10 Times Star Trek: Voyager Went Woke
Voyager was questioning accepted narratives long before the word 'woke' became an insult.
From the moment Star Trek first appeared on our screens, it had a message for us. Never stop being curious, live and let live, and don't be a jerk. With a diverse crew, oddly human stories and even the occasional hippy, Star Trek was woke before many of us had even smelt the coffee.
And of course later chapters in the epic franchise were no exception. Star Trek: Voyager, the first Star Trek show to be led by a female captain, made no secret that it intended to carry that progressive DNA through the late 90s and into the millennium.
Voyager launched with a very different story to tell. A lost crew, stranded alone, trying to get home. But it was Janeway's determination not to compromise Starfleet principles that tied the show to the hope, tolerance and compassion of The Original Series.
So in true Times Star Trek Went Woke fashion, let's recap exactly what being 'woke' means according to the Merriam Webster dictionary:
Aware of and actively attentive to important societal facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice)
Now, we're not saying that Voyager got everything right. On the contrary, there are definitely a few 'WTF were they thinking' moments. But on the whole, Voyager shared that same optimism of the original while still delivering plenty of 'must do better' rebukes.
Buckle up, this is going to be quite a ride...
10. Equal Healthcare For All
Even now, we're still arguing about the best and fairest way to deliver healthcare to everyone in need. And Voyager decided to wade into the debate back in November 2000 with the episode Critical Care.
The Doctor is sold to a hospital ship that assigns medical resources based on social status. The patients are separated into wards, with the higher echelons receiving overly abundant care while the lower classes remain cramped and under-treated.
What's more, treatment for a patient is only authorised based on their 'TC', a number assigned via a formula that weighs up their skills, profession, accomplishments and societal worth. While high TC patients are given medication just to increase their life expectancy, low TC patients are denied the same medication even when their lives depend on it.
The US Health Maintenance Organization allegory is savage. Yes, you can have doctors, medication and facilities, but an administrative system will decide how much, for how long, and whether you even qualify at all. And it's clear that this allusion to HMOs isn't a coincidence.
Robert Picardo himself described the episode as 'the Doctor's abduction by an alien HMO'. And producer Ken Biller reportedly suggested that the episode would be reminiscent of The Original Series tackling contemporary political and social issues.
Not that Star Trek has always been woke, right...?
This is against the backdrop of 1999 figures that showed 42.6 million people were without medical insurance in the US. And that was actually an improvement on the previous year.
The issue of healthcare was all over the 2000 US election campaign, with Al Gore in favour of a patients' bill of rights, and George W. Bush proposing tax credits to help lower-income families.
So while at first glance Critical Care might seem like just another Doctor abduction story, there was far more going on under the surface.