Tag: television

Respect for Life

Recently, I was watching an iconic episode of Star Trek, “Arena” (s1ep19, a.k.a. the one with the Gorn), and I noticed this dialogue for the first time:

SPOCK: You mean to destroy the alien ship, Captain? 

KIRK: Of course.

SPOCK: I thought perhaps the hot pursuit alone might be sufficient. Destruction might be unnecessary.

KIRK: Colony Cestus Three has been obliterated, Mister Spock. 

SPOCK: The destruction of the alien vessel will not help that colony, Jim.

KIRK: If the aliens go unpunished, they’ll be back, attacking other Federation installations.

SPOCK: I merely suggested that a regard for sentient life —

KIRK: There’s no time for that.

I was impressed by how much Spock went out of his way to avoid destroying sentient life, as his duty allowed. This is not the only time he does this, see for example in Devil in the Dark (s1ep25):

SPOCK: Or it is the last of a race of creatures which made these tunnels. If so, if it is the only survivor of a dead race, to kill it would be a crime against science.

Of course, it’s also known that Leonard Nimoy helped develop the character’s iconic Vulcan Neck Pinch too: a non-violent way of subduing humanoids. He also didn’t hesitate to toss people from time to time…

Nonetheless, Spock’s respect for all life, and commitment to reason, science, and non-violence is really admirable. In Arena, Kirk is taking vengeance against the Gorn for the destruction of Cestus III, but Spock points out that destroying the Gorn vessel won’t bring back Cestus III. Later, as the episode shows, the destruction of Cestus III was due to a misunderstanding between the Federation and the Gorn. Spock was right: wanton destruction would have done no good. Kirk’s mercy toward the Gorn at the end is also praised by the Metrons who instigated the arena-style battle of the episode.

I suppose my point here is that science, reason, and respect for all life are worthy traits to uphold even today. 🖖🏼

P.S. Many years ago, when I visited the Star Trek museum exhibit at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle and I got to see the original Gorn costume:

Star Trek and Space Lincoln!!

Season three of Star Trek has one of my most favorite, albeit silliest episodes in the entire series: The Savage Curtain. The episode starts off with a bang: Abraham Lincoln (played by Lee Bergere) floating in space on his trademark chair.

From there, the Enterprise crew and in particular Kirk and Spock are confronted by some of “histories worst villains” as well as an encounter with Spock’s idol, Surak (played by Barry Atwater), father of Vulcan philosophy.

A picture of Surak of Vulcan, his right hand in the Vulcan Salute.
Surak of Vulcan, founder of Vulcan Logic, in the Star Trek episode the “Savage Curtain” (season 3, episode 22)

The rock aliens who force the “good” historical figures to combat the “evil” historical figures want to compare and contrast their philosophical ideas against one another to see which is better.

Kahless the Unforgettable (played by Bob Herron) and Colonel Greene (played by Phillip Pine)

The premise might seem a bit silly, but it is a fascinating contrast of ideas:1

  • Surak – a pacifist, non-violent approach
  • Lincoln – fight if necessary, and “on their level”.
  • Col. Greene – power is all matters
  • Kahless – victory by any means
  • Kirk – do what it takes to save his crew
  • Spock – honor his commitments to Starfleet, and fight with Kirk, even if is compromises his personal morals

Although Surak loses his life in the combat, he has some really great quotes in this episode that I think are worth sharing:2

The face of war has never changed.  Surely it is more logical to heal than to kill.

Surak of Vulcan, “The Savage Curtain” (s3ep23), stardate 5906.5

and also:

I am pleased to see that we have differences.  May we together become greater than the sum of both of us.

Surak of Vulcan, “The Savage Curtain” (s3ep22), stardate 5906.4

Lincoln’s performance throughout the episode is great as he embodies the great American president as we want him to be: gentle, but tough when needed. One can’t help but compare this to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure, even if they are completely different movies, because Abraham Lincoln is such a beloved figure.

At the very end of the episode, there is a subtle dialogue worth sharing:

KIRK: They seemed so real. And to me, especially Mister Lincoln. I feel I actually met Lincoln.

SPOCK: Yes, and Surak. Perhaps in a sense they were real, Captain. Since they were created out of our own thoughts, how could they be anything but what we expected them to be?

Source: http://www.chakoteya.net/StarTrek/77.htm

In fact, I think there’s something very Buddhist about this. The inhabitants of the planet didn’t necessarily create historically accurate versions of Lincoln, Surak, etc, but what we wanted them to be in our minds. In a sense, we create our own gods and idols through our hopes and aspirations (for good or for ill). This isn’t always bad, but it does show how unwittingly we bend the world around us to fit our beliefs and views.

Anyhow, The Savage Curtain is such a fun, surreal episode, and a fascinating contrast of ideas and people in history, and how they interact. These ideas and philosophies are timeless in many ways, and crop up over and over again in history, but by pitting a bunch of historical figures in space against once another, it takes on a whole new dimension of weird, silly, fun.

Also:

Courtesy of “Swear Trek”

P.S. Many reviews point out that The Savage Curtain borrows elements from older, venerable episodes, and thus judge it an inferior episode. I can’t disagree that it borrows a lot of elements, but I like to think it is a capstone to several previous “moral tale” episodes. The action sequences aren’t quite as good, but I don’t think that was the point. It was battle of ideas, not sticks.

P.P.S. I bet you could take all 8 characters, including Kirk and Spock, in the battle and somehow arrange them into a classic D&D alignment chart. The rock aliens of Excalbia would probably be true-neutral.

1 I wish “Zorra” (Carol Daniels) and “Genghis Khan” (Nathan Jung) had dialogue, as it would have been interesting to have more contrasting goals and aspirations.

2 More on witnessing war.

Letting Go of Expectations of Others

Spock: No one can guarantee the actions of another.

Star Trek, “Day of the Dove” (s3ep7), stardate unknown

The third season of the classic TV series, Star Trek, gets a lot of flak for being lower in quality, but some of the best episodes of the series can be found there. One of my personal favorites is “Day of the Dove”.

The premise is strange at first glance: the Enterprise crew and a group of Klingon prisoners are trapped on the Enterprise by a phantasmal alien that feeds on anger and conflict, which keeps manipulating both sides in order to instigate them into hopeless, unending cycle of conflict. The alien furnishes weapons, seals corridors, plants false memories, and heals fatal injuries all so that the Enterprise crew and Klingons fight can ad infinitum, even as the ship is hurling out of control beyond the edge of the galaxy.

There’s a lot to unpack in this episode, and much of it still relates to circumstances today. But I’ll let you the reader decide for yourself.

In any case, Spock’s quote above illustrates something very Buddhist in my opinion: people expect other people to think and feel the way they do. When they don’t, we get frustrated. We naturally tend to see our own viewpoint as “pristine” and the more other’s deviate from this, the weirder or aberrant they are. We get frustrated when we they don’t do what we expect them to do. This can also happen between spouses, co-workers, and so on.

But as Spock rightly implies, this is arrogant, irrational, and dare I say “illogical”. We are not the center of the Universe, why should other people think and do as we do?

In the classic Buddhist text, the Dhammapada, are the following verses:

  1. One who, while himself seeking happiness, oppresses with violence other beings who also desire happiness, will not attain happiness hereafter.
  2. One who, while himself seeking happiness, does not oppress with violence other beings who also desire happiness, will find happiness hereafter.
  3. Speak not harshly to anyone, for those thus spoken to might retort. Indeed, angry speech hurts, and retaliation may overtake you.
  4. If, like a broken gong, you silence yourself, you have approached Nibbana,1 for vindictiveness is no longer in you.

[skipping for brevity…]

142. Even though he be well-attired [instead of dressed like a humble monk], yet if he is poised, calm, controlled and established in the holy life, having set aside violence towards all beings — he, truly, is a holy man, a renunciate, a monk.

translation by Acharya Buddharakkhita

Oftentimes, it is simply better to let go, let people be who they are, even if they are wrong or short-sighted, and wish them no harm.

Namu Shakamuni Butsu
Namu Amida Butsu

1 Nibbana is the Pali-style pronunciation of Nirvana. Both mean the same thing in a Buddhist context: liberation, unbinding, freedom. A Buddha’s awakening to the truth (e.g. enlightenment) leads to a state of letting go, unbinding. The Buddha Shakyamuni described it as a flame extinguished.