The Importance of Star Trek and Leonard Nimoy

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Brian McIver, GoLocalPDX Contributor

With the recent passing of Leonard Nimoy the focus of the world turns back to one of the preeminent sci-fi franchises, Star Trek. Star Trek defined and shaped multiple generations. It created an entire sub-culture of conventions that have now become main stream. In fact much of what was sub-culture about Star Trek is now become pop culture. We’ll look at these impacts and changes, but first a revisit to Mr. Nimoy.

We mentioned him here on GoLocalPDX on the day of his death, and it bears repeating the impact this man had on a huge swath of, not just American culture, but world wide culture. He was fun and enjoyable to watch and embraced his popularity like few do. His character, Spock, was a beacon of science and logic that put many a great mind down roads of similar thinking. He brought the world together with a hand gesture and a phrase “Live long and prosper.” As popular as some of the other characters were, there is little denying that along with DeForest Kelly and William Shatner, they made a little three season space adventure show into one of the biggest cultural phenomena ever.

The show was an idealist’s dream in a time when space travel was the peak of public and governmental ambition. Gene Roddenberry, like many of his time, saw Sputnik, the Apollo flights, and the entire space race as inspiration. He saw a future for our world that embraced exploration and learning. It broke barriers in ways no other TV shows even considered.

“…To seek out new life and civilizations.” The opening lines to this day inspire and motivate. They spark that primal desire to look for the new and unexplored. Star Trek’s vision of the future was one of equality and tolerance. It imagined a golden age of humanity where the entire planet worked to better itself.

The space race may have inspired Mr. Roddenberry, but his show, and the people on it, inspired countless generations well after the space race became old news. Countless NASA engineers and astronauts have been inspired by Star Trek, and currently one of the biggest names in science and astrophysics, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, is a self proclaimed Trekkie/Trekker. Stephen Hawking appeared in an episode of The Next Generation. Many of the current theories about space travel revolve around the idea of a warp field generating engine much like the Enterprise. io9

Of course scientists aren’t the only ones influenced by Star Trek. Some guy named George Lucas who made a small, independent sci-fi film back in the ‘70s said “‘Star Trek’ softened up the entertainment arena so that ‘Star Wars’ could come along and stand on its shoulders.” Carl Sagan’s son, Nick Sagan has written several Trek episodes and is a prolific science fiction writer. King Abdullah II of Jordan appeared in an episode of Voyager. The list politicians, leaders, entertainers, and everyday Joes touched by Star Trek is enumerable.

After The Original Series left the air in 1969, the original crew had six movies from ’79 to ’94. During that time Star Trek: The Next Generation began and ushered in an uninterrupted stream of Trek until 2005 when Star Trek: Enterprise left largely because the franchise got a little tired. It’s hard to ignore a series that has had that kind of longevity. It would be four years before we’d see Star Trek again in the form of J.J. Abrams rebooted film. The quality and Trekkieness of his two movies is hotly debated among Trek fans, but the return of such a beloved franchise is certainly going to garner discussion.

And where do nerds go to debate nerdy things? Conventions! Today “Cons” as they are commonly referred to, are a huge business. The biggest, and one of the first, is the San Diego Comic Book Convention. Star Trek conventions were some of the first to really step up the costume and attendance game. By 1994 there were over 130 conventions with 400,000+ attendees.

Though Trek conventions today aren’t the media attractors they once were, there are still no shortage of cons and events to attend around the world. The San Diego Comic Con remains as a huge showcase for Trekkers regardless of it’s focus.

While Star Trek isn’t quite the phenomenon it once was, it still pulls some $4 billion for Paramount, and has world wide influence. The two newest Trek movies pulled in nearly $400 million and $680 million respectively. So needless to say Star Trek isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Though many fans would like to see a new television series, we are confident that the voyage will continue and that Star Trek will remain a source of inspiration for many years to come. And we will mourn the loss of those that made this spectacular show, but we will never forget them because they gave us so much.

So go out and watch some Trek and consider the impact it has had on your life. When you pick up your cell phone and say “Hey Siri,” or watch the next test flight of the Space X rocket think of those movies and episodes that made an impression on you, and how they can continue to make you and your life better.