AND SO, IN EVERY SCENE OF OUR STAR TREK STORY......translate it into a real life situation. Or, sometimes as useful, try it in your mind as a scene in GUNSMOKE, NAKED CITY, or some similar show. Would you believe the people and the scene if it happened there?IF YOU'RE ONE OF THOSE WHO ANSWERS: "THE CHARACTER ACTS THAT WAY BECAUSE IT'S SCIENCE FICTION", DON'T CALL US, WE'LL CALL YOU.
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| Photo by E.C Darling-Bond |
Star Trek Kirk vs. Gorn Tin Sign
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Right out of "Arena," an episode in the first season of the original Star Trek TV series, this Star Trek Kirk vs. Gorn Tin Sign advertises the upcoming battle between Kirk and the Gorn starship's captain. Who will reign supreme? Measures approximately 11 1/2-inches tall x 8-inches wide.
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On Nov. 22, 1968, an episode of “Star Trek” titled “Plato’s Stepchildren” broadcast the first interracial kiss on American television.
The episode’s plot is bizarre: Aliens who worship the Greek philosopher Plato use telekinetic powers to force the Enterprise crew to sing, dance and kiss. At one point, the aliens compel Lieutenant Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Captain Kirk (William Shatner) to embrace. Each character tries to resist, but eventually Kirk tilts Uhura back and the two kiss as the aliens lasciviously look on.
The smooch is not a romantic one. But in 1968 to show a black woman kissing a white man was a daring move.
The episode aired just one year after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loving v. Virginia decision struck down state laws against interracial marriage. At the time, Gallup polls showed that fewer than 20 percent of Americans approved of such relationships.
As a historian of civil rights and media, I’ve been fascinated by the woman at the center of this landmark television moment. Casting Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura created possibilities for more creative and socially relevant “Star Trek” storylines.
But just as significant is Nichols’s off-screen activism. She leveraged her role on “Star Trek” to become a recruiter for NASA, where she pushed for change in the space program. Her career arc shows how diverse casting on the screen can have a profound impact in the real world, too.
In 1966, “Star Trek” creator Gene Rodenberry decided to cast Nichelle Nichols to play Lieutenant Uhura, a translator and communications officer from the United States of Africa. In doing so, he made Nichols the first African-American woman to have a continuing co-starring role on television.
The African-American press was quick to heap praise on Nichols’s pioneering role.
The Norfolk Journal and Guide hoped that it would “broaden her race’s foothold on the tube.”
The magazine Ebony featured Nichols on its January 1967 cover and described Uhura as “the first Negro astronaut, a triumph of modern-day TV over modern-day NASA.”
Yet the famous kiss between Uhura and Kirk almost never happened.
After the first season of “Star Trek” concluded in 1967, Nichols considered quitting after being offered a role on Broadway. She had started her career as a singer in New York and always dreamed of returning to the Big Apple.
But at a NAACP fundraiser in Los Angeles, she ran into Martin Luther King Jr.
Nichols would later recount their interaction.
“You must not leave,” King told her. “You have opened a door that must not be allowed to close…you changed the face of television forever…For the first time, the world sees us as we should be seen, as equals, as intelligent people.”
King went on to say that he and his family were fans of the show; she was a “hero” to his children.
With King’s encouragement, Nichols stayed on “Star Trek” for the original series’ full three-year run.
Nichols’ controversial kiss took place at the end of the third season. Nichols recalled that NBC executives closely monitored the filming because they were nervous about how Southern television stations and viewers would react.
Do you see CBS bringing back Kirk and the Original Series Enterprise Back to TV?
The casting of Ethan Peck as Spock for the second season of Star Trek: Discovery leads to another question for the franchise: Could we see a full reboot of The Original Series?
With multiple spinoffs in development including a sequel series to Star Trek: The Next Generation with Patrick Stewart returning as Captain Jean Luc Picard, there are possibilities including an opportunity to truly revisit the franchise’s roots.
Peck is the third actor cast in the role of Spock after Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto, the half-human and half-Vulcan science officer of the USS Enterprise to Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount).
While the show takes place before The Original Series, we get to see at the beginning of season two how Pike ran the iconic ship before James Kirk took over during the time of The Original Series.
With Discovery being the second Star Trek series to take place before TOS after Enterprise, it’s not far fetch to conceive a new cast with Peck as the tie in for a spinoff. Since the cast hired by JJ Abrams for his reboot film franchise is not crossing over to TV as the casting of Peck reveals, we may very well see a new Kirk, Bones, Uhura, Chekov, Scotty and Sulu cast and/or teased along the way.
CBS is not hesitant to revisit other shows and franchises with the reboots of MacGyver, Hawaii Five-O and Magnum PI. So far the first two shows have delivered on ratings to a new generation of fans. While the technology of 1966 is dated when TOS was filmed, there were CGI updates on the most recent home re-release of the series.
While the 2009 film led to the revival of the Star Trek franchise was met with praise from audiences and critics alike, some cognitive dissidence among fans accuse Abrams of dumbing down to more general audiences with fast-paced action and intense CGI space battles.
While Starfleet’s mission remained that of exploration and peace, later films like Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek: Beyond stuck to the similar formula of the first film.
Fans embraced the cast playing younger versions of The Original Series characters so we open new possibilities for another generation to be immersed with the franchise. Discovery has proven to be a success back to more traditional Trek roots and with Stewart ready to sit in the captain’s chair again, perhaps rather than keep nudging before Kirk, we should just redo Kirk again for TV.
Epic Pictures is set to release the upcoming sci-fi thriller 5th Passenger in theaters and on-demand on July 10 and has given ComingSoon.net the exclusive debut o the film’s trailer! Check it out in the player below!
Produced by Scott Baker, Morgan Lariah, Mike Phillips and directed by Bakerm the film assembles an all-star Star Trek crew of its own including Doug Jones (The Shape of Water, Star Trek: Discovery, Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) Tim Russ (Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Marina Sirtis (Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Generations), Armin Shimerman (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Hitcher and Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time) and Morgan Lariah (Colony One and Chase Me Through).
5th Passenger is set in the aftermath of an oppressive class war, Miller, a pregnant officer aboard an escape pod must struggle to survive with her remaining crew when a mysterious and vicious life form attacks, determined to become the dominant species.
A successful crowdfunding campaign helped bring this project to life. 5th Passenger debuted at the Artemis Women in Action Film Festival where they “celebrate powerful women taking action on the silver screen.”
“I directed 5th Passenger because it’s a film I wanted to see. It is inspired by my love of the science fiction genre, The Twilight Zone, and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. All twisted storylines with principled characters thrown into extreme situations where society breaks down and their morals and values are tested.” says Director Scott Baker.
5th Passenger will be on demand everywhere (Dish, DirecTV, Charter, Spectrum, Comcast/Xfinity, Verizon Fios, Cox, SlingTV, iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, FandangoNOW, Google Play, Microsoft/Xbox) upon release.
