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Coming clean on "Star Trek"

I have seen “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan” at least a hundred times.

I own three versions of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”: a VHS tape, a DVD and special “Director’s Cut” DVD, even though it is arguably one of the worst Trek films ever made.

I still get pumped when Commander Riker stares down a Borg ship and orders “Fire!” at the end of the Season Three cliffhanger of the TV series, “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”

I have seen the new movie twice (and counting).

I own two “Star Trek” encyclopedias (yes, they make those) and one “Starfleet Technical Manual” (as if I’m gonna need to change a flat on my starship anytime soon).

The point is, I know my Trek.

That’s part of the reason I recently jumped at the chance to explore the logic (or lack thereof) of a proposed a Starfleet Academy — at N.C. A&T

John Hood of the John Locke Foundation apparently shares my passion.

John announces in his current column that he is ceasing a run of old “Star Trek” titles (or slight variations of them for his columns on North Carolina politics.

John and I once debated on this blog the politics of Trek versus “Star Wars.”

For the record, I’m still right and he’s still wrong.

And I haven’t asked, but I would be shocked if John didn’t have some input into the Civitas Institute’s Trek parody lampooning the Star Fleet Academy idea.

Update: John Hood replies:

"Nope. I was outraged that they didn’t give me a chance to respond, on behalf of my hero Earl Jones."

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Posted by Allen Johnson on Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 8:58 am

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Andrew Brod

August 27, 2009 - 10:09 am EDT

The politics of Star Trek vs. that of Star Wars? It's apples and oranges. The former is all foreign policy. Have you ever seen a mention of domestic policy? Possibly you have, because you've watched a lot more Trek than I have. I was a fan of the Next Generation series in the 1990s, enjoyed the reruns from the 1960s, but saw only a smattering of the other stuff. The early Trek movies kinda sucked in my opinion, and I just never got around to seeing the more recent ones.

I remember only a single mention of domestic policy, in fact domestic economics, in a Star Trek episode (i.e. not counting discussions of trade missions and far-flung natural resources). Jean Luc Picard informs a businessman unfrozen from a centuries-long cryogenic deep freeze that society has eliminated money and personal economic need. People don't need to strive for wealth--they just endeavor to better themselves. I fell out of my chair. I mean, yeah, sounds great. But that's the one "prediction" of the series I know will never come true. I can't say that we'll never travel through hyperspace or fight Romulans, but I'm quite sure that we'll always have to struggle with economic scarcity.

In contrast, Star Wars (I saw the first three movies but have only seen channel-surfed snippets of the rest) has one of the most profound quotations regarding domestic politics I've seen in a movie, and one that's quite relevant for the current decade of unwarranted wiretaps, etc. When the emperor (or whoever that wrinkly guy is) declares to the senators' acclaim that the republic will end and be restructured as a galactic empire, Padme sighs, "So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause."

Allen Johnson

August 27, 2009 - 10:12 am EDT

Yup. And as you may recall, some Bush supporters were not pleased.

SueP

August 27, 2009 - 2:39 pm EDT

As an admitted Trek-fan, I disagree that the original series didn't touch domestic policies. Without looking up the names that I'm sure Allen knows by heart, Frank Gorshin played a 2-color alien and the entire subject of the show was the stupidity of racism (remember what 3 years this show debuted/was new) and that spoke to the new civil rights in the US. In another episode, they touched interracial dating (well, kissing) and you'll find other anti-racism bits throughout the original series. As for the ERA, although the original series did treat a lot of women as sex objects, they were also leaders (see T'Pau of Vulcan).

I don't think I'm delving too deeply to find meanings that related specifically to US societal issues that weren't Roddenberry's implicit (egad) liberal leanings. Just don't get me started on Bonanza.

Allen Johnson

August 27, 2009 - 3:55 pm EDT

On women's rights, "Trek" originally was even more forward-thinking.
In the pilot, the first officer was a woman (Majel Barrett).
And she wore pants.
NBC didn't like it.
She became a nurse in the retooled series.