tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post805580244115028712..comments2024-03-15T07:28:47.064-05:00Comments on Treknobabble: The Original Series, Season 3: And The Children Shall LeadUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-39860563519950218492010-07-13T14:29:41.862-05:002010-07-13T14:29:41.862-05:00Other "Just Bad" shows: Move Along Home ...Other "Just Bad" shows: Move Along Home (DS9), These Are The Voyages (ENT)<br /><br />Well, maybe Move Along is debatable. Kelly and I got quite a few laughs watching it.matthewweflenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-8202410754312360652010-07-13T14:27:01.466-05:002010-07-13T14:27:01.466-05:00In the end, we're judging not on sensitivity o...In the end, we're judging not on sensitivity or political correctness, but value as entertainment.<br /><br />"Birth of a Nation" is on many cinemaphiles lists of innovative and amazing films, despite its virulent anti-black messages about reconstruction and Jim Crow.<br /><br />Of course, "Paradise Syndrome" is (at least I think) nowhere near as offensive. Does it simplify? Yes. Is it inaccurate, and does it represent the prejudices of its day? Sure. Does it denigrate? No.<br /><br />But the point is, it was a lot more fun to watch "Paradise" than "Children," at least when Kevin and I sat down to evaluate the episodes. There was almost never a moment in Children in which the viewer would say "oh, cool!" or learn something about the characters. "Paradise," OTOH, had several of these moments, on both spectra. Therefore, it elevates above its obvious flaws and becomes an episode worth re-watching.<br /><br />"Children" is bad. Not "so bad it's good," (e.g. "Threshold," "Code Of Honor," "Angel One," and maybe even "The Way To Eden") but just plain bad. There was an interesting germ of an idea, but it went off the rails practically immediately, and required lots of character acting stupid in order to progress the plot. The show diminished Star Trek by existing.matthewweflenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-63524888785330610592010-07-10T00:55:02.985-05:002010-07-10T00:55:02.985-05:00OK, put that way, that is a fairly successful and ...OK, put that way, that is a fairly successful and damning indictment. In my defense, I did note in my review that I found the idea of no change in several hundred years suspect.<br /><br />I suppose I responded less viscerally than you did because over the last two and a half seasons, I've gotten pretty good at compartmentalizing the whole "Earth culture on other planets thing." I get it was a shortcut to be able to use standings sets and props, but regardless of the trappings, it's rarely satisfying, but it gets trotted out enough to become background noise in terms of analyzing an episode.<br /><br />I maintain though that no amount of ethnic condescension can rival the creepiness of the masturbatory summoning gesture of Children Shall Lead.Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11065121037234785365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-27527709875769606492010-07-09T21:30:28.344-05:002010-07-09T21:30:28.344-05:00Those are pretty low standards for what's offe...Those are pretty low standards for what's offensive in terms of the portrayal of Native Americans, especially considering the portrayal is *completely unnecessary*. That's one thing running throughout this episode that makes it so bad: since the idea of the Preservers is ditched, there is nothing stopping the writers from tossing out another thinly veiled group of aboriginal aliens. The decision to resort to obnoxious Indian stereotypes was totally voluntary.<br /><br />And that choice is at the crux of what makes Paradise Syndrome so gross: Why Native Americans? We see Roman knock-offs in a nearly modern society, but when they want a society that won't develop, and will eternally stay in a state of child-like innocence/ignorance? Indians. I argue that that kind of depiction is *way* worse than red body paint. The Noble Savage goofiness obscures the biggest problem: that by having this culture that we're specifically told is descended from Native Americans and portraying them as completely incapable of defending themselves, needing to be continually rescued by the Preservers and then by Kirk, having them not change, not develop, not grow, on a show that's all about mankind's NEED to grow, develop, and explore, you're portraying them as less than human. And when they needed to pick a group that was less than human? They picked Indians.<br /><br />That's where the watch-ability falls apart for me. The amnesia and the magic monolith and all the other stupid stuff just adds to that principle disgust with the episode. At least in Children Shall Lead, no one's right to be recognized as fully human gets called into question.<br />...Uh, sorta.<br /><br />"I apologize... For nothing!"Pending Framinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12021268149296624466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-16055615299863367402010-07-07T19:44:06.972-05:002010-07-07T19:44:06.972-05:00Excellent! Someone finally really putting their sh...Excellent! Someone finally really putting their shoulder into disagreeing with us! Let the insanely detailed minutiae-based point-counterpoint commence!<br /><br />No one is saying Paradise Syndrome is great by any stretch. But I would argue that the depiction of Native Americans is a little generic, but it stops well short of offensive. I mean, no did that annoying "tap your flattened palm over your mouth repeatedly while screaming" thing. The words "red", "scalp", and "Injun" are thankfully nowhere to be found. As far as depictions of Earth cultures go, these is leagues behind Code of Honor.<br /><br />The point you raise about the Preservers is valid. Their existence should be earth-shattering for humans, but it is treated somewhat casually. I am just happy that they decided not to trot out the parallel Earth thing again.<br /><br />And there is plenty in Children Shall Lead that casts aspersions on the command staff. Why are children on the bridge at all? Plot. That's why.<br /><br />And yes, the amnesia thing is stupid. But all amnesia things on television are stupid. Actual amnesia, where you don't lose your memory of the past prior to the injury, but do lose your ability to remember 5 minutes ago in perpetuity is too depressing for episodic television.<br /><br />Finally, and I've fallen back on this before, but there is, at least for me, a gestalt watchability that I look for. An intriguing story that is adequately executed can still fail if the resulting hour of televsion just isn't that entertaining and vice versa. Paradise has a few more genuinely affecting moments, like seeing Kirk be happy as something other than a starship Captain, even to the point of resisting Spock's mind meld a little. Children Shall Lead is so awkwardly horrid that it makes me cringe with my soul to contemplate.<br /><br />And as a quick PS, I didn't see this post after I finalized my half of the comments, so I didn't see the picture of Hedonismbot until just now, so thank you, Matthew. That made my day and possibly my life.Kevinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11065121037234785365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-53202994521559821552010-07-07T14:39:46.768-05:002010-07-07T14:39:46.768-05:00Paradise Syndrome, if I'm correct, relies on t...Paradise Syndrome, if I'm correct, relies on these major points:<br /><br />1) The planet is going to be destroyed by an asteroid, and soon. So the 3 highest ranking officers go down to the surface for no discernible reason.<br /><br />2) 'Kirk to Enterprise' happens to be the password that opens the ancient alien monument, despite the fact that the odds of a language completely unrelated to Earth even having the same sounds are astonishing.<br /><br />3) This monument which appears to be designed to prevent an asteroid from hitting the planet, also is capable of giving Kirk amnesia for some reason.<br /><br />4) But not very good amnesia, because he named himself 'Kirok', which is just embarrassing for everyone involved.<br /><br />5) This pointless trip to the planet's surface was so tight on time, that McCoy and Spock don't even have time to look for the missing captain. What exactly was their plan for if they had run into any of the kind of unforeseen trouble they regularly run into, especially since they didn't even bring one security officer?<br /><br />6) Spock is unable to avert the asteroid. Did Starfleet think this mission out for them at all? Why the asteroid wasn't spotted sooner, why there is no standard procedure for what's got to be a pretty regular problem when you're protecting tons of worlds, and why Starfleet has decided to technically violate the prime directive even in a benign way are all questions that are completely ignored.<br /><br />7) Miramanee becomes the first ever stoning victim to die of no apparent injuries, but it's probably due to her incredible sexiness powers: even on her death bed she manages to keep one perfectly unbruised leg bent in a pin-up pose.<br /><br />8) Maybe it's because I haven't seen every episode, but I'm still waiting for anybody in Starfleet to treat the fact that humans throughout Earth's history have been kidnapped from Earth and seeded all over the Galaxy by an extremely advanced race as a big deal. As far as I know, nobody is even looking into this.<br /><br />HATE this episode. The offensive treatment of Native Americans is just icing on the cake of a completely brainless hour. Children Shall Lead at least manages to hold to an internal logic of the show that doesn't make everyone in command look like a moron.Pending Framinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12021268149296624466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-64399307814221811942010-07-04T00:39:42.822-05:002010-07-04T00:39:42.822-05:00Kevin, we might have to do something about comment...Kevin, we might have to do something about commenters who possess such anti-TNG vitriol... <br /><br />Just kidding, Betsy. Honestly, though, I can't really see the argument for this over Paradise Syndrome. I agree that it was loaded with Native American cliche, but the story was just broken out much better. It was more entertaining and less stupid overall.matthewweflenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07540521459703556959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4400152815785368447.post-59997701776661546262010-07-03T22:35:53.798-05:002010-07-03T22:35:53.798-05:00The Children Shall Lead gets a two when Paradise S...The Children Shall Lead gets a two when Paradise Syndrome gets away with a 7?! Outrageous! I don't care how many space muumuus and wanking-gestures this episode had, it was awesome! At the very least it was far less embarrassing than Kirk's Indian Vacation with every TV western cliche they could round up from the back lot.<br /><br />If nothing else, this episode should get some respect for positing that children can be selfish little idiots sometimes, as opposed to TNG's treatment of all children in the vicinity as perfect (sometimes genius) little angels. The episode where the children of the Enterprise save everyone from the Ferengi was particularly unbearable.Pending Framinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12021268149296624466noreply@blogger.com