Will Star Trek: Discovery mirror real world politics?
Star Trek: The Original Series gained a cult status that put it at par with the best of classic sci-fi literature. The reason was its allegorical storytelling. Since then, there have been several attempts to keep the legacy alive in the form of TV spin-offs including Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Deep Space Nine and Enterprise. To be fair, each of them had a shade of the original, but none (so far) has been able to capture that same spirit.
The Original Series was a veritable “Gulliver’s Travels” in the cloak of a space adventure — mirroring the racial and political divides of the times. The crew’s adventures involved meeting and understanding alien races, judging them for their actions & intentions, rather than how grotesque they looked. Sometimes, the message was not so subtly put — like the episode where Kirk attempts to negotiate peace on a planet torn by civil war, and says to its checker-board painted leaders “…but you’re both the same!”
At the same time, the fact that the main crew comprised of an African-American woman, an oriental and a Russian was not lost on viewers of the 1960s who lived in a time when the fear of communism and racism were at their peak.
The Next Generation brought little more than new age graphics to the fold, and carried the same philosophy forward, with the few truly interesting parts being the exploration of Artificial Intelligence and emotion. Looking back, I think it was Patrick Stewart’s stellar acting that held it all together. The problem was that neither racism nor communism was a problem in the late 80s. And the show was simply an “adventure in space” with a cool spaceship called Enterprise.
Deep Space Nine was a bit different from the others. For one, it took place on a space station, and dwelt considerably more on the drama in the characters’ personal lives. What it brought to the table for the first time in the Star Trek universe was the concept of ‘religion’ — which creator Gene Rodenberry had declared taboo.
Voyager — a 90’s production — took the series in a different direction by stranding the crew in a place where they had no hope of returning to Earth. While it ran for 7 seasons, Trekkies watched it as more of a soap opera. It’s one progressive aspect was that the ship was led by a female captain.
Enterprise — a prequel series — started off with a lot of promise, showing the journey of mankind towards interstellar travel and being accepted by different alien races. However, the show failed to tell a story beyond that.
Star Trek: Discovery, the latest series in franchise might just turn out to be the true successor to the Original Series. Like Voyager, it places women in prominent positions, and like the newer film franchise, doesn’t shy away from showing healthy homosexual relationships alongside heterosexual ones. The events take place during a war — so there’s plenty of action. But more than anything else, it reflects the politics of our times.
Consider this statement: “…an oppressive, racist, xenophobic culture… predicated upon an unconditional hatred and rejection of anything and everything other.” These are the words the lead character, Burham, uses to describe the human race in the parallel universe they arrived in. It’s a universe where the human race leads a tyrannical front and are at war with the Vulcans.
Those words could aptly describe the dangerous and fascist direction that Trump seems to be taking the US towards. And it’s so radically different that it does indeed feel like it’s a different world altogether — a parallel universe if you will. It’s reflective of the isolation that America is already facing with relationships deteriorating with its long-time allies (like the UK). And an overall reflection of the America that once led a coalition of nations (like Star Trek’s Federation) to an America that will be left to fend for itself against everyone.
What remains to be seen is if Discovery will continue to take this route and become a poignant mirror to the times we live in.
