Using the panel discussions of the most
recent World Science Fiction Convention in Kansas City in August 2016 (to which
I was invited and had a friend pay my membership! [Thanks, Paul!] but was
unable to go (until I retire from education)), I will jump off, jump on, rail
against, and shamelessly agree with the BRIEF DESCRIPTION given in the pdf copy
of the Program Guide. This is event #2153. The link is provided below…
50 Years of Star
Trek Part 2 (Part 1 is here: http://faithandsciencefiction.blogspot.com/2016/10/possibly-irritating-essay-where-no-one.html ): How has Star Trek changed and developed as a franchise. Everything
from writing styles, special effects, characters, ethics, social norms, toys,
and more will be considered. Dave Creek, Randy Henderson (M), Ms. Melinda
Snodgrass, David Gerrold, Shanna Swendson
Dave Creek – an
ANALOG regular
Randy Henderson
(M) – an experienced fantasy author
Ms. Melinda Snodgrass
– REALLY??? She wrote several episodes of Star Trek: The Next
Generation while serving as the series' story editor during its second and
third seasons!
David Gerrold –
REALLY??? This is the name I remember immediately after Gene Rodenberry’s when it
comes to script-writing. Not DC Fontana or any of the others. THIS one!
Shanna Swendson –
an experienced fantasy writer
So, the panel was
possibly dominated by comments from the most relevant comments from Gerrold and
Snodgrass, but I’ve no doubt that in the others chimed in.
Onward, then. The
subject: “How has Star Trek changed and developed as a franchise? Everything
from writing styles, special effects, characters, ethics, social norms, toys,
and more will be considered.”
OK – so I decided
to do more on characters because my wife and I just finished re-watching STAR
TREK: GENERATIONS.
When ST:TOS
debuted a half century ago, no matter what people say about its “groundbreaking”
look, the fact is that there was a young, studly white guy in charge, surrounded
by sexy women in miniskirts; a doctor who was easily lifted from classic
American Westerns; a Scottish engineer (of course, only the Scots can be good
engineers); and a format that was as familiar as, well…WAGON TRAIN, only like,
a “WAGON TRAIN to the stars”.
They acted as if problems
like racism, sexism, violence, rape, and greed could be solved in 50 minutes
(TOS) and continued to impose on us the idea that all it would take is to learn
that “We Are Not Alone” in the universe, and we’d be all hunky-dory.
The fact that a
Russian (who “accidentally” looked like one of the Beatles), a “Chinese”
helmsman who did as he was told, a black woman who was in essence, a telephone
operator, and Satan Incarnate (who ALSO did as he was told by the Power of
White Males – were incidental).
Wow…
When ST:TNG was
reborn a zillion years later, a white
guy was STILL heading stuff up and everyone – the black guys, the chicks (a
doctor and a cheerleader), an artificial Human, the children, and the rest of
the crew – did as they were told. Oh, this time the white guy was OLD…sorta and
more closely matched…the show’s creator’s age. The young white male was tightly
leashed and kowtowed to the Big, Old, Skinny, White Guy.
Shatteringly
different…
Then came ST:DS9.
I loved this series. Hailed because COMMANDER Sisko (note, he was not a
captain) was IN CHARGE!!!! The question I had was “In charge of what?” A beat-up
wreck of a place that was NOT a ship, but an extremely out-of-the-way shopping
mall with a bunch of crazy, religious, recently-freed slaves on the planet
below – did anyone else find that ironic?
Altogether
unprecedented…
ST:Voyager had the
Katharine Hepburn look-alike, Captain Janeway. Hailed as the first profoundly
visible female captain, what is the first thing that happens to this crew led
by a woman, with a “native American” first officer, a black second-in-command
and engineer, a “Chinese” navigator, and a surly, rebellious young white dude
sitting front-and-center? They got lost.
Leaping into the
unknown…
Last of all,
ST:Enterprise. The white guys are back in charge all over the place, only an
Asian woman answers the phone now, a sexy Satan hovers over the white guy’s
shoulder (and is generally ignored), a young black guy tries vainly to “Make It
Good” neatly tucked under the wing of the captain, and the Big, Fat, Old White
Guy is now the doctor with headgear – whom EVERYONE listens to.
*sigh*
This doesn’t
lessen my love for the series, and in fact some of the things I disparage above
WERE unusual in broadcast television (and movies). But I think that Trekkers,
Trekkies, and the SF community has a bit of myopia when it comes to viewing its
favorite TV series with claims that it was wow, shatteringly different,
altogether unprecedented, and leaping into the unknown.
It was a TV series
that during its five hundred and twenty-three hours of entertainment, occasionally
had something profound to say. That’s hardly anything to sniff at!
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