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Thread: The Finest Tradition

  1. #1
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    The Finest Tradition

    We often hear, or see referred to, someone acting in "the finest tradtion of" such-and-such, be it the NYPD or the FBI or the USAF.

    We've even heard the phrase a time or two in Star Trek, with someone acting in the finest tradition of Star Fleet (and I know there are still people out there who want to correct me when I spell that as two words, but they'll get over it eventually).

    So what do you guys consider the finest tradition of Star Fleet? I'll give you one of my moments that just shout "finest tradition" to me, and then I'll surrender the floor.

    In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, there is a scene towards the end where Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Decker are all standing in front of V'Ger, who has achieved sentience and wants the Creator to come and receive the probe's knowledge personally. I paraphrase Dr. McCoy here, but Decker's answer is verbatim:

    McCoy: "He wants to touch God? Is that possible?"
    Decker: "Let's find out."

    That moment...those three words...that's what it's all about. Not about the battles won or the lives saved, though that's important, too...but the quest for knowledge. We don't know something, so we go and figure it out, though it cost us our lives. That is the finest tradtion of Star Fleet to me.

    What say you?
    Patrick Goodman -- Tilting at Windmills

    "I dare you to do better." -- Captain Christopher Pike

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  2. #2
    Actually, in an appropriately IDIC reflection, the end sequence of The Final Frontier"What does God need with a starship?"–is still one of my favourites. Part of it might be the sheer Old Testament-ness of a Jewish guy in a desert asking the pillar of fire what the deal is. Part of it is the Sybok, realizing his mistake, turning around and trying to heal the demiurge of it's wounds, an unexpected self-sacrifice that ultimately redeems him. Ironically transforming him, in the end, into a Christ-like figure.

    The sense of grappling with the unknown, which seemed so potent to me when I was a kid, still resonates with me. Plus I like the plot twist, in a Twilight Zone kind of way. "He took off the mask, and it was the Devil!"

    That's sort of the high point of the movie, though. It's a shame the rest is so clunky.
    Last edited by The Tatterdemalion King; 09-20-2009 at 05:50 PM.
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  3. #3
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    I gotta go with Spock readjusting the dilithium crystals by hand, because the good of the many outweighs the good of the one. And then Kirk and the other risking their careers to revive him Because the opposite is sometimes true.

  4. #4
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    Well, as i try to come up with moments in Trek, the first one that comes to mind is Picard from the end parts of First Contact: he realizes his mistakes, takes a few minutes to set them straight (decides to abandon ship, apologizes to Worf), and then, he does what no sane person would do: he descends INTO a borg hive to save Data.
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  5. #5
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    Though this may seem a bit clichéd (and I would have loved to find a reference in TNG as it is my favourite, but this is the first that came to my mind), I'd go with the resolution of TOS The devil in the dark. What appeared to be yet another redshirt-hungry monster was a grieving mother, and Starfleet helped to clear the misunderstanding. That is what I see as on of "the finest traditions" in this body.

    Okay PGoodman13, I'll bite: what's it with the writing of Starfleet in two words ?
    "The main difference between Trekkies and Manchester United fans is that Trekkies never trashed a train carriage. So why are the Trekkies the social outcasts?"
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  6. #6
    Alright, I'm going to go for a broad DS9 example. How about the many times Quark, despite being raised to be a greedy merchant, and despite the monitory gain from many of his ventures, always in the end made sure that the weak were taken care of. To me this is the Finest Tradition of Star Fleet, even though he was never in Star Fleet (I use the two words in homage of the old game.)

  7. #7
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    The Federation is Root Beer. However, that is not a tradition, is it.
    No, the finest traditions are shown when individuals are willing to lay their lives on the line, and even give them up, in order to defend those who cannot (or at times, will not) defend themselves.

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  8. #8
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    For me, it was the episode Darmok.

    Captain Dathon, the Tamarian captain, was a parallel of Picard. He was willing to risk his life to understand an alien life-form. The Tamarians were identical to Starfleet, desperately trying to understand "strange new life-forms". And Dathon died for it, but it worked - there was something of an understanding between the Federation and the Children of Tamar at the end of the episode.

    It was always my secret hope that during one of the desperate battles of the Dominion War that we'd see Captain Dathon's old first officer, now a captain of his own ship, leading a squadron of Tamarian ships in to help the Federation, shouting "Picard and Dathon at El-Adrel!" on the viewscreen.

    In fits of geekness, as a teacher, I occasionally exclaim "Sokoth! His eyes uncovered!" when a student finally grasps a particularly difficult concept...since I teach IT, most of my students are geeks themselves and appreciate the reference.
    When you are dead, you don't know that you are dead. It is difficult only for others.

    It's the same when you are stupid...

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