain that humanity could have invented the rocket without the help of Nazi Germany and could have pursued space exploration without the the Cold War. Although I wouldn’t expect this transformation to happen overnight or anytime soon, if we took all the money spent on “Defense” and invested it in research for things like medicine, we could save a lot of lives and improve a lot of lives.
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Babylon 5 Reviews D
Years ago I did what you might call “reviews” of Star Trek episodes. I mostly just briefly noted what progressive politics were involved and sometimes used that as an excuse to talk about similar situations in reality.
Last year I finally watched all five seasons of Babylon 5, another sci-fi show, one I had thought of watching once in a while stretching back a couple decades. It isn’t as political or as progressive as ST but there’s some good stuff there- in fact, on one issue, a progressive take on the working-class and/or labor movement, B5 is better than ST. Because there is so little progressive material, I’m going to do one post for every four episodes reviewed, and only mention the episodes that have some progressive political stuff. I might ignore some of the more minor and/or less unique stuff about conflict resolution because from what I remember, it’s very common in this series. Also, although less so than is the case with Star Trek, multiculturalism is a big part of Babylon Five and I will also only be commenting on that when it is more significant than usual. There are issues raised about telepaths- I’m going to completely ignore stuff about telepaths when reviewing these episodes. I also will probably say nothing about the conflict with the evil race the Shadows- sure, I could say Trump is as evil as they are or compare them to Nazi Germany, but that’s kind of silly (I’m sure there is nothing political about the Shadows, they’re just evil, like the Borg or the Empire). And I might skip most of the stuff about the conflict between B5 and the Earth government- I don’t remember it involving stuff like a strong capitalist agenda or racism or something.
**Season 1 Episode 22 “Chrysalis”** See this for a plot summary.
This episode has two items worth mentioning.
1. During negotiations between the Narn and the centauri (the latter used to occupy the former’s space and planets) the Narn announce they are no longer recognizing the treaty between the two of them because it was signed by them while under duress.
In an online debate about N. Ireland among socialists MANY years ago someone said that the British Prime Minister at the time of the partition of Ireland simply out-negotiated the Irish Republican leader Michael Collins, as if that settled it. During the talks, the British threatened “immediate and terrible” war if the Treaty was not accepted. One of the key issues was the boundaries of N. Ireland. Before the Treaty negotiations the Government of Ireland Act had been passed in 1920 (the Treaty was signed in 1921), dividing the island as it has been since then- the Six Counties of N. Ireland and the 26 Counties of Southern Ireland. A key part of the Treaty was a Boundary Commission (BC) to evaluate and if necessary adjust the border.
The Republicans negotiating the Treaty believed that the BC would transfer large parts of NI to the South, and one source I read said that without those areas (including counties Tyrone and Fermanagh) NI might not be economically viable. In general, it probably would have increased the likelihood of the Treaty being a stepping stone to complete independence for all of Ireland.
Why didn’t this happen? There are about seven small reasons and one big one. First, the BC had a representative from the Southern Ireland gov’t, one from the N. Ireland gov’t, and one, the Chair, from the UK gov’t. The idea that the Chair was somehow neutral is ridiculous. It was two to one and then the Judicial Committee of the British Privy Council (a part of the British state) decided that the BC could function with only 2 members. Shortly before the BC reported in 1925, the Southern Ireland representative quit in protest of an ostensible plan to take valuable land from the South and give it to the North in exchange for unimportant strips of land in the North (it’s believed that this was a (successful) ruse intended to force the South to confirm the border as it was in order to avoid losing any territory). In the early 1920s in Belfast and to some degree elsewhere in the North there was a high level of violence against the Nationalist community from both the security forces and other unionists. This may have had an effect on the ability of Nationalists to demonstrate their opposition to the Northern statelet and was used to pressure the IRA to cease activity in the Six Counties- activity that might have highlighted, in the border areas, opposition to that state as the BC was meeting (the beginning of the Civil War in the South may have been more responsible for the end of IRA activity in N. Ireland, but according to Michael Farrell on page 61 of his book “Northern Ireland: The Orange State” the pro-Treaty (pro-compromise) Southern gov’t attacked their political opponents because the British pressured them to stop IRA attacks in the North. This was in exchange for stopping the pogroms in Belfast). In general, the North was turned into an armed camp with about 50,000 locally recruited members of the security forces and 16 battalions of the British Army.
The big reason was the set-up of local gov’t in N. Ireland. In 1920, under the 1920 Government of Ireland Act, local gov’t elections were held using proportional representation, something the British put in the law to protect minorities. Out of nearly 80 local gov’t bodies, Nationalists controlled 25, including counties Fermanagh and Tyrone and Derry city. Many of them declared their allegiance to the underground Irish gov’t in Dublin. 14 of these bodies, including Fermanagh and Tyrone, were dissolved and replaced by Unionist-appointed commissions. The N. Ireland law about elections to local gov’t was changed so that PR was done away with and all councilors had to make a declaration of allegiance to the Crown and the gov’t. When the new boundaries were drawn without PR, it was done by a single unionist who invariably accepted unionist submissions (he didn’t do anything with the corporations (i.e. Belfast) or urban councils). The result was that after elections in 1924 (just months before the BC started working) Nationalists controlled only 2 local government bodies. This was partly because in protest of the new boundaries and the required declaration of allegiance many Nationalists boycotted the elections.
As I was refreshing my memory of these facts I decided that here and there you COULD say that the British and/or the unionists, in different negotiations, DID out-negotiate Michael Collins. But that doesn’t change the very serious concerns, then and since then, about the treatment of the Catholic and Nationalist minorities; or the right to national self-determination of the Irish people. Crucially, when the Treaty was signed, the Government of Ireland Act of 1920 said there would be proportional representation, and the boundaries for local gov’t elections had been drawn fairly, and there was no requirement for local councilors to declare allegiance to the Crown and the gov’t. If it had been otherwise, the republican negotiators would have addressed it. As it was, it made sense for them to assume that the BC would transfer about 1/4-1/3 of the Six-County population to the South.
2. At the end, the President of Earth is killed by an explosion on his space ship. As we learn later it’s a bomb and basically a coup involving the Vice President, and in the next 3 seasons there are a lot of episodes about it and I think a few have some elements worth mentioning on this blog.
**Season 2 Episode 1 “Points of Departure”** See this for a plot summary.
There are three brief notes to make about this episode:
1. Commander Sinclair is replaced by Captain Sheridan as the commanding officer of B5.
2. We learn that Minbari society is a caste society and is very segregated.
3. We also learn that the Minbari use torture. In the first episode of the first season it was stated that they are honorable in war (there’s also the fact that during almost the entire series, the Minbari are definitely “good guys”). Those two statements are contradictory and I wouldn’t be surprised if the statement about torture might have been a mistake by the writers.
**Season 2 Episode 2 “Revelations”** See this for a plot summary.
There is one political thing in this episode. The Minbari ambassador goes through some kind of transformation and becomes, as far as her outward appearance is concerned, some kind of hybrid of a human and a Minbari. She says that she did it to bridge the gap between the two races (who had gone to war with each other a decade earlier). I’m torn between calling it a little silly and, on the other hand, saying it takes the themes of multiculturalism and conflict resolution further than normal.
**Season 2 Episode 3 “The Geometry of Shadows”** See this for a plot summary.
There is something slightly political that becomes more so towards the very end. One of the alien races that make up the League of Non-Aligned Worlds, the Drazi, create a new government every five years in non-lethal fighting between those Drazi who wear a purple tie-type thing around their neck and those wearing a green one- all Drazi wear either purple or green. They choose purple or green based on the color of the clothing item that they blindly pull out of a large container- it has nothing to do with caste, class, race, ethnicity, ideology, religion, government policy, etc. In this episode the conflict becomes lethal for the first time ever and at least one of the two sides becomes fairly blood-thirsty. It almost reminds me of two sociology experiments about elementary school or high school students (the one about blue-eyed and brown-eyed kids that actually took place and the one about high-school students and the “Wave” which may have taken place (about fascism)). It also reminds me of the one done at the university level somewhere in California about prison guards.
At one point, as the Executive Officer of B5 is trying to resolve it non-violently, one of the Drazi compares it to the division and conflict on (today’s) Earth that is associated to some degree with flags. As far as armed causes that are symbolized by flags, the vast majority of the time (looking at the past and the very recent past) I would say that most were not worth the bloodshed and destruction. Many were, in one way of another, manifestations of imperialism and/or capitalism (I’m not opposed to those that were fighting AGAINST imperialism and/or capitalism). A good example is World War I. But, at the relatively positive end of the spectrum, the Allied cause in World War II was, overall, a fairly good cause. As I put it in one of my poems, “although the Allied leaders are not consistent/defeating the fascist states is important.” In general I’m very anti-war but I am not a pacifist.
As far as the display of flags, I’m between fairly and very okay with that most of the time. It’s strongly felt by most of the Irish population that the six counties of N. Ireland are part of Ireland in a fairly political or national way, not just in the sense that they’re part of the same island. I have a problem with the British flag being flown there and I wouldn’t hold it against the nationalist population if they flew the Irish flag in their areas all the time. In the 8th note for the poem here, I talk a little about the US flag. I am fine with the display of (for example) the Mexican flag by immigrants and Mexican-Americans in the US.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Star Trek: Enterprise Reviews S
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).
“Daedalus” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.
“Observer Effect” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.
“Babel One,” “United,” “The Aenar” See the links for a plot summary.
There are a small number of political aspects to this episode:
1) Shran again expresses a willingness to torture people, which is fairly disturbing because he is generally seen as an ally of Archer’s.
2) One thing I like is the unity created between the different alien races, which will lead eventually to the formation of the Federation. I generally support such moves (i.e. (after making some changes) increasing (in small steps over a number of decades) the power of the United Nations).
3) So far I don’t have a complete picture of the Romulan political system and how democratic or undemocratic it is. In this episode we learn that dissident members of the Senate can be expelled.
I give this three-parter two stars out of five.
“Affliction” and “Divergence” See this and this for a plot summary
There are two sort of political things in this episode.
First, we hear (probably not for the first time) that Klingon society is a caste-based society.
Secondly, there is the appearance of Section 31. I discuss Section 31 here while discussing the episode "Inquisition."
For the most part a non-political episode. I like how it explains the appearance of Klingons in The Original Series. I give it two stars out of five.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Star Trek: Enterprise Reviews E
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.
The Original Series disclaimer:
Also, although this gap in my knowledge is not complete and I will often do research to make up for this, and we are only taking about around 70 episodes, I am not familiar with The Original Series, so if I say something and there’s an exception in that series, that simply means that I was off a little bit. Unfortunately, I don’t like TOS, have see each episode an average of once, on average about 10 years ago, and for various reasons I’m not going to familiarize myself with it anytime soon. Unfortunately I love the three series from 1990s, like Enterprise, and am going to do this anyway. I doubt it’ll more than very slightly affect something like 1% of the reviews I do of the 1990s series- when I’m done with those, that’ll be about 525 episodes, so about 5 reviews, and it won’t affect what I’m saying about real life politics, just what I say about ST, and then probably just a little bit.
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).
“Vox Sola” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it three stars.
“Fallen Hero” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.
“Desert Crossing” See this for a plot summary.
This is partly about a conflict generated by caste discrimination.
I give it three stars out of five.
“Two Days and Two Nights” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.
“Shockwave” Parts 1 and 2 See this and this for a plot summary.
A non-political two-parter, but a good one, even if it involves the Suliban and the "Temporal Cold War" (that aspect of this series is something I don’t like). I like the part about Archer and Daniels being trapped in the future. I give four stars out of five.
The Original Series disclaimer:
Also, although this gap in my knowledge is not complete and I will often do research to make up for this, and we are only taking about around 70 episodes, I am not familiar with The Original Series, so if I say something and there’s an exception in that series, that simply means that I was off a little bit. Unfortunately, I don’t like TOS, have see each episode an average of once, on average about 10 years ago, and for various reasons I’m not going to familiarize myself with it anytime soon. Unfortunately I love the three series from 1990s, like Enterprise, and am going to do this anyway. I doubt it’ll more than very slightly affect something like 1% of the reviews I do of the 1990s series- when I’m done with those, that’ll be about 525 episodes, so about 5 reviews, and it won’t affect what I’m saying about real life politics, just what I say about ST, and then probably just a little bit.
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).
“Vox Sola” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it three stars.
“Fallen Hero” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.
“Desert Crossing” See this for a plot summary.
This is partly about a conflict generated by caste discrimination.
I give it three stars out of five.
“Two Days and Two Nights” See this for a plot summary.
A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.
“Shockwave” Parts 1 and 2 See this and this for a plot summary.
A non-political two-parter, but a good one, even if it involves the Suliban and the "Temporal Cold War" (that aspect of this series is something I don’t like). I like the part about Archer and Daniels being trapped in the future. I give four stars out of five.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Reviews T
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.
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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