I Miss Star Trek.
I’d always hoped that the United States would one day grow up to be the United Federation of Planets. In fact, aside from a few practical details, I believed we were headed that way. (Yes, I was young and naïve.)
But if you look at the nineties, you could believe it a possibility. If you look at today’s climate, it seems like we’ve turned our back on evolving into a better country and a more humane world.
Coincidentally, I noticed there are no Star Trek shows on.
There’s 24.
How reflective of our culture.
Which comes first? The chicken or the egg? Do shows like 24 bring about an acceptance of unethical, illegal, and ineffective techniques like torture? Or do shows like 24 succeed because they strike a chord with the beliefs of the current culture?
Don’t get me wrong, I loved 24. At some point, though, it felt like propaganda for Bush’s torture and invasion-of-privacy policies. The show and I had a falling out after that.
I’m longing for a show, like Star Trek, that dreams of an ideal future for humanity. I’m longing for a show that espoused acceptance for and curiosity about other cultures. And above all, a respect for all of our differences and the dignity of each being—whether “other” or alike, smarter, poorer, richer, or less smart.
Even more than missing Star Trek, I’m missing the hope that we are continually evolving into a better species, that our political landscape will become more and more concerned with human rights and freedoms and less and less concerned with making war and being greedy.
Did Star Trek give me that hope? Or did I love Star Trek, because I saw in it the hope I had for humanity? For society? What about you? Do you miss Star Trek?
19 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
Natasha Fondren is a writer traveling the U.S. in a camper with her four cats. She is currently enjoying the lizards and desert heat in Arizona.
I miss Star Trek. Roddenberry had a vision of the future of Humankind. Even if you’re not into science fiction, or his brand of it, ya gotta love that vision.
He really did, Stephen. Totally!
I miss Star Trek as well, although the movie was excellent. I suspect the writers and what shows appeal have a lot to do with a reflection of the current culture, although I suppose some of it could be a reaction to it as well, if the lack of box office interest in anything to do with war in Iraq are an indication. Some of those movies have been excellent, like Green Zone and In The Valley of Elah (The Hurt Locker’s upstairs, but I haven’t watched it yet), but the public doesn’t seem to want to go see them.
Although I think you can slam Star Trek for many things, I’ve always appreciated the optimism of all of the shows, the idea that the future will be better (if somewhat utopian), that there’s always hope by working together and engaging our better instincts–curiosity, adventure, diplomacy, etc.
Oh yes, Mark, the movie was great. (I cried when the Enterprise flew on to the screen!)
Amen to your last paragraph!
I never cared much for the original Star Trek. It’s hard (or impossible in these benighted days) to remember that back in the sixties that sort of vision of a better world was everywhere and Star Trek wasn’t really my kind of science fiction. Now I can look back fondly on the sentiments expressed.
I think commercialized culture reflects the society more than it shapes it. What’s put on television, for instance, depends on economics rather than an artist’s vision. If enough people will watch a show and then buy advertised products, the show gets an airing. A writer or producer or director might want to tell people about a better world of the future but unless the business people decide enough viewers will watch no one will ever see that message. Today there’s an enormous market for hatred and fear — see all the right wing hate monger “entertainers” like Limbaugh and Beck. Of course these television shows, movies, books and so forth, geared to what the market wants, then proceed to reinforce the sentiments they reflect, or pander to. Today’s hate mongers are essentially pushing a drug and keeping the angry, ignorant mobs hooked. Obviously, even today there’s a market for more civilized viewpoints (see Avatar) but maybe not so mcuh of one as there used to be.
Eric, I can appreciate the first series, but I loved the ones that followed much more. The first series still held too much… inequality between the sexes for my taste, LOL.
You are SO right about hate mongers. I’m finding that people actually ENJOY hating and fearing. That’s what blows my mind. They really ENJOY it.
You’re right. I’m glad they came out with the new movie. I hope they’ll make more and it will still have that same sense of hopefullness throughout it. I miss it too.
I do, too, Charles! I wish they’d do another series, too, but that might be too much to hope for.
I would love to see a show like Star Trek. A few years ago, I think was hoping HEROES would be an edgier kind o Star Trek. Instead it became just goofy. (For me, anyway, others might not agree.) That’s when I stopped watching it.
I think NCIS might be my substitute for Star Trek for me. It has the optimism that justice will be done (for the most part), plus great characters and interesting storylines. No exploration in space, though. Hey, that should be their next spin-off. NCIS In Space!
Edie, I loved Heroes at first! I came to it late, but I loved watching the first season. And then, midway through the second season, I just couldn’t get into it. I dropped off sometime after that.
I love NCIS! And NCIS in space would be great!
I haven’t seen the Los Angeles one, though. What do you think?
I was a Deep Space Nine sort of girl, myself. I like it darker… what can I say?
I thought I saw The Next Generation on the other day… I might have been wrong, though.
But… go download Farscape from Netflix. It’s not a terribly flattering look at humanity either, especially as the series winds on, but it’s a damn good show.
Deep Space Nine is probably my favorite, Susan. *thinks* I don’t know, I hate to call a favorite. I loved DS9, Next Generation, and Voyager the best. All three.
I’ll have to check out Farscape!
I never could get into Star Trek, but then I could never get into sci-fi or fantasy. For some reason I just can’t relate.
But I, too, am longing for a culture where people of all cultures can feel embraced, not marginalized or excluded or made to feel inferior. I would imagine one of the coolest things about Star Trek is the acknowledgement that humans are not the only species on earth, or in the universe, for that matter…we just act like it.
Darcy, I don’t know what hooked me in. When I got sick, after college, I think DS9 became my “friends,” LOL. I just felt so good, watching that show. Voyager, too.
Amen. Amen, to your last paragraph! Totally!
Not to bum you out, but weren’t the Vulcan boys mean to little Spock because he had an Earthling mom? And everyone sort of looked down on the Klingons being so uncouth. Of course, they were always trying to kill people, which is sort of uncouth when you think about it.
I loved Star Trek. I’m just being silly here. I’d love to be a member of the United Federation of Planets.
LOL, Robin! Yes, they do bring attention to prejudices and stuff, but they always do it in a way that makes it “wrong.” You know?
LOL! Me too! Me too, Robin!
I try to console myself with the fact that every generation thinks the world is going downhill, but it can’t always be getting so much worse. After all, look how much better things are than they were in the fifties. Or the forties. Or, wow, the thirties. And as much as I love to read historical fiction, I definitely wouldn’t want all the societal constrictions that came with being a woman in the nineteenth or eighteenth centuries.
Caryn, I agree, although I’m not sure tolerance is as good as it was in the late nineties. I think things are cyclical. They’re spiraling upward, but we’re in a bad patch.
Rising marihauna is never mainly because difficult neither sophisticated because so many expert stating help it become out to be whenever initially beginning steps. When you have the fundamentals below an individual can continue to improve the progression for any increased pot show in addition to quality. When starting to keep in mind cultivate grass, it’s really quite easy if you have had a fabulous road map.