Chosen Realm: Star Trek Enterprise

[ManSinha]

As I noticed some members have mentioned Paramount + in their posts

Also IF you are in the US and have T Mobile - you may be able to get Paramount + free for a year

That said - I was binging on Star Trek: Enterprise and came upon this episode in Season 3 (episode 13)

The Chosen Realm

I have put a link for those that would like to skim through the matter

It was (for me) a hauntingly close-to-reality depiction of religious fanaticism taken to the worst extremes

I have previously made a thread about how certain elements of Deep Space Nine evoked religious themes - and this was another (again IMO) hard hitting episode that tried to speak truth to power

Wonder if the members had any comments ....

 

[Ella S.]

I think the Vulcans in Enterprise are also a great example of extremists, although not condensed as neatly into a single episode.

It's to the point where Vulcans show extreme cognitive dissonance trying to reconcile being living organisms with what is essentially an exaggerated form of logical positivism. Even their opinions and their ethics and social mores become facets of their "logic," which isn't how logic works at all but it's just a symptom of how repressive their culture is and how their rigid traditions have enmeshed themselves even into language that's supposed to be objective.

T'Pol in the earlier seasons implies a constant fear of being looked down upon and ostracized even further by her culture, like a cult member that's strayed too far away.

 

[Callisto]

I'll add this to my list of things to get around to. I wasn't much of a fan of Enterprise during its original run though, to be fair, a good portion of that may have been due to severe Trek-burn out at that point. I've not cared for the various Treks that have come out since. Though the exception, I am enjoying ST: Strange New Worlds.

Also want to suggest The Orville by Seth MacFarlane which is heavily influenced by TNG and is worth giving a try. It too has a race of religious zealots called The Krill who have a "one true way" mentality and think it's their divine right to conquer whatever and whoever they cross paths with (species overview, minor spoilage).

An FYI: S3 is better and superior to S1 & S2. The first 2 seasons were on FOX and MacFarlane seems to have had to sell them on the series by leaning into comedy since that's what he's known for. The first two seasons are like the more light-hearted, fun TNG eps with a dash of Galaxy Quest. Though there is a significant decrease in this throughout S2. During the pandemic, TO was bought by Hulu, has been rebranded as The Orville: New Horizons and is even more like TNG, an episodic drama with humor that's more "organic", stuff that just happens when people are interacting. You can bypass much of S1 & S2 if his brand of humor isn't your cuppa tea, though there are a couple of eps in each season worth watching as they set up situations that lead to things in S3.

Edited to fix TO:NH link.