Summary
Star Trek: Lower Deckshas perfected the art of deep cuts and callbacks to previousStar Trekseries and movies in the four seasons the show has had thus far. In the premiere of the fifth and final season, “Dos Cerritos,” the writers demonstrated their proficiency at the art of deep cuts again, throwing in a simple one-liner that was actually a dig at the franchise’s creator, Gene Roddenberry.
Spoilers ahead for the first episode ofLower Decksseason 5.“Dos Cerritos” involves a classicStar Trektrope: crossing over to an alternate timeline and meeting alternate versions of the main characters. Nearly everyStar Trekseries has at least one episode based on this trope. When the U.S.S. Cerritos encounters their alternate universe counterparts, they discover that alternate Mariner, who goes by Becky Freeman, is the captain of the alternate Cerritos.
Each character pairs up with the alternate version of themselves to resolve the space-time breach, and it does not go well for anyone (except the Boimlers, who get along famously). After the crews have been working together for a while, tensions explode into open conflict. As Captain Becky Freeman and Mariner enter a cargo bay where dozens of crew members are yelling at or physically fighting their alternates, Freeman yells:
There’s no interpersonal conflict allowed on my ship!
It seems like a throw-away line that fits the character well, given that the episode has already established that Captain Becky Freeman runs her ship with fear and an iron fist. But hardcore fans will recognize this as a jibe at one of Roddenberry’s Rules for theStar Trekuniverse.
Roddenberry’s Rules for ‘Star Trek’
Star Trek’screator had a clear idea of what he wanted the show’s universe to look like, and he communicated this vision to everyone who worked on the pilot and first season ofStar Trek: The Original Series (TOS)right from the beginning. InThe Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek: The First 25 Years,several writers who worked onTOSoutlined the strict rules Roddenberry laid down about what was and wasn’t allowed in hisStar Trekuniverse.
One of the rules Roddenberry was particularly adamant about was “no interpersonal conflict” on the Enterprise. TheStar Trekcreator believed that, in the future, humankind would be so philosophically evolved there wouldn’t be conflict, ever. He acknowledged that all good stories need conflict, but the conflict in each episode needed to come from an external source, usually analien speciesthat was less evolved than his idealistic vision of humankind.
To say Roddenberry took a hands-on approach to enforcing his rulesfor theStar Trekuniverse would be a gross understatement. Several writers who worked onTOSconfirmed that Roddenberry insisted on approving every script. When he didn’t like a script, he would demand last-minute rewrites, or, in a few cases, assign a rewrite to a different writer without informing the original writer.
The No Conflict Rule Created Behind-the-Scenes Conflict
It would be an understatement to say that the “no interpersonal conflict” rule created conflict in the writer’s room. Understandably, the writers who had their scripts rewritten without their consent were livid. Roddenberry was often evasive or unapologetic when confronted about rewrites. Allegedly, some of the show’s original writers quit because of Roddenberry’s approach to rewrites, which eventually got him called out.
WhenRoddenberry demanded rewritesto the original teleplay for “The City on the Edge of Forever,” which was written by Harlan Ellison, one of the most respected sci-fi authors of the time, Ellison was furious. He publicly denounced the episode, telling the world that what they saw on the screen wasn’t what he’d written for the show. He later demanded that he not be credited as the sole writer on the episode.
The “no interpersonal conflict” rule created additional tension because the writers felt stifled by both the rule and how strictly Roddenberry enforced it. No matter how many times theTOSwriters told Roddenberry that the show would be more interesting and believable if there was tension between the crew members, Roddenberry refused to budge. As a result, the writers had a difficult time coming up with enough story ideas to fill a season’s worth of episodes. It’s hard to tell a story about humans without addressing the squabbles that arise from interacting with other humans.
How ‘Star Trek’ Has Evolved
Fans who’ve watched anyStar TrekbeyondTOSknow that, eventually, the franchise abandoned Roddenberry’s interpersonal conflict rule. This began after the commercial failure ofStar Trek: The Motion Picture,when Paramount decided tokick Roddenberry outof the creative process for futureStar Trekprojects.
When discussions aboutStar Trek: The Next Generation (TNG)began, Roddenberry demanded to be included, and Paramount agreed. Unfortunately, he went straight back to his repressive control of the writer’s room, and the firsttwo seasons ofTNGsuffered. By the time the creative team started working on the third season, Roddenberry was in his 60s, and stepped away from the project to tend to his health. With the creative team free from Roddenberry’s tight control, the story lines inTNGchanged dramatically. Roddenberry could no longer push back on the changes to his vision, and so the franchise began to drift away from Roddenberry’s rules.
TNGmaintainedRoddenberry’s visionof an idealized future free from war, where humans relied on their intellect, diplomacy, and high-minded values to maintain peaceful relations with other cultures. However, it also acknowledged that even the most philosophically evolved humans still have emotions and fight with each other. The tension between the members of the bridge crew added a depth and relatability to theStar Trekuniverse thatTOSnever had.
The franchise completely abandoned Roddenberry’s vision of a conflict-free, utopian future withStar Trek: Deep Space Nine(DS9).The show was set in Bajoran space, which had just been liberated from decades of violent occupation by the Cardassians. The station’s second-in-command was a former freedom fighter, who participated in acts of (arguably necessary) terrorism. Commander Benjamin Sisko was an outspoken black man who wasn’t afraid to fight with his words or his fists. The bridge crew openly argued about how to handle everything from day to day operations to crisis situations.
Many Trekkies rejectedDS9when it premiered, correctly pointing out that it didn’t adhere to Roddenberry’s vision forStar Trek.Others, though, embraced thegritty, complex versionof theStar Trekuniverse. Today,DS9is widely considered one of thebest series in the franchise. And sinceDS9, the Trekverse has embraced plot points and story lines that center on conflicts among crew members. For the most part, that decision has made the franchise better.
Though Roddenberry’s hope that humankind would move past petty conflicts in a post-scarcity world is a nice idea, it didn’t take into account the fact humans will always be ego-driven creatures and will inevitably clash. Believing that an entire crew of people who live together and work together 24/7 never even bicker is a stretch at best, and at worst, painfully naive. The decision to leave Roddenberry’s rule behind and embrace interpersonal conflict, while still maintaining Roddenberry’s optimistic vision of a better future, gave the writers the freedom to create a sci-fi world that people could see themselves living in one day. That’s one of the many reasonsStar Trekendures more than 50 years later.
