I think there must have been a problem with my DVD. Because the scene where it was explained that the culture was a result of a violation of the Prime Directive by a previous Star Fleet mission which accidentally left behind a copy of *Jungle Drums of Africa*.
Because surely they weren’t intending to just have an episode which could almost be mistaken for a piece of pure racism. In many ways this is less enlightened than anything seen in The Original Series.
Apart from the obvious problems, there are others bits of the episode that aren’t great. In particular, there’s a nasty habit of excessive repetition going on, where important points are repeated until the audience cannot possibly have missed them. It’s quite annoying in something that’s meant to be an intelligent TV show.
There is a nice attempt to establish some of what makes this series different to The Original Series. Clearly the 24th century Star Fleet is a lot less interventionist, and a lot more concerned with everyone’s feelings. But four episodes in and there hasn’t been a good one yet, a marked contrast with The Original Series, which was up to speed much more quickly.
109 down, 628 to go.