Space hippies: cultural tolerance or preaching?

I simply love the following clip from the original Star Trek.
I wonder: are the "hippies" represented as "good", or does their "cult leader" lead them to a fake Eden?
They sure question authority, but to what effect?
Maybe it's meant to show how tolerant the "system" can be?

www.youtube.com...#

[edit on 13-4-2010 by halfoldman]

reply to post by halfoldman


I must say, the hippies in the clip do have a strategy that even upsets Captain Kirk and Mr Spock.
They kinda know how to get to power.

Not too get too serious but context of the times - we/society didn't know what to do with hippies then (probably not now either). What's telling is that many kids picked up some good "moral lessons" from Star Trek and Gene Roddenberry. Space Hippies was to my mind a lesson in the practical application of following a concept on faith. Truth lies at the end of the journey sometimes, and some of the best most noble intentions lead "nowhere". Delusional blind faith object lesson.

Great line: "I'm gonna crack my knuckles and jump for joy - I gotta clean bill of health from Dr. McCoy." Charles Napier as the "guitar slinger"

gj

Wow, it's been years since viewing this episode. When it originally aired, Star Trek did indeed go where no science fiction series had gone before....boldly taking on contemporary cultural issues, some controversial, in a way both cerebral/inquisitive (Spock-like) and emotional/playful (Kirk and the other humans of his crew).

It was precisely this deeper thinking, cerebral nature of the show that ultimately was its downfall. Hey, when someone could forget the tumultuous world around them by being entertained with an astronaut and his genie, total laughter and buffoonery, why watch a show that made you THINK about the world around you?

I can remember this episode, being enchanted at first sight of the space hippies, but then, as the show progressed, you saw the darker side of the group. The leader had his own personal agenda, and the ultimate Utopian world they wanted to find turned out inhospitable and lethal.

Ultimately, though, the "hippies" were encouraged to continue in trying to find "Eden". Somewhere, somehow, sometime humanity must find a way to recreate itself. Just as the crew of the Enterprise would continue to go where no man had gone before.