‘Star Trek then and now is a blueprint for a better future … I am convinced we need it more than ever’
If you’re a Star Trek fan and somehow mustered the will to suffer through shows/films like “Discovery” and “Section 31,” then you’re familiar with how academy-think and mainstream media narratives have infected the franchise.
Writer Joshua Patton recently complained about Trek’s “toxic fans” — aka conservatives, typically — a relatively new concept used by progressives to tar those who disagree with their “reimaginings” of long-time entertainment properties (in Star Trek’s case it’s colloquially called “NuTrek“).
Like many others regarding Trek, especially on social media, Patton calls out the alleged toxicity by invoking the refrain that the franchise’s shows have always been about “diversity,” “science,” and “expertise” … and that their history “is a warning, not a roadmap.”
“Beyond just representation, Star Trek then and now is a blueprint for a better future,” Patton writes. “As I look at the world today, I am convinced we need it more than ever.” There’s the “threat of global climate change” and the “reckless authoritarianism of the current US government,” he says.
More than ever? Patton is saying this now only because he, like others (especially in academia), just can’t handle the fact that Donald Trump is back in office, and with greater support than before. Despite myriad efforts to eliminate him politically and physically.
That’s a problem for NuTrek. Besides the abysmal writing (especially in “Discovery” and “Section 31”), contemporary creators go out of their way to make connections to current times, and like Patton believe such is needed “more than ever.”
But is today really more dangerous than when the Original Series came out? Then “The Next Generation”? “Enterprise?”
The Original Series, aka “TOS,” debuted during the very height of the Cold War, just after the Cuban Missile Crisis, and ended right before the Vietnam War heated up. “TNG” began during the Cold War, and “Enterprise” debuted almost immediately September 11, 2001.
Unfortunately, Trump Derangement Syndrome is real and makes people believe the man is a threat as serious as nuclear war.
Example 1: Patton doesn’t specifically mention it nor use a photo, but NuTrek “Strange New World’s” debut episode featured Capt. Pike (Capt. Kirk’s immediate predecessor) warning a recent warp-capable civilization not to take Earth’s path. Scenes from the January 6 Capitol “insurrection” were shown as a catalyst to the “Second Civil War,” which ultimately led to World War III. C’mahn.
Example 2: Patton says we need to “celebrate” science and expertise today, because too much skepticism is “unhealthy”: “Today, science denialism is on the rise, from unhealthy skepticism of the miracles that are vaccines to the downright foolish ‘Flat Earth’ conspiracy theorists.”
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Now why in the world would people currently have an “unhealthy skepticism” of vaccines? Can Patton answer “What is a woman”? Why would folks be skeptical of “experts” who believe Trump is a dangerous threat to virtually anything conceivable … but were mum about Joe Biden?
Not to mention, what about those who predicted cities would be underwater today and/or that we’d never again see snow due to global warming? How often are these folks permitted to be so completely wrong in their predictions?
Star Trek itself gave up on a silly climate change tie-in in the last season of “The Next Generation” (1994). In the episode “Force of Nature,” a pair of alien scientists attempts to convince Capt. Picard and the Enterprise that warp travel is damaging the very fabric of the universe. For some episodes thereafter, a maximum speed of warp 5 was established except in emergencies.
But after these few mentions, it’s never brought up again. Not even in the far-future in which the last few seasons of “Discovery” took place where everyone lamented a phenomenon that … hindered warp drive.
Example 3: “Star Trek champions infinite diversity in infinite combinations,” Patton (X account bio pictured) says. What he omits is that while celebrating not only the vast diversity of Earth but that of alien worlds, everyone involved in Starfleet agrees to abide by the same set of rules. And every planet that wants to join the Federation has to do the same.
The concept of a “same set of rules,” however, is completely anathema to modern progressives. Starfleet entrance exams would be deemed “white supremacy” and culturally biased. Starfleet vessels would be required to have a proportionate number of various demographics (race, sex, sexual preference) that match that of Earth and other planets. Etc.
Patton adds that “[e]fforts to vilify immigrants, transgender individuals or others from historically oppressed demographics are the very attitudes Star Trek was created to change.”
Note the word “illegal” is missing before “immigrants,” and there’s no explanation regarding the “vilification” of transgender folks. That’s because there is no vilification.
Most could care less how people live their lives, but the vast majority of folks don’t want biological men competing against biological women in athletic endeavors (which would be a legitimate issue even in the 24th century), nor want medically unnecessary life-altering procedures for minors.
As for other “historically oppressed,” Patton links to one of the best “Deep Space Nine” (and Trek in general) episodes, “Far Beyond the Stars.” In it, Capt. Ben Sisko imagines he’s a science fiction writer in 1950s America, complete with the prejudice and bigotry of the times.
Patton would have us think these prejudices apply to Trump’s America in 2025; a problem, of course, is that candidate Trump received a record number of votes from minority groups in November.
Patton concludes in part:
We need more Star Trek stories like [“Section 31”] because it reminds viewers it’s not the institutions that create a better future, but people fighting to make the right choices and uphold these ideals … Modern threats to liberty, the rule of law and civil rights are being challenged by courageous, heroic people every day.
Many of those who voted for the eventual winner last November view themselves as part of that last sentence … and believe the person for whom they voted is one as well. So?
Selective moralizing isn’t going to work this time, Mr. Patton. We saw what happened during the last four years, and you and your ilk didn’t utter a peep.
If you have it within you, be honest with yourself and ask How could a guy who should have been utterly destroyed manage to not only survive, but come back … and regain the office he had lost?
IMAGES: Joshua Bryant IX, Joshua Patton/X