That would require him to have some degree of self-awareness, and as I recall he famously didn't understand the comedy behind Tim Allen's role in Galaxy Quest... The famous sendup of sci-fi in general and Star Trek _specifically._
While there is certainly a racial aspect to the episode's theme, I find it more closely hews McCarthyism. Stiles was honestly paranoid about Romulan spies. He targeted a racial minority to be subject to those fears with little rational basis. Much similarly, gay men were ousted from government positions, even minor ones like clerks, under McCarthyism for fear of Communist spies. It even shows Roddenberry's critique of the Cold War by making the Russia Stand-ins (the Romulans) honorable and enemies of circumstance rather then overtly evil.
I'm seeing it more like how people looked at Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor (or Muslim Americans after 9/11). "He looks like the enemy, so I can't trust him."
@@brachiator1 A fair point. Klingons were primarily used as the Russia analogy but in this case the story required an unknown enemy but still tried to parallel McCarthy Era America. The Romulans were that "unknown" enemy and stood in for the Communist Country that the "spies" were from.
Also it's possible that Stiles deep inside is angry at himself for having such feelings and thereby doubles down on his racism. O'Brien in the TNG episode the wounded summed up his bigotry nicely. "It's not you I hate, Cardassian. I hate what I became because of you."
@@janicielle It's also "they don't look like me, so they are the enemy." German Americans were not generally rounded up and put into camps. But this Star Trek episode is very nuanced. Stiles sees difference, the Romulan commander sees similarity between himself and Kirk.
I love the episode too, one of my all time favorites. But Kirk getting into Stiles' face seemed pretty hallow "Leave any bigotry in your quarters. There's no room for it on the bridge." McCoy said much worse towards Spock and Kirk never shut him down.
I think this is an excellent example of how easy it is to have blind spots when it comes to the people we care about and prejudices that don't directly affect us.
@ I think many of us do empathize with Spock because of McCoy and Stiles [overt examples] and because of the way he's alone in Starfleet. He has the pressure of being 10 times as good [for a Vulcan, noooo prob there] plus the constant pressure of Humans saying, "Dude, you should try to be more like us! We don't like your culture. We can't understand why you __________." And humans being patronizing when he does show a brief smile or other indication that he's not "completely uptight." "Ohhh, how very *Human* of you, Spock." [Gooood boy.] McCoy is so hard to listen to. Yet he IS a good doctor. We would never see this character on TV today, because as a racist he'd be written as a bad or lazy doctor. So in a way the character is more nuanced than we would see now. He is a skilled doctor with disgusting views. He makes me think of some of the crackers in my city who'd abuse you if they were drunk but be right neighborly about giving your car a jump start.
I think part of the reason McCoy was racist towards Spock is because he was never called out for it. I might be biased when it comes to Bones, because he is one of my favourite characters, but I see him as a good person who was a bit of a jerk sometimes and who said racist things without fully realising they were racist. Not to mention, I don't think his lines were written as racist. They were supposed to be teasing among friends. Now many people see them as racist (and rightfully so).
@@trekjudas "all talk"...? Many racist are just talk. But words can hurt as much as actions. It can destroy someones self worth and those narrow minded views can corrupt others during their formidable years. There's no way to logically defend McCoy's blatant bigotry.
Considering Spock was racialised on Vulcan as well, this episode, rather than just being a one-off story of mistreatment, fits into the larger narrative of his life. He already had to be the perfect Vulcan to Vulcans, but now he had to be more than that to humans as well, humans who only had the barest idea of what Vulcans were. All in all it's no wonder he felt kinship with Romulans, maybe he was hoping that forming an alliance between them and Vulcan would allow him to show his human side more
This is a fascinating analysis of Spock's character. And a good reminder that the key to tolerance is to emphasize our similarities rather than our differences.
This episode is definitely one of my favorites and it was based on one of my favorite movies, "The Enemy Below." The Romulan plasma torpedo loses power the longer the distance it has to travel. At close range, it's lethal. The further away you are, the better the odds of you surviving become because the thing's cohesive field starts to degrade .You know when Spock "pulled the switch," it was a deliberate act meant to lure the Romulan warship to the Enterprise.
Reminds me of folks who are prejudiced against Iranians because of Arab Panic. I had to explain to one guy that Iranians were Indo-Europeans like him and myself. Not Arabs. He was of German descent and I was of Scottish. That led to a lesson on language families, genetic lineages, and cultures. He was confused because it was all geography for him. Who was his kin? Well, you would think it would be Iranians. This is why race is a subjective concept despite what a lady of a different race once said to me. I look at the Dixie Diaspora and see southern culture in the Southwest and all the way up to Montana. Others don't call it a southern diaspora and ask no question as to how culture transferred to places like the Southwest or Rockies. Is kin geography, language, diaspora, appearance, what? A similar thing to the Romulan-Vulcan diaspora is in DC Comics. The Martian diaspora is green, white/pale, yellow, and the red-skinned cloned race on the moons of Saturn. And this episode is also mirrored in the episode where Data commanded a ship during the Klingon civil war. The officer who mentioned how certain races cannot be good at certain jobs forcing Data to de facto prove himself. Great video as always, Jessie.
It just hit me how the destruction of neutral zone bordering bases and their investigation are used in both the first Romulan episode in TOS and the first Romulan episode in TNG That’s such a smart parallel
Yeah, this is why they are whispering, it's just the old submarine movie dramatic device. I find it hilarious when they say "run silent" in any iteration of Trek. I retcon that it means turning off identifiers and other comms.
Fun fact: In _The Making of Star Trek_, Roddenberry pointed to that hug as being the incorrect thing about that scene. Not the bad science, the fact that Kirk wouldn't be fooling around with a member of his crew.
Your content is really improving a lot lately, I can see you put a lot of effort into it. Please don't feel pressured into making high quality content at the expense of your happiness or mental health though, I'm just pointing out I appreciate the work you have put into this.
And I’ll add a fourth. This is the second video of yours that I’ve now shared onto the Decolonising Geography education working group that I’m part of here in the UK. My colleagues know full-well I’m a huge Trekkie now 😉. But yeah, your insight and analysis is just amazing, and I’m learning much myself. On top of that, I enjoy the extra genuine perspectives and discussions in these comments, you attract a good crowd and good eggs, too. Keep up the good work, Jessie and do take care ❤️
Eh, nevermind only make it as long as you want to. I don’t want to monkey’s paw you into a weird curse where you have to make videos you don’t want to for all eternity
This is an outstanding video essay. We need things like this more than ever. Star Trek was idealist; it showed us an open, tolerant future we can all strive for. It also used science fiction to examine contemporary problems within society.
This has been one of your best videos- worthy of a graduate level seminar in terms of the way it's articulated and researched and presented. Well done, J!
Really insightful. I might seek out Sheth's book based on this. Also, your Sacred Treks intro is a tad leisurely, but that's kind of refreshing these days, when great opening titles and themes have become rare.
I rarely comment twice, but you bringing up kinship reminded me of another TOS episode Whom Gods Destroy. They were humanitarians and statesmen. And they had a dream. A dream that became a reality and spread throughout the stars. A dream that made Mister Spock and me brothers." Kirk saw Spock more then just an officer under his command, he saw him as a brother and friend. I'm sure Spock reciprocated that, but we had to wait for The Wrath of Khan for him to do so.
This is probably your best video yet, probably surpassing the best work of other trek youtubers like steve shives. This will become a very big channel one day if you can keep up the workload.
"Is it starfleet regulation that crew must hug their captain in battle?" I mean... maybe it should be. its a stressful time and a little reaffirming physical contact can keep the mind clear. "Permission to give you a regulation pre-battle hug sir?" "Granted, Ensign"
According to Star Trek Timelines the Romulan commander's name is Keras. Hmm. Wonder why they got that idea from. Also, to paraphrase Spoony from his Wing Commander review, "There's willing suspension of disbelief, and then there's insulting my fucking intelligence. You're in the vacuum of space! You could be having a Slayer concert in the cargo hold while putting a cat in a blender and the Romulans wouldn't hear you!"
Definitely one of my favourite episodes and that collection of scenes at the beginning is so, so beautiful. You could do a whole video of that and i would happily watch. Spock is such a brilliant character and Star Trek icon! 🖖
These TOS episode essays that you do are amazing. I've never gone back to watch all of the OG series, but the gems you pull out (that McCoy quote!) make me want to do it! Do you or anyone have a good suggestion for a channel that does all of the TOS episodes in this style?
I love this series (Sacred Treks). This episode of Sacred Treks is timely. As I think about it, although I wish it were not, it is perpetually timely. Thanks for putting what is often obscured so clearly.
Super video discussion of racialization/othering. I learned some things and had some great laughs at the same time! Thanks Jessie for your humor [vital for these days]!
I found your channel a week or two ago and you've totally re invigorated my love for star trek! I haven't watched in years but now I'm going to get back into it because I really love star trek. Thanks for reminding me of how amazing it all is!!
Spock, as a biracial character, was my entrypoint character for the Star Trek franchise.One problematic aspect of Trek's depiction of race is that they follow a "white purity" view on race. Many characters are racially identified as their non-human ancestry, ex. Deanna identified as Betzoid, B'Lanna as Klingon, in real life Pres. Obama as black.Not saying to cancel Trek as racist, just something a lot of white people fail to consider when looking at race in media.
@@djackson4657 Race is a social construct, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real. And, species does not equal race. I’m so tired of racists who say race isn’t real as a cover for systemic racism in our society.
Very good presentation. Stumble across this looking for trek stuff and was very pleasently surprised by its depth. Well done. It might be interesting to do a presentation (if you have not already) on 'star trek' as a 'canceled future' as now 'it is easier to imagine the end of the world than an end to capitalism' (Mark Fisher).
This is the second video of yours that I’ve now shared onto the Decolonising Geography education working group that I’m part of here in the UK. My colleagues know full-well I’m a huge Trekkie now 😉. But yeah, your insight and analysis is just amazing, and I’m learning much myself. On top of that, I enjoy the extra *genuine* perspectives and discussions in these comments; in that respect, you attract a good crowd and good eggs, too.
They're actually whispering as balance of terror was a homage to submarine films, although like you said, this is space so it just looks dumb when they do it. XD Cool video!
You did a brilliant job here of showing this concept. I can see how a more mature Star Trek could have developed and fine tuned their point. It is a fantastic Original episode but a little slam you over the head. However, Leonard Nimoy (and Mark Lenard) have very well played parts. And I did love your point on The Romulan commander or whatever term they used.
Scotty does actually mention the bride quite a bit throughout trek though. While not explicitly stated in the episode, the bride was actually the physical manifestation of The Enterprise who was marrying the closest thing she could to Captain Kirk. This aspect of the episode had to be cut for time. Hence, while Scotty was walking her down the aisle.
"Captain's log, stardate 1709.2. Patrolling outpost guarding the neutral zone between planets Romulus and Remus and the rest of the galaxy" The neutral zone is between (Romulus and Remus) AND (the rest of the galaxy)!
stiles is angry because it seems as if the vulcans (humanity's unoffical big brother) have hidden the fact that romulans and vulcans are the same species, it is not just the ears. this means that during that earth-romulan war , earth's oldest ally, the vulcans, were hiding many facts about the other combatant.
I just watched this episode last week, succumbing to the temptation after Lower Decks featured a TOS Bird of Prey. I agree that it's probably the best episode, other than crews trying to be quiet in space.
I haven't watched Discovery at all, but unless that bit about Vulcans attacking first was about Vulcans thousands of years ago, that still wouldn't count as canon. The whole idea is that Romulans are an offshoot of the pre-logical Vulcans. The better reference would be the shift that happens in Enterprise, which shows that Vulcans weren't as ruled by logic for as long as Spock would have you think. There was a time when the great logician Surak and his teachings were lost. Enterprise Vulcans seemed to make a lot more emotional decisions and then rationalize them as logical.
And, if you care, I don't watch Discovery because they pushed it as "darker and edgier" and that's not what I want in Trek. DS9 only worked for me because it was always the other show to the Treks that fit the uplifting Trek. I don't need more darkness in the dark times we live in. Sure, if it were on network TV and been entirely episodic, I might have given an episode a try, but I'm not going to pay or waste a free subscription on a show that marketed itself in every way to make me not want to watch. See also changing the Klingons/weird tech that isn't the top secret stuff but is still too advanced/having an asshole protagonist/and so on. Similar with Picard once the story details came out. The future should not be bleak in Star Trek. Star Trek is an SJW show: the one where we won. Humanity got better. There's a reason why this episode had to have the token racist, because it wouldn't be believable that the Federation in general saw Vulcans that way. (Even if the show, due to being in the 1960s, had Bones be so obviously racist through today's lens.) Again, maybe it's not as bad as the advertising makes it seem. But I'm not going to try it if they can't even advertise the part that made Trek good to me and most people I know. Yet I can't watch reviews lest I be spoiled in case it is good or we get out of this depressing bullshit world we're in and I can stand to watch darker shit again. I love Star Trek's social justice message. I just mostly need escapism right now. Discovery may in fact be an awesome show, but, based on ads, it isn't for me now. And Picard wasn't what I was wanting either: a return to the uplifting aspects of TNG.
This is indeed one of the best TOS episodes ever made! That said, I've always found the use of species as a metaphor for race to be (if you'll pardon the pun) specious - unlike with races, species actually do have major inherent differences. And honestly, I think that's why Spock actually finds Stiles' argument to have logic. The message still works as a political caution, but not really a bigotry/acceptance one. Also, Mark Lenoard was GOAT!
Hi Jesse Gender, question for you. I just watched an episode of "Voyager" that I think might make an interesting subject for one of your videos. Is there a preferred platform/method to make such a recommendation? Thanks!
@@JessieGender1 Cool! Well, the episode I was referring to was "Repentance" (Season 7, Ep. 13), in which Voyager rescues the crew and passengers on a prison ship. The episode seem to explore two sociological/ethical themes, racial profiling and the nature of criminality, but only really addresses the latter theme. So question is, why did the writers leave the racial profiling story line with such a vague ending?
Interesting take - you should definitely check out Michel Foucault's Discipline & Punish and History of Sexuality vol 1 - this is where the ideas of the book you look at originate.
5:38 : Well, sorry for sounding like one of 'those guys', but.......Discovery does mention 'Sonar' in space, and I don't recall them saying it was just a euphemism for some high technology the audience wouldn't understand
Enjoyed the commentary but your remark about the location of the Neutral Zone was a little glib. I think you forgot the actual statement in Spocks exposition, ‘created between Romulus and Remus and the rest of the galaxy.’
I love your Chanel, like a lot, And I want to share a history: me and my father love Star Trek, it’s our show, but he don’t like the majority of Star Trek commentary, but yesterday I send he an video of yours, 5 seconds after I sent the video I panicked because I know that some of the brothers of my dad are extremely transphobic and I assumed he was. 5 hours of freaking out later my dad set an angry message(a really angry message): “she is wrong!!![...]Modern Star Trek sucks!!! but this Chanel is great, why you doesn’t show me this early?” And that is the history about how I discover that my dad isn’t transphobic ^^(but I actually agree with him, Odete Star Trek mostly sucks hehe).
One interest thing is that I sent the “non political” video to him, but he was talking about the modern ST videos, with implies that he saw more than or video, and that probably is the reason he take 5 hours to answer me, hehe this is funny(all this conversations happened in Brasilian Portuguese, because we are Brasilian fans ^^ 🇧🇷)
sup its me again just wanted to say glad found your channel while you have discussions on original first star terk books i am an advid reader of books my mom used to read star terk book and shed pass the books to me when she was done and i read hers . big library fan anyway i always found the star terk books is so much better just in my opinion then the shows. loved reading them but fell off. so i love your insights and thoughts on different suggestion on reading to get back in. this next part is a side note nothing to do with spook so you dont have to read funny thing i would like to share something my history school teacher told his class about racism. he said racism is stupid. he said think about it tomorrow if aliens came down and took over our planet. the aliens wouldn't see us as black ,white ,homosexual , gender , male , female wouldn't give any of those groups special treatment because of who we are when they're are making us slaves or food all they will say we are humans. and throw us in the shuttle. and the reason they took over the planet will be because we were all fighting with each other rather then coming together against the aliens. that and technology . anyway keep it coming and have fun doing it
Yeah, about being in canon and the "they have no idea about franchise XYZ".... It's the same with for example Ryan Johnson and otgers that demystify a franchise: tgey wouldn't be able doing so if they had no idea about it. It actually shows that people who do that have a deeper knowledge and understanding of the world and the characters than the fanbase because in my opinion most hardcore fans don't reflect on the franchise they like.... But back to topic. 😉
Recent Trek Lower Decks had Ramsey (?) (I have trouble remembering new character names when I haven't sat down completely to know them long.) calling the Vulcans "Spocks". Would that be considered racist calling all of them a Spock or a term of endearment? Smh Picard facepalm smile.
Shaxs said that and yes, I thought that. Lower Decks' handling of casual racism is one of the few things I have an issue with in the show. At least they addressed it a little bit in the most recent episode.
Great commentary on racism Jessie. I thought the episode with the two aliens one half black and white and the other half while and black was the ultimate display of racial insanity.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
" I'm not a racist. I have a Vulcan friend." Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy
"Leave any bigotry in your quarters" Shatner should quote his old lines to himself every morning.
That would require him to have some degree of self-awareness, and as I recall he famously didn't understand the comedy behind Tim Allen's role in Galaxy Quest... The famous sendup of sci-fi in general and Star Trek _specifically._
AMEN 🤓✅
You should be wonding why you love the biggest racist in the
Galaxy so much,
SPOCK
@friderckcougher97 What you wrote seems to imply that Spock was a racist.
You beauty - you made a cis-straight man cry. They can try to other the lot of us who oppose oppression, but all they do is unite us.
While there is certainly a racial aspect to the episode's theme, I find it more closely hews McCarthyism. Stiles was honestly paranoid about Romulan spies. He targeted a racial minority to be subject to those fears with little rational basis. Much similarly, gay men were ousted from government positions, even minor ones like clerks, under McCarthyism for fear of Communist spies. It even shows Roddenberry's critique of the Cold War by making the Russia Stand-ins (the Romulans) honorable and enemies of circumstance rather then overtly evil.
I'm seeing it more like how people looked at Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor (or Muslim Americans after 9/11). "He looks like the enemy, so I can't trust him."
I think that later the Klingons were stand ins for Russia and the Romulans were a combination of Communist China and North Korea.
@@brachiator1 A fair point. Klingons were primarily used as the Russia analogy but in this case the story required an unknown enemy but still tried to parallel McCarthy Era America. The Romulans were that "unknown" enemy and stood in for the Communist Country that the "spies" were from.
Also it's possible that Stiles deep inside is angry at himself for having such feelings and thereby doubles down on his racism. O'Brien in the TNG episode the wounded summed up his bigotry nicely. "It's not you I hate, Cardassian. I hate what I became because of you."
@@janicielle It's also "they don't look like me, so they are the enemy." German Americans were not generally rounded up and put into camps. But this Star Trek episode is very nuanced. Stiles sees difference, the Romulan commander sees similarity between himself and Kirk.
I love the episode too, one of my all time favorites. But Kirk getting into Stiles' face seemed pretty hallow "Leave any bigotry in your quarters. There's no room for it on the bridge." McCoy said much worse towards Spock and Kirk never shut him down.
I think this is an excellent example of how easy it is to have blind spots when it comes to the people we care about and prejudices that don't directly affect us.
@ I think many of us do empathize with Spock because of McCoy and Stiles [overt examples] and because of the way he's alone in Starfleet. He has the pressure of being 10 times as good [for a Vulcan, noooo prob there] plus the constant pressure of Humans saying, "Dude, you should try to be more like us! We don't like your culture. We can't understand why you __________." And humans being patronizing when he does show a brief smile or other indication that he's not "completely uptight." "Ohhh, how very *Human* of you, Spock." [Gooood boy.]
McCoy is so hard to listen to. Yet he IS a good doctor. We would never see this character on TV today, because as a racist he'd be written as a bad or lazy doctor. So in a way the character is more nuanced than we would see now. He is a skilled doctor with disgusting views. He makes me think of some of the crackers in my city who'd abuse you if they were drunk but be right neighborly about giving your car a jump start.
McCoy said some pretty unpleasant stuff but he was all talk. he was never gonna do anything. Styles might do something.
I think part of the reason McCoy was racist towards Spock is because he was never called out for it. I might be biased when it comes to Bones, because he is one of my favourite characters, but I see him as a good person who was a bit of a jerk sometimes and who said racist things without fully realising they were racist. Not to mention, I don't think his lines were written as racist. They were supposed to be teasing among friends. Now many people see them as racist (and rightfully so).
@@trekjudas "all talk"...? Many racist are just talk. But words can hurt as much as actions. It can destroy someones self worth and those narrow minded views can corrupt others during their formidable years. There's no way to logically defend McCoy's blatant bigotry.
I remember watching this as a young boy and actually thinking about race and "other" people and it had an impact on my outlook in life.
It works!
Considering Spock was racialised on Vulcan as well, this episode, rather than just being a one-off story of mistreatment, fits into the larger narrative of his life. He already had to be the perfect Vulcan to Vulcans, but now he had to be more than that to humans as well, humans who only had the barest idea of what Vulcans were. All in all it's no wonder he felt kinship with Romulans, maybe he was hoping that forming an alliance between them and Vulcan would allow him to show his human side more
Good point! I never thought about how being "bi-racial", as it were, would have affected Spock as a character, similar to being bi-racial in America.
Well, this is an angle I sure as hell didn't expect to think about. Dang. Good point!
This idea just adds more weight to the fact that Stiles is sitting next to an actor who was put in a camp because of being a kin of an enemy.
This episode, see both kinship and an examination of not just racial issues, but also misconception of national identities due geopolitical tensions.
So this is kinda random.... but man do I love those Romulan uniforms. They're oddly flattering, interesting, and colorful! I wish we saw more of them.
Garak probably thinks the same lol
This is a fascinating analysis of Spock's character. And a good reminder that the key to tolerance is to emphasize our similarities rather than our differences.
This episode is definitely one of my favorites and it was based on one of my favorite movies, "The Enemy Below."
The Romulan plasma torpedo loses power the longer the distance it has to travel. At close range, it's lethal. The further away you are, the better the odds of you surviving become because the thing's cohesive field starts to degrade
.You know when Spock "pulled the switch," it was a deliberate act meant to lure the Romulan warship to the Enterprise.
Reminds me of folks who are prejudiced against Iranians because of Arab Panic. I had to explain to one guy that Iranians were Indo-Europeans like him and myself. Not Arabs. He was of German descent and I was of Scottish. That led to a lesson on language families, genetic lineages, and cultures. He was confused because it was all geography for him. Who was his kin? Well, you would think it would be Iranians. This is why race is a subjective concept despite what a lady of a different race once said to me. I look at the Dixie Diaspora and see southern culture in the Southwest and all the way up to Montana. Others don't call it a southern diaspora and ask no question as to how culture transferred to places like the Southwest or Rockies. Is kin geography, language, diaspora, appearance, what? A similar thing to the Romulan-Vulcan diaspora is in DC Comics. The Martian diaspora is green, white/pale, yellow, and the red-skinned cloned race on the moons of Saturn. And this episode is also mirrored in the episode where Data commanded a ship during the Klingon civil war. The officer who mentioned how certain races cannot be good at certain jobs forcing Data to de facto prove himself. Great video as always, Jessie.
It just hit me how the destruction of neutral zone bordering bases and their investigation are used in both the first Romulan episode in TOS and the first Romulan episode in TNG
That’s such a smart parallel
Get choked up just watching the opening of these.
This episode was based on classic WWII naval movies like The Enemy Below and Run Silent, Run Deep.
Forget the Edge of Tomorrow. THIS is the best TOS episode!
I read run silent, run deep in high school. Not as an assignment, but for leisure. Loved it. I should read it again. I've never seen the movie.
Yeah, this is why they are whispering, it's just the old submarine movie dramatic device. I find it hilarious when they say "run silent" in any iteration of Trek. I retcon that it means turning off identifiers and other comms.
Shatner, no. But if in the midst of combat, I would hug Chris Pine for comfort.
@GozerTheTraveller beat me to it
Fun fact: In _The Making of Star Trek_, Roddenberry pointed to that hug as being the incorrect thing about that scene. Not the bad science, the fact that Kirk wouldn't be fooling around with a member of his crew.
Your content is really improving a lot lately, I can see you put a lot of effort into it. Please don't feel pressured into making high quality content at the expense of your happiness or mental health though, I'm just pointing out I appreciate the work you have put into this.
Piling on to THIRD these comments. Your'e doing great work Jessie!
And I’ll add a fourth. This is the second video of yours that I’ve now shared onto the Decolonising Geography education working group that I’m part of here in the UK. My colleagues know full-well I’m a huge Trekkie now 😉. But yeah, your insight and analysis is just amazing, and I’m learning much myself. On top of that, I enjoy the extra genuine perspectives and discussions in these comments, you attract a good crowd and good eggs, too. Keep up the good work, Jessie and do take care ❤️
Deftly done. You didn't talk about anything I hadn't read about but putting the concepts into a context really helps to clarify them.
This series is awesome and I hope you never stop making it.
Eh, nevermind only make it as long as you want to. I don’t want to monkey’s paw you into a weird curse where you have to make videos you don’t want to for all eternity
Oh my Gosh I absolutely love the concept of ‘Sacred Treks.’ So brilliant! Stoked to have stumbled on this channel :)
This is an outstanding video essay. We need things like this more than ever. Star Trek was idealist; it showed us an open, tolerant future we can all strive for. It also used science fiction to examine contemporary problems within society.
Can’t wait to see if you find a way of including ‘Lower Decks’ into that intro at some point.
This has been one of your best videos- worthy of a graduate level seminar in terms of the way it's articulated and researched and presented. Well done, J!
Really insightful. I might seek out Sheth's book based on this. Also, your Sacred Treks intro is a tad leisurely, but that's kind of refreshing these days, when great opening titles and themes have become rare.
I always look forward to your episode summaries in these Sacred Treks
I rarely comment twice, but you bringing up kinship reminded me of another TOS episode Whom Gods Destroy.
They were humanitarians and statesmen. And they had a dream. A dream that became a reality and spread throughout the stars. A dream that made Mister Spock and me brothers." Kirk saw Spock more then just an officer under his command, he saw him as a brother and friend.
I'm sure Spock reciprocated that, but we had to wait for The Wrath of Khan for him to do so.
You are ON FIRE with your video output lately Jessie 🔥🔥🔥
Captain Jessie Gender warping in with another amazing episode of Sacred Trek. Keep up the amazing and inspiring work. 🖖🏻🖖🏼🖖🏽🖖🏾🖖🏿
Secred Treks is amazing. Thank you Jessie!
This is probably your best video yet, probably surpassing the best work of other trek youtubers like steve shives. This will become a very big channel one day if you can keep up the workload.
"Is it starfleet regulation that crew must hug their captain in battle?"
I mean... maybe it should be. its a stressful time and a little reaffirming physical contact can keep the mind clear.
"Permission to give you a regulation pre-battle hug sir?"
"Granted, Ensign"
What a great analysis! Theoretically informed and entertaining. It's a pleasure to learn from you.
According to Star Trek Timelines the Romulan commander's name is Keras. Hmm. Wonder why they got that idea from.
Also, to paraphrase Spoony from his Wing Commander review, "There's willing suspension of disbelief, and then there's insulting my fucking intelligence. You're in the vacuum of space! You could be having a Slayer concert in the cargo hold while putting a cat in a blender and the Romulans wouldn't hear you!"
Excellent analysis. Thank you.
Magnificent eloquent well-written essay! 🌹🖖🏼
Sacred Trek! Hooray! Love your channel, but these ones are really something special. On my ship everyone is assigned a red alert hug buddy btw.
Definitely one of my favourite episodes and that collection of scenes at the beginning is so, so beautiful. You could do a whole video of that and i would happily watch. Spock is such a brilliant character and Star Trek icon! 🖖
What kirk said is basically what my dad told me when I came out "any bigot will be eradicated" xD
These TOS episode essays that you do are amazing. I've never gone back to watch all of the OG series, but the gems you pull out (that McCoy quote!) make me want to do it!
Do you or anyone have a good suggestion for a channel that does all of the TOS episodes in this style?
I love this series (Sacred Treks). This episode of Sacred Treks is timely. As I think about it, although I wish it were not, it is perpetually timely. Thanks for putting what is often obscured so clearly.
Super video discussion of racialization/othering. I learned some things and had some great laughs at the same time! Thanks Jessie for your humor [vital for these days]!
I found your channel a week or two ago and you've totally re invigorated my love for star trek! I haven't watched in years but now I'm going to get back into it because I really love star trek. Thanks for reminding me of how amazing it all is!!
Spock, as a biracial character, was my entrypoint character for the Star Trek franchise.One problematic aspect of Trek's depiction of race is that they follow a "white purity" view on race. Many characters are racially identified as their non-human ancestry, ex. Deanna identified as Betzoid, B'Lanna as Klingon, in real life Pres. Obama as black.Not saying to cancel Trek as racist, just something a lot of white people fail to consider when looking at race in media.
Did you forget Uhura as African?
There is no such thing as race. Humans are all the same species.
@@djackson4657 Race is a social construct, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t real. And, species does not equal race. I’m so tired of racists who say race isn’t real as a cover for systemic racism in our society.
Totally-Not-Sarek's head is really, really square.
Very good presentation. Stumble across this looking for trek stuff and was very pleasently surprised by its depth. Well done. It might be interesting to do a presentation (if you have not already) on 'star trek' as a 'canceled future' as now 'it is easier to imagine the end of the world than an end to capitalism' (Mark Fisher).
This is the second video of yours that I’ve now shared onto the Decolonising Geography education working group that I’m part of here in the UK. My colleagues know full-well I’m a huge Trekkie now 😉. But yeah, your insight and analysis is just amazing, and I’m learning much myself. On top of that, I enjoy the extra *genuine* perspectives and discussions in these comments; in that respect, you attract a good crowd and good eggs, too.
Truly insightful! Racism used to keep power.
Delightful video! I did not see the link you mentioned in 11:28.
So many facets and layers... I'm sure I'll watch it again.
Wow, that intro! I'm not crying, you are!
New subscriber here and a new Trek fan in general. I'm LOVING these analyses you're doing.
I saw this episode recently. Interesting commentary. I subscribed! 🖖
What s great analysis. This seems so meta. Very cool. Will subscribe.
Do a video on your favourite Star Trek original series villains. I myself am now deliberating between Kodos the Executioner and Captain Garth.
They're actually whispering as balance of terror was a homage to submarine films, although like you said, this is space so it just looks dumb when they do it. XD Cool video!
Very well done, Jessie! This is one my favorite episodes!
One of the best spaceship battles of all time and they did it with almost no visuals! It was drama, not CGI!
You did a brilliant job here of showing this concept. I can see how a more mature Star Trek could have developed and fine tuned their point. It is a fantastic Original episode but a little slam you over the head. However, Leonard Nimoy (and Mark Lenard) have very well played parts. And I did love your point on The Romulan commander or whatever term they used.
Scotty does actually mention the bride quite a bit throughout trek though. While not explicitly stated in the episode, the bride was actually the physical manifestation of The Enterprise who was marrying the closest thing she could to Captain Kirk. This aspect of the episode had to be cut for time. Hence, while Scotty was walking her down the aisle.
EXCELLENT
So Zora is based in old canon, too.
what if the orion woman that was dazzling scottie turns out to be tindi's great great great grandmother
Another great Sacred Treks! Much of this goes to power and hegemony. Hey Jessie, did you get my message/ request on Patreon?
I did! I just have been busy but haven’t been ignoring! My apologizes I will get to it within the next few days ❤️
@@JessieGender1 😘 Thanks, I know you've been busy pumping out A Grade content 🖖💖
"Captain's log, stardate 1709.2. Patrolling outpost guarding the neutral zone between planets Romulus and Remus and the rest of the galaxy"
The neutral zone is between (Romulus and Remus) AND (the rest of the galaxy)!
Sure! When the British island is surrounded by fog, they say "the continent is isolated" 😂😂🖖
@@Donnagata1409 What?
I'm rewatching this video (wondering whether the recent SNW episode has added/changed anything you've said here)
stiles is angry because it seems as if the vulcans (humanity's unoffical big brother) have hidden the fact that romulans and vulcans are the same species, it is not just the ears. this means that during that earth-romulan war , earth's oldest ally, the vulcans, were hiding many facts about the other combatant.
Fun fact: Romulan ships are so colorful inside, because they're all big fans of Suspiria (in the original Romulan of course).
Stonn is also on the Romulan ship!! Must have made for an interesting reunion in "Amok Time"... 🤔🤔
This was so good. 🖖🏾
Great video!!!
I love the idea of "Sacred Treks".
I just watched this episode last week, succumbing to the temptation after Lower Decks featured a TOS Bird of Prey. I agree that it's probably the best episode, other than crews trying to be quiet in space.
Thanks for the video, its thought provoking and I want to go and watch TOS now :)
I haven't watched Discovery at all, but unless that bit about Vulcans attacking first was about Vulcans thousands of years ago, that still wouldn't count as canon. The whole idea is that Romulans are an offshoot of the pre-logical Vulcans.
The better reference would be the shift that happens in Enterprise, which shows that Vulcans weren't as ruled by logic for as long as Spock would have you think. There was a time when the great logician Surak and his teachings were lost. Enterprise Vulcans seemed to make a lot more emotional decisions and then rationalize them as logical.
And, if you care, I don't watch Discovery because they pushed it as "darker and edgier" and that's not what I want in Trek. DS9 only worked for me because it was always the other show to the Treks that fit the uplifting Trek. I don't need more darkness in the dark times we live in.
Sure, if it were on network TV and been entirely episodic, I might have given an episode a try, but I'm not going to pay or waste a free subscription on a show that marketed itself in every way to make me not want to watch. See also changing the Klingons/weird tech that isn't the top secret stuff but is still too advanced/having an asshole protagonist/and so on. Similar with Picard once the story details came out. The future should not be bleak in Star Trek. Star Trek is an SJW show: the one where we won. Humanity got better. There's a reason why this episode had to have the token racist, because it wouldn't be believable that the Federation in general saw Vulcans that way. (Even if the show, due to being in the 1960s, had Bones be so obviously racist through today's lens.)
Again, maybe it's not as bad as the advertising makes it seem. But I'm not going to try it if they can't even advertise the part that made Trek good to me and most people I know. Yet I can't watch reviews lest I be spoiled in case it is good or we get out of this depressing bullshit world we're in and I can stand to watch darker shit again.
I love Star Trek's social justice message. I just mostly need escapism right now. Discovery may in fact be an awesome show, but, based on ads, it isn't for me now. And Picard wasn't what I was wanting either: a return to the uplifting aspects of TNG.
Mark Lenard in TOS =👄😻🥵👅💋.
Also must point out that Stonn is on the Romulan ship too, looking exactly like Kylo Ren.
This is indeed one of the best TOS episodes ever made! That said, I've always found the use of species as a metaphor for race to be (if you'll pardon the pun) specious - unlike with races, species actually do have major inherent differences. And honestly, I think that's why Spock actually finds Stiles' argument to have logic. The message still works as a political caution, but not really a bigotry/acceptance one.
Also, Mark Lenoard was GOAT!
Hi Jesse Gender, question for you. I just watched an episode of "Voyager" that I think might make an interesting subject for one of your videos. Is there a preferred platform/method to make such a recommendation? Thanks!
Right here in the comments!
@@JessieGender1 Cool! Well, the episode I was referring to was "Repentance" (Season 7, Ep. 13), in which Voyager rescues the crew and passengers on a prison ship. The episode seem to explore two sociological/ethical themes, racial profiling and the nature of criminality, but only really addresses the latter theme. So question is, why did the writers leave the racial profiling story line with such a vague ending?
Awesome work
Interesting take - you should definitely check out Michel Foucault's Discipline & Punish and History of Sexuality vol 1 - this is where the ideas of the book you look at originate.
Well done!
Wow, how many Starfleet uniform variations do you have? Did you do a video on your collection?
Stiles' dirty stares were highlights of this episode.
5:38 : Well, sorry for sounding like one of 'those guys', but.......Discovery does mention 'Sonar' in space, and I don't recall them saying it was just a euphemism for some high technology the audience wouldn't understand
I never really liked the enterprise with Kirk, but this was interesting! Thank you!
Enjoyed the commentary but your remark about the location of the Neutral Zone was a little glib. I think you forgot the actual statement in Spocks exposition, ‘created between Romulus and Remus and the rest of the galaxy.’
I love this video!! My thoughts exactly!!!
Balance of terror is also my fav TOS episode
I love your Chanel, like a lot, And I want to share a history: me and my father love Star Trek, it’s our show, but he don’t like the majority of Star Trek commentary, but yesterday I send he an video of yours, 5 seconds after I sent the video I panicked because I know that some of the brothers of my dad are extremely transphobic and I assumed he was. 5 hours of freaking out later my dad set an angry message(a really angry message): “she is wrong!!![...]Modern Star Trek sucks!!! but this Chanel is great, why you doesn’t show me this early?”
And that is the history about how I discover that my dad isn’t transphobic ^^(but I actually agree with him, Odete Star Trek mostly sucks hehe).
One interest thing is that I sent the “non political” video to him, but he was talking about the modern ST videos, with implies that he saw more than or video, and that probably is the reason he take 5 hours to answer me, hehe this is funny(all this conversations happened in Brasilian Portuguese, because we are Brasilian fans ^^ 🇧🇷)
I love your earring!
Thank you❤️
I’m trying to watch all of dr squatch ads for you Jes but the urge to kill is rising
sup its me again just wanted to say glad found your channel while you have discussions on original first star terk books i am an advid reader of books my mom used to read star terk book and shed pass the books to me when she was done and i read hers . big library fan anyway i always found the star terk books is so much better just in my opinion then the shows. loved reading them but fell off. so i love your insights and thoughts on different suggestion on reading to get back in. this next part is a side note nothing to do with spook so you dont have to read funny thing i would like to share something my history school teacher told his class about racism. he said racism is stupid. he said think about it tomorrow if aliens came down and took over our planet. the aliens wouldn't see us as black ,white ,homosexual , gender , male , female wouldn't give any of those groups special treatment because of who we are when they're are making us slaves or food all they will say we are humans. and throw us in the shuttle. and the reason they took over the planet will be because we were all fighting with each other rather then coming together against the aliens. that and technology . anyway keep it coming and have fun doing it
Thank you.
Yeah, about being in canon and the "they have no idea about franchise XYZ".... It's the same with for example Ryan Johnson and otgers that demystify a franchise: tgey wouldn't be able doing so if they had no idea about it. It actually shows that people who do that have a deeper knowledge and understanding of the world and the characters than the fanbase because in my opinion most hardcore fans don't reflect on the franchise they like.... But back to topic. 😉
MC Kirk in the house?
@Jessie✨❤️✨
✨🖖🖖🏻🖖🏼🖖🏽🖖🏾🖖🏿✨
💫✨🌟🖤🖤🖤🌟✨💫
💫✨🌟🌹🌹🌹🌟✨💫
💫✨🌟❤️❤️❤️🌟✨💫
Recent Trek Lower Decks had Ramsey (?) (I have trouble remembering new character names when I haven't sat down completely to know them long.) calling the Vulcans "Spocks". Would that be considered racist calling all of them a Spock or a term of endearment? Smh Picard facepalm smile.
Shaxs said that and yes, I thought that. Lower Decks' handling of casual racism is one of the few things I have an issue with in the show. At least they addressed it a little bit in the most recent episode.
Great commentary on racism Jessie. I thought the episode with the two aliens one half black and white and the other half while and black was the ultimate display of racial insanity.
Let that be your last Battlefield.
12:20 that's what happend after 9/11 (but with religion which later was linked to physical features. which is not even possible)
"he sells she sells by the shore or bajor", where are you? i miss you beeing named in the patrions list ;D
There is no reason to think the planet Romulus is anywhere near the Neutral Zone though
You look fire in this video!