The first episode of Star Trek aired 46 years ago today. To celebrate the anniversary of one of the greatest science fiction series of all time, Google featured a magnificent doodle (captured in the photos above) on their home page.
In a recent episode of the London-based series “Reality Check,” aptly titled “Trek Nation,” Alex Fitch and Dr. Marek Kukula conducted an interview with Eugene ‘Rod’ Roddenberry, son of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, about his father’s legacy and the impact the television show had on its viewers.
Rod learned a lot about the show - its influence, its messaging - and his father, who passed away in 1991, through the fans. These were lives shaped by science fiction and driven by a quest to advance and understand the universe.
Why is Star Trek so important, to this very day? Roddenberry, whose television documentary Trek Nation pays homage to his father’s legacy, sums it up nicely:
“(It) represents this idea of a future where we all work together for the greater good but we no longer fear difference and change. We’ve learned that it’s the diversity on our planet and beyond that we should be thirsting for.”
Many Star Trek fans informed Rod that the show inspired them to work as scientists, engineers, and astronomers. The rest can be discovered through this Community Audio feature from the Internet Archive.
Grab the torrent of the entire Q&A session here. It’s definitely worth a listen: http://bit.ly/treknationia
