Count me in with this wave of love for Trek! I do adore it for some unusual reasons. Example, the SHIP in Trek is a vast naval vessel charged with diplomacy, science, exploration and only occasionally fighting... and the captain is no super-force demigod (the core conceit of Star Wars) but merely a way-above-average person, who needs help every time, from above average crewmates. And the FEDERATION is aboard, a topic almost every episode. It's faults and blessings and rules and codes and dreams and possibilities. The SHIP in Star Wars is a WWI fighter (banking against nonexistent air) with the silkscarf lone hero and maybe his gunner-droid... the knight and squire going back to Achilles. Demigods, demigods demigods all the way. Normal folk can only choose WHICH set of feuding gods to die for. And the Republic has no place on such a ship. Hence it is never really a topic. The Republic DOES nothing(!!!) in SW. Ever. At all. Name an exception. The lesson is the same as in all works by OS Card: hold no hope for a decent civilization. Throw yourself at the feet of a demigod and hope he'll be a nice one, like Ender! All of this and more is in VIVID TOMORROWS: Science Fiction and Hollywood - https://lnkd.in/g8QPuRH
As opposed to the Coin-Op video game plots of Star Wars, Star Trek literally is our modern Greek canon. Gene Coon alone fabricated and stitched so many constructs that formed my early model of human interactions. Literally 'Let That Be Your Last Battlefield' set up my filter for game theory in weighing both sides. While a bit silly perhaps, it is amazing to think there are people running around speaking a language inspired by a character race he created. The impact though on personifying and amplifying a collection of cherry-picked human traits. This too is how I model ethics. As a teen, I once threw an apple core into some bushes. Most would have no problem with this, and more did I. But it struck me, what would happen if every person did exactly what I did in this same place. Even then, I realised this subtle level of thought experiment was inspired by Star Trek. That there are no simple answers (laws) to problems, that everything has to be weighed, and modelled somewhat endlessly, seeking optimal or optimum decisions. It's one of my deep appreciation of Rabbis who know no boundaries in debate. Example 'Permission by one hundred rabbis' (Heter meah rabbanim) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_L._Coon
Hi David, I'm in on the new wave too. Star Trek Strange New Worlds, which airs on a sci-fi channel attached to a big network in my area, is getting more interesting. For the most part they are avoiding a reboot of the story lines of any of the other Trek series. Captain Pike, played by Ethan Mount is in charge of this Enterprise. He is no demigod, just an above average captain who needs help from his crew (as in the series you describe above) and James T. Kirk is a lieutenant in the crew. Nurse Chapel and Spock are much younger than in the original series, and have had some romantic adventures already. Uhura seems to be in engineering instead of on the bridge as the communications manager. Good fun and good storylines so far. Hope they got all of Season 2 filmed (in Canada) before the writers' strike hit.
A nice tribute and analysis of a show that people will be watching centuries from now; indeed, when we first reach the stars, I bet crew members will be watching Gene's amazing ideas during the journey. I mean the original series will be so poignant to the first interstellar travelers. Not impossible that such adventurers have already been born: a little kid today will not even be 80 by 2100.
What if everyone on the ship thinks they´re above average of everyone else on the ship?
The other great thing about Star Trek is they almost always consider the other side's point of view without relegating anyone to "evil" but perhaps not informed. Star Wars by contrast is based on the good Force and the dark force duality.
Agreed. I love Star Wars for the pulp fun it is, but it annoys me that the Republic is so incompetent that it is up to lone actors to fight evil alone. Star Trek gives me hope..
"Only occasional fighting?" Really? It seems to me that someone was shooting at someone else in almost every episode.
Mark's aunt was Leonard Nimoy's secretary. Our family is all in for Star Trek. Little-known factoid: I fell asleep in the theater during the very first showing of Star Wars in 1977.
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1yStar Trek is good, and it changed the world, inspiring better people. Plus I was lucky enough to meet most of the crew. William Shatner is a much-smarter-than average actor, and Nichelle Nichols was *wonderful*. But Babylon Five is actually a better show, most likely because it was the unified vision of one person. And of course, Galaxy Quest is the best Star Trek movie ever made. 😊