Stardate 41636.9
The
U.S.S. Enterprise proceeds to Angel One, a matriarchal oligarchy, where
survivors of the lost freighter Odin are believed to have settled.
Commander
William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) leads an away team to the planet surface to search
for the Odin survivors, and to negotiate with the guarded leader of Angel One,
Mistress Beata (Karen Montgomery).
An
unexpected wrinkle arises, however, when the Odin survivors -- all men -- don’t
want to leave Angel One with the Enterprise crew. Instead, they are deemed revolutionaries on
the female-dominated planet, and want to stay to effect change. Beata finds their political views
unacceptable.
Aboard
the Enterprise, another crisis occurs.
A
virus begins sweeping through the crew, including Captain Picard (Patrick
Stewart), even as the ship is summoned by Starfleet to head to the Romulan
Neutral Zone, where battlecruisers have been reported on maneuvers.
When
the Odin survivors are captured by Beata, and sentenced to death for treason,
Riker must convince Beata to succumb to the forces of not “revolution,” but
rather “evolution,” and pave the way for the equality of men and women.
In
roughly half-a-season’s duration, Star Trek: The Next Generation
(1987-1994) manages to bungle a story involving race (“Code of Honor”) and one
about gender (“Angel One.”) In the process, the first season of the series
often appears more dated than its 1960’s predecessor does, at least in terms of
pro-social commentary.
“Angel
One’s” tale, of course, involves a militant feminist society; one in which men
are sex objects (down to their skimpy fashions), and women hold all the power
in government. The so-called “role reversal” culture clash is one of the
hoariest and most-oft explored ideas in science fiction TV history.
Not
long ago on the blog here, I reviewed a series that carried this notion as its
very premise: Star Maidens (1976). In
that case, and in others (such as Roddenberry’s Planet Earth), the concept of a
“gender reversed” society might work (intermittently, anyway), if treated as
satire, or commentary on our world. In
other words, we might laugh at the female-dominated culture because we
recognize the flaws of a male-dominated one. “Angel One” gleans laughs from
Riker dressing up in a revealing outfit for Mistress Beata, but is otherwise
humorless in its treatment of the trope.
The
episode largely comes off as a story in which Starfleet shows up at a wayward or
backward planet, and shows it the error of its ways, hopefully paving the way
for a fairer society. But the series writers don’t explain in “Angel One” why a
society that treats either gender as inferior is wrong.
Without
this specific thematic point addressed, the idea of a female dominated culture
is made to seem not like satire, but like a reversal of the natural order.
Meaning
a male-dominated society is the right, proper and natural way to go.
It’s
a shame, because somewhere in “Angel One” is the idea that the women of the
Enterprise crew demonstrate their worth and value in the course of the
mission. For example, Dr. Crusher cures
the virus that sweeps the Enterprise crew, literally by herself, since we see
almost none of her staff.
Simultaneously, however, the episode backs away from a good role for
Counselor Troi. She is the voice of the Enterprise when it first contacts Angel
One, but is not given command of the away team for some reason. This episode
would have proven much more powerful, and perhaps more even-handed, if Troi not
only commanded the away team, but was permitted to give the valedictory speech
about “evolution” that Commander Riker speaks.
Instead,
Riker gets that plum role, and to bed the hot alien leader.
In terms of the romantic scenes, this
situation is certainly fun in a campy, silly way, and as a call-back to Kirk’s
womanizing ways on the original series.
But boy is this the wrong episode in
which to hit that particular note. Riker’s easy romance of Beata again seems to
suggest the “proper” value of women in society -- according to the series -- is
as sexual objects.
The
episode is really, really confused about this point. It’s wrong for women to
objectify men, for sex, but it is okay for women, like Beata, to be treated
that way, by men like Riker. The writers
try to have the romantic scene come off as “equal” by making Beata assertive
about her sexual desire, but the whole premise of the scene is a basic male sex
fantasy. Honestly, most stories of this
type -- the female dominated society -- come off that way unless writers,
directors and performers are very careful.
“Angel
One” doesn’t fare any better with the “B” story it features.
Although
it is great to see Dr. Crusher hard at work, brilliantly puzzling out the
particulars of the strange virus, the subplot feels like filler, and confusing
filler at that.
Did
the holodeck -- in the simulation where Wesley went skiing on a class trip --
generate the virus? If so, that is certainly an amazing malfunction, and one
that Starfleet should watch out for.
What if the simulation was set in Europe during the time of Bubonic Plague,
for example?
Or
was the virus something related to Worf’s physiology, in particular, since the
virus “smells” Klingon, and is transmitted via scent?
The
situation is terribly muddled, and some clarity would have been appreciated.
Finally,
the Romulan threat is utilized most poorly here as well. A great deal of
attention is paid to the fact that Romulan battle cruisers are moving about
through the area of the Neutral Zone, and the fact that the Enterprise must
travel to that location to shore up Starfleet defenses. Matters look grave when
the virus strikes, and the ship becomes undermanned to the point that Data is
the only officer left stationed on the bridge.
Then,
the episode ends with the Enterprise on its way to the confrontation…and we
never know what happened at the Neutral Zone, or with the Romulans!
In
fact, the final episode of the season, “The Neutral Zone” goes out of its way
to offer viewers the backstory that the Romulans have been quiescent for
decades, completely forgetting about the events of “Angel One” in the process.
Next
week: “11001001.”
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