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Have people taken a "Cult of Personality" around Gene Roddenberry too far ? | Report this post to moderator
By: O. Deus (Odo's file, contact) @ 00:09:55 on Aug 08, 2003

Have some people taken a "Cult of Personality" around Gene Roddenberry too far?

Science Fiction in many ways overlaps with religion by dealing with speculations on the future, on immortality, superhuman abilities and destiny. UFO's which have overtaken angel and demon sightings as a mass hallucinatory obsession have their root in Science Fiction and one of the most powerful cults in America, Scientology, was started by Science Fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard. And it's far from the only cult around that has integrated SF elements into its belief system, it's not even the only cult that was started by people in the SF community.

It's not that Science Fiction is evil obviously but that the mythic power of its themes is such that some people will abuse it to create substitute religions and belief systems. Contrary to the usual stereotypes most Star Trek fans don't do such things but at the same time there is undeniably a certain element within Star Trek fandom that takes the show much too seriously.

In some cases this is expressed by socially inappropriate behavior like wearing Star Trek uniforms to a jury selection or legally changing your name to Spock. But there is a less offensive and somewhat more popular trend within Star Trek fandom of viewing Gene Roddenberry as an innovative philosopher and a teacher.

The reality is that Star Trek is a TV show. It's a brillantly executed TV show that many of us care quite a bit about and many of its episodes confronted various moral, social and political issues; but it is a TV show. Yet along with the growth of the conventions after the cancellation of Star Trek came the idea of Gene Roddenberry, not as a TV writer or producer, but as a philosopher trying to convey some important ideas to humanity about getting along with one another.

At some point Gene Roddenberry himself began to take that image of himself too seriously leading to problems with the quality of early TNG and odd protests like his opposition to Kirk shooting the brain slug that had ripped its way out of Chekov's head in Wrath of Khan after resulting in the suicide of his Captain and his own near murder. Putting aside the fact that Kirk and Roddenberry weren't nearly that squeamish about shooting monsters during the Original Series, Kirk's reaction was natural and human. (not to mention that in any case the brain slug probably would not have survived long on a deserted space station with no brains to feed off, unless Roddenberry also expected Kirk to transport the brain slug back home to its natural habitat)

Gene Roddenberry certainly did not build a cult of personality around himself but over the years others have and even Roddenberry himself increasingly seemed to have become influenced by the image of himself more as a philosopher than a writer...though I would personally argue that a writer is a nobler proffesion than a philosopher. And after his death the idea that Gene Roddenberry was a philosopher preaching about a better world rather than a writer creating two great television series still reigns in some quarters of Star Trek fandom.

The issue struck me now when I read an exchange of posts in which one Trekweb posters accused another of heresy and lack of belief and a third poster suggested that such language carried with it the overtones of religion.

And that is at the root of the question of that debate, does being a Star Trek fan require subscribing to a specific belief system and if we are to suggest that there are such 'requirements for admission' aren't we pushing Star Trek a little too close to the realm of religion?

For me Star Trek always worked best not when it was shoving some specific ideology down your throat with a stick with all the subtlety of Rush Limbaugh or Michael Moore but when it was opening up issues for discussion and showing that the choiches were more complicated than people might think and avoided analogies that were too on the nose. And for me that's an aspect of the franchise I associate more with Gene Roddenberry's created series rather than later shows like Voyager and Enterprise. And that is why a lot of people liked Star Trek because it raised questions rather than giving pat answers...something that I would argue Star Trek's post-Roddenberry masters have yet to learn.


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