Star Trek

The quick version

In the 23^rd century a Federation of 150 planets, human and non-human, exists in a state of liberal democracy.  Starfleet, the organisation in charge of peace-keeping and exploration in space, regularly sends its starships on missions of discovery.  The USS Enterprise is one of these.  She looks a bit like a massive rocket-powered frisbee.

Spock and Kirk object to my preference

There are several different series of Star Trek following different captains of the Enterprise as they travel through space and encounter strange new worlds.  The most popular captains are the impulsive seat-of-his-pants James (“Jim”) Tiberius Kirk from the original series, and the more prudent and diplomatic Jean-Luc Picard of the Next Generation series.  Fans will squabble passionately over who is the better captain.  

Personally I’m a Picard fan.  Kirk is fun as an individual but he’d annoy the hell out of me if I was on his crew, plus Picard has that amazing Shakespearean baritone.  Superficial, I know :)

In each episode the crew would land on a new planet with the aim of exploring it (although the Enterprise is armed against hostile races such as the Borg and Klingons it is not a battleship by design, and the crews' guns have a stun setting.  Despite this the command "Shoot to kill" seems to be given a lot, particularly by Kirk).  Usually their attitude of peaceful exploration would be challenged by what they found there and they would have to resolve the conflict by the end of the episode.


The Franchise

There are, of course, several movies including a 2009 reboot that took place in an alternative timeline, cleverly linking a young Kirk and crew with that of the original series and starring Leonard Nimoy, the original Spock.  If you're not sure you can handle seven TV series and half a dozen feature films then just watch this one.  It's a solid adventure movie that brings the production values bang up to date for modern viewers while remaining true to the characters of the original series.

Naturally after so many television series and movies, there are vast amounts of information on the Star Trek universe for fans to get stuck into, which is part of what makes it so popular.  The many alien races and worlds mean there's always something new to play with, even though it's been fifty years since Star Trek first arrived on our screens.

You ought to be aware that

Lt. Uhura

• By setting his series in the far future creator Gene Roddenberry could discuss ideas that a soap opera set on present day Earth could never have tackled.  Star Trek first aired in the segregated 1960s, under the shadow of the Cold War and Vietnam War, so America was still very concerned by Communist nations and fierce patriotism.  Despite this, Roddenbury wanted to push the idea of a respectful and multicultural future.  He had the ship's bridge staffed by an American captain, a half-human-half-alien first officer, a Russian navigator, an Asian helmsman and a black female communications officer.  Star Trek also boasts the first ever scripted inter-racial kiss shown on television, between Kirk and Lt. Uhura.  This was ground-breaking stuff!

Famous Trekkie Quotes

• “Live long and prosper” - Spock
• “To boldly go where no one has gone before.” - Captain of the Enterprise
• “Damn it Jim I’m a doctor, not a scientist/bricklayer/engineer/magician/mechanic/etc!” - Dr McCoy (although he never actually said "Damn it")
• “She cannae take much more o’ this, Cap’n.  I'm givin' her all she's got!" - Mr Scott (chief engineer)
• "Make it so." - Capt. Picard
• "It's life Jim, but not as we know it" - attributed to Spock, even though this line was never said either!

Spoofs and Parodies

We'll cover Galaxy Quest later, but other than that don't even get me started.  All geeks are experts at self-mockery and Star Trek is no exception.  This fabulous song from the 1980s should tell you all you need to know.