But it used the soft power of culture to open people’s minds. The franchise’s gizmos, from communicators to wireless data pads, influenced the design of everything from flip phones to tablets. (The episode was blocked from the air in parts of the American South.) Roddenberry deftly commented on real-world inequities from the safety of the 23 rd century. Then there was Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), the Enterprise’s black lieutenant, who would make history with Captain Kirk (William Shatner) in the medium’s first interracial kiss. For starters, despite Cold War tensions, Captain Kirk’s crew included Russian Pavel Chekov (played by Walter Koenig) and an Asian helmsman named Sulu (George Takei). When it debuted on September 8, 1966, Star Trek was a landmark for racial and cultural diversity. Steeped in the gospel of multiculturalism and liberalism, Blackmore calls the show a much-needed “ peace thought experiment.” Case and point, the series catchphrase: “set phasers to stun.” Even when force is required, it’s restrained, and only a tool for negotiation and settlement. The show’s United Federation of Planets is essentially a utopic, “glorified, galactic United Nations,” says Larry Nemecek, a Trek historian and author of both Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion and the popular blog Trekland. Star Trek subtly used sci-fi to explore the era’s hot-button issues. “Star Trek articulated social ideals of tolerance and equality, of understanding and negotiating difference instead of war…where the solutions were usually divided between the head and the heart-you know, Spock and Kirk,” says Tim Blackmore, a professor of information and media studies at Western University. The original series’ tenets of social justice feel just as relevant as they did in 1966-at the height of the Vietnam War and civil rights movement. Humanity could use a healthy dose of the space saga’s idealism. The daily headlines-from Trump to terror, refugees to xenophobia-would suggest our species is a long way from that kind of maturity. “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,” series creator, the late Gene Roddenberry, wrote in The Star Trek Philosophy. “To boldly go where no one has gone before.” It’s the mission statement of the starship Enterprise, part of a pledge to “explore strange new worlds.” But on Star Trek’s 50 th anniversary, the franchise’s optimistic vision for the future could help us plot a course correction on Earth.
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