TNG: Who Watches The Watchers?
September 30th, 2003 at 10:01 pm (Trek Talk)
Intelligent and thought provoking, TNG: Who Watches The Watchers? is one of those episodes that dares to take on a potentially controversial topic and wrap it in a fictional coating for easy digestion. The way the proto-Vulcan race is created has just the right mix of making them primitive enough to see as un-evolved, yet with the intelligence and integrity to make it easy to hold them in high regard. There are lots of interesting discussions one can get into after this episode including: How do we deal with past behavior that we recognize as based on ignorance in a respectful way? How much of our current beliefs are simply a lack of understanding? How do you determine when a society is ready to take the next step and how do you let go of outdated beliefs? Can any observer really be unobtrusive and unbiased?