It truly is a thing of great beauty. A work of art that could never be duplicated, only added to and evolved but never beyond the original ideal. This ideal is a hope for the future as we roll so ominously toward it. With the future as we know it looking so bleak, how else could we look at this but as a hopeful vision of the future. Star Trek truly is a masterpiece. And who is behind this wonderful masterpiece? None other than Gene Roddenberry.
From what I've seen from in interviews, he was a very visionary man. He knew what power laid in the hands of man. Man could either make the future one of chaos or one of unity and peace. Roddenberry dwelled upon the fact that we could be a race of unity who would readily accept the friendship of extra-terrestrial beings.
Roddenberry himself was a man of equality. Just to prove to the public that all people are equal, he placed a black woman on the bridge as a senior officer. Today, that would not seem out of place. However, in the 1960s, this was a dare to the American public and to the censors. A dare saying, "Look, this lady is going to do just as well as anyone else." And you know what...she did.
When Roddenberry wanted something, he got it. Prime example, Star Trek. At first, the producers and what-have-you did not want a show like Star Trek. Westerns were the top thing in the 60s. Did Roddenberry just give up and wait for a later time when science-fiction would be wanted more? No, he reconfigured his show to be a "wagon train to the stars"--with a more westerny feel. Who would expect that his "wagon train" would turn into a 30+ year mission to the stars? Ever since the first episode of Star Trek, the American public has fallen in love with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Chekhov, Uhura, and last but not least, Scotty. For all we know, maybe Star Trek was the catalyst for all sci-fi craze. I, for one, would consider it a possibility.
On a personal note, I am sorry to say that I never got the pleasure of meeting Gene Roddenberry. His ideals, when I first learned them, touched home. I felt the same as he did. He saw the corrupting world around us, but yet took a look at the many, but minority, who could bring us into a world of Star Trek unity and peace. I think it only appropriate that Roddenberry's death was treated in the way it was. His ashes in an urn were put into a degrading orbit that would at a certain time burn in the atmosphere and leave a temporary mark on the sky as it did, only to leave a permanent mark on the mind and heart of every Trekkie and the Trekkies to come. Hopefully, someday, we will ALL be Trekkies and believe in the ideals that Mr. Roddenberry did.
As I look to the stars and see the many different worlds around us, I see Roddenberry there. When Neil Armstrong made that first step on the moon, Roddenberry and his ideals were there. And as we make that first step on Mars, and as we build that space station, and as we build permanent spacecraft, and as we build that first warp drive engine....Roddenberry will be there.
-Kevin Hays
