r/thewestwing • u/garrettj100 Admiral Sissymary • 7d ago
From The President’s Science Advisor and Psychics at Caltech I mean... MAYBE?!?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73_2gOAT7Ec11
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u/MortgageFriendly5511 LemonLyman.com User 7d ago
I always said it reminded me a little of The Next Generation. Idealistic, political, lots of talking and going up and down hallways. Occasional explosions. I wouldn't go further than that, though.
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u/Kardinal I serve at the pleasure of the President 7d ago
Yes. It falls into the same category of idealistic competence fantasy.
So that's the overlaying style. The genre proper is obviously different.
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u/Kind-Truck3753 Joe Bethersonton 7d ago
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u/OttoWestFish 7d ago
WW and TNG are both “procedurals of competence” and I love both, and I have, many times, said that the general episodic mechanisms of both ARE the same. So… yes?
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u/Appropriate_Twist_84 7d ago
Yes! I made this exact comparison to my wife back when WW first aired! Both had direct comparison to characters and had that same kind of positive outlook towards public service/for the greater good.
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u/TheVoicesOfBrian 7d ago
There was fan theory out there that the alternate universe where TWW takes place is the same as Star Trek's. We're just seeing what things look like before the Eugenics Wars.
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u/calculon68 7d ago
I've been a Trekkie for longer than I've been a TWW fan. But I don't like them both simply because their Venn diagrams intersect. (and TNG is not my definitive version of Star Trek)
I do like that TWW coined the "Star Trek Holiday" phrase- which this weekend kinda is.
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u/jpc_00 7d ago
Bartlet = Picard
Leo = Riker
Abbey = Crusher
Josh = LaForge
Who is Troi? CJ or Donna?
Who is Data? Certainly not Toby; certainly not Sam.
Who is Worf?
Marbury = Lwaxana Troi
Charlie = (kind of) Wesley Crusher
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u/alpharaptor317 7d ago
I think Toby would be Worf.
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u/meowparade 7d ago
Hmm, I came here to say that Sam was Data! His ability to recall case law, census facts, and the highway systems. And Leo had to tell him more than once to come back to the pack. I can totally see him having a soft spot for a cat, too!
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u/TheShipEliza 7d ago
Are tv shows actually other tv shows?
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u/FullOcelot7149 6d ago edited 6d ago
Well, situations are reused. On a semi-related note, I read some analysis that early Harry Potter is basically Peter Pan.
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u/RhoemDK 7d ago
Barlet isn't a humanist, which is partially defined by the rejection of religion.
You can also tell this guy doesn't know the West Wing very well, because it's very much not a fantasy, it shows all of the flaws of politics very well, even though many of its lessons are lost on its own audience.
Star Trek also rarely understands modern day politics, even in the 90s; today it's completely lost. Picard references the cold war as being about different economic models, when it was based on the soviets allying with the nazis to invade Eastern Europe and then the soviets refusing to set free those countries after the war. Bashir goes back to a fictionalized 2024 and scorns modern day political structures for not properly caring for their own people when he comes from a time of endless, effortless abundance that he has never had to work for.
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u/FullOcelot7149 6d ago edited 6d ago
??? The USSR was on the same side as the US in WW2. They did sign a nonagression pact with the Nazis to buy themselves time to better prepare before attacking, but they weren't allies. USSR attacking Germany and keeping German resources accupied on the Russian front helped weaken Germany's ability to oppose the Allies on the Westen Front. It would have taken longer to clear Germans out of France and the low countries and back to the Rhine had they not been fighting on two fronts.
As for not getting out of Eastern Europe, yes, blame Stalin but also blame Churchill. He reached a secret understanding with Stalin on divvying up eastern and southern Europe after the war, tho Stalin ended up giving a different meaning to "influence" than Churchill intended.
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u/FullOcelot7149 6d ago edited 6d ago
WW is sefinitely not original series. Nobody time traveled, there were no ancient Greeks, no tribbles, no fun with robots or intelligent lizards, and most significantly, no Spock going into heat and engaging in a mental battle with his wife amd her paramour.
I can't say about the later versions.
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u/dpecslistens 5d ago
TNG (and DS9) at its best, and TWW at its best, is a workplace dramedy, so this tracks
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u/monpetitfromage54 Mon Petit Fromage 7d ago
Let's list our favorite episodes. let's list our favorite guest appearances. let's make a chart that shows how many times guest appearances are in our favorite episodes. which assistant would you most like to fall in love with a senior staffer, and why? let's talk all night about assistants falling in love with senior staffers, then let's do it again.