Thoughts on Heinlein and Card

I made some notes as I read Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land and Orson Scott Card’s The Worthing Saga:

• Heinlein as Jubal Harshaw on the compulsive reading of news or Gossip Gone Wild: most neuroses can be traced to worrying about the troubles of five million strangers; and
• Card: the premise that civilization requires the institution of marriage (presumably the monogamous sort); setting aside whether a population can be successfully seeded from a relatively small number of couples, does this stand to reason?

The Mormon mind-set is prevalent, but this isn’t a criticism of Card. First, I don’t think I could’ve picked two more diametrically opposed views of the perfect society than in SIASL and TWS. Second, if I’m honest with myself, Heinlein’s mind-set was probably no less prevalent in SIASL; it just so happens that his is closer to mine than Card’s is.

On telepathy and lying: in TWS, Martin tells his daughter, Faith, that she can’t lie to him. I don’t think this stands to reason. Children experiment with lying from a very early age, and, as they get older, successfully lie to their parents, partly because their parents assume they know them so well. Even in the case of a telepathic parent and child, each of whom can block the other’s thoughts, I can see this working. Experimenting with familiar thought patterns, with a reasonable level of privacy during adolescence, etc. I believe a child could convince a parent that they were being truthful, by exhibiting a familiar, if highly complex, facade.

Assignment: Earth

What a commanding entrance by Robert Lansing! Even as he thinks aloud and registers surprise, one feels that he, not Kirk, controls the situation. And then there’s the cat, Isis, who, frankly, seems to be Seven’s equal in that first scene.

Seven’s array of identification is impressive. I wonder how many people had heard of the National Security Agency in 1968.

The episode quickly took on a grand scope. Frankly, it began to feel more like an episode of Doctor Who or Quantum Leap, to its credit. The Wikipedia entry for the episode states that it was also a pilot for a spin-off television series of the same name that was not picked up.

The beginning of the sabotage, with Isis first on Seven’s back and then up behind his head was hilarious; a regular backseat saboteur was the cat, and Seven’s patience with her was the icing on the cake.

Bread and Circuses

I liked the horns that opened the score; they set a tension right from the outset: almost like the away team was entertaining some unseen spectators – as the title of the episode implies – from the moment they beamed down.

The exposition regarding the Prime Directive was noteworthy: is this the first reference to it? (The Wikipedia entry for the episode classifies it as one of the clearest descriptions of the directive.) Kirk’s delivery was certainly more rudimentary than Picard’s often philosophical take on it.

I find this series makes better reference to what is presumably a vast amount of science behind space exploration. For example, Kirk’s passing reference to Hodgkin’s Law of Parallel Planetary Development is great: he’s obviously familiar with it, and doesn’t bore you with details; it adds such flavour to the show.

McCoy and Spock’s banter had me smiling. Again, I can’t help but appreciate the play of personalities in this series; something I’d always felt The Next Generation couldn’t be topped in ’til now.

The television program was fantastic! And I must say, The Running Man seems less groundbreaking now.

Kirk’s slightest of smiles as Drusilla tells him she’s his slave for the night was also great: sharing a moment with the audience of, “Yes, this isn’t right, but, come on, can you blame me for considering it?” :-)

Finally, the twist with the Son worshipers was good: a charitable, optimistic take on Christianity. It reminded me of Sunday school classes as a child, and the image of Jesus as a man, spreading the word of God one lesson at a time. I’ve always liked that image.