Yes, yes, yes, I'm going to continue writing about Star Trek.
I'm sure that most who read the Helios won't even bother to read my editorials, especially since they're Star Trek related, but if I can have even one person read them and feel a bit more educated or entertained in some fashion then I'm content.
Star Trek is already a semi-exclusive TV show, at least nowadays, but my does not mean I think expressing my love for the franchise to be prone to non-acceptance, if that makes sense. After all, being a (true) Trekkie - or a Trekker (yes, there is a difference but most people know of the former name rather than the latter) but in this case it doesn't matter - means a lot. By that I mean it's not small significance to be a Trekkie. To contrast, it's easy to be a Star Wars fan. The movies were meant to be embraced by the masses and there are only six movies so it doesn't take much effort to "understand" Star Wars. Star Trek, on the other hand, has eleven movies (soon to be twelve) and five series (six if you include the animated series). Because of this it takes much more effort to watch the hundreds of episodes (and movies if you want) to "understand" Star Trek. I'm not trying to say that being a Trekkie is better than being a Star Wars fan (actually...I am!
), but being a Trekkie is definitely much more personal and meaningful from one Trekkie to another. Anyway, it's time to get to my next subject on Star Trek out there!
For this Helios, I will be talking mostly about Star Trek technobabble. Perhaps more than any other TV show, or any (science) fiction for that matter, Star Trek has the most frequent use of technobabble whether it has nothing to do with the plot or not (and 99% of the time it does). And yes, technobabble in Star Trek has such a significance that I can write an entire article about it. While Star Trek: The Original Series can be considered to use technobabble "lite", from The Next Generation on, and especially with Voyager where it became ridiculous, technobabble was used more and more and was often an integral part of the plot. TOS was more about explaining thing very simply. Something would be wrong with the ship, the engines, weapons, etc, and then Scotty would have to go and fix it. It seemed many times that Kirk always needed "more power!!!" and Scotty would be forced to get Kirk that power in a seemingly impossible situation. The phrase, "I'm giving it all she's got, Captain!" comes to mind. But Scotty always got the job done and the
Enterprise and her crew would survive until the next dilemma.
The real technobabble came through in TNG. Any avid viewer of TNG knows of the plethora of technobabble that is thrown around in every episode, whether or not the terms used are real or not. Words or phrases that come to mind are tachyon particles, neutrinos, thalaron radiation, phasic __________, chroniton, subspace __________, and of course anything temporal (related to time). As stated in the previous paragraph, technobabble many times became an integral part of the story starting in Star Trek: The Next Generation. It was no longer about Scotty giving Kirk more power for the engines so they could warp out of danger. In TNG, and later series, it was more about - get ready for this - diverting warp energy from the warp engines to the deflector dish so that an anti-neutrino pulse can be emitted to a subspace rift so that a local temporal inversion will be closed that is threatens the
Enterprise and her crew, for example. Got all of that? Well, if you didn't then don't fret about it. That's an example, a bad one, of technobabble's use in Star Trek. While my example may seem too ridiculous to accept it being used in a television show, it's not far off, regarding the sheer amount of technobabble used, the real thing (especially in Voyager). For a lot of people who watch a Star Trek series for the first time, they can be turned off by the use, or overuse, of technobabble. But for Trek fans the tech-speak becomes just a part of the show. We get used to it so it doesn't sound overwhelming. I'm not trying to say that Star Trek's use of technobabble makes it a "better" show than others, but it does make the franchise more unique. Star Trek is science fiction and the technobabble is purely "science fiction" is the truest sense of the word(s). It is funny that, sometimes when I see some scientific problem in the show, I can guess how the
Enterprise crew could find the solution and there are times when I'm not that far off. So you see how technobabble goes beyond just being...babble. It has become something of its own within the franchise where it its own language and has a science, even thought it's pseudo-science, of its own (so much so that some Trekkies have a good understanding of it)!
A consequence of Star Trek's use of technobabble is the intelligence of the Star Trek viewer. I know Star Trek isn't as popular as a lot of other shows, especially and obviously now since there is no TV series and the franchise isn't "big" right now, but of all the true Trekkies I know, they seem to be all very intelligent people. I think it can be argued, and very well, that your average Star Trek fan is above your average intelligence. Am I biased towards this argument, especially since I'm a Trekkie? Yes, but I think Star Trek is very much a show that is inherently more intellectual than others. Episodes mostly revolve around some moral/ethical dilemma and learning what it means to be human, as mentioned in a previous article, as well as some other dilemma that requires a significant amount of scientific technobabble to resolve. Sometimes all of this doesn't make for a great episode because it feels overwhelming and elitist or that the show is on its "high horse", but most of the time it makes for some very thought-provoking and entertaining TV time. It's very easy to be a Star Wars fan because it is a great space opera with a lot of myth, special effects, epicness (word?), and a great hero story. For Star Trek it is a bit more difficult for the average person to become a real fan because of the..."thickness" of the morals and (pseudo-)science that accompany every episode (and sometimes movies). Because of this Star Trek has a more exclusive fan base, for better or for worse.
But Star Trek has gone beyond the television screen and, most likely more than any other show, has had an effect on our daily lives. "How can this be?!" you ask. Well, if you watch the show enough then you will understand this. It's almost so obvious that you can't tell. I'll provide two glaring examples:
The Communicator/Cellphone
Now, I'm not saying Star Trek: The Original Series was the first show to have some sort of wireless communicator, but I don't think anyone can say their use in TOS (in the 60s, not counting the 70s and 80s with TOS movies) did not influence cellphone development.
PADD (Personal Access Display Device)/iPad
This is one of the most obvious and current of examples. I mean, just look at the names! While I do not think anyone, except for the writers or technical consultants for the franchise, know the extent of the PADD's capabilities, that is beside the point. The similarities between the PADD and the iPad are plain as day, although I'm sure Captain Picard did not play Plants vs. Zombies HD on his PADD. Now all us Trekkies need is a fully functioning iPad, or other similar technology, that uses the LCARS UI!
If anything, these two examples make Star Trek feel all the more
real and believable as something science fiction becoming a reality. This shows the influence and impact of the Star Trek franchise even more. Those are not the only examples of Star Trek-to-real life technologies that have become a reality or closer to. For example,
NASA's Deep Space 1 probe uses an ion propulsion system, a technology that was first mentioned in TOS. Fax machines were used in TOS too, years before they were used in real life. In Star Trek the main propulsion system used in starships is matter-antimatter. Recently scientists have been
able to contain antimatter! While transporters as we see in Star Trek are not yet real, I know that scientists have been able to transport light. As my fellow Trekkie, although he considers himself a "Trekker" by definition, Oldgamer said about the subject,
[Still,] it is exciting to have lived long enough to see the possibility of some of Mr. Scott's technology to be in the offing. I'm one of the few people you will meet who has confidence that the human race will overcome its failings, and someday travel to the stars.
So, what does all of this mean? I'm trying to further explain why Star Trek has made such an impact on me and why I think others should pay it some attention. Even if you don't like technobabble, or even Star Trek as a franchise, it should be evident now that Star Trek has a very real and very personal influence on your daily life. Enjoy it!
Until next time my fellow Trekkies, Trekkers, and non-Trek types!