So I’m running through the entire series of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine again for old time’s sake. It really is the best of the Trek series for my money.
The characters are so much deeper and the plotlines so much more involved. It honestly makes TNG look like a walk in the park, full of privileged brats.
But that’s not why I’m writing. Instead, I’m commenting on a particular episode in the second season called “Paradise.” What? Don’t have every Star Trek episode memorized? I’ll sum up.
Be warned: If you haven’t seen The Village and don’t want to be spoiled, you should probably stop reading.
Basically, Sisko and O’Brien go galavanting onto some planet where they find a colony of crash-landed humans who have been living planetside for 10 years.
They haven’t left or contacted anyone for help because none of their technology works thanks to some sort of interference field that they surmise is some sort of naturally occuring phenomenon.
But then we find out that that natural occurrence is actually a technological device placed there and hidden by the leader of the colony because she abhors technology. So she hoodwinked a few dozen people for 10 years so that she could live out her fantasy of a “better life.”
Fast Forward over 10 years later in real time, and Shymalan releases The Village to mixed reviews. I actually liked the movie a great deal and really wish people would move past The Sixth Sense to appreciate him as a filmmaker.
But it occurred to me as I watched this episode that The Village is practically the exact same story. Sure, the macguffin is different but the goal is the same — crazy purist seeks to destroy lives by forcing them to live a ’simpler’ life.
I’m not naive enough to think that the DS9 writers came up with this sci-fi plot device all by themselves, and I even admit that Shymalan could have gotten his inspiration from a wholly different source.
But where from? I find it interesting how some stories are so familiar yet so new at the same time. Both Trek and Shymalan likely pulled on some earlier source that probably also pulled from an even earlier source.
Not being well-versed in sci-fi literature and media, I open it to you. Where did this story get its start?
I think Sir Thomas More got there first – the no technology angle is just a recent addition.
Well, in the story found in Genesis, we call that hoodwinker ‘The Lord’, who commands the populace (A&E) to live a paradasiacal, “perfect” life, telling them its better not to know good from evil. Depending on your views of Biblical textual analysis, an earlier account would be that of Prometheus, who stole fire for mankind against the wishes of Zeus.
Your “Paradise” episode sounds pretty-much like a standard promethean story, with Sisko and O’Brien playing the role of firebringer. Is that older than you thought?
The point of the story isn’t that Siko and O’Brien are helping these people to see the light. I think the point is more that there is this counter-idea that less technology is better and that it’s okay to force that idea on someone without their knowledge if it’s for the greater good.
I suppose you could argue that the Gods were attempting to hold people in that fashion, with only Prometheus to show them that they were being fooled. But it seems the theme of the Prometheus story is subtely different in that it focuses more on the salvation of the people out of the darkness.
Although I didn’t mention it in the blog post, the end result of the DS9 episode was that Sisko and O’Brien offered to take those people back to the station and they all refused. They liked what they had even if they had been fooled into obtaining it.
That certainly can’t be said for humans in either origin story.
oh, idunno, there’s lots of Christian literature devoted to the idea of regaining Eden’s innocence.
I’m sticking with my origin, even if its been turned inside out – that’s the job of a writer, right? To put new perspective on old stories?
people haven’t changed much since they started. the greeks knew people from different social groups had trouble when they fell in love long before romeo spied juliet or maria caught the eye of the rival new york gang. i don’t think there are more than a dozen great stories-just new settings and personalities driven by the same old needs and desires. some are tragic, some are comedic some dramatic. laura, presumed dead, captured the heart of the investigating detective long before laforge fell in love with a presumed dead presumed murderer. new twists are the fun. shymalan, hitchcock give us new corners to peek around. lerner an lowe give us music to imprint the stories. the winds of present social mores flavor the resolution (or lack of it). the story lets us know we are not alone and even if we are lowly gardners we may someday help save middle earth.