Who Watches the Watchers?

[Supernuke]

This is one of my favorite episodes of the series. I know that there is some hate towards this episode because of the treatment of religion. However, I never saw this as condemning religion, just false idols and false gods. Does anyone else agree? I know Picard calls religion "superstition" but again I think that was just pertaining to the Mintakans believing that Picard was a god, not religion in general.

 

[Maurice]

I give the episode a lot of credit for standing by its convictions.

 

[BillJ]

I give the episode a lot of credit for standing by its convictions.

But if the episode proposed the reverse viewpoint, that those who didn't believe in religion were somehow lesser than those that did, would you be applauding it? Would you applaud it for standing by its convictions?

Star Trek should applaud people finding their specific places in the universe. Not tossing backhanded insults at those the writers disagree with.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

This episode was not against religion. I never thought it was. I'm a Christian and I didn't hate the ep.

The whole point was Picard, personally, trying to convince the natives that HE was not a god. He would have had no problems with them believing in general - just they should stop worshipping "The Picard" because he is just a man. Perhaps this viewpoint colored the rest of the episode - fine, I get that. But at the risk of tooting my own horn, so to speak, my faith is not so weak that one measly little episode like this would make it stop.

That being said, it had to be a bitch for the actors themselves to do, since they were out in the blazing heat for filming and they were not allowed to even use deodorant or anything like that because it would attract bees, scorpions, snakes, etc.

 

[Supernuke]

This episode was not against religion. I never thought it was. I'm a Christian and I didn't hate the ep.

The whole point was Picard, personally, trying to convince the natives that HE was not a god. He would have had no problems with them believing in general - just they should stop worshipping "The Picard" because he is just a man. Perhaps this viewpoint colored the rest of the episode - fine, I get that. But at the risk of tooting my own horn, so to speak, my faith is not so weak that one measly little episode like this would make it stop.

Yeah I agree completely. I think it was more about the morality of continuing to allow those people to believe that he was a god when he knew that he wasn't, not about saying that religion was equal to ignorance.

 

[Maurice]

^^^This

 

[indolover]

I liked it since it showed how the Prime Directive could be breached, albeit accidentally, and how less developed peoples would view advanced technology.

I doubt somehow that real life persons in 1000 AD or something could be convinced as Picard convinced the Mintakans. Even though they looked medieval by real life standards, it seems they had more advanced philosophy compared to real life medieval peoples (who by and large couldn't conceive of extra-terrestrials).

 

[You_Will_Fail]

I'm happy enough with any episode that shows an anti-religious viewpoint. I think Voyager's "Mortal Coil" is the king of the atheist episode haha.

But this episode definitely had a lot going for it. It was one of the first episodes of TNG I saw and a great primer for the series.

 

[E-DUB]

I always liked the fact that the Mintakans were "proto-vulcanoids" rather than the usual primitive human-types. Too bad that aspect was never followed up on.

 

[ALF]

I know that there is some hate towards this episode because of the treatment of religion.

I felt the take home point was simply that "magic" may be described as technology out of our reach. Something the Mintakans will likely forget about as the story of The Picard is altered as it is passed down through generations.

 

[horatio83]

I always liked the fact that the Mintakans were "proto-vulcanoids" rather than the usual primitive human-types. Too bad that aspect was never followed up on.

At the risk of being called by someone a nasty speciesist, the episode showed that pointed ears do make a difference.

One aspect I liked about the episode was Picard's humility while showing the Mintakan woman his spaceship. His scenes with Lily in FC were to some degree a repetition of these scenes from Who Watches the Watchers?.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

I always liked the fact that the Mintakans were "proto-vulcanoids" rather than the usual primitive human-types. Too bad that aspect was never followed up on.

I guess they meant humanoids that have copper based blood. But tbh the fact they also had pointy ears was pretty dumb.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

I'm with you, Supernuke. I love Who Watches the Watchers?, and I've never interpreted it as being anti-religion.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I always liked the fact that the Mintakans were "proto-vulcanoids" rather than the usual primitive human-types. Too bad that aspect was never followed up on.

I guess they meant humanoids that have copper based blood. But tbh the fact they also had pointy ears was pretty dumb.

I didn't think so. Perhaps the Mintakans were descended from Vulcans who got separated from the main fleet that was on its way to Romulus? A 'splinter group' could have broken away and landed on Mintaka and away we go.

 

[horatio83]

It might also be related to the idea of humanoid life being seated in the universe by one species which later appeared in The Chase.

 

[tafkats]

I always liked the fact that the Mintakans were "proto-vulcanoids" rather than the usual primitive human-types. Too bad that aspect was never followed up on.

I guess they meant humanoids that have copper based blood. But tbh the fact they also had pointy ears was pretty dumb.

I didn't think so. Perhaps the Mintakans were descended from Vulcans who got separated from the main fleet that was on its way to Romulus? A 'splinter group' could have broken away and landed on Mintaka and away we go.

And then forgot all about their origins, their spaceflight ability, the existence of other worlds, etc., and decided to return to the Stone Age?

 

[You_Will_Fail]

And then forgot all about their origins, their spaceflight ability, the existence of other worlds, etc., and decided to return to the Stone Age?

You took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[7thsealord]

I guess they meant humanoids that have copper based blood. But tbh the fact they also had pointy ears was pretty dumb.

I didn't think so. Perhaps the Mintakans were descended from Vulcans who got separated from the main fleet that was on its way to Romulus? A 'splinter group' could have broken away and landed on Mintaka and away we go.

And then forgot all about their origins, their spaceflight ability, the existence of other worlds, etc., and decided to return to the Stone Age?

If the original colonists had suffered any major setbacks (always likely), a lot of knowledge could have been lost. If things had gone REALLY bad, their descendants might have spiralled all the way down to rock-bottom, or close to it. Refer that ENT episode where they find the remnants of that "lost Terran colony". That was only a couple of generations (albeit under especially severe conditions).

Also, the original colonists may have wished to have nothing further to do with advanced tech or their previous history, kind of like how nuBSG wound up. Yeah, "Back To Nature" always sounds nice until you run out of food or need serious medical attention, but who knows what motives were in play here?

Finally, we have absolutely no idea under what circumstances the original Mintakan colonists arrived. For all we know, they might have been just a handful of castaways with nothing but a few odds'n'ends and the clothes on their backs.

(A Mintakan 'Gilligan'?!?!? The horror, the horror!!! )

Any of these, or combinations thereof, would explain a lot, IMO.

 

[Tremelo]

It's quite odd that some religious people get offended that WWTW might be anti-religious. All of Star Trek is, really, in the sense that you have omnipotent beings (Q) scoffing at the idea of human gods in All Good Things, not to mention the fact that the existence of aliens means that earth is just another planet and humans are just another species, one of millions. That pretty much undermines the message of all the monotheistic faiths right there.

FWIT: Of course Picard is an atheist. He's a man of reason and science.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

If the original colonists had suffered any major setbacks (always likely), a lot of knowledge could have been lost ...blah blah blah...

Any of these, or combinations thereof, would explain a lot, IMO.

I think that's really reaching.