Anna and I watched two episodes of "Voyager" this afternoon, and noticed that Chakotay used an electronic device to get him in touch with his "spirit guide," (pronounced "acoochi-moya") or to get him in a "lucid dream" state. Both of us burst out laughing, of course, knowing that such "visions" have been accomplished by the use of peyote, mescaline, or other hallucinogenic substances, traditionally, in "Native American" culture.
In the "Star Trek" future, I guess they have done away with natural mind-altering substances (which explains "synthahol" as well), preferring to give all of the benefits of these substances (excessive merriment, deep subconcious insight), without any of the real consequences that we have evidence of already.
They also don't have money, in this version of the 24th century, which I still don't get, BTW.
Don't get me wrong, there is real merit to both of the stories that Chakotay used his "device" in. One was about helping Neelix understand the meaning of his "death," after he was resurrected by 7 of 9's "borg" technology. The other was about using the "device" to fight a race that had physical bodies, but lived in the "dreamworld," where they could affect us "waking" beings, by putting us to sleep with a "neurogenic field." Chakotay was the only one able to wake up from this "dream."
Both episodes were good, even with the plot holes. The rub for me is that they don't acknowledge the history of hallucinogenic insight that so much of their concepts are based on, preferring to show an "electronic device" that can achieve the same effect. Other episodes have made references to drugs, in this and other contexts. I'm curious why they didn't tackle that concept in these episodes, but I know the answer. It would detract from the concept of the story, and was only useful as a "device."
PS: Anna's brother has a photo of the actor that plays Chakotay "smoking the peace pipe," so to speak. I'm sure that he can get to that "zone" without any electronic device, off-screen, at least. That's why he was such a good actor for the part he played on Voyager, which is my favorite of the Star Trek series, after the original.
-Just some food for thought.
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Comments: 3
True enough, the show canon is not consistent on this but whenever possible they tried to avoid suggestion of drug use.
Hey, I'm just "pulling your leg" a little. I'm sure that all of this has been discussed by "trekkies," which describes us as well. We just discuss it between ourselves, mostly. This was a post that I wrote about one of our conversations, not something that was a burning issue, or an original idea, it seems.
I'm sure Mr. Beltran had no say in this decision, but still think it's a cheap cop-out. As I said, Voyager is my favorite of the "new" series, so this isn't a big deal. The Star Trek sereis only tackle this issue when they can make a statement against drug use, which is commendable. It is a hard balance to maintain, for sure, with storylines like the two mentioned here.
I like the show too.