Ethics

Why does anyone do anything? A line from the play Noises Off that I was just in and it really came to mind today. I have been watching the James Bond films as I have mentioned over the last few blog posts and I have been thoroughly enjoying myself despite the varied quality of these films. So today I was doing some research and reading to see what other people think about this film series. I came across a blog through MTV that was very subjective but overall positive and fun to read and I will continue reading this blog MTV Movie Blog http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/08/02/bond-a-thond-live-and-let-die/. I have also come across another blog that I won’t mention the name of because I hate to be critical of other people on the internet, but this writer is also doing a James Bond movie marathon and blogging about it. The big difference between these two blogs is that the second one is incredibly negative of almost every film and it makes me wonder why he is even watching them? If you have no appreciation for the series with the exception of the modern era (1995-present) Bond than I would suggest you not watch any of them. These films have aged and some not very well and these films are each very reflective of the time in which they were made for better or worse. So this brings me to my point, why does anyone do anything? I guess the summary statement that I am coming to is, if you can’t be at least somewhat nice about your topic don’t fricking write about it!

Elliptical Machine- Calories: 616, Miles: 3.72

Ethics

Worf and LaForge are in a cargo bay doing some inventory when a couple of very heavy barrels fall from the top shelf and land directly on Worf’s back. The injury leaves Worf completely paralyzed from the arms down and in an incredible state of depression. The Enterprise welcomes a leading neurosurgeon on board to work on treatment options for Worf and to see if there is any help that can be given. The surgeon is a Dr. Toby Russell (despite the name it is a female). Dr. Russell proposes that they try a new theory of hers and grow a new spinal cord from Worf’s existing DNA and surgically replace the bad one for the good one. She explains to Crusher that the success rate in simulations has been about 37%, an odd that Crusher is just unwilling to bet against for success. Because of his Klingon heritage Worf believes that his life as a warrior is over so he wants to commit ritual suicide, a perfectly acceptable custom in Klingon culture. He asks that Riker assist him with this task but Riker is very opposed to the idea of helping his friend with suicide, along with several other people. Picard seems to be the only one who understands Worf’s position. Crusher and Russell offer to use surgical implants to help Worf which will bring his functioning level back to about 60% of normal; Worf refuses this therapy and is even more convinced it is his time. Meanwhile there has been a major medical disaster and the Enterprise rushes off to help and provide aid to the over 500 survivors of a crash. Dr. Crusher and Dr. Russell begin helping with the survivors and Crusher is alarmed and disturbed when Russell uses an experimental treatment that ends up killing one of the victims; Crusher forbids her from practicing medicine on the Enterprise for the time being. Picard asks that Dr. Crusher allow Dr. Russell to try her procedure because he is convinced that Worf will kill himself so if the procedure kills him what is the big deal. Crusher relents and the surgery proceeds. Before the surgery though Worf sees Alexander to let him know about the procedure and the risks, he also asks Troi to be Alexander’s guardian should anything happen and Worf Dies. The surgery apparently works but then something goes wrong and Worf dies on the table for a few minutes but winds up living in the end. After the surgery Crusher tells Russell of about how she feels that her brand of medicine is dangerous and that she is has poor ethics essentially. In the last scene there is a touching moment when Alexander helps Worf during his physical therapy sessions.

The episode is a heavy hitter on the political hot button issues, here we deal with assisted suicide, end of life planning and medical research ethics. I must say that it is also a very enjoyable episode to watch and pulls off its heavy subject matter with ease and sophistication. This is a true case of good science fiction being excellent social commentary under the guise of space fantasy. The next episode is also a somewhat hard hitting topic as well because Star Trek Goes Gay… Kinda… Not Really… It doesn’t exactly pull it all the way off… Just wait for tomorrow’s post I guess.