OT: WMD (Trek Style)

[Ash]

Lately we've all been exposed to the truths of Weapons of Mass Destruction and what they can do to people.

Being a huge Star Trek freak, I thought I'd paste this link to some good info on other WMD that exist only in fiction.
Even if you're not a Trekker (not a Trekkie as Nimoy stated), you might find this webpage interesting as many parallels are drawn between our current society involving WMD and that of the Trek universe.  One can take heart while reading it that such weapons do not actually exist.  
God forbid!
Like the authors accurately state, there are lessons to be learned.

As a great admirer of everything Trek, I like how the writers convey a serious underlying message within each story.
I'd have to say that I like the "Captain's Holiday" episode dealing with the Tox Uthat (pronounced Tox OOH-Tot).
The idea that such a devastating device can come in such a small package is frightening!

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/features/specials/article/1672.html

Any thoughts?



Post Edited (12-30-03 04:31)

[ulthar]

I see they mentioned one of the most unbelievably agonizing episodes of "Voyager," along with repeated mentions of 'diplomacy' can solve all problems.  Not to veer into a political rant or open cans of worms, but that simply is not true.

I refer to the episode of Voyager where they find Species 8472 pretending to be Earth's Starfleet Academy.  That species is bent on killing humans and destroying Earth ... why would a few minutes of crap from Janeway (the enemy) convince them otherwise???????   Arrrggggghhhhh.

Let us SUPPOSE, only for the sake of arguement, that there is a band of people out there somewhere who want all Americans dead.  Period.  No negotiation, no diplomacy.  The ONLY workable for solution for them is our complete destruction.  This was the view of Species 8472 (and now the Xindi on Enterprise).  In this situation, talk is cheap.  Sure, you can assume that you can convince them you mean them no harm - but (1) they are already convinced you do, and (2) WHAT IF YOU ARE WRONG???????

This sums up my complete disappointment with Voyager.  The bad-guys, set up to be totally evil, just aren't.  Species 8472, the Borg, Kazon, etc, etc etc. They turn into wimps by the end of an episode (or series of episodes). In TNG, the Borg was IT, no talking; 'resistance is futile, you WILL be assimilated.'  Then in Voyager, there is all this other crap, Borg helping humans escape, humans helping Borg reverse their evil ways.  It feels good, but it just ain't the 'reality' created by the first Borg appearance.

One of the biggest villains of our time, Hitler, remains hated and scary precisely because he did NOT 'find the error of his ways.'  As I mentioned before, that is one of my big problems with the Star Wars sequels - Darth Vader was wussified (my OPINION) when he 'became' Luke's Daddy and had good within him.

Okay, to put this into more of a 'literary' form, it is the tension, the anxiety of a totally evil antagonist that drives these stories.  Wimpify the evil and the tension is gone.  Once you see the evil character softened, it is hard to get the full effect from the evil parts of the story when they are watched again.

This does not mean the evil character has to win.  I think part of what makes "The Exorcist" or "The Omen" still scary is that Satan still exists and is still evil, and still wants to take over the show.  "Star Wars" or the first Borg episode in TNG has, for me at least, lost some of the edge because of what comes later.

Still and all, the first Borg episode remains, in my opinion, one of the best of all the Star Trek episodes.

Sorry for the rant, but I noticed a trend in that link and it struck a nerve.

[Scott]

Good site. If you can imagine it then it can happen. Just ask H.G. Wells and Jules Vernes.

[Jayson]

Lets not forget the "Photonic Cannon" from ep Dr, Tinker,Tenor, spy

[AndyC]

Very true about the Borg. I was always certain that they were created as a response to the tendency in TNG to avoid conflict at the last minute by reasoning with an adversary. That always bothered me. The Enterprise would be stuck in a situation with no way out except fighting, then with ten minutes to go, there would be some new development that allows them to wrap it all up neatly. Then we're expected to be releaved - "whew, that was close."

Hell no. I wanted to see some fighting, as did a lot of other fans.

Then came the Borg. You could reason with the Borg until you were blue in the face, and they just wouldn't listen. In fact, you're of far less significance to them than your technology. And, you have to throw everything you've got against them just to slow them down. It's a perfect solution that allows Picard and crew to keep their high morals while getting into some serious fighting.

Then came Hugh, and it was mostly downhill from there.

In the case of Darth Vader, however, I think his redemption is an important part of the Star Wars story, planned from the beginning. The emperor remains evil to the end, and he was the real villain. I don't think Vader was ever meant to be pure evil, and I actually find him more interesting knowing that he was once a good man, and not an inhuman monster his whole life. That makes him scarier, and more interesting, in my mind. Watching Phantom Menace, for example, I couldn't help but think that the little boy in that movie (regardless of how badly acted) would later become the masked cyborg in black who first got my attention by picking a man up with one hand, crushing his throat and throwing him against a wall.

[ulthar]

AndyC wrote:

>
> Then came Hugh, and it was mostly downhill from there.
>

I thought about Hugh after I typed my other post and got to wondering how he fit into my view of the Borg.  Now, my memory is a little fuzzy, but didn't they reprogram him and send him back to the Borg with a kind of computer virus, even after Giordi befriended him??  If so, and I vaguely recall Picard having some hard moments there, this shows nicely just how far the high moraled humans would go for self preservation:  befriend an enemy being and basically turn him into a suicide bomber to attack the enemy.

One thing is for sure:  Janeway, for all her "I want to sound SO TOUGH," would NEVER do something like that.....

I have to admit that I like the way Archer is turning into a tough guy on this whole Xindi thing (but please forgive me, I have missed most of the episodes this season).

[raj]

What really bothered me about TNG can best be summarized by Worf teaching Tai Chi.  He's a freakin' Klingon fer chrissakes!

That and "if we reverse the polarity on the photonic stream, everything will be ok."

AndyC, you make a good point about Star Wars.

[Neon Noodle]

I always liked the episode from the original series called "The Doomsday Machine" - basically a big space cannoli running around eating planets, and the powers that be kill it with a nuclear weapon. I enjoyed the undertones that a weapon of terror could save countless worlds.

I totally agree about the Tai Chi teaching by Worf - he doesn't exactly exemplify inner calm!

[JohnL]

>I refer to the episode of Voyager where they find Species 8472 pretending to be
>Earth's Starfleet Academy. That species is bent on killing humans and
>destroying Earth ... why would a few minutes of crap from Janeway (the enemy)
>convince them otherwise???????

That episode didn't bother me that much, since the hatred of humans was based on a misunderstanding. They thought the humans were on the Borg's side in trying to invade their universe and the humans only helped the Borg because they thought Species 8472 started the conflict.

[Flangepart]

Ulthar : They never sent Hugh back with the "Bomb". They wimped out, hopeing "Good 'ol human emotion" would do the trick. That led to the eph. where Data had to off his Bro.
"Good 'ol human emotion"....
No. Sometimes, you can't talk the bad guy into letting you alone...Saddam, anyone?....
The Enterprise was described once as "A lot like the Calyipso". Uh huh....Calyipso used to be a minesweeper, before the Frenchguys got a hold of her, IIRC.  Enterprise IS a Naval vessel. Sorry, but NCC-1701 is Naval Construction Contract to me, forever and always.
Look, if she was "The Calyipso"...she would not have freakin' Photons and Phasers!
Btw...Starfleet security dies like flies....Where are the Starfleet Marines!? Oh, not "P.C."...so sorry....
I tells ya, Jim Kirk would not sit still for this.....

[ulthar]

Flangepart wrote:

> Ulthar : They never sent Hugh back with the "Bomb". They wimped
> out, hopeing "Good 'ol human emotion" would do the trick. That
> led to the eph. where Data had to off his Bro.

I was afraid I did not remember the whole episode ... maybe I lost interest BECAUSE they wimped out, then blocked that out of my memory.   Sending Hugh back to the Borg to destroy them would have been sound tactics.

BTW, Data's bro was a good "bad guy" who never got turned good, hehe.  Evil to the end, that's what I say (for bad guys in movies/tv).