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0000017c-60f7-de77-ad7e-f3f739cf0000Arts & More airs Fridays at 7:50 a.m. and 4:20 p.m.Theme music: "Like A Beginner Again" by Dan Barry of Seas of Jupiter

Why Star Trek Endures

Brandon Stacy (Spock), Brian Gross (Kirk) and Jeff Bond (McCoy) on the bridge of the Enterprise.
Garth Gullekson/Retro Films Studios

Star Trek Beyond opens in movie theaters nationwide July 22. It's the latest entry in a franchise that started on NBC-TV way back in 1966. No other TV show has energized fans and powered spin-offs and "reboots" over the last half-century like it has. Two Kalamazoo Star Trek fans think they know why.

Rick Chambers is a public relations professional who writes new adventures set in the universe of the original series of the 1960's. Four of his scripts have been accepted by Star Trek: New Voyages, an online-only homage to and extension of the first series created by James Cawley with help from a large group of fans and professionals in the entertainment industry.

Chambers says there are three reasons why Star Trek lives on. First, it's hopeful. Chambers says the original show depicted a 23rd century world where most most people lived in peace and harmony. And he says it wasn't shy about episodes that tackled thorny present-day issues like racism. Most of all, Chambers says Star Trek offered good stories that people enjoyed then and now.

Kalamazoo-based science fiction blogger Andrea Johnson says the first Star Trek succeeded because it's easier, and less risky (for TV, at least) to grapple with controversial issues if those stories are set in the future. As she puts it, "Science fiction has always been a safe place to tell the truth."

Star Trek Beyond is the third movie set in the "reboot" universe engineered by director and producer J.J. Abrams. Not all of his decisions, including the destruction of Mr. Spock's home world of Vulcan in the first film, have gone down well with hard-line fans of the franchise.

Chambers admits that he's among those who aren't all that enthusiastic about the "J.J. -verse." But he adds that Abrams and the writers behind the new movies probably didn't have much choice. As the Star Trek "canon" grew over the decades, it became ever-more complex, allowing less and less freedom to tell stories. So Chambers says he understands why Abrams decided to hit the reset button and imagine Star Trek as it might be in an alternate universe.

But that isn't the only problem some people have with the new versions. Johnson says there's way too much attention paid to special effects, fights, and explosions at the expense of exploring ideas like the older shows often did. She concedes that Abrams has been very successful in "taking what the nerds thought they owned and taken it mainstream."

Fans, in fact, do not own Star Trek. It's the intellectual property of CBS and Paramount. Johnson says that means Abrams and company are free to do pretty much whatever they want. Still, Johnson says, "Whatever Captain Kirk was, he was a lot more than just an action hero. Chris Pine (who plays Kirk in the new films) is just an action hero."

StarTrekLongevity.mp3
Hear the edited interview for WMUK's 'Arts & More'

Andy Robins has been WMUK's News Director since 1998 and a broadcast journalist for over 24 years. He joined WMUK's staff in 1985. Under his direction, WMUK has received numerous awards for news reporting.
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