WASHINGTON — As the iconic science fiction franchise “Star Trek” celebrates its 50th anniversary, America is in many ways living in a Star Trek world.
From handheld “communicators” to a multiracial command crew, “Star Trek” propelled the world into the 21st century.
The series introduced the world to talking computers, doors that opened upon approach, wireless, handheld communication devices that allow people to see and talk to each other from distant places and wireless headsets.
And did you know the Rev. Martin Luther King was a huge fan and was responsible for one of the actors not quitting the show?
There gadgets used on “Star Trek” are mirrored across today’s technology landscape. Handheld communicators used by the crew are precursors to the cellphones we have now used for nearly two decades. Lt. Uhura, communications officer aboard the Enterprise, sported a wireless communication headset decades before Bluetooth technology was invented.
Automatic opening doors, unheard of in 1967, are common in nearly every big-box store in America.
According to Charles Kim, an electrical engineer and computer science professor at Howard University, these gadgets were only made possible by the development of micro computing processors in the 1980s.
“The biggest breakthrough, was combining software power and powerful, miniaturized computing processors together,” Kim said. “This is something we could not do before. Now everywhere small chips can do anything you want.”
“Star Trek” crew members were also seen talking to their computers and communicating through live video transmissions. Capt. Kirk was able to research subjects through a mechanism much like Apple’s Siri.
Even today, there is a $10 million competition to build a handheld device that can diagnose a number of diseases and vital signs. Sounds like the Tricorder used by crew members.
In the midst of the civil rights kovement and at the beginning of the organized push for more inclusion for women, “Star Trek” aired programing showing a racially and culturally diverse crew, even as programing was mostly all-white. An African-American, an Asian, a Russian and even the alien Spock were among the command crew.
Additionally, women were featured in leadership roles, including actress Majel Barrett as the first executive officer, second in command to Capt. Kirk, and African-American Nichelle Nichols as Lt. Uhura, fourth in command to Kirk.
Later, women would appear as admirals and captains commanding their own ships.
In an interview with NPR News, Nichols said she almost quit the show, until King, who told her he was her biggest fan, convinced her to stay during a cocktail party.
Nichols recalled King telling her, “You are reflecting what we are fighting for. For the first time on television, we will be seen as we should be seen every day, as intelligent, quality, beautiful people who can sing and dance, yes, but who can go into space, who can be lawyers and teachers, who can be professors — who are in this day, yet you don’t see it on television until now.”
King also told Nichols that because of the show’s diversity, “Star Trek” was the only show he and wife Coretta would allow their children to stay up late to watch, even though it was past their bedtime.
Other celebrities such as Whoopi Goldberg also recognized the show’s diversity in their childhood. When “Star Trek: The Next Generation” aired in the late ’80s, Goldberg wanted a role. She felt that prior to Star Trek, there were no African-Americans in science fiction.
Aside from having a command crew of different nationalities, the barrier breaking series is credited as the first American network television series showing an interracial kiss. In an episode airing in 1968, Nichols and William Shatner, who played Capt. Kirk, are seen sharing a kiss.
Though television network NBC ordered a version of the scene where the actors faked the kiss, the take looked too “corny,” Nichols said in her autobiography.
Nichols claims the episode was well-received.
“We received one of the largest batches of fan mail ever, all of it very positive,” she wrote.
In truth, however, some television stations in the South refused to air it.