Star Trek TNG: A Sign of Hope During the Covid-19 Pandemic
With so much extra free time during the coronavirus pandemic, what better way to spend it than by doing what I did long before this madness started? It’s hard to enjoy my other favorite hobby right now: eating and drinking things I didn’t have to lift a finger for.
In between getting lost in the insanity of “Tiger King” and the darkness of “Castlevania,” I’ve found immense comfort in “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
Growing up, I was never a Trekkie. I went to see some of the movies with my mom and had caught occasional episodes on TV. My boyfriend in high school, on the other hand, was a huge fan and constantly tried to get me into it. I bought him a DVD collection of all the Borg episodes as a gift and got my first formal introduction into the show. But this was long before Netflix, and I wasn’t interested enough to go hunting for all the DVDs at Blockbuster (really showing my age here).
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Then on a trip to see my family this past February, my brother-in-law showed me quite possibly the best song ever: The Picard Song. Seriously, try to argue otherwise. This spiraled into a conversation between my BIL and wife about their favorite episodes. My wife’s favorites feature Deanna Troi’s sex-crazed mother, Lwaxana. So when we got back home, she showed me every episode about her mother, and I was hooked.
My binge began.
I love space, talks of parallel universes, and the sight of Deanna Troi in a unisuit. But after watching dozens of episodes, I truly loved the idea of hope it gave me during a time of uncertainty. The reaction to this pandemic wouldn’t play out this way in the fictional 24th century, and not just because the technology is far superior. The show makes it a point to portray the humans from Earth as more morally and mentally intelligent. That’s not to say we’ll become a perfect society, but that we’ll move passed our obsessive drive for power and wealth.
The changes we’ve made over the last few hundred years is succinctly summed up in the season 1 finale, “The Neutral Zone.” The crew discovers a space capsule with people from 20th century Earth cryogenically frozen—three are still “alive.” Naturally, they’re all having a hard time adjusting, but former financier Ralph Offenhouse is baffled that no one knows who he is or how important he was 300 years ago. Offenhouse’s arrogance would vex anyone from any century, but an overinflated ego feels all too commonplace in 2020.
Riker and Data try to get all three settled, showing them the most important advancement of all: the replicator. One of them, Sonny, immediately makes a martini (who wouldn’t?) and asks where the TV is. When Riker explains that form of entertainment went out of fashion around 2040, Sonny can’t imagine how people would then spend their time. Insane, right?
So what gives me a glimmer of hope? Offenhouse demands Picard lets him contact Earth, specifically to contact his lawyer—he’s convinced that law firm was so important it would still be around. When Picard realizes this is all about money, we get a glimpse into how far our species has evolved:
A lot has changed in the past 300 years. People are no longer obsessed with the accumulation of things. We’ve eliminated hunger, want, the need for possessions. We’ve grown out of our infancy.
Offenhouse is unconvinced and believes humans still desire power in whatever form it takes now.
Later, after witnessing a tense moment between the Enterprise and their enemies, the Romulans (space version of our feud with the Russians??), Offenhouse feels somewhat validated knowing despite all our supposed betterment as a species, we still have plenty of battles to fight.
As the episode wraps up, Offenhouse finally comes to grips with his new reality. He asks Picard what he’s supposed to do on Earth with no money or job. When Picard again reminds him “material needs no longer exist,” Offenhouse asks, “Then what’s the challenge?”
The challenge, Mr. Offenhouse, is to improve yourself. To enrich yourself. Enjoy it.
I clearly won’t be around to witness the idealized Aquarius dream where we’ve come together as a species and stopped acting like literal babies, as Picard puts it—albeit, more eloquently. But I can live with the notion that we’ll get there one day. And for those of us who are lucky to have our health and a support system during this pandemic, maybe we can work on getting one step closer to Picard-level enlightenment.