:: Captain's Personal Blog ::

Stardate: Wednesday, April 23, 2003

STAR TREK and RELIGION

First off, I'm back -- however fleeting this may be. Second, I would like to put forth an idea that I have been mulling in my head for some time now.

But first, a proviso: I am not a religion student. The things that I don't know about religion could fill a vast hall. What I do know, is being poured into the following rant. The overall purpose of the rant is merely to stimulate thought, and not meant to insult any one person or group of people. Unfortunately, I saw what this sort of disclaimer did for Kevin Smith, but I'm going to try it anyway.

Proviso #2 - This rant is for more people than just STAR TREK fans. This rant is for anyone who wants to think a little....

Proviso #3 - For sake of ease, the following abbreviations will be used:
TOS - STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES
TNG - STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
DS9 - STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
VOY - STAR TREK: VOYAGER
ENT - ENTERPRISE
When I speak of STAR TREK, I refer to the franchise as a whole, otherwise I will use the abbreviations above.

STAR TREK and RELIGION
in the Judeo-Christian Sense:

I was thinking a few weeks back about how STAR TREK in it's history reflects (in an off-beat sort of way) the Judeo-Christian religions. First came TOS, as conceptualized by Gene Roddenberry. In this case, Gene reflects (and I REALLY hate to say this,) God. He created the STAR TREK universe, and it is his ideas from which all future ideas (in this field) come from. He put forth his message, titled THE CAGE. It failed. Roddenberry (unlike God) was asked to re-write it, and with the help of others, crafted a wonderful television program. This is a slight analogy to the HUMAN scholars who wrote the Bible, based on God's ideas, and who changed it to a more popularized form. They, like the writers of STAR TREK, interpreted the ideas in such a way that they became accepted widely. Some would argue that in the case of the Bible, it included future unpopular ideas such as sexism and racism, but that is another debate. Again, I am speaking on truly simplistic terms.

After a good portion of time on top, Gene decided to take another crack at it with TNG. Let's set this up as the birth of Christ. Jesus on Earth can be interpreted (and I know I may catch heat for saying this) as God's second attempt at bringing his ideals to the people. A stretch? Maybe, but possibly accurate. In the same way TNG was Gene's way of trying to bring his ideals back to the people in a fresh way. What he wound up with is the equivalent to the New Testament. Why? As before, Gene's ideas needed to be tweaked. He was removed from the show, and replaced by writers and producers who breathed life into the franchise. That would signify the death of Christ (without the crucifixion, I might add.)

The analogy of TNG to the New Testament is the most valid analogy in my rant. Why? Simple. All future series will pay homage to TOS at some point, but for the most part they look to TNG as the wellspring from which they all come from. More on that later. When TNG came out, you had your usual set of sects: 1) Those who felt that TNG was "sacrilege," and that TOS was the only "STAR TREK"; 2) Those who felt that TNG was MUCH BETTER than TOS; and 3) Those who wanted to know why we couldn't all just get along. Sound familiar?

Later down the line, DS9 came along. Let's set aside, for now, the notion that DS9 actually introduced religion to STAR TREK. That is not germain to this rant. DS9 was another incarnation of STAR TREK which took us further from TOS but tried to preach the same message. Fascinatingly, during TNG's time on air, and lasting to this day, it was decided that the overall message of STAR TREK was to preach peace and understanding for a better future. Well, yes that may be true. And it also sounds REALLY familiar too, doesn't it? But more importantly the message of TOS was always to just tell good stories. And sometimes those stories were culturally relevant, and sometimes they weren't. However, Gene felt that putting it in idyllic human setting was icing on the cake. It was the core message, but not the point. It was just one less thing he had to be bogged down by. Again, more on that in another rant.

VOY was a back to basics approach to STAR TREK, which never quite fulfilled it's promise, and instead, took us nowhere. As such, it make a substantial contribution to the STAR TREK mythos, but for my purposes acted as yet another sect of STAR TREKism. Much like the various subdivisions of Christianity.

ENT is an entirely new concept on this point. I'm not entirely sure that there has been a religion that has gone back to the beginning and said that the whole thing was wrong. My only possible analogy here is that it's analogous to Jews for Jesus. It tries to bridge the gap between the TOS fans and TNG, DS9, VOY fans by trying to meet them both half way. Much like Jews for Jesus. Lord only knows how successful either of those really are, although I certainly hope the Jews for Jesus are more successful than ENT seems to be.

Ultimately, it's the way that people are behaving towards each that I find the most comparable. I'm just as guilty as anyone else. I like TOS more than any other STAR TREK series. But l can be tolerant of the others. Other fans aren't quite as forgiving. And as for people..........?
:: J 1:55 PM [+] ::
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