In the situations we’re looking at in my class, one might argue that the machinery of the state was operating beyond the folks who were part of it. And those folks weren’t voted in 
That last scene between Tom and Harry was a nice friendship moment.
And they use fear, political stances, philosophy and religion to justify their abuses…
Yeah, and the Delany sisters better watch out… IYKWIM :groucho:
The episode was a left-over from the first two seasons of Star Trek: Voyager and proved to be particularly problematic for teleplay writer Kenneth Biller. He explained, “It was sort of a left-over story from the Michael Piller era, and I struggled with it because it was a prison picture essentially. Michael wanted this to be an episode about Kim’s humanity being tested. I thought it was basically an impossible task, because every single prison movie that has ever been successful that I can think of depends on one thing in particular, which is the passage of time. All take place over years, if not decades. Given the fact it would be impossible given the restrictions of our show to strand Paris and Kim for more than several days, it seemed therefore impossible to bring Kim to the brink.”
Ugh! No imagination. Has this guy not seen Inner Light? Not to mention several other ways you can use science fiction to allow characters to feel the impact of the passive of time.
DS9 did a wonderful job with that concept, and so did The Outer Limits… Both used implanted false memories.
Sounds like a job for…
Wait
For
It
… Captain James T Kirk!!
Oh, 'talos. Never change!
(in the case we’re looking at, the dictator got voted out in a plebiscite that he had planned to use to hold on to power for another 8 years with a veneer of democratic legitimacy… and when he lost and tried to get support from his previous associate for staying in power, they were all like nope! so out he went. mostly.)
I was thinking of them returning to the ship and still needing the Chute. Like Red in Shawshank Redemption said, “I’m institutionalized. It’s so I can’t even take a piss without permission.”
Well, you can’t knock him for not trying.
What is your opinion of this episode? I remember not liking it when I first saw it. I’m reading on Memory Alpha that both Garrett and Robert thought the episode was really good. They were pleased with it.
I remember it feeling forced and contrived.
So, where did they film this? In the McDonald’s PlayPlace?
I think the acting was good, so I can see how they would like that. But Star Trek has done so many GOOD prison stories that this one just couldn’t stand up to them.
Every official that comes in
Cripples us leaves us maimed
Silent and tamed
And with our flesh and bones
He builds his homes
----RatM