Happy Golden Anniversary, Star Trek!

“Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. It’s five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

Fifty years ago, on September 8, 1966 William Shatner, the actor who played Captain James T. Kirk, first spoke those words when “Star Trek” (the original series) was aired on NBC. (Star Trek: The Original Series only lasted three seasons.)

The show, created by Gene Roddenberry, an American TV screenwriter and producer, had an optimistic dream showing humanity two hundred years into the future being the best it could be. Roddenberry said, “Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms. If we cannot learn to actually enjoy those small differences, then we do not deserve to go out into space and meet the diversity that is almost certainly out there.”

From the original series was spawned these TV series—Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Enterprise. Not to mention twelve movies for the big screen, countless books and memorabilia.

And the vision will continue on the small screen in 2017 when CBS All Access premiers Star Trek: Discovery, a series created by Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman. The show takes place a decade before the events of the original Star Trek series where Discovery explores previously mentioned events from the history of Star Trek while following the crew of the USS Discovery. The show hopes to carry on the legacy of the previous series and feature a diverse cast. Star Trek: Discovery will appear on CBS in January before moving to All Access and will consist of 13 episodes.

The Star Trek franchise has affected its viewers’ worldview. Writer Ro Laurie Reddick realized this in her article, “How Star Trek Changed My Life.” She realizes Star Trek depicts a utopian society when she writes, “If we were to have even the smallest part of it [Star Trek] in our very real future, we have to start working on it now. That belief got me working in my community and donating my time with charities and other organizations to help make the world a better place—and help me become a better person.”

Author Michael Thal says, “The Abduction of Joshua Bloom came to me in a dream one night four decades ago. It tells the tale of a high school track star being abducted by aliens.” Thal attests that his novel was strongly influenced by Star Trek for his novel shows humanity in a positive light. Thal says, “One of the novel’s themes is ‘humanity has potential.’”

The Star Trek franchise is still active in 2016. “Star Trek Beyond,” directed by Justin Lin, is now playing in theaters. In this newest Star Trek movie the USS Enterprise and its crew explore uncharted space where they uncover a ruthless enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test. 

Star Trek will probably be around for another 50 years continuing Roddenberry’s legacy of a world where people appreciate their differences and thrive on each other’s eccentricities. Roddenberry espoused a basic Jewish theme—Tikkun Olam, repairing the world through social action and social justice. And if enough of us embrace this paradigm, the future Star Trek predicts will eventually come to pass.