Star Trek still matters and BSG is still great!

At the recent NY Comic Con I had the opportunity to sit in on a panel of  Sci-fi authors who were discussing the state of the art as it stands today. I was struck by a couple of things. First there was this general consensus that Star Trek had become terribly dated and non relevant while Battlestar Galactica was fresh and completely relevant. One could argue that this is a very true statement. But I felt that the panel missed a central point. Science fiction, like any other art form is very much an expression of the times in which it was created. Even though JFK had been assassinated in 1963 Star Trek was a product of the Kennedy era. The Federation is not unlike the Peace Corps! It was a time when we lionized astronauts and the can do attitude that came out of the Kennedy Whitehouse. Trek never lost that core sensibility. The Federation is made up (with the exception of most Admirals and Ambassadors) of square jawed Captain America good guys. They do the right thing BECAUSE it is the right thing. Although the characters can be very complex and angst ridden, our Star Fleet heroes all have that strong moral certainty.

Now Battlestar (the BEST show on TV by the way) is very much a reflection of 9/11. Nothing is certain. The bad guys are among us and the good guys blow people out of air locks and kill their wives. Galactica is a very dystopian vision. It is done masterfully and makes for incredibly riveting television. It will also pass fairly quickly in much the same way as X-files did (new film not withstanding). Star Trek has endured since 1966 and almost uninterrupted since 1966 because it’s, admittedly rose colored vision of the future strikes a resonant chord in our collective consciousness. In other words a great many people WANT to think that in the far future humanity will have done away with war, racism, greed, and self centeredness in favor of people who work for the benefit of all. Sure it is pollyana. So is Superman but HE has been going strong since 1938!

The other thing that came up in this panel was the idea that somehow Sci-fi is a separate form of literature with little or no connection to any other kind of fiction. That is just simply wrong. Like any form of literature, Sci-fi begins and ends with good stories and compelling characters. I can create all the starships and black holes I want to but if the people are not believable, and if the story is dull, I have a bad book. That is the same if I am writing a crime novel, or a Civil War era romance, or Science Fiction. Heinlein did this, so did Clarke and Wells. They were not simply wonderful Science Fiction writers. They were just great writers, period.

That’s 30

Holmes