The Kobayashi Maru test is one of the major plot points of the new Star Trek movie, a connection to The Wrath of Kahn that is brilliant as well as giving them a way to use the Klingons in the show without actually using them.
But is The Kobayashi Maru a test that anyone would ever use? Can you truely imagine a organization teaching its people to fight by putting them in an unwinnable situation?
When I was a kid and first saw it I remember thinking that it was a stupid idea and that Kirk's solution to cheat was the only possible solution, but as I have gotten over I have learned to understand that there really are no win situations in life. There are times when there are only bad choices, and by making them understand that it might be useful.
There is a second reason that impassable tests should be given, not just to military officers but to students. Humility. There are far to many children who graduate high school, and even a few who graduate college who have never truly been tested in the sense of being pushed past their limit. In fact I suspect that many people can be pushed beyond their limit is in military boot camp.
Now comes the issue of cheating. Kirk's solution to the no-win situation is cheating. This is examined in two Star Trek movies now and it can be argued as a elegent solution. If you are given a situation wh
ere there are two outcomes both of which are unaccetble and a third which is unattanable without cheating but far preferable then cheat.
Yet as you look more carefully I see the results of the newest movie being the likely outcome. That is being brought up on charges for cheating. This brings up a third question about Kirk, is it so important for him to win at this simulation that everyone fails that he is willing to risk his career or did he know that he would get away with it?
There was of course no punishment for failing The Kobayashi Maru so what was it that drove Kirk to such lengths to pass the test? Is it simply his inability to accept defeat, or a ego that was never put into check by the test because he cheated?
This is one of the small things about this in the new movie that bothered me. Though he had cheated and he knew that he could win the test being so seemingly uninterested in the test in the new movie made it seem as if he didn't care all that much about Star Fleet or the test. Cheating should have been a big deal to him even if the test wasn't.
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ere there are two outcomes both of which are unaccetble and a third which is unattanable without cheating but far preferable then cheat.
Yet as you look more carefully I see the results of the newest movie being the likely outcome. That is being brought up on charges for cheating. This brings up a third question about Kirk, is it so important for him to win at this simulation that everyone fails that he is willing to risk his career or did he know that he would get away with it?
There was of course no punishment for failing The Kobayashi Maru so what was it that drove Kirk to such lengths to pass the test? Is it simply his inability to accept defeat, or a ego that was never put into check by the test because he cheated?
This is one of the small things about this in the new movie that bothered me. Though he had cheated and he knew that he could win the test being so seemingly uninterested in the test in the new movie made it seem as if he didn't care all that much about Star Fleet or the test. Cheating should have been a big deal to him even if the test wasn't.I was skeptical at the concept of remaking Star Trek. It's not that I don't see the cheese of the original Star Trek, it's just that there has been so much that rebooting it seems difficult without simply ignoring it all.
This movie did a really good job of making Star Trek feel new while keeping the characters and feel close to the original.
Beyond the actors who played the parts the most notable difference in this story was the technology. The first thing I noticed was that the transporters didn't work all that well in comparison to the transporters in the show. it takes considerably longer, you can't move, and they are blocked most of the time. I understand this, transporters are great for getting the characters into places that are interesting but it drops the tension once they are there if you know they can be beamed out any time.
The ships themselves felt much more real in that you felt you knew where things were. The engines actually looked and felt like engines, the shuttle bay felt like part of the ship and it all simply felt real.
Third was the weapons. The changes in the phasers were great. They really felt like they were better than a handgun you could get now rather than worse.
All of the characters felt pretty much right on and they really gave them all a chance to do something useful, in fact in many ways Kirk was the least useful of the characters in large parts of the movie. I would have to watch again but I don't think he actually won a fight in the entire movie.
I love the style they tell the story in. You don't know what is going on early in the movie though you can guess at it and that truely helps especially through the early part of the movie that could have been slow as they went through Starfleet Academy.
The only major weakness I saw was that I wasn't all that impressed by the villain. He did his job and did it well but the reaso
n he was doing it was a little bit of a stretch for me.
I truly enjoyed this movie and as someone who likes Star Trek and was worried that this wasn't going to be Star Trek but some other show crammed into a Star Trek uniform I can say that it really is Star Trek. Yet at the same time there is no reason that someone who has never really cared for Star Trek can't go to this movie and see a perfectly reasonable movie with a good story and plenty of action without needing to know or care about Star Trek.
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n he was doing it was a little bit of a stretch for me.
I truly enjoyed this movie and as someone who likes Star Trek and was worried that this wasn't going to be Star Trek but some other show crammed into a Star Trek uniform I can say that it really is Star Trek. Yet at the same time there is no reason that someone who has never really cared for Star Trek can't go to this movie and see a perfectly reasonable movie with a good story and plenty of action without needing to know or care about Star Trek.One of the most important aspects of Science Fiction is its ability to present us with ideas that are typically difficult for people to discuss or to help break us away from our preconceived ideas and think about things in a new way. The most difficult and important of these ideas are religion and the different ways that the science fiction franchises deal with religion are an excellent way of examining some of the different ways that people look at religion.
The Agnostic/Atheist
Humans in Star Trek almost never have a religion yet that general ignoring of religion among the humans of the show never stopped them from exploring religious ideas. The Agnostic humans are almost always meeting with "gods" from the original series with Greek gods and a god trapped in the center of the galaxy through the next generation where they met the devil, aliens from alternate dimensions who claimed to be god, and Q.
But most of the discussion of God was in Deep Space 9. It was here that the agnostic had to deal directly with something that he couldn't fully understand, and at the same time deal with being a religious leader. The final battle even came down to a battle between gods.
In the end the agnostic is still an agnostic, or possibly even an atheist but he has learned to accept and even embrace the beliefs of others and more than anything that is the message of Star Trek.
The Unknowable God
The god of Battlestar Galactica is not an agnostic god. He interferes directly with the characters but the idea of worshiping him is difficult. Even the name of god evidently bothers it. Yet the ideas of destiny and belief are examined well in Battlestar Galactica.
And the question of destiny is one that is unavoidable when talking about God. If God is all knowing then how can we have free will? Battlestar Galactica falls on the side of free will, implying that God has been working to bring about solutions but allowing humans to fail.
Sadly the more important point that the God in Battlestar Galactica brought out is the danger of having an active God in any plot. Deus Ex Machinca(god from the machine) is one of the worst ways to end a story. Having the solution to everything be God did it, isn't satisfying or good writing.
The Mystic
There is no real hint that anyone in the Star Wars movies really believes in 
god, yet these six movies are about a religious order and this disconnect from God allows us to look at the ideas without the debate.
The chief religious idea of Star Wars is that there is a force outside of us. Something that connects all living things and allows for a priesthood who can perform miracles. One of the important aspects of this mysticism is that it is unexplained. This is something that just is.
This idea that there is something greater than us is the universal center of all religion. We may disagree on what that force is or what it wants of us but the core of religion is its existance and Star Wars has that core.
The Enlightenment
Star Gate, though it is almost exclusively about religion, deals with it very little. The Egyptian gods are safe because very few people on earth belive in Ra and they don't watch science fiction TV series. but it does examine one aspect of religion very carefully in later episodes through the character Daniel Jackson.
That idea is that of enlightenment. The idea of ascendancy through some type of moral or physical purity is as idea of great importance to religion and yet even through this enlightenment we soon find that they are imperfect. Even those with true godlike power can make mistakes and be corrupted like the Ori.
Another important concept in the idea of ascendancy in Star Gate is the idea that people are unable to archive it on their own. Humans, at least in their current form, are not ready to become truly enlightened beings.
The Inclusion
There is an episode of Babylon 5 where every alien race is showing off their religion. This puts the commander of Babylon 5 in a tight spot because the idea of choosing a single religion from Earth is basically offensive.
In the end the solution of bringing representatives from all of earths religions could be considered avoiding the problem but on
ly if you don't understand the point he was making.
The religion of the humans in Babylon 5 had at least for that moment moved beyond a petty argument over who was right(not to be confused with enlightened debate which is good and healthy) to the uplifting of the ideas of diversity and love as the true religion of humanity and that idea wasn't lost throughout the series in which humans, who were far from the most advanced or powerful of the races became important more because of their ability to unite people than anything else.
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god, yet these six movies are about a religious order and this disconnect from God allows us to look at the ideas without the debate.
The chief religious idea of Star Wars is that there is a force outside of us. Something that connects all living things and allows for a priesthood who can perform miracles. One of the important aspects of this mysticism is that it is unexplained. This is something that just is.
This idea that there is something greater than us is the universal center of all religion. We may disagree on what that force is or what it wants of us but the core of religion is its existance and Star Wars has that core.
The Enlightenment
Star Gate, though it is almost exclusively about religion, deals with it very little. The Egyptian gods are safe because very few people on earth belive in Ra and they don't watch science fiction TV series. but it does examine one aspect of religion very carefully in later episodes through the character Daniel Jackson.
That idea is that of enlightenment. The idea of ascendancy through some type of moral or physical purity is as idea of great importance to religion and yet even through this enlightenment we soon find that they are imperfect. Even those with true godlike power can make mistakes and be corrupted like the Ori.
Another important concept in the idea of ascendancy in Star Gate is the idea that people are unable to archive it on their own. Humans, at least in their current form, are not ready to become truly enlightened beings.
The Inclusion
There is an episode of Babylon 5 where every alien race is showing off their religion. This puts the commander of Babylon 5 in a tight spot because the idea of choosing a single religion from Earth is basically offensive.
In the end the solution of bringing representatives from all of earths religions could be considered avoiding the problem but only if you don't understand the point he was making.
The religion of the humans in Babylon 5 had at least for that moment moved beyond a petty argument over who was right(not to be confused with enlightened debate which is good and healthy) to the uplifting of the ideas of diversity and love as the true religion of humanity and that idea wasn't lost throughout the series in which humans, who were far from the most advanced or powerful of the races became important more because of their ability to unite people than anything else.Science Fiction is a genre of ideas. One of the reasons that traditionally in the past it has been seen as low on characterization and often a little difficult to get into is because these ideas are so important and typically as science fiction readers or watchers we look for new ideas, but there are a few ideas out there which for a variety of reasons I would like to see done again.
Idea: Traveling through dimensions
Space travel and time travel have both had multiple shows based around their ideas, but while there have been any number of comic books and novels written around the idea of multiple dimension and even a few episodes of TV series I'd love to see another show about the idea of exploring these dimensions.
Who did it first?
Sliders is the only show I know of which was based around this idea and I liked the idea well enough to watch 5 years of the show as it slowly gained speed in its decent past bad into an unwatchable, pointless show which could be compared unfavorably to spending a vacation in Dante's circles of hell and the fifth season was even worse than that.
Why try it again?
Very few if any of the failings of this show had anything to do with the idea. This show started out watchable but it was simply mishandled. Replacing interesting characters with increasingly boring characters would have been bad enough but since the point of the show was getting home once there was no one left trying to get home it didn't ma
tter much.
What would I change?
The biggest problem with the idea of Sliders was that it relied on them getting in trouble on every world they went to with no real reason. This meant that they either had to have worlds which were truly chaotic, which stretches credibility, or simply push them into stupid situations every week. This show needed a quantum leap style device which forced them to interact with the world before they could leave.
Idea: Humans exploring a single new world for an entire series
In Star Trek it is common for them to visit a world, destroy its entire culture and then leave to never mention the place again. The same is similarly true of other shows in the spaceship sub genre, but the truth is that things get more interesting when you look closely and begin to slowly unravel the mystery.
Who did it first?
Earth 2 and Deep Space 9
While both good shows Earth 2 was canceled before it's time and Deep Space 9 never spent all that much time on Bajor.
Why Try it again?
Science Fiction is best when it is examining the unexplained and unknown in detail. Skimming over the surface of a great idea dropping a few big words and moving on. Truly landing on a planet and spending 8 years there learning about something that is completely different than our world could be fascinating.
How would I do it?
A planet with a humanoid species just above the level of technology we are now but still without spaceships is met by a human ship with 10 crew who lands on their version of the white house.
These aliens would be a diverse people with multiple cultures and religions many of whom are excited to see the humans and many of them are not. Early in the first episode we would find out that Earth has changed as well, but it would take at least a season for us to discover that Earth is in its own civil war. What we would find out is that not only are there a great deal of secrets and oddities to the aliens but the humans are not all on the same side and as they begin to fracture it becomes increasingly more likely that their presence on this world will destroy it.
Idea: The Singularity and New Humans
Starting twenty years in our future human technology has evolved to the point where it is growing without us. Genetic Engineering has made our children a new species an computers are running many aspects of life, and it is getting exponentially more difficult for people to survive who were born naturally.
Who did it first?
There are enough short stories and novels about this idea for it to be considered a cliche in written science fiction, but I can't come with any non-dystopian examples of this on TV or movies.
Why Try it?
Change is one of the most important aspects of modern life. The world will continue to change and while there may never be a true singularity there has always been a struggle between old and new, between the young and the old, between technology and freedom. These ideas are going to become increasingly important in the future and examining them now might give us a head start as well as making for a fun and interesting show, not to mention that every young person on the show can be a supermodel and there will be a good reason.
How would I do it?
The first episode opens with a news program explaining that the first computer built and designed completely by other computers has just been completed. This computer is a leap forward in technology that triggers this new age, but it is only the beginning this computer even before completely finished is finding solutions to mathematical questions which have been unanswered for centuries.
Our hero, a man born in the year 2010 is now thirty years old today. He is shorter and less attractive than those who walk by him his clothing hopelessly old fashioned and as he watches the program and just as the camera begins to pull back a man about fifty grabs a young girl's purse and attempts to run.
Cameras turn to record the man as the young woman chases him down and pulls the purse out of his hand showing no fear of this elderly man. Our hero helps the dirty man to his feet and they have a short conversation where we learn that the man is simply desperate. He was once successful but there's nothing left for him to do. The world has moved past him. Our hero gives him his last few dollars then looks back at the TV realizing that he has been left behind as well. This show will not be about the best or the smartest it will be about a good man who would be smart in our age simply trying to navigate this new age, and during the course of the show he might even save the world.
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tter much.
What would I change?
The biggest problem with the idea of Sliders was that it relied on them getting in trouble on every world they went to with no real reason. This meant that they either had to have worlds which were truly chaotic, which stretches credibility, or simply push them into stupid situations every week. This show needed a quantum leap style device which forced them to interact with the world before they could leave.
Idea: Humans exploring a single new world for an entire series
In Star Trek it is common for them to visit a world, destroy its entire culture and then leave to never mention the place again. The same is similarly true of other shows in the spaceship sub genre, but the truth is that things get more interesting when you look closely and begin to slowly unravel the mystery.
Who did it first?
Earth 2 and Deep Space 9
While both good shows Earth 2 was canceled before it's time and Deep Space 9 never spent all that much time on Bajor.
Why Try it again?
Science Fiction is best when it is examining the unexplained and unknown in detail. Skimming over the surface of a great idea dropping a few big words and moving on. Truly landing on a planet and spending 8 years there learning about something that is completely different than our world could be fascinating.
How would I do it?
A planet with a humanoid species just above the level of technology we are now but still without spaceships is met by a human ship with 10 crew who lands on their version of the white house.
These aliens would be a diverse people with multiple cultures and religions many of whom are excited to see the humans and many of them are not. Early in the first episode we would find out that Earth has changed as well, but it would take at least a season for us to discover that Earth is in its own civil war. What we would find out is that not only are there a great deal of secrets and oddities to the aliens but the humans are not all on the same side and as they begin to fracture it becomes increasingly more likely that their presence on this world will destroy it.
Idea: The Singularity and New Humans
Starting twenty years in our future human technology has evolved to the point where it is growing without us. Genetic Engineering has made our children a new species an computers are running many aspects of life, and it is getting exponentially more difficult for people to survive who were born naturally.
Who did it first?
There are enough short stories and novels about this idea for it to be considered a cliche in written science fiction, but I can't come with any non-dystopian examples of this on TV or movies.
Why Try it?
Change is one of the most important aspects of modern life. The world will continue to change and while there may never be a true singularity there has always been a struggle between old and new, between the young and the old, between technology and freedom. These ideas are going to become increasingly important in the future and examining them now might give us a head start as well as making for a fun and interesting show, not to mention that every young person on the show can be a supermodel and there will be a good reason.
How would I do it?
The first episode opens with a news program explaining that the first computer built and designed completely by other computers has just been completed. This computer is a leap forward in technology that triggers this new age, but it is only the beginning this computer even before completely finished is finding solutions to mathematical questions which have been unanswered for centuries.
Our hero, a man born in the year 2010 is now thirty years old today. He is shorter and less attractive than those who walk by him his clothing hopelessly old fashioned and as he watches the program and just as the camera begins to pull back a man about fifty grabs a young girl's purse and attempts to run.
Cameras turn to record the man as the young woman chases him down and pulls the purse out of his hand showing no fear of this elderly man. Our hero helps the dirty man to his feet and they have a short conversation where we learn that the man is simply desperate. He was once successful but there's nothing left for him to do. The world has moved past him. Our hero gives him his last few dollars then looks back at the TV realizing that he has been left behind as well. This show will not be about the best or the smartest it will be about a good man who would be smart in our age simply trying to navigate this new age, and during the course of the show he might even save the world.As some of you may know Ron Moore was once hired as the producer of Star Trek Voyager but left after only two episodes. When asked about it he said that the show was not true because the ship looked to clean every week and basically things were to easy for them and that led people to not caring, but it appears some of the ideas stuck with Ron Moore and became a little show called Battlestar Galactica.
So let us examine a few of the ways that Battlestar Galactica and Voyager are similar and differnt and how a few small changes to a show and some good writing can make a premise that didn't work on one show work perfectly on another.
The story
Voyager: A ship is stranded across the galaxy and attempting a seemingly hopeless trip to reach Earth.
Battlestar: A fleet are the only survivors of humanity making a seemingly hopeless trip to reach Earth.
There is certainly a happier ending built into the story of Voyager but this doesn't really change the trip all that much.
Battlestar Galactica: Male Captain: Female leader, first mate with one eye, a hotshot pilot, an angry engineer, a self serving scientist, a boring son of the captain, an enemy robot attempting to be human.
Battlestar Galactica has more characters than Star Trek voyager did, but when you look at some of the interesting connections it becomes clearer. The most striking connection to me is that between 7 of 9 and 6, but Tom Paris and Kara Thrace and even Janeway and Rosyln all have strong connections.
Reconciliation theme
Voyager - The crew is made up of two groups who were fighting but have to work together if they are going to survive.
Battlestar Galactica - Crew is made up of two groups who were fighting but have to work together if they are going to survive.
The marque have more in common with the crew of voyager than the cylons do with those of battlestar galactica but the connections are really pretty clear to me.
Survival
Voyager: Have replicator rations
Battlestar Galactica - Running short of everything, struggling to mine asteroids to get fuel while being attacked by cylons. Decided that things are so bad living on an alge planet might not be so bad.
This is where the Star Trek technology begins to get in the way. It's hard to really think of someone struggeling to survive when they can play games on the holodeck and then replicate themselves cheeseburger for lunch and complaining about the meals that your cook makes for you doesn't make you seem like you are barely surviving it makes you seem whinny.
Specific Storylines
Voyager: Find a crew of Starfleet personell who have been in the delta quadrent longer than them and have began to do bad things to survive.
Battlestar Galactica: Find a Battlestar who have been fighting the cylons and have began to do bad things to win.
Voyager: A disease threatens to wipe out the borg.
Battlestar Galactica: A disease threatens to wipe out the cylons
Voyager: A macovirus attacks the crew but Janeway kills them all by lureing them into the holodeck and throwing in an antigen bomb.
Worst Voyager Episode?
Battlestar Galactica: Stopped before the show had to start coming up with stupid idea.
There are likely other episodes of Battlestar Galactica and Voyager which are similar, but these(not including the third) are both major story lines which were in both shows.
Thinking about all of this makes me sad because I realize that if the creators of Star Trek Voyager had really been willing to explore the ideas that were built into the show, such as how good people react to difficult circumstances and what people will do to survive we could have had a really interesting show, and while there were occasional good episodes of Voyager they never really explored it the way they could have.
On the other hand, Battlestar Galactica, as good as it was, didn't have the history and legend of Star Trek behind it. Even with a few flashbacks we really didn't know what the world these people had came from was like so sometimes it was difficult to express just how much these people had changed. This wouldn't have been nearly as much of a problem on voyager.
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The Crew
Voyager : A female leader, an first mate with tattoos around his eyes, a hotshot pilot, an angry engineer, a Vulcan security officer, an annoying alien, a holographic doctor, a boring ensign, and a enemy cyborg attempting to be human.
Battlestar Galactica: Male Captain: Female leader, first mate with one eye, a hotshot pilot, an angry engineer, a self serving scientist, a boring son of the captain, an enemy robot attempting to be human.
Battlestar Galactica has more characters than Star Trek voyager did, but when you look at some of the interesting connections it becomes clearer. The most striking connection to me is that between 7 of 9 and 6, but Tom Paris and Kara Thrace and even Janeway and Rosyln all have strong connections.
Reconciliation theme
Voyager - The crew is made up of two groups who were fighting but have to work together if they are going to survive.
Battlestar Galactica - Crew is made up of two groups who were fighting but have to work together if they are going to survive.
The marque have more in common with the crew of voyager than the cylons do with those of battlestar galactica but the connections are really pretty clear to me.
Survival
Voyager: Have replicator rations
Battlestar Galactica - Running short of everything, struggling to mine asteroids to get fuel while being attacked by cylons. Decided that things are so bad living on an alge planet might not be so bad.
This is where the Star Trek technology begins to get in the way. It's hard to really think of someone struggeling to survive when they can play games on the holodeck and then replicate themselves cheeseburger for lunch and complaining about the meals that your cook makes for you doesn't make you seem like you are barely surviving it makes you seem whinny.
Specific Storylines
Voyager: Find a crew of Starfleet personell who have been in the delta quadrent longer than them and have began to do bad things to survive.
Battlestar Galactica: Find a Battlestar who have been fighting the cylons and have began to do bad things to win.
Voyager: A disease threatens to wipe out the borg.
Battlestar Galactica: A disease threatens to wipe out the cylons
Voyager: A macovirus attacks the crew but Janeway kills them all by lureing them into the holodeck and throwing in an antigen bomb.
Worst Voyager Episode?
Battlestar Galactica: Stopped before the show had to start coming up with stupid idea.
There are likely other episodes of Battlestar Galactica and Voyager which are similar, but these(not including the third) are both major story lines which were in both shows.
Thinking about all of this makes me sad because I realize that if the creators of Star Trek Voyager had really been willing to explore the ideas that were built into the show, such as how good people react to difficult circumstances and what people will do to survive we could have had a really interesting show, and while there were occasional good episodes of Voyager they never really explored it the way they could have.
On the other hand, Battlestar Galactica, as good as it was, didn't have the history and legend of Star Trek behind it. Even with a few flashbacks we really didn't know what the world these people had came from was like so sometimes it was difficult to express just how much these people had changed. This wouldn't have been nearly as much of a problem on voyager.
According to Stuff William Shatner would like to be prime minister of Canada. "As Prime Minister I can lead Canada into even greater exploits."Shatner said. I don't know much about Mr. Shatner's politics but I know something of his acting career and so I like to imagine how some of his characters might run Canada.
Captain James Tiberius Kirk - This is almost to easy but it would certainly be entertaining when he punched one of the foreign ambassadors in the face. He would most likely also find a way to spend time with at least one attractive woman on every foreign visit.
T.J. Hooker - I don't know a lot about T.J. Hooker, but as a long time member of the police force I imagine that he would be tough on crime.
The Big Giant Head - Already King of the galaxy he would likely be more hands off than many other world leaders, demanding only alcohol and women in abundance, which makes him not all that different from many earth politicians.
Denny Crane - A legendary litigator in his prime, Denny Crane claims to be the greatest lawyer in history and to have never lost a case. What he has lost, or so it often appears, is his mind. This isn't necessarily a major deterrent to becoming a political leader as he is still charismatic. He is most certainly a conserve, claiming in the past that "Elevators are for Democrats" and only taking the stairs.
Bob Wilson - there's.. something on the wing of the plane (begins sobbing uncontrollably)
I can only hope that he does become Prime Minister of Canada. It would certainly be entertaining.