[horatio]

Originally Posted by Howlin' Wolf

I think it would be a better show if they were included though. Whether your religious or not such things can be used to really flesh out characters and further develop storylines. B5 embraced the existence of religion and used it to great effect occasionally. As far as money, how do you get the things you need without it? Not everything can be replicated so if you want something from the Orions but they don't want anything from you or at least nothing you have to trade your stuck paying for it. Unless you want to do a Radar O' Reilly and spend some time calling all over the Alpha Quadrant trying to work something out. Even if you could work out deals the Radar way the logistics of bringing all that together would in itself destroy the deal.

I would not mind a religious human character, but I guess the writers preferred to use the fictitious Bajoran religion to explore these questions.

Trek has always been vague on economic aspects. If we take "Journey to Babel" and "First Contact" as benchmark, then conflicts among Federation members are common and humans are not as strongly motivated by materialistic goals as today.
It's not the land of milk and honey, just a bit better than today.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by Howlin' Wolf

I'm going by the Picard statement(I don't remember the ep) where he claimed material gain and social status were no longer human endeavors. But your absolutely right the issues are still there they just pretend they aren't.

Part of the problem is that there can be a discrepancy between what characters sometimes 'say' and how things are actually presented. Otherwise why are the Admirals and guest quarters on the Ent-D clearly so much more comfortable than an ensigns quarters!

[JamesTKirk1701]

Originally Posted by Howlin' Wolf

I'm going by the Picard statement(I don't remember the ep) where he claimed material gain and social status were no longer human endeavors. But your absolutely right the issues are still there they just pretend they aren't.

I'm sure it wouldn't be difficult to find. The original show was that way too, situations still existed yet they were in denial about it. It's funny how that works, when nobody talks about it it's literally not an issue or a problem. Alarmists like bringing up things just for spite. I watch tv shows to be entertained not to ponder trivial social situations. Entertain me with space travel and not political bs.


On second thought I just tried to google it and it is hard to find. Screw that, like I need to know what episode it was.

[Samuel]

Originally Posted by Howlin' Wolf

Unless you want to do a Radar O' Reilly and spend some time calling all over the Alpha Quadrant trying to work something out. Even if you could work out deals the Radar way the logistics of bringing all that together would in itself destroy the deal.

Dont forget the phone bills outside of the Federation 'friends and family' zones. Gotta pay the man somehow.

[horatio]

Originally Posted by JamesTKirk1701

Whats even funnier is you actually screwed up, all I needed to do was clarify it. Now that you mention contradictions, that's a left-wingers m.o. they never not contradict themselves but I know that post didn't contradict itself at all it only needed to be clarified which it was so I don't know what you're talking about.

If you seek political mudfights, there are plenty of boards for trolls to play out there.

Originally Posted by kevin

Part of the problem is that there can be a discrepancy between what characters sometimes 'say' and how things are actually presented. Otherwise why are the Admirals and guest quarters on the Ent-D clearly so much more comfortable than an ensigns quarters!

In TOS all quarters were of equal size (OK, we know the real-world reason for that). So much about TNG being super-lame-utopian.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by Samuel

Dont forget the phone bills outside of the Federation 'friends and family' zones. Gotta pay the man somehow.

Well you just have to apply for the 'E.T package - all galaxies, all dimensions, off peak, unlimited calls home'

[Howlin' Wolf]

Originally Posted by Samuel

Dont forget the phone bills outside of the Federation 'friends and family' zones. Gotta pay the man somehow.

You just do a little Cap'n Crunch hacking and charge it to the Klingons.

[kevin]

Originally Posted by horatio

In TOS all quarters were of equal size (OK, we know the real-world reason for that). So much about TNG being super-lame-utopian.

We have a shift between the two series towards clear indicators of levels of society.

[JamesTKirk1701]

Originally Posted by kevin

Part of the problem is that there can be a discrepancy between what characters sometimes 'say' and how things are actually presented. Otherwise why are the Admirals and guest quarters on the Ent-D clearly so much more comfortable than an ensigns quarters!

It boils down to Picard is full of crap on tha statement. Oh yeah he can say that with a big captain's quarters and all kinds of stuff from his collection. I would have said I don't know what are and aren't human endeavors since I'm not overly focused on things of that nature.

[Howlin' Wolf]

Originally Posted by kevin

Part of the problem is that there can be a discrepancy between what characters sometimes 'say' and how things are actually presented. Otherwise why are the Admirals and guest quarters on the Ent-D clearly so much more comfortable than an ensigns quarters!

I guess Trek fits the idea of a religion itself. It's preachy, has a routine and there are definitely people in the pews but when you start trying to figure it out, there doesn't seem to be anything there.