dwhitney@uok.UUCP (02/08/85)
Amidst the many lists of the "worst" episodes, one I have noticed in particular is "The Enterprise Incident." One note commented that it was offensive in the message it conveyed; ..it was OK for us to do it to them, but not vice versa... Well, this *almost* holds water. Even in the 23rd century, no matter how civilized and indomitable man has become, there will still exist a small thing called "corruption". We have Finney in "Court Martial," Spock in "Menagerie," and Kirk in TSFS. Different *kinds* of corrup- tion, true, but corruption nonetheless. Where it exists in an individual sense, it almost certainly will exist on a governmental and/or military scale. Inasmuch as we bemoan the worst of Star Trek as "the greater morality plays", where Kirk merely tears down a society because HE views it to be unjust compared to his own, viewing his own as infallible, we see the darker side of the Federation in "The Enterprise Incident." David Gerrold said this was one of the most dishonest episodes of ST. I submit the opposite; that it is one of the MOST honest episodes in that it admits that, even in the 23rd century, we still have spies, that human beings and their allies, in general, still have faults such as paranoia and even hypocrisy. It made the Federation's gloves dirty; and just how many times had THAT ever happened before? When was the Federation ever portrayed as anything less than anti- septic? You get the idea. What's more is that this didn't do what a "typical" ST episode would have done in treating the idea of Federation spy operations. As a classic drama/conflict tale, it would have seen Kirk caught, forced to sign a document admitting guilt, etc. The episode would have left us telling that we spy, but that's bad, and bad boys get caught. Right. But what "Incident" told us is that Federation is not perfect; that it does carry out spy missions through its officers and ships; that it does so regularly; and those missions succeed more often than not. Well, thats my two cents worth.... David Whitney ctvax!uokvax!uok!dwhitney