Posted October 18, 2012
I'm not sure if we watched the same show, that colonialism parallel is really something I wouldn't draw in this case. One of the pillars of the Star Trek is that famous directive that strictly forbids to interfere with primitive races, and among the other spacefaring civilizations mankind is neither the strongest or more advanced: if anything it's one of the youngest. And while each alien race is heavily stereotyped and tend to embody a specific human trait (here's the warmonger species, there's the greedy species, then we have a race of thinkers and so on**) there's no dominant force, culture or ideology in that universe, just a bunch of different species that struggle to coexist peacefully.
Also, many episodes have some kind of moral dilemma and the solution is not always black and white, they don't just slaps morals in your face, and sometimes they made me think.
That said, I can relate to the fact many things in the show are overly clean, optimistic and political correct, this is actually the reason I prefer Mass Effect 2-3 to ME1: the first feels too much like Star Trek (which in turn seems to cater to the stereotype I have of the american audience). But I'm fine with that, it satisfies my need to believe that at least in fiction, humanity will someday learn from its mistakes and find something better to do than stand at each other's throat.
**And this is quite common in sci-fi and, more in general, other kinds of literature. Actually, isn't it similar to what the ancient greeks did with their gods?
Also, many episodes have some kind of moral dilemma and the solution is not always black and white, they don't just slaps morals in your face, and sometimes they made me think.
That said, I can relate to the fact many things in the show are overly clean, optimistic and political correct, this is actually the reason I prefer Mass Effect 2-3 to ME1: the first feels too much like Star Trek (which in turn seems to cater to the stereotype I have of the american audience). But I'm fine with that, it satisfies my need to believe that at least in fiction, humanity will someday learn from its mistakes and find something better to do than stand at each other's throat.
**And this is quite common in sci-fi and, more in general, other kinds of literature. Actually, isn't it similar to what the ancient greeks did with their gods?
