I threatened, half-jokingly, to do this over in the "Is the bridge at a funny angle?" thread. The more I thought about it, the more interested I was in seeing a discussion, as my own thoughts are a bit conflicted.
First, I looked to see if this thread already exists - no need to reinvent the wheel! - and found this under a discussion thread about The Galileo Seven episode of TOS:
I don't think the lack of distinction between "officers" and "enlisted men" was necessarily there - maybe just in the way everyone ate at the same mess? - but I could be missing something.
This has been bouncing around in my head for a few days now and I realize I don't have a clear-cut opinion. When I was a kid watching TOS re-runs, it never even occurred to me. There were weapons and a Captain and a bosun's whistle and Starfleet Intelligence, so it certainly *looked* military (from my limited understanding). BUT there were also scientists and historians and all sorts of other things that didn't look particularly military (again, from my limited understanding). Plus there was:
Not "defend" or "conquer" or anything along those lines, but *explore*. That had a big effect on me. It still gives me chills.
TNG seemed to go even further - Enterprise became the flagship of the fleet and a place to host dignitaries and show off how awesome the Federation is. Lots more exploration, much less fighting. Whole families on the Enterprise. Sometimes entire stories based on checking out some kind of Funky Science Thing. But still... the Borg, the Romulans, a Cardassian war(!), etc.
DS9 went even further down the military route and even brought in Black Ops with Section 31.
So, yeah. No clear-cut answer for me. (I'm skipping Voyager and Enterprise because I stopped watching both fairly early on.)
The pragmatist in me says it's just varied depending on the writer(s) and the needs of the plot. TV shows have to keep viewers, after all!
In-Universe, I tend to think Starfleet is just BIG. ("Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts..."
) Therefore, there are LOTS of parts/pieces, some more military-based and some more science/exploration based; a bit of a hybrid. We've seen ships that were specifically science ships or fighting ships. So perhaps Starships need to be a bit of both, and more besides, because you never know what you'll run into when you "boldly go."
OK, folks, DISCUSS! (Insert Italian hand-waving here.)
First, I looked to see if this thread already exists - no need to reinvent the wheel! - and found this under a discussion thread about The Galileo Seven episode of TOS:
This has been bouncing around in my head for a few days now and I realize I don't have a clear-cut opinion. When I was a kid watching TOS re-runs, it never even occurred to me. There were weapons and a Captain and a bosun's whistle and Starfleet Intelligence, so it certainly *looked* military (from my limited understanding). BUT there were also scientists and historians and all sorts of other things that didn't look particularly military (again, from my limited understanding). Plus there was:
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
Not "defend" or "conquer" or anything along those lines, but *explore*. That had a big effect on me. It still gives me chills.
TNG seemed to go even further - Enterprise became the flagship of the fleet and a place to host dignitaries and show off how awesome the Federation is. Lots more exploration, much less fighting. Whole families on the Enterprise. Sometimes entire stories based on checking out some kind of Funky Science Thing. But still... the Borg, the Romulans, a Cardassian war(!), etc.
DS9 went even further down the military route and even brought in Black Ops with Section 31.
So, yeah. No clear-cut answer for me. (I'm skipping Voyager and Enterprise because I stopped watching both fairly early on.)
The pragmatist in me says it's just varied depending on the writer(s) and the needs of the plot. TV shows have to keep viewers, after all!
In-Universe, I tend to think Starfleet is just BIG. ("Really big. You just won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts..."
) Therefore, there are LOTS of parts/pieces, some more military-based and some more science/exploration based; a bit of a hybrid. We've seen ships that were specifically science ships or fighting ships. So perhaps Starships need to be a bit of both, and more besides, because you never know what you'll run into when you "boldly go."OK, folks, DISCUSS! (Insert Italian hand-waving here.)
