Still Boldly Going

Today's post is inspired by a discussion currently going on in Femmefighteria.

(Femmefighteria is a nerdfighter group that I admin along with a few friends of mine. It is a safe space to discuss issues of feminism, gender, gender identity, and any other issue that may have some sort of intersectionality with any of those issues. Really it's an open and safe space to discuss anything in a respectful environment. I am constantly amazed by the quality of discussion in the group. It's a rarity on the internet.)

As many of you are aware (and if you weren't aware then I am wondering how you went this long without knowing) I am a nerd. One of my areas of nerdom is Star Trek. I have been watching Star Trek since I was 2 since both of my parents were fans of the show. I started on The Next Generation, and then moved on to Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise...and now the new movies.

But I want to focus on the TV shows.

When the original Star Trek series came out in the 1960s, it broke so much ground in so many areas. It had an African American female playing a main role...one of the senior officers on the BRIDGE OF THE ENTERPRISE. And she wasn't just there to look pretty. No. She was the communications officer. She had a legitimate part. For a 1960s television show, this was huge. Yet another character, Hikaru Sulu, created to represent all of Asia, was a main character on the bridge of the Enterprise. Sulu's character was supposed to represent peace within the Star Trek universe. In addition, the show also featured a character who was Russian, working side-by-side with Americans. In space. On a show airing during the height of the Cold War. Let that sink in for a few moments.

The show also consistently challenged views of the world...challenging racism, sexism, and other opinions of the general public at the time. The show features the first (American) on-screen inter-racial kiss between Captain Kirk and Lieutenant Uhura (The British show Emergency Ward 10 had already featured an inter-racial kiss in 1964).

This is in addition to the show exploring the universe, encountering new and unheard of races and species of people...and not passing judgement upon them. In fact, the general premise of the series was to try to befriend these species first, and then to fight back only when provoked. Starfleet, which could be described as the equivalent of the military force in the futuristic Star Trek world, had a mission of exploration, not conquering. They were peacekeepers, not fighters. 

And this is just the original series we're talking about.

In the nearly 50 years since, we have had 4 more television series (5 if you count the animated series) and several movies. All of which maintain the original premise of the show...peacekeeping and exploration. Yes there are wars, and battles, and fighting, and sometimes peaceful exploration turns into all out war. But at its core, the values have remained the same.

Just a few other examples of how awesome this franchise has been throughout the years:

• Captain Benjamin Sisko, an African American CAPTAIN OF A FREAKING SPACE STATION AND THE CENTRAL MAIN CHARACTER IN DS9. 
• Sisko's son, Jake, an aspiring writer who did not want to go into Starfleet like his father did
• Consistently having conversations on what it means to really be "alive" through the storyline of Data, an android in TNG, and the Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH) in Voyager
• A FEMALE CAPTAIN (and later admiral) Katherine Janeway...who is in my opinion the best captain the franchise has had (but people will disagree with me there).
• B'Ellona Torres, a half-Klingon, half-human mixed race individual, with complete storyline to go with her mixed emotions of trying to fit into either of her races. (something that had been explored before with Spock's half-human, half-Vulcan upbringing)
• Chakotay, the first officer in Voyager, a Native American character, with storylines explored at length detailing his upbringing and his conflicts with his father rebelling against the traditions of his tribe
• Tuvok, a vulcan played by African American actor Tim Russ
• Geordi...a blind character in TNG, who has storylines that delve into his life being blind and the "cure" he has through his visor.

And this is in addition to the hundreds of stories and character arcs that have been done discussing various social issues and essentially mirroring what is going on in our own world in the world of Star Trek.

We need shows like this to help us to remember to be better than we are. Star Trek shows us the reflection of ourselves and our society and how we can become better....something that people really need to remember a lot more often than they do.