Good news: I am not alone at university in my love for science fiction! Indeed, my school has a science fiction club! I'm off to the meeting! Farewell to my lonely nights of blogging, reading old comics, and lurking on various forums!

Bad news: They're watching Star Trek.


Star Trek: the franchise that is, for some reason, hated and mocked by many a Star Wars fan. For a time, I simply went along with it. Of course, there had to be some fallacious reasoning on my part in there, as I was probably submitting to some sort of mob mentality present in the Star Wars fandom. Never mind that I had never actually bothered to watch anything Star Trek in my entire life. There was just something about Trekkies that I didn't like. Perhaps it was me blindly following the crowd on this matter. Perhaps it was a conclusion I reached myself after being exposed to numerous stereotypes. Or perhaps it was those jerks right behind me in the line at a convention who were convinced that standing an inch away from me and constantly bumping me when they talked with their hands while complaining about the wait (as if their situation was unique!) would get them inside to buy the exclusive Captain Kirk action figure faster. That was the problem with that particular convention. Some guys named William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy showed up, drawing in hoards of Trekkies. Apparently they were a big deal or something.

And then there is the constant frustration that comes with being mistaken for a Trekkie because I happen to like Star Wars. (copied shamelessly from my comment at anakinside1's blog.

Clueless individual: What's your favourite movie?
Me: Star Wars.
Clueless individual: Oh, so you're a Trekkie, right?
Me: No, Trekkies are Star Trek fans...
Clueless individual: Same difference.
Me: Actually...
Clueless individual: Live long and prosper! Did I do that right?
Me: *sigh*

Needless to say, I had some misgivings about watching the antithesis of all that I stood for, among the heathens, to boot! Would watching Star Trek undermine my until-then unconditional love for the Star Wars saga? Would hanging out with Trekkies be considered consorting with the enemy, resulting in my shunning and forced removal from the Star Wars fandom and the official site? Would I be assimilated by said Trekkies like the Borg to, well, whomever they assimilate, and walk out of the room discussing the technical specifications of the Enterprise in Klingon? Or, horrors of horrors, would I actually enjoy the show out of my own free will? Blasphemy, indeed!

So, after much deliberation, I decided to attend a night of Trekkies, popcorn, and confusion on my part. After all, friends are good to have, even if they conduct marriage ceremonies in a fictional alien language. And besides, Ronald D. Moore, the producer of the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica (a show I absolutely love), used to work on Star Trek. Yes, I was stretching to justify my viewing of these shows, but really, how bad could it be?

Not bad at all, according to my verdict.

I made a set of observations consisting of broad generalizations from watching five episodes. I don't profess to be an expert on the subject by any stretch of the imagination. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if many of the points I make here are misinformed, over-generalizations, or flat-out wrong.

The episode we saw from the original series (Mirror, Mirror) was delightfully cheesy and surprisingly entertaining. I believe I would watch more episodes from the original series, solely for that reason. Sure, I didn't understand why everyone started laughing when McCoy said "I'm a doctor, not an engineer!" Nevertheless, it was fun to watch.

The biggest problem is the excessive amount of technobabble on the show. It seemed to be progressively more abundant as the episodes became more recent. Perhaps this is the reason why Star Trek is generally perceived as more "geeky" compared to Star Wars. I view technobabble as a necessary evil that is used to develop a futuristic science fiction setting. However, it should not be both the cause for and the solution to every problem that our heroes encounter.

Every episode of a show should not be reducible to:
Character #1: Oh no! The technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble!
Character #2: We're doomed!
Character #3: Well, what if we technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble?
Character #2: But surely that's impossible!
Character #3: * Does technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble technobabble anyway. *
Character #2: We're saved!

Now, I'm certain that not every episode follows this formula, but Star Trek seemed to use it extensively as a plot device. In addition to making the show redundant, this diminishes much of the human element of storytelling. Human failures, in my opinion, are far more compelling than technological or mechanical failures. One could make the case that Star Wars also relies on a spiritual element (the force for special abilities and the will of the force as a determinant) and a technological element (a precise hit on the exhaust post leading to the main reactor to destroy the entire battlestation). However, these are not the main elements of the story that drive the plot. Star Wars is first a story of tragedy as a man loses everything through his personal faults and his choices, and later a mythological journey by his son to redeem him. It could have taken place with or without superweapons, lightsabers, or reconfiguring the dish array, for that matter.

Following that, conflict between crew members didn't seem to exist. Sure, Kirk didn't exactly see eye to eye with the evil bearded Spock from an alternate reality that he encountered in Mirror, Mirror, but that doesn't really count. I find this less believable than some of the bizarre time warps that take place in Star Trek. Seriously, are viewers really expected to believe that an entire crew can stay cooped up on a ship for five years and not have any conflicts beyond "I'm a doctor, not a mechanic!"? Han and Leia are constantly going at each other during A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back. The folks living on Serenity aren't always one big happy family either. And the Battlestar Galactica is a giant flying powder keg of animosity, hostility, and dysfunctional relationships among humans ranging from normal to psychologically frakked.

It is extremely surprising that crew members on Star Trek never want to tear each other apart once and a while. Sure, they aren't cardboard cut-outs with no personality, but they always seem to get along. One glaring exception to this was Deep Space Nine (the episode I watched was Valiant, which was written by none other than Ronald D. Moore), where two characters (Jake Sisko and Ensign Nog) are brought aboard a ship crewed by the talented group of Starfleet cadets. While Jake recognizes the overconfidence of the crew, Nog idealizes them, awestruck by their abilities and by blinded by his excitement to be working with them. Arguments ensue, and Jake gets in trouble for his apparent pessimism. But for the most part (of the other four episodes I watched, anyway), the characters of Star Trek were altruistic, and the conflict lay in their reacting in a rational manner to whatever technology or their encounters with the unknown dealt them.

However, it wasn't all bad. As much as I prefer human conflict, the idea of venturing into the unknown is a good one. There is something about the opening narration that makes an excited grin appear on my face as I hear: "Space, the final frontier." Space exploration has fascinated me since I was young. In many ways, Star Trek appeals to all of our childhood dreams of climbing aboard a spaceship and venturing out to explore the infinite reaches of outer space. And it does so with youthful idealism, free from politics, corruption, and bickering. The characters are projections of some sort of human ideal; while they aren't perfect, they meet each challenge with courage and righteousness, never compromising their morals. Battlestar Galactica constantly poses the question, "is humanity worth saving?" In Star Trek, the answer is known all along as a definitive "yes." Star Trek offers a hopeful vision of a better future. This future is brought about not by advanced technology, but by those who had the resolve to make things better.

I do believe I've performed a reverse Ron Moore here, by constantly bringing up Battlestar Galactica while talking about Star Trek (Moore constantly talks about Star Trek in his Battlestar Galactica podcast commentaries). But they are both pertinent to the subject of science fiction television. I won't get going on the subject too much, since this is blog is already a decent length, but I will conclude by saying that I hope the Star Wars television show draws upon elements from both. There is much less exploration of the unknown in Star Wars, since the galaxy has been, for the most part, mapped out millennia ago. However, as an expanded universe fan, I have always been excited to see new worlds and species. The Dark Nest Trilogy was fascinating to me because the characters came face to face with fear itself by exploring the unknown. As for elements from Battlestar Galactica, I would love for the Star Wars television show to be dark, character-driven, and have story arcs longer than one episode (not to mention minimal technobabble!).

So there you have it, folks! It is possible to watch Star Trek and emerge with your love for Star Wars (not to mention your sanity) intact! As they say, don't knock it 'till you've tried it!

The completely unnecessary postscript: Wow, I leave for the weekend and suddenly this blog is topping the charts (yes, a first for me) and my inbox is bursting with comments. If you still feel the need to get your word in on the subject, follow the link below to my livejournal and leave a comment. You can leave anonymous comments if you are not a livejournal user.

Link.

Thanks for the witty comments, the enlightenment on the finer points of Star Trek, and the insight into a franchise that used to baffle me (largely because I had never bothered to watch it). But seriously, I'm out of it for a while, and...ah, you know the rest.

Live long and prosper!