Blog 11: The Enterprise incident

“The Enterprise incident” reminded me of the World War 2 movie, Where Eagles Dare. In fact considering the year the show was aired on, it is quite possible that the former borrows from the spy movies of the 60s. Essentially, the movie revolves around how Kirk and Spock trick the Romulans and get away with a Romulan cloaking device.


Sex plays an important role in this plot and as Vulcans share common lineage with Romulans, Spock gets to be the lucky guy on the line. So when the Enterprise violates Romulan airspace and is trapped, Spock declares Kirk to be insane and has him held in Romulan quarters. With Kirk out of the way, the female Romulan commander tries to seduce Spock into joining the Romulan Empire and becoming her partner.

The point of interest here is that Spock like all Vulcans has a very logical thought process. So letting himself become bait would have been the right thing to do, logically as it would be necessary for a Federation victory. However it would have also been prudent for Mr. Spock to question the morality of what he was doing. The Romulans and the Federation were technically not in a state of war and what Mr. Spock did, if I were to feed back the logic he loves, was manipulation. He does make amends by later suggesting that the sexual overtures were extremely tempting. Also it would be interesting to know if the Romulan commander who intended to use seduction for gain fell in love with the target who hoodwinked her.

Blog 10: Journey to Babel

Journey to Babel was a very different kind of Star Trek to what I am normally used to. For one the depth of the plot here went beyond the sci-fi setting and personal moments. It touched on diplomacy and the complexities of galactic government. The plot is set at a point when a system abundant in a rare resource is considering joining the federation. The Orion system is against this and chooses to move against it.

The part of the episode I will focus on is when the confrontation between the Tellarite and the Vulcan ambassador breaks out on the enterprise. This issue rose from the simple fact if the initial negotiation would take place on the federation ship. Both the Tellarite and Vulcan are to be equally blamed for this. The Tellarites could have posed this question in a more diplomatic manner. Likewise, the Vulcans did not need to take a veiled dig at the Tellarites. Of course this shows the intricacies of galactic politics. The Earthman (Kirk) as usual had to restore order.

This light however brings into question the possibility of the entire thing being biased. The earthmen through Kirk always seem to do the right thing. Is the series then hinting towards a tinge of propaganda? The only thing that does appear certain is that a calm head is needed to negate the tensions that arise out of cultural, racial or even species differences. This does seem to resonate throughout star trek a lot. Till next time !

Blog 9: The side of paradise

The Side of Paradise is a very different type of Star Trek than the ones I saw before. One would be the depth in which it presents a much more unique problem. The other would be its ability to strike two very characteristics of human psyche. The sci-fi context describes this psyche to be prevalent among all sentient being. The psyche is the power of love and logic. 

Love and logic would seem to be a mutually exclusive duality. A little like yin and yang. In this episode you can see how both are vital to a person. The enterprise comes to a planet where the inhabitants are seduced by a plant which makes them oblivious to life outside. Spock, the crew and Kirk are affected too. Personally the part of the episode I find the most vital is when Spock attempts to fight off the infection remembering his responsibility and caliber. This resonate a powerful emotion within him fighting the infection.  In this case logic triumphs an artificial love for pleasure and peace. 

On the other hand Spock who discovers love must resubmit to his conscience and logic. He must leave his love behind in order to go on with duties. At the outset it might appear that this is lost love. Yet when you appreciate the latter part of the episode fully, you realize that this is far from the truth. The reality is that this love endures. Love is abstract and while the pleasures felt by Kirk and the rest under the influence of the plant was fake, the Love Spock had towards the girl was not.

Blog 8: High School is hell

High school is hell was an interesting read by any standard. The analysis was not terribly succulent but the reasoning was sound. As a general read the article analyzed the first season with the primary intention of identifying the use of metaphor and its evolution. The metaphor focuses on the high school life of a regular American teenager and the hellish periods they go through.

I will focus on how metaphors are implemented in the Buffy series and the different dimensions of problems that get converted to a bloody vampire metaphorical mess. Negative emotions are transformed into powerful evil metaphors. Hate and jealousy take the form of monsters and the bastions of goodness become the vampire slayers. The metaphors do however play on the irony of the situations. Metaphors have the ability to display realities on both sides of scales, seemingly serious or very hilarious. This switch can make the entire sentence extremely ironical. This is the exact sort of irony that Buffy plays on and thereby creates a tension. These metaphors are sometimes based on public perceptions and expectations and when they are violated they trigger responses of surprise. The ultimate purpose of any episode is after all to sell itself. 

These metaphors are however not without evolution. The evolution that occurs is partly due to the evolution of the storyline and the change of character. However it is mostly as a result of the change in society with time. As societal expectations change so do the metaphor.

Blog 7: Day of the Dove

I am really reconsidering choosing the Star Trek series right now. The series does have its good parts but is packed with the melodrama of the 60’s. The sci-fi is in this scene merely a setting. The plot and content focused on issues that deal with our current scenarios. Its almost as if people have been taken out of the present context and placed into the 23^rd century. 

The part of the episode I would like to focus on is the depth of the hatred the Klingons feel towards the federation. An alien entity uses this hatred to feed of the negative emotions. The part of the episode I will focus on in this blog is when captain Kirk relentlessly attempts to explain this to Kang, leader of the Klingons. Meanwhile racial, nationalistic sentiments fuel over to create extreme amounts of tension. The ironic part is that while watching Kirk plead to Kang and Kang’s warmongering nature I put the attack on racism into context. I couldn’t help but glance at Kang’s skin which happened to be black and Kang’s facial structure which was Australoid. 

The point of contention I have is extremely obvious and need not be spelt out. The reasons for its existence might either be an intentional poke or as a result of the need to satisfy common imaginations of the “evil guy”. If it is the latter it is distasteful. If it is the former, then I am glad that Star Trek has chosen to be as bold as it has

Blog 6: Mirror,Mirror

Star Trek seems to grow on me.  Each time I read it I realize how much it tries to show matters of contemporary importance in the 60’s in a sci-fi light. The episode I watched this time ‘Mirror, Mirror, was about an exchange between captain Kirk and the landing crew of the enterprise with their selves in a parallel dimension. In this dimension captain Kirk and people in general are evil. 

A critical analysis of this episode is difficult in part because of the quick speed with which scenes progress. In any case, the object of my blog will be the evil’s Sparks decision to help send Kirk back to his universe. In doing this the directors of Star Trek unavoidably show logic to have a higher hold than emotion. I suppose that can be seen to be “sci-fi” correct. There is always a possibility that as societies evolve with time they require less emotional guiding and more intellectual one. 

Then again there is always a possibility that the best logical output might have also been in line with Spark’s desires and motives. One can surmise that Spark would profit more had the evil captain Kirk returned to his ship. However if two universes are diametrically opposite, why should logic be an exception, instead of something more scientifically expectable like time? 

In reality this episode did not appeal to me as much as the other two I watched. Maybe that’s because the concept of alternate universes is so overdone. At any rate, not the best well spent 44 minutes.