Settings
Light Theme
Dark Theme

Season 5, Episode 21 “Who Watches the Watchers" (TNG) with Mollie Pettit

Season 5, Episode 21 “Who Watches the Watchers" (TNG) with Mollie Pettit
Dec 2, 2020 · 1h 14m 11s

Get ready to catch an important arrow as we wonder "Who Watches the Watchers"! Data visualization engineer and designer Millie Pettit joins the show this week to discuss an episode...

show more
Get ready to catch an important arrow as we wonder "Who Watches the Watchers"!

Data visualization engineer and designer Millie Pettit joins the show this week to discuss an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation that presents a pitiless examination of Starfleet's most sacred law: the Prime Directive. While assisting a team of scientists observing a developing world, the Enterprise crew accidently reveals their existence to the planet's natives. Now, Picard must choose between letting a nascent society slip back into darkness or sacrificing his life to protect their future!

The Federation holds sentient life in the highest regard, but that tenet of their egalitarian philosophy comes with the strictest prescription. In seeking to avoid "playing God" with disadvantaged societies, Starfleet captains are often called on to make choices even gods would find daunting. On this episode, we discuss the humanist catechisms of Federation society, the singularity of Trek's universe of morality, the presumption inherent in the Prime Directive, the utilitarian implications of the "needs of the many", Roddenberry's struggles in portraying a moral but areligious society, the godlike aliens of Star Trek, and the godlike power of a Starfleet captain.

We also discuss the navel-gazing of intergalactic liberalism, data visualization now and in Trek's future, ROCK CLIMBING, no sympathy for goo monsters, altruism as a fictional technology, who gets trolley'd, the REAL Picard maneuver, why you need a Chad scientist, genetic haircuts, Kirk vs. Jesus, Rorschach, Bobby Hill, a ton of sci-fi allusions, and our first Foundation reference!

"Have I failed you in some way?"

Follow Mollie on Twitter and check out her study on Wesley episodes!
https://twitter.com/mollzmp
https://datascopeanalytics.com/blog/wesley-crushes-ratings

Learn the story behind your favorite Trek stories with BackTrekking!
http://www.twitter.com/backtrekking

Argue philosophy with us on Facebook and Twitter and the Just Enough Trope Discord!
http://www.facebook.com/eistpod
http://www.twitter.com/eistpod
https://discord.gg/UeytGNP

Buy us a compound bow on Patreon and Ko-Fi!
http://www.patreon.com/eistpod
https://ko-fi.com/E1E01M2UA

Subscribe to the show on iTunes!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/enterprising-individuals/id1113165661?mt=2
show less
Information
Author justenoughtrope
Website -
Tags

Looks like you don't have any active episode

Browse Spreaker Catalogue to discover great new content

Current

Looks like you don't have any episodes in your queue

Browse Spreaker Catalogue to discover great new content

Next Up

Episode Cover Episode Cover

It's so quiet here...

Time to discover new episodes!

Discover
Your Library
Search