This was originally published in May, but I thought it was worth sharing now that SNW is back on the air. I really like this take - I personally think a lot of people’s perceptions of the message of “Arena” don’t line up with the text of the episode, but I hadn’t considered the argument presented here.
One of the challenges in interpreting TOS episodes is that many of us have read so much about them over the decades that our collective headcanon can crowd out what was actually onscreen.
It’s great that we can come together and make inferences, interpolations and extrapolations. Tie-in novel authors and magazines extend this further.
But the risk is that we come to a collective headcanon that can be quite rigid even though it’s certainly not the only way to look at what we’re shown and what’s said.
My recollection of my schoolchild’s reaction to the captain fighting the monster but choosing to be magnanimous and merciful in victory was that Kirk had burnt out his anger, and was ready to hold to his values.
More generally, I’ve been concerned for a long time that the message of the episode is so completely overshadowed by the cheeky meme of Kirk vs the guy in the rubber suit. Anything that can make the Gorn more believably terrifying to justify Kirk’s emotional response, and validate the significance of his choice to be merciful, is all to the good in my view.
My recollection of my schoolchild’s reaction to the captain fighting the monster but choosing to be magnanimous and merciful in victory was that Kirk had burnt out his anger, and was ready to hold to his values.
I think that’s fair. To be clear, the interpretation that I disagree with is that the Gorn in “Arena” are somehow misunderstood.
I am always left with the paradox of tolerance here. How do you survive if you show mercy to a group that doesn’t reciprocate? You just leave someone else later to make the hard choice or to be killed, or you’re hoping that thes hunters will decide to go hunt somewhere else. Yet your asymmetrical action actually incentivises them to come back because you have shown they will be spared so it’s a no lose scenario for them.
On the flip side you risk becoming a monster.
The Gorn as originally shown could be any somewhat agressive native interacting with colonists. The Gorn as show in SNW are like the current Russians or historical Nazis, they are going to keep coming, and the horror and death is actually part of their goals.
Interesting, TOS had such good yet simple moral quandaries. Don’t watch it often, but that’s what I enjoy the most.
Highlights why the Federation is so successful. Kirk doesn’t just spare a single entity, he creates reputation. This happens frequently in the shows, we do the right thing in the end. Even at personal cost. Flee in terror from our weaponized-boyscouts! Maybe another race that’s on the fence about joining hears the story and that tips the balance. Mind you, that reputation gets a life of its own. Like in VOY with the imposter-Janeway+Tuvok.
Babylon 5’s Delenn has a quote that’s springs to mind.
…Humans share one unique quality: They build communities. If the Narns or Centauri or any other race built a station like this, it would be used only by their own people. But everywhere humans go, they create communities out of diverse and sometimes hostile populations. It is a great gift, and a terrible responsibility—one that cannot be abandoned.
I like the Gorn as a recurring adversary in SNW S1. They made a great storytelling antagonist, bit of a slow boil with big payoffs.
For the most part I like them borrowing from horror elements but I think they needed to ease up on the Aliens vs Predators themes a bit. A lithe wall-walking enemy that gestates their young in hosts is enough, the predator vision and the clicks take me out of the narrative a bit.
That said, I love their slow introduction into the series. Then the ambush, when Pike realizes he’s still attached to the other ship and can’t put shields up, was awesome. (A good captain like Lorca would’ve raised shields anyways, just saiyan.)
