Leonard Nimoy:1931-2015

                                       This morning after breakfast I had the great misfortune of learning that actor Leonard Nimoy-famous for,among many things,for his portrayal of famous half Vulcan/half human (and American television icon) Spock throughout the Star Trek saga. He passed away of end stage COPD this morning at his home in Bel Air at the age of 83. In this day and age? The idea of a someone from America's silent generation passing away should not shock me. But I am not a cynic. I am a full blooded human. And it does have an emotional effect on me.

                                    One of the things that fascinated me most about Nimoy and his famous character over the years is how much he said for anyone (such as myself) of an overtly biracial heritage. In his case? Spock was a character who basically had an emotionally based half (human) and a logical based half (Vulcan). And Nimoy made sure to infuse his character with that duel nature as his core element. And through 79 original Start Trek episodes, six motion pictures plus guest appearance in Star Trek The Next Generation and JJ Abrams' two relaunch Trek films? Nimoy never lost sight of Spock's depth of duality.

                                     There are those two ways to view the man's passing for me. The emotional human way would be that the character of Spock was representative of me growing up being able to see different people as creatures of death,not merely hollow shells of mostly water just living to die. On the logical Vulcan level? That would best be expressed in a line Nimoy himself voiced,speaking to his younger self as Spock in the animated Star Trek episode 'The Infinite Vulcan'.  He explained how logic would enable one to face death without tears-by understanding that all life comes to an end when time demands it. In closing I would like to wish my deepest sympathies to Nimoy's family,co-stars and close friends for the loss of this talented actor,director,poet,singer and (as I learned a decade ago) photographer. Live long and prosper!
                                  
                              

Star Trek And The Communist Connection: My Outlook On An Apparently Popular Conspiracy Theory

            Star Trek has been completely out of circulation in terms of delivering new television episodes for nearly a decade now. One possible reason I've made mention of previous to this is that after 9/11,society in general changed. There came a paranoia of a kind seldom seen since the height of the Cold War in America. In terms of immigration and tolerance of the Muslim faith in particular,the general world stage became increasingly exclusionist. A science fiction television show that celebrated optimism and humanity simply had no place in such an environment. Yet there was perhaps something deeper in Star Trek's absence. Something that ironically threw back to what was actually a prime period for the show in general.

            Having spent my adolescence during the 1990's,I can say from personal experience that it was a time where genuine cultural education played second fiddle to conspiracy theories. There were many-ranging from President Kennedy's assassination to whether or not George Washington chopped down that cherry tree. In the "keeping it real" era,tall tales were suddenly viewed with suspicion. One of these conspiracy theories I was personally exposed to even before the advent of the internet was that the Star Trek universe was a communist one. Two possible reasons were presented. One was because of Gene Roddenberry's left wing political views. And also because in the future Star Trek presented,money no longer existed.

             Being an American of course,I am of course very much a child of capitalism. I am a consumer and therefore benefit the economy. However I am also of the last American generation to have some memory of the Cold War-albeit the time of Perestroika  to be specific. So my understanding of American democratic capitalism is fairly well rounded. However all I'd ever heard of Communism was the basics,as well as Cold War era propaganda from both sides which ultimately said nothing. So based on my more well rounded knowledge of Communism-as envisioned by Karl Marx and of course my knowledge of Star Trek,I'd like to make an attempt at breaking down the facts and fiction of this matter. Well,the science fiction of it anyway.

             In the most basic terms,my personal conclusion is that Star Trek doesn't advocate or represent Soviet era communism. In fact in the debut episode of Star Trek The Next Generation Encounter At Farpoint, Jean-Luc Picard refers to the 20'th century principles of capitalism and communism as being "nonsense that's centuries behind us" to Q. This points to the principles of Star Trek as being related to neither political party. That being said its also important to remember that Star Trek is set in the 23'rd and 24th centuries. Its no doubt to me that on a sociological level,human beings of that period would look upon both said political parties much the same way as we'd view what was stated in The Mayflower Compact as it would apply to the current US constitution.

                 That brings me to the next level of all this in Star Trek's difference in perspective. Many of us course look back at the Salem witch trails today with the same disgust and embarrassment that the characters in Star Trek look upon some of the competitive militaristic intrigue of our real life society. That in fact points to the very function of Star Trek on a sociopolitical level for its admirers: showing our absurdities through the mirror of our possible future. In the Star Trek universe? There is no poverty,technology had genuinely eliminated the need for possessions and the United Federation Of Planets emerges as a mostly functional social  democratic  organization that,all the same embraces contemporary military ranking and hierarchy. So does any of these relate the fictional Federation to...say Soviet communism?

                   My answer to that is absolutely not. Originally Soviet type communism was a proletariat,one party despotic dictatorship which used humanistic ideologies to create classicist political descent in the developing countries it intended to overtake. Once massive revolutions around matters of economic and civil rights had finally overthrown said nations own government,the Soviet's then took complete power-creating an atmosphere of eugenics-through-terror where the Utopian ideologies were a mask for massive crimes against humanity. And,in fact communist governments ended up being as based in prejudice as their nemesis's despite their dogmatic approach to revolution.As a result,today just about anyone with a social democratic/humanist political leaning is considered to be a communistic oriented individual. In The Star Trek universe there is a world government on Earth-actually a more elaborate United Nations representing many different political systems.

                    The simple reality of Star Trek's political atmosphere doesn't relate to capitalism,no. Nor does it relate to communism. Terms such as "sold","money" and other phrases that a contemporary Communist party member would never use are used alternately by various Star Trek characters in its long history. What may sway some into thinking Star Trek presents a pro communist view of humanity's future is its strong sense of justice for the rights of,in their case,all sentient and intelligent life. The values of racial respect,sexual and educational equality were all a part of the communist ideology. But in that case were used in a totally dishonest fashion.  Star Trek presents a universe where the talk of our time,as it were,is actually put into action. And the best part is humanity still presents itself as fallible in the future,even to despotism in that future. That's what makes Star Trek's vision wonderful,non totalitarian and not related to the communist party.

                    I sincerely hope that this made some sense of this particular conspiracy
theory.Truth is that I'm not really sure if Star Trek absence has any connection at all to its perceived linkage with a the failed and corrupt Communist party. With the current president of the United States involved in multiple conspiracy theories surrounding his citizenship and is himself too often branded a communist sympathizer? Perhaps the world simply isn't able to deal with the message Star Trek delivers right now. Star Trek is not communism. Star Trek isn't capitalism. Star Trek is futurism. It hasn't been written in real life yet. The important thing Star Trek admirers should continue to keep in mind is its positive influence on social democracy and the values of justice and freedom. No one is threatened with arrest or execution if they don't like Star Trek. So in that light Star Trek may be more needed now than ever-if nothing more than to keep these type of conspiracy theories from continuing to overshadow the good its existence has done for humanity.

Gene Roddenberry-The Day The Great Bird Flew Away

                    On this day in 1991,an extraordinary day occurred-not only in my life but to those who admired,and perhaps felt that their lives were saved in some way by, Star Trek. The shows creator Gene Roddenberry passed away at the age of 70 from what was described as cardiopulmonary arrest. What I personally remember most was that the Star Trek-The Next Generation two part story 'Unification' contained a special dedicatory preface to him before the episode began. It was a sad day for sure. It felt as if I had lost a family member. The just and progressive universe Roddenberry projected in Star Trek was extremely inspiration to anyone who marched to the beat of their own drummer,and were fascinated by the possibilities about how humanity would interact with others in the cosmos. It was so positive for the imagination and creativity.

                       What can be said about Gene Roddenberry today? One of the most important factors in Roddenberry's life was the fact that he was born in what William Strauss's documentary novel Generations describes as the GI generation-having been born later in that particular era in 1921. These were the generation who,in youth through early middle age,lived through the Great Depression and fought the second world war. Historically they were known as great intellects and industrialists-able to create great physical feats in a then unheard of shortness of time. Yet at the same time,many of that generation seemed to lack what many might call a soul. They tended to view the human race,and the world, with a clinical cynicism and were usually more competitive than cooperative with other people. The most important thing about Gene Roddenberry is that,in this context,he was a complete generational aberration.

                       Gene himself ranked above the ninetieth percentile administrated for his college entrance exam,however he chose to follow what he called the "solidly blue collar" political science curriculum. During World War 2 he was in the US Air Force and was awarded some of its highest honors. As a trouble shooter for Pan Am in the late 1940's and later work with the LAPD in the 1950's,Gene was exposed to a very well rounded side of life. He was able to experience first hand the ironies of post war America: the contradictions of hope for a better country combined with the fearful paranoia of McCarthyism.  In the late 50's he of course became interested in television writing. And his initial ideas of course mostly had to do with then contemporary police drama. But gradually this grew into new ideas for Roddenberry's creativity and his personal growth as well.

                    Beginning production on the first Star Trek pilot in 1963,he of course managed to convince NBC to commission as second pilot-starring William Shatner as (strangely enough at the time) a James R. Kirk. A few tweaks to this idea and television history was made. Gene Roddenberry's legacy with Star Trek was its encouragement of progressive social ideas to a nation that was facing sometimes frightening social change. He vehemently advocated and praised the idea of the Starship Enterprise as a "spaceship Earth"-representing many different races celebrating a familial sense of teamwork-exploring the cosmos while making pointed social commentary along the way. During an era when most of society was motivated by the fear of a premature death to humanity by weapons of mass destruction such as nuclear weapons,Star Trek-at its very least,showcased that humanity had a happy future to look forward to.

                    The story of Gene Roddenberry's vision projected in Star Trek has come very near to having a very sad ending,however. Almost exactly at the time of his passing,American pop culture made an almost total about face rejection of just about everything that Star Trek had stood for. A complete sense of anger and cynicism overtook people as science fiction-including some elements of later Star Trek spin-off's,became more and more focused on violence and lack of hope. The most cynical aspect of this began to come into the public's view of Roddenberry following his death. The "Great Bird" suddenly became known as being a mildly lecherous person,with drug habits of epic proportions who primarily entered into the world of television writing due to the lack of quality income from his LAPD career. And therefore,long story short,Star Trek as he'd conceived it seemed to die a long and slow death as well.

                    It might seem that little has changed. The societal cynicism and often very anti humanistic viewpoints touted from the early 1990's onward are still strongly in place. And as of today no new Star Trek series currently runs on television. At the same time,reruns of the many branches that came out of Gene's original idea-from The Next Generation,DS9 and Voyager are always on the air somewhere in the world. And who knows-perhaps someone who has lost hope in life gathered the same inspiration from Gene's vision of the future of humanity as the earliest generation of Star Trek admirers. To me what Gene Roddenberry created with Star Trek is all about generations: the ethics of the generation before him,the one after him who challenged authority and were out to change the world and most importantly,the cynically hopeless later generation who actually needed what Star Trek had to offer more than even they realized. No matter his public perceptions,flaws and foibles Gene Roddenberry will always represent to me the best qualities of futurist humanism.

          

                   

       

Star Trek And It's Great Message Episodes

            One of the primary reasons I've continually returned to watching Star Trek over the years is its adherence to delivering vital sociopolitical messages and commentary in an entertaining and futurist setting. This has in fact been stated both implicitly and overtly in most of my blog postings here. In 1995 William Shatner described this aspect of Star Trek merely as a method for drawing in the audience. Considering the cultural zeitgeist of that era,I'd tend to disagree. Which is why here I am going to be showcasing one individual Star Trek episode,from each spin off that to me best demonstrated Gene Roddenberry's message and vision.

                        ENTERPRISE-"CHOSEN REALM" (JANUARY 24'TH,2004)
       When NX-01 is searching for a weapon a race called the Xindi plan to use to destroy Earth, they encounter a group of religious zealots who,after Captain Archer and his crew help repair their damaged ship,attempt to take over Enterprise to fight their leader's holy war regarding their mythologizing of the Xindi spheres. After retaking Enterprise,the crew return them to their home world where they find a horrible sight-the end result of their war. A level of religious fanaticism of a type that can (and in this case did) destroy a society is showcased here-one of the this controversial series' stronger episodes,personally. 

         STAR TREK-A TASTE OF ARMAGEDDON (FEBRUARY 23'RD,1967)  
     Captain Kirk and the Enterprise are assigned with a Federation Ambassador to open up a space port on a planet that,as it turns out, is using computers to fight a politically correct version of war with its inhabited planetary neighbor-colonized by some of their own people ironically. When their leader insists the Enterprise crew have been declared a casualty of their cyber warfare,he tricks the Ambassador to beam down-to report to suicide chambers par the agreements for their conflict. Kirk is put in the position of using force to destroy their battle computers in order to show them the physical consequence of war. This anticipates strong the "war as entertainment" scenario that humans are still facing today in this powerful and original anti war story.

 STAR TREK:THE NEXT GENERATION-"THE DRUMHEAD" (APRIL 29'TH,1991)
      Investigating the treasonous actions of a Klingon medical exchange officer trading secret information to the Romulans,Captain Picard brings in Admiral Norah Satie in to investigate the matter further. After her evidence shines a light on the Klingon's actions,she begins fingering a half Romulan med tech on the Enterprise even after his innocence in discovered. Observing the witch hunt occurring around him,Picard is able to suss out the Admiral's true intentions by evoking her father whom she hero worships. In this story,acted to pieces by Patrick Stewart and Jean Simmons as Admiral Satie,this story thoroughly explores a scenario not unlike a 24th century McCarthyism in which Captain Picard utters perhaps Trek's most cynical line: that there will always be someone such as Admiral Satie who spreads fear in the name of righteousness.

               DEEP SPACE NINE: "DUET" (JUNE 13TH,1993)
        When a Kobheerian freighter arrives at DS9,Kira is disturbed that the Cardassian passenger being dropped off by the freighter is afflicted with a disease that could've only been the result of an accident at a labor camp that Kira helped liberate. While interrogating the Cardassian,an investigation by Dax reveals that she is actually interrogating the sadistic Gull Darhe'el who was responsible for atrocities against the Bajorans at the labor camp. It is later revealed that this man was actually his file clerk who'd had cosmetic surgery in order to pose as Darhe'el in order to make a political statement about Cardassian improprieties to the Bajorans. Upon letting him go,he is killed by an angry Bangoran...by his own admission simply because he's Cardassian. This dragic drama is a wonderfully executed "bottle episode" similar to "The Drumhead"-only a 'Schindler's List' style scenerio mainly between two characters. A superb look into a misdirection that,for a change,could actually lead to a peaceful resolution to past misdeeds.

                  VOYAGER-"JETREL" (MAY 15'TH,2013)
        A freighter from the Haakonian order,a species who had annexed Neelix's home world of Talax after a war,approaches Voyager searching for Neelix. The man in question is Ma'Bor Jetrel-a scientist who developed a weapon of mass destruction that destroyed the Talaxian moon Rinax and all of its inhabitants-save Neelix. Jetrel presents himself as trying to treat Talaxians with an illness resulting from the weapon-an illness he insists Neelix has. Jetrel's actual plan involves using biomatter and Voyager's transporters to re-animate those killed by his weapon. In reality Jetrel himself has the disease,not Neelix and is trying to undo his mistake before he passes on. Though his experiment fails,he and Neelix come to a amicable resolution upon Jetrel's death. This episode is an excellent example of Star Trek's "hey,its happening on another planet" idea of projecting implicit social messages. The story of Neelix and Jetrel could easily be between any citizen of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the summer of 1945 and those involved in the first two atomic missions. Neelix's guilt about him being a war resister,feeling he betrayed his own family to death,adds extra wait to this story as well

*In addition there are many honorable mentions. Episodes of this same orientation I simply could not list in this manner. Here they are in order of accompanying series:
"The Apple" (TOS)
"Let This Be Your Last Battlefield" (TOS)
"Justice" (TNG)
"The Measure Of A Man" (TNG)
"The High Ground" (TNG)
"The Masterpiece Society" (TNG)
"The Quality of Life (TNG)
"Journey's End" (TNG)
"Paradise" (DS9"
"Past Tense Parts 1 & 2" (DS9)
"Bar Association" (DS9)
"Doctor Bashir,I Presume?" (DS9)
"Far Beyond The Stars" (DS9)
"Covenant" (DS9)
"Death Wish" (Voyager)
"Remember" (Voyager)
"Living Witness" (Voyager)
"Memorial" (Voyager)
"Author,Author" (Voyager)

      Here we have 25 excellent examples of,what within the Star Trek universe is best symbolized by the Vulcan symbol IDIC,which you see in an artists rendering above. Of course it stands for infinite diversity in infinite combinations. Through its highly topical story telling Star Trek has always been able to put a perspective on many different issues humanity still cannot face in real life. There are some who many argue Star Trek's absence from television is partly due to the fact that non sci-fi programming is now free to make more explicit social commentary. Since its clear that televisions adaptability to topical storytelling on real life issues still not as concrete as it may seem, Star Trek's message and presentation of the future is all the more important.

The Enterprise Of Star Trek: A Long Road Getting From There To Here

          The relationship between Star Trek's last television series to date,Enterprise,and the viewing public is more involved and complex than one might think. I include myself in that public of course. Almost from day one,this heavily promoted and discussed prequel to the known Star Trek universe,was viewed as an epic fail. And is continually cited as being the ruin of Star Trek in the public eye. After the success level of the previous three Star Trek spin offs,how could the next wind up airing only a season longer than the original Star Trek series had? Personally I don't know those answers exactly. Only the people who were involved in it's production and promotion would know the exact answers. All I can do is tell you my story. And possibilities as to what happened to Enterprise. And consequently to Star Trek itself.

       It all started twelve years ago today in fact. I was living with family. My mother was at work. It was about 8PM in the evening. I was eagerly anticipating the premier of this prequel to the Star Trek universe I so admired and was inspired by most of my then 21 years of life. I sat in the bedroom directly across from where I am writing this now. It took a bit of adjustment to bring in UPN,which at the time (not having cable) could only be bought in through the UHF frequency. Even though the static was heavy,I set up the VCR to record this two hour episode called "Broken Bow" and proceeded to watch it myself. By roughly 10PM,the two hour premire was over. And my mother was home. Being a Star Trek admirer herself,she wanted to know what the new show was like. I will tell you generally what I expressed to her that evening.

        "Broken Bow" was the story of the unfortunate first contact between humanity and the Klingons,or rather one Klingon in the mid 22nd century. The new and somewhat unseasoned crew of the new Starship Enterprise discover on their journey that this first contacts failure was manipulated by a genetically engineered sect of a race called the Sulliban. That is the premier in a nutshell. What I told my mother that night was that this was by far the least satisfying of all the Star Trek premiers I had seen thus far. The story dragged along at a very slow pace-the use of menacing silences and horror elements were quite out of place from Star Trek as I understood it. And there were too many intense plot detours in the story that simply made it next to impossible to follow. 

         With such fond memories of the relatable acting of Scott Bakula and the equally talented,if relative newcomer Jolene Blalock how could this have happened to Star Trek? I remember watching the first season on television.Most of the second as well. And over the next four years watched the show only sporadically. It continually changed time slots,for one thing. Than finally in the spring of 2005 the shows finale "These Are The Voyages" aired-which was sadly even more disappointing and disjointed than the premier had been-at least to my eyes. Star Trek was no longer airing new episodes,in any form on television after that. And as cynical as this may sound,even I as the eternal Star Trek optimist knew that it wasn't coming back. At least not anytime soon. 

       Recently I've had to view J.J. Abram's prequel Trek films as entirely separate and unrelated to Gene Roddenberry's vision. Lately when viewing Enterprise in perfect clarity on DVD,a light I didn't see at that time has emerged from it. The flaws in the writing and pacing are still painfully obvious. Yet the potential for the great storytelling and character development that defined Star Trek is definitely there. Internally one reason for Enterprise's lack of popularity in its time was how it initially rejected its connection to the Star Trek universe. In fact the name Star Trek was unused in its title for its first two seasons. This showcased possible embarrassment and even animosity amid the old and new writers for the series towards Roddenberry's vision of the future. Yet it's also important to look at the context of the time period as well.

        When Enterprise premiered twelve years ago tonight,there is some likelihood that many television viewers may have barely noticed. Enterprise had premiered only a couple of weeks after 9/11. As the media was mired in tales and the ensuing censorship within pop culture about the World Trade Center attacks,futurism seemed to be the furthest thing from people's minds. Most people I knew barely seemed to know about Enterprise or any other TV show-as the saturation news about Al Quida ,Osama Bin Laden and suicide bombings repetitiously created an atmosphere of enforced patriotism. As literally the first Star Trek series premiering in the post 9/11 world,Enterprise wasn't always able to effectively explore the harder sociopolitical messages it's predecessors had been able to.

        Star Trek has always thrived in times of cultural hardship. Such as the 1960's and it's upside down counterpart the 1990's. In these times the Star Trek universe offered hope over cynicism. And wonder over despair. We had characters who knew what they stood for and had firm values that embraced all humanity and whomever else came along. In the post 9/11 world in which Enterprise inhabited the cynicism that existed on the fringe of American culture in particular in the final decade of the 20th century became deeply imbibed in in everyday life itself. Racism,hopelessness,needless violence and everything Star Trek stood against became part of the American mainstream and much of the worlds as well. During Enterprise's run from 2001 to 2005,the culture which had allowed Star Trek to thrive and grow in the past as its own force could no longer sustain itself let alone the iconic science fiction cannon of Star Trek.

        The most important factor to Enterprise's fate is that the plot of the show itself embraced the uncertainty of its time. These people were completely improvising the creation of the Star Trek universe that inspired so many people to great things. It seemed to abandon the idea of going forward to "boldly go where no one has gone before". These people weren't always bold,had no idea where they were going. Personally? I have a feeling that the more distance and time that people have away from the frightened and disconnected era to which Enterprise was connected,the more that the series' virtues could be re-evaluated. That wouldn't be too far removed from how the critically acclaimed yet realistically unpopular the first Star Trek series was in its time. It took time (and it that case televised syndication) to make that work. Now that Enterprise is being issued on Blu Ray,there might be a successful fork at the end of Enterprise long and weary road. 

       


        

All That One Should That Know They Can Learn From Star Trek:The Next Generation

                                 Star Trek The Next Generation was a defining reference point not only in my life,but in the lives of many people I know. I've already discussed that here of course. One thing I did do recently was go onto YouTube,probably the most pronounced social media site online alongside Facebook to see how the modern day public will respond to a program that has passed the quarter century mark in age a year ago. Living in an age when high level cynicism has become very much the mainstream attitude of most people,its very satisfying to note most people still respond to Star Trek: The Next Generation as an important sociopolitical guide post as opposed to merely an entertaining television program.

                       When this blog was first started, I openly bemoaned the lack of a new Star Trek on our TV sets-that society had since de-evolved seemingly to a never never land of no return. Even though that was intended quite seriously with no overdo melodrama, it has become clear in some of the responses that I've gotten since starting this blog that any seeds of positive change among human beings,of any sort has very strong roots within those who appreciated Star Trek beyond its entertainment value. So some might argue that makes Star Trek a religion? Not to me. As already stated more a healthful alternative to religion: an obviously fictional universe with just enough grounding in our own reality to make it educationally effective.

                     Just a few moments ago I was watching a video on YouTube that used the Star Trek The Next Generation episode 'Symbiosis' as an example of current American foreign policy. The episode of course resolves around a culture being exploited by another by use of narcotic trading. The final five minutes of this episode depicts the two cultures as Afghanistan and Iraq-with Captain Picard and Doctor Crusher as the liberal and conservative ends of US foreign policy. In the end Picard of course gives the doctor a speech that greatly inspired me at every stage growing up-as it apparently did this particular viewer. And it involved a law within the Star Trek universe's United Federation Of Planets known as the Prime Directive.

                      To paraphrase Picard's speech,the Prime Directive basically points out how history has time and time again shown that when a more sociologically and technologically advanced culture interferes with the affairs of another with lesser understanding,the results are invariably disastrous. The captain continues by pointing out that this Prime Directive is not merely a set of laws,but also a philosophy that has been proven quite correct. The fact that dialog is open among these people about such topics-whose mere mention would still be a preamble to war in contemporary society,says quite a lot for its influence in society.

                        So perhaps its easier to some cynical people to think Star Trek's influence in modern society is confined to the presence of iPhone's, tablets and advanced laptops in our daily lives. Yet the fact that these technologies are often used wrongly might also serve as an indication that humanity at large has not yet achieved the sociopolitical wisdom depicted across the Star Trek universe. Perhaps that is the factor that bread such cynicism in the first place. Even if that cynicism is about Star Trek itself. So for any of you reading this are admirers of Star Trek The Next Generation in particular,I would like to ask all of you to keep this mind while watching it. Does it encourage hatred or cynicism as opposed to the Christian bible,the Quran or even your local newspaper? The answers you find may just brighten your day.

Happy 47'th Birthday Star Trek!

                          On this evening on September 8'th,1966 the National Broadcasting Network premiered a brand new science fiction program written and conceived by a then relatively unknown television writer named Gene Roddenberry. While two separate pilots had already been created,as well as several episodes NBC decided to air the sixth episode produced as the televised pilot called 'The Man Trap'. Staring mainly William Shatner,Leonard Nimoy and DeForest Kelly this episode was the story of a scientist whose wife had been killed by an shape shifting alien who fed on salt. In sympathy for this species,the last of it's kind,he allowed the creature to maintain the form of his departed wife-and former lover of Doctor McCoy. The episode was in retrospect classic Star Trek: the characters interacted meaningfully and the action was driven by the vital drama and social commentary of the plot.

                          Interestingly enough,Star Trek's critical history at that time reflected how it was received during it's original airing. While a minority of people praised the show for it's unusually strong writing televised science fiction,most reaction can be summed up by the review of Jack Hellman of Daily Variety: "Not conducive to its popularity is the lack of meaningful cast leads. They move around with directorial precision with only violence to provide the excitement." Yet even from this point a significant and devoted fan base developed for the series who would soon become known as Trekkies-later altered to the less pejorative Trekkers. These admirers of Roddenberry's view of the universe and humanity later contributed to a letter writing campaign so massive Star Trek was renewed for it's unintended third and final season in 1968.

                        Four years away from the half century mark,Star Trek seems nonexistent as a television entity. This is an opinion that up until recently I shared. However with something as expansive as Star Trek,one only has to look below the surface to see that apathy towards Star Trek is actually only paper thin. If one goes online to YouTube to any Star Trek related video,the comment threads on the material showcase a universe firmly integrated into the most hopeful side of the world lexicon. Perhaps in the end,the forces that led to the early demise of the original Star Trek series seemed to win out in the end-as it was unfortunate negitive criticism and public apathy that led to it disappearing off the small screen in any form after 2005. Yet the influence that even a sometimes forgotten episode such as 'The Man Trap' might've had on...say a 20 year old collage student in 1966 could actually work wonders on a 20 year old in 2013 convinced they must go to collage to live a productive life-who see no alternative ways to success. And on that level,perhaps Star Trek-in some type of form,still lives.