posted
"...but as time goes on, as if cannot be controlled, they (the writters) always humanize all the aliens."
Good point, Saboc. I have been pondering about it for a while. Generally, Star Trek is a show that deals a lot with human(oid) problems, conflicts and emotions. Many aliens have been initially established as "too alien" for such stories. They either don't share a common understanding of basic principles of ethics, they are non-humanoid anyway or they have seemingly omnipotent forces. The thing that bothers me is that the writers nevertheless try to force human feelings and attitudes upon them. This has been done to the Borg in FC and most subsequent Voyager episodes, Species 8472 in "In the Flesh", the Ferengi after their first occurences in TNG and, as mentioned, the Vorta.
Luckily, the opposite applies to the Klingons after TOS. This is one of the few species that has really evolved to a credible civilization.
Another reason could be that a justification is needed why humans always prevail despite the superiority of their enemies. It's not only that the enemies always turn out weaker than initially expected, it's also that they try to imitate humans in some way, but humans are the better humans.
------------------ "Naomi Wildman, sub-unit of Ensign Samantha Wildman, state your intentions." (VOY: "Infinite Regress")
posted
I've been thing about the nature of alien civs in Trek too. Remember that this is a story about humanity and as such, human values will always play out as preferrable. Also, other cultures will by nessecity be contrasted and compared to human values.
If we assume that the aliens in Trek are meant to tell us something about humanity we could assume that they represent various exagerrated human values: what we might become if we took one of the sides of human nature too far while neglecting the others.
For example: -Klingons: Our aggressive instincts and our desire to settle things by overpowering our oppent taken too far while neglecting our sense of cooperation and diplomacy.
-Romulans: Our need for secrecy taken to an extreme. The Cold War humanity.
-Cardassians: Our cruelest impulses made the norm for society
-Borg: Humanity's tend toward collectivity while ignoring creativity and uniquness. You could also argue that the Borg represent the antothesis of humanity, everything we are not. This would explain why they are so fearsome and why their way of life is so undesireable to us.
------------------ "Resolve and thou art free."
[This message has been edited by Aban Rune (edited December 23, 1999).]
posted
Unfortunately, that's one of the problems with Trek...mono-personality species just aren't realistic.
------------------ Frank's Home Page "My son and I have this wonderful kind of rivalry. Since I've taken over the Mac department in our home, he's seen fit to take over the PC. I have a routine I do for him, walking down the hall, bumping into walls, doing corkscrews and stumbling. I tell him I'm a Windows operating system." - John de Lancie
posted
If they do anything that changes the Vorta, in a negative way or in a humanized way, I'll be really depressed. Unlike other species, the Vorta know who above them and who below them. Take Klingons for example, (I love them by the way) all the species who "are warriorlike and "honorable" " are desirable. Any species that do not show the same traits, they consider them as weak and coward.
Humans: this is how humans are on the outside: "We are explorers. We seek knowledge and life forms to learn and to co-exist"
On the inside: " We don't like your values and your view of the universe, we'll do you a favor and impose our values on you. You better like it because our ships carry type-XII phaser emitters.
------------------ "The Founder is wise in all things..." "We live to serve the Founders..."
[This message has been edited by Saboc (edited December 24, 1999).]
posted
Well, the Federation is like any other organization; the members have chosen a way they wish to live and certain values they wish to incorporate into their lives. Other groups or societies have other ways of living and other values. They are welcome not to join the Federation. Unfortunately, the more agressive societies feel the need to impose their way of life, forcing the groups they come come accross, i.e. The Federation, to defend themsleves and their way of life.
The Federation has proven it's willingness to work with societies that don't necessarily manifest Federation values, the Klingons, Cardassians and such. These are not members of the Federation, but alliances are formed as long as the two groups can work together.
And, no, societies aren't single faceted, but I think Trek species tend to be represented by their governments. They've done a pretty good job of showing that citizens outside the government structure can be full of variety in their attitudes and beliefs.
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