I can definitely agree that cultural intolerance is one of Star Treks biggest problems. This is one of the reasons why it's progressive credentials have dated badly. Or like as Chuck has pointed out, there is an undercurrent of "stay with your own race" that runs throughout.Freeverse wrote: ↑Sat Jul 18, 2020 5:33 amThere's no reason that Crusher couldn't have spent some time getting to know the new host, after making it clear that she's not interested in sex or romance. Not that she's obligated to do so, but it was almost like chasing away a family member of a loved one; understandable given how she was feeling at the time, but still kind of cold.clearspira wrote: ↑Fri Jul 17, 2020 8:47 pmThe TNG trills are so different to the DS9 trills that they have either been retconned or are a completely different species altogether. They might as well be Goa'uld. Tbh I would be a bit scared to trust one even if this particular Jaffa was closer to a Tok'ra in consent.BridgeConsoleMasher wrote: ↑Fri Jul 17, 2020 4:23 pm Did you guys forget that that was the conclusive undertone of the trill focused TNG episode with Crusher? I've brought it up on the forum before, but nobody's ever made an issue of it. Granted I gotta see Chuck's review, though it's possible he didn't make a stink of it.
The thing about the moral dilemma at the end of the episode though is that nothing has changed in 2020 no matter far trans rights have come. If your boyfriend (a large, hunky brick of a man BTW) suddenly became a petite woman in the span of a few hours most would react exactly the same. You cannot choose your sexuality no matter what those tossers who peddle conversion therapy believe. What do people who criticise Crusher here honestly expect her to do? Take one for the team?
It's been a while since I've seen the episode, and I could be remembering it wrong, but Crusher came off pretty badly, not because she wasn't interested in resuming the relationship, but in how she treated the other person pretty dismissively. On the other side of things, we have yet another TNG alien who completely fails to imagine that other cultures do things differently from them, which is an annoying trope of the era. I think it would have been a really strong ending if the two of them had commiserated over everything that had happened, but ultimately gone their separate ways, instead of what we ended up with.
I don't know how harshly other people may have criticized Crusher for this, but for me it's just a bit disappointing that she seemed to lose some of the compassion that makes her a great character. And it's frustrating to have this kind of problem in one of the few Crusher-centric episodes we did get.
Whilst I don't agree that Crusher overreacted, I can definitely see your point about how she didn't even try to see his/her point of view.
I feel as if this sort of thing should be dropped into the conversation by the time you reach second base. "I love you, but just fyi, next week I may be someone else entirely. If you cannot live with that then..."
