Star Trek: The Original Series
American science fiction television program created by Gene Roddenberry that ran for three seasons from 1966-1969.
Although the starship Enterprise’s five year mission to explore new worlds was cut short by poor ratings, the ship and crew didn’t dematerialize quite that fast.
Devoted viewers clamored for more. And as the fan mail piled up, the show’s uniqueness was soon realized and a series of successful movies were produced throughout the 1970’s to 1990’s, along with several new Star Trek TV spin-offs, closely following the format of the original program.
While a few second-rate academics might still scoff at the idea, Star Trek TOS and its offshoots have taken on a mythic status. Instead of Sumerian gods carved in stone, Star Trek provides gods etched on film. And there’s arguably not all that much difference between the two.
Trying to be progressive in its day, the original Star Trek pilot episode featured a female first officer. But due to poor ratings she was replaced by the male Vulcan, Mr. Spock.
The revised cast boasted a host of international characters at the command center, which for the mid-1960’s was virtually unheard of.
In the episode, “Plato’s Stepchildren” (1968) Captain Kirk and the black Lt. Uhura are forced by telekinesis to kiss, a controversial first for fiction characters on U.S. TV. And in the episode Balance of Terror (1966) Kirk scolds his navigational officer Styles for making a racial slur:
Leave any bigotry in your quarters. There’s no room for it on the bridge.
Some say that the whole Star Trek phenomenon has all the earmarks of a religion because it exhibits the following characteristics:
- A social component (Star Trek conventions are periodically held around the world)
- The Star Trek ‘creed’ (the Prime Directive)
- A general goodwill ethic
- Implied transcendental ideas
In 2009 the hit movie Star Trek, directed by J. J. Abrams, brought the popular character Spock back into the spotlight. This time he’s both an elderly (played by Leonard Nimoy) and young man (played by Zachary Quinto). The fact that Leonard Nimoy is showcased in this blockbuster film while William Shatner (who played the original Captain Kirk) isn’t is perhaps telling as to Spock’s ongoing cultural significance in the 21st century.
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