A Brief Guide to Star Trek

as they believe it’s good work.’
    The problem with the invisibility of homosexuality among Federation crewmembers in
Star Trek
, and especially in
The Next Generation
, is that it leaves the viewer with the impression that by the twenty-fourth century it has somehow been ‘cured’, ‘corrected’, ‘bred out’ or otherwise banished. Some of the key people involved expressed their embarrassment and disappointment that their shows had failed on this front. Speaking with
The Advocate
in 1995, Patrick Stewart said: ‘It would be very appropriate if
The Next Generation
movies made it their business to have gay characters.’ Kate Mulgrew, who played Captain Kathryn Janeway, claimed to have been trying to move things forward on
Voyager
, but admitted to having failed, hoping that perhaps the next show,
Enterprise
, might be more successful. ‘I’ve approached [Berman] many, many times over the years about getting a gay character on the show – one whom we could really love, not just a guest star. Y’know, we had blacks, Asians, we even had a handicapped character – and so I thought, this is now beginning to look a bit absurd. And he said, “In due time.” And so, I’m suspecting that on
Enterprise
they will do something. I couldn’t get it done on mine, and I am sorry for that.’
    The issue of homosexuality on
Star Trek
was back in the spotlight in 2005 when Sulu actor George Takei publicly confirmed his own homosexuality. Although Takei had never hidden the fact – it had been an open secret among
Star Trek
fans since the 1970s, and he was active in various LGBT organisations – his move brought further attention to
Star Trek
’s failure to tackle these issues in a satisfactory way. Takei said: ‘[LGBT people] are masculine, we are feminine, we are caring, we are abusive. We are just like straight people, in terms of our outward appearance and our behaviour. The only difference is that we are oriented to people of our own gender.’ After all, for black and Asian actors later involved in the series, seeing characters like themselves portrayed in earlier episodes had confirmed they had a place in the future of
Star Trek
. To many gay fans, it seemed as though they did not.
    Deep Space Nine
’s successor,
Enterprise
, did not significantly advance the issue, despite suggestions that regular character Malcolm Reid (Dominic Keating) might be depicted as gay. At a convention in Portland in 2002, Keating confirmed the idea had been briefly discussed and quickly rejected. Eventually, in 2011, Brannon Braga admitted that those involved in
Star Trek
in the 1990s might have a different view of the topic today. ‘[There was a] constant back and forth about how do we portray the spectrum of sexuality. There were people who felt very strongly that we should be showing casually two guys together in the background in [
Enterprise
bar] Ten Forward. At the time the decision was made not to do that. I think those same people would make a different decision now. I have no doubt that those same creative players wouldn’t feel so hesitant about a decision like that.’ Whatever the producers may have felt on the subject, it is clear that in terms of progressive depictions of sexuality on television,
Star Trek
in the 1990s failed to take the kind of leading position expected of such an apparently forward-looking show.

    Deep Space Nine
had never enjoyed the
Star Trek
televisual space to itself – its entire run was accompanied by the last two seasons of
The Next Generation
and the first five years of ‘back to basics’
Star Trek
show,
Voyager
. This allowed the series to do its own thing within the shadow of those other shows, something storyteller Ira Steven Behr took fine advantage of, but it also resulted in it being overlooked by some
Star Trek
fans and critics. It was also the first
Star Trek
series to fail to graduate to movies, and it may have had trouble retaining more casual viewers thanks to its heavily serialised nature, especially from the fourth season through to the end. However, within all these restrictions, the show offered a space for storytellers like Behr and Ron Moore to take a fresh look at
Star Trek
and move the franchise in a different direction.
    Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
cannot be faulted for its ambition and was a concentrated attempt by a new generation of young writers and producers to do something different with the
Star Trek
legacy within the shadow of Gene Roddenberry’s