Happy Birthday Star Trek

Today is the day: Star Trek’s 50^th birthday. To some it may seem strange to be celebrating the 50^th birthday of a television series, but Star Trek was never just a television series. Star Trek has always been about the future, and what humanity can accomplish when we move past racism and discrimination. Star Trek, at its barest roots, provides one thing: hope. Growing up I watched Star Trek and I saw a world where the colour of your skin didn’t matter. I saw a world where your gender did not define you. And I saw a world where your sexuality was just that, yours. That is the world I have always wanted to live in, and that is the world that I want to strive to create.

                On a segue that’s a terrible transition; there is a lot of pop culture that I like. I like Star Wars, I like superhero stuff, I like Firefly, but there is very few things in pop culture that I love. In fact, I can only think of two: Star Trek and Mass Effect. And to be very honest, I love Mass Effect because of how much it reminds me of Star Trek. I like Star Wars because it’s exciting, but that’s all it is. The plots are simple, the dialogue basic, and the morals in it are quite literally black and white. Star Trek makes you think. It makes you look at your own morals and ethics and question things you never thought you would have to question. And, as I said before, Star Trek gives people hope.

                I could talk about the real world, physical changes that Star Trek has given us: from laptops and tablets to cellphones to the space shuttle; but I want to look at the other, less noticeable impacts it has had. Star Trek created a sense of wonder in multiple generations that led so many people to pursue science as their career paths. The inventor of the modern cellphone did so because he wanted a communicator like Captain Kirk’s! But for the young children watching it for the first time in the 60’s, there was something much more important that it showed: people of different cultures and skin colours working together. At the height of the cold war there was a Russian officer, at the height of racial tensions in the States there was a Black officer who happened to be a woman. These things did not go unnoticed! Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played Uhura, was considering leaving the show at one point, and was convinced to stay on the show by none other than Martin Luther King Jr. Nichelle had been offered a role on Broadway and was considering leaving the show. She says this of Dr. King’s visit:

“I was a singer on stage long before I was an actress, and Broadway was always a dream to me. I was ready to leave Star Trek and pursue what I’d always wanted to do.

“Dr. Martin Luther King, quite some time after I’d first met him, approached me and said something along the lines of ‘Nichelle, whether you like it or not, you have become an symbol. If you leave, they can replace you with a blonde haired white girl, and it will be like you were never there. What you’ve accomplished, for all of us, will only be real if you stay.’ That got me thinking about how it would look for fans of color around the country if they saw me leave. I saw that this was bigger than just me.”

What Star Trek did in the 60s was groundbreaking, and cast members are often asked what Gene Roddenberry was trying to accomplish with his diverse cast, but he wasn’t really trying to accomplish anything. The multicultural cast was just a reflection of the world that he believed in, and he wanted everyone to see it.

                Actress Whoopi Goldberg grew up in the 60’s and she recalls the first time she saw Star Trek: "Well, when I was nine years old Star Trek came on, I looked at it and I went screaming through the house, 'Come here, mum, everybody, come quick, come quick, there's a black lady on television and she ain't no maid!' I knew right then and there I could be anything I wanted to be."

                Stories like this are so common in the Star Trek community. You hear stories of people who were bullied because they were smart, but held onto hope because Star Trek showed them that intelligent people are the ones who save the day; you hear about people who grew up without friends, but Star Trek showed them a future where everyone was accepted so they held on. There’s a quote from Futurama that rings true for almost every fan: “... it taught me so much. Like, how you should accept people, whether they be black, white, Klingon or even female... But most importantly, when I had no friends, it made me feel like maybe I did.”

                There is a reason that Star Trek resonates so strongly even after 50 years. There is a reason why Star Trek is still important. Most pop culture isn’t actually important, sure it can give a glimpse into what life was like in a certain time period, but it is rarely truly important. Star Wars, while entertaining and good, is not important in a significant, cultural way. Star Trek is. It is rare that one can watch a television series from the 60s fifty years later and still get inspired by the future it portrays. Star Trek is especially important now when most science fictions show a bleak and desolate future where humanity is struggling to survive: there is no hope in that. But Star Trek continues to provide that hope. Even in its darkest moments, even when its characters made decisions that were wrong, it still provided hope.

                My entire sense of justice and what is right and wrong comes from Star Trek. It showed me why racism is both wrong and pathetic. It showed me why hate hurts everyone involved. And it showed me that helping someone is never wrong. Star Trek taught me to be true to myself, and it taught me that society should accept me for whom I am, and not force me into something else.

                People sometimes find it odd how emotional I can get when seeing the Enterprise on the screen. Every time the Enterprise is shown for the first time in a film I get emotional; my heart starts racing and tears form in the corners of my eyes, and the people around me can probably feel my love for that ship radiate off of me. You see, seeing the Enterprise fly across a television screen is one of my oldest, fondest, and most significant memories. We often forget our memories from when we were toddlers because they aren’t significant—we may remember the lessons we learned, but we rarely remember how we learned them—but seeing the Enterprise for the first time has never left me. I remember crying when the Enterprise was shown in space for the first time in Star Trek 09, feeling emotionally drained for days afterwards, and seeing it floating there every time I closed my eyes. It may seem odd or pathetic to you that I get so emotional other a fictional ship, but seeing it reminds of the first time when I was watching my dad’s favourite show with him, it reminds of me of every lesson I learned from the franchise, and it reminds me of who I want to be.

                I love Star Trek. I love each of the series and the films. The first real adult novel I ever bought and read was Star Trek Voyager #18: Battle Lines. The first video game I ever finished was Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force (great game). The first graphic novel I ever read was Star Trek The Next Generation: The Gorn Crisis.

                To me, and many others, Star Trek not just a science fiction franchise, but the reason we haven’t given up. I believe in the world that Star Trek portrays. I believe in Star Trek.

                Here’s to the next fifty years, and to a ship called Enterprise. We have many more adventures to come, and I think Kirk said it best: “This is the final cruise of the Starship Enterprise under my command. This ship and her history will shortly become the care of another crew. To them and their posterity will we commit our future. They will continue the voyages we have begun and journey to all the undiscovered countries, boldly going where no man - where no one - has gone before.”

The Captain's Chair: A short story

“I’m gonna miss this chair. From here I have seen so much. Ushered in peace, and navigated through the treacherous waters of war. From here I have seen friends die.” He smiled ruefully, “It was a chair, very much like this one, where I discovered who I really am. To think, everything this chair has seen, and it’s being left to gather dust in a museum. I was sitting in that chair when you and I first met, old friend. Do you remember? Of course you do, that brain of yours doesn’t forget a thing, does it? You know, the only time I was ever truly sad sitting here was when I thought I had lost you. I remember coming back up here after your funeral and sitting down. I couldn’t get comfortable. Nothing seemed right, and my mind… my mind would not focus on anything. I felt no joy feeling that surge of power as we began to move. The wonder I have always held of the stars was lost without you.”

                He turned away from the chair and walked to navigation console, leaning forward on it, with his hands firmly planted. “Bones said I went a little crazy after you died, and I guess I had to have been a little crazy. How else could’ve I stolen the ship to come find you? Sitting in that chair again, high with the hope of finding you, I was excited again. I was happy to be in that chair, to be home again. And being on that planet, with you by my side as it was destroyed; I didn’t feel an immense sadness. The old girl had done all I had asked of it—it brought you back to me, old friend. Even in that rust bucket we took from Kruge, that chair felt right because you were by my side again.”

                He smiled, honestly this time. “I’m going to miss this chair. It was far more comfortable than the first one.” He turned to his friend, who was standing off to the side watching and listening with his hands behind his back. “Well, Spock, aren’t you going to say anything? I know the chair won’t mean as much to you, but the ship, and the name, must mean something to you!”

                “I have never understood the connection that humans make to inanimate objects, as a Vulcan. However, the human part of me does feel a longing to stay. It is, however, illogical to miss a starship. It is far more logical to miss the people I have spent time with on this ship. The human side of me will reminisce about Chekov’s unsubstantiated claims of Russian dominance in classic literature, while the Vulcan side of me will urge me to continue on and not live in my past.” Spock paused, and looked over at the science station, his science station. “I will, however, miss the opportunities that my position on the ship allowed me. And you, Jim. I will miss you on the day that we part for the last time.”

                Jim Kirk smiled at his old friend, “Bones would say that that would be damned illogical for a cold-blooded, pointy eared bastard like you.” Kirk laughed at his own joke, while Spock merely raised his eyebrow quizzically. “Don’t worry Spock, it’s going to be a long time before we part ways. I’m heading out for the shakedown cruise with the Enterprise-B, and then I’ll be back doing god knows what. Do you remember what you said to me while you were dying? ‘I have been and always shall be, your friend.’ I mean to hold you to that.” Kirk clapped his hands and headed towards the turbolift, “Now, I have to get ready for that shakedown. I’ll see you when I get back, supper that night?” Kirk smiled as he entered the lift, knowing that he had many more years to spend with his friend.

                Spock stood by the captain’s chair, a place he had so often stood before, and looked around the bridge, one last time. He remembered the banter between Sulu and Chekov. He remembered Uhura’s professionalism, and the way she would shake her head at the antics that went on around her. He remembered Scotty’s determination to this ship. And most of all, he remembered the way that Bones, Jim, and he would talk; the humans laughing at some joke while he stood beside them, never fully understanding why something was funny, but never feeling like he was the joke. Spock would miss this ship. It was just something he would not admit to Jim. Not yet. Perhaps when Jim returned.

                But Spock would not see Jim again. 

Star Trek Beyond

I watched Star Trek Beyond this weekend, as I said I would, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. After the sour taste of Into Darkness, Beyond was wonderfully Star Trek. The story wasn’t based off of an older film or television episode, but it still felt like Trek. Simon Pegg, the writer/Scotty, grew up with and loves Star Trek, which really came across in the script. The cast remains perfect, and there is a heartfelt tribute to both the original cast and to Leonard Nimoy.

                As many of you know, this year marks Star Trek’s 50^th anniversary, and many fans were holding onto hope that Paramount would release something worthy of this milestone, and I’d like to think that they did. Certainly it was a better celebration of the franchise than Skyfall was for Bond. The plot took many typical action movie routes, but it also harkened back to the roots of Star Trek with the discussion of morals and grey areas, and science. Best of all, the feeling of hope that the television series were known to impart was back in full swing. I left the theatre happy and hopeful, which is something that hadn’t happened in a long time. Don’t get me wrong, I usually leave the theatre happy and content, but the feeling of hope isn’t something one usually leaves a theatre with, and it certainly wasn’t something I left Into Darkness feeling.

                There was a great moment right at the start of the third act that could’ve just been a typical action movie moment, but the script from Pegg and Doug Jung elevated it by the simple inclusion of science in the dialogue. The humour and heart that was the soul of Star Trek came back in full swing for this film. The banter between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy felt plucked from The Original Series, and it was flawless. Every insult that McCoy threw Spock’s way came from a place of deep respect, and the viewer could pick up on that. From the way Kirk interacted with all of his crew, you could see the trust he has in them. And the easter eggs. Oh my goodness, the easter eggs. From references to the MACO and Xindi wars to the cast of TOS, the easter eggs were plentiful and amazing. If I have one gripe with the script, it’s an extremely nerdy one. At one point Scotty mentions that the crashed ship they find, the USS Franklin, was the first warp 4 capable ship, unfortunately, according to its registry number (and the fact its captain fought against the Xindi before becoming a captain) it was built after the Enterprise NX-01, which was the first warp 5 capable ship. Casual viewers won’t pick this up, but it did take me out of the movie for a moment, especially since the new Trek films have mentioned the NX-01 before.

                Nerdy griping aside, the film had a beautiful tribute to Leonard Nimoy’s passing woven into the story. Early in the film, Spock finds out about the passing of Ambassador Spock, and decides that he is going to leave Starfleet and go to New Vulcan to finish Ambassador Spock’s work. He believes that this is what the Ambassador would want. But at the end of the film he is given a package that contains several items from Ambassador Spock. Included in these items is a photograph of the original cast taken during the filming of their last movie together. This is the part where my eyes started welling up. The credits say that the film is in memory of Leonard, and following that was the simple message: “For Anton.” That’s where I actually cried a little. The Star Trek family lost two members in its fiftieth year, and instead of cashing in on that, Star Trek Beyond pays them a beautiful tribute that was full of hope for humanity. This message of hope is something that our real world, with its daily terror attacks and mass shootings, sorely needs.