Overall: 6.3
My advice is to turn your brain off before watching this episode. I failed to do this and ended up annoyed rather than amused.
Plot Synopsis:
Memory Alpha has the summary here.
The Skinny:
The more I think about it, the more I dislike this episode's baseline assumptions. There's a general attitude here that humans in the mid-20th century were idiots who deserved to be laughed at, and I just don't think that's the case. Yes, we had some bad habits and bad ideas; in actuality, nuclear fission and smoking are not the only risky things we promoted back then. (As a matter of fact, while I agree that smoking is dangerous (and expensive), I take issue with the very claim that nuclear fission is indubitably foolish. The atom bomb is certainly a frightening application of the technology - particularly given the possibility that it may fall into the hands of rogue political entities - but nuclear fission may also be the only currently feasible escape from our dependence on fossil fuels.) If you want to mock something, why not mock the mid-century idea that science can be harnessed to engineer human behavior - an idea that has caused nothing but suffering and encouraged the ambitions of totalitarians of every stripe? Why not mock the notion that penicillin is a miracle drug that should be prescribed liberally for every sniffle - a notion that has given us MRSA in our current age? Why not mock the assertion that big, blocky, "efficient" buildings are preferable to the older - and more architecturally interesting - buildings they replaced? I could go on. I'd like to point out, however, that bad habits and bad ideas are present in every age; we may not smoke like chimneys now, but we are fat - and don't even get me started on multiculturalism or post-modern critical theory. I do believe that, over time, we have made some progress, but until the eschaton, this will ever remain a fallen world. To believe that people of the future will inevitably turn out to be our moral superiors is to ignore how often devolution has occurred over the course of world history.
I've lately become very sensitive to incidences of chronological snobbery, and this episode definitely registers on my meter (so to speak). The other thing I don't like is the way the episode casts the scientists as starry-eyed dreamers and unambiguous heroes (and the soldiers as brutish and suspicious). Don't get me wrong: science itself is a fantastic, exciting subject. It certainly isn't an accident that the various Discovery channels are part of my "boredom circle"; it certainly isn't an accident that I majored in a branch of science while in college. That SABR Matt devotes his professional life to the uncovering of some of the mysteries of Creation is a wonderful thing; I definitely look forward to the technological advances and general knowledge that my co-author and people like him will bring forth. I do agree with Tolkien and C.S. Lewis on one thing, though: science shouldn't be fetishized. There's a gap a thousand miles wide between my respect and enjoyment of science and its practical benefits and the 20th century scientism that drives much of the Trek franchise and pops up in episodes like this. I can love science without lionizing its practitioners. I understand that a lot of scientists were and are political opportunists - even totalitarians - rather than sainted seekers after knowledge.
My co-author views this episode as more of a Mystery Science Theater 3000-style parody of mid-century B-movies and believes that the Ferengi were there mainly to boggle at how melodramatic such movies were. I don't think there's anything wrong with interpreting the episode this way; as a matter of fact, I would've given this episode a much lower score if I didn't think SABR Matt had a point. But, in the end, I just don't find Little Green Men especially funny.
Writing: 7.0
When this script makes fun of old sci-fi movies, it's not bad. The writers' social commentary, however, is pretty obnoxious.
Acting: 7.0
Yes, the 20th century humans were supposed to be ridiculous, but some of those performances still rubbed me the wrong way.
Message: 5.0
Did I mention the off-putting social commentary?
Highlights:
O'BRIEN: I didn't expect to see you here, Mister Worf.
WORF: Captain Sisko made it a personal request that I attend. He seems to have taken some interest in the young Ferengi.
O'BRIEN: The Captain sponsored Nog's application to the Academy.
WORF: A Ferengi at the Academy? I am not sure that is wise.
O'BRIEN: Oh, I don't know about that. Not so long ago someone might have said the same thing about you. (Good point!)
JAKE: I wonder how many hours you and I spent hanging around up here.
NOG: Two thousand, one hundred and forty seven. (Jake looks surprised.) Just kidding. But it was a lot.
JAKE: You know, aside from playing dom-jot and watching the Bajoran transports dock, it seems like we spent most of our time doing nothing.
NOG: Maybe so, but I can't think of anyone I'd rather do nothing with than you.
JAKE: Same here. (Nice.)
KIRA: Quark, Rom and Nog together on that ship all the way to Earth? I'm glad I'm not going with them.
SISKO: Only thing that worries me: no one warned Earth that they're coming. (Heh.)
NOG: Uncle, are you smuggling kemacite? Isn't that dangerous?
ROM: Dangerous and highly profitable. Especially if we make a side trip to Orion on the way home from Earth.
QUARK: What tipped you off?
ROM: When I engaged the impulse engines, I noticed the ship's weight distribution was a little off. So the last time you went to waste extraction, I snuck back to the cargo bay and took a look around.
QUARK: When did you get so smart?
ROM: I've always been smart, brother. I've just lacked self-confidence. (Heh.)
GARLAND: I've given them every medical test I can think of, but the only thing I can tell you for sure is they're not human.
CARLSON: Well, that's a start. (He sees Rom checking Nog's ear.) I think these two are involved in some kind of grooming ritual. Look how the older one is taking care of the younger one.
GARLAND: It's sweet. Maybe they're father and son. Wouldn't that be something? They've come from so far away, but they still have the same basic family structure that we do.
CARLSON: I wonder if the third one's related too.
GARLAND: For all we know, it could be the mother.
QUARK: (yelling) Gren fa hoe loth pex pil!
CARLSON: If she is the mother, she's quite a shrew. (LOL! Okay, yes, that's funny.)
NOG: When the appointed hour arrives, the Marauders will deactivate their cloaking devices and begin transporting Klingon shock troops directly to the landing zone.
WAINWRIGHT: Landing zone? Where? Tell me.
NOG: Why not? Your feeble weapons will be useless against us. We will kill all your males, and take your females to mate with.
WAINWRIGHT: Where's the landing zone?
NOG: Untie me and I will show you on that map.
WAINWRIGHT: (to MPs) You heard him. Go get General Denning. Tell him he was right about the Martians all along. Now show me.
NOG: The first landing parties will arrive here.
(Nog gestures vaguely towards the Great Lakes.)
WAINWRIGHT: Where?
NOG: Here. Right by that blue blob.
WAINWRIGHT: You mean your people are going to invade... Cleveland? (And this is pretty funny too.)
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