About Star Trek
Star Trek is a science-fiction created by Gene Roddenberry in the 1960s that consists of six television series, eleven feature films (the last was released May 6, 2009), hundreds of novels and dozens of video games, as well as an important fanfiction (stories or novels written by fans). She is also a franchise of television and film belonging to Paramount Pictures, owned by the company CBS. The entire TV series alone is considered one of the biggest cult phenomena of modern times. In the Star Trek universe, mankind developed space travel at superluminal velocity through a sub-artificial space after a period of post-apocalyptic environment of the twenty-first century (see Day of the First Contact). Later, the man joined other intelligent species in the galaxy to form the United Federation of Planets. As a result of alien intervention and through science, humanity largely overcame its many flaws and weaknesses in land XXIII century. Star Trek stories usually depict the adventures of humans and alien species who serve in Starfleet, and many of these contacts with other civilizations.
The protagonists whose ideals are sometimes imperfectly applied to the dilemmas presented in the series are essentially altruistic. The conflicts and political dimensions of Star Trek form allegories for contemporary cultural realities; the original television series Star Trek addressed issues of the 1960s, just as later spin-offs have reflected issues of their times. The issues raised in this series are: war and peace, authoritarianism, imperialism classic class warfare, geopolitics, racism, human rights, sexism, feminism and the role technology.
The Star Trek universe depicts an optimistic future, a utopia, where mankind has eradicated the disease, racism, poverty, intolerance and war on Earth. It also united with other intelligent species in the galaxy. The characters explore space in search of new worlds and new civilizations and venturing “where no man there or someone is never gone. ”
Although the first series has not met with great success during its broadcast, it appeared that the universe caused much excitement among a specific audience of fans, Trekkies or Trekkers school. These diehard fans have made the success of reruns and created a market for the following series and movies based on the work of Gene Roddenberry. Star Trek remains one of the twenty-first century entertainment science fiction’s most popular television.
Star Trek stories are now part of American culture and constitute a new kind of mythology. This is also the result of a lobbying operation of the fans of the series that NASA has agreed to appoint the prototype of the Enterprise space shuttle.
Several episodes of the first set are based on a confrontation with a higher power, usually advanced alien race (often with great mental powers), with advanced technology, and with a human being having acquired, in particular situations, unusual powers, sometimes with a god. Often, the purpose of the power in question is to enslave (or kill) the ship and its crew, but both were saved by Captain James T. Kirk (James R. Kirk in the first episode of the series, Where man than man), played by actor William Shatner. An exceptional case is the famous episode of Tribbles who humorously hinted another round of possible topics on the various points of view of species or the environment. Sometimes the scenario is reversed, and entities “superior” moralize “humans (Arena Referees of the cosmos, Carlito’s Way). Some episodes involve known writers (eg Robert Bloch on three episodes, including one about Jack the Ripper).
There is no history extending throughout the original series (as opposed to the derived series Deep Space Nine, or to a lesser extent, Voyager), each episode forming a closed structure, separated from others, the only element of continuity is the distribution and some recurring enemies such as Klingons. All episodes are formatted in 52 minutes, except the episode The Menagerie in 2 x 52 minutes, due to the reuse of the pilot The Cage, which refers to a pair (crew, vessel) older.
The utopian society, the United Federation of Planets (FPU), depicted in Star Trek is based on an “economy of abundance” allowing the progress of science and technology. This abundance also allows individuals to meet almost all its needs and desires. Work and trade are not needed, the money is gone. Negative emotions such as greed or jealousy are almost nonexistent.
Roddenberry was in favor of egalitarian policy and has frequently used the episode to present his vision of a utopian society based on these principles. The original series, for example, has a female crew member and African-American Nyota Uhura, the role played by the actress Nichelle Nichols, one of the first African-American women to take a lead role on U.S. television. It also involves a character from Russia – Pavel Chekov, played by Walter Koenig – and in the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Vulcan first officer Mr. Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, has not been, first, favored by executives of the chain under the pretext that his vaguely satanic aspect could be too disturbing to the public, but Mr. Spock became one of the most popular original series.
To illustrate this idealistic vision, the first of the series pilot, The Cage, was denied because the commander of the Enterprise was played by a woman (Majel Barrett, aka Lwaxana Troi in Star Trek: The Next Generation) what Paramount said it was “unrealistic.”
Similarly, to accept the Paramount actress Nichelle Nichols black, although it was a recognized artist in England, Rodenberry had to resort to blackmail become classic: She Stay or I leave! (“She stays or I go!”). Similarly the kiss exchanged between it and Captain Kirk in an episode was the first interracial kiss on American television. A letter was sent to the impressive paramount concern that even when one end of diffusion in the southern states. At a special meeting between Nichelle Nichols and Martin Luther King latter dissuaded the actress who then wanted to leave the series. Arguing that it represented an important icon for the black movement and women. Her character has been hired solely for his ability and on no other criteria to be aboard the Enterprise. (Source: Special Edition DVD of Star Trek VI, interview staff Nichelle Nichols)
Viewers of the current original series may find far from ‘politically correct’ current representations of minorities and women, but the program was in its time, progressive and bold. One of the reasons to be proud of Star Trek is to have represented the first kiss between a white American and an African American. In episode 3-10 (The Descent) implementing mind control as a pretext to break this taboo, Captain Kirk and Uhura were forced to share that first kiss on American television.
Almost ten years have elapsed between the end of the first series and the first movie theaters. In the meantime, many novels were published by multiple authors. The Star Trek universe has more than survived a long journey through the desert audiovisual writing, it has also enriched by sharing and working together. Saved first by his fans, maintained and developed by a community of writers informally, the utopia of Star Trek is much in its birth and its content.
In 1987, a new series is launched, Star Trek: The Next Generation (Star Trek: The Next Generation, ST: TNG), with a new crew. Unlike the original series, ST: TNG describes a world in which most of the races encountered are equivalent in terms of technology and a significant number of episodes are no longer based on the concept of “first contact” but new arguments such as the paradoxes of time travel and parallel universes.
The Prime Directive (Prime Directive) which forced the Federation not to interfere in the development of less advanced species, becomes more important in this series. It is an opportunity of conscience when species threatened with destruction should not be assisted by compliance with this directive. But often, the existence of the directive becomes a pretext to circumvent … With Roddenberry’s death in 1991, the technology loses its cachet optimistic and takes a face oppressive.
Finally, this series is experiencing strong historical ties between episodes, with objects or characters that appear in several episodes (and even from previous seasons), giving the series a stronger coherence. Characters from the original series are also emerging.
Roddenberry continued to be credited as executive producer of ST: TNG, even when its influence diminished as the series progressed. With the arrival of producer Rick Berman, she has slowly taken a more nature-based masks incorporating more and more animated scenes and speeches encrypted for some hearings. This became more apparent in much of the next series.
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Source from: Wikipedia
