Star Trek and Colonialism part 1

What happens when the starship Enterprise goes “where no one has gone before” but finds people already living there? Can humans in the 23rd century leave behind their colonial past? Can Star Trek be post-colonial or are we destined to recreate Earth history in the stars, century after century?

I have not yet written about the famous Star Trek introductory narration, but this is where it becomes relevant. Whether it is read by William Shatner or the slightly modified version recited by Patrick Stewart, most of us Star Trek fans can recite it from memory:

Can the crew of the Enterprise go boldly into strange new worlds without being colonizers? If we start in the 1960s where Star Trek began it is easy to see that the original creators, including Gene Roddenberry, were not overly concerned with questions about colonization. There was little recognition that a fictional utopian society would at some point need to contend with Earth’s colonial making. And little understanding by American writers and producers that American society of the 1960s was a settler colonial society still grappling with the implications of its past.

The mission described by the opening narration makes this clear. So too does the origins of Star Trek - the way that it was conceived by Gene Roddenberry with an eye to American history rather than the utopian future. Gene Roddenberry had particular ideas about the shape of a utopian society, but these often clashed with what he promised as a television concept in his pitch for Star Trek. In imagining a “Wagon Train to the Stars” Roddenberry built an inherently colonial framework connected to the idea of “the frontier.” In Star Trek the frontier of the American west was reimagined as the final frontier of deep space. But for Star Trek creators, the problems encountered on the frontier of space often reflected the frontier of the American past rather than a future utopia. Having ascended to incredible technological and economic success, humanity turned to the stars to expand its horizons. And there it encountered Indigenous populations who became either adversaries or subjects for Starfleet interference. Q argues this explicitly when he encounters the Enterprise D in the pilot of The Next Generation. Assuming humans are savage and stupid, he appears to them as a 17th century naval captain to drive home the point that humans have never changed - they merely expanded the horizons of their colonial aspirations.

There are two types of colonialism we could think about regarding both history and the future. The first is colonialism as a method of resource extraction - expanding the influence of the home country to extract raw materials for economic gain. The second type often involves resource extraction but includes settlement in colonies to expand influence and enrich the home country. I could use a lot of different historical examples to illustrate both schemes, but it might be more interesting to use examples from Star Trek. We can look at two episodes from The Original Series to explore how Star Trek understood and explored colonialism.

Let’s start with extraction. In “The Devil in the Dark” the Enterprise is summoned to Janus VI, a Federation mining colony which produces “pergium” - an element used in 23rd century nuclear reactors. The miners sent a distress call after being terrorized by an unknown creature which had killed fifty men and sabotaged machinery, halting production in the mine. The extraction of pergium is even more urgent than the safety of the miners. Captain Kirk stresses that the mineral needs of a thousand planets are at stake. The mystery must be solved - “we must have that pergium!” Kirk concludes.

The mission of the Enterprise crew in this case is initially clear. Not to seek out new life, but to protect the strategic interests of the colonial enterprise. The miners are also resolute - hoping only to discover the creature and kill it. Initially, Kirk agrees that their only mission is to protect the mining facility, and that the creature must die.

As so often happens, Spock acts as the voice of caution against the worst instincts of humanity. Spock theorizes that the silicon-based life form is intelligent and that it is attempting to protect its young - silicon pods that are deposited throughout the mine and were regarded as useless mineral byproducts by the miners. Spock argues that to kill the creature would result in the extinction of the species and would be “a crime against science.” Spock underplays the consequences here, refusing to identify the obvious moral implications of completing their mission.

After Kirk wounds the creature with a phaser, Spock establishes a mind-meld with it and learns that the creature is preparing for the extinction of its race. The Horta, as it identifies itself, learns enough from its connection with Spock to etch “NO KILL I “into the wall of the mine. Kirk and Spock realize the horror of the situation and defend the Horta from the angry miners. Finally, Dr. McCoy treats the Horta and saves its life.

Here is where the episode makes a rather unsatisfying final statement about extractivism and colonization. The Enterprise and Federation miners might have faced a difficult choice about whether to abandon mining to save the life of an Indigenous species or at least respect its wishes and its sovereignty. But instead, a compromise is reached with the Horta in which it will use its abilities to aid in the mining of pergium in exchange for survival of its species. I think the fantasy of mutually beneficial colonial extraction is an old one and perennially comforting to the society engaged in extraction. It is based on the implicit understanding that if the balance tips the response of the colonizer will always be violence. As Kirk said, they need that pergium. It is unlikely that even Starfleet would peacefully leave the Horta to its business if it continued in its path of violent resistance.

This all suggests another question that Star Trek rarely addresses in explicit terms. What exactly is the material basis of the Federation’s mission in deep space? To come back to the introductory narration, we know that they are deeply committed to seeking new knowledge and exploring. But exploration has very specific and damaging colonial legacies throughout human history. It is also explicitly linked to extractivism. The production of energy for the project of the Federation’s exploration must be considerable - even in the case of a post-scarcity society. Without facilities like the mining outpost on Janus VI the exploration of space would grind to a halt.

A statement by Leon Trotsky on imperialism is relevant here and helps us to (gently) criticize the stated mission of Starfleet. Trotsky wrote, “Imperialists do not fight for political principles but for market, colonies, raw materials, for hegemony over the world and its wealth.” Nobody in Starfleet would see themselves in this statement, but it nonetheless cuts across their mission in space. If we cancel out market, Starfleet is interested in raw materials. And more than that, they are committed to a type of hegemony in space, even if they can only see their mission as benevolent.

There is a great conversation about this published on Strange Horizons between Una McCormack, Manu Saadia, and Gautam Bhatia in which they unpack some of the implications of the insatiable energy needs of this society. One of the conclusions they reach is that Star Trek is a sort of fantasy about a post-capitalist society in which the bigger questions of political economy can be sidestepped for the convenience of higher ideals and in the service of storytelling. Star Trek shares this with many utopian literatures that spend very little energy worrying about the “how” of the perfect society. On the question of extractivism and colonialism in the Star Trek universe it’s clear that the “how” of the mission can be explained only so much before the colonial implications become too obvious.

The second example that I wanted to think about through the lens of colonialism is The Original Series episode “Arena” This is one of the most famous TOS episodes because of the appearance of The Gorn - a race of brutal lizard people. “Arena” features the battle between Kirk and the Gorn Captain that everyone loves to laugh at because of the lovably clunky makeup design of The Gorn. It has endured in people’s memories for fifty years and the Gorn have become a new and reimagined antagonist in Strange New Worlds.

The thing that is largely forgotten about the Gorn is the setup for “Arena” and the reasons that Kirk found himself in a battle to the death in the first place. The Enterprise is lured to a Federation outpost on Cetus III where they discover that it has been destroyed by unknown attackers. The Enterprise is then attacked by a Gorn ship with Kirk trapped on the surface of Cetus III.

There’s a curveball thrown in at this point - both the Gorn and the Enterprise are being manipulated by a third party - the Metrons. The Metrons are a god-like race of superhumans who demonstrate powers similar to the Q Continuum. They seem unfettered by the laws of time or space and hold both the Enterprise and the Gorn ship in their power. The Metrons wish for Kirk to battle the Gorn captain in an arena constructed on the surface.

All of this is a leadup to a hand-to-hand battle that largely obscures what is most interesting to me about all of this. The Gorn communicate to Kirk that they considered the Federation colony as an incursion into their territory. Is it possible for Kirk and the Enterprise crew to recognize themselves as a colonizing force? This introspection evades Kirk and he is prepared to destroy the Gorn in retribution for their attack on the colony on Cetus III. Spock argues against it, suggesting that this would show a lack of respect for sentient life aboard the Gorn vessel. Kirk can see only the attack, whereas Spock recognizes that it is the Federation who made the first transgression.

How many Gorn lives was Kirk prepared to take to avenge the loss of the observation post on Cetus III? What is the Federation method of understanding when they have transgressed against the sovereign territory of another civilization. The Enterprise crew seems to too easily forget the human history of colonial exploration and expansion. The alien-ness of the cold-blooded Gorn makes it easy to presume that Starfleet should have its guard up. In Strange New Worlds the re-imagined Gorn are even more brutal - basically becoming super-predator killer lizards. I wonder if the Metrons are still watching and might like to intervene at some point with an opinion on the colonizing tendencies of the Federation.

After all, what is utopian about colonial expansion? In a perfect expression of utopia the two would be incompatible. In reality, utopian thinking has long been linked to the idea of colonization and the promise of “a new world.” There’s much more to say about this and I’ll save a longer exploration of the connections between utopian thinking and colonial ideology for part two of this newsletter. For now, it’s clear to me that Star Trek both considers colonialism yet doesn’t think about it deeply enough. It is the invisible companion of the pathway to utopia in the Star Trek universe. But in most ways it is a reflection of our own society that has great difficulty facing the colonial legacies of the modern world. More on this heavy stuff next time but also it will be time to talk more about Deep Space Nine 🙂 

Thanks for reading friends! LLAP 🖖