20 works of upbeat science fiction to brighten your day
15. Star Trek: The Original Series
Optimism is the bread of butter of the first two Star Trek series. The entire concept is predicated on humanity picking itself up after a series of devastating wars and joining in a galaxy-wide society. Far from our warlike past, the humans of Star Trek are generally peaceable and introspective. There are certainly exceptions to this rule, especially once viewers start watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and beyond (or once you start questioning the basic assumptions about living in the Federation), but there’s lots of sunniness to go around nevertheless.
It all started with the original series, which first aired in 1966. For all of the inherent silliness of some plots and the constraints of science fiction standards back then, there is still much to admire. For the first time, there was a black woman as part of the command staff, Lt. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols). Lt. Sulu (George Takei) helmed the ship, while Cold War tensions of the time had been forgotten with the addition of Ensign Chekov (Walter Koenig).
Admittedly, it was still the 1960s, when sci-fi sexism was even more apparent that it is today. Hence, the miniskirts on all women, which hardly seems like an appropriate kind of quasi-military uniform. And there were no women in the command staff for quite some time.
At least in an earlier pilot with different actors, there was an unnamed character known only as “Number One,” played by Majel Barrett wearing a very sensible pair of trousers. At studio heads’ suggestions, Number One was erased. Majel Barrett stayed on, however, playing a more demure Nurse Chapel (at least she’d later become a doctor in her own right).
Still, there was a strong idealistic streak in these early Star Trek stories. Captain Kirk (William Shatner) truly believed in the utopian ideals of the Federation. He was willing to fight for that sense of morality and justice, even when faced with a long-forgotten god or an aggressive Gorn captain.
Most of all, Star Trek society showed that humans had finally pulled themselves out of their self-destructive phase. That’s comforting in any time, especially now that we are so often confronted with ominous headlines every hour or so.