#btw it’s a crime how Brock is the only black man

[smooshi-graysimp]

Friend: Honestly thought the one in the thumbnail is the new brawler

Me: Good idea I’ll make him

His name is Bobby folks

He’s a big fan of cartoons

Silly boi

And his weapon is the jellyfish net and mostly bubbles

He’s fashion disaster

[defconprime]

TREKMATCH! # 2 - DS9’S “IN THE PALE MOONLIGHT” vs CARMEN JONES

This is the second installment of a new post series I’m going to be doing in which I pit a randomly selected Trek episode against a randomly selected Oscar/Golden Globe best picture nominee. Let’s get right to it!

PLOT SUMMARIES

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - “In the Pale Moonlight”

It is the sixth season of DS9, meaning Jadzia’s around still (cool) and the war against the Dominion is not going great for the Federation. If only they could talk the Romulans into joining up, Sisko laments. Enter Garak, everybody’s favorite tailor/spy (not sure if he tinkers or sings tho), who has a… less than moral solution to Captain Ben’s problems (let’s do some crimes). Sisko is a bit nervous to lie to the Romulans, although his nerves are basically erased whenever he learns Betazed got Dominionized. Anyway, eventually he gives a fake home movie of a fake nefarious Dominion plot to a real Romulan senator, who realizes that IT’S A FAAAAAKE, and then also realizes a fake Dominion bomb on his shuttle when it blows him to space bits. Sisko is sad, Garak is like well, the plan worked, didn’t it? Sisko ends the episode doing some heavy alone drinking in his quarters.

Carmen Jones

This is a 1954 film adaptation of a 1943 all black adaptation of the 1875 George Bizet operatic adaptation of the 1845 Prosper Mérimée novella Carmen. Whew! Got all that? Not sure I do. Here, Dorothy Dandridge plays the title role of Carmen Jones, a very cool woman who just likes to love a buncha guys, what’s the big deal? Oh, right, it’s the olden days when things were a little (a lot) worse for women so this is gonna be a big deal. Anyway, one day she gets suddenly fired from her job at the parachute factory (it’s World War II btw), and manages to convince a cute army guy (Harry Belafonte) to ditch his pilot training and fiancee. There’s a sudden cutaway and he puts his belt back on suggestively, not sure what that means. He goes AWOL for her but is kind of a jerk (like shakes her and shit - not sure how that was supposed to play back then but thumbs down in my opinion), so she leaves him for a nice boxer man. Anyway, long story short, army guy blows his top yada yada yada strangles Carmen Jones to death and is arrested. Yikes, whatta downer!

REACTIONS

“In the Pale Moonlight” has rightfully earned a reputation as one of the best episodes of any Star Trek series. The framing device of Sisko making a log entry after the fact and doing a slow super depressing strip tease through the episode terrifically reflects his inner character struggle as he abandons some of the more optimistic beliefs he has as a Starfleet officer. He’s an accessory to the murder of an innocent man (and presumably his entourage), but he rationalizes that The Good of the Many etc etc. Garak is at his most slimily conniving and I mean that as high praise. This isn’t my favorite DS9 episode, but it’s definitely among them.

I had previously of course heard the hit singles from the Bizet opera, but did not know the plot, and also was a bit unaware that there was a big studio prestige movie with an all black cast in the early 50s. Carmen Jones was directed by Otto Preminger, and was the winner and only nominee for the Best Musical or Comedy Golden Globe that year (no excuse for not having a polished speech then producers). Carmen Jones the character is pretty awesome - she just wants to sleep around and have fun. I do wonder if a white actress would’ve been allowed as sexual a performance as this at the time. The performances are great (Dandridge was the first black woman nominated for the Best Actress Oscar for this movie), and it does a good job avoiding some of the racism of the time, although the song titles spell words in that condescending white phonetic version of AAVE ( e.g. “Stan’ Up An’ Fight” and “Whizzin’ Away Along de Track”), although they aren’t sung like that except by Harry Belafonte’s white singing double. Also another way the film avoids racism is by having literally zero white characters, even in crowd scenes, so the oppression felt by black people during this time is completely eradicated, which is itself a sort of racism. But like as far as 1950s movies go, that’s pretty good.

SIMILARITIES

Hey, Brock Peters plays a jerky sergeant in Carmen Jones! He doesn’t appear in “In the Pale Moonlight” but Sisko does at one point mention his father (who is played by Peters). Both the movie and episode feature a lead who does something that some may consider immoral (sleeping around/murder - I think murder is way worse but that may just be me). Less musical numbers in the DS9 episode I must admit. Kind of a downer ending in both to be honest.

VERDICT

I really liked Carmen Jones, and it would have won if it was up against “Year of Hell” for example, but we’re talking “In The Pale Moonlight.” Easy call for one of the ten best Trek episodes ever made.

That’s 2-0 for Star Trek so far but I swear this isn’t rigged!

Next time is The Godfather Part III vs the fan production Star Trek: Odyssey - “Tossed Upon the Shore.”

Please leave feedback if you want, or dissenting/assenting opinions!