The first series embodied a creative tension between the Cold War liberalism and countercultural anti-militarism that competed to define late ‘60s liberalism.
I have argued elsewhere that TOS was a fundamentally liberal project, but that 21 st century understandings of that doctrine cannot be read backward to apply to a 1960s television show. TOS and TNG shared the Star Trek name, but each series developed its own characteristic viewpoint.Īmong the different arenas in which Star Trek articulated an opinion, central among these was the political one.
But different problems and concerns characterized the time periods in which each series was produced. If Star Trek had been a truly dramatic series, then the essential Star Trek story would not have had to have been ‘Kirk in Danger,’ but ‘Kirk Has a Decision to Make.’ The decision is the core of every dramatic episode.” The particular nature of Star Trek’s format meant that these dramatic decisions frequently offered a fairly strong stance about some moral or political issue. Plotlines that placed their characters in some sort of a trap and then spent the rest of the episode freeing them are “the easy story to tell.
David Gerrold, a writer who worked on both shows, wrote in 1973 that when Star Trek was at its best, the captain’s decisions were the focus of the episode. Kirk, played by William Shatner, while Patrick Stewart’s Jean-Luc Picard sat in the big chair in the later series. That position was filled in TOS by James T. Typically, these conflicts are resolved by some action taken by the captain of the ship. Other situations, however, invite conflict: cultural, intellectual, political and-occasionally-military. In many cases, such as the planets that came together in order to form the Federation, the results are of benefit to all. One way or another, civilizations bump into one another in Star Trek series. As a result, the ships’ crews are constantly brought into contact with ideas and practices that are different from theirs some situations are learning opportunities, while others invite danger and require force. Starfleet has dispatched the Enterprise to the furthest reaches of the galaxy with arguably conflicting tasks: on one hand the crew is involved in exploration and scientific research, and on the other, it serves as the Federation’s military and diplomatic representative far from the centers of power. “The Federation” is a governing body of planetary representatives, of which Earth is a central member. Enterprise, a vessel in the “Starfleet” of the United Federation of Planets.
The extent to which Roddenberry was personally influential on the vision of Star Trek: The Next Generation is a subject for debate but the larger significance of his philosophical and ideological blueprint is beyond question.) Media scholar Henry Jenkins explained that the new series “had to carefully negotiate between the need to maintain continuity with the original series (in order to preserve the core Star Trek audience) and the need to rethink and update those conventions (in order to maintain the programme’s relevance with contemporary viewers and to expand its following).” Philosophically, this meant that the later show had to distinguish between those ideas that were central to the ethos of Star Trek and those that needed to be modified or even abandoned to keep up with the spirit of the times.īoth Star Trek series chronicled the adventures of a group of interstellar space travelers living centuries from now. His declining health and increasingly erratic personal behavior led to him being eased out of positions of authority before his death in 1991. Gene Roddenberry, the auteur behind Star Trek who is widely credited for supplying the “vision” that characterized the Star Trek universe, described the show as his “statement to the world” his “political philosophy,” and his “overview on life and the human condition.” (Roddenberry created TNG and worked on its first few seasons. Star Trek was more than a television show: it embodied a particular philosophy that was one of central aspects of its appeal. (Since then, the movies have come to feature younger actors playing the characters from the original series.) Yet TNG had a mission beyond delivering ratings and making money for its studio. Star Trek: The Next Generation ( TNG) substantially enlarged the core audience for Star Trek and eventually its characters and time-frame replaced those from the original series as the focus of the feature films. While the first show had to be rescued from cancellation after its second season by a viewer letter-writing campaign, its successor ran for seven years with solid ratings. By most metrics, the success of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987-94) dwarfed that which its predecessor Star Trek had received on NBC during its initial 1966-69 run.