The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years

by Mark A. Altman

In a cynical twenty-first century consumed by dystopian visions of the future, Star Trek is unique. It postulates a future in which we are better than we are today and where technology

has allowed a united Earth to colonize the stars while leaving behind a planet that is a paradise; no longer ravaged by war, disease, hunger, climate change, or the Tea Party.

SCOTT MANTZ (film critic, Access Hollywood) The most misunderstood thing about Star Trek are the fans themselves. People make fun of them. They still do. They were called Trekkies, now they are called Trekkers. There is a condescending and derogatory inflection that comes from calling a fan a Trekkie or a Trekker. But you know what? Whether you are influenced by the story,

the characters, the messages, the optimism, the point is that Star Trek fans are really good people. Sure, there’s a certain percentage that go a little overboard, but it’s no different when you’re watching the Rose Bowl or some football game in Wisconsin in January and it’s thirteen degrees outside and people are painted in football colors. I was made fun of when I was a kid for being a Trekker. It hurt, but I felt empowered by it because I was proud. It made me happy. I’ve got news for you, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Star Trek. Everything I am I owe to Star Trek. It changed my life. It wasn’t just a show I liked and enjoyed. It was a show that inspired me in ways I didn’t realize.

“All I want is to enter my house justified.”

Next Generation is like Superman and Deep Space Nine is like Batman.

The point is, if you think of all of the pale imitations of Superman, they have all gone out the window. But Batman has endured because it touches people in a certain, specific way. It is a more adult comic book, and somehow we managed to do that with Deep Space Nine.

Even though people talk about science-fiction fans having vision and being able to embrace the different and the odd and the slightly more esoteric type of show, I don’t think that’s true when it comes to television. I think people like to find something that’s comfortable, and Deep Space Nine did not always fit in that way. That made some people uneasy. I really believe there were a lot of people who didn’t “get” the show.

If it wasn’t an action-adventure show for young men eighteen to forty, we could have easily done an entire season on life on a station where nothing much happens except everyday life.