If unfamiliar with the fictional world of Star Trek, this article explains the basics.
The new film, Star Trek, opens with a scene on the USS Kelvin, a starship which is caught at the mercy of a much more powerful enemy force. When the ship's captain is captured, the first officer is forced to make the decision to face certain death for himself but allow his crew to escape via smaller craft or attempt to escape with the entire ship intact and risk losing all hands.
The first officer come provisional captain is, in the storyline of the Star Trek universe, George Kirk, father of beloved Enterprise captain James T. Kirk. Without ruining the sequence, let it be simply said that Kirk's father is faced with an unbeatable situation to which there's no right or wrong answer.
Dr. Paolo Tripodi, Chair of Ethics and Leadership at Marine Corps University, describes the thought process in his lectures as "not a choice between right and wrong; we all know the difference. Imagine your mother and sister are both dying of a terminal disease and you have the antidote-but only enough for one of them. Who do you choose? That is ethics."
These types of situations are common in the Star Trek franchise. From a pragmatic standpoint, of course, it allows the writers to create dramatic moments and compel viewers. But to fans, these conundrums are at the heart of creator Gene Roddenberry's vision of a future where exploration, morality, and the quest for knowledge drive humanity.
Decisive Choice and the Burden of Command
The centerpiece of all incarnations of Star Trek (be it the films or any of the five television series) is the commanding officer. Pike, Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, and Archer led their fictional crews through the far reaches of space while dealing with constant dilemmas and ethical choices.
A recurring plot device is the concept of the Federation's "Prime Directive," which put simply dictates that Starfleet personnel must not interfere with the natural development of races and beings they encounter (For novices, Federation is short for the United Federation of Planets, i.e. the good guy organization to which Earth belongs). This concept is tantamount to a principle unwritten theme of the franchise...do no harm.
In "I, Borg," a fifth season episode of The Next Generation, Captain Picard is forced to choose between introducing a computer program that could prove deadly to an enemy race (the Borg) or allowing a captured enemy to return to his own kind unharmed. A civilian crew member, Guinan, serves as devil's advocate as she and Picard argue the merits and repercussions of slaying a civilization.
In the May 2009 Newsweek article "Enterprise Ethics," writer Marc Bain argues that the latest Trek film focuses more on being active vice cerebral. To illustrate the difference between old and new he references the aforementioned episode: "as the Borg, cut off from the collective mind, begins to recognize itself as an individual, so do Picard and Guinan. The drama is mostly internal, and the main themes are empathy and forgiveness."
Another Next Generation episode, "The First Duty," depicts a Starfleet cadet grappling with the difficult choice of ratting out his teammates or lying before a board of inquiry investigating a multi-shuttle crash. The cadet is lectured from both his team leader and his former commander and knows that either choice will let one of them down. He opts for the truth, of course, and not coincidentally "truth" is what Picard details as every officer's "first duty."
These themes are sometimes only thinly veiled, and larger media have not been blind to the undertones. In a 2008 opinion piece from The Spartan Daily (San Jose State University's paper), Adam Browne writes that the "1991, the movie 'The Undiscovered Country' dealt with the Cold War through the alien Klingons, where a nuclear-like explosion destroys a moon in orbit of the Klingon home world, ravaging their planet. This incident mirrors the infamous 1986 Chernobyl disaster in the former Soviet Union. It was very obvious at the time, as the Klingons were like Communists during the series."
"The Undiscovered Country" shows Kirk faced with heading a peace delegation to a former enemy planet.
Conclusions are not Necessarily Episodic
Over hundreds of hours of programming and feature film (not to mention the libraries of spin-off books, video games, and other media), one crew after another faces tough choices that present varying levels of satisfaction. Much as in real life, the characters are forced to make tough choices and live with the consequences.
Links to Other Articles in this Series
- Star Trek as Utopia
- Spock's Logic and the Value of Scientific Reason (coming soon)
- Star Trek and Cultural Allegory (coming soon)
- Leadership and Command in Star Trek (coming soon)
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