It must be anti-neocon week at the BBC. [Isn't it always?--ed.] Another episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation was amazingly timely and political on BBC America:
"The Drumhead"-- Starfleet Admiral Norah Satie (played by Jean Simmons) comes aboard to investigate an apparent sabotage of the dilithium crystal chamber which powers the warp drive. A Klingon who came aboard in an officer exchange turns out to be a spy for the Romulans. Following a lead prompted by the intuition of Satie's Betazoid assistant, (for Betazoids are telepathic) Ensign Simon Tarses is discovered to have lied on his application to Starfleet. He lied about the race of his grandfather, saying he was Vulcan when he was, in fact, a Romulan. Satie uses this revelation to expand the investigation well beyond its initial goals, even after the crew determines that the explosion was an accident. Satie brings Captain Picard under the scrutiny of her tribunal after Picard tries unsuccessfully to stop the hearings. Admiral Thomas Henry ends the proceedings, which were quite different from the able decisions of Satie's father, a famous jurist.
Intriguingly, Admiral Satie is mentioned as the one who ordered Picard to take command of the Enterprise. ("All Good Things...", the final episode of the series) I find it compelling that the disaster or terror scenario is given as the pretext for the abridgment of liberties. Though it may be dismissed as idealistic, this episode ably shows that the disaster scenario provides an opportunity for the limitless expansion of state power.
"The Drumhead"-- Starfleet Admiral Norah Satie (played by Jean Simmons) comes aboard to investigate an apparent sabotage of the dilithium crystal chamber which powers the warp drive. A Klingon who came aboard in an officer exchange turns out to be a spy for the Romulans. Following a lead prompted by the intuition of Satie's Betazoid assistant, (for Betazoids are telepathic) Ensign Simon Tarses is discovered to have lied on his application to Starfleet. He lied about the race of his grandfather, saying he was Vulcan when he was, in fact, a Romulan. Satie uses this revelation to expand the investigation well beyond its initial goals, even after the crew determines that the explosion was an accident. Satie brings Captain Picard under the scrutiny of her tribunal after Picard tries unsuccessfully to stop the hearings. Admiral Thomas Henry ends the proceedings, which were quite different from the able decisions of Satie's father, a famous jurist.
Intriguingly, Admiral Satie is mentioned as the one who ordered Picard to take command of the Enterprise. ("All Good Things...", the final episode of the series) I find it compelling that the disaster or terror scenario is given as the pretext for the abridgment of liberties. Though it may be dismissed as idealistic, this episode ably shows that the disaster scenario provides an opportunity for the limitless expansion of state power.
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