ENT: Two Days and Two Nights

[clearspira]

Bad writing is the problem.

I don't think there's actually much of a character to Archer and what is leaves a sour taste in viewer's mouths. Archer's motivations start as profoundly petty. He wants to ensure his father's legacy by taking the Enterprise into space and spiting the Vulcans for "holding humanity back." It is such a heavy part of his early character that his later idealistic explorer side comes off as disingenuous.

Its basically Pulaski writ-large. McCoy and Spock works because Spock gives as good as he gets. Pulaski and Data is just her bullying the 2nd most beloved character on TNG.

Archer's treatment of the Vulcans who are, at worst, vaguely snooty, comes off as just flat out racism. His treatment of T'Pol, who we generally like for being amusing in her barbs as well as right about being cautious, is even worse.

At some point, the writers missed that while writers seemed to hate Vulcans, Trekkies LOVE them.

I would also argue that McCoy and Spock works because they seem like actual best mates who have known each other for years. That is why I will defend Star Trek V, it isn't good, but I adore the campfire scene. They come off as best friends sharing beans and time good times. And I don't know how women best friends treat each other, but I have noticed that men often bond by taking the piss out of each other and play fighting. I have with plenty of my mates.
The thing with Pulaski is that we know she isn't Data's friend. She is barely an associate. She has just appeared and she is already insulting him.

As for Archer's racism, the Vulcans are just as racist back and that includes T'Pol. Remember Broken Bow where she accuses humans of being carnivores whilst they are eating breadsticks? ''Vaguely snooty'' is not accurate.

[Fianna]

I think a big part of why McCoy and Pulaski spend so much time insulting or arguing with Spock and Data (respectively), is that the latter two claim to not have emotions, and therefore nothing the former two say or do can upset them. Their barbs can thus be seen as them going, "Oh yeah? Let's test that theory."

[FlynnTaggart]

The thing with Pulaski is that we know she isn't Data's friend. She is barely an associate. She has just appeared and she is already insulting him.

I honestly never understood that about her. I understand what they were going for, her being a far less "people person" doctor compared to mommy....... IN SPACE Crusher. Try to be more like the acerbic McCoy. But I think they just went too far with her, she isn't acerbic, she's just plain rude and worse. Not respecting the chain of command and essentially giving the finger to the Captain is bad enough but displaying essentially racism (robocism?) towards someone is worse. And there is no real reason for it.

McCoy and Spock go back in forth, like you said like friends. I doubt there is any actual racism or hate between the two. Archer is quasi-racist but you could kinda make the excuse that he honestly believes the Vulcans are holding humanity back, plus its doubtful the Vulcans have done much to engender good will from Archer or most humans. Not saying its right for Archer to act all crazy pants about the Vulcans (save when he's trying to get in their pants) but its if you cross your eyes its almost ALMOST understandable.

Data is about the most pleasant person to be around, toss an afro on him and give him a paintbrush and he's the robotic Bob Ross. There is not reason to dislike him or mistreat him beyond some ingrained "he's not really a person". Pulaski never even seemed an outright bigot like the LT on the Sutherland, she just had a stick up her ass for Data. So it just seems strange to me, why did she feel that way? Because of some distrust or dislike of machines or because without emotions he wasn't considered by her definition alive. She just seemed to be cruel to be cruel and picked on the one person who couldn't really defend himself, the person who wouldn't push back.

That sort of harassment should have had her kicked off the boat if her stunt of heading to the bar rather then reporting to the Captain hadn't done it first. If you don't respect the man respect the uniform and Data was a senior officer who deserved at the very least the respect that came with his earned rank.

I'll admit I just never liked Pulaski, and not just because she replaced Crusher. As someone whose a bit "robotic" himself and doesn't quite understand your strange human emotions and facial expressions I kinda felt some sympathy towards Data being treated badly by her, mirroring some of my own interactions with people were they treated me less then ideally because I didn't understand an emotion correctly, couldn't understand a subtle (for me) facial expression or tone of voice, or was ridiculed for not acting "normal".

[bronnt]

The thing with Pulaski is that we know she isn't Data's friend. She is barely an associate. She has just appeared and she is already insulting him.

I honestly never understood that about her. I understand what they were going for, her being a far less "people person" doctor compared to mommy....... IN SPACE Crusher. Try to be more like the acerbic McCoy. But I think they just went too far with her, she isn't acerbic, she's just plain rude and worse. Not respecting the chain of command and essentially giving the finger to the Captain is bad enough but displaying essentially racism (robocism?) towards someone is worse. And there is no real reason for it.

I almost wonder if the intention was to make the audience dislike Pulaski. I don't know why they'd do that, but consider this: For almost the entire rest of the show, the fastest way to show the audience that they should like a character is giving them a friendly scene with Data.

[Fianna]

But if Data has no emotions, as he claims, then nothing Pulaski says to him can be cruel, since he has no feelings to hurt (and being friendly to him is thus an equally meaningless gesture, as he shouldn't care either way).

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

But if Data has no emotions, as he claims, then nothing Pulaski says to him can be cruel, since he has no feelings to hurt (and being friendly to him is thus an equally meaningless gesture, as he shouldn't care either way).

Right. Data doesn't seem to have been conceived as loveable as much as dryly peculiar. Spock's emotionless demeanor didn't at all mean he didn't have something going on up there, but that very much was the case with Data.

And McCoy and Spock weren't friends. McCoy overall is just no-nonsense acting around anybody, and Spock just tends to perturb him the most, to the point that he finds him totally irrational through his exclusive demeanor to logic. But like it's a matter of incompatible communication and relatability, not xenophobia or anything.

[CharlesPhipps]

I think a lot of fans assumed the Vulcans are in part responsible for humanity going from Fallout 3 to Mass Effect in a hundred years. That they've been giving humanity Vulcanian aide ala the U.N. out of their principles of helping a disadvantaged civilization.

Hoshi even points out to a bigot that Vulcan medicine did save one guy who had a terminal mutation.

In that respect, Archer comes off as monstrously bigoted.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Well even I could deduce that given the events of First Contact.

[Madner Kami]

But if Data has no emotions, as he claims, then nothing Pulaski says to him can be cruel, since he has no feelings to hurt (and being friendly to him is thus an equally meaningless gesture, as he shouldn't care either way).

Maybe you can not hurt Data's non-existant feelings, but it tells a lot about you, if your first reaction to a sapient lifeform that you are not familiar with is, being a total ass and dick-head. Argueably, Pulaski did not consider him a sapient lifeform, neither sapient nor alive, but still, her first reaction to such a curiousity is being a condescending piece of shit.

Suppose you come across a computer that talks like a sapient being, reacts like a sapient being and seems to truely be a sapient life-form. Would your first reaction be to intentionally misspell it's name after it corrected you?

[Nessus]

Pulaski's attitude towards Data always felt weird to me as a kid, but I wasn't able to articulate why until I saw "Measure of a Man".

The thing abot MoaM was that although it was a great story on it's own, it didn't feel consistent with the greater series to me. It seemed implicit to me that between the Federation being made of hundreds (?) of different aliens, some quite exotic, and Starfleet being explicitly mandated to seek out more, with an emphasis on being open minded and enthusiastic about the more exotic ones, that they would already have a VERY robust and "fail-safe" legal concept of personhood. Moreover, it seemed implicit in Data's position as a Starfleet member that his personhood was already settled. You don't put rank pips on a turbolift.

There'd always be outliers when dealing with individuals, but individuals who were liable to be "guilty until proven innocent" about another being's personhood would be considered a problem by Federation cultural standards. A person who exhibited Pulaski's attitude would have been told to keep that shit to herself, and if she couldn't, her career would include reprimands, not prestigious diplomatic flagship assignments that might put her on the front lines of sensitive contact situations where she'd be expected to represent the Federation with her conduct.