Re: SNW: Memento Mori
Posted: Wed May 17, 2023 8:35 am
Before we go off on this episode too harshly, I think it does need to be noted that it was actually Enterprise's ''In The Mirror Darkly'' that first retconned the Gorn into fast moving velociraptors without cunning or guile that roared more often than they spoke. In fact, the battle against that Gorn even is vaguely ''Alien-esque'' given how it involved a hunt through the Jefferies Tubes/air vents. The blame here probably should go to ENT instead of SNW.
But yeah, these changes are awful. One of the reasons why ''Arena'' is such a fan favourite episode is beause of its message. This Gorn turned out to be their Captain Kirk. More savage yes, but brave and cunning and smart. Proving that just because you look like an inhuman monster TO ME, just because you look different and act different and think differently TO ME, it doesn't mean that your soul is different to mine. And you can apply this message to anything. Race, gender, LGBT issues. Its not what is on the outside, its what is on the inside that counts. And bear in mind, this was the 1960s, which was a message that needed to be said.
By turning them into Andromeda's Magog, that message is gone. Like so much of Star Trek's hopeful future in the last twenty years.
And what amplifies the message of ''Arena'' is that the Federation was in the wrong. WE were encroaching into THEIR territory. They thought we were invading them and were defending themselves. Disproportionately sure, but its not as if humans haven't been guilty of that in real life too. This also BTW amplifies the idea that the Federation in TOS had barely any idea who the Gorn were as they apparantly had no knowledge of their territorial borders.
Like Section 31 being a secret by the 24th century despite the events of DISCO, there is no way this episode can co-exist with the events of ''Arena''.
But yeah, these changes are awful. One of the reasons why ''Arena'' is such a fan favourite episode is beause of its message. This Gorn turned out to be their Captain Kirk. More savage yes, but brave and cunning and smart. Proving that just because you look like an inhuman monster TO ME, just because you look different and act different and think differently TO ME, it doesn't mean that your soul is different to mine. And you can apply this message to anything. Race, gender, LGBT issues. Its not what is on the outside, its what is on the inside that counts. And bear in mind, this was the 1960s, which was a message that needed to be said.
By turning them into Andromeda's Magog, that message is gone. Like so much of Star Trek's hopeful future in the last twenty years.
And what amplifies the message of ''Arena'' is that the Federation was in the wrong. WE were encroaching into THEIR territory. They thought we were invading them and were defending themselves. Disproportionately sure, but its not as if humans haven't been guilty of that in real life too. This also BTW amplifies the idea that the Federation in TOS had barely any idea who the Gorn were as they apparantly had no knowledge of their territorial borders.
Like Section 31 being a secret by the 24th century despite the events of DISCO, there is no way this episode can co-exist with the events of ''Arena''.