What
do you think of when someone says "Star Trek"? Dr. Spock? Trekkies? Geeks?
Nerds?
Star Trek started out as a TV show. It grew
into a cultural phenomenon all over the world. It has lasted for 53 years in
television, movies, books, comic books, toys, games, memorabilia, and
conventions. First of all, full disclosure. I met my husband at a Star Trek
convention. So you could say I owe my current and future lifetime of happiness
to Star Trek.
The original Star Trek series debuted on
television in 1966. Yes, it looks dated with its mini-skirts and beehive
hairdos. But it is often rated as having some of the best episodes ever on TV.
The classic episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" is the best example.
Even non-fans have heard of tribbles. My favorite character is the logical,
pointy-eared Mr. Spock. (No, not Dr. Spock. Doctor Spock was a human who wrote
books on how to raise children.) Spock, aptly portrayed by Leonard Nimoy, was a
very complex character. He was half human and half Vulcan. Vulcans, as many of
us know, suppress their emotions. So Spock was always dealing with having human
feelings and trying to keep in line with his Vulcan upbringing. And then there
was Kirk. Now, who can forget William Shatner as Captain Kirk? Kirk was the
classic hero, both a fighter and a ladies' man. Also handsome and charming and
the best captain of a starship there ever was. The show also sported a racially
diverse cast, including Japanese, African, Russian, and Scottish, which was
unusual for the time. Star Trek also had TV's first interracial kiss between a
white man and a black woman. Furthermore, it pushed the boundaries of
storytelling with episodes about diversity, hatred, racism, war, religion, and
many other social topics. This sixties show was the show that started it all.
Then it spawned six more shows, plus ten movies. There are several new shows currently
in production.
The animated Star Trek series aired
from 1973-1974. It had most of the same main characters as the original live
action series. It is highly laudable for being a cartoon that was actually
written for adults, with the same type of hard-hitting stories the original
had. Star Trek: The Next Generation (also called “TNG” or “Next Gen”) came
along in 1987. It was notable for being the first sequel to a TV show and for
breathing new live into an old show with aging actors. It was a new, updated
show for a new generation. Sure, other shows had spinoffs, but nothing with an
entirely new cast. I have met people who grew up on TNG and honestly think it
is the first, original Star Trek show. It had a very '80s look, which was
totally cool for the time. Furthermore, it had the best new adversaries in Q
and the Borg. Q was an all-powerful being who was funny, cynical, and always a
thorn in the crew’s side. But usually when you saw him, you knew he was going
to teach the crew a valuable lesson in humanity, while learning something
himself. The Borg was a cyborg race that assimilated other beings into their
“hive” by giving them cybernetic implants that completely took over their
bodies and minds. The episodes with the Borg also brought up issues of what it
meant to be human.
Then
came Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise.
While they did not gain the popularity of the original or TNG, they were no
less significant. They each added richness to the Trek canon in their own way.
Then there were the newer Trek incarnations, beginning with a new reboot movie
in 2009. It used an all new cast playing the original characters. It was more
glitzy and glamorous, with more adventure and less overall character
development. Then there were two more Trek movies with the same starring cast.
Star Trek also got a modern look with the new series Star Trek: Discovery.
Discovery is a prequel that is set ten years before the original. It had
moderate success with season 1, but really hit pay dirt with season 2, bringing
back new versions of old favorites like Spock, and getting back to more stories
about humanity; stories that made the franchise a cultural phenomenon in the
first place. And now there is Star Trek: Picard, the newest series, which is
breaking all kinds of streaming records on CBS All Access.
With its 8 television shows and 13
movies, Star Trek has had a cultural impact like no other media creation. Take
Klingons for example, Star Trek's arguably most popular race. The Klingons have
their own language that is real and spoken throughout the real world. There are
even translations of literary creations into the Klingon language, including
works of Shakespeare. And the Klingon language is in Bing's language
translator. The Vulcans are another popular and instantly recognizable race
from Star Trek. The Vulcan salute, which Leonard Nimoy invented from a Jewish
hand salute, is a very well-known gesture that everyone associates with Spock
and Star Trek. I see strangers do the Vulcan salute when they see me wearing a
Star Trek t-shirt. And who could ever forget the song by Information Society
"What's On Your Mind", which uses a soundbite of Spock saying
"pure energy". The soundbite was so awesomely recognizable as Spock's
resonant, baritone voice. I've even heard Captain Kirk mentioned in popular
songs, such as "99 Luftballoons" by Nena and a remix of "That
Don't Impress Me Much" by Shania Twain. The '80s pop band T'Pau, with
their one hit wonder "Heart and Soul", got their band name from a
Star Trek episode.
Nichelle
Nichols, Uhura, at one time talked about quitting the show when it was still in
production in the 1960s. She met Martin Luther King, Jr., whom she didn't know
at the time was a fan. She told him she wanted to leave the show. He convinced
her to stay because her character was an African woman who was an officer on a
starship. That's a groundbreaking role. Nichelle was also a role model for
Whoopi Goldberg, who saw Uhura on Star Trek and recognized her as a black woman
on TV who wasn't a maid. Uhura obviously made waves and changed a lot of lives.
Star Trek is also popular with
politicians. Democratic former President Barack Obama has admitted to being a
fan, and had a picture taken with Nichelle Nichols. Former Republican Speaker
of the House Newt Gingrich mentioned Star Trek in his lectures at Kennesaw
State University as a show about the "spirit of invention and
discovery", and he even appeared at a Star Trek convention to talk about
the space program. And Stacey Abrams, who ran for governor of Georgia, claims
to be a fan who knows even the most minute details of Trekdom. Thus Star Trek
even reaches across political parties, gender, and race. It is a show that
appeals to, yes, geeks and nerds, but so many others as well.
There are many annual Star Trek
conventions worldwide. Fandom is still alive and thriving at cons, with
cosplayers and autograph seekers never ending. The most visible con is Star
Trek Las Vegas, a sanctioned Star Trek convention that always has over a
hundred actors from Trek, from the most famous to the ones who appeared briefly
on one episode and never had a line. There is Star Trek Destination, a yearly
con in Europe. There is a Star Trek cruise every year that boasts some of the
biggest Trek stars, such as William Shatner and George Takei. Trekfest is held
in Riverside, Iowa every year. Riverside, IA is a small town that had itself
officially declared the future birthplace of Captain Kirk. (It has been stated
on Trek that Kirk is from Iowa, but not where in Iowa.) There is currently a
petition to get Bloomington, Indiana named as the future birthplace of Captain
Janeway, the captain on Star Trek: Voyager. There is a city in Canada called
Vulcan, Alberta that publicizes itself as a Star Trek town, after Star Trek's
planet Vulcan. They have regular tourists and a Star Trek convention every
year. And there are a slew of other local yearly Trek conventions across the US
and around the world.
I love spotting Star
Trek references on other TV shows. In my younger days, I used to write down
every show that happened to make a reference to Star Trek. The list got so
large that I eventually gave up. Too bad I don't still have it! There was the
time Frasier spoke in perfect Klingon at his son's Bar Mitzvah. There was the
time Seinfield talked about a "katra" from the third Trek movie. Even
NCIS had a character who spoke Klingon! My parents, who had no interest in Star
Trek, always recognized Shatner and Nimoy when they were on any show. Anyone
who is on Facebook and sees all the memes is familiar with several pictures of
Picard, who is used in several standard memes. Star Trek has made the cover of
Time magazine and People magazine, not to mention one of my favorites, MAD
magazine! "Trekkie", a fan of Star Trek, is the only word in the
Oxford English dictionary that describes a particular type of fan. A model of
the starship Enterprise from Star Trek is on display at the Smithsonian. There
have been many famous guest stars on Star Trek, mainly because they asked to be
on the show. The most prominent was Whoopi Goldberg, who had a recurring role
as Guinan on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Other famous people who were on
Star Trek: Kirstie Alley, Kelsey Grammer, Christian Slater, The Rock, Stephen
Hawking, Seth MacFarlane, and Mick Fleetwood, just to name a few.
Star Trek has proven itself to
have staying power. It will live in the hearts of fans forever. With the
current and upcoming shows and movies, it will live on to inspire new
generations. Trek’s creator Gene Roddenberry, and everyone else who had a hand
in it, have made something that is not only unique, but something that embraces
humanity and the future in a way that nothing else can, and in a way that
nothing else ever has or ever will again.
-by The Honorable
Kavura
