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Which Trek episode was the most offensive?
worffan101
Member Posts: 9,518 Arc User
Star Trek has a long and storied history of accidental offensiveness. Here, we're going to decide which of the following offensive episodes is the most disgusting!
Feel free to suggest your own.
Code of Honor (TNG)
--Epic racism, odious sexism.
Unexpected (ENT)
--Treats sexual assault as comedy, garden-variety sexism.
Tattoo (VOY)
--Epic racism.
Real Life (VOY)
--Says that watching your children die builds character.
Threshold (VOY)
--Insults the intelligence of the viewers. NOTE: Dubious justification?
A Night In Sickbay (ENT)
--Insults the intelligence of the viewers. NOTE: Dubious justification?
The Child (TNG)
--Sexual assault ignored, Worf treated as a bad guy for being sensible, casual sexism.
Up the Long Ladder (TNG)
--Epic racism, "it's OK for a man to force a woman to abort as long as the kid is part his" message, sexism, implication that colonists will be used as breeding stock in resolution of plot.
Profit and Lace (DS9)
--Homophobia, sexism, transphobia, offensive portrayals of transsexuals and transvestites that were so bad that Armin Shimmerman refused to perform some of the scripted scenes, and some terrible boob jokes for good measure.
Shadows of P'Jem (ENT)
--Implies that motorboating your XO, who you otherwise mock, demean, and ignore every episode, is perfectly OK.
Dear Doctor (ENT)
--Condones genocide based on a terrible understanding of science. Condones exchange officers acting under their native codes rather than the codes of the service they are in, which is not how exchange officer programs work.
Bounty (ENT)
--Gross sexism.
Fair Haven (VOY)
--Racism, and the implication that fiction and fantasy are meaningless, get a life you Trekkies!
Sub Rosa (VOY)
--Honorary nomination for transparent plagarism.
Sacred Ground (VOY)
--Insults both religion and science at once, an impressive achievement if there ever was one.
Macrocosm (VOY)
--Macroviruses. That is all. NOTE: Personal beef here, it isn't particularly offensive otherwise.
The Disease (VOY)
--Another day, another humiliation for Harry. Treats STDs as an opportunity to shame the victim and a chance for comedy. Hey, kids, don't laugh at people with STDs. It's not their fault their partner didn't use protection/didn't mention xir TRIBBLE/didn't know about xir TRIBBLE.
Blood Fever (VOY)
--Three men stand around and watch a woman fight a super-strong hormone-crazed dude who wants to beat her into unconsciousness and r*pe her. How is this not offensive?
So what do YOU think was the most offensive episode of Star Trek ever? And if I've missed anything, please tell me!
NOTE: This is for offensive episodes, not bad episodes. Offensive means racism, sexism, Unfortunate Implications, and macroviruses. Yes, I'm prejudiced against macroviruses.
Edit to add:
The Omega Glory (TOS) ~nominated by jonsills
--Insults the intelligence of the viewer, toxic nationalism, low-level racism.
The Offspring (TNG) ~nominated by apsciliara
--States that every being must submit to the gender binary without changing. Ergo, transphobia and insulting to those without gender/with non-binary gender.
Who Watches the Watchers (TNG) ~nominated by gulberat
--Can be interpreted as dismissing religion as primitive. (I personally disagree, but it's a valid conclusion to draw, so it's up here)
A Private Little War (TOS)
--Sexism, racism, Unfortunate Implications.
DS9 and ENT MU episodes ~nominated by artan42
--Homophobia (many Mirror characters are lecherous evil bisexuals).
Feel free to suggest your own.
Code of Honor (TNG)
--Epic racism, odious sexism.
Unexpected (ENT)
--Treats sexual assault as comedy, garden-variety sexism.
Tattoo (VOY)
--Epic racism.
Real Life (VOY)
--Says that watching your children die builds character.
Threshold (VOY)
--Insults the intelligence of the viewers. NOTE: Dubious justification?
A Night In Sickbay (ENT)
--Insults the intelligence of the viewers. NOTE: Dubious justification?
The Child (TNG)
--Sexual assault ignored, Worf treated as a bad guy for being sensible, casual sexism.
Up the Long Ladder (TNG)
--Epic racism, "it's OK for a man to force a woman to abort as long as the kid is part his" message, sexism, implication that colonists will be used as breeding stock in resolution of plot.
Profit and Lace (DS9)
--Homophobia, sexism, transphobia, offensive portrayals of transsexuals and transvestites that were so bad that Armin Shimmerman refused to perform some of the scripted scenes, and some terrible boob jokes for good measure.
Shadows of P'Jem (ENT)
--Implies that motorboating your XO, who you otherwise mock, demean, and ignore every episode, is perfectly OK.
Dear Doctor (ENT)
--Condones genocide based on a terrible understanding of science. Condones exchange officers acting under their native codes rather than the codes of the service they are in, which is not how exchange officer programs work.
Bounty (ENT)
--Gross sexism.
Fair Haven (VOY)
--Racism, and the implication that fiction and fantasy are meaningless, get a life you Trekkies!
Sub Rosa (VOY)
--Honorary nomination for transparent plagarism.
Sacred Ground (VOY)
--Insults both religion and science at once, an impressive achievement if there ever was one.
Macrocosm (VOY)
--Macroviruses. That is all. NOTE: Personal beef here, it isn't particularly offensive otherwise.
The Disease (VOY)
--Another day, another humiliation for Harry. Treats STDs as an opportunity to shame the victim and a chance for comedy. Hey, kids, don't laugh at people with STDs. It's not their fault their partner didn't use protection/didn't mention xir TRIBBLE/didn't know about xir TRIBBLE.
Blood Fever (VOY)
--Three men stand around and watch a woman fight a super-strong hormone-crazed dude who wants to beat her into unconsciousness and r*pe her. How is this not offensive?
So what do YOU think was the most offensive episode of Star Trek ever? And if I've missed anything, please tell me!
NOTE: This is for offensive episodes, not bad episodes. Offensive means racism, sexism, Unfortunate Implications, and macroviruses. Yes, I'm prejudiced against macroviruses.
Edit to add:
The Omega Glory (TOS) ~nominated by jonsills
--Insults the intelligence of the viewer, toxic nationalism, low-level racism.
The Offspring (TNG) ~nominated by apsciliara
--States that every being must submit to the gender binary without changing. Ergo, transphobia and insulting to those without gender/with non-binary gender.
Who Watches the Watchers (TNG) ~nominated by gulberat
--Can be interpreted as dismissing religion as primitive. (I personally disagree, but it's a valid conclusion to draw, so it's up here)
A Private Little War (TOS)
--Sexism, racism, Unfortunate Implications.
DS9 and ENT MU episodes ~nominated by artan42
--Homophobia (many Mirror characters are lecherous evil bisexuals).
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Comments
A Romulan Strike Team, Missing Farmers and an ancient base on a Klingon Border world. But what connects them? Find out in my First Foundary mission: 'The Jeroan Farmer Escapade'
1. Viruses don't work that way. Trust me.
2. Um, flying squid things that shoot goo at you? How is this not weird in a bad way?
3. I admit that I'm prejudiced because my inner biologist screams blue murder whenever I see that episode. Newsflash, Brannon Braga! Viruses don't have or respond to hormones! Viruses can't grow in the infective form! Viruses don't shoot gooey stuff! Viruses don't grow to the size of basketballs and fly like illogical squid! A life-form that does that is NOT a virus, it's an animal. Or something very similar to one.
tl;dr: They offend my inner biologist. Probably just cheesy to other people, but they drive me insane.
Offend my modern sensibilities all you want; I've been reading SF since the mid-Sixties, I've read stuff from the Thirties and Forties that made "Code of Honor" and "Angel One" seem downright modern. But don't insult my intelligence.
Damn, forgot that one.
Yeah, that was pretty offensive. And a bit racist, too.
I actually have not seen the episode in question but I am aware of it. I have always wondered, though, if this and a few other episodes with parallel Earths took place in the remains of the Delphic Expanse, where boundaries between universes were thin. That's the only reason I can possibly come up with for encountering that many close parallel worlds in a short span.
And for me, one of the offensive ones was "Who Watches the Watchers." Not interfering with free choice--two thumbs up. If it had stopped there, I would have had nothing but total agreement, just like how I am not a fan of the Nibiru culture being changed. But assuming that only one choice is the proper, "evolved" choice and looking down one's nose at the "poor benighted savages" who would choose religion and considering them a lesser stage of sentient nature...two thumbs down. Waaaaay down. One would think "evolved" would mean greater respect for the fact that not everyone will choose the same way and that choosing differently does not make you stupid or evil. This is one of the episodes that makes me despise Picard (until First Contact when he gets his hypocrisy shoved back into his face in grand fashion and the character *really* evolves
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"I have no gender! I am incomplete." "Yes, you must choose a gender."
I might have shouted at the TV when I heard those lines >:(
I didn't get that vibe from it, really...it was more "oh, crud, we screwed with people's culture".
It could just as easily have been the other way around, and the episode would've been basically the same.
Putting it up anyway, though.
However, on a personal note, it has to be "The Neutral Zone."
Ones that "insult the viewers intelligence" I usually don't find offensive because, well, I'm not watching Star Trek to be mentally stimulated, usually. It happens and I'm glad when it does, but Trek is more about escapism than challenging me preconceptions or introducing me to new concepts. I watch Trek because I want to live in the Federation, not because I want to learn that Racism is Bad or Sexism is Bad or whatever. I know these things already.
"The Neutral Zone" goes a step beyond that, however. It actively insults the viewer and everything about the viewer - calls us materialistic, simplistic, our morals primitive and underdeveloped as compared to the oh-so-advanced 24th Century humanity - preconceptions that later episodes in TNG, DS9, and VOY would show us are woefully untrue.
But, more egregiously of all, this is an episode where the Romulans make their big return to screen as having leaped forward immensely in terms of technology and ability, going from a second-string, backwards power to a major threat. And we have to waste more than half the episode on the pontification of Picard, Data, Crusher, and all the other 24th century humans towards the 21st century ones.
Blugh. The Romulans as antagonists are just wasted throughout most of Trek. It's really quite sad that it took until JJ Abrams got a hold of the franchise that we finally got a story that really felt Romulan to me.
That thing is a crime against nature, fashion, and Jeri Ryan
I'm sure that a lot more TOS episodes than mentioned should qualify simply for basic sexism (I mean look at the TOS-era female uniforms for petes sake). I think it's worth asking the question, though, of whether or not we should cut TOS some slack, on the grounds that it was just reflecting the attitudes of the 1960s.
While the TOS-era uniforms were awful in terms of practicality and "holy **** the women had to wear that!?", they're kinda cute... I like them.
Yeah, I should add "A Private Little War"...but otherwise, it WAS the Sixties, and in fairness Kirk spent most of his time losing his shirt.
Also George Takei's pecs and washboard abs in "The Naked Time". Yum.
But I'm kinda curious in what way offensive are you asking?
Like the actions of the episode itself coming across as the writers being offensive, or just the content, like if they are dealing with a topic of sexism do you find that sexist?
NOTE: This is for offensive episodes, not bad episodes. Offensive means racism, sexism, Unfortunate Implications, and macroviruses.
I've never been offended by the content (excluding the hammy acting of some TOS episodes i have seen :P)
edit:
I forgot,
The majority of DS9 episodes before sisko got his beard, on account of being so difficult to sit through out of boredom (just from memory ds9 sucked until that beard appeared)
(oh yeah..and toxic worm spit in cutscenes killing you)
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Hehe!
Agree. I always used to skip that level on account of the time take for one shield that i would have to go back to get at the proper level anyway >.<
edit:
I actually have a post-it note infront of my screen with '7599 6317 4400' for my toons whenever i replay.. thats how much this episode has affected me :P
not a constructive thread.
"The Neutral Zone" was an excellent example of Picard's cultural imperialism, though, as was the one where he "rescued" the human boy who'd been raised by aliens, and insisted the boy couldn't listen to alien metal even in his own quarters, but had to learn to appreciate string quartets just like the ever-so-enlightened Jean-Luc. (Kid should've told him to pound sand and turned his own music back on, in my opinion.) The Federation was just so very wonderful and futuristic, and everyone needed to be Just Like Them. Hell, the reason the Ferengi were set up as "villains" in their first appearance was because someone on the staff (reportedly Roddenberry himself) assumed we were all so taken by Federation ideals that we'd be shocked - shocked - at the idea of a spacefaring civilization that actually engaged in commerce for a profit! That was a flaw that ran through quite a lot of TNG, and spoiled my appreciation of several episodes.
My favorite aspect of those female uniforms in TOS was the fact that while yes, they were cut quite short (as it was the style in those days), Nichelle Nichols reportedly used to alter her uniform to make it shorter. (Then again, if I were a woman and had legs like hers, I might have wanted to show them off a lot too...)
I thought it was just a discussion about what people enjoyed watching, (like i said nothing to memory offended me personally) but it could be interesting to how other fans feel about episodes.
This isn't people saying you cant enjoy this, (not yet anyways heheh
For me, the list would include:
Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (TOS)- I realize that a lot of people have criticisms of this episode, but I kind of liked it, especially since there are a number of key themes your can drag out of it. It can be interpreted as an argument of how absurd racism is (as there was no discernable difference between the two men other than skin patterns), and of how blind and destructive prejudice is.
Plato's Stepchildren (TOS)- first interracial kiss on TV FTW.
The Outcast (TNG)- again, this is an episode that a lot of people have a problem with, and I can see the reasons why. That being said, it did something important in my opinion, in that it addressed the issue of whether it is the individual or society that should determine a person's gender.
Rejoined (DS9)- First same-sex relationship in Star Trek, and first same-sex kiss. And I like how most of the characters treated it as a non-issue (compared to Jadzia essentially breaking Trill taboo by rekindling an old romance, that is)
Stigma (ENT)- Possibly the exact opposite of the VOY episode worffan mentioned, this episode goes out of its way to decry the way TRIBBLE victims are stigmatized. Hence the title, obviously.
Let's just note that Picard's most reliable character flaw was his complete incompetence as a parent and extreme discomfort around children.
I cut him some slack with Jono because he just didn't know what the f*ck to do. It wasn't a case of cultural imperialism, it was Picard not knowing how to raise a kid and trying to be too much of a disciplinarian.
Neutral Zone...Neutral Zone was season 1. I cut EVERYBODY slack for season 1.
With the Ferengi...I actually like the Ferengi. A lot. Badass warriors that will do anything for profit? Hell yeah! Quark could break gold bricks with his bare hands, Nog was good enough for Starfleet, Brunt was the ultimate corporate raider, there was a lethal Ferengi assassin in "The Magnificent Ferengi"...don't f*ck with the Ferengi.
Because a lot of those are some the most backwards and twisted ways of looking at them. :rolleyes:
Honestly of that list only 2 or 3 at most can be considered genuinely offensive.
Yeah, those are some good choices...Outcast's casting problem is obvious but the intent, at least, was noble, and Frakes does his level best to make it work (and to be fair, he wanted the J'nai to be played by male actors). Stigma...Stigma has Phlox being a supremely awful doctor and complete hypocrite, but it IS better than "The Disease". Mostly because it actually does have a generally successful message, Phlox's incompetence notwithstanding.
I loved every minute of Rejoined, it makes me cry every time.
I'd also add "Day of the Dove"--heavy-handed it may be, but the message is powerful, and Captain Kang is one of my favorite characters.
Seems like he does that a lot...
Man, the Ferengi could have been awesome. I love their original design with more pointed ears, and I liked the idea that they have relatively poor eyesight. The Ferengi captain in "The Last Outpost" actually performed the "poor eyesight" idea pretty well - he never really looks directly at anyone he's speaking too and frequently turns his ears towards whoever's speaking. He actually came across as almost menacing, the way he was supposed to.
The lead Ferengi in the away team, as well, was actually doing a pretty decent job at trying to be a serious threat, at least until the Tkon Guardian shoved his pole in Riker's face. There really wasn't any coming back after that, and that's when the hopping around like angry monkeys thing started to set in.
Agreed. I've never really found any of the episodes offensive either, although I can certainly see why "Code of Honor" can be to some viewers. The others that people find sexist, racist, anti-religion, etc I just find to be cheesey episodes and never watch them again. Then again, I'm somewhat of an atheist and never had a problem with sexism or racism so I guess I don't have much beef about episodes that cross that line being that I can't relate.
I'm an atheist (ish), too*, and I've been called "Godless heathen" and all manner of other insults enough times to get angry when people say that people shouldn't believe a thing.
It's a matter of perspective, I guess.
*I believe that the hypothesis of the existence of a deity or deities is untestable, but that logically in the infinite multiverse there must exist a smaller infinity of universes wherein such a being or beings exists. Also, I won't associate with Richard Dawkins because he's a sexist prick.
That was an interesting read, and I respect what he says and why he says it. The thing is, though, that Naziism is particularly shocking when viewed from a historical perspective. The TRIBBLE weren't the first to commit genocide, they weren't the first to built concentration camps, they weren't the first to perform human experimentation. The thing is, however, that they were the first to industrialize the process - to try and exterminate whole groups of people with machine-like efficiency and gave that extermination equal priority to the War effort.
Furthermore, what he brings up about the long history of Germany just further emphasizes how shocking it was and why Americans won't drop it. Japan did horrible things during World War II as well, but it is important to remember that in 1841 Japan was a backwards, High Medieval society that wasn't even competing for the position of regional power. In 1941 they were a Great Power of the world, with an extremely modern Navy, decently advanced Army, and an Empire stretching across the entire East Asian coastline and out into the Pacific Ocean. A society cannot advance that fast and have its cultural mores keep up. For all their technological advance the Japanese of WWII were still very Medieval in their society. Every atrocity that Japan committed - the **** of Nanjing, "Comfort Women," the Bataan Death March, Kamikaze attacks, a determination to fight to the last man so strong that the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki actually saved Japanese lives in the long run...none of this would be out-of-place in a Medieval army on the march.
It does not make their actions forgivable, but it does make them understandable. If you went back in time and gave Rome or Alexander the technology that Japan had in World War II, or the Aztecs, or the Inca, or the Iroquois, or Australian natives, or the Mali or Songhai, or anyone, you'd end up with the same result. Essentially Japan is our real-life example of why we need a Prime Directive.
The Germans are different. As Bernd pointed out, the Germans had a long history in Europe. They developed technologically and culturally alongside of Europe, advanced morally as Europe did. German was considered the international language of philosophy, to go along with French for diplomacy, English for trade, Italian for romance, Latin for science, Greek for religion, and so on. Germany had given us people like Friedrich Nietzsche, Immanuel Kant, Richard Wagner, Hermann Hesse, Carl von Clausewitz, Otto von Bismarck, and of course my personal favorite German of all time, Ferdinand Adolf Heinrich August Graf von Zeppelin.
So for the Germans to, from 1932 to 1945, revert to such utter barbarism, is not something that the world is going to easily forget, or forgive. Maybe once 2045 rolls around because everyone who was alive during WWII will be dead...but not any time before that.
Besides.
TRIBBLE make great villains. Really, I think the fact that they're German is incidental, the geographic location that they happened to occupy. While it is true that Hollywood needs to cut down on the evil German stereotype, the evil TRIBBLE stereotype shouldn't ever go anywhere.
Well, to quote "The Big Bang Theory": "I'm not against the notion of a deity but I am baffled by the notion of one that keeps score." That pretty much sums up my opinion, although I have other hypothesis about things like this as well.