SUMMARY: The Dominion War (2373-2375) was the largest and most destructive war in the history of the United Federation of Planets, and involved almost every major power in the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Quadrants of the Galaxy. Though victory was won on the battlefield, securing that victory entailed the negotiation of multiple treaties with multiple different states, species, and races. In this folder are the Federal copies of the most important agreements negotiated by the Federation Diplomatic Corps between 2373 and 2380.
If you’ve read this blog before, you’ll know that one of my favorite things to talk and think about is history. Another one of my favorite topics is science fiction. And a third one, perhaps unsurprisingly, is the way in which these two subjects intersect. As a fan and as a writer, I love exploring the backstory and unpacking the history of fictional events. I love thinking about how and why things went the way they did, and what economic and political forces might have influenced events in the past to create the world our heroes now confront. Or, conversely, what the long-term effects of our heroes’ actions might be. I love doing so from the perspective of what I call “in-universe documents”, writing from the perspective an inhabitant of a fictional universe who doesn’t know all of the facts, and has to explore their topic without the benefit of omniscience.
A few days ago I was talking to a friend about Star Trek: Lower Decks and they made the point that (to paraphrase): “People think it’s a parody of Star Trek, but it’s closer to what Star Trek always has been then a lot of the dark n’ gritty modern stuff.” This is, I think, very true! The Original Series had episodes with Abraham Lincoln and Jack the Ripper and evil magical chickens from another dimension, The Next Generation has an episode about the doctor being haunted by her grandmother’s sex ghost, and even Deep Space Nine, widely regarded as the most serious classic Star Trek, has an episode about the crew getting shrunk down to the size of ants. As Star Trek fans, we make fun of these episodes, but we also love them. And Lower Decks manages to perfectly capture that vibe, while at the same time telling truly great Star Trek stories. It’s honestly one of my favorite shows right now, and I want to talk about why.
The premise of Lower Decks is simple: whereas most Star Trek shows focus on a heroic captain and their loyal bridge crew, having amazing adventures and learning valuable lessons, Lower Decks would focus on a group of scrappy ensigns cleaning up their superiors’ messes and keeping the ship running. The idea comes from a famous Next Generation episode (TNG, S7, E15, “Lower Decks”), but the show goes one step further, taking the action away from gleaming capital ships like the USS Enterprise or USS Voyager, and moving it to a second-line support vessel, the USS Cerritos, engaged in boring, routine scut work. It’s a fun idea, but I was originally skeptical about how sustainable it would be. After all, something that works as a clever aside in a main show might not be interesting when stretched out for multiple seasons. And truth be told, Lower Decks sometimes pushes the boundaries of just how insignificant and unimportant they’re supposed to be. But by and large, it’s been a brilliant success. Star Trek has created such a vast, complex world over the last sixty years, and the show has done an amazing job of fleshing out unexplored aspects of it and poking around in odder corners of the Universe. It’s even more impressive given that it’s technically just supposed to be a comedy.
As a character, G’Kar can best be explained as the answer to the question: “What would Gul Dukat be like if he were as complex and nuanced as he thinks he is?”
Let’s unpack that a little.
Babylon 5 and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine were both science fiction television shows that aired during the 1990s. Both had similar premises–focusing on a space station that became the hub of interstellar diplomacy and intrigue. Both were really, really, really good shows. Because they were on at the same time, there were a friendly (and sometimes not-so-friendly) rivalry between their fans, with various accusations of plagiarism or imitation being thrown around. And, truth be told, there are a lot of similarities, though it’s not clear to me which way the inspiration ran. And one of the major similarities is between the characters of Gul Dukat (DS9) and G’Kar (B5). Both men are powerful figures within their respective nations–the Cardassian Union, for Dukat, and the Narn Regime, for G’Kar–who eventually rise to become leader of their people. Both are sort of weird lizard-aliens. Both are from aggressive, expansionist military-dominated states, seeking to challenge the status quo represented by our human protagonists. Both are clever, devious, tricky, and charming. Gul Dukat is the principal villain of Deep Space Nine, and G’Kar is, well that’s a little more complicated, but he is certainly presented as the main antagonist at first. But for all their similarities, their characters end up evolving in very different ways over the course of their respective shows, and help illustrate why both are such enduring classics of the genre.
The Star Trek franchise has been around since 1966, and has now given birth to six live-action TV series, thirteen movies, two animated spin-offs, and Almighty God alone knows how many tie-in novels, video games, and other assorted materials. There’s a lot of Star Trek! Some of it very is good, some of it is very bad, and some of it defies categorization. Today we’re going to be looking at the movie side of the franchise, which, in true Star Trek fashion, runs the gamut from “amazing” to “unwatchable”. We’ll count down the movies from best to worst, discussing along the way positives, negatives, and what it is that makes a good Star Trek movie anyways.
1. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)
Folks, it’s the whale one. It says a lot about Star Trek as a franchise that the movies where the main characters have to go back in time and save the humpback whales from extinction is widely regarded as one of the best entries, but it’s absolutely true. This movie is amazing. The Voyage Home distills down the essential essence of Star Trek better than maybe anything else. It’s a silly movie with a ridiculous premise that is nevertheless treated completely seriously. It’s incredibly earnest while still being hilarious. Ever since the beginning, Star Trek has been absurd and over-the-top, while never (or at least ideally never) toppling over the brink into self-parody or satire. It’s utopian and idealistic, and has to balance that with still telling compelling stories. Home does all this, and it’s also just a really good movie. Leonard Nimoy’s an excellent director, and unlike a lot of Star Trek, all of the characters get moments to shine. Chekov wandering 1980s San Francisco desperately trying to get someone to show where the naval base is honestly a franchise high-point for me. This movie is so weird and it’s amazing to me that they let it get made and I love it so much.
OFFICE OF STRATEGIC PLANNING STARFLEET HEADQUARTERS SAN FRANCISCO, UNITED EARTH 09.19.2378
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BACKGROUND:
After several years of fragmentary intelligence reports, first contact between the United Federation of Planets and the Dominion was made in 2370 when Dominion military personnel launched an unprovoked attack on Starfleet assets in the Gamma Quadrant, destroying several outposts and the starship USS Odyssey. This initial clash was followed by a Dominion ‘Covert Offensive’ against the Federation and other Alpha Quadrant powers. Based on contemporary intelligence reports and postwar interrogation of captured Dominion leadership, we can now state with confidence that Dominion changeling operatives (please see APPENDIX B for details) were responsible for the destruction of the Cardassian Obsidian Order in 2371, the outbreak of the Klingon-Cardassian and Klingon-Federation Wars in 2372, and the bombing of the Antwerp Conference in 2372. In 2373, elements of the Cardassian military led by Gul Dukat carried out a coup d’etat against the existing Cardassian government and joined the Dominion, leading to the establishment of a significant Dominion military presence within the Alpha Quadrant. Within a year, open hostilities had begun.
In the last few years, I’ve become a big fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. They’re wonderful shows, great science fiction that also not-so-subtly pushes liberal propaganda. Honestly, considering what a big fan of science fiction I am, I don’t really know how I avoided Star Trek as long as I did. But, I have finally embraced it, and because I’m me, I have now begun to overthink virtually every aspect of it. Specifically: I have a lot of questions about the economy of the Federation. We’re told that money is no longer used. Something called a “Federation Credit” exists, but it’s only used for foreign exchange. Philosophically, people are now said to focus on personal self-improvement, rather than the accumulation of material possessions. All well and good! But how does that work in practice?
In general, the economics of Star Trek can be described as “socialistic”, in that the Federation clearly has moved past any form of capitalism. This is very apparent whenever the show deals with the Ferengi, a species who’s entire society and government is built around hyper-capitalist competition. In The Next Generation episode where they are introduced, characters explicitly comment on how the Ferengi have yet to evolve their civilization to a more enlightened level. In another episode of The Next Generation, Captain Picard meets a human businessmen from the 21st Century who’s been cryo-frozen until now, and responds to his demands to access his bank accounts and stocks by contemptuously explaining that none of these exist anymore, and that humanity no longer considers his values to be important. But while the various Star Trek shows are very good at showing what the Federation’s economy is not, they are much more vague about explaining what it is. To understand, we have to engage in a great deal of speculation.
Goldwag's Journal on Civilization 