Ship of Dreams

OK, as you can tell from the blog name, I am a Star Trek fan. I have been away from blogging and away from Star Trek for a number of years, but in the last year or so, I have had a bit of a resurgence of interest. It all started with reading and following the rehabilitation to the original Starship Enterprise shooting model undertaken by the Smithsonian. I have always been quite interested in the production side of the show, and less married to its mythology, aside from appreciating much of it. So this initiative to restore the original Enterprise model from the 60s TV show really grabbed me. And the 50th Anniversary made me nostalgic.

I have to say there is something about that ship. It is a ship of dreams. So may people have watched the show and imagined the environment and the possibilities. It has enough realism to seem like something we might actually build. It feels like a cross between a cruise ship, a military vessel and a university campus, full of capable and smart individuals driven by a common purpose in a cooperative and socially supportive atmosphere.

I always find it funny when I hear sci-fi fans talk about their favourite ship because to me, there is no contest. Star Trek is "Pigs in Space!" -- i.e. it is US in space, not others who are like us, US! So aside from the morality lessons that give it some heft (and some eye-rolling simplistic or partly antiquated insights), the whole IDEA of that universe being OUR universe and our future is pretty inspirational. No wonder so many NASA scientists and engineers love the show. So to me, when asked what is my favourite ship, it is always the Big E. (And by that I mean the original or refit Enterprise from TOS and related movies.)

The Millennium Falcon from Star Wars is neat. Its like a big camper or RV, where  you can imaging jetting off on your own adventure. It like Martin Riggs home in Lethal Weapon (or better yet Jim Rockford in The Rockford Files).. Solitary, self-sufficient, everything a gigolo needs. But after the romance of sleeping in your kitchen wears off, I imagine you would start to get lonely, and look for someone with some new conversation at least. Even a Wookie would do. But after a while you it might wear off a bit, especially living the life of a merchant or smuggler....tennis shoes and tobacco every week. (I kid because I love.)

Now in fairness, the TOS is looking a little dated. People can notice all sorts of flaws, some that cut right against its loftier notions of equality and sophistication. But what we are lacking when we make those observations is context. We forget what kind of culture and thinking was mainstream when the show aired, and when it went though such substantial reruns. That when forget what an immersive universe it created, and what an inspiration it could be. I wanted to show TOS to my daughter in her early teems and it is just a bit hard to sell. It has always been my theory that the only way to watch TOS is become a teenager, watch it every weekday at 5 pm, and repeat for about two years, because that's the way the world encountered it in the 70s when the show found its audience. Oh,and be surrounded by shows that are nothing like it. THAT is when you realize what an oasis of ideas and imagination and adventure the show was. An that's why that ship is the ship of dreams for so many.... as Neil deGrasse Tyson summarized so well at a convention appearance captured on youtube.

Now I understand we don't all have the opportunity to time travel to the 70s to watch a TV show. And TNG is really the linchpin to Star Trek surviving and growing so large. It proved the concept had legs and is really the reason the franchise has weathered the years well. And it is mostly watchable. So this is not s sleight to TNG or the subsequent shows, but a recognition of the compelling power of an original creation. (I know that Gene Roddenberry and George Lucas can be shown to have needed others to fill out their vision, they res-used concepts and motifs from here and there, and they can be shown sometimes to have been a drag on their own creation, but nothing can take away their agency to create their respective works and start something special.)

So that's a longhand way of saying the Enterprise model restoration sparked a desire, rekindled my affection, ended up with a family road trip to Washington (because its a great City to visit, though I did go see the model on display). Then I bought the Blu-Ray of TOS and TNG and a couple of books, like The Fifty-Year Mission books by Gross and Altman, and Herb Solow and Bob Justman's book.

And maybe now the result will be to get back to my blogging! So much more to say!

What creative works have inspired you, and when?