‘Discovery’ Probably Best Achieves Roddenberry’s Vision for Star Trek
Series has been an epitome of diversity and non-violence
“Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms.”
— Gene Roddenberry
Ever since his death, any new iteration of Star Trek has been measured by the qualitative yard stick, “Does this live up to Gene Roddenberry’s vision for the franchise?”
And for more than 30 years, that question has stirred endless debate.
When it comes to Star Trek: Discovery — currently streaming its fifth and final season — the answer has to be an unqualified, “Yes.”
Probably more than any other Star Trek, Discovery embodies what Roddenberry wanted to achieve.
Sadly, and perversely, proof of that exists in all the misguided and unhinged hate and vilification the series has endured over the years.
Discovery has been attacked, as mercilessly as baselessly, for being “too woke,” as though Star Trek hasn't been woke since long before “woke” was ever even a thing.
It’s been condemned as “too gay,” “too trans,” and — maybe most bizarrely — “anti-white.”
Classic Star Trek alumn George Takei famously shut down such garbage as the work of trolls.
“Gene Roddenberry created this with the idea of finding strength in our diversity. And the delight of life in diversity. So they don’t know what they are talking about,” he said.
But the point is that the very things that Discovery is criticized for are the same things that landed it so close to the Roddenberry ideal.
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It’s also been faulted for its commitment to non-violence and its depiction of emotions.
Which is itself, again, laughable, and to those trolls I offer the nearly 50-year-old Star Trek: The Motion Picture, which Roddenberry considered probably closest to his ideal within his lifetime.
And, as for Discovery being “too gay,” Roddenberry himself was very honest about his evolution and getting past his homophobia, to the point that before his death he had become enthusiastic about the opportunity to represent LGBTQ folks proudly in Star Trek, going so far as to admit:
I’m sorry I never had a homosexual relationship, because I know there must be many joys and pleasures and degrees of closeness in those relationships.
Which I think brings us back to first principles, probably best articulated by the foundation that bears Roddenberry’s name:
Since it first aired over five decades ago, Star Trek has continued to offer a unique brand of science fiction that invites us to “think, question, and challenge the status quo” with the intention of creating “a brighter future”.
By even the cries and complaints of its most vicious detractors, I don't think that there can be any doubt that Star Trek: Discovery has accomplished these lofty goals.
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