50 Years of Star Trek

It's hard to believe the phenomenon of Star Trek has endured for so long - fifty years! Well, then again, if James Bond can do it for even longer - why not? I guess the fact that Trek barely even retained a spot in the TV line-up for its shaky three seasons in the 60's (facing constant threats of cancellation) makes its now-legendary status even more impressive. The show didn't become a hit until the 70's, when in syndication it attracted its dedicated followers. Even the less fanatic viewers (non-Trekkies) discovered the fun and escapism in Kirk and Spock's intergalactic adventures. And those same folks today have fond feelings of nostalgia for the show.

I was just about the right age, getting close to my teens, when Star Trek began its 70's boom. I was enamoured by this bold "new" science fiction show which dared to tackle real issues that we Earthlings had on our minds (most notably, civil rights). Well, as a kid I was more concerned about seeing some phaser fights and monstrous aliens. But as I grew up and re-watched those old episodes, I understood the more adult themes presented in the show. 

Star Trek was and is more than a flight of fancy, a fictional diversion. It inspired and influenced people in the arts, sciences, technology, and more. Think about it. The first NASA space shuttle was named "Enterprise" after the famed vessel in Star Trek. 

How about the portable gadgets we use on a daily basis? Cell phones (especially the early flip-phones) aren't a stretch from Trek's communicators.... "beam me up, Scotty". Our modern commonplace iPad and other tablet devices were borne out of the ST: The Next Generation PADDS (personal access display device). How about Bluetooth headsets? Remember how Lt. Uhura wore a single earpiece as she sat at her communications station? 

The tricorders the Star Trek scientific staff used for sensing, recording and processing data became portable units in real life during the 90's. Then there are the computer floppy disks and USB drives we Earthlings have used; think about the small square data "cards" used in the 60's show - inserted into consoles... and in The Next Generation, they used small chips that held huge quantities of data, much like our USB drives today. Oh, and how about voice-activated devices, frequently used in Star Trek (the ship's crew verbally address computers to activate them, and then to submit and access information)? In our modern real world, we are surrounded by voice activated devices (the option is often, if not always, available) like smartphones, computers, cars, and other electronics. 

Old Star Trek books from my 70's fandom phase

The fictional starship's transporter used a GPS-like technology to locate far-away people and objects. We use GPS all the time in real life, on our smartphones, computers, and in our cars. Dr. McCoy's medical diagnostic beds were the inspiration for a university scientific team's construction of a sickbay that monitored patients for early signs of disease. Then there was the scalpel-free surgery performed by Star Trek's medical staff... and today we have ultrasound surgery that heals tumours and injured lungs.

And the holodeck on Next Generation? Our latest technology has blessed us with virtual reality headsets. We're getting there. Star Trek's universal translator has been developed into a usable hand-held unit for the U.S. military. 

Whether we know it or not, we are surrounded by Star Trek. Creator Gene Roddenberry's imaginative and prophetic show (and its subsequent movies and spin-off series) influenced and inspired many inventions, many more than I mentioned here. 

So raise your glass of Romulan ale and salute the greatest long-running science fiction creation of all time. Cheers!