of other fans
very similar to myself,
and, uh, they're great,
gorgeous people
who really know how
to place Star Trek
in the proper context
with the rest of their lives,
and that's a unique
gift for fans.
I met a very
wonderfully talented lady
who was a political cartoonist,
an English lady named Sue Coe.
But when she saw Star Trek...
it gave her a vision,
not of a world, necessarily,
that she could live in,
but it gave her a vision that--
it gave her an understanding
that there were people who
were thinking those thoughts,
the people who were
making the show.
The reason most of the people
I know like Star Trek
is it expresses issues that
can't normally be expressed
in today's society without
somebody coming down on you
or looking at you funny
or hauling you off.
My father grew up
in, um, in the Nazi era.
He was in Poland
when it was taken over,
and because he was a German citizen, or
considered German, they were protected.
When they came
to the United States,
he came to realize that the principles
that he grew up with were wrong,
and when we watched Star Trek,
he would tell me,
"The things that they're doing there
is the right thing to think."
The right things, you know, like
treating people like they're equals
and treating people
with respect.
I would love to believe that
everybody can get along in the future.
We struck a note, a chord,
with the youth of this country,
and particularly those who came back
from Vietnam and the hippies.
Plus the fact it came
at a very turbulent time
when the future
of society, the planet,
everything was up for grabs.
Nobody knew where we were going.
For the first time,
people--on television,
people saw themselves...
men and women, as equals.
I think I like the hope
and the chances it gives people.
Especially gay men
and lesbian women,
they're living in a world
and a society that's not accepting.
There's a dream that
one day down the road,
there will be acceptance.
I think Gene Roddenberry,
at that time,
offered a vision of hope
and that we would have a future.
Not only did we not annihilate
ourselves on this planet,
but we are going forth.
What progress!
With a sense of adventure.
Gene said not only
there is going to be a tomorrow,
but it's going to be a better,
kinder, more gentle world tomorrow.
And he liked to talk about
the things that bug us today,
which was back in the sixties,
and put them in some kind
of a disguised form
because of course, the network
would never let us talk about
things that were political
or war or stuff like this.
We couldn't mention
the black/white problem,
so you know what happened--
We painted Frank Gorshin
half-black and half-white
and his adversary was half-white
and half-black.
We set them at each other,
and it looked so ridiculous up on screen
that everybody had to look at it
and say, "Hey, we get this."
I think this is going to be
my basic prediction here,
that Star Trek will become
the blueprint for the 21st century.
The philosophy, the ideals,
the prime directive--
they're all going to be a genetic map
for a better future,
a better tomorrow,
for better mankind.
My feeling is that
we've had a great time.
We've had 30 years.
There have been tribulations and trials
as well as triumphs,
but, you know, the consensus
is of a very positive nature.
I don't want to be
one of those people
who's still talking about it
20 years--
Well, it is. It's 30 years
after the fact.
God almighty.
I am one of those people!
Oh, my God! No!
We would do these conventions.
We'd say,
"Well, it will probably last another
couple of years and that'll be it,"
you know.
10 years later, we're saying,
"Well, it'll probably last
another couple of years."
20 years later, we're saying, "Good God,
it's going to go on forever."
I don't think that
it will ever die.
I don't think that something
like that can ever die.
You've got a phenomenon. After all,