Space Travel Revolution

On July 16th, 1969 an Earth space craft left it’s orbit on a mission to land on its ancient satellite known as the moon. It was known as Apollo11. It took three Earth days for the Earth crew to reach its destination, and on July 20th the first humanoid from earth set foot on the moon. Three Earth days later they returned home. It came down to be known as one of the most successful space flights of the century. It symbolized our ability to triumph over distance and revolutionized the way we looked upon our planet and future. We saw no bounds to hold us from the final frontier, and with that boundless space conquered our society would move forward. We would overcome our societal problems with leaps and bounds with technology. If we could reach the far away stars, we could reach the stars in all of us. No less than one year later another space vehicle left for the orbiting satellite. It was called Apollo 13. It launched on April 11, 1970. It never made it to the moon. An onboard explosion rendered the crew helpless to the space that was once conquered only a year before.
These two space travels have had a large impact on the narrative of science fiction cinema. They reflect the relations between human space flight and the human condition along with social and governmental structures. The triumph of Apollo 11 with its focus and aim on the utopian future on the horizon, and Apollo 13 desperately trying to stay alive in the moment with the aim to have at least a future; drive social/governmental conditions in a given moment. It’s these conditions that are related to the type of technologies that are held within the narratives of science fiction space travel. Star Trek and Star Wars, which have faster than light travel capacity can be characterized by their centralized governments compared to narratives that have the inability to faster that light travel. Space travel technology in science fiction narratives is like either of the Apollo missions; the dominance, or the vulnerability of our human society.
This dominance or vulnerability has an immense impact on the structure. And, what enables a society to have this dominance or vulnerability is the space travel technology that it has. Therefore there are three science fiction narratives with variable methods of space transport that should be compared and contrasted together to come to a conclusion on how space travel technology affects societal structure. Star Trek, Cowboy Bebop, and Aliens have distinct space travel technology, and for the sake of argument and comparison have histories originating with earth.
Star Trek (an earth based science fiction narrative) is a utopian view of the future. This would definitely be classified as an Apollo 11 narrative. It is most apparent in the line in which all the movies and shows have, “To go where no one has gone before”. It is also characterized by the technology of warp drive, which gives humanity the ability to travel faster than light bringing the far reaches of the galaxy to a mere amount of hours or days to reach. This enables the United Federation of Planets (the government of Star Trek) to reach far in the galaxy with its organization, support, and structure. Space for the federation is not a wilderness to be tamed, but rather a blank canvas. It is not emptiness of space that creates a threat either, but hyperbolically ordered space.(1) There is no money, and people only strive forward to better themselves. This utopian view is set up by how Star Treks technology is used to bring out the best in humanity. Warp drive enables the human to be boundless in his nature. There is no end or goal in sight, but a romantic never ending saga of the human spirit. No one or no mind is limited to a single solar system.
Cowboy Bebop takes place in the year 2071. Bebop’s world is linked by a gate system comparable to that of an interstate system. The furthest reaches of this society are that of the moons of Jupiter. Mars is colonized, and each planet has it’s own government. No ships have faster than light capability technology within them, but they are able to go through hypergates across the solar system to achieve faster than light speed. This enables people to travel quickly around the solar system, but going beyond it is never even mentioned. This arguably could be a Apollo 13 narrative for in 2022 when the hypergates were being tested a major explosion happened resulting in major damage to the moon and earth forcing earths inhabitants to resettle throughout the system. Earth is no more the centerpiece of humanity, but rather like a dying city like Venice. It’s interesting to note that the main travel technology not only affected human society in enabling them to settle Saturn and Jupiter’s moons, but also was the reason that they had to. There is no interplanetary government, and crime syndicates wield a great amount of power. The solitary governments of each planet place more emphasis on maintaining rather than springing forward.
However, Bebop’s world is not necessarily dystopian. They are not held hostage to the space around them; indeed they get around quite easily from planet to planet. And, even though a large disaster from their space technology devastated the earth and moon they continued on and ethnic populations resettled keeping most of their identity.
Alien/Aliens narrative has no faster than light capability technologies. The ships move slowly through space with the crew held in stasis for the better portion of their journey. Their society is most noticeably capitalist from the many references the characters make about the “company”. Terraform colonies are spread throughout the galaxy, and there is no other humanoid race that is native to another planet than earth. But, of coarse there is something out there. Alien(s) is an Apollo 13 type narrative. The characters are held victim by the circumstances, technology, and space around them. Their circumstances are dire. A parasitic species is known as a Xenomorph is threatening the lives of the crews. Since they have no fast space travel they are stuck in space where “no one can hear you scream”. Social and command structures break down, leaving the group vulnerable to the ultracapatilist agenda of the company. Space travel in this universe is associated with vulnerability and infection. For the lack of faster than light capability leaves the sleeping body susceptible to dangers of infection. It also brings on the limitations of reach, or in this case distance. The bio-weapons division of the “company” want to get their hands on such a creature, but without the technology of fast space travel humans are expendable and the price of progress.
In the 1990’s the world saw a flood of communication technology flow around the world. It changed the way the world did business. Companies relocated half way around the world. Social and business hierarchy’s started to become vertical. Individuals had greater access to gather and share information. Old structures such as newspapers and advertising started to deteriorate. Militia factions, conspiracy theorists, trekkies and trekers where able to organize with increased efficiency, and countries became susceptible to non-governmental actors. From military tactics to social networking the speed of communication affected structures on almost all levels of society. Space travel by far will have an even more transformational affect on society, but what type will be available and how will consume or inspire the generations to come.
References
(1)Witwer, Julia. “The Best of Both Worlds: On Star Trek’s Borg.” Prosthetic Territories: Politics and Hypertechnologies. Ed. Gabriel Brahm and Mark Driscoll. Boulder: Westview Press, 1995. 270-279. (CR
310-314)

Friedman, Thomas. The World is Flat. 1. United States: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005. Print.

Many special effects have been used in the Star Trek franchise to immerse the viewer into its universe. Miniatures of space ships to create the overwhelming sense of the large vast space and flashes of light and dissolves to transport the grew over great distances in an instant, but the make-up effects of the franchise which have evolved with the show has a culturally distinguished immersion effect.
The Borg, which appeared during the Next Generation, is among the most dynamic make-up special effects of the franchise. The majority of species in the trek universe are organic and humanoid. In the original series the make up was quite basic with colored skin or pointy ears. Latex and prosthetic make-up were not quite fully developed at this point, but the evolution of these techniques can be most notably seen in the Klingong species. By the time the Borg came around not only were latex, prosthetic, and molding techniques being used, but other mechanical elements were being incorporated. These mechanical elements, which were used to make the Borg costume makes it one of the most dynamic, because to make this cyborg they made a costume of cyborg like stature.
The vision of this cyborg species is not dystopic such as the terminator, but rather a nightmarish side of human and machine interaction. At this period of the early 90’s when Internet technology was really starting to revolutionize the way we think about the machine; the social connotation of this new-networked machine attacked the idea of human individuality. Even thought each Borg is visually different from the other, they are all of the same conscious/drive.
What makes the Borg of even a more nightmarish vision is its way in which it creates gender. Durinda Wood who was the original creator of the Borg costume said of the Borg’s gender:
“We were trying to make them androgynous. I remember somebody - I think it was Rick [Berman] - saying they shouldn't be totally male or female. That was part of the scariness of them; you couldn't work out whether they were male or female.”
Around the same time as the Borg appeared on The Next Generation The Cyborg Manifesto was written by Donna Haraway. The Borg and Haraway’s cyborg have many similarities. Once such being that the “cyborg skips the step of original unity”. It is noted by Julia Witwer in The Best of Both Worlds: On Star Trek’s Borg that the Borg lacks any culture or history making them one of the best, and most efficient villains. The random parts that each Borg has attached also visualize this inessential origin. It was Durinda Wood’s idea to assign random parts to each Borg to make them look different from one another, and signify that when one part wears out; it is just replaced. This in turn means that the originality of the Borg is consistently replaced and disregarded.
The Next Generation episode The Best of Both Worlds part, I and II was said to be the launching point of the series to surpass (or at least make it up to the level) of its predecessor Star Trek: The Original Series. And, it was the Borg that helped the series come to this level, because of the Borg’s dynamic appearance and cultural immersion method of the current techno sphere.

"Janet's Star Trek Voyager Site". 4/20 .
Haraway, Donna. “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late
Twentieth Century.” The Feminist and Visual Culture Reader. Ed. Amelia Jones. London and New York:
Routledge, 2003. 475-497. (CR 180-202)
Bukatman, Scott. “Zooming Out: The End of Offscreen Space.” The New American Cinema. Ed. Jon
Lewis. Durham and London: Duke University Press. 248- 272. (CR 233-245)
Witwer, Julia. “The Best of Both Worlds: On Star Trek’s Borg.” Prosthetic Territories: Politics and
Hypertechnologies. Ed. Gabriel Brahm and Mark Driscoll. Boulder: Westview Press, 1995. 270-279. (CR
310-314)

The Alien Within

In the world of post-modern science fiction, aliens are us.(1) The increased feelings of displacement, discontent, and alienation have expressed themselves throughout science fiction of the 60’s onward. In the Star Trek franchise for example the majority of aliens are humanoid and contain universal elements as to what we think are essential to humanity. After this first stage of “aliens are us”, though, science fiction took a small turn with similitude. It started to point it’s focus on specific elements within the human character, and draw them out for a closer look. In the two films I will be analyzing Species (1995) and Star Trek TNG: The Best of Both Worlds, the “aliens” inhibit a specific drive or urge, which can be argued, that is part of our essential human character. In Species the drive that is brought out and analyzed is that of the maternal monstrous feminine. In The Best of Both Worlds drive to better ones self is looked at, even arguing what would be the best way to do so.
The humans in both of these films are represented and defined by a complex culture of rules, regulation, hierarchy, and history. The whole Star Trek franchise is composed of Naval style rankings and procedures. History is strongly intertwined with its story line, which can be observed when Cap. Picard tours his ship just like Cap. Nelson did on the H.M.S Victory before the Battle of Trafalgar. In Species, hierarchy is obviously displayed in the group that is hunting the alien/human Sil down. Prof. Fitch, who created Sil, carries the most authority within the group. He even exemplifies regulation and procedure when he refuses to let two of his group to leave a locked lab while an alien was running loose throughout the room. The aliens, then, are defined by their lack of hierarchy and history, and this is where the anxieties, and challenges to humanity are illustrated.
An emphasis to better understand these challenges and anxieties is the historical context of the times in which these movies were filmed and released. The Best of Both Worlds episode was filmed and released in 1990, when the internet’s landscape was changing dramatically and familiarizing itself to the general public and work force. As Thomas Friedman put it, this was the “flattening of the world”. Where anybody from anywhere could start a business and gain information. The world went from a vertical power hierarchy to a more horizontal one, and to express the fear of a complete horizontal hierarchy was the Borg.
The second historical context in which to understand Species is the Human Genome Project, which began in 1990. The goal of this project was to map the 20,000- 25,000 genes of human DNA.(2) It was then theorized that with this map human genes could be cloned or manipulated. However, Species was not the first movie to deal with this anxiety. Jurassic Park, which was release a year prior to the filming, dealt with the same genetic issues of manipulation and gender. Both movies combined the DNA of different species to create/recreate a specie, and both made the new specie(s) female. So not only did this play on the fears of genetic manipulation, but gender anxieties as well.
Gender anxieties also exist in the dilemma with the Borg in The Best of Both Worlds. But rather than a mother superior anxiety as in Species, The Borg threaten gender altogether rendering it an androgynous threat for the Borg spread like a computer virus. And, it is this virus like spread, which represents a pure drive in the human character. Both the Federation and the Borg aim to expand their knowledge and range of themselves. The Borg drive themselves/themself through force, assimilating other races into their collective. They lack any culture or dialectic thinking, which not only enable them to be extremely effective, but also represent a drive in today’s people regarding IT technologies, Globalization, and Materialism. In1990 when globalization was starting to go full speed ahead, many people and cultures where left behind, even sometimes with cultures disappearing. The Federation, however, see’s itself going forward by furthering their understanding, rather than how many star systems are under their belts. The Borg reflect the pure materialist inside the human character, and challenges the human definition of how we better ourselves.
The challenge posed to Human definition in Species is what chemical makeup makes up which parts of the individual. Sil was composed of both human and alien DNA. The movie leads on the viewer that it is the alien DNA in which makes this creature hostile, and it is the human DNA which gives the creature her stunning blonde bombshell covering. But, towards the end this is questioned in the scene where Preston and Laura question whether it was the alien DNA or human that made her so hostile. Evidence of the Human DNA being the culprit behind the creature’s hostility is it’s monstrous feminine anxiety that it portrays. The monstrous feminine (illustrated by Barbra Creed) holds elements of Freudian psychology such as the primal scene, which is shown in the nightmares of Sil that consist of two alien creatures copulating. This is also highlighted that even though Sil becomes fully grown she is still regarded as a child by the m-path Dan, and it is the child, according to Freud, where this primal scene emanates from.
The reproduction anxiety also plays the part in the humanization of Sil. The force of her drive to reproduce is reflected both in the outside world of television and billboards, but also in her sexual fantasies as well. There is a quick fantasy scene in the hotel where Sil fantasies about Preston. The fantasy Sil has exhibits human tendencies of lust. But, the hostility and style further highlights the reproduction anxiety. This is shown in the hot tub scene where she scares the potential mate by proclaiming she wants a baby. When his fear shows and tries to escape she strangles him with a tentacle that comes from her breast, which also demonstrates the fear of the smothering mother.
It is interesting to see how this similitude with the alien other has developed into exploring our darker natures. As we see the continuing globalization, and homogenization of our cultures while sexual taboos become more accepted. The reflection of the alien other in our culture as well as others will further reflect complex multiple side of the human character.



Bibliography/notes

(1) Telotte, J.P. “Postmodernism.” Science Fiction Film. Genres in American Cinema. Ed. Barry Keith Grant.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 55-59. (CR 82-84)

(2) "The Human Genome Project". Wikipedia. 3/20/09 .

Creed, Barbara. “Alien and the Monstrous-Feminine.” Alien Zone: Cultural Theory and Contemporary
Science Fiction Cinema. Ed. Annette Kuhn. London and New York: Verso Press, 1990. 128-141. (CR 128-134)

Witwer, Julia. “The Best of Both Worlds: On Star Trek’s Borg.” Prosthetic Territories: Politics and Hypertechnologies. Ed. Gabriel Brahm and Mark Driscoll. Boulder: Westview Press, 1995. 270-279. (CR 310-314)

Internet Consciousness

The historical context of Star Trek: The Next Generation Best of Both Worlds pt. I and II in 1990 elaborates the ideas and philosophy behind the Brog Collective. The Borg Collective is a cybernetic alien race, which consists of a single consciousness. They go from planet to planet assimilating humanoid species into their collective in the aspiration to become the perfect species (being).
The Star Trek franchise started in the 1960’s under Desilu Productions. It became a sci-fi cult classic late spinning off numerous movies and series including Star Trek The Next Generation. But, by the time The Next Generation series was created (1987-1993), Desilu Productions was sold to CBS and became Paramount Television. Best of Both Worlds aired in 1990 in a two-part cliffhanger for season 3 and 4. It was directed by Cliff Bole who directed numerous episodes of The Next Generation as well as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DSN) and Star Trek: Voyager. He was quite the influence behind the scenes of the later Star Trek franchise, and even had a race of aliens named after him called the Bolians. The writer for this episode was Maurice Piller who also spent much time on the Star Trek Franchise, but it is important to note another writer on the series Maurice Hurley who was the one who created the Borg.
With spaceships that travel faster than the speed of light, aliens of all colors, and weapons that compose of pulsating energy, Star Trek not only has the generic elements of Sci-Fi, but, has become a corner stone reinforcement of the genres conventions. With the cult following that followed the original series, Star Trek has influenced the public’s general understanding of the genre. However, episodes such as Best of Both Worlds, surpass the generic definitions of the genre. Quoting Isaac Asimov (SF is)” The human response to changes in the level of science and technology”. Even though the Brog were introduced a season before, this was the episode that fully introduced the collective, and in 1990 Windows 3.0, HTML, and the Internet, were fully introduced to the general public.
The Borg’s social architecture is quite similar to the internet. Each Borg is a computer human hybrid that communicates with each other electronically, forming the single consciousness that is the Collective. In 1990 there where many breakthroughs in computer to computer communication. There was the release of windows 3.0 with a user friendly interface (at the time) that brought computing more into the mainstream. HTML was first coded in this year as well, but was not released to the public for another two years. The Internet itself was being restructured as well. Organizations such as The NSFNET (National Science Foundation Network) took over much of the network in order to connect computes between universities and scientists faster. At the time the internet was a social collective because with no commercial interests involved at its start, the internet was developed in a cooperative, experimental environment.(1)
1990 was also the year the Internet experience its first worm, the Morris worm. It was originally created to see how big the Internet was at the time, and was not made maliciously, but had unintended effects by infecting a computer multiple times slowing down the computers. It was estimated that about $10 million. Towards the end of pt. II when Jean-luc Picard was recaptured from the borg, Data connected with the Borg Picard. In a way Data hacked into the Borg system (consciousness) and placed in a command for the Borg to go to sleep.
The physical architecture of the Borg ship also has many similarities to the aesthetic of hard drives and motherboards. The exterior of the ship is similar to that of a motherboard. The interior of the ship looks like a series of motherboards and Hard Drives.
There are also socio/political elements with the episode as well. In 1990 the Soviet Union was in downfall. The Berlin wall came down in 1989, and a hand full of providences within the union was claiming independence. This can be looked at in two ways for this episode. First there was still this fear of Socialism throughout the United States. The fear of losing ones individuality was clearly exploited within this episode, which made the Borg so threatening to humanity. Second was the downfall of a mighty empire, or a significant point in history. This was referenced in the scene where Jean-luc Picard runs into Guinan during his tour of the ship. Jean-luc expressed his fears by recalling the Emperor Honorius when he witnessed the sack of Rome by the visi-goths.
When Jean-luc was fully assimilated by the Borg, half of his head was composed/covered with mechanical parts. Around this time this cyborg aesthetic of having half the face human and the other half machine can be seen throughout other sci-fi movies of the time. It is shown in movies such as Robocop/ Robocop2, and the Terminator with Terminator 2 following this episode by two years. The Borg too, had a similar idea to that of Aliens (1986). The Xenomorphs were a bug like species with no mechanical properties, but the locust like movement of this species is very similar to that of the Borg.


(1) Anderson, Jana, “Imagining the Internet,” Rowan and Little Field
publishers. 2005


References

Cornea, Christine. Science Fiction Cinema. Rutgers University Press, 2007.

Sobchack, Vivian. The Look of Science Fiction