The strange social lives of Star Trek The Next Generation...

I was just giving up on this blog after years of neglecting it when Google AdSense wrote in to suggest, after years of ignoring its instance, that I could place adverts on it.  

As they have kindly got me started with a pecuniary donation of 3p I thought I’d better think up some content to put on it…

I have recently been wandering through Star Trek The Next Generation on Netflix and am now up to series 5 … although I spent a very long time stuck on Series 1 as for some reason Series 1 is a bit of a slog.  At the time of its transmission I didn’t watch the program except irregularly so although I remember some episodes really well – like the one where they get stuck in a hotel and Worf says “let’s try this turbolift” only to find it’s just a lift – I didn’t have much idea of the overall running narratives.

Chief amongst my annoyances as a young viewer was Counselor Troi – a kind of psychic Social Worker / Human Resources person in space who has the poison chalice of saying things to people like “I sense you are angry” when the person in question is particularly livid.  You may call me sexist if you like … although watching it again I did particularly enjoy the episode “Distaster” where the pedophobic Captain Picard gets stuck in a lift with three children while psychoanalyst Troi is confronted with more concrete problems than usual like trying to fly a ship without any power.  I suppose it’s a testament to the far reaching view of Star Trek that the twenty first century is now full of Counselor Trois.  One has to wonder what they’re going to do when it gets to 2200 and the warp coil still hasn’t been invented. It’s sooner than you think … Possibly the most amusing aspect of Troi however, are the once or twice a series appearances of Majel Barrett as her mother Lwaxana Troi who effortlessly puts down Lieutenant Commander Troi at regular intervals and in important meetings by referring to her patronisingly in front of her colleagues as “little one” while simultaneously hitting on Captain Picard at every opportunity.

Jonathan Frakes’s Commander Riker used to slightly annoy me due his physical similarity to my old deputy headmaster Mr Thorne.  He also seems to have the deputy headmasterly role of disciplining the lower ranks which often does not go well.  Riker’s redeeming feature is that unlike Mr Thorne who was a living humour vacuum he does seem to have a sense of humour and also to be at ease with his sexuality to a level that Captain “Mr Data, I'd be delighted to offer any advice I have on understanding women. When I have some, I'll let you know” Picard is not.  Even Data seems to get more action than Picard.  Well, he keeps a cat in his cabin and a hologram of Tasha Yar in his desk.

At various points Troi seems to have something going on with “that nice Commander Riker” as Lwaxana describes him.  Troi – or was it Riker? – explains the on-off nature of their relationship as being result of everyone in the 22^nd century being beyond sexual exclusivity...

 …an argument Lwaxana doesn’t buy.  Of course the real reason is that Riker like Kirk is required to get off with someone several times a series and the writers thought that Riker & Troi having a stable relationship was dull.  Later on Colm Meaney’s Chief O’Brien is allowed to get married and have children but then he’s not meant to be dashing like Frakes. 

Carrying on the tradition that only unconventionally attractive persons in Starfleet can have a wife or child later still Worf has a son – possibly the most unlucky child in Starfleet as his mother is murdered right in front of him and then Worf sends him to live with his elderly parents who can’t cope and then refuses to see him when he hurts his spinal column that is then removed and replaced in a dangerous medical experiment.  

Ah, yes, now I see why all these people need a Counselor – it’s because they all have PTSD.  It’s strange how given the near demise of the ship every three weeks so many people have decided that a starship is the best place to bring up a family.

Even Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher has grown on me if only because I admire his stoicism in being able to relate such huge chunks of exposition.

The Borg are the Cybermen.  There I said it.  Although I did think it was clever how Q introduced Picard to the Cybermen Borg in order to put Picard in his place and warn him of the future…. Q’s obsession with wearing the Starfleet uniform always amuses me as I find the militaristic nature of Starfleet somewhat odd at times.  Is that really the future – everybody in the army?  Not that there’s anything wrong with the army but I hope they don’t make it so…

 

Also why does Picard (a Frenchman?) drink Earl Grey instead of Coffee?

We will never know…