#JIM LL PAINT IT STAR TREK MOVIE#

“Look, based on all our previous experiences on seemingly idyllic planets, I am absolutely certain that there is nothing wrong with this one.”įor example, consider the sequence in which Kirk first proves himself of value to the native population. However, why must they speak in broken English? Surely after all of this time, the Native Americans have found a way to converse that doesn’t involve using the simplest English phraseology for complex events? Why would they speak English at all, given they do not seem to recognise Kirk as a European settler? Of course, the script needs them to speak English so Kirk can understand them.

They speak in a weird and broken English.

#JIM LL PAINT IT STAR TREK MOVIE#

The Native Americans feel like they wandered out of a movie from the thirties or forties. The Paradise Syndrome devotes more energy to excusing its own ignorance than it does to developing its native population, and that is very little to begin with. McCoy identifies the inhabitants of the planet as “American Indians.” Spock offers a half-hearted handwave to explain why their culture is so generic, stating that these people are “a mixture of Navajo, Mohican, and Delaware.” In short, they are a convenient stand-in for Native Americans, cultivated from the most superficial notions about the community held by middle-class white European settlers. “We’ve seen Pocahontas, right? How about Avatar?” They remain a racial fantasy of an idyllic “primitive” culture. In the time since those Native Americans were removed from Earth by “the Preservers”, their understanding of the universe has not evolved or developed. The Paradise Syndrome presents a hazily defined Native American culture that seems to have been frozen in time for almost half a millennia. That is a fairly damning indictment of the episode, but it is also entirely justified. Rather than revise the script for accuracy, however, Roddenberry and the writers of Star Trek presented a generically bland and internally inconsistent “Indian” identity for the villagers. Preproduction fact-checkers from the Kellam de Forest Research Company advised Roddenberry about problems in the script, such as blending unlikely (and warring) Native nations together and calling for costuming completely unrelated to any of those tribes. Not only does the episode paint a portrait of Native Americans as noble savages incapable of progress, but it also suggests all Indigenous Americans comprise one homogeneous culture. Sturgis outlines in If This Is The (Final) Frontier, Where Are The Natives?, the episode is tonedeaf and ill-judged: It is offensive on just about every level, an awkward and patronising portrayal of Native American culture that demonstrates only the most superficial understanding of their beliefs and traditions. The Paradise Syndrome is an unapologetic white saviour narrative couched in a clumsy mishmash of stereotypical Native American imagery. “Excuse me, but what does God need with a Starship?” The episode is very much an unironic celebration of the idea of Star Trek as a “space western”, positing our heroes as galactic frontiersmen who come into contact with idealised (but primitive) native cultures that are explicitly modelled upon and likened to Native Americans. Our hero comes to live among these people, integrating into their society and advancing their culture with his more learned understanding and ideas. Unfortunately, it seems like The Paradise Syndrome missed the memo. Spectre of the Gun was an apocalyptic deconstruction of the whole “Star Trek as a space western” idea, suggesting that the frontier myth was baked into the show’s premise as something akin to a franchise original sin. Corral, offering a searing indictment of narratives of violence. Spectre of the Gun threw Kirk and his crew back into the gunfight at the O.K.

It has become a cliché to describe Star Trek as a “space western.” After all, the third season premiere was built around that very premise. “That’ll teach me to hope that the next episode will be better.”

Jim ll paint it star trek