Dark Reality

Where's the "annoyed" or "puking" post icon? Oh well, I'll use the LOL one, because this is as laughable as it is annoying and disgusting.

I found a chauvanistic eBook online and started to read it, but it was so offensive I had to quit. However, flipping through, I found the guy's views on Star Trek, praising TOS and bashing TNG and VOY for some VERY strange reasons. Have a good laugh at this fool...

Another apparently trivial example of the “sexploitation” of men, in tandem with disempowering them, is the evolution of the famous Star Trek series, which is now such an ingrained part of (note) male culture that it needs no further introduction.  But let us briefly consider the evolution of the series, bearing this seeping feminist fuelled female “empowerment” - in reality, enslavement of women to mutually destructive values - in mind.  At first we had the traditional masculine hero figure of Captain Kirk – a “man’s man” so to speak, though his implied sexual behaviour over the whole series could have been viewed as a role model even for the antics of Bill Clinton.  So that was the mid 1960s, when the idea of men as leaders and heroes was still alive.  Feminism was however also alive, but only in the limited form of communications officer Lieutenant Uhuru, a bossy black lady, who would from time to time have to sternly tell off the lecherous Mr Sulu – and if necessary, in traditional bossy leather clad lady style, give him a slap.  But she was still a servant, and her short skirt, black stockings and boots presented her as a sex object for the entertainment of men, of which the feminists could surely not approve.  Though sexually irresponsible however, Captain Kirk was under no woman’s thumb. His close advisers were only the wise, deeply rational and emotionally aloof Mr Spock, and the over sentimental, but morally ardent and loyal Doctor McCoy.  Captain Kirk was a man in a man’s world, for whom women were just considered objects of pleasure and a passing fancy. His real “love” was not a woman, but his ship, The Enterprise, and no woman could rival her.

 

But by the 1980s, that had all changed, and we had – whether we liked it or not - a new more “politically correct” Captain Picard, who though still appearing masculine, was surrounded by “wise women” to advise him, and unlike the self-contained Kirk, seemed to live in permanent regret of never having a child, which theme was explored in one of the subsequent Star Trek movies.  Pathetically, under the howling feminist paranoia canonised into the tenets of “political correctness” – which is really the most tyrannical attack on free speech in history, far worse than anything the Inquisition ever thought up - he was compelled to say where no ONE had gone before, rather than where no MAN had gone before, as Captain Kirk had said in the original opening credits.  This is mentioned for the benefit of the younger male Star Trek fans, who likely don’t know how long this systematic stealing of their masculine identity and heroism has been going on, in even the most trivial aspect of life.

 

In particular this new “politically corrected” captain, was advised by Counsellor Troi, who was an “empath” – that is, she possessed an insight and sensitivity he clearly lacked. Though Picard was theoretically strong and decisive when required, this did not really ring true and consistent with all the insecurities he seemed to expose. In short, we had started to dip into the unreality of the feminist imaginary world. Picard would constantly have to be saved in one way or another by a succession of these wise women authority figures, such as female Doctor Crusher (bye bye Bones and the lovely Nurse Chappel, you will also note), and a supposedly mystical and enlightened black alien played by Whoopi Goldberg.  The male heartthrob vacancy left by Captain Kirk was filled by an ambiguous figure – Reiker - who was no longer in command, and under the spell of female Counsellor Troi (note the promotion to being in the “command team” from being a mere “lieutenant” like Uhuru).  So really, was setup the modern feministically oriented family, with a troubled, confused, insensitive man – Picard - guided/ruled/comforted by wise women - Troi, Crusher, etc. - with a spoiled and sexually hungry child in tow - “Commander” - as if he was, but really wasn’t – Reiker - who had somewhat Freudian feelings for his (allegorically and psychologically speaking) mother Troi.

 

The progressive destruction of the male role and its replacement by the female, was completed in the next Star Trek series, Voyager, with its first woman in charge, Captain Janeway, whose performance was described by one critic at its initial screening as “wooden.”  The chosen name itself for the new female captain was almost childishly ridiculous – as if to say – we’ve tried “joe’s way”, now let’s try “jane’s way.”  But there was a problem with the acceptance of this sci-fi series, as sci-fi is principally a male obsession – how could we get male superhero fans to stomach this idea of a female captain?  How as a middle aged, somewhat voluptuous though hardly beautiful woman, could she possibly compete with a male macho hero like Captain Kirk, or even the stoic charm of the Shakespearian expert actor who played Picard?  Especially after the actress herself in question had failed miserably to compete with Peter Falk’s brilliant and quirky detective, Columbo, in a soundly flopped series as his wife and female counterpart, Mrs Columbo. The solution was easy. They wrote in a virtually naked (in some kind of lycra bodystocking) beautiful female alien to keep men and boys watching, whilst the captain’s throne was handed to a woman.

 

So most men believe they cannot be or have never been hypnotised, yet men in their droves meekly and silently watched the star ship captain’s role – Kirk and Picard’s chair of command - taken over by a woman, while they hypnotically ogled the near naked, beauty and bossy female alien.  More importantly, it was just one more example of the insidious invasion of every traditional male role, however ridiculous that might be in reality.  This is not to deny that there are some few exceptional women who are able to fulfil a major leadership role, even perhaps a military one, such as Joan of Arc.  But such rare beings like say Moses or Joan of Arc are so far above the strata of those currently available in general to fulfil high office of either sex, as to be outside of the general debate.  So the short answer to how women are taking power away from men and according it to themselves is – they are stealing it from men under our noses whilst they keep our minds on sex.  It really is that simple.  But let us look at the end of their endeavour, rather than the means.  What are women in power like, what is life like when we do things “jane’s way”?

Offended? Take a number. As far as I'm concerned, prejudice against one gender is no different than prejudice against other races, which is the exact opposite of what Star Trek was all about. TOS had an African-American woman, a Russian, and a Vulcan, as bridge crew. So not only are African-Americans and Russians welcome on the Enterprise, aliens are as well. TNG expans on this, having an empathic alien, a Klingon, an android... Voyager and DS9 are equally or more diverse.

Also note that the author misspelled Riker's name, a few times. And to suggest that Troi is Riker's mother in any sense shows someone hasn't watched much of TNG (or Insurrection...) As for the "beautiful female alien", while on first glance it seems they're talking about Seven, but Seven aka Annika Hansen is human, not just humanoid. But the description of the clothing can only mean Seven. Again, the author is misinformed.

Completely disgusted with this. The book is "A Man's Liberation Guide to Women" by a Sam Fryman... and that eBook is being PROMPTLY deleted from my system. :dots:

I don't think there's anything really wrong with him, but I like so many other characters more.

Another flat episode... most of this one takes place in the early 21st century, as we follow a story of Janeway's ancestors. Nothing otherwise happens... it has a strong ending, but the whole thing's sappy. Story-wise it's solid, but Trek-wise, it's filler. I could have skipped this one and not been any worse off.

I don't think the fanbase is the problem.  The problem is that with Voyager now home, the whole premise has pretty much ended.  After being stuck out in space for 7 long years it seems highly unlikely that any of the crew would want to go back out into space.  It would be like asking the whole cast of Gilligan's Island to go out into another storm on the SS Minnow...what's the point?

 

If Janeway was given another ship with certain key crew members, that might work...but then you need a reason to justify a film -yet another Borg threat?  I just don't see it...

340122[/snapback]

I guess the difference is Gilligan didn't ask to be stranded. I'm not familiar with that show, only the basic idea. But Janeway chose to strand them in the Delta Quadrant. She made a choice... the right one, for sure, but she could have gotten them back that day. Also she chose to stop at every nebula and star to take astrometrics readings, not knowing they were going to get 10-15 year "leaps" home 3-4 times (so far). And most of the crew stood by her... Yeah, they'd go back out. :lol:

You all make good points, but in the episode "Dark Frontier" (part II), I really thought that we saw Seven seeing the Borg for what they really were, and being thoroughly disgusted by them. At that point, I was expecting her to think about changing her name back. (At least, had I not known that by Endgame she hadn't.)

Annika sounds a lot like Anakin to me. :lol:

+1 for Undiscovered Country.

I'm a TNG fan and I do like Generations, and you can't beat the Ent-D crash-landing scene (unless you count the Ent-E kamikaze crash in Nemesis), but Undiscovered Country was just a better film. In my opinion.

I like all the Trek films but the first one (yes, even Final Frontier :lol: ) and though I won't really watch TOS and love TNG, the Kirk/Spock crew movies are just better than the TNG movies. The TNG movies feel like episodes. Not that this is a bad thing, I just prefer the others as they feel more like real movies. I also appreciate how the stories are pretty well connected from Kahn through Country. But Undiscovered Country was just a really good one... and it was one of the first movies my dad took me to see in the theater.

This was a little sub-par in my opinion. It's one of those episodes that's based on just the crew, and a couple aliens thrown in for extras, but not really contributing much. It's pretty much just the Doctor teaching Seven how to date... pretty funny at parts, but overall flat.

Odd, possible error... in an older episode, Paris is working on a '69 Camero. At the beginning of this episode, he's talking to Torres about a '69 Mustang. An improvement IMHO, but I'm guessing this is a mistake. Unless he's really fond of the year, and "finished" the Camero "project" and started a new "Mustang project"... but I'm betting it's an oversight. :lol:

Decent episode, nothing special about it.

Just wanted to point out that at the end (it's not a spoiler, trust me) we actually SEE the Sonic Shower in action. They may have already done this on DS9, but I'm pretty sure it was never shown in Next Generation. Since television tends to have a no-bathroom policy (many shows don't have bathrooms at all, have you ever seen one in Star Trek?), I'm not surprised. We see the dirt or whatever pulled from Torres and it kinda goes up in a spiral.

I always assumed they'd simply "lock on" to the dirt/grease and "beam" it off you, out into space. Kinda like what the Malon (sp?) do but dirt/grease doesn't have Theta radiation.

Proof a totally predictable episode can be good! Voyager runs into some bounty hunters, and a group of aliens (and a robot) who form a think tank offer a solution, if they turn Seven over to them, because they want her for their group. Jason Alexander (George, on Seinfeld) guest stars as the only member of the think tank whose words can be translated by the Universal Translator.

Good stuff, but I wanna know...

This one was OK... It started out shaky, as Voyager enters "Chaotic Space" where "the laws of physics are in a constant state of flux". The only ship to have survived it is one Borg cube, and could possibly be the cause of several lost Starfleet vessels, as this phenomenon is all throughout the galaxy (according to Seven).

Very strange episode, as a lot of it is hallucination. Once it starts making sense, it comes together pretty well at the end. :P

I would say the original Star Wars as well. Episode IV/A New Hope was simply amazing, great story, stood on its own... the sequels were just as good, though unnecessary. I like the new trilogy as well, except for Jar-jar Binks, who annoys me.

Dark City... Amazing film. I think it's based on or inspired by Metropolis... I think I remember that from the extras on the DVD. Metropolis is certainly mentioned. I haven't seen Metropolis yet, though.

The original Matrix was amazing. The sequels were pretty, and the technobabble just didn't completely make sense. The first one was fine in this regard... And Neo was just way too powerful in the sequels. To the point of silliness. And Smith posessing someone and making his way into the real world? Not very realistic.

Which Final Fantasy? "The Spirits Within"? The only movie, I guess, though Advent Children is coming out soon. That's an ~80 minute computer-animated sequel to Final Fantasy 7 (the only "really great" Final Fantasy... before they were too old-school for me to enjoy, and after 7, they got lost in pretty graphics IMHO). Also there's going to be a Sephiroth collectible, so look out for those later this year. Story-wise, Final Fantasy 7 is one of the most amazing stories ever told, transcending just about every genre... Too bad it's only a video game. If it were a book, I'd have read it 10 times by now. It would probably be impossible to make it into a movie, but if they did, and did it right... Star Wars wouldn't stand a chance. It would be complete obscene ownage...

As far as Trek films, while I like them all but the first one, the only ones I consider great movies outside and completely removed from all things Star Trek are Voyage Home (IV) and Insurrection (IX). Voyage Home had the plot that's going to sell any film: time travel, and people from one time period interacting with another. Insurrection went after American history, being sorta based on what America did to the natives a couple hundred years ago, forcing them out of their homes, etc. The way they translated it to the 24th century worked really well, and it had the right mix of action, romance, and comedy. So those two, I think, more than other Trek films, are more accessible to non-Trekkies, more so than the other Trek films.

What "advances" science fiction? I'd have to say Lucas deserves the credit for a lot of that, first with remaking the original trilogy to look a lot newer than it actually is, and then what he did with the new trilogy. Love it or hate it, you have to admit, at least it LOOKS pretty. I wasn't too fond of I and III (II rocked) but each one, first time I saw it, I don't think my jaw left the floor.

I think a lot of advancements in sci-fi are going to come from computer animation. The advantage, and part of the purpose of animation is that you can do things you couldn't do with live-action sequences. Or which would cost a lot of money to do. But a lot of animation tends to get silly (again, like the Matrix sequels) and then the message gets lost. If they do another TNG/VOY style Star Trek in the future, and use a lot of CGI... well, a lot of what Voyager did would just be the beginning.

I didn't think Star Trek/Wars games were very good, the ones I played anyway. These series seem to work well as movies/series, but not very well on the interactive level. I did like ST Voyager Elite Force for the PC, but I didn't get to play it much.

I haven't played any of the ST games on the consoles. I mostly stick to PC.

My father had a Star Trek (TOS) game on the Commodore-Amiga 1000. I haven't played it since I was a kid, but I remember it being VERY annoying. Then again, I didn't know who the characters were and what functions they served. You could fly all around space (the Alpha quadrant?) but I found it to be too vast with too few clues as to what to do or where to go. I mean, I was completely lost with this game. And I really don't know anything more about it.

This is my new least favorite Voyager episode.

I've read a few places that "Threshold" from (I think) Season 2 is the least favorite among the Voyager fans. One of the extras on the DVD has the producers even apologizing for it. "Threshold" didn't bother me. It wasn't one of the best, but it was alright.

The episode starts out good. Paris and Torres are wed, and the whole crew starts getting sick. Meanwhile, the warp engines are causing the whole ship to destabilize at the molecular level. However, once we learn what's really going on, not only does it go downhill, but I completely stopped caring what happened. You'll see why about a third of the way in. I think they could have saved the episode by the end, but didn't. The ending itself wasn't terrible, but it could have been better.

Plus, the episode has more holes than a block of Swiss cheese. But I have to spoil the ending of this AND another episode (if I told which, it would be a spoiler) to go into that, so here we go.

I agree your favorites depend on why you like Star Trek. I didn't like TOS or DS9, and I'm not afraid to admit it. I know Kirk and his crew are the "Original", but I couldn't get into the 1960s TV show. Twilight Zone was cool, but Star Trek was cheesy. I only liked Spock... McCoy and Scotty were cool in small doses. And I couldn't get into Deep Space Nine or Enterprise. I grew up on TNG, and most Trek fans I talk to agree it's a fair balance of old and new... the ship is futuristic but not as obscenely so as Voyager, but yet it's not cheesy like the one in TOS. I really think that with Voyager, they tried to take all the elements that made TNG and DS9 work and make something new.

To address some of the "accusations" against Voyager...

1. TOS/TNG/DS9/ENT is better.

This is a matter of opinion, as extensively covered above.

2. All the episodes take place on the ship.

All the DS9 episodes take place on DS9. The station is in every single episode, is it not? Plus, the station doesn't move. It can, sub-impulse... I saw it move in one episode. But it doesn't go anywhere. Furthermore, every TNG episode had the Enterprise-D in it. And so on. So TNG and DS9 may have had more planetary episodes, but you have to consider that the whole point of Voyager is to get home... They don't have time to stop on every planet. That said, there are enough places they DO stop. Which leads me to...

3. They stop at every anomaly they see.

Guilty as charged... Especially in the first few seasons. This is one of the things that I hold against the series... but it wouldn't be Star Trek if they skipped every possible encounter. Star Trek (at least Voyager) is an "adventure"... It's "illogical", as the Vulcans would put it, for Voyager to stop and stargaze when they have a journey few of them will survive. You'd think they'd want to take every shortcut they could get. Even after the 2 10-year boosts they've gotten so far (Having just watched 5x14), that's still a long time.

4. The characters are weak.

I found the characters more in-depth than the TNG crew, though I haven't watched TNG chronologically - YET. And I can't compare it to DS9, because I couldn't get into it. I really need to give DS9 another chance... maybe if I watch the first few episodes, I'll get into it.

5. "and later we got lots of action with no thought" [TransporterMalfunction]

I'm currently watching Season 5 (5x14) and I'm not sure what you mean. Just a few episodes back in "Latent Image" we had a vey thought-provoking plot. Whether it's in someone's best interests to delete their memory to save their sanity, and whether the Doctor is a person or just another machine. The latter point reminded me of TNG and Data going through the same things. I think there's plenty of thought...

6. Bad Acting

I disagree, but I suppose this is a matter of opinion and depends on your knowledge of acting. I don't fault bad acting unless it's obscenely bad, and I've never had a problem with Voyager; I find all of the characters pretty convincing.

7. *.Neelix.*

Neelix was much less annoying than Quark... Personally I can't stand the Ferengi, and so far they're only in 1 episode of Voyager. From my experience, they haven't created a more annoying race than the Ferengi, so Neelix isn't bad. He has a good place and plays it well... First as the "Delta Quadrant expert", and then when they move beyond the Necrid (sp?) expanse, he fits right in as cook and continues with the morale officer thing. He's sort of a jack of all trades, knows something about just about everything. Plus in Season 5, I'm starting to see more of myself in Neelix as we see him with Naomi on the holodeck and tucking her in... I've always been good with kids, and have taken care of my cousins when their parents were busy on a few occasions, so I'm cool with Neelix now.

I can't remember... are there any other "main" issues with Voyager? I've seen them all up to 5x04 plus Endgame (7x26, the last one) and maybe a couple in between I may have seen on TV, but everything in 5 has been new, so I think I stopped watching it entirely. Watching it this way, as opposed to one episode a week for 7 years and missing some, maybe I'm a little biased. But I plan to do the same thing with TNG and maybe DS9, and at that point I'll have a better idea. Until then, Voyager is my favorite...

While I do appreciate the tweak-your-melon episodes, the fact that they were giving it away all along kinda ruined it for me. A much better such episode recently in Season 5 was "Latent Image" (the one with the conspiracy against the Doctor, if you don't recall). Still, I liked it overall.

However, I didn't get the ending.

Wow, this was an amazing episode! I just watched it.

Starts out with Chakotay and Kim on an ice planet, and just before the title sequence, they find Voyager trapped under the ice. Apparently the Voyager crew had built a second Slipstream engine, but the flight went wrong. Chakotay and Kim were in the Delta Flyer and made it back to Earth, and are planning on violating the Temporal Prime Directive to correct the past.

I've been impresssed with the visuals on every episode in Season 5 thus far. Each one has something special and amazing about it in terms of look and feel. With this one, we have a crash sequence, Voyager vs. the ice planet Hoth (not really). If it were longer, it would rival the one in Generations. Speaking of Galaxy-class starships, we see the USS Challenger, a clone of the Enterprise-D, 15 years into the future of Voyager. (So Starfleet really, really liked that model.) What's more, LaForge was captain, and of course the visor's gone. (See, I grew up on TNG, so I always accepted the visor as part of him... He's still cool with the visor off, and it was awesome to see him, but it's weird.)

Considering that Harry Kim

As much as I love Voyager, there's a huge plot hole they really can't (and don't try to) do anything about. The minor characters! The whole series is about how these people stuck on the other side of the universe come together as a family... But yet there are a few minor characters you only see every once in a while.

Ens. Sam(antha) Wildman -- She's actually in enough episodes that she's basically a main character, but she's not in a lot of them, and they don't develop her character much. She has a child, Naomi.

Naomi Wildman -- The one child on Voyager, you'd think she'd be the Captain's first priority in just about any situation. Shields raised, they should then be making sure the kid's alright. That they had kids (and a school) on TNG was appalling considering the amount of conflicts they got into and the risks Picard took, but Voyager couldn't unload Naomi and her mother on a space station somewhere, so their situation is unique. And as far as I know, either they don't know who the father is or he died and I can't remember, but Naomi is the only character I've seen with the four little horns... almost like a Klingon, but not quite.

Vorik -- The other Vulcan, from Engineering. He's not nearly as disciplined as Tuvok, and I'd have liked to see more of him (though he can get annoying, and often does).

Commander looking guy -- There's a guy I keep seeing, looks like he should be a First Officer, Captain, or Admiral. Older guy, has the red shoulder pads... I don't think he has any lines, but he looks out of place.

Blue guy -- I think this guy actually has a name, and maybe a line or two somewhere.

I'm sure there are other regular extras, but I don't notice.

:lol:

First of all, I don't think they will.

Second of all, I don't think they should.

If they did, though, I know how they could do it. Star Trek 11: "Title" whatever the title is. Something happens with Janeway, she either gets demoted to Captain or otherwise takes a ship, has half the crew, the other half meet up with her later, and they do something in the Alpha Quadrant. Or mix the Voyager/TNG crews. So they're back in the Alpha Quadrant? So what? It wouldn't be a "Voyager" movie per se, just use the characters. We won't have a new TNG movie because so many of those actors wanted out... but if they wanted another movie in the Star Trek franchise, now that the Voyager characters are back in the Alpha Quadrant, that just means they're all usable characters for a future Trek.

I liked this episode when I saw it on TV and I liked it as I just watched it on the computer. :unsure: The villain was a little whiny, but his motive was good and his trick was pretty good. I must say, that ship was amazing.

Possible flaw (includes spoilers)

I voted 5, and it deserves all five. It's not my favorite (Endgame is close, but I'll decide when I'm done) but it's a good one. Out of 10 I give it a 9.

Not one of my favorites among the "Next Generation" movies, but they're all really good, and FC did have a lot of good stuff. As has been mentioned, Troi drunk was priceless. There were a lot of good scenes -- Geordi seeing the sun rise, the confrontation between Worf and Picard, "To hell with our orders", the space battle against the Borg Cube, time travel, everyone seeing Cochrane is just a guy, not a god... oh, and Steppenwolf at the end. Being the only Trek film (right?) with classic rock gives it a special distinction.

For a while Star Trek IX was my favorite. At the time, I hadn't seen all the original six. I saw 4, and my father took me to see 6 in the theater, but I only remembered the ending. Now that I've seen them all, I like them all but the first one.

Data was snapped out of his logic loop or whatever it was by being reminded of something recently, from when he was acting normal. This may not make sense if you think about it too long, but what in ST does? Transporters? Holodecks? The invisible suits at the beginning? More often than not, they just wing it hoping that the viewers who don't understand the technobabble just have faith that the characters who sound like they know what they're talking about, actually do. But that's the nature of sci-fi. The more sense it makes, the more boring it tends to be.

I just liked the whole theme of the movie. It's like the trail of tears scene all over again, where the early Americans drove the natives from their land. It's a little unlike Picard to start a rebellion of sorts, but then they were all feeling a little feisty from the nebula.

Come on, you have to admit the starship action scenes rocked. Riker flying the ship with a joystick ("Computer! Manual controls!") and the Ent.-E flying alongside that array.

"Insurrection" just had a lot of elements from the series that I liked. I still like it more than Generations and First Contact. (Sue me. :( ) I've only seen Nemesis twice, so it's not fair to compare them. I've seen Insurrection over a dozen times, Generations about 6-7 times, and First Contact 3-5 times. (I used to be a lot more into Trek than I am now, but I'm getting back into it.)

Yes, no. ST is one of the great shows of our time, whether you're talking about TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, or ENT. Good fun, and there's usually a good message with each one, some less obvious than others. I'm not a big fan of sci-fi in general, but with ST it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if you don't understand what the doctor, engineer, and sometimes captain say as far as the technobabble. If you don't know dilithium from tritanium, you can still enjoy Trek. :huh: But I wouldn't watch it... Like someone else said, if you have the episodes, why be at the mercy of ads? I'm watching VOY straight through, and occasionally I'll watch a favorite TNG episode (just watched "The Inner Light" with my girlfriend a couple weeks ago).

Spock. I'm not a big fan of TOS, but Vulcans rule. :huh:

I haven't seen any of those nominated here except for "The Q and the Grey". My picks are "Innocence" because of what we find out at the end, I just thought was incredibly funny. And "The Lift" because Neelix shows Tuvok up two or three times, pretty much throughout the whole episode. Probably not the funniest, but they made me laugh. Just about any scene with Q and many Doctor scenes are funny.

I'd get them. Or, I should say, I got them. Then my girlfriend got it for me... Bit of a mixup. So I sent one of them down to my favorite cousins, who have only seen I and II.

The DVD picture quality is far superior, and just about every shot looks redone or touched up. Especially if you like home theater.