![]() In the end, after attempting to drag the crew of the Enterprise into their deadly squabble, the pair of warring aliens are doomed by their mutual, all-consuming hate. The battle lines are drawn between those whose faces are black on the right side and white on the left, and those whose facial colors are reversed. In the season three episode "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield," the crew of the Enterprise encountered the last two survivors of a civilization ravaged by a war fought between two peoples whose faces are split between black and white. It’s true, of course, that the series’ metaphors could sometimes be a little too obvious. Star Trek’s values existed across its many different versions Star Trek: The Next Generation continued the series’ interest in political values. But it existed first and foremost as a forum for exploring big ideas about society and morality through science fiction metaphor. It was a spacefaring adventure, yes, with phaser weapons and aliens and starship shootouts. Perhaps more than anything else, Star Trek was a show about the clash of cultures, an extended argument for individual diversity bound together by shared values. The show’s chief antagonist came in the form of the Klingons, a rival power that prioritizes strength and domination and is often presented as a negative image of the Federation. In "Balance of Terror," the crew encounters the Romulans - an alien race that began as a violent offshoot of the logical, peaceful Vulcans with whom the Federation is aligned. McCoy, Uhura, and Scotty find themselves in a parallel timeline where the Federation is a cruel empire and the Enterprise is its enforcer. Often, those stories forced its characters to contend with twisted versions of themselves: In "Mirror, Mirror," one of the series’ best episodes, Kirk, Dr. Many of the series’ episodes pitted the crew of the Enterprise against groups and societies that didn’t share the Federation’s liberal values. The series followed one of Starfleet’s starships, the Enterprise, and a diverse (especially for its time) crew that reflected the show’s commitment to inclusion, peace, and individualism. The Federation works through Starfleet, a spacefaring navy used for a combination of diplomacy, research, and - when necessary - defense against those that might threaten Federation values and interests. Those values were built into the show’s essential concept: Hundreds of years in the future, the galaxy is largely united under the banner of the United Federation of Planets, a kind of interstellar United Nations designed to unify human and alien species in a peaceful and prosperous order. Thus, the series often functioned as a sci-fi-flavored defense of liberal internationalism and humanist individualism. The original Star Trek TV series, which aired for three seasons on NBC starting in 1966, was a vehicle for social and political commentary, with many of its episodes working as overt metaphors for contemporary issues.Īs Timothy Sandefur wrote last year in The Claremont Review of Books, series creator Gene Roddenberry was a World War II veteran deeply concerned about the rise of totalitarian governments. The original TV series was a stirring defense of 1960s political values The cast of the original Star Trek. It’s the first Star Trek movie since that 2009 reboot that actually feels like Star Trek. ![]() Related Star Trek Beyond wants to remind you why you love Star Trekīut as a longtime fan of the Star Trek series, what I appreciated most about the new film was that it represented a return of sorts to the big ideas that drove the series in its earliest incarnations.
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