Real Life in Star Trek, Introduction
Disclaimer: This series involves a discussion of a non-âFree as in Freedomâ popular culture franchise property with references to a part of that franchise behind a paywall. My discussion and conclusions are free, but nothing about the discussion or conclusions implies any attack on the ownership of the properties. All the big names are trademarks of the owners and so forth, and only used to provide context.
A Mission of Discovery
One of the many nuisances in discussing Star Trek: Discovery, ever since it launched, has been the common refrain that the series âisnât Star Trek.â In large part, this assertion (which I personally think is wrong, or rather was less correct until the writers seemingly have changed direction to appease noisy fans) seemed to stem from some combination of old, unsubstantiated Internet fan theories about the Star Trek universe and memories of comments made in Star Trek: The Next Generation, a show taking place around a hundred years later.
All this discussion, however, raised an important question that I donât believe anybody else has ever really tried to answer. What is life in the United Federation of Planets really like, especially if youâre not a member of Starfleet? Specifically, what hard evidence do we have in the shows about the universe outside the confines of the Enterprise and specific missions?
Mission Parameters
The way this is going to work isâŠwell, first, letâs just admit that this is absolutely an excuse for me to re-watch the original Star Trek and make it seem not crazy to take notes.
That said, my goal is to watch the episodes in order (the version on CBS All-Access, unless I can find the un-remastered versions streaming somewhere) and post weekly updates with what we can see about the âreal worldâ in each episode I watch. Where possible, I will include (through the magic of Fair Use brief excerpts from transcripts to verify the assertions. Iâll also summarize what weâve learned in each episode.
If this is still interesting and entertaining at the end of the series (at one episode per week, The Turnabout Intruder should hit the blog on July 8th, 2021, assuming I havenât given up), I may continue on to The Animated Series, the early movies, and possibly the first episodes of The Next Generation to see if/how the world evolves.
The involvement of Gene Roddenberry seems crucial for the line of demarcation, both because Paramountâs team seemed to have a very specific and enforced idea of the future, and also because the franchise no longer has traces of what would have been Star Trek: Phase II and becomes a more distant future.
If OnlyâŠ
Somewhere, I believe I have copies of a bunch of the old James Blish episode adaptations. I donât intend to dig them out, but it could be interesting to check to see what additional information slipped into them.
Maybe later in the project, if itâs still interesting. Or maybe Iâll stumble across them while cleaning and be unable to resist. Or maybe theyâre available as e-books, somewhere. I guess one never knowsâŠ
Ignored Sources
Iâm going to try to avoid speculationâmine or anybody elseâsâparticularly the presumption of what the Federation âmustâ be like in a world with effectively unlimited energy. If itâs not on the screen, either actions or behavior, we donât have any evidence of it. And if we do have evidence, that overrides any assumption or speculation, no matter how logical the theory might sound.
That carries over to sources like manuals, creator interviews, or parallel developments in other shows. In other words, secondary sources donât count. The authorial intent or other âWord of Godâ doesnât count, either. Only the results count.
I will, however, speculate when a pattern emerges. As a hypothetical example I donât imagine will be likely, if we were to see multiple isolated traits of fascist societies, such as civilians looking for a heroic death or demonizing an out-group, I would feel confident in suggesting a fascist strain to Federation society.
Lastly, Iâm going to try to distinguish fact from what is technically propaganda. In the real world, every culture has its myths about its reasons for being and status, but the reality rarely lives up to those myths. Those are important as aspirations, but donât reflect history or policy. In other words, just because someone (ahem) says that nobody cares about money anymore, that doesnât mean itâs actually true, if thereâs evidence of characters using money.
The Pace
In most cases, I expect each weekly post to take on one episode of the series. While I would like to move faster than spending years on this project (one episode per week, seventy-nine original episodes, twenty-two animated episodes, six original-cast movies, and maybe twenty-six episodes of the first season of The Next Generation, if I last that long, comes to more than two and a half years of material, giving a projected end date of July 21st, 2022), many episodes have enough material that multiple episodes per post could easily become overwhelming.
Like this post, theyâll be released on Thursday evenings, a reference to Star Trekâs original broadcast night in 1966.
Final Warning
This series is going to be almost entirely text with episode transcripts lightly excerpted. Because of licensing issues (and the work involved, too), the posts wonât feature any multi-media bits relevant to the episode. Iâll make an exception if some element happens to be in the public domain, though, like for literary references or paintings.
Fair? Then be back in one weekâs time for Part One, likely The Man Trap. If readers want to treat this like a âbook clubâ and prepare ahead of time, I will not complain in the slightest.
The Posts So Far
If youâre coming to this post from outsideâfor example, the recommendation pop-out on the index pageâyou might want an easy index of the posts so far. This list will automatically update with each post, linking you right to them.
- Real Life in Star Trek, Introduction
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Man Trap
- Real Life in Star Trek, Charlie X
- Real Life in Star Trek, Where No Man Has Gone Before
- Real Life in Star Trek, Blish Supplement
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Naked Time
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Enemy Within
- Real Life in Star Trek, Mudd's Women
- Real Life in Star Trek, What Are Little Girls Made Of?
- Real Life in Star Trek, Miri
- Real Life in Star Trek, Dagger of the Mind
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Corbomite Maneuver
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Menagerie, Part I
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Menagerie, Part II
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Conscience Of The King
- Real Life in Star Trek, Balance of Terror
- Real Life in Star Trek, Shore Leave
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Galileo Seven
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Squire of Gothos
- Real Life in Star Trek, Arena
- Real Life in Star Trek, Tomorrow Is Yesterday
- Real Life in Star Trek, Court Martial
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Return of the Archons
- Real Life in Star Trek, Space Seed
- Real Life in Star Trek, A Taste of Armageddon
- Real Life in Star Trek, This Side of Paradise
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Devil in the Dark
- Real Life in Star Trek, Errand of Mercy
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Alternative Factor
- Real Life in Star Trek, The City on the Edge of Forever
- Real Life in Star Trek, OperationâAnnihilate!
- Real Life in Star Trek, Season 1 Summary
- Real Life in Star Trek, Amok Time
- Real Life in Star Trek, Who Mourns for Adonais?
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Changeling
- Real Life in Star Trek, Mirror, Mirror
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Apple
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Doomsday Machine
- Real Life in Star Trek, Catspaw
- Real Life in Star Trek, I, Mudd
- Real Life in Star Trek, Metamorphosis
- Real Life in Star Trek, Journey to Babel
- Real Life in Star Trek, Friday's Child
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Deadly Years
- Real Life in Star Trek, Obsession
- Real Life in Star Trek, Wolf in the Fold
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Trouble with Tribbles
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Gamesters of Triskelion
- Real Life in Star Trek, A Piece of the Action
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Immunity Syndrome
- Real Life in Star Trek, A Private Little War
- Real Life in Star Trek, Return to Tomorrow
- Real Life in Star Trek, Patterns of Force
- Real Life in Star Trek, By Any Other Name
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Omega Glory
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Ultimate Computer
- Real Life in Star Trek, Bread and Circuses
- Real Life in Star Trek, Assignmentâ¶ Earth
- Real Life in Star Trek, Season 2 Summary
- Real Life in Star Trek, Spock's Brain
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Enterprise Incident
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Paradise Syndrome
- Real Life in Star Trek, And the Children Shall Lead
- Real Life in Star Trek, Is There in Truth No Beauty?
- Real Life in Star Trek, Spectre of the Gun
- Real Life in Star Trek, Day of the Dove
- Real Life in Star Trek, For the World Is Hollow (etc.)
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Tholian Web
- Real Life in Star Trek, Plato's Stepchildren
- Real Life in Star Trek, Wink of an Eye
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Empath
- Real Life in Star Trek, Elaan of Troyius
- Real Life in Star Trek, Whom Gods Destroy
- Real Life in Star Trek, Let That Be Your Last Battlefield
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Mark of Gideon
- Real Life in Star Trek, That Which Survives
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Lights of Zetar
- Real Life in Star Trek, Requiem for Methuselah
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Way to Eden
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Cloud Minders
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Savage Curtain
- Real Life in Star Trek, All Our Yesterdays
- Real Life in Star Trek, Turnabout Intruder
- Real Life in Star Trek, Mudd's Angels
- Real Life in Star Trek, Season 3 Summary
- Real Life in Star Trek, Beyond the Farthest Star
- Real Life in Star Trek, Yesteryear
- Real Life in Star Trek, One of Our Planets Is Missing
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Lorelei Signal
- Real Life in Star Trek, More Tribbles, More Troubles
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Survivor
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Infinite Vulcan
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Magicks of Megas-Tu
- Real Life in Star Trek, Once Upon a Planet
- Real Life in Star Trek, Mudd's Passion
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Terratin Incident
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Time Trap
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Ambergris Element
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Slaver Weapon, part 1
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Slaver Weapon, part 2
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Slaver Weapon, part 3
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Eye of the Beholder
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Eye of the Beholder, part 2
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Jihad
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Pirates of Orion
- Real Life in Star Trek, Bem part 1
- Real Life in Star Trek, Bem part 2
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Practical Joker
- Real Life in Star Trek, Albatross
- Real Life in Star Trek, How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Counter-Clock Incident, pt 1
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Counter-Clock Incident, pt 2
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Counter-Clock Incident, pt 3
- Real Life in Star Trek, Animated Series Summary
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Motion Picture, pt 1
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Motion Picture, pt 2
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Wrath of Khan
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Search for Spock
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Voyage Home
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Final Frontier
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Undiscovered Country
- Real Life in Star Trek, Generations
- Real Life in Star Trek, Movies Summary
- Real Life in Star Trek, Final Summary
- Real Life in Star Trek, Encounter at Farpoint, part 1
- Real Life in Star Trek, Encounter at Farpoint, part 2
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Naked Now
- Real Life in Star Trek, Code Of Honor
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Last Outpost
- Real Life in Star Trek, Where No One Has Gone Before
- Real Life in Star Trek, Lonely Among Us
- Real Life in Star Trek, Justice
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Battle
- Real Life in Star Trek, Hide and Q
- Real Life in Star Trek, Haven
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Big Goodbye
- Real Life in Star Trek, Datalore
- Real Life in Star Trek, Angel One
- Real Life in Star Trek, 11001001
- Real Life in Star Trek, Too Short A Season
- Real Life in Star Trek, When The Bough Breaks
- Real Life in Star Trek, Home Soil
- Real Life in Star Trek, Coming Of Age
- Real Life in Star Trek, Heart of Glory
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Arsenal Of Freedom
- Real Life in Star Trek, Symbiosis
- Real Life in Star Trek, Skin of Evil
- Real Life in Star Trek, We'll Always Have Paris
- Real Life in Star Trek, Conspiracy
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Neutral Zone
- Real Life in Star Trek, Season 1, TNG
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Child
- Real Life in Star Trek, Where Silence Has Lease
- Real Life in Star Trek, Elementary, Dear Data
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Outrageous Okona
- Real Life in Star Trek, Loud As A Whisper
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Schizoid Man
- Real Life in Star Trek, Unnatural Selection
- Real Life in Star Trek, A Matter of Honor
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Measure of a Man
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Dauphin
- Real Life in Star Trek, Contagion
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Royale
- Real Life in Star Trek, Time Squared
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Icarus Factor
- Real Life in Star Trek, Pen Pals
- Real Life in Star Trek, Q Who?
- Real Life in Star Trek, Samaritan Snare
- Real Life in Star Trek, Up The Long Ladder
- Real Life in Star Trek, Manhunt
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Emissary
- Real Life in Star Trek, Peak Performance
- Real Life in Star Trek, Shades of Gray
- Real Life in Star Trek, Season 2, TNG
- Real Life in Star Trek, Evolution
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Ensigns of Command
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Survivors
- Real Life in Star Trek, Who Watches the Watchers
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Bonding
- Real Life in Star Trek, Booby Trap
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Enemy
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Price
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Vengeance Factor
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Defector
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Hunted
- Real Life in Star Trek, The High Ground
- Real Life in Star Trek, Déjà Q
- Real Life in Star Trek, A Matter of Perspective
- Real Life in Star Trek, Yesterday's Enterprise
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Offspring
- Real Life in Star Trek, Sins of the Father
- Real Life in Star Trek, Allegiance
- Real Life in Star Trek, Captain's Holiday
- Real Life in Star Trek, Tin Man
- Real Life in Star Trek, Hollow Pursuits
- Real Life in Star Trek, The Most Toys
Enjoy!
Credits: The header image is Two very different glowing gas clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud by the European Southern Observatory, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Tags: scifi startrek closereading