Ugh, season 1 of Deep Space Nine is another matter entirely (and a completely different production staff).
My take on the TNG episode is THOSE Irish were drunks. Just like THOSE Irish were farmers. Or like Picard’s family. THOSE Frenchmen were vintners. Another stereotype that seems to bother fans less than Picard’s British accent.
Almost 40 years have passed since then, and we’ve certainly matured about how we represent ethnic groups. But the primary motivation of the production staff back then was ‘how little money can we spend to make an episode?’
I still want an indepth explanation of the people who work on his farm picking grapes. They have access to every necessity and luxury for free but they’re doing manual labour on a giant vineyard. I think Picard even says they’ve worked for the family for generations, did they do this before the post scarcity economy? Do the not have land of their own? Which brings up the question how does inheritance and land sale work if as Picard says to cryogenic-Johnny Cash they’ve moved beyond money?
Honestly it seems a nice life, role-playing preindustrial farming with zero stakes because you’ll never go hungry no matter what happens. I think those peoples lives are probably more interesting than most the stuff that happens on the enterprise.
Ugh, season 1 of Deep Space Nine is another matter entirely (and a completely different production staff).
My take on the TNG episode is THOSE Irish were drunks. Just like THOSE Irish were farmers. Or like Picard’s family. THOSE Frenchmen were vintners. Another stereotype that seems to bother fans less than Picard’s British accent.
Almost 40 years have passed since then, and we’ve certainly matured about how we represent ethnic groups. But the primary motivation of the production staff back then was ‘how little money can we spend to make an episode?’
I still want an indepth explanation of the people who work on his farm picking grapes. They have access to every necessity and luxury for free but they’re doing manual labour on a giant vineyard. I think Picard even says they’ve worked for the family for generations, did they do this before the post scarcity economy? Do the not have land of their own? Which brings up the question how does inheritance and land sale work if as Picard says to cryogenic-Johnny Cash they’ve moved beyond money?
Honestly it seems a nice life, role-playing preindustrial farming with zero stakes because you’ll never go hungry no matter what happens. I think those peoples lives are probably more interesting than most the stuff that happens on the enterprise.