Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
On Thursday, September 8, 1966, NBC aired the first regular episode of Star Trek, “The Man Trap,” aired in what the network dubbed a “sneak preview” block. The New York Times and Variety razzed the episode, which was picked because execs thought audiences would like its horror movie vibes. A shape-shifting alien poses as McCoy’s lost love (and as other women) to lure men to their doom. Fifty years later, Star Trek is one of the most ground-breaking and beloved franchises in film and TV. It’s seen as a beacon of hope and a banner for the power of progressive storytelling. So why is it such a big deal and why are we still not done exploring its earliest adventures?
Cultural cache aside, Star Trek pushed the boundaries of science fiction. The series wove space opera, Horatio Hornblower novels, and the creepy social satire of The Twilight Zone into what seemed to be a bold new universe for storytelling. This was sci-fi for the rabble and the philosopher. It was an adventure series that explored our own humanity. It would inspire generations of dreamers and sci-fi enthusiasts. More importantly, it presented a future without cultural discrimination where people all races, genders, and creeds could work together in harmony. Well, sort of.
The very first episode of Star Trek is actually not “The Man Trap.” The first episode was a shelved pilot called “The Cage.” This test episode is now included in most DVD collections — and it kicks off the original series on Netflix — and stars Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter) and his trusty officers Mr. Spock (Leonard Nemoy) and Number One (Majel Barrett). Pike was replaced by Kirk in the rewrites and Number One was kicked off the ship because…well, there’s some controversy there. The consensus has always been that NBC execs didn’t want to see a woman as second in command of the ship, but urban legend also says that the company chafed at the fact that Barrett was creator Gene Roddenberry’s real-life lover. It seemed like favoritism. Nevertheless, Barrett joined the eventual cast as Nurse Christine Chapel (who mooned over Spock) and lent her voice to the ship’s computer in later iterations. She also played Deanna Troi’s free-spirited mother on Star Trek: The Next Generation. All this — plus the fact that women never had positions of major rank on the original series, they were yeoman, lieutenants, and love interests — suggests Barrett’s gender, and not her offscreen romance, was the problem.
And this is a problem for Star Trek‘s legacy. The show has often struggled living up to its own lofty ambitions in regards to inclusion, especially in regards to representing women and members of the LGBTQ community. Just this year, Star Trek Beyond stirred up controversy for giving Sulu a husband. The closest they’ve come to presenting a gay character in the main cast of any series was Dax, who was an ancient alien who lived in various humanoid “hosts” throughout the ages. This provided the opportunity for age- and gender-bending romantic subplots. So it seemed to be the case that Star Trek‘s track record on gay representation is iffy, if not non-existent.
Over the years, female characters have been granted more power and agency within Starfleet, and yet there are still struggles. Kate Mulgrew played the first female captain on Star Trek Voyager, but that series later introduced Seven Of Nine to spice things up. She was a former Borg whose look was that of a stern blonde bombshell. The character was fascinating, but the newfound emphasis on her skintight catsuits. When the last film in the Abrams reboot of the saga debuted, it got a rightful side-eye from critics for presenting a nonsensical scene of Carol Marcus in her underwear.
It was recently announced that Bryan Fuller’s upcoming series for CBS All Access, Star Trek: Discovery, would feature a female lieutenant commander, named “Number One,” as its protagonist. The show will take place two years after the events of “The Cage” and it’s still unknown if it’s intended to be the same character. It’s more likely a heroine inspired by Barrett’s original cool, calm, and collected Starfleet officer, but it’s still a welcome nod to the show’s original vision. It’s also a way to finally honor Roddenberry’s original vision for the future — one where everyone is equal, and we mean everyone.
