6DTHOmnibusThursday, January 19, 1989
"Star Trek" and "Star Trek: The Next Genera
With
popular television series continues
By WINSTON LLOYD
Staff Writer
in October of 1987, Gene Rod
denberry returned us to the final
frontier. "Star Trek: The Next
Generation" boasted a new, bigger
and better Enterprise as well as
a new and, perhaps not necessar
ily, improved crew. The basic
premise of this show is the same
as the original that ran from 1966
69. "To seek out new life and new
civilizations . . has been the
noble cause of the Starship Enter
prise. But. in its new incarnation,
set some 85 years after the orig
inal, they desire "to boldly go
where no one has gone before."
Obviously this advanced civiliza
tion cannot accept the word
"man" as meaning "mankind," so
they went with the non-gender
specific "one." So much for
advanced intelligence.
But in this updated version,
much has changed. The feared
Klingons are no longer to be
feared. In fact they are friends of
the Federation, and a Klingon is
even in charge of Enterprise secur
ity. I suppose it's a kinder, gentler
galaxy.
Roddenberry explained this
change while visiting UNC last
spring. It seems that he disliked the
idea of a race whose sole purpose
is to be evil, in the old series, the
Klingons were to the Federation
what the Russians were to Rea
gan's America in the early 1980s.
But after Roddenberry left UNC,
we discovered that maybe plot
wise it was necessary to give the
Federation a major opponent, thus
the Romulans declare that they do
not like humans (or Klingons) and
that "we are back."
The new technical advancement
is the Holideck, a recreational area
on the Enterprise in which the
computer generates a requested
situation. So far, Capt. Jean-Luc
Picard (Patrick Stewart) has been
his favorite detective in 1940s San
Francisco, First Officer often
called "Number One" - William
Riker (Jonathan Frakes) has played
trombone with a New Orleans jazz
band; and Lt. Cmdr. Data (Brent
Spiner) has become Sherlock
Holmes in what became a serious
science fiction problem. When one
of the computer-generated char
acters begins to think independ
ently, he discovers that he is not
in 1 9th century London, but rather
a computer image in a ship. He
thinks. Therefore does he exist? He
a new ensemble cast, science
v
The new crew of the Starship Enterprise as seen on "Star Trek:
wrestles with the question which
may shortly confound us, as our.
own scientists work to develop
artificial intelligence.
But what may be the most
interesting new development of
the new "Trek" is the pacifism of
the new and improved Federation.
It doesnt seem we can expert
repeats of Capt. James Kirk's
retaliatory attack on a terrorizing
Klingon. Capt. Picard is less volatile
than the young Kirk. Picard has the
command abilities and respect
that Kirk had, but he also has the
maturity and restraint that Spock
exhibited. However, Picard's stead
fast loyalty to and love for the
Enterprise is equal to Kirk's, and
you can expect trouble if you
threaten his ship or his crew.
Then there is what is somewhat
of a distuj bing new development.
A friend pointed out the similarity
to Marxist doctrine in "The Next
Generation." I always knew the old
"Star Trek" leaned a little to the
left, but Marxist? My friend
explained one of the tenets of
Marxism is that when the society
can meet the survival needs of its
people, then the people can turn
all their energy to the develop
ment of art and culture and
knowledge. A noble, if unrealistic,
idea.
The new Trek had an episode in
which three Americans from late
20th century Earth are picked up,
drifting in space, their bodies
suspended in time. One was a
popular country singer, who just
wanted a drink and a guitar;
another wanted to find out the
fate of her long dead children,- and
the third seemed to want nothing
more than to call his broker or read
the wall Street Journal. Picard
eventually explained to the man
that the need for wealth no longer
existed, for all the needs were met
by the advanced society. Our
contemporary asked the question
which was in my mind, "Then
where is the challenge?" The
challenge as Picard explained was
in bettering the society with art
or science.
No, l dont believe Roddenberry
is trying to push communism on
The Next Generation." Sure look
the legions of Trekkies. But it does
seem he could be taking some
shots at capitalism. The new bad
guys in the universe are the
Ferengi, who want nothing more
than to make a profit. Sure,
extreme capitalism with no feel
ing for good or evil is not a good
thing. But it's quite a statement
to show the essence of capitalism
to be evil and the essence of
Marxism to be benevolent.
Then comes the irony. If the
United Federation of Planets is a
working and successful commu
nist, or at the least socialist,
society as Picard implied, then isnt
it strange that the television
program is centered on what
would be the last refuge of cap
italism: the military, where there
is still a class system of rank and
the desire to climb the corporate
ladder.
But as I'm sure many are think
ing now, it's only a television show,
albeit one which is in the top five
of those in syndication. "The Next
Generation" is currently rated
higher than reruns of the original.
fiction s rr
to evolve
like a happy bunch, don't they?
But back to the characters and
less serious stuff. "The Next Gener
ation" relies heavily on some of the
ideas of the past. The characters
seem derived from different parts
of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, etc
Capt. Kirk was split into two
characters: Picard and First Officer
Riker. Picard is the respected
commander, and Riker is the
young and impulsive first officer.
Riker also seems to be the most
hated. While at UNC, Roddenberry
was asked if he had any plans to
kill off Riker. The question drew
applause from the audience.
Mr. Spock, who developed into
the most popular, and most inter
esting, character of "Star Trek" has
been transformed mostly into Lt.
Cmdr. Data. The emotionless Spock
found his way into the one-
dimensional Klingon, Lt. Worf, while
the analytical, and "human" side of
Spock, are evident in the android,
Data (who receives, most of the
show's fan mail). But where Spock
supressed his human qualities in
favor of logic, Data dreams of
being more human.
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