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Star Trek fans have held the national stereotype of being way too rabid about things for decades but they’re probably the nicest fan base in all of science fiction and the one least likely to have a large faction of them absolutely lose it over a torpedo being fired by a woman or dumb shit like that
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The funny thing is, unlike with most sci-fi, Starfleet usually only starts shooting as a last resort. They don’t even notice that.
The number of times in trek where they could easily destroy the ship or entity that was causing the problem in the episode is huge in Trek. But they spend most of the episode trying to figure out how solve the problem with the minimum damage to both sides.
Even times where it could be argued that shooting at it is justified (the Crystalline Entity), they try to figure out other options.
Like running away.
In the case of the Crystalline Entity, running away is a valid strategy.
IIRC it followed them into warp…
They don’t understand that shooting should be the last resort for police/countries as well. They’re just enjoying it.
Talking it out instead of shooting first and asking questions later is one of the things I admire most about Star Trek. It was sold as essentially a space Western, but unlike your standard Western, it says that violence is not the answer, talking and understanding each other is the answer.
And really, the only Westerns I truly enjoy are the same way. My favorite is The Gunfighter with Gregory Peck. He’s an aging “fastest gun in the west” who just wants to be reconciled with his wife and child, retire and live a quiet life. But he keeps getting challenged. Spoiler for a movie made in 1950: There’s only one gun fired in the entire film, shot at the titular Gunfighter by a young hotshot. As Peck’s character lays dying, he lets the hotshot know that the curse of a life of violence has been passed on and he’s about to have as dismal a life as the man he killed.
The same sort of moral lesson Star Trek teaches.
But they want John Wayne coming in blazing, shooting at those inhuman savages (they don’t have to worry about being called racist if they hate Cardassians).
I also love how they have different types of leaders.
Kirk is the Captain you’d love to have as a boss. He gets stuff done, but also has fun with it. He’d inspire loyalty through Charisma.
He’s the captain you want standing by your side in a bar fight.
Picard is the perfectly-distantly, dignified leader. He’s a diplomat and archaeologist who loves exploring not only space, but culture and the nature of life. His love for his crew is shown through his desire to develop them into better officers.
He was the captain who kept you from getting into a fight.
Sisko is the most militaristic of the Captains. We first meet him in a battle, and he doesn’t back down from many fights. When Picard was annoyed by Q he complained. When Sisko met Q he punched him. But Sisko was a great tactician who also had to be a diplomat in charge of a station inhabited mostly by people outside his command structure.
He was the captain who punch someone in the throat if he thought there would be a fight.
Janeway was a scientist and diplomat. She could be hard as iron, but she was absolutely devoted to her people and would do anything for them. Her loyalty would cause her to occasionally cross the line, however. More than any of the captains, she wanted to develop her crew into leaders. They had limited options for advancement, but she tried to give them all opportunities to grow. She also didn’t see any sense in playing fair if she was in the right.
She was the captain that would bring a gun to a knife fight.
The funny thing is that, contrary to how they act in their roles as Captain, Kirk was a studious nerd and a bit of teacher’s pet at the academy while Picard was a hard-partying drunk who not only participated in, but started bar fights.
Kirk would do his best to defend you in a bar fight and then would punish you after the fact, according to Star Fleet rules.
Picard would try to stop the bar fight from happening to begin with, would break it up if it escalated, but probably wouldn’t defend you specifically unless you had a good reason for being in the fight. He would only punish you if you were in the wrong and then it would probably be something more creative, more immediately punishing, and less impactful (career-wise), then Star Fleet’s regulations prescribe.
Start Trek explained with bar flights. I love it ❤️
To be fair, Star Trek explained Star Trek with bar fights. Play domjot, hyew-mon?
I’m really looking forward to “Star Trek: Bar Fights”.
I think you can get at least four seasons out of this.
Picard got stabbed in the heart in one of those academy bar fights. Might have cooled his jets a bit.
Also, “a bit of a teacher’s pet‽‽‽” Kirk was so much of a golden boy teacher’s pet, he cheated on the Kobiashi Maru test by hacking the holodeck, and forcing a “win condition,” and the instructors allowed it to stand.