Okay, there are two episodes that I didn't "get." The First is "A Private Little War" Now, I think of this episode as primarily being about bad wigs, and that horned white ape, the Mugato. Did I mention it had a great scream? I mean, we really don't get monsters like that any more in Trek.

The Second episode is "The Outcast" Now, this is a very important episode. It establishes that the founding of the Federation was in 2160. Also, that Shuttlecraft could have Phasers attached, not that that makes them any less useless, or prone to be destroyed on a weekly basis. Oh, and there was a plot about asexual aliens, and Riker's desire to know one of them, or something.

Now, everyone knows that the first episode is a Vietnam War Commentary, and everyone knows the Outcast is the first attempt at a gay rights commentary. But, I don't remember either of them for it. Anyone else have that problem with Trek episodes?

I saw "Privat Little War" very late, and knew already it was supposed to be a commentary on the Vietnam war. The problem was that I found the message ambigous, neither for or against the war. Maybe the writer wanted to keep it open, to show the complexitiy of the issue, but neither Kirk nor Spock ever seemed to find any nuances or complex background (of course, that was the same case in many other ep. when Kirk broke the prime directive, and consequences were one-way, direct and unreal).

As for "Outcast", I remember that the first time I saw it, the impassioned speech of the Jnaii, soren (or whatever the guy's name and race was) struck me deeply as advocation for gay rights, and I wanted everybody against them to see this ep. Funnily enough, when watching a recast of this ep. some years ago (and after reading an article about it), I could see how easy a fundie/bigot could read the opposite message from this ep. - a future where gays have rights is one where everybody is the same, and normal sex is forbidden (some fundies apparently have this paranoid fear). It's sobering to realise that there isn't an episode, movie or book that can't be misunderstood by bigots/closed-mind-people if they want to.

Similarly, the TOS ep. "Let that be your last battlefield", against race hatred, impressed me by the silliness (but then, I always thought hating people for color was dumb and illogical), but I guess a true racist would've no problem to conclude that it's the fault of those --- (fill in blank) that destroyed the planet, not the hatred, but that Bele's people stood up and tried to fight for their rights.

So I wonder how much effects even shows that are well-made have on people whose mind is already made up. I also remember how mortified I was, when waiting in line for the Star Trek experience, to hear the people in front of me - fellow Trekkers, obviously, if they were willing to pay the entrance fee - talk about foreigners in a negative way. I had (naively, I guess) assumed that all trekkers would share Roddenberry's vision of an enlightened future, but to some, it's only a SciFi/TV show, I guess.

Private Little War: Well, I don't think the episode was about US involvement in the war per se, but rather Superpower involvement in what was an ongoing civil war and how it contributed to "fuel the fire" so to speak. It was a true analogy of the Vietnam War, as opposed to a soapbox on it. With Mugatos.

Outcast: J'nail. But Soren is correct. But if they really wanted to do a gay episode, they should have women play the male aliens, and men play the female aliens.

Let That Be Your Last Battlefield: This may have been the most obvious episode ever written. Although, I do have to admit, this species seemed rather advanced, with the long life and fast ships.

How would that be a gay episode, Matt?

This is an interesting topic. I would frequently get annoyed when Trek did issue shows, and not because I'm Christian and conservative. It always seemed like the writers were talking down to the audience, and I found that insulting. I've not seen "A Private Little War", but I have seen the speech at the end of "The Outcast", and find that to be a perfect example of this patronizing attitude. If they respected their audience's intelligence, then they would have focused on writing high-quality entertainment and not social commentary. Other examples:
-"Force of Nature" (TNG)
-"Chosen Realm" (ENT)
-"A Time to Kill" and "A Time to Heal" TNG novels - read the back cover descriptions.
-Star Trek VI
That's all I can think of right now. I'm sure I'll come up with more later.