Star Trek Retrospective: Episode 68 Elaan of Troyius
Ah, France Nuyen. You were quite the experience for my pre-teen self. You see our area never had much of an Asian population and until I saw her the only real exposure I had had was to George Takei. Thus I had no idea how exotically beautiful a stunning French-Vietnamese woman could be. Since then I have been rejected by women of every race but there is a special place in my heart for the Eurasian mix.
In a sense this is exactly what Gene Roddenberry intended when he created Star Trek. My father was not the most culturally open person on the planet (cough cough) and as a kid I never really met anyone who wasn’t white or Hispanic. However by seeing the multicultural bridge crew as well as all the guest characters it opened my eyes quite a bit to the possibility that there was more in this world than white people and Mexicans. Whatever cultural awareness and open mindedness I possess today (quite a lot IMO, but honestly you can never really judge yourself on such matters) I ascribe to the positive influence of Star Trek (my “good” father).
Odds are I should be discussing this with my therapist rather than you, my beloved readers, but I just looked at that last joke and realized there is more truth in it than I ever acknowledged. My father was a hard man and not terribly available emotionally or otherwise (also he was married five times. The irony is not lost on me) but all the positive traits I believe I have developed-honor, courage in the face of adversity, loyalty, empathy, inquisitiveness, logic-I honestly believe germinated from seeds planted by Star Trek. It was the positive male role model I otherwise lacked. Weird. I am going to have to reflect on that a lot I think. I guess this is why I am such a die hard TOS fan and will defend it with my dying breath.
That button comes from the Star Wars t shirt category. I know, I know. If I could have found a Star Trek image that worked there I would have.
Dave
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.