The Conflicted Economics of 'Star Trek'
In honor of today's long-awaited (by The Ticker) premiere of "Star Trek," the 11th film in the canon and a prequel to the original series, it seemed a good time to examine the economics of Star Trek.
As envisioned by creator Gene Roddenberry and first aired in 1966, "Star Trek" depicted a humanistic utopia set in the 23rd century, a time when technology had eradicated poverty and hunger and, largely, crime.
Because of this, Roddenberry's universe had little need for ownership of private property or even money, and accumulation of wealth was depicted as anti-social. Those who attempted it were portrayed as vulgar at best and dangerous at worst. (Think Harry Mudd.)
This sentiment carried forward through the following four live-action television series and the so-far 10 films.
Just in case Roddenberry was unsure that fans were getting his point, he gave avarice its own non-human species in the second TV series, "Star Trek: The Next Generation," which aired during Wall Street's (first) "greed is good" era of the late '80s and early '90s.
The Ferengi were savvy, snarling, sharp-toothed, big-eared short aliens who coveted nothing more than profit. (It has been observed, and not without some justification, that the Ferengi embodied disturbingly stereotypical Semitic traits.)
The Ferengi currency was based on something called "gold-pressed latinum" and their Bible was the Rules of Acquisition, an ever-growing list of merciless rules of business, such as: "Never place friendship above profit."
And even though Star Trek's enlightened characters competed for currency in various games -- including five-card stud -- it remains unclear, in Roddenberry's universe, where the money came from to build those fleets of glorious star ships.
As with many visionaries, from Rosseau to Hemingway to Mailer, Roddenberry was unable or unwilling to live by his principles.
Though he used his creation to denigrate the accumulation of personal wealth -- lecturing that the religion of technology would unshackle enlightened future humans from greed -- Roddenberry was not above using a Ferengi-like tactic to line his own pockets.
Many people know the instrumental theme song to the original Star Trek, the music that underlies William Shatner's monologue that begins, "Space: the final frontier..."
What most people don't know is that the song has lyrics written by Roddenberry -- purely as a device to secure performance royalties into perpetuity.
The lyrics, which you can see here, are dreadful and were never meant to be recorded or performed. Worse, they are unnecessary. And Roddenberry wrote them and laid claim to the royalties after the show's first season.
So outraged by Roddenberry's tactic that Alexander Courage, the composer of the memorable theme, scored some first-season episodes of Star Trek and then refused to pen another note for the franchise.
So even though the father of Star Trek created a hopeful future largely devoid of suffering and war, as a man, he turned out to be more Gorden Gekko than Jean-Luc Picard.
May 8, 2009; 4:58 PM ET
Categories: The Ticker | Tags: Ferengi, Gene Roddenberry, Jean Luc Picard, Star Trek
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