![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
They had a U.S. flag. They had a Bible. They had a perfect copy of the U.S. Constitution. They were called "Yangs" aka Yankees (the white people) and they were fighting the "Kohms" aka Communists (the Asian people, or "yellows" as Kirk himself called them).
Really, Star Trek? I mean, just come on. I'm still trying to apply the MST3K Mantra here, I really am, and I know this was the sixties, back when television was just... different or whatever. And I totally get that these were just thinly veiled commentaries on the society at the time and all that good stuff. But even so, Star Trek, for me to seriously attempt to maintain a suspension of disbelief, it requires that you at least try, okay?
If it were just this one episode in isolation it would be one thing, but this one was only a few episodes after the one with the Nazis, which was itself only a few episodes after the one with the Chicago Mobsters, and before that came the one with the Roman Empire. I swallowed things like that because you at least tried to explain that the craziness in those was the result of contamination by Earth-men a hundred years in the past (or, you know, just six years in the case of the Nazi thing, which is itself kind of hard to swallow). But in this case, with the flag and the Constitution and all, you don't even do that much. It's just there. For no reason at all. Actually, come to think of it, you similarly didn't explain away the whole Roman thing either. Huh. I guess I bought that one simply because it was the modern Roman Empire (modern as of the sixties, anyway), and the novelty of Roman soldiers carrying machine guns or them doing their gladiatorial combat on a TV sound stage rather than in an actual arena. Or something. Well, whatever, I will give you this much though, Star Trek. All of that still isn't quite as bad as the first season episode I mentioned previously where you had that planet that was physically exactly like Earth.
I'm going to keep going, Star Trek, because I like you. I really do. It's still fun, despite the crazy nonsensical stuff like this. But even so, you've still gotta at least try. I have to say that I like you much better when you're defeating computers with illogic or fighting giant space amoebas, rather than when you're philosophizing about the Cold War and wars-by-proxy and stuff like that.
Really, Star Trek? I mean, just come on. I'm still trying to apply the MST3K Mantra here, I really am, and I know this was the sixties, back when television was just... different or whatever. And I totally get that these were just thinly veiled commentaries on the society at the time and all that good stuff. But even so, Star Trek, for me to seriously attempt to maintain a suspension of disbelief, it requires that you at least try, okay?
If it were just this one episode in isolation it would be one thing, but this one was only a few episodes after the one with the Nazis, which was itself only a few episodes after the one with the Chicago Mobsters, and before that came the one with the Roman Empire. I swallowed things like that because you at least tried to explain that the craziness in those was the result of contamination by Earth-men a hundred years in the past (or, you know, just six years in the case of the Nazi thing, which is itself kind of hard to swallow). But in this case, with the flag and the Constitution and all, you don't even do that much. It's just there. For no reason at all. Actually, come to think of it, you similarly didn't explain away the whole Roman thing either. Huh. I guess I bought that one simply because it was the modern Roman Empire (modern as of the sixties, anyway), and the novelty of Roman soldiers carrying machine guns or them doing their gladiatorial combat on a TV sound stage rather than in an actual arena. Or something. Well, whatever, I will give you this much though, Star Trek. All of that still isn't quite as bad as the first season episode I mentioned previously where you had that planet that was physically exactly like Earth.
I'm going to keep going, Star Trek, because I like you. I really do. It's still fun, despite the crazy nonsensical stuff like this. But even so, you've still gotta at least try. I have to say that I like you much better when you're defeating computers with illogic or fighting giant space amoebas, rather than when you're philosophizing about the Cold War and wars-by-proxy and stuff like that.
