Star Trek: A Cultural Mirror.

Ok, here goes. I'm a little nervous being the first to post that I can see and all but here it is.

Star Trek is an iconic setting in the science fiction world; love it or hate it, anyone who enjoys the genre will have at least heard of Star Trek. It is a well known series and has always been focused on making bold social commentary. I intend this blog posting to take a look at the series as a whole and what it says to me about the society it was made by: their hopes, dreams, fears and predictions for the future. I also intend to take a look at how Star Trek evolved over the years.

The original Star Trek series focused on reflecting a brighter future in which we could peer through a glass lightly to see what could be, if people were to band together and reach for the stars and a better tomorrow together. It reflected our dreams of a utopian society in which so many of the things we are unable to change about the world today were conquered. From world hunger to war, the United Federation of Planets overcame these obstacles within its signatory systems, and life was good. In the original Trek, racism, war, disease, poverty, greed and most disabilities were either partially or completely conquered. Things were not always perfect and trouble did occur, but in the end the good guys won and justice prevailed in this giant galactic utopia. In the beginning the logical Vulcans were there to help us and uplift us into the stars as we began our great exploration of space. Humanity had a central role in creating the United Federation of Planets and its massive Starfleet out there exploring and saving the galaxy one planet at a time. Although space was full of crazy things that seemed driven to kill anyone in a red shirt on sight, the universe was generally a colorful if strange place that seemed to have countless races who still hadn't mastered the complex social issues that humans had faced and eventually overcome way back in the 20^th century. Hope for the future being a brighter happier place was alive and thriving. The original series wanted us to look at our own flaws with an enlightened eye and see how ridiculous they really were—to see how much better the world could be if we just tried to do the right thing.

Star Trek: The Next Generation took off running with the introduction of Q and his grand trial of the human race. This trial took the entire seven-season run of the series to come to an end, with the final verdict that the human race, along with every other sentient race, would always be on trial. Life is the trial, and if we all strive as hard as we can to make a better tomorrow, we will; but if we stop trying and striving for the greater good, some god race will come along and erase our planet before we even existed. The wars with the Cardassians and Borg were not wars of aggression on the Federation's part, and were not reflections of the Federation so much as their struggle to maintain peace and protect those that depended upon Starfleet for their security. These wars and their consequences seemed to be more tests of our mettle in resisting the flaws of the universe. Slavery was stopped before it could start again in “The Measure of a Man,” for example. The general themes of Next Gen were exploration, and the alien of the week as a mirror for us to see ourselves through. The crew of the Enterprise-D did not change much as the series evolved, and aside from a few things of note like the Borg and Q, things pretty much stayed the same. Sure, Wesley became a dimensional traveler, and some crew members died or moved on, but not much changed the bridge crew. As always, the good old Federation values overcame the threats of the times; the all-consuming hive mind of the Borg, the fascism of the Cardassians and the unabashed greed of the Ferengi proved no match for the utopian values Starfleet represented. This was what society had hoped and dreamed for our future and it was great, but as with all good things, there must come an end.

The Deep Space 9 series changed the face of Star Trek in ways that continued into Voyager. DS9 was no stranger to strife, war, corruption and the prejudices and hatreds that always come with those elements making their mark on society. The central characters of DS9 were all still people trying to do the right thing and look out for everyone for the most part. Even the shape-shifting Founders and Gul Dukat believed that they were right in their actions. Dukat said several times that “everything he did, he did for Cardassia.” The Federation still stood for the utopian values for the first couple of seasons, but showed that a little corruption can go a long way in the two-part episode “Homefront/Paradise Lost” in season three; although this did not come into full swing until the station itself was taken by the Dominion at the end of season five. Season six kicked it up a notch: the introduction of the covert ops organization Section 31 has far reaching and very dark implications that reach back to the beginnings of the Federation. Likewise, Captain Sisko and Mr. Garak betrayed those original utopian Federation values when they teamed up to manipulate the Romulans into joining the Dominion War in “In the Pale Moonlight.” The fact that these changes happen at all within the Federation and the Trek universe indicates a lot of social tensions and fears of corruption, warmongering, terrorism and a growing fear of a future dystopia.

Voyager continued Star Trek's flirtation with dystopia occasionally with Captain Janeway waffling back and forth from episode to episode on what was right and wrong—when to stick to the moralistic Federation code, and when to abandon it in the more pragmatic hopes of getting back to the Federation alive. Aside from dealing more with the Maquis—and their “the ends justify the means” attitude, born of the crucible of war with the Cardassians—Voyager still had a lot in common with Next Gen in that it was much more episodic than serial and followed in the footsteps of Next Gen. New quadrant, new ship, same old alien of the week with the addition of more moral ambiguity and bigger badder enemies with no backup from the Federation for Voyager to rely upon.

I haven't honestly seen enough of Enterprise to be able to look at its social commentary so I won't try. On to “The New Trek!”

The new Trek “reboot” movie was bold from the get-go. The first Captain of a Federation vessel we see is of Middle Eastern descent—a daring move to make in a society that relegates them to cheap villains and religious fanatics. He ultimately gives up his life to try to save his crew, and does not back down for the minutes he survives. Fast forward to Kirk growing up. We see that his life was full of strife and short on nurture, but even so he came out of it with all of the strength and passion, idealism and intensity that the Federation was built on, in both iterations. The new Trek movie brought out all of those old ideals that the newer series were slipping away from, and threw them into a flawed universe that was more understandable to the current generation. The new Trek gives us old familiar characters that we know and love, and uses them to show us that even if the universe is not a shiny happy place where things turn out for the best in the end, it is still worth fighting for, caring for and risking for. The film represents a roundabout return to the old values of the Federation by externalizing the flaws and the imperfections that our generation believes to be in everything. The new Trek took us to places that just were not possible in the original 1960's television show, and that is something we need in this new generation: a universe that reflects our view of our own world. Things go wrong, wars start for reasons like revenge or profit and someone has to try to stand up to it all and do the right thing, even when it's impossible. It's okay to be optimistic in an imperfect universe. Planet Vulcan is destroyed, But Kirk, Spock and Bones still manage to come together with a little help from Elder Spock and in the end the bad guy ends up dead and the good guys get medals and, well, after that, what can't they do?