G. K. Chesterton wrote, “Science in the modern world has many uses; its chief use, however, is to provide long words to cover the errors of the rich.” A rich man cannot be a thief. He must be a kleptomaniac. America, the richest society in the history of the world, applies this use of science with diligence.
We apply it most diligently on behalf of our children. No red-blooded American child would misbehave. Our children have disorders.
My colleague Chris Hammons has posted some excellent reflections on the enduring themes in Star Trek. So I thought that I would post on some of the particular qualities of the most recent movie. On the whole I thought that it was very well done and I had a few thoughts about the way that the cast and crew set it up.
Benedict Cumberbatch is terrifically cast for the particular kind of villain that he plays. Many of us are familiar with his work as Sherlock in the recent hit TV mini-series. In this film he takes a lot of the personality quirks of his Sherlock character and incorporates them into a brooding and diabolical villain. He recites his usual facts and figures and he also portrays a man of mystery whose mind is moving ten times faster than everyone else’s. And as my friend says, ‘it’s not a big step to go from the Sherlock character – nasty 80% of the time – to his Star Trek character –nasty 100% of the time.’ All in all it is a delightful villain experience.
In the realm of science fiction, there is a big divide between Trekkers and Star Wars fans. I consider myself the latter, and always enjoyed the more mystical, quasi-religious elements of Star Wars to the technical science of Star Trek. That said, I grew up watching both and one of my earliest memories is watching Star Trek on the family television at a young age. My parents remember watching the original series on the dormitory television during their college days. That was over forty years ago. There is a new movie opening today that continues the adventures of those same characters introduced during the days of LBJ, the Vietnam War, and social turmoil. Why does Star Trek persist? Here are three reasons:
