The Trek Into the Future

This past January, the premier of Star Trek: Voyager launched the third spin-off of the original "Star Trek" TV series, and will likely be the show to carry Star Trek's worldwide audience into the next millenium. What lies behind the enormous popularity of Gene Roddenberry's vision, and what does it say about our society's hopes and fears for the future?

    It's been almost thirty years since the original Star Trek television show premiered, and despite the death of creator Gene Roddenberry, the Star Trek universe is still growing. Today, it is nothing short of a cultural phenomenon. Ironically, during its three year run on NBC during the 1960's, the original Star Trek never became a "hit"-in fact, it was rarely among the 50 highest rated shows. It was in syndication that it gradually became a cult sensation. The growing enthusiasm lead Roddenberry to produce Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which began a string of successful Star Trek movies. He went on to create and produce the hit series Star Trek: The Next Generation, which continued to air for two seasons after his death in 1991. However, his passing did not slow the flow of new Star Trek television shows and films-a second spin-off of the Star Trek series, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, premiered in 1993, the first series to feature characters not created by Roddenberry. Even with two new series on television, the demand for new takes on the Star Trek theme still was not satisfied. In 1994, for example, Paramount Pictures brought fans a seventh Star Trek film, Star Trek: Generations. Despite mediocre reviews, the film brought in over $73 million in box office sales, and strong encouragement for Paramount to produce further films. And by January 1995, a much-anticipated third Star Trek spin-off, Star Trek: Voyager, launched the new United Paramount Network. In the words of Jim Curtin, the vice president of a TV programming firm, "Paramount has built a franchise that could go on forever. It's one of the great renewable assets of all time."

    Why has Star Trek has achieved such enduring popularity? When fans are asked why they like the show, a recurring answer is "I like the escape". From what is it that people watch Star Trek to escape? A quick response is to say they are escaping from the humdrum of everyday life. They like to spend time cruising the Milky Way with their "friends" on the bridge of the Enterprise. So what kind of escape does Star Trek offer that has allowed it to endure for almost thirty years?

     The escape occurs on many different levels, and appeals to different kinds of people. Fans with scientific backgrounds can watch the shows, see the references to a whole host of advanced topics-quantum mechanics, biology, chemistry, relativity theory-and feel like the writers are speaking directly to them. The producers of The Next Generation were particularly aware of this, and went to great lengths to make sure that the science fiction was well grounded in science fact. For example, Dr. Naren Shankar, a Ph.D in Applied and Engineering Physics , was hired as a Science Consultant for The Next Generation after graduating from Cornell. Though his talent as a writer eventually allowed him to author scripts for the show, his initial role was to help insure that the plots were as scientifically sound as possible. Such attention to detail makes the show believable; it allows Star Trek to speak to viewers' specific areas of knowledge. It becomes their own special voyage, their own private escape.

     However, people with scientific backgrounds are not the only ones who enjoy Star Trek. It has something to offer anyone who has ever stared up at the heavens and wondered what it would be like to travel to the stars. President Kennedy challenged the country in 1961 to put a man on the moon within the decade, and by 1969 it was done. Star Trek was born during this time, a time when people were pondering the possibilities of where the intense space race would take humanity. Star Trek opened up with scenes featuring a starship cutting through the vastness of space. It's as if the creators were saying, "See! Here we are, in a couple of centuries-we made it to space!" It was an appealing vision for the television audiences of the day.

    Today, the pace of space exploration has slowed considerably, yet that vision of a presence in space is every bit as appealing. Given present technology, interplanetary travel is prohibitively expensive, and interstellar travel simply is not feasible-the speed of light remains the ultimate barrier to our exploration of the cosmos. It is a frustrating situation for those of us who dream of visiting other worlds. In the Star Trek universe, however, humanity has invented the warp drive, and can break the light barrier with ease. We are able to escape the confines of our stellar neighborhood and explore strange new worlds.

    The possibility of leaving Earth is an escape found in all types of science fiction. Star Trek does something more-it tells us that we not only will have the technologies to explore space, but we will also be able to use them in a positive way. That may explain why Star Trek seems to be especially popular with the youth of today, a phenomenon that undoubtedly has something to do with the fact that their generation will be the ones carrying our civilization into the twenty-first century. The millennium conjures up images of a future that will be paved with new and exotic technologies. It leads us to question whether we will be mature enough as a species to use these technologies to our advantage or if we will use them to destroy ourselves. Star Trek obviously takes the more positive view. The appeal is evident in the words of one young fan, who was asked to explain her devotion. "A lot of science fiction shows us a future just like now, only worse," she said. "I like The Next Generation because it shows us a future I could live in."In this way, Star Trek offers this generation that an escape from their fears of what the coming millennium may bring.

    The basis for Star Trek's reassuringly positive view of the future lies in the fundamental philosophy behind Gene Roddenberry's vision. Roddenberry identified himself philosophically as a humanist-meaning that he is concerned primarily with human beings and their values, capacities, and achievements. One of the underlying messages of Star Trek is that human beings are able to solve their own problems and have the capacity to grow and evolve. When asked about his attitude toward the future of humanity, Roddenberry replied, "We are a young species. I think if we allow ourselves a little development, understanding what we've done already, we'll be surprised what a cherishable, lovely group that humans can evolve into."

    This positive attitude toward human beings is seen in several aspects of Star Trek and The Next Generation. For example, though the original series was created during the tension of the Cold War and Civil Rights Movement, the main characters on the bridge included not just the traditional American white males, but also a black woman, an Asian, a Scotsman, a Russian, and a Vulcan, all working with one another toward the exploration of space. The assumption is that humans will overcome the failings of prejudice and bigotry, a view that followed naturally from Roddenberry's philosophy. He dealt with criticisms of his interracial crew by saying, "if we don't have blacks and whites working together by the time our civilization catches up to the time frame the series is set in, there won't be any people." Not surprisingly, Star Trek was the first television show to feature an interracial kiss. Roddenberry said he felt that "Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura's kiss was an integral part of the story line, and it never occurred to me to question whether Kirk should kiss a black person or not." In The Next Generation, our species matures even further-enough to allow us to make peace with our historical enemies, the Klingons. In placing Lieutenant Worf on the bridge of the Enterprise, Roddenberry shows us that we have the capacity to overcome prejudice not only against members of our own species, but against alien species as well.

    Another example of the future promise of our race is found in The Next Generation's androids. Neither Data nor his later evil brother Lore were created as malevolent machines. There are no man-made android killers running around the Star Trek universe, as there are in films like Blade Runner or The Terminator. We see in their existence, Roddenberry's belief that humans are fundamentally good, and that they will use their intellect and technology for positive purposes. It is a wonderful message for people who live in an age of nuclear weapons, computer viruses, and chemical terrorism.

    A good episode of Star Trek, then, is more than good drama. It is a powerful statement not only of what we are, but of what we can become. It tells us that by overcoming prejudice, and working together, human beings can unlock their truly limitless potential. When we watch Star Trek, we escape not only from the confines of our planet, and from our fears of what the future may bring, but also from doubts about the worthiness of our species. Star Trek tells us that we will make it out there eventually, and that we are good enough to handle the challenges that our future in space will present.

Dan Schnoll is a Junior in Mechanical Engineering at Cornell. When he's not contemplating the future of mankind or working on a problem set, he's usually either procrastinating or asleep. Or both.
Dan would like to give special thanks to Stephen DiScala for his help in writing this article. His Star Trek library and wisdom have proven invaluable.

photos courtesy of Paramount Pictures