Tuesday, November 07, 2006

WWdN:ix (Oct 10, "on the occasion of star trek's fortieth anniversary, some belated comments")

I was ten when ST:TOS (Star Trek: The Original Series) ran. Supposedly, you carry "the way the world looks to you when you're ten" away with you (for the rest of your life) as the way the world should look. Well, ST:TOS was, for me, the way television was supposed to look: striving to entertain, yet making you think at the same time. Shows have come a long way since then, but still too many of them don't even make the effort in this regard.

I just read Wil's October 10th offering, and thoroughly enjoyed it. This boy can really write well, something I haven't mentioned here before in so many words (and a terrible oversight that is, too!)

I enjoyed the way he wrapped up the post, but for me this quote really hit home:
As Battlestar Galactica shows us today, science fiction has a long tradition of holding up a mirror to our modern world, and reflecting it back to us in a way that doesn't beat us over the head with a message, but makes that message easy enough to find for those who want to see it. In the 1960s, Star Trek did this better than any other show except maybe the Twilight Zone, and it did it during an incredibly turbulent time when it was risky even acknowledge that mirror existed, much less hold it up. For that, alone, it deserves all the attention and accolade its been given in the last forty years.

If you're not reading WWdN:ix yet, you ought to give it a go.

Oh yeah, I will say this about the "in a way that doesn't beat us over the head with a message" part of the post—obviously, Wil can't be talking about Let That Be Your Last Battlefield.

Oh, and it's election day. So if you haven't voted yet, let me urge you to do that first, then go read WWdN:ix; I'd have you do it the other way around, but I'm afraid (1) you'll get sucked in and not get around to voting at all, and (2) that I'll get accused of trying to influence you to vote a certain way—which is not the case at all . . . you get to make your own mistakes!

1 comment:

cube said...

Some people find it hard to separate poor Will from the Wesley character.