I keep forgetting that there is a new Star Trek series.
Source: Star Trek: The Animated Series.
That’s a weird thing to say for me. If the Fantastic Four got me into comic books, then Star Trek got me into sci-fi. I grew up watching reruns of the original series and new episodes of The Next Generation. Countless Saturday afternoons were spent watching the movies. Hell, I even managed to watch the entire animated series in high school thanks to (ahem) bootlegged CDs from a comic show.
But, did you know there is a NEW series? Yup. Star Trek: Discovery is a thing and it’s only available via CBS All Access or some nonsense.
As sad as I am that I can’t currently watch this new series, I am exciting that it exists. Society – the world – needs Star Trek. That’s a weird thing to say about a TV show or a movie, but it’s true. It may be sci-fi. It may be silly at times (Spock’s Brain). Still, at it’s absolute best, Star Trek is vitally important to us all.
Why?
Source: Khan’s muscular chest will save us all.
Star Trek is extreme hopeful. Star Trek is smart, fun, and thoughtful. Star Trek presents a future where anyone can succeed and the worst conflicts can still be solved through discussions. Men, women, transgenders, and genderless gas aliens can all live and work and love and laugh together. Star Trek is a future that is almost the exact opposite of what we see in current politics. At least for the Federation (re: us), it’s pretty damn close to a utopia.
Khan Noonian Singh is one of Star Trek’s greatest and most memorable villains. He’s a genetically “perfect” genius warlord from our past, revived in the future and believing he is best suited to rule above all. But even in his arrogance and evil, he’s still campassionate. He’s still a man of rules. Oh, and he’s not white. He’s the genetic superman and he isn’t a white man, but the best part of Star Trek is that no one questions it. In almost any other media, the “perfect, genetically pure evil man” is an Aryan supersoldier. In Star Trek, he’s a Hispanic guy with an Asian name who wears a Sikh headdress. It may be a minor thing to say, but in Star Trek anyone can be a hero or a villain.
And that’s the kind of sci-fi we need right now. A focus on technology, problem-solving, and, yes, equality for the good guys, the bad guys, the weird aliens, and everything in between. In a United States where Nazis march in the streets with tiki torches, we might just need a show that isn’t afraid to talk about these problems and sometimes even solve them with words over violence.
Also, we need Yvonne Craig because reasons.
Source: Marta is bae.
