I want to re-watch Trek, but am looking for organize my watch-throughs thematically. I just can´t handle 24-episode seasons. 1
I’m interested to see how TNG handles societal conflict within the framework of externally-mediated diplomacy (a Trek staple), aka negotiations. I’m not looking for EVERY episode with diplomacy in it, just the ones where two or more parties are being mediated by a third party. Episodes with only two parties (First contact stories if it is only Star Fleet and the other civ) do not belong on the list.
The episodes don´t necessarily have to be “formal negotiations,” either. I remember an episode where Ryker negotiated for the rights of males on a planet rather capably using only his winning smile, hairy chest, an ever-abiding curiosity about foreign cultures. Since there were three parties (males, females, and Ryker)², it would go on the list.
Legal disputes handled authoritatively by a court of law (Measure of a Man) would also not be on this list.
Thank you so much!
Footnotes:
- If anyone has a central clearing house for Trek playlists (or their favorite selective playlist) please let me know what it is.
- Actually four parties, if you include the shipwrecked alpha chads.
Symbiosis: The crew must mediate between a planet of addicts and another planet of dealers.
Loud as a Whisper: The crew are ferrying a famous mediator to a warzone, but after his aides are killed the crew must step in.
The Vengeance Factor: The crew must mediate between the queen of a planet and a group of rebels who left the planet 100 years ago
The Price: The crew host negotiations for control of a wormhole
The Outrageous Okona: The crew rescue a charming rogue, but two angry fathers show up looking for him.
Too Short a Season: The crew deals with the ramifications of a badly botched diplomatic negotiation that was handled decades earlier by the guest-starring badmiral.
I considered Too Short a Season in my “Episodes about negotiation, but really it’s about a hotshot ambassador” category. But IIRC it’s ends up being a two-party negotiation - there isn’t a mediating party.
Great list. And OOP, if you’re not yet in the mood for diplomacy saving the day, another show staple is the use of strategy to outwit those who would use violence. Some examples are A Matter of Honor, Peak Performance, and The Ensigns of Command.
And one of my all-time favorites, Who Watches the Watchers showcases a humanoid who transcends outdated motives of violence through the acquisition of higher knowledge.
Oh, damn, yes, please! A “Violence IS the Answer” watchlist would give me a more balanced portrayal of how STNG looks at things.
Edit: Oops, misread you–I don´t think that’s ever a case TNG makes even obliquely.
Hmm… episodes where violence is the answer. The obvious candidates are the first two Borg episodes. Those were written to challenge the idea that diplomacy is always an option:
Other (less good) episodes with an enemy that can’t be reasoned with include Skin of Evil, and Conspiracy. And I suppose Time’s Arrow (but that one is a good episode).
Episodes where negotiation fails, and the Federation chooses violence:
There are a bunch of episodes where there is an individual, or a handful of individuals, who must be stopped. That’s a common story even in Star Trek. A couple that seem most relevant to me for this idea are:
It is a shorter list. After all, we’re not talking about TOS.
Or just watch DS9.
No case needs to be made. Turn on the nature channel. Violence is the base, default solution. It is the ability to rise above it that sets apart higher-order creatures. We are living in the most privileged age to ever exist if violence feels like some not-yet-tried solution.
That’s quite a simplified view of nature. Many cooperative species, from bees to elephants, build their societies on cooperation. And sometimes they get violent, too, whether internally or externally.
I’d really recommend you read anything about primates by Frans der Waal before basing your worldview on just-so stories.