Unless you live in a cave or on Antarctica, you’ve no doubt heard that today is the anniversary of Star Trek’s debut on television back in 1966. I’ve heard about it on NPR, Syfy channel is running a marathon, and Twitter is virtually nothing but Star Trek today. And that’s okay. No other television show has garnered such a lasting, loyal group of fans, and for a good reason.
Star Trek offers hope for the future. During the 1960s when we faced the Cuban Missile Crisis, the assassination of our President, a horrible war in Vietnam, and the Cold War with the USSR, Star Trek reminded us that we could pull ourselves out of such conditions and rise above our savage natures, if we so desired.
We’re not there yet, but we’ve made strides, advances in science, and shortly after the show ended, Americans landed on the moon, ushering in a genuine space age for humans. Think back, or read some history, and you may see why Star Trek has endured into the 21st Century. It’s entirely likely, although we may not see it ourselves, that will be be celebrating 100 years in five decades. We can only dream.
Speaking of science fiction, I’ve spent the last few days attending the Star Trek Las Vegas 50th Anniversary Convention. It was a great convention put on by the Creation people, and it’s been a blast, well organized, lots of things going on. Five thousand tickets were sold out months before the event had even booked its final guest list. Leaving this afternoon it seemed as if I owed it to myself to go home and binge watch for a while.
This is an iconic show, Star Trek. It owes its longevity to fans, to writers, to actors, investors, marketers, and a whole host of people behind the scenes that made it come to life and keep it not just alive, but thriving. More than 700 episodes and movies later, it shows no sign of ending. From emojis to props, costumes to games, trading cards, posters, photos, books (oh, the books!), star maps, aliens, and of course, the USS Enterprise, in another 50 years I can only surmise that it will be bigger, with new aliens, more ships, and a bigger fan base that ever.
It’s part of Americana, integrated and woven into our culture. Even if you are not a fan, you’ve heard of Star Trek as surely as you’ve heard of Watergate, but with a significantly more positive reputation. Developed originally during the early space race years, no one had landed on the moon until after the show had run 3 years and been cancelled. Deemed too cerebral for the average audience, the original Star Trek franchise suffered from time slot changes and censors that actually refused to air some episodes in some parts of the country, resulting in lower ratings.
Star Trek pushed the boundaries of television, and after a successful write in campaign brought it a third season, it was left to the fans in syndication. Ten years later, a major motion picture stirred up the hearth fire for Star Trek, and despite the limited success of the movie, mostly due to a rush for release and lack of editing. And more movies followed. Soon another franchise was born, followed by three more, several more movies, and we are here, 50 years later, hoping that the message of future peace will one day be a reality, even if it appears traveling faster than light from star to star in a matter of days is not in our future.
The industry that flourishes because of Star Trek can’t be dismissed without examination. Costumes, set builders, writers, film crews, camera repair, catering businesses, musicians, and others, just locally near the studio and on location, all benefit from the advertising dollars which support television. After the fact, conventions, licensing, reruns, more advertising, station employees – the trickle down from this single show over fifty years is almost incalculable.
Some products we use today were inspired by Star Trek, including small communication devices, small computers, nano technology, medical advances of all kinds, doors that open as we approach them – the list goes on. No one can deny the impact of this single television show on our culture, and, as originally hoped, perhaps on the improvement of our civilization, and humanity.
As long time fan, I enjoy the conventions, if for nothing else but the people watching! Young, old, fit, disabled, all races and both genders attend with the single obsession over this television show. They arrive from all over the world to meet the people who make it come alive – writers, actors, producers, composers, photographers, artists, vendors of everything Trek. Stage appearances and guest panels take place all day long, photographs and autographs are a major part of the activities as well as trivia games, contests, game demonstrations, even cake baking and art exhibits. Props are available for fans to make self portraits from cyborg regeneration alcoves to time travel portals and the famous transporters that look cool even if you don’t really go anywhere.
Star Trek is science fiction at its best. Not simply what we call Space Opera, a grand production with lots of show and sparkle with a basic story underneath, but a new concept of space exploration that “seeks out new life and civilizations” similar to historic explorers of Earth; Columbus, Magellan, Lewis and Clark, and Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins. People who took risks for the sake of curiosity. In another fifty years, I can only hope that Star Trek is still going strong, boldly going where humans have never gone before.
I am a right brain person. If it involves imagination, complex ideas, music, writing (well, that’s a given), even medicine (it’s an art and a science), you can hand me the job and it’ll be done. I am not a left brain person. Most students at Caltech are left brain students, studying the hard sciences and thinking abstract mathematics and quantum physics. This might come as a surprise but I spent many years as an accounting manager, followed by a career as a professional consultant converting mainframe systems to desktop Oracle software. I didn’t do the technical database management or write programs, but I still had to chase details, test software, and, here’s the creative part, find a way to get the old system to function the way employees needed it to, only better.
This is why I have to laugh at myself. It’s been a long time since software made me cry, literally. I grew to love computers as my slaves, doing what I asked them to do without complaining, although at times the old turn it off and back on again advice was the best solution more times than I will admit. So it didn’t seem terribly daunting that as the limited functions of this particular blog (wordpress.COM) became evident, my choice was to switch to a new platform (wordpress.ORG). There I was promised divinity and functions beyond my wildest dreams.
Here is where being left brained might have been an asset. Having purchased 3 years of hosting service, the service happily uploaded the software and then left me to fend for myself. I won’t detail the ugly 48 hours preceding the solution. I can say it wasn’t pleasant, I have a new grey streak of hair, cried half a box of tissues worth. I have been bombarded with new terminology, methodology, functionality, and the inability to simply log in to the new site. Why? Because this site, running on wordpress.COM, was still running. And there was a circular loop that sent me here every time I tried to get to the new host and software (dot ORG).
It’s been a long time since I gave up on anything. I have been thrown from horses, struggled through two college degrees as an adult, and learned to program a VCR. I know a carburetor from an alternator, designed a kitchen and fireplace overhaul (there’s the right brain in command), and learned to use an iPhone. Dealing with so called videos to guide me, chats with support, even dragging my software developer husband into the chaos still didn’t conquer the issue.
So our grand solution: live with the limited functionality of the wordpress.COM and cancel the three years of hosting a wordpress.ORG blog. I’m happier already! Here I am, posting my gripe as bloggers do, because I’d rather get back to writing another book instead of untangling the spider’s web I’d become ensnared in. More like the world wide web, I suppose.
Life is short. I don’t want to spend my time doing what frustrates me when I could pay someone else and free myself to let my right brain out to play. I encourage all people to find what they are good at and do it; know what you’re not good at and let someone else do it. Life is good again.
I am a right brain person. If it involves imagination, complex ideas, music, writing (well, that’s a given), even medicine (it’s an art and a science), you can hand me the job and it’ll be done. I am not a left brain person. Most students at Caltech are left brain students, studying the hard sciences and thinking abstract mathematics and quantum physics. This might come as a surprise but I spent many years as an accounting manager, followed by a career as a professional consultant converting mainframe systems to desktop Oracle software. I didn’t do the technical database management or write programs, but I still had to chase details, test software, and, here’s the creative part, find a way to get the old system to function the way employees needed it to, only better.