Cultural influence of Star Trek
Star Trek is one of the most culturally influential television shows – and perhaps the most influential science fiction TV series – in history. The original series, which aired in the late sixties, has since spawned four successor series, ten movies, a plethora of merchandise, and a multibillion dollar industry collectively known as the Star Trek franchise (owned by CBS Paramount Television). Arguably, only Star Wars has had comparable impact as a science fiction and pop culture phenomenon.
Star Trek, the original series
Gene Roddenberry sold the original series, Star Trek (TOS), to NBC as a classic adventure drama, calling it a "Wagon Train to the Stars" and "Horatio Hornblower in Space." Set aboard the starship Enterprise (NCC-1701), the format of the TV show borrowed heavily from the 1955 movie Forbidden Planet. In reality, Roddenberry wanted to tell more sophisticated stories, using futuristic situations as analogies for current problems on Earth and rectifying them through humanism and optimism. The show's writers frequently addressed moral and social issues in the episodes by tackling topics such as slavery, warfare, and discrimination. 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 modelled on classical mythological storytelling. Harking of human diversity and unity, Roddenberry included a multiethnic crew including an African-American woman (who later partook in the first multiracial kiss, with Kirk, on TV), a Scotsman, a Japanese American, and – most notably – an alien, the half-Vulcan Spock. In the second season, reflecting the contemporaneous Cold War, Roddenberry added a Russian crewmember.
Although the show is often chided today for cheesy effects and campy acting, TOS was a groundbreaking show which garnered multiple Emmy award nominations during its run, setting standards for shows that followed it. While there were other successful science fiction TV shows like The Twilight Zone, TOS was the first series aimed at adults that told of morality tales with complex narratives. Despite a limited budget, the show's special effects were superior to contemporaneous TV shows, its stories were often written by notable science fiction authors, and many of its production values – particularly costuming – were of high calibre.
During its initial run from 1966 to 1969, TOS did not garner substantial TV ratings and was almost cancelled after its second season. A letter-writing campaign by fans, unprecedented in television, prompted network executives to reverse their decision and renew the series for a third season. NBC put the show in a timeslot when it was watched by few, and TOS was finally cancelled after its third season.
Cancellation and aftermath
After its cancellation, Star Trek took on a life of its own, becoming more popular and reaching a much wider audience than when it had originally aired. In the early seventies, a group of fans decided to hold a convention featuring the original actors: hundreds were expected, but (surprisingly) thousands arrived.
In 1976, following another fan-organised letter-writing campaign, NASA named its first space shuttle orbiter, Enterprise (OV-101), after the fictional starship. The Enterprise was used in a number of flight tests, but NASA's plans to make it spaceworthy were cancelled as impractical. Enterprise was occasionally used for engineering tests, but has spent much of its life in storage and is now displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center outside Washington, DC. The opening sequence of the later series Star Trek: Enterprise (2001) features a shot of this real-life space shuttle in homage, intending to show it as a namesake for other titular ships in the Star Trek universe.
NASA also employed Nichelle Nichols to attempt recruiting African-Americans and women to become astronauts. During her work on the show, Nichols became frustrated at her relative lack of lines and was considering quitting. She was talked out of this decision by Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., who told her that a show that depicted a black woman working alongside whites in a position of importance helped further the goal of racial equality.
Waxing and waning
In the late seventies, encouraged by the burgeoning fan base for the show, Roddenberry sought to start a second television series (Star Trek: Phase II); this abortive attempt morphed into Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. The movie did sufficiently well at the box office, grossing more than $80 million, and spawned several more movies during the eighties. In 1986, Roddenberry created a second TV show, Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG), which was set aboard the fifth Federation starship Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) more than seventy years after events in the earlier series and related movies. Unlike TOS – which often reflected a bold, interventionist American philosophy – TNG had a less aggressive and more socially liberal message. This show, unlike its progenitor, was syndicated and sold to individual local TV stations rather than a nationwide network. It became the number one syndicated TV show, lasting seven seasons, and spawned two sequels, a prequel, four movies, and a vast marketing business.
Star Trek and its spinoffs have proved highly popular in television repeats, shown endlessly on TV stations in the US and worldwide. The Star Trek franchise is similarly prolific: arguably, only Star Wars has had as significant an impact as a science fiction and pop culture phenomenon. According to Forbes magazine:
- the five live-action Star Trek series have garnered 31 Emmys and 140 nominations, and at least nine specials have been produced
- the ten movies have cumulatively grossed $1.76 billion at the box office: the most successful movie was Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) grossing $133 million worldwide ($235 million in 2005 terms); however, none have garnered Oscar wins
- at least 120 compact discs and 40 video games contain "Star Trek" in their titles, mostly soundtracks (with no Grammy nominations) and audio books but also Klingon language instruction
- about 70 million books are in print
- the franchise entails a merchandising business with a total lifetime gross of about $4 billion from companies including Playmates Toys, Hallmark, and Hasbro
- resorts include rides and attractions at Paramount-owned amusement parks as well as Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton
Star Trek conventions have become popular, though waning and now often meshed with conventions of other genres. Fans coined the term "Trekkies" to describe themselves, or "Trekkers" to address the pejorative nature of the term to some fans, and produce an abundance of fanon material like fanzines with fiction and other fancruft such as art and songs.
The show’s cultural impact goes far beyond its longevity and profitability. An entire subculture grew up around the show and, anecdotally, there are indications that Star Trek has influenced many peoples' lives. This is apparent from the reported testimonials of people, such as scientists and engineers, who claim that their professional and life choices were influenced by Star Trek. Whoopi Goldberg, harking of Nichols' portrayal, was compelled to act and would later appear on TNG regularly. In addition, phrases like "Beam me up, Scotty", "Resistance is futile" (from the iconic Borg), and Treknobabble have entered vernacular, and "Trekkie" is the only fan label listed in the Oxford English Dictionary. Fictional devices in the show have also been claimed as inspirations for actual devices like mobile phones (communicator), medical technology (hypospray and diagnostic imaging), and even elements of naval architecture (bridge).
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 ascribe this decline to static leadership at Paramount, which has been usurping the phenomenon as a cash cow and asserting copyright at the expense of fandom.
Sources
- Nygard, Roger, director; Crosby, Denise, host. 1997. Trekkies (film documentary: official website). Los Angeles: Neo Motion Pictures.
- "Star Trek as a Cultural Phenomenon", US Centennial of Flight Commission
- "Star Wars Vs. Star Trek", Forbes.com — see also Star Trek versus Star Wars
- Whitfield, Stephen E. & Roddenberry, Gene. 1968 (27th printing, 1991). The making of Star Trek. (ISBN 4501621095; ISBN 0-345-34019-1 (27th pr.)). New York City: Ballantine Books.