In the category of Worst Realization of a Promising Premise in a Star Trek episode, we hardly have to leave Season One of TNG. Plenty of terrible episodes abound, but then comes "Angel One" which magnificently is incapable of understanding its own premise. -- or rather, it assumes a premise that is so shallow as to be useless.
But surely it's OK, we tell ourselves; this is science fiction, so aren't the rules different? The short answer is no, and so is the long answer, because -- sci-fi or no -- these stories are supposed to be moral lessons, which they can't be if they don't reflect any real situation.
Yes, there's a decent idea here: having men be subordinate to women rather than vice-versa. The shortcoming is that this grievously misunderstands what patriarchy or matriarchy is, how either functions, or why anyone would choose such structures. Instead it simply presumes have-vs-have-not privilege, cries 'foul' and presumes to know better.
The result is the worst kind of moralizing: having to invent a straw-man situation to support a simplistic argument, whose premise wasn't really understood in the first place. A useful example of how good intentions don't necessarily excuse poor results.
But surely it's OK, we tell ourselves; this is science fiction, so aren't the rules different? The short answer is no, and so is the long answer, because -- sci-fi or no -- these stories are supposed to be moral lessons, which they can't be if they don't reflect any real situation.
Yes, there's a decent idea here: having men be subordinate to women rather than vice-versa. The shortcoming is that this grievously misunderstands what patriarchy or matriarchy is, how either functions, or why anyone would choose such structures. Instead it simply presumes have-vs-have-not privilege, cries 'foul' and presumes to know better.
The result is the worst kind of moralizing: having to invent a straw-man situation to support a simplistic argument, whose premise wasn't really understood in the first place. A useful example of how good intentions don't necessarily excuse poor results.