A Future of Compatibility

“These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.”

The first regular episode of Star Trek aired in the US on Sept. 8, 1966.

Arguably the first science fiction series that took science seriously, Star Trek lasted just 79 episodes, three seasons, before being canceled by NBC. The series subsequently went into syndication and became the phenomenal hit that it remains today. Apparently, there was not much intelligence at NBC in the 1960s and not much has improved since then.

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry drew heavily from the customs of the US Navy including a primary bridge crew, which consisted of Captain James Kirk, First Officer/ Science Officer Spock, Communications Officer Nyoto Uhura, Helmsman Hikaru Sulu, Navigator Pavel Chekov, and Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott.

Kirk was either consciously or subconsciously patterned after some of the greatest and most notable ship captains in the American Navy. Portrayed by William Shatner, Kirk led from the front. He was cocky, brash, unafraid, and always seemed to get the girl though the Enterprise was always his first love.

Chief Engineer Scott, portrayed by James Doohan, was Canadian and not Scottish. Doohan was a master of voices, performing many of the voices used on Star Trek. Another World War II veteran, Doohan was injured during the invasion of Normandy, incurring the loss of a finger which is rarely noticed.

The remainder of the primary bridge crew truly shows the diversity that hopefully will be a part of our future. Remember, Star Trek aired just 20 years after the end of World War II, just 20 years into the Cold War, and during the midst of the Civil Rights movement.

THERE was Spock, portrayed by Leonard Nimoy, an alien and native of Vulcan. With pointed ears and green blood, he was a cerebral character preferring logic over emotion and served as the perfect foil to an often impetuous captain and emotional starship doctor. The character of Spock was used to teach many lessons. In one instance he was racially insulted by a crew member with Kirk firmly telling the offender to leave his bigotry off the bridge.

Chekov, portrayed by Walter Koenig, was not Russian though his parents were Russian Jewish immigrants. With America and the Soviet Union locked in the Cold War, here was a very likeable Russian in a critically important position on a starship.

Sulu was played by George Takei. Born in Los Angeles to Japanese-American parents, Takei and his parents were confined in an internment camp after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that propelled America into World War II. Just 25 years after the Pearl Harbor attack, followed by some incredibly bloody battles between the Japanese and US Navy and Marines, here is a person of Japanese ethnicity on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise.

Finally, there is Nichelle Nichols in the role of Uhura. America was in the midst of the Civil Rights movement, and all the bad that preceded it, when a black woman occupies a critically important position on the starship. This at a time when black Americans were still being terribly discriminated against. It is around Nichols that Star Trek has one of its greatest off-screen moments.

An original cast member, Nichols had submitted her resignation with no intention of returning for the second season of Star Trek. She was attending a NAACP fundraiser when an organizer told Nichols that her “biggest fan” wanted to meet her. That fan turned out to be Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr who shared that he was the “biggest Trekkie on the planet”. Dismayed at her plans to leave Star Trek, King urged her to remain because she was displaying black people as intelligent, beautiful, and capable of holding positions of authority. And she did.

STAR Trek showed viewers what life could be like in a future when we had aside petty differences – such as the color of our skin.

Such would be a great future – a Star Trek future.

That’s my opinion.

Andy Kober can be reached at andykober@hotmail.com