Alan Kistler's Star Trek Guide
Sunday, July 26, 2009 at 02:35AM This Guide is still under construction and being updated. Scroll down to the bottom for specific articles and essays concerning Star Trek.
"They used to say if man could fly, he'd have wings. But he did fly. He discovered he had to ...
"Doctor McCoy is right in pointing out the enormous danger potential in any contact with life and intelligence as fantastically advanced as this. But I must point out that the possibilities ... the potential for knowledge and advancement ... is equally great.
"Risk ... Risk is our business. That's what this starship is all about! That's why we're aboard her!"
- Captain James T. Kirk,
Star Trek: The Original Series, from the episode "Return to Tomorrow"
STAR TREK IN A NUTSHELL
It began in the 21st century, after mankind had nearly destroyed itself in a nuclear world war, leaving society in shambles. A team of scientists led by a man named Zefram Cochrane began work on an experimental "warp drive", an engine that would allow a space-ship to warp gravity around itself so that it could move beyond the speed of light without its occupants suffering from time dilation. On April 6, 2060, Cochrane tested his experimental warp drive when he flew a ship called the Phoenix at faster than light speed. The ship's warp-trail attracted the attention of an alien craft and Earth soon made first contact with an outside race.
With the knowledge that they were not alone in the universe, the human race set aside its differences, understanding that they were all part of a larger community and needed to stick together in a universe they now realized they knew very little about. Resources once spent on war and conflict were now focused on scientific and medical advancement. Less than a century after Cochrane's historic first warp flight, no one on Earth was poor or starving and the danger of many diseases had been wiped out. People no longer worked for money but for the betterment of themselves and the community.
Eventually, Starfleet was created as the United Earth's primary exploration service. In the year 2151, Starfleet began launching deep-space exploration vessels that were tasked to "seek out new life and new civilizations" in the immediate area, known as the "Alpha Quadrant" (for mapping purposes, the galaxy was divided into Alpha, Beta, Gamma and Delta quadrants, each of which was further divided into smaller "sectors").
These missions, some of which involved acting as mediators between other races in conflict with each other, helped establish Starfleet as an interstellar power. Eventually, Earth, Vulcan and several other planets came together under the United Federation of Planets. Starfleet expanded and became the primary military/exploration service of the Federation, its Academy now open to non-Earth races as well.
The various TV series and movies that fall under the umbrella of Star Trek are based on this premise, featuring the adventures of Starfleet officers as they protect the Federation worlds and explore the unknown.
A BRIEF LOOK BEHIND THE SCENES
Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek and pitched it originally as a western in outer space, inspired by the space race of the 1960s and by an optimistic vision of humanity's future, when money would no longer exist and resources once spent on war and weapons were now spent on the betterment of man and the exploration of space. The series would provide heroic adventures while also serving as commentary on racial, social and political issues.
The first pilot "The Cage" was filmed in 1964 and featured a crew of space explorers in the 23rd century who served aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701, led by Captain Christopher Pike (played by Jeremy Hunter). Among Pike's crew was a devil-eared alien science officer who was simply called Spock (played by Leonard Nimoy). This pilot episode was rejected by the network for not having enough action or characters audiences could relate to.
Rather than turn the idea down completely, the network offered Roddenberry the chance to do a second pilot. Filmed in 1965, this new pilot was called "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Although the character of Spock remained (now promoted to the rank of First Officer), the rest of the crew was entirely different. Since actor Jeremy Hunter did not return for the second pilot, Captain Pike was replaced by the more emotional and confident James T. Kirk (played by William Shatner), who Roddenberry said was directly inspired by Horatio Hornblower.
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" was well received and spawned the original Star Trek series that lasted for three seasons from 1966-1969, depicting a five-year mission "to seek out new life and new civilizations." It was later established that this five-year tour of duty occurred between the years 2265-2270.
The original Star Trek series was followed by an animated series and six feature films, all of which continued the adventures of Kirk and his crew. In 1987, the new series Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered. Beginning in the year 2364, it depicted the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew aboard the Enterprise NCC-1701-D, roughly a century after Kirk's original mission.
Before its cancellation seven years later, TNG inspired the spin-off series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in 1993. Yet another spin-off series, Star Trek: Voyager, began airing in 1995 and lasted until 2001. In 2001, Enterprise (later retitled Star Trek: Enterprise) premiered as a prequel series, taking place roughly a century before Kirk's adventures. The show was cancelled in 2005, despite fan protests and since then there has been no regular Star Trek series on television.
After TNG was cancelled, the adventures of Picard and his crew were continued in four films, the last being Star Trek: Nemesis, which was released in theatres in 2002 and took place in the year 2379.
The 2009 film, directed by J.J. Abrams and simply called Star Trek, rebooted the franchise practically from scratch by creating an alternate universe where a young Kirk and young Spock were first meeting and taking command of the original Federation ship Enterprise NC-1701. This alternate universe is different in several ways from the original timeline and Paramount intends to continue exploring it in future films.
Along with all these TV shows and films, Star Trek stories have appeared in various comic book series and tie-in novels. These tie-in novels continue to expand on the original timeline and its characters.
My Star Trek Articles include:
Guide to the Different Star Trek TV Shows
Top 5 Reasons Why We Love Kirk
Top 5 Original Series Episode Recommendations
Star Trek Film Annotations - Detailed annotations on the references the 2009 film makes to previously established continuity.
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