Star Trek :: Science Fiction Media Television Essays

Star TrekWhen most people hear William Shatner split the infamous infinitive to boldly go, they conjure a mental image of old men, donning tight Starfleet uniforms, perusing immense Trekkie conventions they picture these fans buying things like hand-phaser television remotes and costumes for their pets and discussing the recent Klingon translation of Hamlet. Few people, however, take the time to investigate the phenomenon that could spawn much(prenominal) fandom. The truth for 30 years Star Trek has delighted audiences around the world with over 600 television episodes, hundreds of books, ten full length movies (to date), dozens of games and data processor software applications, and an assortment of merchandise. The television franchise, winner of several Emmy Awards, has at times been the highest rated show on television. It is no surprise that among the thousands inspired by show, the International astronomic Union and those responsible for the first space dame stand apart the Union named a star Roddenberry after the shows creator and the shuttle bore the designation of its legendary star ship Enterprise.Truly, Star Trek has captured the hearts and imaginations of the people, yet most people dismiss the franchise as some other cheesy science fiction melodrama. Aside from the shows obvious allures--the exciting, suspenseful, and complex plots and beautifully rendered charactersthe weekly interstellar adventures provide a unique forum for literary exploration. finished the creation of one possible future, Gene Roddenberry forwards the most noble quality of his secular humanist philosophical system its notion of the inherent capacity of cosmos to mold its future as one as glorious as Roddenberrys fictional one. The shows investigation of gender and race relations, intricate metaphysical themes, and gracious literary allusions, Roddenberry nurtured his show into the ongoing masterpiece it is now. As its significance has evolved from literary to cultural, Star Trek has come to embody the best parts of its creator and his philosophy the embrace of all forms of diversity and its implications, the necessity for philosophical inquiry in all parts of life, and the beauty of humanity and the art which represents it. Star Trek, when it aired in the 1960s, presented the public with a revolutionary conception of science fiction for the first time, science fiction forwarded a positive message. Replacing the scenes of science gone amiss found in Shelleys Frankenstein or the terrifying imagery of alien conquest in Wells War of the Worlds were scenes of peace and comfort.