TOS - Bread & Circuses

[MerelyAFan]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4PJu3K ... FDebrisRed

While it is a bit of TOS cheese, I do give it credit for being a genuinely decent premise that the show makes the most of. Its not hard to imagine a Voyager or Enterprise take on it which might be a bit more straightlaced, but likely not as enjoyable.

[slochmoeller]

Kicking off this week's discussion with perhaps an obvious observation: seems like this episode would have been better if it were reworked into a showcase for the Romulans. I mean, Trek already had a "Romans but in space" antagonist, why not use them instead of doing another "parallel earth" thing?

But I suppose that would have either gutted the ending or made it more difficult to achieve.

[clearspira]

This episode contains something that I WISH was continued past TOS and that is the idea that Starfleet isn't the only branch of the Federation - there is a Merchant Branch as well. You could perhaps say that this is what freighters come under but that is not the impression I got considering that Merrik's ship didn't at all sound like a space truck. It sounded to me like a starship similar in size and scale to a Miranda-class. Interestingly enough, what also backs this up, is that TOS also used to have something called UESPA (the United Earth Space Probe Agency) which was mentioned by Kirk and Archer and even had a flag. I like to think that Starfleet is only one part of UESPA, alongside the Merchant.

The reason I like this is that this sounds very much like where you'd find the Serenity or Red Dwarf or the Nostramo. This is where the people who aren't savants who teach their kids calculus at ten years old hang out. It sounds just so much more interesting and the story potential of having Starfleet and the Merchant having to work side-by-side is massive particularly come DS9. Of course, that probably is why Gene Roddenberry dropped the idea of them - can't have Arnold Rimmer and Jayne mucking up his perfect humans.

[clearspira]

Its funny what Chuck noted about the slaves of Rome Planet having more perks that he does because the slaves of the real Rome were incredibly well treated compared to the slaves of Greece, Egypt or the later black slaves. They had an array of rights under the law - including the right to inherit, the right to own property, the right to earn their own money and the right to buy themselves free. They could even file complaints against their masters for mistreatment which is incredible when you think about it (of course, what we today would consider mistreatment and what the Romans considered mistreatment are completely different). Many of them were even highly educated - there are reports of practising doctors being slaves. That may sound hard to believe but the punishment for debt in Ancient Rome was often to be enslaved by the state.

If you were unfortunate enough to be a slave, Rome was the place to be. (And that is never going to be taken out of context ever - no sir.)

Incidentally, Rome falling is one of the great ''what if's'' of history, and I wonder that if it survived whether this soft attitude towards slavery would have persisted and it would have ended up being abolished in the West far earlier than it actually was.

[stryke]

Its funny what Chuck noted about the slaves of Rome Planet having more perks that he does because the slaves of the real Rome were incredibly well treated compared to the slaves of Greece, Egypt or the later black slaves.

Yeah there's some great, amusing bits in the Discworld playing with that bit of history.

[Meushell]

I barely remember the episode, so this is based on the review, but did Kirk just abandon the other survivors of the Beagle?

[Thebestoftherest]

I do wish they could have change the weapons up, they made batliefs maybe something for future rome.

[CrypticMirror]

I barely remember the episode, so this is based on the review, but did Kirk just abandon the other survivors of the Beagle?

Based off memory, they'd been sold out by Merik and forced into the games. After checking Memory Alpha, it says that he claimed some had assimilated into the local society so if that was true then yeah, Kirk ditched them. However MA also says that there is a line of dialogue that contradicts the idea that they were assimilated, but were really all forced to compete and Merik was just lying.

To be honest, I couldn't recall much about this episode either. I'd actually forgotten the tv-ratings angle of it entirely. It just sticks in my mind as Space Romans, death match, Spock getting caught putting his face on by McCoy, and that is pretty much it.

[JL_Stinger]

What is going on with Kirk's uniform in this episode? Not only is he in green instead of gold, but his Starfleet insignia is down around his waist and pointed sideways instead of the normal location.

[Meushell]

I barely remember the episode, so this is based on the review, but did Kirk just abandon the other survivors of the Beagle?

Based off memory, they'd been sold out by Merik and forced into the games. After checking Memory Alpha, it says that he claimed some had assimilated into the local society so if that was true then yeah, Kirk ditched them. However MA also says that there is a line of dialogue that contradicts the idea that they were assimilated, but were really all forced to compete and Merik was just lying.

To be honest, I couldn't recall much about this episode either. I'd actually forgotten the tv-ratings angle of it entirely. It just sticks in my mind as Space Romans, death match, Spock getting caught putting his face on by McCoy, and that is pretty much it.

Thanks. I’m just going to head cannon that he rescued any survivors after the episode.