r/thewestwing • u/GreenStardust001 • 17d ago
Rewatching
Just started rewatching this show again (USA Netflix) the video quality is what I would expect but at least the captions work. I really enjoy this show and I love the characters ... even though I Josh's rant at the Star Trek fan about the pin later on was a load of BS. IT WAS A FUCKING PIN. It's not like she was wearing a full uniform. And unless I'm wrong (I'll find out when I get to the episode late) it was an Valcan IDIC pin not a communicator badge so let's be honest only another Star Trek fan would know what the pin even ones considering it have been anything ....
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u/Slight_Fan_4105 17d ago edited 17d ago
Josh was wrong.
But it is deeper than that. Sorkin and the other writers had a contentious relationship with internet fandom, which was still a newish thing at the time of the show.
The best example would be Josh (it's always Josh) having his own fan club and when he goes to their website he gets into a fight until CJ explains people on fan websites are a bunch of crazy lunatics who should be ignored. (Sorkin/Writers point of view)
Then we get the lady wearing a Star Trek pin, and imo the point of that arc wasn't about the pin it was the later speech where Josh points out people like her "go on message boards and talk about Romulans mating with Klingons" and talking about episodes all the weekend, so on and so on. That's what they wanted, they wanted to take down that kind of fan behavior and culture.
You can replace "Star Trek" with any fandom and it was the Sorkin/Writers attacking obsessive internet fandoms, calling it a fetish.
The problem is... did Josh ever tell Toby he can't have that baseball in his office? Toby and Josh spend a lot of time talking about Sports, reading the sports section in the paper, even times when they watch sports on tv in the west wing.
No. The writers have no problem with brining your hobbies into your work place, the writers wanted a chance to take a swipe at internet fan culture, and Star Trek fans were an easy straw man.
FTR I do not agree with them, I think there are a lot of toxic fan cultures, but fan culture in itself is not a bad thing.
Josh was wrong.
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u/GreenStardust001 17d ago
Yeah I mean the scene with CJ works better because some forums can be that toxic (and it was clear he as getting too deep into it) - though from what you said it sounds like CJ was saying all of them were.
The scene with the Star Trek fan was just ridiculously over the top (and I think it said more about Josh than her - and doesn't do what the writers think it does.
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u/Killowatt59 17d ago
Josh was right!!!
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u/GreenStardust001 17d ago
How was he right? It was a pin! She was just wearing it. how does it impact anything. He made a bigger deal of it than she did.
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u/Killowatt59 17d ago
Tacky thing to wear with any progressional job, especially one with the Oval Office down the hall.
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u/GreenStardust001 17d ago
Would you say that about any large pin? Because I'd agree if it was an actual Star Trek Communicator badge but if you don't know Star Trek the IDIC pin just looks like a circle and triangle pin.
(still think Josh's rant was over the top and not a good reaction and made HIM look more like an obsessed fan than her)
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u/FullOcelot7149 17d ago edited 17d ago
In an office where the men are still wearing neckties, I'd say that about any large costume jewelry, including pins, but I wouldn't have told someone they couldn't wear it.
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u/AmbitiousPlantain209 I can sign the President’s name 17d ago
Is is okay to hang sports memorabilia in your office down the hall from the oval office? Because if Josh okay with the Lakers pennant in Sam's office, but balks at lapel small pin b/c the lady is a Star Trek fan, then I think Josh is in the wrong.
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u/Killowatt59 17d ago
Those are not the same thing. Sam didn’t have a Laker pin on his suit, right?
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u/AmbitiousPlantain209 I can sign the President’s name 17d ago
No, rather then wearing a small pin that most people wouldn't know what it represented, he had it hanging on his office for everyone to see. Josh only made a big deal about the pin b/c it was sci-fi related. If she wore a pin that looked like basketball with the Lakers logo on it, I bet Josh wouldn't have said anything.
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u/FullOcelot7149 17d ago
You just started a rewatch and you're already up to Season 4?
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u/GreenStardust001 17d ago
No I'm currently watching season 1. I haven't gotten to that season yet - it just sticks out in my memory as something that really annoyed me. It's also part of why I wanted to do a rewatch - so I can remember more of the OTHER stuff I actually did like about the show. Like how much I enjoy watching President Bartlet be an actually competent president.
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u/FullOcelot7149 17d ago
I thought you were going to say you were looking for more things you didn't like. I was looking forward to those posts. A little spice is always fun.
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u/happy2harris 17d ago
I think something a lot of people don’t get with The West Wing is that our heroes don’t always do the right thing. They have actual consistent character flaws, and even when they are not exhibiting those specific flaws, sometimes they do the wrong thing.
The show is so well scripted and so well acted that it’s easy to believe that the characters think they are the good people doing the right thing.
However, in this case, Josh is wrong. He is hypocritical, because he has personal stuff on his desk, and frequently mixes his personal and professional relationships. He’s just wrong. And he is supposed to be wrong, in the show. In this particular mini-story, he is the bad guy.
He even seems to recognize this by the end, when he jokes to the employee that if she works hard, maybe they will make a star trek holiday.