Star Trek Analysis

The first episode of Star Trek aired on NBC on September 8, 1966. It promised to follow the starship Enterprise, operated by the NASA-like organization Starfleet, around the universe for five years as it, according to the show’s opening, “explore[s] brave new worlds, seek[s] out new life and new civilizations, and boldly [goes] where no man has gone before.” (SOURCE) Although the “Original Series”, as it later came to be called, was doomed to cancellation after three seasons, five other series were eventually produced, along with a plethora of movies (including two “reboots” from 2009 and 2013) based on the aforementioned Original Series. Overall, Star Trek’s resultant popularity led to an immense cultural impact; this was largely due to its …show more content…
The crew of the Enterprise appear to be portrayed the same way as the Americans, as they arm the “Hill People” in order to ensure a fair fight, and ultimately get almost too involved in the war (to the point where they nearly violate the aforementioned Prime Directive) as America was widely believed to have done. Another episode, “The Omega Glory” sees the subtly-named Kohms, or Communists, fighting against the “Yangs”, or Yankees in a mutually destructive war. This allegory reflects the often-futile battles and the Pyrrhic victories that permeated …show more content…
Buzz Aldrin himself describes it as “playing to our obsession with NASA, spaceflight, and what might be out there,” and cites it as sparking further interest in space travel. (TREKKIES) It predicts that humanity will eventually see expansion far enough into space that they will have to set up guidelines dictating how people should interact with alien species - after all, the Original Series aired at the height of the Space Race, even though America hadn’t even landed a spacecraft on the moon at that point. (The last episode of TOS aired on June 3rd, 1969, only a month before this pivotal