Post by Lynx on Feb 16, 2008 4:30:40 GMT -5
As I see it, The Caretaker and his species, the Nacene with all their superb technology, weren't actually the smartest people around. Let's just take a look at how they handled a disaster they caused themselves.
The Nacene were explorers from another galaxy. They arrived to our galaxy and discovered the Ocampa homeworld. One could expect that those superior beings should just watch and study but in some way those clumsy Nacene ruined the atmosphere of the planet.
OK, accidents happen! And they were at least decent enough to wanting to do something to help the people whose world they had destroyed.
So they order two of their own, The Caretaker and Suspiria to stick around and care for the Ocampa. Fair enough. But how did they do it?
One could expect that those super beings could have used their advanced technology, which obviously could transport ships and people across the galaxy to find a new home for the Ocampa, just as Picard did with some undeveloped species in that TNG episode where the people were in the holodeck while Enterprise did send them to another place. Or maybe the Nacene could have repair the damage they had done to the planet in some way.
But no, they drill a hole in the ground and transform the Ocampa to cave-dwellers with a ridiculous life-span of nine years, a too short time to learn and develope. They could have prolonged the lifespan there and then since they obviously had the technology to do so.
Then Suspiria leaves and The Caretaker himself remains. Does he use his powers to help the Ocampa develope? No, they remain cave-dwellers and, in Kes's words "gained a talent for dependence, to simply taking what they were given."
Then the Kazon arrive and even The Caretaker must have realized that they might become a threat. He has the technology to blast them to kingdom come and once and for all scare them away from that part of space. Did he do that? Oh no! He let them remain on the planet's surface and become a threat to the Ocampa. So much for his protection of the Ocampa.
Then the old super-being discovers that he's going to die. Now what does he do now? Finally realizing that his time is up, did he start to teach the Ocampa how to develope, take care of themselves and survive? Or maybe discover some potential leader among the Ocampa which he could teach and who could take the knowledge of the Nacene back to the Ocampa and teach them to develope and prosper? No!
He starts to kidnap different beings from all over the galaxy in order to find someone who could give him an offspring who would just love to remain on the array and care for the Ocampa. How brilliant! Just imagine if Torres and Kim had been what he was looking for! Would they have lived together happily the rest of their lives on that array 70 000 lightyears from home and cared for the Ocampa, then have had children who would also live their lives on that array and cared for the Ocampa? Hmmmm.....I don't think so.
Then, when the old geezer finally realizes that time's up, what does he do then? He decides to give the Ocampa energy for five years and then he would commit suicide. OK, according to the book "Caretaker" by L.A. Graf which is based on the script for the episode, he did download all his knowledge to the Ocampa database in the last possible minutes of his life so maybe there was a chance for them to learn and survive. The problem is that he should have done that a long time ago and he did actually do it at the last possible moment after Janeway had told him the possibility of the Ocampa being able to learn and develope. Before that, he was just going to give them energy and food for five years. Very narrow-minded, as I see it.
The Caretaker may have had a superior technology. He did also have a compassion and empathy which was admirable. But most of all he acted like a narrow-minded, clumsy fool whose actions in the long run did more harm than help.
Suspiria, the other Nacene who left with some of the Ocampa and settled in another part of the Delta Quadrant was obviously a bit smarter. At least she let the Ocampa she protected develope. But on the other hand, she had a mean streak and the result of her actions weren't that astonishing either.
The Nacene might have had superior technology. But as I see it, they weren't the smartest beings in the universe.
The Nacene were explorers from another galaxy. They arrived to our galaxy and discovered the Ocampa homeworld. One could expect that those superior beings should just watch and study but in some way those clumsy Nacene ruined the atmosphere of the planet.
OK, accidents happen! And they were at least decent enough to wanting to do something to help the people whose world they had destroyed.
So they order two of their own, The Caretaker and Suspiria to stick around and care for the Ocampa. Fair enough. But how did they do it?
One could expect that those super beings could have used their advanced technology, which obviously could transport ships and people across the galaxy to find a new home for the Ocampa, just as Picard did with some undeveloped species in that TNG episode where the people were in the holodeck while Enterprise did send them to another place. Or maybe the Nacene could have repair the damage they had done to the planet in some way.
But no, they drill a hole in the ground and transform the Ocampa to cave-dwellers with a ridiculous life-span of nine years, a too short time to learn and develope. They could have prolonged the lifespan there and then since they obviously had the technology to do so.
Then Suspiria leaves and The Caretaker himself remains. Does he use his powers to help the Ocampa develope? No, they remain cave-dwellers and, in Kes's words "gained a talent for dependence, to simply taking what they were given."
Then the Kazon arrive and even The Caretaker must have realized that they might become a threat. He has the technology to blast them to kingdom come and once and for all scare them away from that part of space. Did he do that? Oh no! He let them remain on the planet's surface and become a threat to the Ocampa. So much for his protection of the Ocampa.
Then the old super-being discovers that he's going to die. Now what does he do now? Finally realizing that his time is up, did he start to teach the Ocampa how to develope, take care of themselves and survive? Or maybe discover some potential leader among the Ocampa which he could teach and who could take the knowledge of the Nacene back to the Ocampa and teach them to develope and prosper? No!
He starts to kidnap different beings from all over the galaxy in order to find someone who could give him an offspring who would just love to remain on the array and care for the Ocampa. How brilliant! Just imagine if Torres and Kim had been what he was looking for! Would they have lived together happily the rest of their lives on that array 70 000 lightyears from home and cared for the Ocampa, then have had children who would also live their lives on that array and cared for the Ocampa? Hmmmm.....I don't think so.
Then, when the old geezer finally realizes that time's up, what does he do then? He decides to give the Ocampa energy for five years and then he would commit suicide. OK, according to the book "Caretaker" by L.A. Graf which is based on the script for the episode, he did download all his knowledge to the Ocampa database in the last possible minutes of his life so maybe there was a chance for them to learn and survive. The problem is that he should have done that a long time ago and he did actually do it at the last possible moment after Janeway had told him the possibility of the Ocampa being able to learn and develope. Before that, he was just going to give them energy and food for five years. Very narrow-minded, as I see it.
The Caretaker may have had a superior technology. He did also have a compassion and empathy which was admirable. But most of all he acted like a narrow-minded, clumsy fool whose actions in the long run did more harm than help.
Suspiria, the other Nacene who left with some of the Ocampa and settled in another part of the Delta Quadrant was obviously a bit smarter. At least she let the Ocampa she protected develope. But on the other hand, she had a mean streak and the result of her actions weren't that astonishing either.
The Nacene might have had superior technology. But as I see it, they weren't the smartest beings in the universe.
;D