Star Trek in it’s entirety is a vast collection of almost every imaginable kind of media. It currently includes five live action television series, 11 feature films, numerous novels, countless pieces of merchandise, video games, and even an animated series [1]. In short it’s a commercial brand like many others and like many others it was designed to have every last penny sucked out of it. However, It differs in a very unique and special way. At it’s heart Star Trek, at least at it’s best, has a deep desire to raise public awareness and discussion on a variety of social and political topics[5]. Usually these are the kinds of topics that could not be approached by something so humble as a television show without being laughed at, but by looking at them through the slightly foggy lens of an alien species or the comfortable gap of several hundred years it seems we as people can relax and stop being offended or obstinate just long enough to thing about something from a new perspective.
Star Trek first had life breathed into it in September of 1966 [2]. In it’s own time Star Trek, later renamed “Star Trek: The Original Series”, had low rating and survived only 3 seasons and 79 episodes [2]. Several years after it’s cancellation it became something of a cult classic in syndication. One blog reports that at the peak of it’s popularity in the 1970’s it was more watched by males 18-49 in New York that even Monday Night Football[4]. This fanaticism lead to the re-birth of Star Trek in the form of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”[3]. While the film was not received warmly by critics it did well at the box office and it became clear that Star Trek was alive and kicking once again.
The Success of the movie lead to a slue of others. There popularity grew so enormous that the salaries that were demanded by both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy prompted the studios to reload and recast with unknown actors and a new television series.[6] Twenty one years after the Original Star Trek a new generation takes to the stars in “Star Trek: Next Generation”. While I have seen my fair share of “The Original Series” and also some “Deep Space Nine”, “Voyager”, and even “Enterprise” none of them has meant so much to me or captured my imagination so thoroughly as the crew on the Starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D).
The Transition from the original crew to the new one was not without controversy. Fans that grew up with and love the Original crew were unsure that a new cast could possibly fill a void that would be left without James T. Kirk in the captains chair. On top of it all Jean-Luc Picard was in almost every way the exact opposite of everything Kirk was[7]. Misgivings over that change were largely forgotten by the end of the first season making “Stark Trek: The Next Generation” viewer numbers exceed that of even “Cheers” and “LA Law”[7].
“The Next Generation” aired for seven seasons totalling in 178 episodes. The last one aired in May of 1994 and was soon followed by the first feature film staring the crew of the Next Generation, “Star Trek: Generations”. This was a unique film because it featured both crews and served as a bridge between the old and the new. In two year increments “First Contact” and then “Insurrection” were released finally to be capped off in 2002 by “Nemesis”. This is and likely will remain the last we see of “The Next Generation”. Although there is much to say about the history of trek beyond the end of “The Next Generation” I will stop here. Not because there is not much of value in the remaining Trek universe but simply because I believe that the Next Generation is very much the best generation and so it is what i wish to write about.
Being born in the late eighties I was hardly able to enjoy “The Next Generation” during it’s original run. I came to it much later in some ways just as a matter of course through my love of both technology and the sci-fi genre in general. Since really watching the show in high school around 2004 I have seen every one of the 178 episodes and lamented that there were not another 178, but in the end I must be happy with what there is. These precious episodes are what I intend to share my thoughts, feelings, wishes, and even a few criticisms about over the course of this class and this blog.
1. “A Short History of Star Trek”, last modified 9-25-10, http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/misc/trek_history.htm
2. “Star Trek”, last modified May 21, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek
3. “Star Trek - The Motion Picture - Trailer”, last modified Dec 8, 2006, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5vK8hCVrFg
4. “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”, last modified 05-22-2011, http://soulofstartrek.blogspot.com/search/label/Star%20Trek%20I%3A%20The%20Motion%20Picture
5. “Is Star Trek Anti-Religion or Merely Ambiguous About It?”, modified May 11, 2011, http://www.screened.com/news/is-star-trek-anti-religion-or-merely-ambiguous-about-it/2212/
6. “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, modified May 22, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation#Syndication_and_ratings
7. “Jean-Luc Picard”, modified May 15, 2011, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Luc_Picard
Great post!! I am really surprised that "Star Trek" did not do so well when it first came out because I've always thought that "Star Trek" was one of the best series of all time. I wanted to ask you if you liked the new "Star Trek" movie that came out a couple years ago with Chris Pine as James T. Kirk? I don't normally watch Star Trek so I don't think I could give a good review on it but I will tell you what i thought about it. I think it wasn't a good representation of the original Star Trek series because I feel the characters portrayed by William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were on a higher class of sophistication than the characters by Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto.
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