Newsweek Asks if New "Star Trek" Film is Morally Relevant Like Original TV Series Was: That's the Wrong Question

"Has Star Trek Lost It's Moral Relevance?" is the title of an article found in the current Newsweek magazine. It bemoans the fact that the new film doesn't take on moral issues like the original Star Trek TV series did, as did subsequent follow-ons series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise. The article complains that it's a shoot-first, blow things up film.

With respect to Newsweek, that's the wrong question to be asking. After all, Star Trek is a mirror-image of our society, taking on popular questions of the day.

If Star Trek IS a mirror-image of us, what does the lack of a theme say about our SOCIETY? That's the question that the article should be asking. Welcome to moral relativism, which seems to be the rule of the day in a large part of our society. This means that the film can't address popular questions of the day, lest it be labeled racist or bigoted for DARING to take a side. See the Miss California debate to test the validity of this statement.

In addition, the film engages in popular trends of the day, introducing sex and a previously unknown relationship between Spock and Uhura into the franchise, as well as revising the history of the established Star Trek universe, which is a big no-no with "Star Trek" fans, alternate timeline notwithstanding.

Besides, not all the films did what the TV series did. The films built off one another, especially Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. The fourth film had a green theme, the fifth film addressed the issue of God-like superbeings, and the sixth and final film of the old series looked at the reconciliation of two civilizations engaged in a long Cold War, paralleling the relationship between the United States and Russia.

And the makers of the film wanted to recapture the feel of Star Trek II, substituting a half-mad Romulan from the future for Khan.

If anyone's responsible for the film not taking on controversial issues of the day, blame the liberal press and various activists, who seems to be leading the charge on criticizing those who might have ideas different from their own and dare to express those ideas, which increases their own (the liberals, that is) hypocrisy of becoming what they behold: the most intolerant people on the planet.

If that's the expectation, then this film is right on target.