The Mission
As I write this, it is April 6th, 2020, at about noon. It also happens to be Stardate 47634.44, but that's a story for another day. Right now, the world seems pretty bleak. The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically altered what it means to be part of society with no end in sight. Every day, we hear about more people getting sick and more people dying. We see so many governments failing in their crisis response and millions of people sheltering in place wondering what comes next. As of today, I have been indefinitely furloughed at my place of employment and I'm not terribly sure how we're going to pay the next mortgage, let alone what we will do if we get sick. As I said, it seems pretty bleak.
Like so many other people, I have been feeling helpless and hopeless, and acutely aware that so many of the things that I have planned for/looked forward to/trained for are likely going to be different. I decided that I needed to be reminded that the future can be a good place. For me, one place that I can always count on to remind me of that has been the world of Star Trek.
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I have always been a fan of Star Trek. When I was a child, The Next Generation was an example of what the world (universe) could be if we all chose to work together. The Federation represented a competent government that placed value on science, discovery, and equality. Voyager showed me what it could look like when people work together during a crisis and how to maintain values and ethics in the face of adversity. Later on, Deep Space Nine showed me that even though people and organizations make mistakes along the way, intense crisis can be overcome. As I became an adult, Enterprise showed me how the human condition of curiosity can drive us forward into the future. The Original Series reminded me how simple ideologies can grow and change into philosophies. The revamped movies showed me that retold stories can still be new with a different perspective.
So, given both my desire for visions of a Utopian future and my home-based free time, I am going to be embarking on a quest. I will be attempting to watch all of the live actions Star Trek stories, in chronological order by stardate (i.e. the date at which most of the action is supposed to have occurred). Every couple episodes or movies, I will update my blog with the basics of what has happened in the Star Trek universe, and what my thoughts about those events are through the lens of my experience now.
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The logistics of this are a bit staggering. There are 7 different television series, 13 movies, and over 743 episodes and movies combined. If I were to watch Star Trek 24/7, this project would take me over 24 days to complete. I expect that it will take slightly longer.
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The list that I am following is based off of the website at the bottom of this page. That website does a pretty good job of explaining how they are managing pesky things like time travel and stardate inconsistency. I will be following similar guidelines. It seems that the biggest challenge to this project might be in Star Trek Discovery, It is set before the events of The Original Series, but the episodes are still being made. Therefore, I plan to watch as many episodes as I can in correct chronological order, and I reserve the right to watch as yet unreleased episodes as they come out.
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The time has come for me to begin this journey. As someone that I'm excited to revisit is fond of saying, "Engage".