Other Worldly Beings: Star Trek: The Next Generation (2)

("Picard and Q" courtesy of StarTrek.com)

As an Old Soul, Picard goes toe-to-toe with Q to defend humanity. Deeply committed to humanity‘s evolution, Picard fights Q’s machinations. He challenges Q, “If we are going to be damned, let us be damned for what we really are.”

With his knowledge of the law, Picard becomes “Perry Mason” (the fictional lawyer) to thwart Q. Frustrated with Picard, Q becomes more arbitrary in his actions. Then in a “Perry Mason moment”, Picard thunders at him, “It is **your** conduct that is uncivilized!” Because, he knows that humanity has progressed, Picard sees through Q’s baiting. Finally using his authority, Picard, the Old Soul, orders the omnipotent Q off *his ship*.

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(Mason and his secretary, Della Street)
Perry Mason: From stories written by Erle Stanley Gardner, "Perry Mason" the TV series (1957 - 1966) set the tone for other lawyer/mystery series. Mason, a defense attorney, solved cases through logic and close observation.




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Other Worldly Beings: Star Trek: Next Generation (1)

(Deanna Troi and William Riker, courtesy of StarTrek.com)


When I watched the first episode of “STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION” (1987-1994, Roddenberry): “Encounter at Far Point” (101, 102), I thought that several of the characters were “other-worldly beings”. Captain Jean-Luc Picard was an Old Soul. Commander William Riker was an Incarnated Star Person, and Counselor Deanna Troi, an Incarnated Angel.

As an Incarnated Angel, Troi uses her special abilities to heal. With her luminous looks, she conveys an aura of healing and serenity. Being an empath, she struggles to shield herself from the painful emotions of others. Because she is an Incarnated Angel, Troi seeks to quiet people’s roiling emotions. In encountering the two nebulous space aliens, Troi puts herself at risk to aid them. Although, their pain and anger overwhelms her, she continues to help them.

Unlike Troi who is a Betazoid, Riker is an Incarnated Star Person in a human body. In fact, he has a prior relationship with her. Because of their deep relationship, Troi and Riker greet the other telepathically as “Imazi”. Besides being comfortable with non-humans, Riker treats Data, the android, as a person and not a curiosity.

When Picard orders him to join the Enterprise’s two halves manually, Riker does so with great aplomb. While the rest of the crew is nervous, he is relaxed. Moreover, Riker reassures the crew that everything will be fine. As an Incarnated Star Person, he is used to meeting these challenges, and merges the two parts of the spaceship with ease.

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Copyright: Virginia Carper, Animal Teachers, 2008, animalteachers @ gmail.com
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Other Worldly Beings: Star People

I watched two episodes of STAR TREK (Rodenberry, 1966-69) (the original series) and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION (Rodenberry, 1987-94) to compare attitudes towards people of other planets. The episodes were “Day of the Dove” (62) and “Déjà Q” (61) respectively. The most obvious change in attitudes was the easy familiarity between humans and other peoples in THE NEXT GENERATION. In the second series, casual social relations among various peoples were the norm. In contrast, the original series treated people from other planets as alien. Humans were wary of them. An example of the change was the Klingons. In the second series, they were no longer enemies, but welcomed as crew members of the Enterprise.

However, both series kept the same attitudes towards more powerful people from other planets. In “Day of the Dove”, the Beta Entity used people for its own ends. In “Déjà Q”, the crew greeted Q with veiled hostility. When Q shouted gleefully, “I’m omnipotent again!”, Commander Riker answered with a sarcastic “Swell.” Meanwhile, Capitan Kirk ordered the Beta Entity to get off his ship. Both shows regarded these entities as beings that used people instead of helping them. While the attitude towards ordinary aliens changed, the one towards aliens with advanced powers did not.