Star Trek - Kanthan Pillay · 2015. 3. 8. · portrayed in Star Trekare part of our modern everyday...

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News Views&OPINION 16 • DURBAN POISON 17 • 2022 BID 18 • LETTERS 20 • SPORT 21 -28PAGE 15March 8

2015

THE YEAR 1966 was atumultuous period in thehistory of the US; and, asa result, for much of the

world, too. The US had recentlybegun deploying combat forces inVietnam. The first SR-71 Blackbirdspy plane took to the skies. FidelCastro declared martial law inCuba. The civil rights movementunder Dr Martin Luther Kingspread north; sparking race riotsin Cleveland, Ohio, in Chicago,Illinois, and Lansing, Michigan.Tens of thousands of anti-wardemonstrators gathered outsidethe White House and theWashington Monument.

Against this backdrop, thedebut of the TV series Star Trek

on September 8 was literallyanachronistic. Set roughly 300years in the future in the 2260s, theseries documented the adventuresof the crew of USS Enterprise ledby Captain James T Kirk (WilliamShatner), first officer and scienceofficer Spock (Leonard Nimoy),

and chief medical officer LeonardMcCoy (DeForest Kelley).

Although equipped with aformidable level of weaponry, theirmission was one of peace asCaptain Kirk would recount overthe opening credits:

“Space: the final frontier. Theseare the voyages of the StarshipEnterprise. Its five-year mission: toexplore strange new worlds, toseek out new life and newcivilisations, to boldly go where noman has gone before.”

It’s unsurprising that a sciencefiction series focusing on spacetravel was created at that time.Smarting from the fact that thecommunist USSR had taken thelead in the race to mannedspaceflight, President John FKennedy had made it a point ofnational pride that the US shouldbecome the first country to put aman on the moon. Just three weeksbefore Star Trek’s debut, LunarOrbiter 1 successfully reached themoon, sending back the first

picture ofour planettakenfromanotherworld.

Whatwas

surprisingwas that Star

Trek managedto ride rough-shod over many ofthe social issues of theperiod: the cold war, Americannationalism, sexism, racism, andreligious fervour. An anti-warhumanist agenda dominated thestorytelling. The cast reflected auniverse where race or nationalitydid not matter.

Communications officer NyotaUhura, effectively fourth incommand of the Enterprise, wasplayed by Nichelle Nichols – ablack woman. It was a first for TVin the US in that it was unheard offor black and white characters tobe portrayed as social equals onthe small screen.

“It didn’t hit me at the time untilsomebody told me,” Nichols toldThe Huffington Post in 2012. “Isplashed on to the TV screen at apropitious historical moment.Black people were marching all

overthe South.

Dr King wasleading people to freedom,

and here I was, in the 23rdcentury, fourth in commandof the Enterprise.”

Although treated asan equal by her fellowcast members, Nichols

still had to grapple withthe underlying racism of

the studios at the time,such as separate entrances

for black and white actors. Shesays: “Oh, man, there were parts ofthe South that wouldn’t show Star

Trek because this was an AfricanAmerican woman in a powerfulposition, and she wasn’t a maid ortap dancer.”

As a result, she had consideredleaving Star Trek at the time, butwas persuaded not to do so by DrKing. In her words, “He said,‘Don’t you realise how importantyour presence, your character, is?This is not a black role or a femalerole. You have the first non-stereotypical role on television.You have broken ground. You’re animage for us. We look on thatscreen and we know where we’regoing.’ It was like he was saying,‘Free at last, free at last!’ “

The helmsman, LieutenantHikaru Sulu (George Takei), is ofJapanese heritage. Again, his was

one of the first portrayals of Asianactors in a positive role.

A Star Trek producer describedthe role as “the antithesis of the so-called expressionless-unemotional-inscrutable Asian”.

The Russians, too, wereportrayed in a positive light. Thecharacter bio of Ensign PavelAndreievich Chekov (WalterKoenig) was that of “anextraordinarily capable young man– almost Spock’s equal in someareas. An honours graduate of theSpace Academy.”

We canreflect nowon howmany of

thedepictions of

future technologyportrayed in Star Trek are part

of our modern everyday existence.Our smartphones now encapsulatethe functionality of the Star Trek

communicators and tricorders.Touch screen computer technology,universal translators, personalnavigation devices (adverselyaffected by magnetic storms), 3Dprinters, CAT scans, biometricaccess control; all of these debutedduring the TV series.

All of these played second fiddleto the social impact of Star Trek.

The first inter-racial kiss on TVhappened in the third and final

season ofthe show.Under thetelekinetic

control ofan alien

species, Kirkand Uhura are

“forced” to kiss.NBC executives were

reluctant to screen the shot andasked for alternative takes. Shatnerand Nichols deliberately flubbed thealternative takes, so the kiss stayed.

Nichols says she wassurprised that the flood of mailthe show received after theepisode was aired was allpositive. A letter from a Southernviewer said: “I am totallyopposed to the mixing of theraces. However, any time a red-blooded American boy likeCaptain Kirk gets a beautifuldame in his arms that looks likeUhura, he ain’t gonna fight it.”

But the defining character wasundoubtedly that of Spock(Leonard Nimoy). Born of a humanmother with an alien father fromthe fictitious planet Vulcan, Spockhas green blood (from a copperbase), distinctive pointed ears, andis mildly telepathic when inphysical contact with others.

The conflict between his coldcalculating Vulcan heritage andhis human emotions became aconduit for many of the humanistlessons woven by the show creatorsinto the script.

His trademark Vulcan salute (anopen palm with fingers extended inthe shape of a “V”) along with agreeting which was more like abenediction (“Live long andprosper”) has over the past almost50 years become a rallying point forthousands of Trekkers who longfor the very achievable universecreated by Gene Roddenberry.

Leonard Nimoy is no more. He is not the first of the original

cast to die, but through hisappearances in two recent Star

Trek movies as an aging version ofhimself who has travelled back intime to meet his younger self, heprovided a bridge betweengenerations.

The world is a poorer placewithout him in it.

I have no doubt that Star Trek

will find fertile ground in futuregenerations, not because of itstechnology but because of itsdreams and values.

Nimoy himself summarised itperfectly in his final message onTwitter at 9.36pm on February 23:

“A life is like a garden. Perfectmoments can be had, but notpreserved, except in memory.LLAP”

● Kanthan Pillay is MD of the

Yired group of companies and chief

executive of 99.2 Yfm. He writes in

his personal capacity

Leonard Nimoy, whoplayed the iconic half-human half-alien firstofficer ofthe StarshipEnterprise, died last week. KanthanPillay reflects on the lasting impactof Star Trek

LIVELONG… IN OURMEMORY

Star Trek TV series actors, from left, Leonard Nimoy, honoree Walter Koenig,Nichelle Nichols, and George Takei pose at the unveiling of Koenig’s star onthe Hollywood Walk of Fame in Hollywood on September 10, 2012.

Picture: REUTERS

First officer and science officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy).