Tuesday, 3 January 2012

Why are there no trade unions in Star Trek?

Why Babylon 5 rules.

Simply because it portrays a variety of fictional organisations which are not species-specific and this is uncommon in science-fiction

Being:
The Order of Technomages (Human and Centauri, possibly also Drakh and others);
The Thieves Guild ('A Call To Arms' had a 'Dureena's People',a Pak'ma'ra, a Narn, a Hayach, one or two Drazi and several Human members, plus those of other races);
The Transport Pilots Association (Human, Minbari and others were seen;Episode 'A Day in the Strife)
and The Rangers (initially Minbari, then Minbari and Human, then finally citizens from all members of the Interstellar Alliance were allowed to join from 2262).

OK I guess that's it but in science fiction you usually get very specific orders (i.e. the Order of Wizards and the Jedi Order); civilisation-specific governments or federations; and crime syndicates. Yes the Jedi are not only Human but entrants do have specific requirements/abilities.

I suppose the Indigent Alien Benevolent Fund described in 'Matter' counts as a pan-species organisation, as does the Culture itself. However an outsider has to petition (part of) the Culture for membership (of the Culture) or be recruited as a mercenary by Special Circumstances.

I suppose the Indigent Alien Benevolent Fund could be classed as a form of welfare state and the Culture as a civilisation so I suppose they don't count as such (!) and cannot be compared to the organisations of Babylon 5.

Grrr,I'll put it this way: Why are there no trade unions in Star Trek? It doesn't have to be 'just the Federation and the Orion Syndicate'!

No comments:

Post a Comment