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Sunday, May 12, 2013
Timeless Spiritual Insights from Classic "Star Trek"
Go to Why Are We Still Acting As If We're the Center of the Universe? Go to Thematic Storytelling and Thematic Yoga Classes
Go to On Twists, Turns and the Sustainability of Culture Go to Willpower and Desire Go to My Tantric Bhagavad Gita
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It's been brought to my attention that the first sentence in this post is misleading, so here's a clarification, with deep thanks to D.C. (Dorothy) Fontana:
ReplyDeleteClassic "Star Trek" was produced for three seasons on NBC, and aired from September 1966 through June 1969 (79 episodes in total).
Correct .....what was the first episode that aired?
ReplyDeleteI believe it was "The Man Trap," aka the Salt Vampire episode, written by George Clayton Johnson, though at least four episodes (including two pilots) were filmed before that one. Live long and prosper, Don!
DeleteYes ...."The Man Trap", the salt creature. My most vivid memory of that episode was the sound and sight of the phaser blasts ..... and of course the creature itself (last of it's kind) ........ my favorite episode is "The Alternative Factor" with Robert Brown (Lazarus/Lazarus) .....as Kirk states at the end of the episode, "and what of Lazarus, what of Lazarus." ..........CLASSIC .....
ReplyDeleteThere was a documentary, many years ago, where someone explained that Star Trek incorporated lots of contemporary (and potentially controversial) subjects and topics, but it was all OK because it was in "space" with different "names" and "symbolism".
ReplyDeleteThat's true. The writers knew exactly what they were doing. They'd say, "Oh no, this story can't be about the Vietnam War/racism/sexism/corporatism etc. because the 'people' are from Andoria and have blue skin and antennae." Ironically, the first pilot, "The Cage" was about addiction to denying reality through fantasy (i.e., television). The network liked Trek's science fictional world, but found the story and the ship's Captain (Christopher Pike, played by Jeff Hunter) too "intellectual," so they did something very unusual and ordered a second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before." That one had a lot more action (and athletic William Shatner as Jim Kirk), and was about absolute power corrupting absolutely, which executives at the third-place network (NBC) -- at a time when there were only three networks -- likely found pretty emotionally validating, even if they weren't fully conscious of it. It's all yoga!
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