Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 9/17/08 Section: Opinion

Gene Roddenberry, an iconic 1950s and 1960s TV producer, was a pilot in World War II and he worked on a police force. The knowledge he acquired in those fields was used in a new occupation five decades ago, writing and producing westerns and police dramas.

Then one day he and his team came up with a pitch for a TV series, what they called "Wagon Train to the Stars," in reference to a popular western at the time.

"Star Trek" originally aired as a pilot in 1964, but was officially launched on NBC on Sept. 8, 1966. The show would run for three seasons, featuring some of the most iconic characters in pop culture, and setting new standards for American television of the time.

Back in the 1960s, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the free speech movement and ending segregation were intense and powerful statements about a decade of change unprecedented in American culture of the time. "Star Trek" attempted to break through the barriers of race relations, equality and to protest war, putting many of the period's ideals in the writing, right under the network's noses.

A crew of interracial humans served together on the starship USS Enterprise, and they even had an alien, or half alien, named Spock.

In the 1960s, it was unheard of to put a Russian man and a Japanese man on a vessel together and have them interact as colleagues. Now it seems realistic, but in the 60s, it was shocking.

The series featured the first interracial kiss on network television between leading man Captain Kirk, (William Shatner) and his communications officer, an African woman, Uhura, (Nichelle Nichols) - even though aliens coerced them to do it.

Uhura's character was especially shocking then because she was in an important role on the bridge when women didn't have professional jobs beyond teaching or nursing at the time.

"Star Trek" also tackled Vietnam War politics indirectly through stories about aliens who acted like mirrors on humanity, such as the Klingons and Romulans, while the network seemed to have no idea that the idea was to express a future where humans unite in peace.

NBC wanted to cancel the show, but a fan letter campaign dubbed "Star Trek Lives" got the show renewed for one final season. Then the show burst onto the movie screen a decade later in 1979.

By the late '70s, Vietnam tensions were over, and by the late 1980s, the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Some of the movies dealt with the issues of the times when they were written, carrying on the ideas Roddenberry and his production staff came up with regarding human issues in a new decade.

Continued...

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