Enterprise Ethics

first time i ever blogged...but this article about "Moral Relevance" makes me laugh...I go to the movies to be entertained to escape, if I want moral relevance, I go to some where where it is taught, studied or expressed by people who are trained and by people who I respect, not by actors or Hoillywood. The movie seems to be what the public wants.."ENTERTAINMENT"...and that's all we wnat from Hollywood.

Why does it have to have a"message" anyway. It is to be viewed just for the pleasure of seeing it .. nothing more. The relivence is up to the viewer.

What a stupid premise! Star Trek never had a moral relevance.

What a stipid premise. Star Trek never had a moral relevance.

A ballsier, less preachy Star Trek? Sounds good to me. I loved the original Star Trek, but not because of the preachiness.

I personally feel that Battlestar Galactica is one TV show which in recent times tackled many social, political and ethical issues. It broke ground where other shows missed the mark, specifically in the SCI FI arena. I too am a lifelong Star Trek fan, I love the ???City on the Edge??? episode and it is my all time favorite! Trek (TOS) is one of those ground breaking shows which is hard to reproduce ???.if ever reproduced???.
The shoot em up, CGI effect shows / movies are so common???..There is a reasons why Star Trek has lasted for so many years, it certainly is not the special effects as compared to today???s effects???.It was the issues and ???Utopian??? ideals it aspired to???..
AS a young teen, I watched (TOS) and dream of going to space, becoming a scientist and other things, It allowed me to think and believe one day, we will travel to other worlds???interact with other life forms???.We are closer to that happening then in the 1960s.
I watch TOS and remember dreaming those great things??????.Inspiring still.

I personally feel that Battlestar Galactica is one TV show which in recent times tackled many social, political and ethical issues. It broke ground where other shows missed the mark, specifically in the SCI FI arena. I too am a lifelong Star Trek fan, I love the ???City on the Edge??? episode and it is my all time favorite! Trek (TOS) is one of those ground breaking shows which is hard to reproduce ???.if ever reproduced???.
The shoot em up, CGI effect shows / movies are so common???..There is a reasons why Star Trek has lasted for so many years, it certainly is not the special effects as compared to today???s effects???.It was the issues and ???Utopian??? ideals it aspired to???..
AS a young teen, I watched (TOS) and dream of going to space, becoming a scientist and other things, It allowed me to think and believe one day, we will travel to other worlds???interact with other life forms???.We are closer to that happening then in the 1960s.
I watch TOS and remember dreaming those great things??????.Inspiring still.

if you look at the philosophical themes and how they have changed since the original Trek, and if indeed the movie is as commented in this article, then what the new Trek does is properly assess the philosophical theme of today, that of apathy and loss of a necessary universal truth trying to be found in the original series...I mean think of the movie Wall Street in the 80s...and now think of now...therefore the new Trek seeks to entertain instead of inspiring a universal truth because that's what people are looking for nowanddays...

if you look at the philosophical themes and how they have changed since the original Trek, and if indeed the movie is as commented in this article, then what the new Trek does is properly assess the philosophical theme of today, that of apathy and loss of a necessary universal truth trying to be found in the original series...I mean think of the movie Wall Street in the 80s...and now think of now...therefore the new Trek seeks to entertain instead of inspiring a universal truth because that's what people are looking for nowanddays...

Sounds like a certain Newsweek reporter should have read the Onion before putting pen to paper: http://www.theonion.com/content/video/trekkies_bash_new_star_trek_film?utm_source=a-section

"Where was the heavy-handed message of tolerance?"

Uhura was actually hot until she blimped out,, and she had HUGE hooters too.

Sulu always wanted to bungh0 Bones though, made me nervous..

Marc makes several fatal flaws in this assessment.

1) He compares a single movie to several series, with LOTS of episodes, by LOTS of talented writers, over a significant number of years. Somewhat akin to drawing upon a few fondly remembered tales from a "library" of stories and stating this one book isn't as good.

2) He (as others have pointed out) glosses over the less favorite episodes (Spock's Brain, et al) in his admonishment.

3) He ignores the nature of the beast, that is movies over TV episodes. The TV is by format more intimate story telling where you can build depth of character and backstory. Movie theaters and today's "blockbuster" requirements are more geared for grand adventure and explosions. Witness the previous Star Trek movies. While we could carry their backstory from their respective TV series, the movies themselves evolved into huge battles and special effects.

Sounds like a certain Newsweek reporter should have read the Onion before putting pen to paper: http://www.theonion.com/content/video/trekkies_bash_new_star_trek_film?utm_source=a-section

Excellent points, well constructed. As someone who was a little too young to grasp the more esoteric nuances during Star Trek's initial run (I was born in '61), I was nevertheless left with an overwhelming impression, even at a young age, that Capt Kirk, et al. were about playing fair. Later, during the late 70's-early 80's rennaisance of Star Trek , I wrote fan fiction that incorporated those ethical elements, while smugly looking down (unfairly, in hindsight) on Star Wars devotees, as most Trekkers were wont to do back then.
At this late juncture, it would be a welcome balance to have some gratuitous optimism, even if "too utopian", to mollify the current state of 24/7 crisis on the news, etc. Apparently, it's not going to come from television or motion pictures, not even from a reloaded franchise as rich in potential as Star Trek.

I find Card's comment amusing, since his books, especially the Ender series and the Alvin Maker books, are so blatantly about ethics that one feels as if the author has taken the book and smacked you across the face with it.

Maybe it's more that we have come to realize that people in power don't care about social reform, unless it gets them more power. It is a sad thing to say, but the children of the flower power generation have either become cogs in the wheels of the system, or they have simply dissappeared from the grid. In the 90's there was a ressurgence of hippies in Alaska, and yet the state remains predominantly Republican. And the sad thing is really that Alaska Republicans are blind to the short comings of the party. Our political system has, in my opinion, come to a point of complete disreguard for right and wrong.

We all knew going in that this was going to be more along the lines of "Wrath of Khan" than "City on the Edge of Forever." There's room in Trek for the big action romps and the smaller, sneakier stories. There's room for the morality plays and the machismo in Trekverse.


The other thing to factor in? Trek itself changed. There were some gray characters and episodes in TNG ("Ensign Ro," Ben Maxwell of "The Wounded"). It got MUCH bleaker with DS9, where Ben Sisko carpet-bombed a whole, inhabited planet just to flush out ONE traitor and brokered an assassination of a key political figure to get the Romulans to help fight the Dominion. We also get a Federation that appears to be falling apart, a Utopian veneer over a lot of ugly secrets. The Vulcans actively squash movements to re-integrate emotion (ST:5, "Gambit"). The Trill appear to be a social order where the Joined elite keep a glass ceiling on the Unjoined. Federation officials wanted to forcefully displace the residents of a youth-giving world to reap the benefits for themselves/. They actively hunt the Maquis "rebellion," Federation citizens that had their homes sold to the brutal Cardassians without them having a say in the matter. Top it off with Section 31, a cabal of spies and other brutes that appear to be running things. I'm half expecting Roj Blake and the Liberator to show up!

This movie will reflect, for good AND ill, what Trek has become.

I agree, I am a fan of the show because of the characterization and philosophical questions it explores. I have not seen the movie yet so I can't make any conclusions there. Generally though, I think the movies lean a little more towards action than drama.