Word: alienation
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Iranian crisis has produced the world's largest and most complex psychodrama. Every day in Washington President Carter is brought up to the minute on the Ayatullah Ruhollah Khomeini's psychological profile, a shifting and convoluted picture that is alien to White House experience. And the Ayatullah himself has already told the world that his actions are attuned to his perception of Carter's "guts...
...nation, in the process of its revolutionary development, cleansed itself of the filth of despotism and shed off an alien culture and mode of thought." So says the remarkable 175-article constitution that the Iranians approved last week by a claimed margin of more than 99%. Instead of any alien mode of thought, the new constitution gives all power to a Faqih, or supreme religious figure-that is, Khomeini. This Faqih is supposed to be "respected by the majority of the people as their undisputed leader," but there is no provision for his being elected. While filling this lifetime post...
...space with realism and "flash." But since the "creators" of The Motion Picture wanted to get away from the rough 'em up cowboys and laser beams action of Star Wars, they decided to put their special effects money into non-military opticals of the Enterprise's travel through an alien "cloud." It is quite possible that Dykstra and Trumbull decided that since anyone can create the illusion of space travel--they should devote their energies to creating a formidable enemy so large (82 Astronomical Units--about 7.5 billion miles in diameter) and so colorful and so full of sexual imagery...
...that there are no thematic elements which would make The Motion Picture more durable. The story focuses exclusively on one problem--stopping the intruder before it destroys all the "carbon based units" (i.e. life) on the Earth. The Enterprise and its crew, once it has assembled, proceeds to the alien with no delay, no tests or demonstrations of strength, courage, ingenuity, resourcefulness or extraordinary ability. And once one technological challenge has been overcome, the Enterprise and its crew arrive at their destination having had no shakedown, without demonstrating that the women and men of the 23rd century are capable...
...plot. We do not perceive the Enterprise crew as thinkers but as doers, whose own motivations are as clouded as those of the enemy they are combating. We end up learning more about the enemy than the human beings. We can assume that Roddenberry meant us to view the alien as a projection of ourselves. It was a good idea, a common theme in Star Trek, but one overwhelmed by the film's flaws...