I have to say, while his examples mostly suck, I have to agree with him that the "nonhumans who want to become human" trope is annoying and overused, especially when it shows up in conjunction with "love is a human emotion." Blargh.

But spaceships have a top and a bottom because they're going to be manned by people who grew up on planets, and expect their vehicles to have tops and bottoms. Once we all agree that interstellar travel is science fiction, I don't think it's a huge stretch to assume that we've also invented a workable artificial gravity by that point.

And even when the society moves to the point where the inhabitants of a ship don't need up and down, we still will be most comfortable viewing that. And it'll be cheaper, most often.

The Pinocchio/Pygmalion stories don't bother me much, not if they're well done. Data did bother me. He was boring, and his desire didn't add much to the character or most of the storylines.

I think as long as there are valid reasons for the nonhumans to be obsessed with humanity, that kind of story can work,, but I was still pumping my fist in Matrix Reloaded when Neo was all "but love is a human emotion!" and the programs were all "Um...nsm."

It's Humanity Sue stories that bug me -- random other species encountering us in space who are instantly impressed with what a beautiful and unique snowflake of a species we are.

Yeah, at least the Cylons don't do that. They're all, "Humanity sucks. God loves us more."

At least with Stargates, the natives have an actual reason to hang out in one geographical region, since that would give them readier access to it.

I've always kind of thought they should be moving away from it, all "huh, you know, this thing never brings us anything but trouble. Let's try living a couple days' walk away!"

Well, in SG-1, anyway. In SGA they do seem to actually trade with other worlds and so on. But in SG-1, you could avoid so much trouble with the Goa'uld if you just moved a few days' walk away!

you could avoid so much trouble with the Goa'uld if you just moved a few days' walk away!

They managed to spread all over Earth without any trouble. I don't think other planets would pose an insurmountable problem.

They're all, "Humanity sucks. God loves us more."

However they still want to breed with people, and live on Earth. Wanting to be newer better humans still speaks of an obsession with our race.

For anything made by us in our image--I think wanting to be us or wanting to leapfrog us is part and parcel of doing the job well. Not inevitable, but understandable.

So what are some examples of Pinocchio stories done well? I agree that they completely bungled Data's storyline in the later years and the movie. I did love Odo, but I'm not sure that his is a Pinocchio story either. Odo wanted to find his people, not become a human.

However they still want to breed with people, and live on Earth.

Yeah. Although it'd be fun if they wanted to come to Earth just so they could fuck with us.

Ooh, they could have a Six move to each state and enter the Miss America pagent. Then when we have 50 identical women arrive for the competition....

OK, BSG's probably not going in that direction, huh?

They managed to spread all over Earth without any trouble. I don't think other planets would pose an insurmountable problem.

Well, sure, if they wanted to, but we don't usually see them wanting to. You get episodes like Cor-ai, where the locals are all "we run away when they come!" Well, okay, but they're coming on foot. If they really really want the planet they can probably have it, but it certainly seems like they're not going to try very hard if the people wander off.

I think Odo was a deluded Pinocchio. He wanted to be human until he discovered he had a people, and then it was about them.

7 of 9 is weird, because she used to be human. Wanting to be human again, or wanting to be a half-borg...both are valid destinations from her starting position.

However, I am totally blanking on other examples.