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by Rick Norwood
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SF on TV | |||||
There will be two new episodes of Enterprise in March. "Rogue Planet" by Chris Black will air
March 20 and "Acquisition" (the Ferengi episode) by Rick Berman and Brannon Braga will air March 27.
There has been some discussion on the web that, where the other Treks have been liberal and
egalitarian, Enterprise is sexist and human chauvinist. Well, of course! The
other Treks were further in the future. Mankind matured and made a place for itself
in the galaxy. In fact, there is a natural progression from today to Voyager. By the
time we get to Enterprise, race, which seems so important today, is simply not a factor. Skin
color is no more important than hair color. But there is still a lot of sexism and suspicion of aliens. The
same is true in the original Trek. Gene Roddenberry was sexist in much the same way that
Robert A. Heinlein is sexist. Women are fully entitled to positions of power, but men still get to admire
their boobs. And as for human chauvinism, remember the original Trek episode "Balance of Terror",
where Lt. Stiles is rebuked by Captain Kirk for chauvinistic remarks about a certain pointy-eared
Vulcan? By the time we get to The Next Generation, humanity has outgrown human chauvinism. But
the captain and first officer are both white male hu-mons. In Deep Space Nine, we get a black star and gay
characters do not cause anyone to raise an eyebrow. By Voyager, we have a female captain
and are well on the way to civil rights for holograms. It is a natural progression, and to have the crew
of Enterprise anywhere but where they are would violate the concept of the
show. We are still learning. I hope we will always be learning.
All on Showtime.
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Rick Norwood is a mathematician and writer whose small press publishing house, Manuscript Press, has published books by Hal Clement, R.A. Lafferty, and Hal Foster. He is also the editor of Comics Revue Monthly, which publishes such classic comic strips as Flash Gordon, Sky Masters, Modesty Blaise, Tarzan, Odd Bodkins, Casey Ruggles, The Phantom, Gasoline Alley, Krazy Kat, Alley Oop, Little Orphan Annie, Barnaby, Buz Sawyer, and Steve Canyon. |
Billed as a tele-movie, this series premiere breaks up into two 45 minute episodes. Presumably
they shot a version without the bare breasts in case the series goes to SciFi Channel in
syndication. Not as disappointing as Legend of the Rangers, this new series is still not as good
as J. Michael Straczynski's current work in comic books. It does, however, promise of some interesting story arcs,
with hints being offered as to future directions, and the characters are, in their moral ambiguity,
interesting. I'm not thrilled about the 10:45 Friday night time slot, but I'm willing to give the series
a chance. New episodes in March:
Friday, March 15 "Man of Iron, Woman under Glass";
I really enjoyed this sexy, not sexist, episode. Maybe it is just because there haven't been
any really first-rate movies or television so far in 2002, but it seemed pretty good to me. The Vulcan
sex scene, which got a lot of TV promotion and even appeared in radio ads, occurs in a ten second dream
sequence. The show itself is quite serious in confronting the issue of emotions versus logic, and arrives
at what I consider the correct solution: people who put their heart above their head wind up hurt or
hurting, diseased or pregnant. Thinking is what the human animal does best. As far as I can
tell, Star Trek has always been the only television program to suggest that.
I watched an episode of Roswell, a series that I have been avoiding. I generally avoid
programs about teen aliens. But I wanted to find out what Ronald D. Moore is up to these days. I enjoyed
it somewhat, and would probably have enjoyed it even more if I knew the characters. As Roswell
winds down in its last season, it has the freedom to make major changes in their lives, and that is usually a
good thing (as long as you don't kill off Jasper Sitwell). It is a little late to start
watching Roswell now. The next new episode isn't until April and the series ends in May. But
if it goes into syndication, you might want to give it a try from the beginning.
A dangerous mission to smuggle an alien artifact across the border between the US
and Canada. Canada! The longest undefended border in the world, and an F.B.I. agent is unable to cross
it without getting caught. I know the F.B.I. has fallen on hard times but -- unable to smuggle something
from Canada? The rest of this two-part episode is similarly lame-brained. All of the characters act like
idiots. Scully entrusts her baby to the Lone Gunmen. The Lone Gunmen! They manage to loose the baby in a
matter of minutes (of course). Scully finds that religious fanatics are holding the baby in Philadelphia,
which is apparently only about an hour away from a place where you can drive a motorcycle across the border
to Canada. (Consult map. Note Great Lakes.) And, finally, "Bring me the head of Fox Mulder!" Aw, come
on, guys. You aren't even trying any more.
 
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