Celebrating Gene Roddenberry's 100th Birthday – What We Learned from Star Trek

Source: Courtesy of Roddenberry Entertainment

When many people think of fans, they think of Star Trek. The long-lived franchise, which includes 10 television shows and 13 feature films to date, drew passionate viewers from its beginning over 50 years ago, and continues to attract new admirers. The show and its human and alien characters inspired some of the first fan conventions. A letter-writing campaign to the network was the first successful viewer-led endeavor, earning the original series another year on television. The stereotype of fans, for many people, is someone dressed as a Klingon at a Star Trek convention.

While that stereotype is not entirely positive, the impact that Star Trek has had on its fans has been. Today would have been the 100th birthday of Star Trek’s creator, Gene Roddenberry, who died decades ago, but whose vision has lived on. Gene created a show that was groundbreaking in many ways—it truly did "boldly go where no one has gone before." He insisted on a racially diverse cast with women in positions of power, and used science fiction to explore social issues that were risky to tackle directly, always hanging onto a hopeful vision of the future where humanity would solve the problems of racism, sexism, xenophobia, prejudice, and stigma.

Source: Courtesy of Roddenberry Entertainment

The show inspired its fans to adopt a similarly hopeful vision of the future—and to work towards making that future a reality. In return, Gene was inspired by the show’s fans, who he felt embodied the ideals and aspirations he held for humanity. Decades later, Gene’s son Rod Roddenberry set out to make a documentary film about Star Trek and what made it so special. He discovered that the show has had a real-life positive impact on many people, from inspiring them to tap into their creativity, to pursuing professions in engineering and astrophysics, to finding hope to keep going. In contrast to negative stereotypes, the picture Rod paints of fans in that film is as positive and hopeful as his father’s vision of humanity was.

For the past several months, Roddenberry Entertainment, headed up by Gene’s son Rod, has been celebrating his centennial by sharing how the show has had an impact, including #talkTREK on social media with some of Gene’s most inspiring quotes and #seeTREK, with art and creativity inspired by the show all over the world (with some examples included in this post). In the midst of a pandemic, when many of us are taking solace in favorite television shows and books and films, Star Trek and its message of hope and belief in science has more resonance than ever. I spoke to Rod Roddenberry about why Star Trek has remained so popular, what its fans have learned from the show, and what we can all learn from it.

Rod: Star Trek’s backbone philosophy is IDIC—Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. The idea is that we’re never going to evolve intellectually until we realize that it is the differences between us that are what are special, and learning about those differences and growing from them is how we make the Star Trek future a reality.

Source: Courtesy of Roddenberry Entertainment

In Star Trek, they weren’t just out in space finding aliens that looked weird, they were trying to find intelligent species that looked at the universe in a different way. Because they knew that any life form, on earth or somewhere else, that had a unique perspective was something we could learn from. We didn’t have to agree with it, we didn’t have to think it was right, but to hear a different perspective helps us grow as a person. We’ve got to be listening. If we don’t, if we live in our bubbles, we will not get any further than we are right now. I’m doing this to celebrate my father’s 100th birthday but not just the man who passed away—it’s the ideas that are infused into Star Trek, to get those ideas back out there. Our society needs it desperately.

Rod also said he learned a lot about his father from making the Trek Nation documentary, which helped him with his own process of grieving the loss of his dad. Sharing some of his father’s viewpoints, which are also touchstones for Star Trek fans, allowed him to feel closer to his enigmatic but busy father. One of those touchstones is the importance of empathy.

Rod: Right now in this world, what I think we need is a lot more empathy. And by empathy I mean not sympathy, not feeling bad for someone, but truly trying to understand them. Trying to step out of yourself and see them from a different point of view. Which Star Trek, when it was at its best, did that.

Rod Roddenberry

Source: Courtesy of Roddenberry Entertainment

Empathy is not always easy, something that Star Trek also depicted over the decades. Understanding that we are all shaped by our experiences, and sometimes that leaves us with fears and insecurities and even prejudices, can be the basis for empathy.

Rod: It’s really a paradigm shift, and if we can all start to do that more often—it’s not going to happen overnight—but if we can all slightly increase that in ourselves, I think we will advance forward faster as a species.

Gene Roddenberry would definitely agree with his son.

Over the course of more than half a century, Star Trek is a striking example of how popular media can have a significant impact on fans and on the broader culture. There are many fans who have become scientists or writers or explorers of some kind themselves, following the show’s example. Star Trek’s underlying themes, from encouraging a quest for knowledge and a belief in science, to the need for empathy and acceptance of difference, have also shaped its viewers.

In fact, a recent study of the Star Trek series and films found that the franchise has not only included issues that were socially relevant over the past 50 years, but that its depiction of psychological disorders and treatments changed over time as well. Mental health issues, the study found, were portrayed more and more realistically over the course of the series and films. Popular media has a significant impact on how we think about aspects of our lives, so Star Trek has done its part to reduce stigma and encourage people to get treatment when needed.

Gene Roddenberry

Source: Courtesy of Roddenberry Entertainment

Gene Roddenberry, with his determination to keep improving humanity and the universe, and his emphasis on self improvement, would have been proud.

Happy centennial, Mr. Roddenberry!

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