Of all the episodes in my rewatch I'm going to start a thread on this one? Why, yes I am.
I think it was largely considered a mess in the day, and largely still is. But this one I felt a bit more compelled to right about as amongst it is some potentially good narrative here that they miss the mark on.
Firstly the 'protestors', which now as an adult I recognise as the evangelical right of America (although certainly not limited to them). This alone in Trek is quite odd as it's people trying to inject their views on other people which really we'd not seen in Trek to date. It's a bit of a shock.
I am inclined to not like them for that reason, and they have echos of right-wing nutters like Liz Truss who also see the decadence as a problem of the west and ultimately leading to our collapse...
All that aside, I still kind of thought... maybe that have a bit of a point? You're in a war or two and you've basically got a planet of sex workers, which is their right in a free universe but it is quite anti-Trek. Would someone want to be a sex worker if they could... fly a space ship for example? I'm just not sure they would. That's probably a topic that's bigger than my post as I'll start analysing Risa. It is also ironic that in this episode was the one where Dax is laughing at chewing up medical time because of her sexual exploits. I mean, is that ethnical to keep on going to go into sick bay as you are getting your rocks off?
Anyway, I may sound puritanical if I go down that rabbit hole... but what I'm trying to say I think at the core there is something they could have explored better? That the Federation basically got lazy and has become about pleasure rather advancement? I don't have the answer, I just felt it could be explored more.
The bigger wasted opportunity I think was Worf. Here they had to have some neat, trite reason for him to be dour. That every way we are must have a clear reason, an event... But I think a more interesting angle - that also could have tied better into the main narrative - was what if he was conforming? That the Federation is largely human, largely American humans.. and from growing up with humans to then working with so many he felt he had to comply? There are numerous examples of this at various points: upset over him wanting suicide and trying to commit it, pushback against 'jewellery' (although somehow Worf had no issues with the sash), the disdain around Nog joining Starfleet, that on the Enterprise it's always Earth books, Earth music etc... where's the multi-culturism?
I think there would have been a compelling story about Federation may be many worlds, but Starfleet doesn't' always reflect that... and Worf needed to 'fit in' as if he went full Klingon he'd have put off his colleagues who found him too rowdy/uncouth/ebullient take your pick.
I think this stands out to me as I grew to like DS9 more back in the day, and today I consider it superior to TNG in mosty ways (as much as I have a spot spot for TNG as my first Trek). DS9 proved to be more complicated, more of a melting pot of people and ideas. I also think that's why he sticks out at first, Worf ultimately becomes a better character in DS9 than TNG.
I think it was largely considered a mess in the day, and largely still is. But this one I felt a bit more compelled to right about as amongst it is some potentially good narrative here that they miss the mark on.
Firstly the 'protestors', which now as an adult I recognise as the evangelical right of America (although certainly not limited to them). This alone in Trek is quite odd as it's people trying to inject their views on other people which really we'd not seen in Trek to date. It's a bit of a shock.
I am inclined to not like them for that reason, and they have echos of right-wing nutters like Liz Truss who also see the decadence as a problem of the west and ultimately leading to our collapse...
All that aside, I still kind of thought... maybe that have a bit of a point? You're in a war or two and you've basically got a planet of sex workers, which is their right in a free universe but it is quite anti-Trek. Would someone want to be a sex worker if they could... fly a space ship for example? I'm just not sure they would. That's probably a topic that's bigger than my post as I'll start analysing Risa. It is also ironic that in this episode was the one where Dax is laughing at chewing up medical time because of her sexual exploits. I mean, is that ethnical to keep on going to go into sick bay as you are getting your rocks off?
Anyway, I may sound puritanical if I go down that rabbit hole... but what I'm trying to say I think at the core there is something they could have explored better? That the Federation basically got lazy and has become about pleasure rather advancement? I don't have the answer, I just felt it could be explored more.
The bigger wasted opportunity I think was Worf. Here they had to have some neat, trite reason for him to be dour. That every way we are must have a clear reason, an event... But I think a more interesting angle - that also could have tied better into the main narrative - was what if he was conforming? That the Federation is largely human, largely American humans.. and from growing up with humans to then working with so many he felt he had to comply? There are numerous examples of this at various points: upset over him wanting suicide and trying to commit it, pushback against 'jewellery' (although somehow Worf had no issues with the sash), the disdain around Nog joining Starfleet, that on the Enterprise it's always Earth books, Earth music etc... where's the multi-culturism?
I think there would have been a compelling story about Federation may be many worlds, but Starfleet doesn't' always reflect that... and Worf needed to 'fit in' as if he went full Klingon he'd have put off his colleagues who found him too rowdy/uncouth/ebullient take your pick.
I think this stands out to me as I grew to like DS9 more back in the day, and today I consider it superior to TNG in mosty ways (as much as I have a spot spot for TNG as my first Trek). DS9 proved to be more complicated, more of a melting pot of people and ideas. I also think that's why he sticks out at first, Worf ultimately becomes a better character in DS9 than TNG.
. Gardening, too.
