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I love all sorts of science fiction, even bad science fiction. But my favorite is science fiction in search of intelligent life in space. (God knows we need it.) Of the space explorations I’ve enjoyed my very favorite is still the Gene Roddenberry collection of fabulous crews and ships and creatures and gadgets. But more than all that visual perfection were the scripts that boldly went where no man had gone before. (“Insufficient facts always invite danger.” -Spock, "Space Seed", stardate 3141.9)
Roddenberry’s creations appealed to millions of people and for millions of reasons. Maybe thousands of reasons. A lot of reasons at any rate. My favorite Roddenberry theme was his belief in inclusivity, galaxies where all lived in harmony and appreciated differences and didn’t fear or hate the differences. (“Blast medicine anyway! We've learned to tie into every organ in the human body but one. The brain! The brain is what life is all about.” -McCoy, "The Menagerie", stardate 3012.4)
He put this desire to the test over and over, sometimes with dire consequences. Some of the beings/creatures did not like humans and did everything they could to eliminate the crews of the Enterprise, Voyager, et al. Quite often the human crews didn’t like the non-human species they ran into until they learned the truth about them. ("Evil does seek to maintain power by suppressing the truth.""Or by misleading the innocent."- Spock and McCoy, "And The Children Shall Lead", stardate 5029.5.)
Even then, the crews set off over and over again to find new life and put themselves in danger repeatedly. All to conquer fear and ignorance, not the universe. Never once did they explore with domination of assorted galaxies as their goal. They met many cultures that did not feel the same way and they often engaged in battles to foil the plans of an invading species. Some species they encountered were simply afraid of the humans and tried to protect themselves resulting in harm to the Trek crews. Some species were scoundrels like the Feringi, my favorite Roddenberry creations both visually and philosophically. They were all about greed. (“See Brok acquire. Acquire, Brok, acquire!” -Quark, on the children’s books he used to read Nog, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, “Accession”)
Gene Roddenberry wanted us to behave inclusively here on earth. To explore the earth without world domination in mind. Just learning about others in the world and learning to accept the differences. If it can be done with the Feringi (sort of) it can be done with anyone. (“The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe.” -Dr. McCoy, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home)
Most difficult encounters with other species were miscommunication errors, many of a complex nature. Once the humans figured out how to communicate with the other species, misunderstandings were resolved and everyone went on their merry way. Not so with some cultures. That was Roddenberry’s point. We don't always meet cultures with our same views of non-planetary domination. Many earth cultures want absolute power. Their way or the highway. (“I like my species the way it is.” -Worf, Star Trek: The Next Generation, “The Best of Both Worlds”)
The best part about Roddenberry’s mindset is that his characters never gave up. It was the central theme of all his productions. We must keep trying over and over to get along. He also had a deep respect for creatures. It was tied to The Prime Directive: do not interfere with developing (pre-warp) species, just observe and learn. (“Believing oneself to be perfect is often the sign of a delusional mind.” -Data, to Borg Queen, Star Trek: First Contact)
It was mandated that all starships respect all life forms. In the series Star Trek Enterprise (more correctly known as Enterprise) the captain of the Enterprise brought his dog on board. The dog was a Beagle named Porthos (as in the Three Musketeers). Was that intentional? Porthos a.k.a. Snoopy exploring space? I did some research and did not find a reference as to why a Beagle was selected but I can’t help but think Roddenberry planned that cast member slyly. In fact, for those of us besotted with all things Roddenberry there are countless clever references to titillate viewer respect for the scripts. Some references escaped me way back then but when I watched the series or movies again at a more senior age I “got” them and laughed hysterically. (“It is a human characteristic to love little animals, especially if they're attractive in some way.” -McCoy, "The Trouble with Tribbles", stardate 4525.6)
My list of blog ideas is longer than my list of movies and documentaries and plays and TV series and books so when it popped up on my list this week I decided to go ahead and prepare it for posting. The truth is, I have been dying to write this one because of my deep love and admiration for all things Roddenberry. (“The truth is usually just an excuse for a lack of imagination.” -Garak, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
So for all my Trekkie friends out there in space (and some of us are way far out in space) I close with this heartfelt salutation: live long and prosper. (Trekkies know who is responsible for this wonderful quote that was usually accompanied with a hand gesture, a polite hand gesture.)
[Note: Another on my list of future postings is The X-Files series. The truth is out there and I will post something about that in the future.]
[Note: Don't get me started on Stargate SG1, Stargate Atlantis, and Stargate Universe. Yep, watched every episode except for Season 2 of Universe which is sitting in my Netflix queue in “save” mode.]
[Then there’s Star Wars. Oh, help me. I can’t stop.]
[Note: For the curious, a micro-singularity is a microscopic black hole. I learned that from a Vulcan. Fact or fiction? You’ll have to ask T’Pol.]
Okay. I’m done now. Beam me up, Scotty.
