TheDarkling wrote:Atavarius wrote:
When I watch a TOS episode I know that there will not be another Alien of the Week clone. There was always something new. Whether it be a giant space amoeba, or a creature that killed men for salt, or a planet full of people that took Chicago Mobs of the Twenties and made it the uber-Bible. In DS9 and VOY we get another alien who seems to be EXACTLY the same as many aliens we've seen before.
The only difference is that TOS's aliens didn't even have forehead makeup, they were still one note races designed to convey a point, the already mentioned planet of the Mobsters, Planet of the Nazis, What if the Romans have survived? planet, What if the Cold War got hot planet, what if all the grown ups died and so on, TNG had the same thing a lot of the time and so did DS9 to a lesser degree, I can't be bothered to remember Voyager but its probably true there as well.
I have to disagree there. Had the "Nazi Planet" episode occurred in TNG/DS9/VOY, you would have seen
-- all the aliens initially lock-step in with the Nazi party line
-- the aliens would have had a strange mix of Nazi and "modern" ST technology, such as Nazi uniforms but phaser/disruptor rifles, and V-2 rockets with impulse engines
-- the "resistance" would either have been 100% composed of Zeons, or would have only been formed once Starfleet personnel convinced them of the error of their ways
-- DS9 would find a way to work the Cardassians, Founders, or Maquis into the storyline. VOY would have had the aliens be able to provide something (equipment, fuel, food, etc.) critical for Voyager to continue the trip home.
-- TNG would have had the Federation scientist responsible for the problem either die heroically after leaping in front of the ship's captain to take a phaser blast, or decide to stay behind to fix the damage. DS9 would have had the heroic death or carting him off to prison. VOY would have had the heroic death, or he barely escaped with Voyager's crew after the rebellion succeeded and they wanted to lynch him.
-- in all cases, even though the scientist already broke the Prime Directive (thus "contaminating" the planet, and requiring intervention just to fix the problem), the command staff would have agonized over "breaking the Prime Directive".
Instead, we get
-- aliens that are aware of other species but are truly limited to pre-warp technology
-- aliens that are multi-dimensional, showing the gamet of reactions and allegiance to the Nazi party line that were found in real life (i.e. some "true believers", some open to changing their mind, and some dedicated to defeating a system they know is wrong)
Even in the gangster episode, you see not only varying reactions among the aliens, but you see things like Kirk (the history buff) having to figure out how to operate a car. If this was DS9 or VOY, or even TNG, you'd see someone (Sisko, Bashir, or O'Brien in DS9, Paris in VOY, and either Picard, Riker or a one-time crewman) has apparantly spent time on the holodecks learning to drive 20th Century automobiles -- and not just any type, but 1920's models to be precise, even though we've never seen them do it before and there'd be no good reason for them to have picked up the skill. The Roman and "Onlies" episodes also showed members of a species having varying reactions and making different decisions even when coming from the same society, something very lacking in the other Treks.
The Koms/Yangs episode is a little harder to classify, of course. On the one hand, it may have been meant to spotlight the fears of the Cold War, when everyone thought it would eventually lead to WW3 and the destruction of civilization on Earth -- as evidenced by the few Kom villages left and the savagery of the Yang tribes. OTOH, it's interesting to see the "Typical Americans" turned into the "noble savage", and I wonder if there wasn't meant to be some commentary on the treatment of Native Americans in the USA's past. Still, though, the Koms and Yangs were more of the supporting cast. The true conflict in the episode was between Kirk and the other captain, and how the one had gone against Starfleet's codes and regulations.
DS9 focused more on the main story line and thus didn't have as many varied aliens of the week but there were still a few and the morality tale stories that go along with them.
Even now with Enterprise where we should see 1st contacts and puzzling situations out the ass, what do we get. Moronic catsuits, more aliens of the week, and a genocidal captain. No mystery.
Enterprise has its aliens of the week to tell a tale sure but certainly not as much as Voyager did, in fact contrary to what many believe it does focus quite a bit upon what the usual suspect races were doing at this time (the purpose of a prequel in case some out there were wondering).
I will say that, at least, in ENT's defense. They actually do show Earth meeting alien races that were considered "normal" even in TOS days, like the Andorians. Still, though, the fact that we're still seeing one-note aliens, in effect making the TOS versions of the races the odd men out, is something I really dislike.
