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And you knew, Allen, you just knew I would have to defend myself.

First of all, thanks for the appellation "whimsical," which the Star Wars/Star Trek column was certainly intended to be. However, as you correctly intimate, sci fi is far more important than politics. So if the proper tax rate on capital gains is a legitimate issue for serious debate (the proper answer is "zero," of course), then surely my liberal/conservative thesis must be defended.

Your fancy footwork in denying the liberal trend in Star Trek, at least of the J. Tiberius Kirk period, is about as fleet as a tribble. The fact that female officers in Star Fleet were usually found quivering behind the nearest red-shirted guy, their miniskirts hiked up revealingly, is merely a reflection of a 1960s attempt to draw young (and perhaps not-so-young) male viewers. Yes, of course, this continued through the shameless display of Seven of Nine. But liberalism and sexism are entirely compatible. I would see Kirk as more of a Kennedy, not a Clinton (for reasons I shouldn't have to explain).

There is also the point to consider that Gene Roddenberry, according to various accounts, was a rather-promiscuous fellow himself. He got a charge out of putting pretty young things on screen.

Turning to Star Wars, the redemption of Darth Vader is a classic moment of family-values cultural conservatism: faith and family ties overcome the temptations of evil. Notice that the real villain, Palpatine, is not sent away to prison to watch Spike TV and file endless appeals alleging that the Skywalkers failed to read him his rights. He is, instead, tossed, screeching, into a purplish reactor core. Don't know if that would be considered cruel and unusual punishment.

Now, to a better argument: the suggestion that Kirk believed in preemptive war. You may be right. Many JLF-type liberals in this mould supported the campaign in Iraq. Some are wavering under pressure, yes, but then again JLF didn't stand up as well as originally advertised during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Is Joe Lieberman the senatorial version of Jim Kirk? Except for the skirt-chasing, shirt-ripping, and ability to talk computers to death, I'd say yes.

Now to the key matter on which we wholeheartedly agree: that horrible Shatner program with the gay jokes about Takei. Absolutely tasteless. Here Sulu comes out, after so many years, seeking to set a good example and expecting his fellow thespians to be supportive, and instead they subject him to needless, national ridicule. I sense the need for a little republican justice here. Where's my light saber?

Um, sorry, John, I already borrowed it and went Vader on half of Hollywood.

As for Roddenberry, you're also right. He was a notorious skirt-chaser, according to all accounts, with a legendarily cosmic libido.
(Remember, he cast his mistress, Majel Barrett, as Nurse Chapel.)
But you didn't address the dust-up about "Star Wars'" alleged barbs at the Bush administration.

I think it is entirely possible that George Lucas or one of his screenwriters intended some of Sith to work as an anti-Bush tirade. Unfortunately for them, their writing skills proved so bad that it's hard to tell just what they were trying to do. In any event, comparing Bush to Palpatine is so ham-handed and preposterous that it arguably works best as a satire of Hollywood's leftish proclivities.

That's my [current] story and I'm sticking to it. Now, if you wouldn't mind returning said light saber, I have some fast-growing bushes in my front lawn that need pruning.

Actually, the most controversial line in question invovled Anakin, who says at one point, "You're either with me or against me."
But you're right, John, the dialogue in the movie is so insipid that maybe they just got desperate.

If anybody else is reading this, try to imagine sitting in a room with these guys listening to such a conversation. I wanted to say, "Scotty, beam me the heck out of here."

Use the Force, Doug. Use the Force.

Doug, I just read through the exchange and I feel somehow--dirty. What goes on behind the closed doors of a sci-fi convention is none of my business, but not in a public forum like this! And I don't get the thing about "Scotty." And if I did, I wouldn't admit it.

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