Background
Image from Google
|
I have been a Star Trek fan since the sixties. The basic cast had the male Caucasian captain, male alien first/science officer, black female communications officer, male Scottish engineer, male Asian navigator, argumentative male medical officer, and male Russian helmsman.
That show eventually became known as "The Original Series" or TOS.
"The Next Generation" or TNG, replaced the young American captain with an older British man, playing a Frenchman. The first mate took on the young male American role, the science officer was now an alien, security officer a woman, the medical officer was female with a teenage genius son, the navigator was an android, and the engineer an Irishman.
The thrust during the series was that women are as powerful as men, aliens can be trusted friends, programs can become beings too, and worm holes can be both temporal and permanent.
The next incarnation of the series, "Deep Space 9", changed the setting from the Starship Enterprise to an intergalactic meeting place for political envoys. The captain, a black man, and the male medical officer were the only humans. The first officer and security officer were both female aliens, and a business operator was an alien too.
"Voyager" gave us a woman captain, Indigenous American male first officer, biracial male science officer (African American / Vulcan), biracial female security officer (Earthling/ Klingon), alien science officer and alien nurse, and a sentient hologram ship's doctor. The ship had gone through a worm hole and is stranded on the other side of the galaxy.
"Enterprise" checked out the pre-TOS Federation of Planets. The crew were all human with the exception of a female Vulcan first officer.
"Discovery" is also prior to the TOS timeframe and leads from there to another dimension and then to the far-flung future. The captain is a black female raised by Vulcans.
Currently, "Strange New Worlds" is based on a timeframe shown in one episode of TOS that has lasted in the minds of Trekkies for sixty years. The Caucasian captain has died in another timeline and knows that he has seven years to live. Many aspects of TOS are revisited, and some characters from the timeframe are re-emerging.
One has to be a real fan of the Star Trek theme, I think, to buy into the progression of these storylines.
Live long and prosper!
