Is Star Trek Still Possible?
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| Title: | Is Star Trek Still Possible? |
| Creator: | Jim Crawford |
| Date(s): | 1976 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: TOS |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Is Star Trek Still Possible? is a 1976 Star Trek essay by Jim Crawford.
It was printed in Excelsior #1.
Some Topics Discussed
- the Star Trek franchise, the plans for the next film, and whether any of this is viable on an economic, as well, philosophic level
- the new Star Trek Technical Manual has been published and this poses a problem for the aging Enterprise
- can the original cast, all older, still function as they could, will the minor characters have parts to play?
- some modern technology in today's world now equals that in Star Trek, will fans be impressed?
- now that some shows have Black characters in them, is the racial element of Star Trek relevant?
- Star Trek and Space: 1999 are both entertaining, but only Star Trek causes fans to think
From the Essay
The Star Trek Technical Manual is now out. ST devotees know it, and thus its "reality" will have to be acknowledged in any movie, since it is the basic "training manual" of all cadets. Yet a new Starship, far more powerful than the Enterprise, is planned. Would a new ST series start out with what already is an obsolete starship? Remember - the Enterprise is already at least 18 years old, as revealed in The Menagerie episode. That is fairly old for anything today, much less than in the future.
The doorways that so wondrously opened whenever anyone neared them; a Thriftway grocery store has much the same thing already only a few blocks from where I live.
Not only is there a "technical" time factor but there is a sociological time factor to deal with. When Star Trek came on, the idea of a black, much less a woman, playing a prominent role was nearly unthinkable. Spock was strongly objected to by the networks early in the series. The idea of an entire multi-racial crew was a major bone of contention in getting the series off the ground. All this served to make it more interesting, more controversial, and more "relevant" to our society. But now? Black women in TV shows? Manix's secretary, Christy Love, The Jeffersons, Good Times, et. al. The importance of a woman's role is still an issue, but has too much controversy. Will the "newness" about a TV show that deals with all forms of people united become too "old" to capture old and new viewers alike?
It is quite predictable that Star Trek will have hand-to-south existence as it had before, struggling for funds and a decent hour on the tube. This, allows, of course, for viewer input, but without decent funds,not much can be done. The problems boil down to this essential issue - is any network willing to put on an intelligent series about the future, one that deals with controversial issues, involves mixing all forms of people and aliens together, and make the necessary technical changes (costing money) or will the networks still continue to hold pat to their spin-offs, play-it-safe attitudes shown for the last several seasons?
Space: 1999 is interesting, but few programs really generate any basis for an intelligent discussion on ‘controversial issues. In short, Space: 1999 does not cause you to sit back and THINK.But Star Trek often did. Not always. Even Star Trek had its ”bombs". But generally you had to think about what was being said. Was the Horta really that bad? Were the Organians right in stopping the Klingons/Federation war? Should Spock had stayed in the past in "All Our Yesterdays"? You couldn't just sit back and look at ST generally, you had to look, listen, and then think about what you saw. And in many people what they saw opened new horizons of ideas, of toleration, and of hope for the future.
Can this still be done? Can the sense of a positive, hopeful future still work on TV? The people on Moonbase Alpha live only for the now, the people on the Enterprise live for the now and the now-after. The concept of life on other planets is no longer as startling as in 1966. We've have gone through the Bermuda Triangle mess, more UFO reports, and even stranger happenings since Star Trek vanished from the air. Can ST return and still capture the imagination?
Have the changes in technology and people become too great for Star Trek to still offer us the new, the challenging, the questioning concepts it used to? It will most definitely not be an easy task.
...if the above problems cannot be solved ST would just become another action/adventure TV series, in which case it would best not to even bother with more episodes, and just let us Trekkies have our memories of the original ST.