I should clarify that by Star Trek, I mean the TV shows and earlier movies. This is because they adhere to the theme that Star Trek is based on – to explore and to boldly go where no one has gone before. They do not solely rely on action. So movies like Star Trek III : The Search for Spock or Star Trek : First Contact have very interesting themes that they explore and the action scenes are put in only when necessary. Unfortunately, this aspect has been reversed in the latest Star Trek movies. The plot often travels at breakneck speed, with long fighting sequences making full use of the CGI capabilities. This also means that there is very little time for exploration because Kirk or Spock must save the world or the universe in about two hours. This makes the new Star Trek movies similar to say, Bond movies or John Wick movies and the soul of Star Trek – search and explore the unknown – is left wondering if it might be a good idea to start a new career, maybe horror?
That’s why Star Trek series are a much better option. And the amount of value they offer is simply astounding. So what makes the Star Trek TV shows so special?
Star Trek embraced diversity before anyone else.
We live in world where most of the conflict between peoples, states, and countries is based on cultural aspects – language, religion and so on. Star Trek embraced diversity with open arms right from the start and as the series progressed, it only got better. In a way, they had to do it. You are in future and you are going to meet aliens from unknown worlds. If you are representing the whole Earth, you have to include everyone. You don’t have a choice.
Glass ceiling? What is that? The thought never even entered the minds of Star Trek writers. The series is full of brave, capable women who can handle any precarious situation as good as men. Major Kira (Nana Visitor) in Deep Space 9 is a great example. And in Star Trek : Voyager, the commanding officer of USS Voyager is Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew).
Star Trek was able to look beyond physical appearances.
Movies and TV shows often have best looking lead characters. The Star Trek series never bothered about this. They could not because how can aliens satisfy human norms of beauty? Take for instance, the character of Quark (Armin Shimerman) in Deep Space 9. Quark is a Ferengi who is as different from a human as possible, with his elephant like ears and crooked teeth. And yet, Deep Space 9 not only gave him a prominent role, there are also episodes devoted completely to Quark. The episode Profit and Loss in Deep Space 9 is one example.
The amazing thing is that in almost no time, you begin to see the Quark that is much deeper than his appearance and you begin to relate to him. This also happens with many other aliens like Odo, Worf or Garak. This is because the writers have done such a great job on each character. The amount of effort and research of Star Trek writers is a topic in itself. Take the Klingons, for instance. At first they were enemies of the Federation but as they became neutral, more and more aspects of their culture are revealed. And the meticulousness in inventing the Klingon language!
Star Trek anticipated the future of technology better than anyone else.
In the first series itself, Kirk, Spock, and the crew were using mobile phones. In later series, you see characters using devices with touchscreens that look very much like iPads. In one of the Deep Space 9 episodes, security chief Odo is reading I, The Jury by Mickey Spillane as an e-book. Star Trek crew regularly used voice commands for computer – equivalent of Siri or Google Assistant but they were doing it when even the internet was barely functional on Earth. The replicators used in Star Trek are the 3-D printers that we have recently invented except that we have not figured out how to replicate food. That is one innovation that I am looking forward to. Whenever the Captain is speaking to the Federation or the Bajorans, he is using a version of FaceTime or Zoom. The Metaverse that we have just begun discovering are nothing but the Holosuites in Quark’s bar. In the episode The Begotten (Deep Space 9, S5E12), we see Odo making a payment to Quark using online payment system. The episode aired on January 27, 1997. Apple engineer Steve Perlman who was in charge of the QuickTime project was inspired by Data accessing his music files in Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Star Trek poses deep and fundamental questions.
Star Trek poses some of the deepest and fundamental questions that we may or may not encounter in future. In one of the Deep Space 9 episodes, Jadzia (Terry Farrell) and Odo (René Auberjonois) encounter a small village on a remote planet. Everyone in this village is a hologram except for the eldest person who created this program, Rurigan (Kenneth Tobey). In the end they have to reboot the simulation and Rurigan feels no point in continuing the simulation. Odo disagrees and raises some fundamental questions. What really defines life? Who is to say that the holograms living in the simulation are not ‘living’? Why should we define life on the narrow terms that are familiar to us? Odo is in a good position to pose these questions because he is a shapeshifter, who has to transform into liquid every 16 hours. In the short time that he is in the village, he makes a connection with Taya (Noley Thornton), who is a hologram of granddaughter of Rurigan.
Get your kids to watch Star Trek.
The benefits of this are enormous. Star Trek will inculcate the love of science and exploration in children. The kids will be familiar with terms like ‘Class M Planet’, ‘nebula’, or ‘botanist’ well before they have to learn them at school. Science fiction writers, film directors, scientists, engineers – the list of Star Trek fans is endless. Mae C. Jemison, the first African-American woman in space lists Star Trek and Lieutenant Uhura as her inspirations. NASA mission director Marc Rayman who headed the Deep Space 1 mission also thanks Star Trek for inspiration. The only downside of kids becoming Star Trek fans may be that they will get immersed in it but isn’t that a much better alternative than something like, say, ‘Instagram Kids’?
We live in amazing times. Thanks to Tesla, self-driving cars will soon be everywhere. And SpaceX is going to make space flights as routine as airplane flights. The question is not if we will become an interplanetary species but when. The future generations will be carrying out new types of jobs that have not been invented yet. (Space station Andromeda invites applications for the post of Health Educator with expertise in zero gravity environment.) What better way to inspire a generation of astronauts, engineers, and scientists than on a healthy diet of Star Trek?
