Post by Jinsei on Apr 6, 2007 10:55:21 GMT -5
Ok, I know this is a day late, but I didn't log on at all yesterday... due to me working from 7am - 10pm, then eating and falling asleep on the couch. So, in honor of April 5th, I thought I'd post this article from startrek.com on "First Contact Day."
04.05.2007
First Contact Day: What Does It Mean?
Editorial by Sandy Stone. The views expressed are those of the author and his alone.
On April 5, we celebrate what the Star Trek universe refers to as "First Contact Day," the most seminal event in human history, as that is the date in 2063 that we first meet an extraterrestrial species — the Vulcans — and are introduced into the galactic community of spacefaring societies.
(Not the first meeting of human and alien in Star Trek canon, strictly speaking, but the first that was above-board and that broadly impacted human affairs.)
It's a fictional occasion, of course, but it's a key element of Trek lore that explores how we got from "here" to "there." It was a moment during an already outstanding film that resonated deeply with the fans, drawing cheers in theaters around the country when that alien astronaut dropped his hood and revealed his pointed ears. It's a scene that still gives us goosebumps when we watch it, in no small part due to Jerry Goldsmith's incredible score.
The music, the drama, the performances, all add up to an outstanding entertainment. But as in many things, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Because this event called "First Contact" that was cleverly scripted by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore symbolizes something that is essential to the mythos of Star Trek that we fans so loyally embrace.
Mythology, as scholars like Joseph Campbell have taught, is a very powerful motivator in the human psyche — it helps define our thinking, our culture, our priorities. Certainly Star Trek is a form of mythology that inspires and motivates — look around at all the inventions that have their roots in faithful viewing of the Original Series. The big difference between this type of mythology and others that prevail across the Earth is, we know this one is fiction. We know with certainty that the events of the Star Trek chronology have not taken place, and the extent to which they do in the future will be solely a result of our determination to make it so (excuse the pun).
It is an empowering vision that gives us humans credit for having the capacity to solve our own problems and find our own way.
It is not a vision that depends on some entity coming down from the sky to solve our problems for us.
Let's look at what happened at First Contact: Zefram Cochrane, a human (quite a flawed one at that), invented a faster-than-light engine, flew it, and the resulting warp signature caught the attention of a passing Vulcan ship. Realizing that Earth society (which, according to "Carbon Creek," was on their radar for some time) had survived its devastating wars and had risen from its ashes to become warp-capable, the Vulcans came and greeted us.
They came to be our friends, not our saviors.
(Yes, there was that little matter of future humans coming to save the day, but they were only there to undo the interference of their contemporaries, and allow history to take its original course.)
Repeat: They came to be our friends, not our saviors. We had to save ourselves first.
It's fiction. It does not pretend to be real. But like any good mythology, kept in its proper place, it's filled with lessons, values and considerations which, properly scrutinized, can enrich and ennoble us.
History has shown repeatedly, generation after generation, century after century, that the end of the world is not nigh, and that if humans don't fix it, it ain't getting fixed. Yet despite the obvious timeworn evidence, too many of us still believe in certain disempowering and dubious mythologies that imply that all our efforts are for naught, that there's no point in even trying, because (fill-in-the-blank) is going to come down, any day now, and set things straight.
Faith in a higher power can be a good and constructive thing, but all causality in human affairs is strictly in human hands, and this we must wrap our brains around proactively. It's up to us to stop waging war against each other. It's up to us to reverse the environmental damage we've inflicted upon our planet. It's up to us to sort out our priorities, question our assumptions, and demand honesty and integrity of ourselves and each other. It's up to us to define our future and make it come to pass.
Maybe then and only then will someone come down from the sky — not to save us — but to shake our hands. (Or salute us, as the case may be.)
Comments? E-mail us at editor@startrek.com.
First Contact Day: What Does It Mean?
Editorial by Sandy Stone. The views expressed are those of the author and his alone.
On April 5, we celebrate what the Star Trek universe refers to as "First Contact Day," the most seminal event in human history, as that is the date in 2063 that we first meet an extraterrestrial species — the Vulcans — and are introduced into the galactic community of spacefaring societies.
(Not the first meeting of human and alien in Star Trek canon, strictly speaking, but the first that was above-board and that broadly impacted human affairs.)
It's a fictional occasion, of course, but it's a key element of Trek lore that explores how we got from "here" to "there." It was a moment during an already outstanding film that resonated deeply with the fans, drawing cheers in theaters around the country when that alien astronaut dropped his hood and revealed his pointed ears. It's a scene that still gives us goosebumps when we watch it, in no small part due to Jerry Goldsmith's incredible score.
The music, the drama, the performances, all add up to an outstanding entertainment. But as in many things, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Because this event called "First Contact" that was cleverly scripted by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore symbolizes something that is essential to the mythos of Star Trek that we fans so loyally embrace.
Mythology, as scholars like Joseph Campbell have taught, is a very powerful motivator in the human psyche — it helps define our thinking, our culture, our priorities. Certainly Star Trek is a form of mythology that inspires and motivates — look around at all the inventions that have their roots in faithful viewing of the Original Series. The big difference between this type of mythology and others that prevail across the Earth is, we know this one is fiction. We know with certainty that the events of the Star Trek chronology have not taken place, and the extent to which they do in the future will be solely a result of our determination to make it so (excuse the pun).
It is an empowering vision that gives us humans credit for having the capacity to solve our own problems and find our own way.
It is not a vision that depends on some entity coming down from the sky to solve our problems for us.
Let's look at what happened at First Contact: Zefram Cochrane, a human (quite a flawed one at that), invented a faster-than-light engine, flew it, and the resulting warp signature caught the attention of a passing Vulcan ship. Realizing that Earth society (which, according to "Carbon Creek," was on their radar for some time) had survived its devastating wars and had risen from its ashes to become warp-capable, the Vulcans came and greeted us.
They came to be our friends, not our saviors.
(Yes, there was that little matter of future humans coming to save the day, but they were only there to undo the interference of their contemporaries, and allow history to take its original course.)
Repeat: They came to be our friends, not our saviors. We had to save ourselves first.
It's fiction. It does not pretend to be real. But like any good mythology, kept in its proper place, it's filled with lessons, values and considerations which, properly scrutinized, can enrich and ennoble us.
History has shown repeatedly, generation after generation, century after century, that the end of the world is not nigh, and that if humans don't fix it, it ain't getting fixed. Yet despite the obvious timeworn evidence, too many of us still believe in certain disempowering and dubious mythologies that imply that all our efforts are for naught, that there's no point in even trying, because (fill-in-the-blank) is going to come down, any day now, and set things straight.
Faith in a higher power can be a good and constructive thing, but all causality in human affairs is strictly in human hands, and this we must wrap our brains around proactively. It's up to us to stop waging war against each other. It's up to us to reverse the environmental damage we've inflicted upon our planet. It's up to us to sort out our priorities, question our assumptions, and demand honesty and integrity of ourselves and each other. It's up to us to define our future and make it come to pass.
Maybe then and only then will someone come down from the sky — not to save us — but to shake our hands. (Or salute us, as the case may be.)
Comments? E-mail us at editor@startrek.com.