Thread: Life in our countries - "good, bad and ugly"...

Interesting! I didn't know that serious political satire was ok in the USSR.
I think everybody else perceived the USSR to be a lot more uptight than it really was. Including me, apparently!

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

You forgot:

4. Klingons


American scientists predict that by the 24th century, Space-Russians will have evolved
to look like this, and their women will still be sexy, yet dangerous.

I object to them being Russians - clearly they are Vikings! Russians are more soulfull and romantic, whereas the Vikings really didn't bother with such emotions. Like the Klingons if I remember right.


Have no idea whether Russians have watched Star Trek with Klingons. My guess would be that most haven't. Personally I didn't see it until I was an adult and specifically sought it out, because I like sci-fi. But I don't think it's part of the culture outside of the English speaking world.

Originally Posted by Hanna

Interesting! I didn't know that serious political satire was ok in the USSR. ...

Не было серьёзной политической сатиры в Советском Союзе. Была скучная критика мелких местных бюрократов, в основном тех, которые по какой-то неизвестной причине теряли покровительство высших властей.

Originally Posted by Hanna

Interesting! I didn't know that serious political satire was ok in the USSR.
I think everybody else perceived the USSR to be a lot more uptight than it really was. Including me, apparently!

Well to be fair, most of the satire was directed at America...

I object to them being Russians - clearly they are Vikings! Russians are more soulfull and romantic, whereas the Vikings really didn't bother with such emotions. Like the Klingons if I remember right.


Have no idea whether Russians have watched Star Trek with Klingons. My guess would be that most haven't. Personally I didn't see it until I was an adult and specifically sought it out, because I like sci-fi. But I don't think it's part of the culture outside of the English speaking world.

At the risk of sounding like a Trekkie, I confess that I really liked Star Trek, especially the original. I never really thought of the Klingons as Russians though. I really loved Roddenberry's idea of a group of humans from different countries coming together in the name of science and exploration. Chekov, the Russian member of the crew, was my favorite character and I had a little crush on him when I was a kid. I always liked how he would respond to things the others said with something like, "I have heard of this thing you describe! It was invented in Russia." And then they would cue some Russian-sounding tune:




In retrospect, I guess his character was a bit "клюква" though. His accent was a bit overdone, especially when he said things like "wodka" or "nuclear wessel" and the actor himself, Walter Koenig, I believe was Lithuanian by blood. But I always liked him and I especially liked that, unlike the way Russians were typically portrayed in American TV and films, Chekov was shown as a good guy who occasionally saved everyone's life. Although, I must admit, he got beat up on a bit too much, so he might loosely fit into the "cannon fodder" category...

The new Chekov in the 2013 Star Trek is actually played by Anton Yelchin, an American-born Ukrainian and I like him a lot too.

Conceptually, what I loved most about Star Trek was the hopeful message it had, that we humans can move beyond our petty nationalism and learn to get along. This message was strong especially in the original Star Trek of the 1960's. The later versions of it, especially Deep Space Nine, became a bit too dark and cynical and lost that positive message Gene Roddenberry inspired.