Introduction — about this project

I keep the earlier incarnations of Star Trek in constant rotation in my house, watching two episodes (or equivalent) every week to take me from the original series through to the Next Generation movies about once every 3½ years.

Just having started another run, I thought I’d take the opportunity to do a little analysis along the way.  I’ve been quite disappointed with recent additions to the franchise and have felt them to be not quite Star Trek. But this in turn has started me questioning my ideas of what Star Trek might be. What are the quintessential elements of the franchise?

As I watch this time, I want to:

• identify recurring themes. Does the story question what it means to be human? Does it explore and challenge some social issue of the day? Does it posit a brighter future for humanity, as post-scarcity peaceful explorers of deep space? Is there a promise of transcendence in humanity’s future?
• evaluate the franchise as science fiction. I maintain that the term ‘science fiction’ is not really very useful when it’s used primarily to describe a setting rather than describe a type of narrative. I’ll be asking about the extent to which any given episode could be easily transplanted to another setting and genre. I’ll also pay attention to the part that knowledge or application of science and technology plays in creating or resolving the crisis that drives the story.
• judge whether the series lives up to the ethical standards for which it’s famous. Does the original source material bear this out, or is this just a myth that has grown up around the show?

Oh yes, and my commentaries will include spoilers. Seriously, you’ve had nearly fifty years now. How much longer do you want?

My voyage begins with the the original series’ unaired pilot episode, ‘The Cage’.