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bruegel · 20th January 2001, 09:36 AM

Looking back on the first season, I must concur, Double Helix is not only the best episode but the most important. (And a lot of work for the two main actors. Those were some subtle performances. Kevin Sorbo did a very good job of projecting "I know that you know that I know" at Tyr at the climax.) The Nietzscheans are what GR was aiming at with the Klingons. They are seriously alien, and as Nietzsche himself might have put it (and as Harper does), also human all too human. (By contrast, Rev Bem is just the parish priest. He might as well have a Irish brogue.) The Nietzscheans, however, embody everything we must accept or reject explicitly. I really like how Tyr, unlike a primitive like Guderian, actually struggles with these issues. I hope Freya, with child in tow, shows up again (3d season, a Nietzschean with the terrible two's! MBR take note!) Suppose she does, suppose Tyr continues to drop his hints to Beka, imagine Beka's surprise when she discovers that Freya doesn't really mind, as long as Beka is willing to be the second wife, after her. Then if Beka composes herself and says simply, coolly, that she can do better, Freya smiles (assuming that Beka has her sights on Hunt) and says how proud she is of her (when she is actually relieved to not have the competition from a truly superior female).

For anyone who cares to follow up on the background. Everything I have seen about the Nietzscheans so far is straight out of Thus Spake Zarathustra. Why did no one else see the science fiction potential there for almost a century? Because the Roddenberrys, Gene and Majel Barrett are that smart.

Zarathustra, pt. 1, chap. 10: "Ye shall only have enemies to be hated, but not enemies to be despised. Ye must be proud of your enemies; then, the successes of your enemies are also your successes."

20th January 2001, 09:36 AM	#4 (permalink)
bruegel Registered User Join Date: Dec 2000 Posts: 25	Double Helix Looking back on the first season, I must concur, Double Helix is not only the best episode but the most important. (And a lot of work for the two main actors. Those were some subtle performances. Kevin Sorbo did a very good job of projecting "I know that you know that I know" at Tyr at the climax.) The Nietzscheans are what GR was aiming at with the Klingons. They are seriously alien, and as Nietzsche himself might have put it (and as Harper does), also human all too human. (By contrast, Rev Bem is just the parish priest. He might as well have a Irish brogue.) The Nietzscheans, however, embody everything we must accept or reject explicitly. I really like how Tyr, unlike a primitive like Guderian, actually struggles with these issues. I hope Freya, with child in tow, shows up again (3d season, a Nietzschean with the terrible two's! MBR take note!) Suppose she does, suppose Tyr continues to drop his hints to Beka, imagine Beka's surprise when she discovers that Freya doesn't really mind, as long as Beka is willing to be the second wife, after her. Then if Beka composes herself and says simply, coolly, that she can do better, Freya smiles (assuming that Beka has her sights on Hunt) and says how proud she is of her (when she is actually relieved to not have the competition from a truly superior female). For anyone who cares to follow up on the background. Everything I have seen about the Nietzscheans so far is straight out of Thus Spake Zarathustra. Why did no one else see the science fiction potential there for almost a century? Because the Roddenberrys, Gene and Majel Barrett are that smart. Zarathustra, pt. 1, chap. 10: "Ye shall only have enemies to be hated, but not enemies to be despised. Ye must be proud of your enemies; then, the successes of your enemies are also your successes."