Gene Roddenberry: The Star Trek Philosophy

[@lantastic1]

Now, more than ever, we need Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek.

[@Xardas131]

What a incredible speech. Why do so few understsnd this...

[@goodwilj]

I enjoy the Star Trek franchise but now being 62 years old I have to say every time I watch the original show I find it MAGICAL. There is something really special about the original show that will never be duplicated. It was something really really special and still is today.

[@SYLTales]

57, here, and the moment that the Mugatu jumps off the rock in "A Private Little War" is my very first memory. Indeed, I consider my first memory a more important moment in my life than my birthday, because it marked the point where I started thinking for myself. I was two years old. Like any child going through the "terrible twos," my parents didn't appreciate that _Star Trek_ had started me down the path of thinking for myself. They got a lot happier with it over time. Indeed, like many of our generation, my interest in _Star Trek_ led me into a technological field. All of us had seen something on the show that we wanted to have in real life. It took decades, but we're all now carrying a combination communicator/tricorder -- and the medical-grade ones can actually take vital signs from a distance! I had small hand in that, as I was a computer scientist for 40 years. Then we wanted food at a moment's notice, like in TNG. It took a few decades, but we're on the cusp of it. Between 3D printing and quantum entanglement, we're about to revolutionize everything -- _again_ . Keep in mind that medical-grade 3D printers can produce _living cells_ ; and that quantum entanglement can send digital signals anywhere in the world (maybe even anywhere in the universe!) _instantaneously_ . While we might have developed these technologies independently, it can't be denied that a lot of us who built these things (admittedly standing on the shoulders of the giants who came before us) did it because we wanted something on the show to exist in real life. I sometimes wonder what, if anything, modern _Star Trek_ will inspire. The IT they use will be outdated in ten years without any help at all. Teleportation is something we may never do. FTL might be possible, but not with any technology we'll be able to manufacture in a long, long time. What's left? Soap opera drama? Who goes into STEM so they can change the world based on soap opera drama? The magical nature of TOS is something I've been delving into for the last week. On my second channel, the _Tales From SYL Ranch_ *Darkroom* , I post videos that I remaster from their original resolution and frame rate to at least 4K and double the original frame rate. I've been working on the Studio Edition of "Where No Man Has Gone Before." If you're unaware, there's a slightly different edit that has never aired nor streamed, and was only screened for studio and network execs. I saw this edit in the 1970s and was luck enough to get a bootlegged copy in the early 1990s. A print eventually turned up in time to release it with the most recent Bluray releases of TOS. I'm taking clips of the segments with the different edit, then remastering them to 4K and 48fps. I dropped the first clip last Wednesday. I'll be dropping six this week, three on Wednesday afternoon (in US Central time zone) and three on Thursday afternoon. I don't know if the KZbin Ghods will allow it, but here's a link to my first Studio Edition clip: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eX67h3SYltCperM

[@komradewirelesscaller6716]

yeah brother I am 53, fell in love with it as a kid, and I still love it! It had it had it's own kind of magic that's for sure!

[@lowket]

We miss you, Gene....

[@darrensmith6999]

I am 58 now and i grew up with Star Trek and its philosophy it probably has been the one constant in my life through ups and downs it has been there for me and millions of like minded people like me who want a positive and prosperous future for all Humans. Thank You Mr Roddenberry and i hope one day instead of fighting squabbling we mature and go to the Stars. God knows we all need to learn to get along with one another before it is too late!

[@newbootgoofin24]

Incredible speech. He was right then and he’s right now.

[@mikebasil4832]

Certainly about how powerful television is in influencing our world. The 60s, thanks to classics like Star Trek, Doctor Who, The Twilight Zone and The Outer Limits, were a good decade for science fiction television to improve things.

[@darkflamestudios]

Thank you Gene

[@robertthomas5736]

Gene Roddenberry is One of The Greatest Minds of The Any Century, Even Centuries Yet To Come

[@TerryComo2010]

Boy could we use his philosophy today!

[@julians9070]

Very true.

[@BattlewarPenguin]

The prediction is uncanny in how accurate has become

[@SYLTales]

It's always been accurate. GR was good at timelessness.

[@charlesalexander9847]

The Great Bird of the Galaxy. A true Visionary and Pioneer.

[@julians9070]

Very true.

[@KH4444444444N]

"Your associates are people of good character." "They are my friends."

[@Patricia-vd9xh]

Wish Roddenberry would have told people that Star Trek was inspired by the Council of Nine channeled by Gene’s friend Phylis Schlemmer. See the book, Only Planet of Choice by Palden Jenkins.

[@mikebasil4832]

Thank you, Gene, for Star Trek. 🖖🏻🖖🏼🖖🏽🖖🏾🖖🏿

[@natmyrrh2412]

Thank you for this enlightened excerpt. 👍 💜

[@SYLTales]

You're most welcome!

[@fgdj2000]

He was a very complicated man. I recommend reading (or listening to) Mark A. Altman & Edward Gross' Star Trek: The Fifty Year Mission, where get an amazing glimpse at the incredible dichotomy this man was. I think he was an amazing visionary who was also a very fallible man of his time. And in general the book is also an amazing document of many of the people involved in Star Trek over the years, what their intentions were and what experiences they've had. It's a little like Citizen Kane where kinda put all the pieces together while reading.

[@julians9070]

Very pleased with the speech of Gene Roddenberry. Always looking forward to watching a rerun of the original episodes. It is not the the display of the futuristic technology that made me like to watch whatever episode I could watch on television. Star Trek also made me understand that we have to co-exist on earth if we have to co-exist in long distance space travel.

[@manfromearth8656]

Yes

[@landrecce]

The enlightened mind! There is no conflict! The future is bright!

[@larrylarry1]

I’ve got that LP too. College speech? Convention speech? The Cage was accused of being too cerebral, by the suits.

[@SYLTales]

I have the LP and CD. The CD is nice, as it adds a few things, such as some talk about the _Genesis II_ pilot and how the suits wanted it to have _Planet of the Apes_ elements. The material is from when GR was making his living on the college lecture circuit. I'm not sure what college this was, but I know that he gave essentially the same material when he lectured at the University of Nebraska in the 1970s. There are multiple stories about "The Cage." The one GR always gave was that the network rejected it as "too cerebral." However, the one Herb Solow (GR's boss at Desilu) gave was very different account. He said that when he screened it for NBC, the bigwigs figured out _during the screening_ that Majel was Roddenberry's mistress. They didn't want that kind of drama and potential liabilities if something went south, so they told Solow to dump her. They had serious misgivings about Spock, as has always been reported. As for the plot, it wasn't that it was too cerebral, it was that they'd been promised action/adventure and didn't get it. "Where No Man Has Gone Before" isn't for dummies either, but it has the action/adventure that GR had promised. I think GR concocted the story about it being too cerebral and NBC not wanting a female XO so that he didn't have to tell Majel the truth. Would _you_ want to tell your mistress the truth? I think he said to Majel: "Honey, the studio doesn't think a woman can be the XO. They said the show's too smart for a TV audience. They might make me take out Spock. I'm so sorry, baby, it's not my fault. I really tried, but the suits are such idiots!" So the story about it being too cerebral stuck until long after both GR's and Majel's deaths, when Solow said what actually happened. This is why real history is never known until long after an event. You need time for everyone involved to be dead. They can neither object to the real story nor make anyone's life difficult if it comes to light.

[@SYLTales]

I'm giving serious thought to holding a live stream review of *Star Trek: Picard* on Friday evening rather than dropping a recorded review tomorrow after the episode. Comments, questions, nasty remarks ... ?

[@SYLTales]

Make that tonight. Turns out that _Picard_ drops at midnight. The stream will be at 10/9/8/7pm in North America. Now to watch it again and maybe get some sleep, it being 4am here and my not having slept ... ;)

[@SYLTales]

@ no disagreement there. _Picard_ is what happens when you give actors creative control.

[@supercrew63]

those words are so true and pretty much ageless

[@SYLTales]

I'm giving serious thought to holding a live stream review of *Star Trek: Picard* on Friday evening rather than dropping a recorded review tomorrow after the episode. Comments, questions, nasty remarks ... ?

[@supercrew63]

@@SYLTales cool I look forward to it. I hope Picard, is not gonna be more of the same as we have been getting from tv today

[@SYLTales]

@@supercrew63 turns out that _Picard_ drops on midnight, I've scheduled the stream for 10/9/8/7pm in North America tonight.

[@montumeroe9593]

I watched the original series when I was a few months old baby.

[@mikebasil4832]

I remember at a very young age when Star Trek (in syndication for the early 70s) would air Sundays on CBC after Coronation Street. That's how and when I started watching and enjoying it.

[@montumeroe9593]

It is like the Charlie Chaplin speech.

[@madinnTaiwan]

😮😊😅❤😂read your book when l was on holidays accident haha,1984 2 same year,re read 1984 yeah 👍😅

[@halkyles7728]

Unfortunately, Roddenberry would be devastated by the current state of humanity. Everything that happened in the 60's that was truly inspirational, came to a crashing halt in 1980, and has continued to get worse. I see little hope for the optimistic vision that Roddenberry had for us.

[@SYLTales]

GR's vision is never going to be a reality, and it has nothing to do with Reagan. It has to do with the fact that people like to own stuff. What the hippies wanted to do in the 1960s was doomed to failure, which they figured out by their adulthood (i.e., the 1980s). Humanity is not, nor has it ever been, nor will it ever evolve out of owning stuff. We'll go to the stars owning our own stuff. There will be bitter divorces with a lot of time spent deciding who gets what stuff. We'll get paid in currency that we then use to buy more stuff. This is how human beings have been since Homo Sapiens first looked out of their caves. All that's happened is that we developed civilizations that put checks on some of our more violent tendencies. That's how we'll go to the stars: with the same frailties and foibles that Ellison, Shakespeare, and Aristotle wrote about. Hopefully we'll behave in a more civilized fashion, but social media proves that without in-person checks on their behavior, most people are complete jerks. That said, I really, really enjoy _Star Trek_ 's hopeful vision for humanity. I don't think it will ever happen, but I really enjoy it. Consider it a noble goal towards which to strive, even if you know you'll never reach it. From my perspective, whomever produces _Star Trek_ is that vision's steward. Even if you don't believe it will ever happen (as is obviously the case with that hack-fraud Alex Kurtzman and his mafia of character assassins), you still steward that vision, writing stories as though you believe it. Unfortunately, Kurtzman and his mafia of character assassins explicitly spit in the face of that optimistic view of the future. Kurtzman is a horrible steward of _Star Trek_ . A good steward comes to work every day producing a series or movie as though they believe that vision with every fiber of their being. If they can't do that, they shouldn't be stewarding _Star Trek_ .

[@Special_Tactics_Force_Unit]

It's not over yet!

[@julians9070]

@@SYLTales You have explained very well. There is something youu can describe too man people who are more than well off materialistically and not evolved ; Top qualification and a job or profession, high income, no manners and no culture.

[@nickhartman6372]

You guys are a bunch of pessimists, wow. We CAN get there and we WILL get there. Your thoughts shape your reality. By focusing on the negative and giving up all hope, that is the reality you will create for yourself. Have a little faith! And quit watching and obsessing over the news! You will notice your mood improve dramatically when you stop worrying about things you have no control over and start focusing on the things that you enjoy and that makes you happy. One thing is for sure: our existence is no accident or mistake. Humanity is destined for something greater, and with each passing moment we come closer and closer to achieving it. The world is too dark and pessimistic nowadays, being optimistic doesn't cost you a thing

[@Mega-Brick]

@@SYLTales In all fairness, even Star Trek acknowledged humans will never be perfect. What makes the fictional people of the 24th century different from us isn't how far they've come, it's a willingness to try. _That_ is achievable, even now.

[@vanbelkom]

I don't know how the hell you top that.

[@MrHouseparty6]

@SavingStarTrek

[@SYLTales]

Sadly, _Star Trek_ has been dead since 2009. What's been produced since then is some other scifi with the words "Star Trek" mistakenly duct-taped to the film cans.

[@JonathanHudgins]

A man of his time...if he only knew of the Internet age and manipulation involved in that.

[@SYLTales]

I'm giving serious thought to holding a live stream review of *Star Trek: Picard* on Friday evening rather than dropping a recorded review tomorrow after the episode. Comments, questions, nasty remarks ... ?

[@SYLTales]

So _Star Trek: Picard_ drops on midnight. That means the live stream will be tonight, Thursday, at 10/9/8/7pm in North America.

[@chrishancock687]

GR was a Bodhisattva.

[@travisallicott7713]

I want meet to gene roddenberry someday come my dream true

[@SYLTales]

@travisallicott7713 that would definitely be an interesting trick, at this point. In the 1970s, GR made something of a living on the college lecture circuit. In fact, this track (and all of the _Inside Star Trek_ album) originates from his lectures. I very nearly had the opportunity to see him, but I was 10 or 11 at the time, and my Boomer parents didn't really want to take me. I knew older _Star Trek_ fans who were going, but my parents didn't know any of them, and so didn't want to leave me in their care. I will forever remain jealous of my older friends. I think I've learned to forgive my now-deceased parents. 😁 That said, as a Gen-Xer, if the lecture had been during the day, I'd've squirreled my way in and been home before the street lights came on.

[@pauls.6360]

Sheldon Cooper would be spinning in his grave right now if it weren't for the upcoming "Old Sheldon" sci-fi series.

[@hermask815]

sadly the spectrum has narrowed since the 1990ties. is necessary more than ever to boldly think outside our petty boxes.

[@SYLTales]

I guess I'm not sure what you mean by "the spectrum" in this context. Can you be more specific?

[@hermask815]

@@SYLTales Speaking for the political positions in the German parliament since 1960: if positions were 20 feet apart then … now the positions are only 7 feet apart , but there’s more fighting about this. Every party want to appeal to the center where most of the people are. While I think it’s good to have no extremists * , old solutions will stop working for modern problems ( climate , pollution, resources, poverty) * in parliament

[@KNS1996DFS]

18,000,000 people every week. Can you imagine? Sunday Night Football doesn't get that.

[@SYLTales]

Until cable TV, there were only three channels (four, if you counted PBS, and nobody did). The networks fought tooth and claw for the ratings. Fewer entertainment choices meant that viewers watched more TV. One thing that SyFy proved during the era that it made so many great scifi shows ( _Stagate SG1/Atlantis/Universe, Farscape, Andromeda, Battlestar Galactica, Dune, Children of Dune_ ) is that there are at best about 4M scifi fans in the US and Canada. That's how many viewers they were consistently getting. I mean _true_ scifi fans: they'll voluntarily watch _any_ scifi. It takes a lot to alienate them, though Disney seems to be trying hard. When you make modern scifi, you have to keep in mind that there will be only 4M viewers who will watch no matter what. It's possible to have a legitimate, general audience hit, but it's rare. In its entire history, _Star Trek_ has only done it _twice_ (ST4 and ST 2009). Assume your audience will be limited. Assume that you will never go past that 4M mark and be pleasantly surprised if you do. Don't write something that requires a $150M budget for six episodes. There are no 18M TV and stream audiences any more. A 4M audience for a well-written scifi show is what they need to aim for. Many fan films and series produce great work on a shoestring budget. If they can nearly go broke making a labor of love, surely some _paid professionals_ with a major studio behind them can work magic, right? Right? Well, no, it turns out. And don't call me "Shirley." 🛫 They need to fire everyone currently running all the great franchises and hire good writers. Apparently, that's impossible. Our franchises will reclaim their former glory when a number of studios self-terminate by throwing money into streaming services that are doomed to failure. When Paramount+ brings down the studio, they'll start selling IPs for a song. _Star Trek_ will be bought by a new steward who will hopefully do better than Paramount. I've kicked around starting a GoFundMe to raise money to buy _Star Trek_ when Paramount has to sell it. It shouldn't cost much. By then, that hack-fraud Alex Kurtzman and his mafia of character assassins will have devalued it to below nothing. The other studios probably already see it as played-out, but by the time Paramount is in its death throes, even Paramount will have to face facts. If I could scrape together a billion bucks, I might be able to buy it right now. By the time Paramount has to sell it, I might need half that much. Imagine _Star Trek_ run by a true uber-fan: a 59-year-old early Gen-Xer whose very first memory is from TOS: "A Private Little War." I could truthfully promise to maintain the tone established by Gene Roddenberry, as well as being militantly consistent with the lore established from 1966-2005. At this stage in my life, I'm smart enough to Exec Produce: counting beans and hiring people under me to show-run (Seth McFarlane, Vic Mignogna, if I buy the franchise, your agents will get a call in minutes). I could make such good _Star Trek_ that way: by knowing the right people to hire and where to find them (and it ain't in that sewer on the West Coast). The thing about being 59 is that you've worked with a lot of people. I even know whom I'd hire as an executive assistant (she was a project manager I worked with). The people currently show-running _Star Trek_ are juveniles at best, and it really comes out in the writing. They need to spend another 20 years growing up, preferably experiencing significant obstacles along the way. 🖖

[@youtubeuni]

"common mold"..you mean public school?

[@SYLTales]

If he'd known that American schools would become nothing more than communist indoctrination centers, I'm sure GR would have been horrified.

[@jahkaifrierson2482]

He was definitely anti-capitalist bud

[@youtubeuni]

@@jahkaifrierson2482 Gene was anti-consumerism and anti-coercion. Gene said himself that capitalism is a tool and not an ideology.

[@goodwilj]

Religion is the worst culprit of keeping us divided as a people.

[@bryanpascual3543]

It is the other psychological virus that most of us don’t talk about because we have the freedom to believe in lies

[@nickhartman6372]

And also a lack of spirituality. If people abandoned organized religion and focused on their personal spirituality, humanity would be better off for it.

[@Black-Re4per]

He predicted wokeism just look at all the new shows and movies

[@Giubarchetta]

hes literally talking about embracing differences bruh...

[@stanimirgeorgiev.87]

This video is well placed manipulation. There is an order for everything and a way for you to work with the world and people. Unfortunately, the way it is currently done by indiscriminately mixing races and cultures is the worst possible way to work with the palette of the various sub-human races. So for now we choose "pathetic" nationalism. I thank you very much, BUT NO THANKS. It is NOT you who will say what, how and why. The question is how my point can been explain this to a sir eye that can no longer see beyond its triangle and does one stupid thing after another stupid thing. Besides of that, Star Trek is a great show. Above all, it is art, not a means of manipulation.