Chris Snellgrove | Published
Star Wars is a franchise that he explicitly commented on in Vietnam, and creator George Lucas once designated Iwok’s symbolic Viet Cong as he is fighting against technologically advanced forces. However, other than Original series The episode “A Private Little War,” rival sci-fi franchise Star Trek rarely touched on Vietnam or its controversy. That changed in everything Next Generation The Hunted episode confirmed by showrunner Michael Pillar was built around the theme of “how society treats returning veterans.”
If you need a quick review, “The Hunted” is an episode in which the Enterprise investigates the planets they want to join the Commonwealth, but the planet helps track off the escaped prisoner named Roga Danar. He turns out to be a former soldier strengthened by the planetary government to fight on their behalf, but he and other such troops were removed from postwar society because they were so aggressive. Star Trek: Next Generation Head Hong Cho Pillar confirmed that this was an all-talk of the Vietnam War, and how many Americans dealt with soldiers that Americans saw as wild bars to reenter society.
Interestingly, this Star Trek: Next Generation The episode offered a very different perspective than the TOS episode “A Private Little War.” Kirk “Remember the 20th century brush war on the Asian continent?” In that episode, the Klingons armed the primitive tribes with advanced weapons, and Kirk makes the odd decision to resolve the situation by making sure their rival tribes are armed as well. Dr. McCoy opposes the idea, but Kirk’s final decision is fascinating. Because in general, the show on the left appears to have explicitly supported the controversial US participation in Vietnam.
Fast forward to “The Hunted” and you’ll get an episode of Star Trek after it’s not criticising Vietnam. At least it’s not the role the US government plays. The planetary government in this episode is corrupt, but the story is primarily criticized by American society and reluctant to welcome back-back soldiers.
Picard ends the episode by telling the planet that he can reapply for federal membership after understanding how to treat veterans. This basically tells viewers that Star Trek’s future utopia can only be achieved after Vietnam and other war veterans find out how to treat them after they return to society. It’s obviously a bit preaching, but what were you expecting from the hippie franchise?
Looking back at this Star Trek episode, Michael Pillar said that Roga Danar (a former fugitive soldier who embodies Vietnam’s veterans) was “a little difficult to get a company to kneel,” but he ultimately enjoyed the episode. We must agree: “The Hunted” is the perfect example of a preaching episode, not making sure that the message didn’t deliver an interesting time packed with both action and introspection. And Danar is the killer character we’d like to see again, and perhaps headlines his own spinoff film… MaybeFinally, give it a taste Section 31 From our mouths.
