Unification

Note: I am taking the long weekend to get started on some projects, so no show today and no posting either. Instead, here is something from behind the green door that people suggested I post here at some point. That point is now. Please consider signing up for a green door account. Five bucks a month is a bargain.


Flipping around YouTube I saw some videos on what I assumed to be the latest abomination in the Star Trek franchise. Having grown up watching the re-runs of the original, I try not to think about what they did to it. Lots of men like me ended up in the STEM world because of science fiction. Not all of it was art. In fact, most of it was crap, but it made being smart cool and adventurous.

That was the real hook for the kids of my day. The original Star Trek was a pirate ship in space where the crew got to do cool stuff with technology. The crew were not just swashbucklers, but problem solvers who often had to use their wits to get out of a jam of their own making. More than a few trips were made to the emergency room because boys decided to replicate what Kirk did to defeat the Gorn.

Then I saw that the Drinker had a review or preview about whatever they were doing with Star Trek, so I gave it a listen. Turns out it is not a new film or series, but a short that is something of a farewell for William Shatner. In less than ten minutes it covers the life of the character he created for the series. There is no dialogue, just computer enhanced images and a soundtrack.

It is a poignant and beautiful farewell to the man who played the role, but also the characters and the series that made the franchise possible. It a short goodbye to a long career and the relationship with the fans. It is exceedingly rare for Hollywood to do anything with dignity and class these days, but this is as close as you get to an honorable death in the entertainment business.

It is ironic, in a way, that Shatner would go out with such class, given that he is an old school carny in many ways. He was known for a willingness to take any role that paid, no matter how ridiculous. His run as TJ Hooker in a television cop show was a long running joke because it was so silly. Shatner was an anything for a buck sort of guy, which often meant taking less than dignified jobs.

On the other hand, it is these sorts of carnies who tend to be the most grateful for and humble about their success. They treat their job as a profession. Michael Cain and Clint Eastwood are other examples. Their job, as they saw it, was to make entertainment product for paying customers. These are the types who avoid politics and just shut up and sing, so to speak.

Maybe that is why Shatner could be part of this poignant goodbye. He is 93 and his health is not good. This is the final role of his career, so he could put what he has left in the tank into it. How much he was able to do is unknown, but the mere fact that he was willing to do it speaks well of him. He respects the role he played, because he respects the audience that made his life possible.

As far as the film itself, it brought back many memories of sitting on the living room floor after school watching the crew of the Enterprise explore the world. It also reminded me of the wonderful scene in The Wrath of Khan where Spock dies and utters the famous line to his old friend Kirk, ““I have been – and always shall be – your friend.” In the theater when I saw it, you could hear a pin drop.

That was the beauty of the original series, something I came to appreciate as I got older, and that is it was a show about a group of men, adventuring through life, not as solo acts but as part of a brotherhood. If you are lucky as a man, you go on your journey with a group of mates, losing and adding some along the way. The ones you lose will be waiting for you on the other side. The ones you add will carry you there.

That is another lesson of the original series. In my life the people who have given me the business for liking the series have always turned out to be people wearing a red shirt, the people who could never get the previous paragraph. Life is for living, which means taking risks. What makes it sweet is doing so with your crew. A man lives and dies inside his *kóryos or he never lives at all.

Another thing that came to mind watching this short was that no one under the age of fifty will get any of it. If you are a millennial, the original series had been supplanted by the sterile nothingness of The Next Generation, which replaced the pirate-ship-in-space concept with the corporate division in space idea. Then came the HR department in space and then the remote field office in space.

More important, the concepts of brotherhood and the noble male life had pretty much disappeared from the culture. Even in my youth these ideas were being mocked by buddy comedies and the action hero. Mel Gibson was a lot of fun in Lethal Weapon, but by normal cultural standards, his character was a loser. The same was true for all the action heroes, who were solitary figures unable to be part of the Männerbund.

Therein lies some flickers of good news. At the AmRen conference I saw groups of young guys, which is not so common. Going to a conference to hear old men moan about the state of the world is not much of an adventure, but it is a start. There are groups like the Old Glory Club forming up for young guys to join. They may not have had these concepts fed to them as children, but the seeds are still there.

That may be why a relatively unsuccessful television series has cast such a long shadow, despite Hollywood trying to kill it. It is based on eternal truths about the human condition and the male role in life. No amount of cultural vandalism can plow under these truths to the point where they cannot grow again. Those who recall the old truths may be in their winter, but spring will come again.


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Trek
Trek
13 days ago

The original Star Trek series was what good science fiction offers: an optimistic view of the future. And men get there by using their minds and their bodies, their intelligence and their emotions. It was a band of swashbuckling brothers seeking out new adventures. It emphasized science, technology, engineering and the power of the logical mind. Good point about Star Trek the next generation. Some episodes are good but it is the corporate division, and Picard is a dull, efficient bureaucrat. The rebooted series had a chance to recapture that spirit but blew it. At the end of the 2009… Read more »

duttchmn007
duttchmn007
Reply to  Trek
13 days ago

Trek – “Hollywood either cannot understand the bond between heterosexual men or they are actively hostile to it.” They don’t now but they did; that very bond you speak of was the basis for several films of late, great Director Sam Peckinpah. In “The Wild Bunch”(1969) the West is changing, the bunch is getting older, & running out of banks to rob & places to run. In the end, they sacrifice it all to bring back one of their own. In “Cross of Iron” (1977) a highly decorated non-com butts heads with an elitist superior while trying to hold his… Read more »

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  duttchmn007
13 days ago

The 2005 version of Billy the Kid is certainly one of the greatest westerns ever made. I think Peckinpah would approve of the reconstruction job.

As an aside, Braveheart catches a lot of flack for its historical innacuracies, but as a mannerbund film that revolves around the volkgeist and the masculine virtues–now maligned as toxic masculinity, alas–its a tour de force.

LGC
LGC
Reply to  duttchmn007
12 days ago

I would also put Master and Commander in there. A group of men banded together against the weather, enemy, circumstances, grows together and accomplishes missions. Probably the last of the “men” stories.

ray
ray
Reply to  Trek
13 days ago

Hollywood either cannot understand the bond between heterosexual men or they are actively hostile to it.’

Both.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  ray
13 days ago

Of course. Who populates Hollywood now? Not men for certain. Just “boys” pretending to be men—if that. Go back to the golden days. WWII occurs, and the Hollywood “elite” spring into action. One after another standing in line to enlist. None needed to see combat, but most all insisted, or no enlistment. Clark Gabel for example, was a door gunner. He would brook no bond selling tours. That year’s academy award winner, Jimmy Steward, stood in line, was rejected as “underweight, went home and worked out for months to return and pass the physical. He flew missions over Germany and… Read more »

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Compsci
13 days ago

guess which star did not serve? 😛

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  karl von hungus
12 days ago

The biggest I would say out of hand was John Wayne—the so called man’s man.

I leave the door open for other contributions.

I never said there were not exceptions, only point to general differences in the populous then and now.

Two modern *stars* worth mentioning were Roger Starbuck and Pat Tillman. Roger volunteering for Vietnam, Tillman for 9/11 Sandbox wars. Of course these stars were Alpha men to begin with. Tillman for his troubles was killed by friendly fire, while Roger only lost productive athletic years.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Compsci
12 days ago

Rumor had it that Tillman was fragged. No idea if that’s true.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
12 days ago

I never heard that, but upon investigation you are correct. It was rumored. The later version of Tillman’s death (3 shots to the head) is suspicious in the extreme. Nonetheless, that Tillman left a multimillion dollar career to serve a nation attacked remains the main point.

In truth, at that time I was prepared to serve as did a number of us old (just under 40) farts. Did some range training with a number of the call-ups from the Reserves.

That was then, this is now.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  karl von hungus
12 days ago

And he was tormented by guilt to the grave.

Filthie
Filthie
Member
Reply to  Trek
13 days ago

Was it? Hey – liked it as much as anyone and it was a cornerstone of my youthful TV viewing too… but really… it was just space opera. It has been done since the 40s in the days of Asimov.

Oswald Spengler
Oswald Spengler
Reply to  Trek
13 days ago

“Good point about Star Trek the next generation. Some episodes are good but it is the corporate division, and Picard is a dull, efficient bureaucrat.”

The original Star Trek was a Western set in outer space (“Wagon Train to the stars” is how Gene Roddenberry pitched it to NBC executives). There are several ST:TNG episodes in which Picard or RIker envy the freedom of action that Starfleet captains of Kirk’s era had or they lament the obstacles they have to face from bureaucratic meddling by the Federation or Starfleet Command.

Out on a limb and sawin' away
Out on a limb and sawin' away
Reply to  Oswald Spengler
13 days ago

“The measure of a man” was my favorite TNG episode, where Picard is forced to advocate for Data after a scientist claims the right to deconstruct and study Data as he is not “sentient”. The scene with Whoopie Goldberg about slavery was well done.

Hokkoda
Member
Reply to  Trek
12 days ago

These are the same freaks who can’t understand the friendship between Sam and Frodo in LOTR…a novel and film largely devoid of women with a couple notable exceptions.

I’ve always believed that the people responsible for trying to gay-up normal male bonds never had a genuine friend.

OrangeFrog
OrangeFrog
13 days ago

I often see this “bond between men” thing in many shows of the old days. Whilst I’m just under forty, I do remember watching the original Star Trek as a youngster, and finding it great fun. Everything about it, to me, was epic. Of course, at the time, the idea that this was a story about male kinship and what bunches of blokes close together can achieve, was lost on me. Perhaps that’s why I watch so many older shows now – this group behaviour is unapologetically represented. This is absolutely an aspect of manhood that women don’t really seem… Read more »

fakeemail
fakeemail
Reply to  OrangeFrog
13 days ago

Women simply don’t form the same sort of bonds that men form.” What’s more, the presence of women in male roles will divide, weaken, and on some level embitter and humiliate men.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  fakeemail
12 days ago

Tell me about it. Just got back from yesterday’s Thanksgiving with family out of town. Can’t help thinking about it. At the dinner table—getting smaller each year as us oldsters pass on—were the women and we are blessed with small grandchildren from the two youngest. Women who raise children have my greatest respect. You must be “bred” for it. Pun intended. As I sat quietly at the table with the other grown men, I thought about what was occurring this Thanksgiving as compared to others I’ve experienced, especially as I experienced such in the last couple of decades and compared… Read more »

mmack
mmack
Reply to  Compsci
12 days ago

This had me thinking during the trip home just how different things are now than before. The answer I’ve come up with is the feminization of society which seems to affect the men in our family as well. I was thinking about this before I responded and I think it’s not just Feminism, it’s Liberalism in general that’s at the root of all this. Thanksgiving prayers are no longer said Hey, no need to bring God into this. (Sidebar: I was honored the first time I was allowed to say Grace before a big family dinner.) Nor is seating according… Read more »

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  mmack
12 days ago

Very well put. Thanks for the addition to the original post. I just had to get it out there—I feel better now. 😉

It is a bit better when folks come to my house. I manage the seating and keep the women and children to at least one side of the table, the men on the other. Pre and post dinner, I’m usually successful in dragging most men from the Family Room and Kitchen to the (blessed) isolation of the Living Room.

mmack
mmack
Reply to  OrangeFrog
13 days ago

One day, old Bones comes in wearing a belt buckle saying “England” on it. Project manager: “Oi Bones, what t’fuck ya wearin’ that for? You ain’t English, are ya?”. Everyone laughed. Despite what outsiders (especially Leftists and women) would think, Bones was well liked and good company. People just had a laugh and nothing was off limits. Many decades ago I worked in a garage during my summers off in college that had an all male staff. Shop managers came and went and one summer we had an older black man named Johnny as a manager. Normally we all wore… Read more »

OrangeFrog
OrangeFrog
Reply to  mmack
12 days ago

mmack, So true. All of it. It’s all so evident now that I’m a parent of three young boys. We take them to these play areas, and you can immediately see a difference between the girls and boys. Boys are simply more rambunctious and get on with things. The girls cry and tattletale no end! Of course, there are exceptions, but those seem to be rare. My favourite retort to my wife (or female relations) when they start emoting about something, or asking why I don’t seem to care about something is: “I’m not a woman”. One thing that all… Read more »

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  OrangeFrog
12 days ago

Great insight. Thanks.

Gideon
Gideon
13 days ago

Star Trek TOS reruns were an after-school TV staple for many a boy growing up. What we didn’t notice at the time was how Jewish that show was. The pilot episode, “The Cage” (aired as the two-part “The Menagerie”), abounds with Jewishness. An alien race of Talosians are living underground on a planet whose surface was devastated by war with specimens collected from all over the galaxy whom they manipulate with illusions drawn telepathically from their respective memories—happy experiences as a reward, terrifying ones as punishment. The Talosians have become so caught up in living through others’ lives, we are… Read more »

Oswald Spengler
Oswald Spengler
Reply to  Gideon
13 days ago

“The Talosians have become so caught up in living through others’ lives, we are told, that they have lost the ability to live life on their own, even forgetting how to maintain the civilization they inherited.”

Post-nuclear apocalypse Talos IV sounds eerily like modern-day Clown World.

ray
ray
13 days ago

Yup Star Trek to Captain America, Hollywood must snuff all our iconic (and positive) male exemplars because Hollywood — like elite America — is anti-masculine. Not enough groceries in the bags. They damn sure don’t hide their loathing of us, either. They’re afraid of brotherhood taking root in America, to which the OP alludes. That’s what keeps them up at night; it’s really the only threat they have to fear. So they belittle males while dissing and separating dad from the family unit, then celebrate single women, single motherhood, and the associated Welfare State. Nice going LBJ! The Prog agenda… Read more »

Mycale
Mycale
Reply to  ray
13 days ago

I never did a deep dive on this because I bailed out of Marvel long ago, but it’s crazy how, after the last Avengers, how many of their products were “old stale pale male hero is stepping aside, passing the torch to this stunning and brave woman/black guy.” And of course, they made sure to humiliate all the heroes on their way out. Of course, this entire franchise collapsed immediately after and in a fit of desperation, Disney backed up the Brinks truck to bring Robert Downey Jr. back. RDJR’s character in these movies was so popular because he essentially… Read more »

ray
ray
Reply to  Mycale
13 days ago

I don’t play computer games but doods that do reported a similar New Woman Order ‘diversification’ of gaming scripts and products.

Nobody bought the stuff. Word travels fast in that sub-community and only the ideologues and fembots wanted Mary Sue Kickass at the center of their gaming episodes, along with p.c.-sensitized scripts.

I dunno what they did to get around it… maybe used older product versions that are pre-woke. Culture war is omnipresent.

Zfan
Zfan
13 days ago

“There are groups like the Old Glory Club forming up for young guys to join. They may not have had these concepts fed to them as children, but the seeds are still there.” I hate to see that the Boy Scouts have almost disappeared and that military service is greatly diminished as a place for men to bond in service to a greater purpose. I am glad that team sports and even fraternities haven’t been extinguished, but they are not for every man. The local volunteer fire department is a group I contribute to, but was never able to actually… Read more »

duttchmn007
duttchmn007
Reply to  Zfan
13 days ago

“…the Boy Scouts have almost disappeared and that military service is greatly diminished as a place for men to bond in service to a greater purpose.”

Indeed & that is all by design; they were attacked as “bastions of male chauvinism/white supremacy” & destroyed.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  duttchmn007
13 days ago

the scouts were pedo bait from day one, it was just covered up (like the catholic priest, and public school staff).

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  karl von hungus
13 days ago

can’t handle the truth eh? or just pro pedo?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scouts_of_America_sex_abuse_cases

the BSA went BK because of all the abuse lawsuits.

morons. why would the scouts be immune to this universal phenomena – where there are concentrations of kids, there will be concentrations of pedos.

JeffBezosSucksWetFartsOutOfDeadPigeons
JeffBezosSucksWetFartsOutOfDeadPigeons
Reply to  karl von hungus
13 days ago

Imagine believing Wikipedia.

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  karl von hungus
13 days ago

Those instances of pedophilia do not vitiate the positive influences the Scouts exerted on many generations of America boys.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  karl von hungus
12 days ago

Total nonsense with a grain of truth to make it sound plausible. As an old scout leader let me tell you the truth, not the Wiki bullshit. Any organization such as the Boy Scouts or Priesthood attracts scum such as pedo homo’s. However, unlike the Catholic hierarchy, the Scout hierarchy did not advocate nor hide homosexuality (Note: At that time) and instituted many precautions against sexual abuse. For one, Scout masters had training wrt interactions with boys. Long and short, you were never allowed to interact alone with boys under your guidance. I never was on an outing where there… Read more »

Last edited 12 days ago by Compsci
ProZNoV
ProZNoV
Reply to  karl von hungus
13 days ago

Public schools are statistically much worse.

We give them a hall pass because day care is expensive out of pocket.

LineInTheSand
LineInTheSand
Reply to  karl von hungus
12 days ago

Do you think that it is unlikely that fathers would want to gather with other fathers to instill good values in their sons without there being lascivious intent?

I guess it’s part of my faith that such organizations are possible, but I guess I could be wrong. Hope not.

Vizzini
Member
Reply to  karl von hungus
12 days ago

You fall for the lie that because the left has gutted something and is wearing it like a skinsuit, it was always bad.

Steve
Steve
Reply to  duttchmn007
13 days ago

This is why my sons former scout troop disbanded. One of the boys there brought his younger sister along and initially the other boys were a bit wary, but that wariness turned into disgust when the sister began bringing her friends to the meetings. My son and the other boys told the scoutmaster they were leaving and the guy knew it was coming, so he wasn’t surprised. Dealing with his friend who brought his sister along wasn’t as easy. When my son explained the decision to his him, the kid got his nose bent out of joint because he felt… Read more »

pie
pie
Reply to  Steve
13 days ago

yep, i remember as a child building forts. “don’t tell the girls” and “no girls allowed”. someone would always falter. i cannot imagine the horror if girls were part of my boy scout troop. funny, i cannot remember exactly why the aversion to girls. something to do with the adventure for the day and not having any stragglers. girls were ok at foursquare and skip rope, but always the prime target in dodgeball. very few girls would attempt dodgeball and i never saw a girl play kill the man with the ball. puzzling, the girls were bigger too. now i… Read more »

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  pie
13 days ago

Kill the Man with the Ball, more accurately known as Smear the Queer. I suspect Big School Marm now frowns mightily upon that one…

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  duttchmn007
13 days ago

Were the Boy Scouts destroyed, or did they simply capitulate? Regardless, the Scouts accepting girls and pervs was one of the clearest signs that America was dead.

Maniac
Maniac
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
13 days ago

A little of both. Membership and financial support were both on the skids, so they assumed that allowing girls in would help. They were wrong, of course, because, as Steve highlighted, girls have a way of ruining anything they come within a fifty-foot radius of.

Steve
Steve
Reply to  Maniac
13 days ago

A large part of that argument was the wife saying, “You can’t blame this on the girls. The mothers that run Carries troop won’t do things like camping, hikes and canoe trips. Their idea of a big day for the girls is going to the spa. The girls like Carrie who want more, what are they supposed to do?” It was at this point that I regretted marrying this woman and I became incredulous as I said to her, “You replace the mothers who won’t take the girls on the trips with mothers who will, you don’t demand that the… Read more »

pie
pie
Reply to  Steve
13 days ago

bummer, hope it works out for you. i remember my wife was a huge obama fan. that quickly changed when our son joined the military. some must be invested for perspective.

ray
ray
Reply to  Steve
13 days ago

Well done.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Steve
12 days ago

Hear, hear. The Girl Scouts of America had become “poz’d” at least 20 years ago before the Boy Scouts, thanks completely to the local chapters being headed by activist feminists. My wife was a Girl Scouts leader when we were first dating.

As to girls going camping and such, what happened to “Campfire Girls”. In my youth females went there for such activities.

pie
pie
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
13 days ago

agreed. i do not see many american wild west boys. i do see boys with the gangster disrespect attitude. my own boy started with gangster clothes and attitude young. cured him of the ailment in home, but maintained his quest outside of the home. grades dropped, i packed up his fashion clothes and outfitted him with the most plain and generic clothes from walmart. grades came up and i returned the fashionable clothes. he is a young adult now, been through the military of his own accord and still has a disrespect attitude. fortunately reality is teaching him the importance… Read more »

BigJimSportCamper
BigJimSportCamper
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
13 days ago

Post Vatican II Pope JP II the Grooviest EVAR did the same thing with altar boys, otherwise known as acolytes, considered a minor order and for many a first step towards the Roman Catholic sacred orders – the priesthood. He gave the OK for girls to perform these duties and now they were all called ‘altar servers’. Predictably, the boys beat feet and the vocation pipeline, already in jeopardy, dried up. Wasn’t enough for the babes, now they’re hooting and hollering for female deacons and, of course, the priesthood.
Of course, they made the guy a saint…ugh

c matt
c matt
Reply to  BigJimSportCamper
10 days ago

Not my fave pope, but I think it was more a caving in to a fait accompli than an “OK”. Still, you would think that a man who could stand up to communism could have stood up to altar girls.

ray
ray
Reply to  duttchmn007
13 days ago

The Boy Scouts were targeted and destroyed by the Left. Overrun by homos and a feminist, libertine culture.

When I grew up (mid-Pliocene) the Scouts were v popular with boys. My brother joined for a few years and liked it. Lotsa outdoors stuff.

Can’t have all that uncontrolled maleness running around loose now, can we?

Lucius Sulla
Lucius Sulla
Reply to  Zfan
13 days ago

The K of C would be a possibility if the old boomer men would step aside and leave room for the young men to lead. But they hang on until death. My local council is basically a septuagenarian and octogenarian social club. It was particularly embarrassing during the COVID crap in my council when “men” who call themselves “knights” wouldn’t meet in person for 1.5 years, and then required so-called “vaccines” for members to meet in person. I let the Grand Knight know what I thought of that and resigned. These “men” don’t seem to realize that the founder, Fr.… Read more »

Ben the Layabout
Ben the Layabout
Reply to  Lucius Sulla
13 days ago

My tale isn’t quite as heroic. In 2020 my AA group did not meet for over a year. When it resumed they required wearing a mask. In fairness it was landlord imposing that requirement. I said approximately “I’m tired of this bullshit. Call me when they drop the mask requirement.” (For me that is pretty strong language in that group.) And a month or two later they called me.

Zfan
Zfan
Reply to  Ben the Layabout
13 days ago

Replying to Ben and Lucius Sulla. I left ministry in the Episcopal Church a half decade before Covid and I cannot say for certain that I would have been heroic in standing up to the state and the bishop’s office going full bs online mass, etc. I am sure that I would not have left the sick or shut-ins alone without sacraments or human contact. Where I relocated to I noted that among those that did resist were the Orthodox and SSPX and FSSP Catholic traditionalists. When the next “emergency” arises I trust resistance will be much stronger

Bwana Simba
Bwana Simba
Reply to  Lucius Sulla
13 days ago

Are there any men’s groups for boys and young men to join? I too have noticed the boomers won’t let go of the reins in these old groups, and have been looking for something.

Templar
Templar
Reply to  Lucius Sulla
12 days ago

The K of C would be a possibility if the old boomer men would step aside and leave room for the young men to lead. But they hang on until death. My local council is basically a septuagenarian and octogenarian social club. 

Same problem with the Canadian Legion, according to my military friends.

c matt
c matt
Reply to  Lucius Sulla
10 days ago

To be fair, it probably depends a lot on the local KofC chapter. As for the old boomer men, at least in my chapter, it is more a matter of no one else having the time for leadership positions – most of the leaders are retired, and the younger members (we have a few) simply can’t make the time commitment.

I don’t recall our chapter suspending in person meetings during the scamdemic, but I may have just missed them.

Bwana Simba
Bwana Simba
Reply to  Zfan
13 days ago

Is there any equivalent to the Old Glory Club on the West Coast?

fakeemail
fakeemail
13 days ago

Not rain on the parade of old Trekkies, but as the original series was a bit before my time I found it brainlessly egalitarian and “civil right-sy.”

It doesn’t have a clue, nor wishes to explore, how an advanced and moral civilization would be formed.

c matt
c matt
Reply to  fakeemail
10 days ago

The closest show I have seen to explore that formation was Man in the High Castle. But the advanced and moral civilization was cast as the bad guys. Go figure.

Diversity Heretic
Member
13 days ago

I think that the original series Star Trek was based loosely on James Cook’s voyages of discovery aboard Endeavor. IIRC, the original starship was named Endeavor, later changed to Enterprise. I don’t think I would watch the original series with as much as enthusiasm as Z-man, since my recollection is that many of the episodes were basically 60’s era morality plays, resolved according to the most avant garde 60s attitudes.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Diversity Heretic
13 days ago

if by morality play you mean kirk banging alien poon, then yes, that is what it was about.

Diversity Heretic
Member
Reply to  karl von hungus
13 days ago

There were several episodes devoted to racial equality; even one that attributed all racial differences to environmental factors.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Diversity Heretic
13 days ago

i know the episode you mean, but i think you have misunderstood what it was really about. in the episode there are two groups on the planet, with one half their face white, and the other black; except the two groups have have mirror images of each other (one group is right side white, the other group is white side left). in the end the two groups destroy their own civilization. i would compare this to the relatively recent genocide in Rwanda, between two rival groups who were the same race. the one episode that *was* an explicit racial message… Read more »

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  karl von hungus
13 days ago

“…the relatively recent genocide in Rwanda, between two rival groups who were the same race.”

A quibble. The Hutus and Tutsi may be the same “negroid” race but are quite different in appearance (to me anyway) and I’m told were quite different in socioeconomic achievement due primarily to past colonization of Belgium—who found/considered the Tutsi’s more intelligent and hard working. The Belgian used them during their occupation and they prospered accordingly.

Of course, being a successful minority in a Black country is fraught with danger as we see here with Whites anywhere in proximity to Blacks. 😉

Ostei Kozelskii
Member
Reply to  Compsci
13 days ago

Basically, different tribes. I think the Hutus are taller and skinnier, the Tutsis shorter and fatter.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Ostei Kozelskii
12 days ago

Yes, what I’m trying to get across is that Africa is a nation of different tribes or “ethnics”. A wonderful observable example of human biological and behavioral difference. This observation of course proving races *are* real and important in human interaction and relationships.

Arnauld Amalric
Arnauld Amalric
Reply to  Compsci
9 days ago

You haven’t seen real racism until you’ve seen Africa. For us, an African is an African, but they see worlds of difference and may give you a tyre necklace if you’re from the wrong village.

Diversity Heretic
Member
Reply to  karl von hungus
12 days ago

I remember that episode with Frank Gorshin, but the episode I was thinking of involved two groups of people living on a planet. The first group (high IQ) lived in a cloud world named Stratos, while the other group lived on the ground and were basically low-IQ miners. It turned out that the difference between the two was the presence of a gas on the ground. Move a person from Stratos to the ground and he quickly became a violent, low-IQ ground dweller. Sort of Steve Sailer’s magic dirt in reverse. In fairness to Star Trek The Original Series, I”m… Read more »

David Wright
Member
Reply to  Diversity Heretic
13 days ago

The book Gilligan Unbound examines the messages of 60s tv such as aforementioned and Star Trek. Manifest destiny with liberalism as it’s guiding force. Then the falling away with shows such as X files.

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Diversity Heretic
13 days ago

“…many of the episodes were basically 60’s era morality plays, resolved according to the most avant garde 60s attitudes.” Definitely. Actually worse, they were Roddenberry’s force feeding of nascent Leftism to the audience as was the bent of Hollywood in the late 60’s and 70’s. Example, Kirk kissing Uhura. Miscegenation writ live for all to see. What I enjoy of the original Star Trek is the hit and miss of the (predicted) technical innovation of the future. The communicator “flip phone” now is the ubiquitous cell phone we all possess. Their voice activated “computer” is now our Siri talking to… Read more »

Known Fact
Known Fact
12 days ago

Shatner took every role that paid in part because after Star Trek was canceled he found himself broke and unemployed. He scraped up roles as bad guys or con men on Mission Impossible, Mannix and Hawaii 5-0 and seeing him play the villain is a real TV trivia treat.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
13 days ago

not sure if this is news or not, but the ST:TOS episodes were remastered in 4k with many of the matte effects redone superbly. they really look fantastic, especially if you only ever saw the original eps on pre-HD tv.

a little OT, but if you have transporter technology (as ST universe did) then no one would really need to die. just recreate them from a stored transporter image :). of course this would drain a lot of the drama and tension out of the stories.

David Wright
Member
Reply to  karl von hungus
13 days ago

Just like the move command using file manager in Windows. It’s just copy and delete.

there was an episode in the newer version of Outer Limits where there was a glitch in teleportation. Basically copied man and sent him on the way butscrewed up and left the original instead of destroying him. Gave away the dirty little secret. Anywho, all bs for sure, never happen.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  David Wright
13 days ago

ever see this episode (original Outer Limits): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Duplicate_Man

David Wright
Member
Reply to  karl von hungus
13 days ago

one of my favorites from the original series.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  David Wright
13 days ago

mine too 🙂

Known Fact
Known Fact
Reply to  karl von hungus
12 days ago

Very dark moody episode and a precursor to all the replicant type stories

Marko
Marko
Reply to  karl von hungus
13 days ago

Lucas and Star Wars should’ve done this. Instead, they messed with the human parts and added CGI and dialogue where it wasn’t needed nor welcome.

Sub
Sub
Reply to  karl von hungus
13 days ago

Star Trek’s inability to fully explore the implications of the technology in its universe is a big part of why I have never been able to get into the series. Replicator tech is just as badly handled as the transporters, sub-atomic level control of matter and energy and the best thing they usually think to do with it is making themselves food or trinkets. The whole nature of the society seems off too, as hinted upon in Z’s post. Post-scarcity society would almost certainly be extremely conservative in its approach to the unknown, rather than pointlessly sending out small forces… Read more »

pyrrhus
Reply to  karl von hungus
13 days ago

As several sci-fi novels have explored, the duplication would produce a different person, though most of it would look the same…there’s an error factor in everything

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  pyrrhus
13 days ago

well no, there isn’t. even now, there is error detection and correction for all data “sent over a wire”. you can’t really expect a living organism to be viable with “data corruption”.

Oswald Spengler
Oswald Spengler
Reply to  karl von hungus
13 days ago

There’s a fan theory that each time someone uses a transporter in the Star Trek universe, the original person is killed and a perfect duplicate is reconstructed. That would basically mean the final Kirk seen in “Unification” is James T. Kirk, Version # 128,748.

Known Fact
Known Fact
Reply to  Oswald Spengler
12 days ago

There was an unexpectedy good episode in the Outer Limits reboot where teleportation creates a backup version of the person just in case the transport fails.

Due to a glitch two versions of the same woman are both alive, and the duplicate must be put to death, by the man who loves her. Or the cold-blooded aliens who gave us this technology will take it back

The Wild Geese Howard
The Wild Geese Howard
Reply to  Oswald Spengler
12 days ago

The 2006 film The Prestige has an interesting take on the idea of duplicates.

LGC
LGC
Reply to  The Wild Geese Howard
12 days ago

Had the same thought. What a fantastic movie with so many twists.

Karl Horst
Karl Horst
13 days ago

The ‘Unification’ short was really beautiful and Critical Drinker’s review was elegantly done. The entire cast from the original Star Trek series were in a class on their own. As you said, they knew their audience and they also knew these fans put bread on their table. For the most part they kept their personal sexuality and politics out of their work. It wasn’t until the latest fiasco we learned that Sulu was gay. Not like anyone cared, but what did it matter anyway? I never warmed up to Next Generation, although most of the characters were okay after a… Read more »

Alzaebo
Alzaebo
13 days ago

Star Trek: Enterprise is very much a return to the tone and spirit of the original series; I consider it the best of the bunch, in fact, even though the Original is still as compellingly enjoyable as ever. It was supposed to lead to the Earth-Romulan War (that’s where the Neutral Zone comes from), so of course the addled ninnies canceled the series just when that was about to kick off. Who remembers Gary Seven, with the black cat and pretty Terri Garr? The episode, “Assignment Earth”, was a tentative pilot to a spin-off series produced at a much lower… Read more »

Last edited 13 days ago by Alzaebo
Templar
Templar
Reply to  Alzaebo
13 days ago

Star Trek: Enterprise is very much a return to the tone and spirit of the original series; I consider it the best of the bunch, in fact, even though the Original is still as compellingly enjoyable as ever.

Enterprise is indeed criminally underrated.

karl von hungus
karl von hungus
Reply to  Templar
13 days ago

ahhh T’pol. grrrrr

c matt
c matt
Reply to  Alzaebo
10 days ago

What normal boy didn’t have a crush on Judy Robinson?

Filthie
Filthie
Member
13 days ago

There was some idiot sitcom I watched back in the Before Times, when a lot of the film people were just normal guys like Eastwood and Shatner. They just happened to work in the film business. I cant remember the name of it but these aliens posing as humans on earth are crapping their pants in fear. The big galactic CEO was coming to earth to check up on them and they cleverly hyped it for an episode or two. When The Galactic Great Big Head finally arrive – it was Shatner playing the role and the studio audience came… Read more »

Oswald Spengler
Oswald Spengler
Reply to  Filthie
13 days ago

The show you’re thinking of was 3rd Rock from the Sun. The cast was headed by John Lithgow as an alien commander of a research expedition to Earth to study humans in their native habitat.

CorkyAgain
CorkyAgain
13 days ago

I never thought Star Trek: Voyager was HR in Space, but it fits.

(In my mind it was Mom in Space. Which supports your thesis too.)

Templar
Templar
13 days ago

Another thing that came to mind watching this short was that no one under the age of fifty will get any of it. 

I hate to dump on an otherwise beautifully poetic meditation, but Critical Drinker is under 50. Sam Witwer who helped bring Young Kirk to life again in Unification is under 50. Hell, I’m under 50. I think you get a little too lost in the generational pessimism sometimes (albeit not without provocation).

Compsci
Compsci
Reply to  Templar
12 days ago

Yep. I for one was just a child during the 50’s and really not very aware of event’s until the 60’s. Yet, I can discuss much of the culture and times of the *40’s through the 50’s*. This is called cultural literacy—of a sort. Maybe I’d the exception, but I doubt it.

pyrrhus
13 days ago

A very moving tribute to Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner (now 93) and Star trek…wonderful!

Hokkoda
Member
12 days ago

Apparently, Shatner was digitally de-aged enabling him to appear. There are interesting ethical debates going on as to whether actors should be allowed to grow old and die. Nobody will actually be prevented from doing this. But discuss it we all will. Unification fixes the disaster that was the ST:Generations movie. That is the one where they kill Kirk. And they make zero bones about the fact that Picard is a wuss and Kirk is a man. And they kill off the man. Twice. In fact, earlier in the movie Kirk saves the day for an even wussier captain of… Read more »

Last edited 12 days ago by hokkoda
Ketchup-stained Griller
Ketchup-stained Griller
12 days ago

I remember one where a planet evolved as notsees, I can’t remember if they broke the prime directive or not.

c matt
c matt
Reply to  Ketchup-stained Griller
10 days ago

Can’t be having a well-ordered, prosperous and beautiful planet. That might make the Federation look bad.

Templar
Templar
13 days ago

Well said. Happy Thanksgiving.

BVMcG
BVMcG
10 days ago

If anyone has a soft spot for the old Tom Baker era Dr Who, the similar but darker series Blake’s 7 is finally becoming available on Blu-Ray and various streaming options. Truly a band of pirates in space

I.M.
I.M.
13 days ago

I certainly didn’t expect this take. As a long time Trekker, I found the short just this side of tawdry. It’d be one thing if it had stuck to Shatner having some sort of strange & unexplained afterlife experience, but then they had to put Nimoy’s face in there, Nimoy who is long dead and who had a falling out with Shatner late in life and they were no longer on speaking terms. I understand that Nimoy’s estate supposedly signed off on it, but it still felt almost ghoulish. The whole thing is CG enhanced cartoon imagery intended to tug… Read more »

David Wright
Member
Reply to  I.M.
13 days ago

as far as I could watch it I was unmoved.

Shane
Shane
10 days ago

Spock was amazing in that he had to be deep and interesting while being cool and logical . Hard to accomplish as an actor without seeming robotic

Popcorn
Popcorn
13 days ago

Another thing that came to mind watching this short was that no one under the age of fifty will get any of it.

Quite true. For me star trek as always been pure trash and the generation raised on the religious tales of the next generation just made me hate the all thing.