Witnesses described the explosion as the largest they’d ever seen or heard. In that moment, they knew their lives were irrevocably changed. Years of inattention to safety measures had finally caught up with them, and the cleanup alone would take the rest of their lives. The government tried to cover it up, of course, but outside detection forced them to acknowledge the incident. It would eventually be seen as an important factor in ending the ongoing state of quasi-war with its major rival, a political situation that had become so ingrained in both societies that its conclusion seemed to be “the end of history.” What followed, however, was a mere respite before new conflicts began. This was not the end of history, but a new beginning in international relations.
Depending on your background, you may recognize the story above as that of Chernobyl, the nuclear disaster that began April 26, 1986 in northern Ukraine, or that of Praxis, the Klingon moon whose destruction in 2293 opens the 1991 movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Star Trek has always told stories that are thinly-veiled allegories for the issues of the day, beginning with the Cold War and social issues of the 1960s in the original series. For consistent ongoing commentary on socio-political issues, various real-world groups and countries needed to be represented in universe; thus were born the Klingons, a rival power to the Federation with whom a galactic cold war seemed always on the verge of igniting. Despite only being featured in seven of the eighty episodes of the original series, the Klingons loomed large in Star Trek. They became central to three of the six original cast movies, and to all subsequent sequels and prequel series.
The first of the sequel series, Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987 – 1994), expanded and enriched Klingon culture, primarily through the inclusion of a Klingon, Worf, as a member of the bridge crew of the newly commissioned USS Enterprise-D in 2363. Worf’s presence in 1987/2363 hinted at a rapprochement between the two societies that had not yet been written in the Star Trek universe, or between their real-life counterparts. The social and political ideals of the Klingons, including secrets and conspiracies, were an important part of TNG throughout its run. Just as the show began, the satellite states of the USSR were pulling away, revealing the secrets and conspiracies that had been inherent in that government’s maintenance of power.
In 1990, the timing was auspicious for an exploration of the evolving relationship between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The 25th anniversary of the franchise was imminent, and its popularity had broken into the mainstream. TNG was one of the most watched television shows in syndication, with an average of twenty million viewers weekly, surpassing even some prime-time network shows.1 At the same time, the Berlin Wall had fallen in 1989, and by the end of 1990, many Soviet states had declared independence and were removing themselves from the Soviet Union. The country the Klingon Empire had been created to represent was collapsing in real time. Plans for a final movie featuring the original cast were being settled, and the opportunity to tell the story of the end of a fictional cold war against the backdrop of what would eventually be the final year of the real-life Cold War seemed the perfect send off. The connections were intentional on the part of the writers and producers.2 But even the best writers couldn’t have known in 1990 that just nineteen days after the release of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country on December 6, 1991, the Soviet Union itself would formally cease to exist.
In classic Trek fashion, the similarities between The Undiscovered Country and real life were not subtle, beginning with Praxis standing in for Chernobyl. Kirk represented the war hawks, who had lived their entire lives in the context of hostilities and so feared their end. Spook stood in for those who saw an opportunity for peace and felt compelled to act. On the opposing side, Mikhail Gorbachev was represented by Gorkon, the chancellor of the soon-to-be obsolete Klingon Empire, who sought common ground with the Federation while ignoring those in his government who would hold to tradition even as it killed them—and the state itself. Finally, between and amongst them all, a conspiracy of those who had the most to lose from peace.
After all is revealed via a sci-fi adventure that spans quadrants and features epic space battles, shapeshifting aliens, and a murder mystery, the end of the film is hopeful. This is not the end of history, but rather an opportunity for people to come together, looking beyond past prejudices and habits to a new future. That the future they look toward is the one shown in TNG, with its Klingon bridge officer, is made clear by the last line of the film, in which the famous “where no man has gone before” is replaced with “where no one has gone before,” a change that had been made for TNG to reflect the great inclusion of non-humans (as well as more women) in prominent roles.
The film’s optimism turned out to be short lived, in both international and intergalactic politics. Within a decade of the end of the Cold War, the United States was embroiled in two wars in response and adjacent to the 9/11 attacks, prompting a destabilization of the Middle East for decades to come. Star Trek stepped away from the utopian optimism of the original series and TNG even more quickly, but continued to explore real-life questions through new series. The next series in the franchise, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999), showed what life was like outside the paradise found in the Federation. Subsequent series highlighted the flaws of Starfleet decision-making alongside its diplomatic potentials (Star Trek: Voyager, 1995 – 2001), the potential for wars spanning both time and space (Star Trek: Enterprise 2001 – 2005), and even returned to reexamine hostilities with the Klingons—just as conflict between Russia and the United States flared up again (Star Trek: Discovery, 2016 – 2024). All of Trek reminds us that we have not yet reached the end of history—we stand at the beginning of the future.
Inna dudnik, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Trumpeting Angel of Chernobyl, Inna dudnik, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Daniel Cerone, (November 6, 1992). “‘Star Trek’ –Still on the Beam : Television: One year after creator Gene Roddenberry’s death, the born-again series tops the syndication charts”. Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 6, 2015. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-11-06-ca-1286-story.html
- William Shatner and Chris Kreski. Star Trek Movie Memories. (New York: Harpercollins, 1994), 349-363.