Brock Peters, who decades before had knocked it out of the park as Tom Robinson in the classic movie adaptation of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, had two prominent roles in the Star Trek franchise with Joseph Sisko being the bigger.
Since starting this blog I have made it an annual occasion to "give it all back to God" and cover subject matter specific to the Christian life's purpose of promoting the faith in society. True, the whole things is His to begin with which is why I'm not concerned about reach because I know I can leave that up to Him. Guns and retro gaming being my life's chief recreational passions I wished to turn them into a means of fulfilling His purpose for my life and these writings are part of that.
The annual post comes a bit early for 2023 (I would normally hold out until March) but the occasion is my viewing of the Star Trek Deep Space Nine 20-year post-ending documentary What We Left Behind and I thought I should segue off that while it's still fresh in the mind. Times in Western Civilization changed in just 2 decades to a level difficult to fathom...either that or this sort of thing happens every generational cycle and I'm still too young to fully appreciate it. It was insightful to get raw perspective from the actors and production crew as to what they loved, hated, and wished in hindsight that they'd done differently.
I would link to the production in order to let readers get perspective for themselves but this time I must consider that a documentary of nearly 2 hours is only for those with great interest in the subject matter. I appreciate all of the "classic" era of Star Trek: The Original Series is due great respect for all the ways it proved seminal while The Next Generation through Enterprise are what I grew up with so I'll always have that vibe of nostalgia. I like each of them for different reasons which is why both my wife and I enjoy just viewing them again from time-to-time, but I'm going to start today by going against the assertion made in What We Left Behind and offer my perspective that Deep Space Nine is the most conservative of the 5 classic series.
Avery Brooks' true political orientation is unknown but he acknowledges fatherlessness as a major issue that disproportionately affects minority communities while the impulse of activists from back then to today is blaming alleged unconscious racism
Deep Space Nine is the only series with a special positive focus on religion albeit in a "detached" form since 1) Bajoran mysticism is like Islam without the life restrictions and 2) the "gods" are real extradimensional beings (that fall short of the criteria for true godhood and are more like angels)
What We Left Behind acknowledges Deep Space Nine's nuanced portrayal of terrorism wouldn't have been received nearly as well post-9/11 yet the series went out of its way to show the multiple perspectives involved before turning the matter on its head: the former oppressors have to fight for their own liberation and are advised as such by their former terrorist opposition which makes it a classic tale of fighting for independence with all its glorious and ugly aspects
Through the acknowledgement of Commander Sisko himself early in the series and manifested in the character of Michael Eddington the ideals of the Federation are openly-questioned, while the 2-parter set on Earth and the entire arc of Section 31 go so far as to show the Roddenberry vision as farcical because such a paradise society is only possible through the efforts of select people in the background willing to sacrifice their consciences to keep it secure
I was among those who enjoyed "Far Beyond the Stars" for its honesty and felt no "white guilt" about the way things were in our past society when I saw it (contrary to how activists would rather I view it today), I still note it as the first use of Scripture in Star Trek since The Original Series, and it isn't incompatible with the historical fact that the fight against skin tone discrimination prevailed in America thanks to the support of Caucasian Christian Republicans who today find themselves continuing to fight for the same (only now they're the demographic being unfairly marginalized)
I realize I could keep making this list longer and longer so I'll wrap it up with two more key points:
Ira Behr withheld a point from his production team for Deep Space Nine not addressing "sexual identity" as far as he would've liked; on the one hand it's understandable that if a team holds to a particular side of the sociopolitical spectrum their writing will have an inherent bias towards it, yet I submit Deep Space Nine is better for not going that far (regardless of the reasons behind it) and while the episodes "Rejoined" and "Profit and Lace" may be embraced by activists for allegedly homosexual and transsexual content the positive light of both is undercut by their full context...if anything "The Outcast" in The Next Generation did a better job addressing both matters but still undercut itself deep by showing sexual conformity as achievable possibility with proper treatment plus a legitimate practice of that particular society (which, for the record, I believe in both ideas)
In "Homefront" Joseph Sisko makes the strongest assertion for individual liberty in time of crisis plus the paranoia (and opportunity for power mongering) crisis can prompt which leads people to consider thoughts and actions they otherwise never would, something that achieved pertinence all over again during COVID-19
The Dominion War and the desperate pragmatism it wrought is worth a study its own, starting with the fact that if Gene Roddenberry were still around to do so he never would've signed off on the idea since full-on warfare fit no part of his rose-tinted vision for the future. "Being real" like this is what in hindsight I can now see as the reason why, as an American conservative, I better-appreciate the Rick Berman era of Star Trek (TNG Season 3 through the end of Enterprise) than I do Roddenberry, even though the latter is still due great respect for how trailblazing it was and [of course] without Gene Roddenberry there never would've been a Star Trek or The Next Generation in the first place. Star Trek, from my perspective, is one of numerous examples of the first rule of art: regardless of artist intent it is still up to the audience to choose how it gets received hence why one-sided portrayals (which post-classic Star Trek is egregiously guilty of, in some cases shamelessly so) is a path to failure because as strongly as the artists may believe in a cause it's a sad fact that today too many are allowing such beliefs to bias their readings of a target audience (or worse: they just selfishly care more about virtue signaling than reaching out to people).
What started as an evaluation of an evaluation of one of my favorite TV series has turned into a criticism of the direction First World popular culture has shifted in less than a generation; that could be the point God wanted made here in the first place. In light of that I should emphasize how our freedom of choice as audiences of artistic works is the same as our freedom of choice as consumers in general: we have no obligation to enable with our patronage any business or entity who openly or otherwise stands against what we know to be right and true. First World Christians especially today should do their homework by being conscious of where portions of their money end up after it gets spent, to which I can endorse 2nd Vote (https://www.2ndvote.com/) as a source I've consulted for years.
The Scriptures are clear born-again Christians are not to be conformed to this world yet we are not to be isolated from it either (unless it's one's individual calling but I'm in no position to speak on that). Quite the opposite: we should be a positive influence in our culture, enabling good and standing against evil. That the world keeps drifting in a direction that considers evil as good and vice versa should be the rally call to get involved because though we have no illusions that evil will eventually reach a level of cultural prominence that will prompt God's direct intervention, we have no timetable on when that'll occur which means as long as there's a chance to take our culture back we should avail ourselves of it...and like I said last paragraph we all have access to one significant power to do so.