Journey through Star Trek’s history and lore with John de Lancie (Star Trek’s beloved character “Q”), on a deep dive of the Roddenberry Archive’s recreations of historic ships, locations and settings across the final frontier.
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There is one aspect to Star Trek I haven’t mentioned, and I think is unique. They present amazing technologies (warp drive, phasers, transporters; etc.) but those “technologies” had defined limits. Though only warp speed had a defined limit on the original series (Warp 8, though in one episode they hit warp 9, by intent. No doubt knocking lots of people around, and spending who knows how long in space dock, when they got back to Federation space)
My point? Like REAL technology, it has limits. It (was) amazing, but it’s not magic. And we bought it, and why not? We EXPECT future technology to first wow us, and then become part of the background noise. When you only notice it when it DOESEN’T work? That tech owns your ass. But that’s another discussion.
Roddenberry understood that any future in space for humanity requires community.
Other science fiction treat space travel like an extension of modern transportation to known places or seafaring ships, just across space, going from one star to the other in hours or days.
So it’s full of people going casually and solo. Like Luke Skywalker on his trusty starfighter.
When at least in the current known form, space travel always takes months or years to go anywhere. In this way, it would be foolish to go alone. You take your town with you. And that’s what Star Trek ships are: towns in space that go where the interesting stuff happens.
Even if the Federation starships go at FTL speeds, they are made to accommodate a full community of people, humans and aliens alike, sharing the common interest to be there on a mission of exploration. There are transport ships and ships for lease, but those are rarely the focus of the stories.
And this is where Star Trek shines over other sci/fi. When it tries to depict casual trips to space for one, it becomes rote and boring space opera.
You hit it on the head. IMO, Star Trek “worked” because of two basic constructs. First, it it understood the society from which that “fiction” was based. Woman (girls then) had short skirts, giggled a lot, and were thought of as little more then “props”. Gene Roddenberry was the first to give a women a leading role in his first Star Trek pilot “The Cage”. NBC, at the time, had a cow. (Not in a good way). “They, NBC,” claimed the original pilot was too “high brough” Ok, what does that mean? The original pilot dealt with very topical issues dealing with mind control and drug addiction. Oops… Stuff both very real, we would (and still try) to deal with.
So, Star Trek had to “tone it done”. Go with the technology more. But what DID happen? The technology was the backdrop of the stories. The technology will change, every day of the week. Why is it the writings of Plato, Socrates, Marcus Ortelius speak to us so much today, thousands of years later? WE, THE HUMAN RACE has not changed. Our technology has. Go figure.
Know what? Sometimes a boring space opera is just what some people long for. That’s what’s makes Star Trek so, well, “normal”. Today, we can go technologically anywhere on Earth, in about 48hrs. Try booking a commercial flight, to make that happen. Oh, good luck! “Star Trek” is technology that is oh, just so cool! It’s “just beyond our reach”, yet we understand it. And we (and I) WANT IT! I’ll calm down. In a way, a “Star Trek future”, is whatever present we live in. It just works really, really, well. The technology will, and must change, but it’s up to each of us, to make a difference. Technology makes it cool. We make it, a reason for living.
In Star Trek they actually did have the whole range from one-man interstellar ships to the size of the Enterprise, and maybe larger. Most of which were NOT Starfleet vessels. Because most of the show took place on the Enterprise, you weren’t seeing the whole Federation culture, you were seeing *Starfleet* culture. Like watching Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and assuming nobody has small surface ships or freighters.
The Enterprise was, essentially, a nuclear aircraft carrier in space. It was a military and exploration vessel specifically designed to be self-sufficient for years at a time, if necessary. So, of course it was large, and had a large crew, and operated under military discipline.
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Yes, using current technology, it takes years to go go to the planets. But radio=frequency plasma propulsion can get us to Mars in 39 days. (Being in zero-G is very nasty to the human body) Quick is better. IMO, Star trek “worked” because it combined the “every day”, with the amazing. And I LOVED IT! Who wouldn’t?
It has been said, that engineering “that works”, has a certain intrinsic beauty. Many of Star Trek starships just “feel” right. They are both beautiful, and in another reality, practical. Whether or not form follows function, we can only hope. Engineers have a basic truism: If it works, don’t screw with it. But if you can make it better? Do it. Know the difference? There is none. Oops…. OK, sometimes art explains what technology should be, let alone embody. Technology makes art part of who we are. Like it or not, it ain’t complicated, but it is interesting.