Star Trek

File:StarTrek Logo 2007.JPG

The current Star Trek franchise logo

Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment series and media franchise. The Star Trek fictional universe created by Gene Roddenberry is the setting of six television series including the original 1966 Star Trek, in addition to ten feature films (with an eleventh in pre-production), dozens of computer and video games, hundreds of novels and other fan stories, as well as a themed attraction in Las Vegas. The TV series alone is said to be one of the biggest cult phenomena of modern times.

In the Star Trek "universe", humanity developed faster-than-light space travel following a post-apocalyptic period in the mid-21st century. Later, humans united with other sentient species of the galaxy to form the United Federation of Planets. As a result of alien intervention and science, humanity largely overcame many Earth-bound frailties and vices by the twenty-third century. Star Trek stories usually depict the adventures of human and alien beings who serve in the Federation's Starfleet.

The protagonists are essentially altruists whose ideals are sometimes only imperfectly applied to the dilemmas presented in the series. The conflicts and political dimensions of Star Trek form allegories for contemporary cultural realities; the original Star Trek television series addressed issues of the 1960s, just as later spin-offs have reflected issues of their respective eras. Issues depicted in the various series include war and peace, authoritarianism, imperialism, class warfare, racism, human rights, sexism and feminism, and the role of technology.

Television series

For a complete list of episodes, see List of Star Trek episodes

Star Trek originated as a television series in 1966, although it had been in the planning stages for at least six years prior to that. Although The Original Series was canceled after its third season due to low ratings, it has served as the foundation for five additional Star Trek television series. Altogether, the six series comprise a total of 726 episodes and ten theatrical films (with an 11th in the works) across twenty-two different television seasons (twenty-nine, if one separately counts seasons running concurrently), making it the second most prolific science-fiction franchise in history after Doctor Who. See Lengths of science fiction film and television series for more on comparative series lengths.

Star Trek: The Original Series (1966–1969)

Main article: Star Trek: The Original Series

The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

Star Trek debuted in the United States on NBC on September 8, 1966. The show, starring William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, tells the tale of the crew of the starship Enterprise and that crew's five-year mission "to boldly go where no man has gone before." In its first two seasons, it was nominated for Emmy Awards as Best Dramatic Series. However, after three seasons, the show was canceled and the last episode aired on June 3, 1969. The series subsequently became popular in reruns, and a cult following developed, complete with fan conventions. Originally aired as simply Star Trek, it has in recent years become known as Star Trek: The Original Series or as "Classic Trek" — retronyms that distinguish it from its sequels and the franchise as a whole. All subsequent films and television series, except the animated series of the 1970s, have had secondary titles included as part of their official names. A rerelease of the series began in September 2006 with CGI enhancements as a high-definition "Remastered" edition. The first season of Star Trek also is available for download from Apple's iTunes Store. Episodes are offered in their original broadcast forms. Additionally, all of the first-season episodes that have been remastered are available. The iTunes Store is the only source for unedited, full-length remastered episodes. The remastered episodes currently air in syndication while the originals appear on TV Land, MyNetworkTV channel, G4 (TV channel), Sci Fi in Australia, The Sci-Fi Channel in the UK, and additionally on BBC2 in the UK, although these broadcasts are infrequent and irregular.

Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973–1974)

Main article: Star Trek: The Animated Series

File:TAS title.jpg

Star Trek: The Animated Series

Star Trek: The Animated Series was produced by Filmation and ran for two seasons. Most of the original cast performed the voices of their characters from The Original Series, and many of the original series' writers, like DC Fontana, wrote for the series. While the animated format allowed larger and more exotic alien landscapes and lifeforms, animation and soundtrack quality, with the liberal reuse of shots and musical cues as well as occasional animation errors, has detracted from the reputation of the series. Although originally sanctioned by Paramount (who became the owners of the Star Trek franchise following its acquisition of Desilu in 1967), Roddenberry forced Paramount to stop considering the series canon. Even so, elements of the animated series have been used by writers in later live-action series and movies (e.g. Kirk's middle name, Tiberius, made official in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country). TAS came back to television in the mid-1980s on the children's cable network Nickelodeon, and in the early 1990s on cable network Sci-Fi Channel and was released to DVD in 2006.

Star Trek: Phase II

Main article: Star Trek: Phase II

Star Trek: Phase II was set to air in 1978 as the flagship series of a proposed Paramount television network, and 12 episode scripts were written before production was due to begin. The series would have put most of the original crew back aboard the Enterprise for a second five-year mission, except for Leonard Nimoy as Spock, who did not agree to return. A younger, full-blooded Vulcan named Xon was planned as a replacement, although it was still hoped that Nimoy would make guest appearances. Sets were constructed and several minutes of test footage were filmed. However, the risks of launching a fourth network and the popularity of the then-recently released film Star Wars led Paramount to make a Star Trek film instead of a weekly television series. The first script of this aborted series formed the basis of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, while three others were eventually adapted as episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994)

Main article: Star Trek: The Next Generation

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D)

Star Trek: The Next Generation is set nearly a century after The Original Series and features a new starship, the Enterprise-D, and a new crew led by Captain Jean-Luc Picard, played by Patrick Stewart. It also features the first Klingon in Starfleet, Worf. The show premiered on September 28, 1987 and ran for seven seasons, ending on May 23, 1994. The Next Generation had the highest ratings of all the Star Trek series and was the #1 syndicated show during the last few years of its original run. It was nominated for an Emmy for Best Dramatic Series during its final season. It also received a Peabody Award for Outstanding Television Programming. The series currently airs on TV6 in Sweden, SBS NET in Denmark, Sky One in the UK, Sci Fi in Australia, SIC Radical in Portugal, Space: The Imagination Station in Canada, as well as G4 and Spike TV in the United States.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993–1999)

Main article: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is set during the same timeframe as The Next Generation and ran for seven seasons, debuting in 1993. It is the only Star Trek series to take place primarily on a space station, rather than aboard a starship. The show chronicles the events of the station's crew, led by Commander (later Captain) Benjamin Sisko, played by Avery Brooks, living on the Cardassian-built, Bajoran spacestation, Deep Space Nine, near a uniquely stable wormhole that provides immediate access to the distant Gamma Quadrant. Recurring plots include the repercussions of the lengthy and brutal Cardassian Occupation of Bajor, Sisko's unique spiritual role for the Bajorans as the Emissary of the Prophets, and a war with the Dominion. Deep Space Nine stands apart from other Trek series for its lengthy serialized storytelling and conflict within the crew--both of which were elements that Roddenberry had forbidden in earlier Trek programs.

Star Trek: Voyager (1995–2001)

Main article: Star Trek: Voyager

File:VoyagerStarship.jpg

USS Voyager (NCC-74656)

Star Trek: Voyager was produced for seven seasons from 1995 to 2001 and is the only Star Trek series to feature a woman as the commanding officer: Captain Kathryn Janeway, played by Kate Mulgrew. Voyager takes place at about the same time as Deep Space Nine. The series' pilot shows the USS Voyager and its crew stranded in the Delta Quadrant, 70,000 light years from Earth. Faced with a 70-year voyage to Earth, the crew must avoid conflict and defeat challenges on its long and perilous journey home. Like Deep Space Nine, early seasons of Voyager feature greater conflict between its crew than is seen in earlier shows, as a large contingent of the crew is made of up of Maquis fugitives forced by circumstance to cooperate with Starfleet. Voyager is originally isolated from many of the familiar aspects and races of the Star Trek franchise, barring those few represented on the crew. This allowed for the creation of new races and original plotlines within the series; however, later seasons see an influx of characters and races from prior shows, such as the Borg, Q, the Ferengi, Romulans, Klingons, Cardassians, and even multiple instances where members of the Next Generation crew appear in the series. The series is currently airing on Space: The Imagination Station in Canada, Spike TV in the United States, and Sky One in the United Kingdom. The first season is also available on the iTunes Store.

Star Trek: Enterprise (2001–2005)

Main article: Star Trek: Enterprise

File:Enterprise (NX-01).jpg

Enterprise (NX-01)

Star Trek: Enterprise (originally aired as "Enterprise"), produced from 2001–2005, is a prequel to the other Star Trek series. The pilot episode takes place ten years before the founding of the Federation, about one hundred years before the original Star Trek series. The series depicts the exploration of space by the crew of the Earth starship Enterprise. Commanded by Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula), Enterprise is able to go farther and faster than any human vessel had previously gone. Enterprise shows the origins of several features that would become common in the sequel series, such as the inventing of new technologies and first contact with species such as the Klingons. For the first two seasons, Enterprise is episodic, like the original series and The Next Generation. During the third and fourth seasons, the series uses story arcs spanning several episodes at a time. Ratings for Enterprise started strong, but declined rapidly. The show continued to lose ratings during the third season, and Paramount canceled the show in early 2005. It currently airs on HDNet, Sky Two, Space: The Imagination Station and Sci Fi Channel. The first season is also available on the iTunes Store.

Some long-standing fans refused to accept this program as canon, pointing to Bakula's work on Quantum Leap as a scientist whose very mission is to alter histories. This is an unpopular concept in science fiction, in which altering history is frowned upon when dealing with time travel.

Films

File:Star Trek poster.jpg

The newest Star Trek film, Star Trek

Paramount Pictures has produced ten Star Trek feature films, with an eleventh film currently in production. The first six films continue the adventures of the The Original Series cast, while the next four feature The Next Generation's cast. Although North American and UK releases of the films were no longer numbered following the sixth film, European releases continued numbering the films. An eleventh film, simply titled Star Trek, has been announced for release on Christmas Day, 2008, to be written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and produced and directed by Lost creator J.J. Abrams. The film has been rumoured to focus on the early lives of Captain James T Kirk and Mr Spock.

A common sentiment among fans is that the even-numbered Star Trek films are superior to the odd-numbered Star Trek films (the so-called "Star Trek movie curse"); the second, fourth, sixth, and eighth films are considered fan favorites, whereas the first and fifth are often called the worst films (although this "curse" is not popularly applied to the third or tenth films).

Title	Release date
Star Trek: The Motion Picture	December 7, 1979
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan	June 4, 1982
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock	June 1, 1984
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home	November 26, 1986
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier	June 9, 1989
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country	December 6, 1991
Star Trek: Generations	November 18, 1994
Star Trek: First Contact	November 22, 1996
Star Trek: Insurrection	December 11, 1998
Star Trek: Nemesis	December 13, 2002
Star Trek	December 25, 2008

Cultural impact

Main article: Cultural impact of Star Trek

File:Space shuttle enterprise star trek.jpg

Prototype space shuttle Enterprise named after the fictional eponymous starship with Star Trek television cast members and creator Gene Roddenberry

The Star Trek franchise is a multi-billion dollar industry, currently owned by CBS. Gene Roddenberry sold Star Trek to NBC as a classic adventure drama; he pitched the show as "Wagon Train to the stars" and as Horatio Hornblower in space. Though set on a fictional starship, Roddenberry wanted to tell more sophisticated stories using futuristic situations as analogies to current problems on Earth and rectifying them through humanism and optimism. The opening line, "to boldly go where no man has gone before", was taken almost verbatim from a US White House booklet on space produced after the Sputnik flight in 1957. The central trio of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy was modeled on classical mythological storytelling.

Roddenberry explicitly intended the show to have a political agenda, as can be heard in phrases like "Those who hate and fight must stop themselves, otherwise it is not stopped." (Spock in 'Armageddon'). Harking of human diversity and contemporaneous political circumstances, Roddenberry included a multi-ethnic crew. Star Trek showed mankind what it might develop into, if only it would learn from the lessons of the past, most specifically by ending violence. An extreme example are the Vulcans, who had a very violent past but learned to control their emotions.

Star Trek and its spin-offs have proved highly popular in television repeats, and are currently shown on TV stations worldwide. The show’s cultural impact goes far beyond its longevity and profitability. Star Trek conventions have become popular, though now are often merged with conventions of other genres and series, and fans have coined the term "Trekkies" to describe themselves. An entire subculture has grown up around the show.

The Star Trek franchise is believed to have motivated the design of many current technologies, including the Tablet PC, the PDA, mobile phones, and the MRI (based on Dr. McCoy's diagnostic table). It has also brought to popular attention the concept of teleportation with its classic depiction of "matter-energy transport". Phrases such as "Beam me up, Scotty" have entered the public vernacular. In 1976, following a letter-writing campaign, NASA named its prototype space shuttle Enterprise, after the fictional starship.

The city of Garland, Texas has the only known official place name based on the TV series: "Star Trek Lane," located off of Apollo Road and east of North Jupiter Road. An unincorporated area near the Las Vegas Strip contains a residential street named "Roddenberry Avenue". While the "official" address lists the avenue as being located in Las Vegas, Nevada, the actual location is an unincorporated township called "Enterprise". There is no indication that the township's name has any connection with the Star Trek series, and it is unknown whether or not the street name is a deliberate tribute to the Star Trek creator.

Parodies of Star Trek include the internet-based cartoon series Stone Trek, the song Star Trekkin' by The Firm and the feature film Galaxy Quest.

Current status and future

After Enterprise was canceled in 2005, the Star Trek franchise found itself for the first time in over 25 years without a series or film in production or development. In April 2006, the official announcement of an eleventh feature film made it probable that the franchise has not yet ended.

In 2006, CBS Paramount Domestic Television began syndicating an enhanced version of the original 79 Star Trek episodes. State-of-the-art visual effects replaced those in the series (created in-house by CBS), the original theme music has been rerecorded, and the show was transferred from the original negatives in high definition. The show will eventually be syndicated in HD.

Also in 2006, CBS has announced that it is considering a new animated series that will likely debut as several 6-minute episodes available online. The series is to be set 150 years after the Star Trek: The Next Generation time line, during a time of upheaval and strife in the Federation. The Romulans have used several "Omega Particle" explosions to render much of Federation space impassable by traditional Federation vessels. Many Federation worlds have been isolated, and some races, including the Vulcans, have withdrawn from the Federation altogether. The series is, as yet, untitled and there has been no full confirmation.

On January 19, 2007, CBS announced that its newly-formed home entertainment unit would begin releasing the remastered episodes on Blu-Ray Disc and HD-DVD before the end of 2007.

Perpetual Entertainment is also developing a MMOG based on Star Trek called Star Trek Online. IDW Publishing have also bought the rights to the comic book. The original series' characters are also featured in a manga.

Hostile criticism

The ideals promoted by the show, the quality of the programming, and the publicity campaigns of the franchise have been criticized by a number of social commentators, sociologists, politicians, fans, and actors who played characters in the series.

Repetitive or stale progams or program installments

Many fans contend that the Star Trek franchise, particularly after the death of Roddenberry in 1991 (during TNG’s run), is in decline and has reached a nadir. Reduced viewership of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, lacklustre performance of Star Trek: Nemesis, and the short tenure of Star Trek: Enterprise connote decreased popularity. Some assert that the many incarnations are formulaic, repetitive, mediocre, and sometimes discontinuous.

Others have ascribed this decline to static leadership at Paramount, which they claim has been exploiting the phenomenon as a cash cow and asserting copyright at the expense of fandom.

It is also highly possible that much of the decline can be attributed to the Bermaga phenomenon. "Bermaga", a term coined by "Keckler" at Television Without Pity, is a portmanteau of the names of Star Trek production staffers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, and has been used by fans and, most notably, actress Jolene Blalock (T'Pol on Enterprise) to express disgust with the Berman/Braga writing team, whose work is considered sub-standard by comparison with the stories that Roddenberry and his direct colleagues allowed to be produced.

Promotion of pseudoscience

Even though some of the scientific ideas and technologies depicted in the Star Trek shows are plausible, and some have even been realized, Star Trek has been criticized for promoting pseudosciences like superluminal travel.. While the possibility of superluminal travel is not entirely outside the scope of modern theoretical physics, the warp drive of Star Trek is widely regarded as a false concept touted as a genuine possibility.

Promotion of communism and fascism

It has been alleged by Dr. Kelly L. Ross of the Department of Philosophy, Los Angeles Valley College, that Star Trek portrays a society that is based on communist or fascist values. Other commentators such as British journalist Patrick West opine that it promotes a liberal form of imperialism, with persistent violations of the "Prime Directive" being depicted throughout the stories. These have refused to accept the possibility that there may be other rationales for such "cultural contaminations.".

References

Bibliography

Major reference works related to the production and influence of the franchise include:

• Whitfield, Stephen PE (1968). The Making of Star Trek. New York: Ballantine Books. OCLC 23859. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Gerrold, David (1973). The Trouble with Tribbles. New York: Ballantine. ISBN 0345234022.
• Gerrold, David (1984) [1973]. The World of Star Trek — Revised Edition (Bluejay Books ed.). Ballantine Books. ASIN B000JWHTXU.
• Lichtenberg, Jacqueline (1975). Star Trek Lives!. Toronto: Bantam Books. ISBN 0552099147. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Winston, Joan (1977). The Making of the Trek Conventions. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Books/Playboy Press. ISBN 0385131127.
• Turnbull, Gerry (1979). A Star Trek Catalog. Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 0441784771.
• Asherman, Allan (1981). The Star Trek Compendium. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671791451.
• Trimble, Bjo (1983). On the Good Ship Enterprise: My 15 Years with Star Trek. Donning Starblaze. ISBN 0898652537.
• Shatner, William (1993). Star Trek Memories. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060177349. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Shatner, William (1994). Star Trek Movie Memories. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060176172. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Nichols, Nichelle (1994). Beyond Uhura. Putnam. ISBN 0679435093.
• Krauss, Lawrence M (1995). The Physics of Star Trek. Basic Books. ISBN 0465005594.
• Ellison, Harlan (1996). City on the Edge of Forever. Borderlands Press. ISBN 1880325020.
• Edited By (1996). Harrison, Taylor; Projansky, Sarah; Ono, Kent A.; Helford, Elyce Rae (ed.). Enterprise Zones: Critical Positions on Star Trek. Boulder: Westview Press. ISBN 0813328993. {{cite book}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
• Solow, Herbert F. (1996). Inside Star Trek: The Real Story. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0671896288. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Greenwald, Jeff (1998). Future Perfect: How Star Trek Conquered Planet Earth. Viking Press. ISBN 0670873993.
• Shatner, William (1999). Get a Life!. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0671021311. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Barad, Ph. D., Judith (2000). The Ethics of Star Trek. HarperCollins. ISBN 0060195304. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Shatner, William (2002). I'm Working on That: A Trek from Science Fiction to Science Fact. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 067104737X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Sackett, Susan (2002). Inside Trek: My Secret Life with Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry. Hawk Publishing Group. ISBN 1930709420.
• Lake, M.N. (2005). Picard: The Academy Years. Dragon Publishing.

Notes and references

• The Definitive Star Trek Trivia Book

External links

• StarTrek.com—The Official Star Trek website
• StarTrekLinks.net—Official Star Trek actor links website
• Memory Alpha—A Star Trek encyclopedia that uses information only from canon sources licensed by Paramount.
• Memory Beta—A Star Trek encyclopedia that uses information from both canon and non-canon sources licensed by Paramount.
• CreationEnt.com The official Star Trek convention Site.
• Vulkon Entertainment The official Star Trek convention Site.