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Fire Force × SIAMÉS The Wolf

TNG: “Who Watches the Watchers”

The Bronze-Age culture of Mintaka III knows nothing about spaceflight or life on other planets.  One of them, Liko, chances to discover a hidden Federation research facility, which has been damaged by equipment failure.  In the ensuing commotion, Liko is gravely injured and taken aboard the Enterprise for treatment.  Efforts to suppress his short-term memory fail, and Liko soon tells his village that he was brought back to life by a pantheon of gods ruled by “The Picard.”

A curious detail about this episode is the choice to portray the Mintakans as resembling Vulcans.  Star Trek heavily relies on the conceit (“Hodgkin’s Law”) of aliens that just happen to look like humans, but I believe this is the first time that reasoning has been extended to aliens that look like other, unrelated aliens.  I’m not sure the idea really added enough to this episode to be worth the potential confusion for casual viewers.  It’s pleasing to see the Mintakans apply empiricism to their predicament, but they didn’t have to have pointy ears and blunt bangs to do that.

Speaking of pointy ears, Riker and Troi employ the old “use cosmetic surgery to disguise ourselves as aliens” trick.  The idea that resembling an alien is as easy as visiting a 20th century television studio’s makeup department was introduced on the original Star Trek series, but sparingly–Kirk got some Romulan ears one time, but the other cases involved alien spies under very deep cover.  In the 1990s, though, Star Trek came to overuse this concept, with the implications becoming increasingly disturbing.  Characters would casually switch from one alien look to another as if it just meant switching prosthetic latex foreheads and not, y’know, carving off chunks of bone and/or grafting on new ones.

This episode is arguably Star Trek’s most damning indictment of religion, and belief in the supernatural altogether.  Captain Picard is obviously opposed to the Mintakans believing he’s a god, since it’s not true and they shouldn’t have encountered him in the first place.  But beyond that, he clearly would not approve of the Mintakans adopting supernatural belief of any kind, with or without alien meddling.  I can’t say I agree with that position, but fortunately Picard doesn’t let it color his dealings with the Mintakans.  He is very clear that he is not a god, rather than proclaiming that there is no god.

The fuzzy definition of “god” opens up a plot hole here, in that Picard’s “proof” that he is not divine is to demonstrate that he is human.  Jean-Luc has a pulse, he is “flesh and blood,” he was born, and he can be wounded or killed.  He’s also named after two biographers of a certain miraculous fella who fits those same criteria, so try again.  Later he emphasizes that his people have no power to truly stop or reverse death, but that really only disqualifies him as a particular type of god.  I find all of this questionable because even if humanity someday transcended corporeal form and conquered death, humans still wouldn’t be gods for the Mintakans to worship, for the same reason Picard doesn’t fall on his knees when Q shows up. 

The best evidence that Picard isn’t a god is that he insists he’s not a god, a point which curiously sails over the heads of the Mintakans.  I guess I can conceive of a situation where a god would deny himself to his own worshippers, but my planet has had millennia to dwell on this sort of thing.  “The supreme being is using reverse psychology to test my faith” is an awfully advanced theological concept for a bunch of villagers who just invented religion this morning.

meme face

Watchmen, Хранители

На персонажа Роршаха на удивление удачно ложится Кровосток.

The character of Rorschach is surprisingly successful in getting a Krovostok. EN: Many people do not know at all what they are doing on this planet. And I know for sure - in this sense, I do them all. It is necessary to defeat every enemy to the f*cking death.

Вы никогда не думали, что Стивен Диллейн выглядит и актёрствует так, как будто должен был засветится в Докторе Кто?

Have you ever thought that Stephen Dillane looks and acts like he was supposed to be in Doctor Who?

WHY NOT?

Если Злого Волка одомашнить и выдрессировать, будет Гуд Дог) Если бы Сутех стал Гуд Догом, Кейт пригласила бы его работать в ЮНИТ? )))))

If the Bad Wolf is domesticated and trained, it will be a Good Dog) If Sutekh had become a Good Dog, would Kate have invited him to work at UNIT?)))))