10 Rules The New Star Trek TV Show Must Follow

9. Shine A Light On Real World Issues

Let That Be Your Last Battlefield The Original Series is well known for opening the door to discuss the issues of the time. Gene Roddenberry used the show to bring morality plays to the masses and they discussed a wide range of topics, not limited to racism (Let This Be Your Last Battlefield), religion (The Apple) and mental health (Dagger of the Mind). Later series took the same concept but applied it in a less obvious manner. For example the Vulcans and Suliban in Enterprise have been compared to Jews and Arabs (although it isn't explained who the Andorians are meant to be). Deep Space Nine dealt with the issue of terrorism (although The Next Generation also did in The High Ground). Allegories like these are a trademark of the various television series €“ they don't have to appear in every episode, but if they were absent then the show simply would not be Star Trek. There are also certain things that the show has never done well€“ for one, human religions. The only significant religious race to be featured in the show has been the Bajorans, and so this seems to be the only religion in the 24th century. Even then, an additional step was taken by Deep Space Nine to not only have them be religious but then show that their gods exist. The reason why I mention religion is because it would be an obvious issue for any new Star Trek series to tackle. There is a certain degree of anti-Muslim sentiment in Western countries, and much like racism in The Original Series, this is an issue that should be discussed in a new series. Religion is such a prominent issue of division these days that any Star Trek series would need to address it.
Contributor
Contributor

I'm a pop culture addict. Television, cinema, comics, games - you name it, and I've done it. Or at least read the plot synopsis on Wikipedia.