Ben Hufbauer

Ben Hufbauer

Ben Hufbauer teaches art history and film studies at the University of Louisville. He is the author of the book "Presidential Temples."

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    Latest Articles

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    Latest Comments

    Ben Hufbauer

    Excellent article! Many thanks for this informative exploration of this great pioneer.

    Ray Harryhausen: The Monster Maestro
    Ben Hufbauer

    Excellent article! Thanks for the many insights.++

    How A Feminist Watches Game of Thrones: Power Is Power
    Ben Hufbauer

    Thanks Munjeera, for this insightful, witty, and well-written article. It might give me courage to go to the one multiplex in my city that plays Bollywood movies and watch one someday.

    Bollywood 101: A FUN Guide to Indian Cinema
    Ben Hufbauer

    Thanks for your perceptive analysis of this unfortunately relevant book!

    Oryx and Crake: Why Atwood Matters
    Ben Hufbauer

    Impressive and detailed analysis!++

    Black Mirror: A Look at Modern Day Paranoia
    Ben Hufbauer

    In case anyone is interested, here is a video version with more illustrations….

    Balance of Terror: Star Trek, History, and National Security

    "Balance of Terror": Star Trek, History, and National Security
    Ben Hufbauer

    Michel: You make some great points here about both The Enemy Below as well as this episode. One thing to consider, however, is that a TV show has a lot of limitations in terms of what they can show and the shorthand they sometimes need to employ. For instance, as you know, on one level it might be silly that the Romulans aren’t speaking Romulan—although we could potentially say that the Universal Translator is working really well! But, on the other hand, the “foreigners speaking English” thing is used on so, so many programs, many of which are excellent. To give just one example, everyone in the BBC program “I, Claudius” from the 1970s speaks with a British accent rather than Latin with subtitles. Anyway, in terms of your bigger point of the problematic morals involved, I think you illuminate some important issues. I still think for a TV program from 1966 it’s thought-provoking, as well as dramatic, and has also stood the test of time pretty well.

    "Balance of Terror": Star Trek, History, and National Security
    Ben Hufbauer

    skag: I love TNG as well, but even though they are both Trek for me it’s almost like comparing apples and oranges. For instance, the music which is so dramatic, memorable, and over-the-top on TOS becomes in TNG an often-bland wallpaper background. Picard and Kirk are obviously a study in contrasts in terms of age, looks, nationality, approach, etc. But both are equally great captains imho. There are more “good” episodes of TNG, but that’s largely because it lasted 7 years instead of the 3 that TOS got, etc. But then again I also love the best of DS9 and Voyager just as much.

    In any case, there are definitely several episodes of TNG that might be worthy of the kind of in-depth exploration that I attempted here. Maybe you or someone else will be the one to write an article of your favorite TNG episodes?

    "Balance of Terror": Star Trek, History, and National Security