WhenStar Trek: The Original Seriesdebuted in 1966, show creatorGene Roddenberrysaw it as a means of delivering hope for the future, setting a goal for mankind to achieve by example. Mankind had learned from its errors, and disease, poverty and hunger were eliminated in favor of an altruistic universe. Threats to the crew of the Enterprise, and by extension the UN-like Federation, tended to come from outside as human civilization had evolved past inner conflict, and resolved peacefully, by and large. The series' focus was never on spectacle (mostly by design, partially budgetary), but on changing society. Episodes would feature plots that exposed cultural and social issues of the 1960s, challenging views on race, sex, and ongoing political conflicts. The idea of aPrime Directive for Starfleet, one that dictated that Starfleet personnel and spacecraft were not to interfere in the development of a new society, was a direct repudiation of the Vietnam War, a superpower interfering in the development of an Asian society. The arrival ofStar Trek II: The Wrath of Khanchanged that.
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Theantagonist of the film, Khan Noonien Singh(Ricardo Montalban), was first introduced in “Space Seed”, a 1967 episode ofStar Trek: TOS. Khan was a superhuman tyrant from 1990s Earth, who had been found, along with his followers, in suspended animation aboard the SS Botany Bay by the USS Enterprise in 2267. Almost succeeding in wresting control of the Enterprise, Khan was stopped by Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and given an opportunity to colonize Ceti Alpha V, a dangerous yet habitable world, in lieu of facing Federation punishment. The movie picks up his story in 2285, where it is learned that a cataclysmic event had caused massive devastation on Ceti Alpha V shortly after their arrival. As this benevolent option to colonize the world was never recorded officially, the Federation never followed up on their progress. Seizing on an opportunity to overtake the Starfleet ship USS Reliant, the outraged Khan uses it to hunt down Kirk, intercepting the Enterprise on its way to Spacelab Regula I.
What follows is a turn for the franchise, a thrilling action sequence set off by the Reliant’s surprise attack. Khan begins raining the Reliant’s phasers down on the now-crippled Enterprise and its crew, who turn the tables with a surprise of their own, disabling the Reliant’s shields and taking out its photon control and warp power with a few phaser shots. Paired with a final climactic battle between the two spacecraft, in which the Enterprise annihilates the Reliant, the door had now been opened toStar Wars-ian display.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spockfeatured a battle between the Enterprise and a Klingon Bird of Prey, but otherwise the rest of the films starring the original cast scaled back on battle sequences, returning mostly to the Roddenberry model. However, declining interest in those films suggested a correlation, fairly or not, between spectacle and viewers. Roddenberry’sStar Treksold social commentary, stories that were insightful and intellectual, rooted in reality. Big, visually captivating action sequences sold tickets.
In the years that followed,Star Trekwove in grand battle action throughout its various iterations on film and television. TheBattle for Deep Space Nine, pitting a Klingon fleet against the space station in the Season Four premiere ofStar Trek: Deep Space Nine. TheBattle of Wolf 359from theStar Trek: The Next Generationepisode “The Best of Both Worlds”, which saw forty Starfleet ships attack a Borg cube (40 go in, only 1 comes out). TheBattle of Sector 001, an even bigger battle between a Borg cube and a much larger Starfleet armada inStar Trek: First Contact. TheBattle of the Binary Stars, arguably the largest battle on screen of anyStar Trekfilm or television series, with the Starfleet v Klingon event airing onStar Trek: Discovery.
In allowing for more action sequences in the franchise,Star Trekproved that it could play with the big boys of sci-fi in delivering high-energy spectacle. Moviegoers and casual fans, those uninterested in the deeper aspects ofTrek, were drawn in at the promise of seeing exciting visuals. It allowed for more creative uses of the Starfleet ships, over and above simply sailing across the stars.
But the advent of battle action sequences did have a negative impact on the franchise as well. Those that sawStar Trekas Roddenberry had envisioned it felt that battle scenes were added for the casual fan, not Trekkers. And whenJ.J. Abramstook up the reins, Trekkers were largely unimpressed with his vision, feeling he took a series that tackled serious issues and bastardized it as guns-blazing space fantasy.
It’s no secret that Roddenberry wasn’t on board withStar Trek II. He thought producerHarve Bennettwas militarizingTrek, did not like the levels of violence, and even was noted to criticize Kirk killing the Celi Eel as it left Chekov’s (Walter Koenig) ear.It’s even speculated he (40-year-old SPOILER) leaked the death of Spock (Leonard Nimoy). Also true? He was upset that he had been replaced as primary producer on the film by Paramount, citing his work on the slow-movingStar Trek: The Motion Pictureas the rationale behind the move. Roddenberry had simmering vendettas, creative clashes, personal demons, and was diametrically opposed, publicly and privately, to anything positive about the franchise at the time, most of which hadn’t even been written by him.
Long story short, it’s difficult to ascertain his true feelings on the action-oriented path of the franchise fromKhanforward. But if we look at the action sequences inTrekas a whole, they do stand apart from their sci-fi cousins. There are consequences of conflict, a human element of loss that is shown, perhaps no more evident than in a scene from the director’s cut ofKhan, where the body of a young crew member that is brought to the bridge by Scotty (James Doohan) turns out to be his nephew. Battle was, and still is, a last resort inStar Trekfeatures, and even then it brings forces from across the Federation to battle a common enemy.
To Roddenberry, freedom was worth fighting for when all other avenues had been exhausted.Khanmay have added an element to the franchise, but in retrospect it still promises his dream of a brighter future.
