# Star Trek (TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager) is kind of racist (hear me out) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 2, 2015, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305 "2015-10-02T21:43:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/41 "2015-10-05T01:08:49Z")
Aliens races may not be diverse, but neither are planets. I mean, other than earth is there any scifi planet that has more than one climate? A planet is either all ice, or all desert, or all jungle, or whatnot. That’s weirder than the races all behaving similarly to others of their race. ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/42 "2015-10-05T02:15:34Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Aliens races may not be diverse, but neither are planets. I mean, other than earth is there any scifi planet that has more than one climate? A planet is either all ice, or all desert, or all jungle, or whatnot. That’s weirder than the races all behaving similarly to others of their race. This is pretty common in sci-fi. Foster lampshaded it in his _The Damned_ trilogy–when scouts from an alien federation came to Earth, they were freaked out by our screwy, fragmented geography. Their civilizations had apparently all arisen while their worlds had single supercontinents, or something close to it, and a race developing in a bunch of isolated environments instead of a single culture seemed bizarre to them. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/43 "2015-10-05T15:15:44Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Having seen Time Tunnel and Lost in Space, when ST came on in 1966 I really appreciated that the Enterprise was not lost. \*\*\*Time Tunnel \*\*\*and _ **TOS** _ debuted one day apart in September 1966, _ **TOS** _ on Thursday the 8th and _ **Tunnel** _ on Friday the 9th. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/44 "2015-10-05T15:19:49Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Aliens races may not be diverse, but neither are planets. I mean, other than earth is there any scifi planet that has more than one climate? A planet is either all ice, or all desert, or all jungle, or whatnot. That’s weirder than the races all behaving similarly to others of their race. Sometimes writers not too bright. I have also questioned the idea of a planet so densely populated that it has to import food. That seems like a disaster waiting to happen. I’d also argue that a sapient species that’s bound to one biome is one that’s in way more danger of extinction. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/45 "2015-10-05T15:40:54Z")
> [@Master\_Wang-Ka](#): > > Sometimes writers not too bright. I have also questioned the idea of a planet so densely populated that it has to import food. That seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Only to a certain level of technology, though. If interstellar travel becomes as simple and expected as sea/ground/air transport is today, it’s no more a disaster than a modern city having to import food. ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/46 "2015-10-05T15:52:29Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > Only to a certain level of technology, though. If interstellar travel becomes as simple and expected as sea/ground/air transport is today, it’s no more a disaster than a modern city having to import food. That’s what I was going to say. At least it’s not like Manhattan Island with all food for 1.6 million people arriving via a couple of dozen bridges and tunnels. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/47 "2015-10-05T16:22:13Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > Only to a certain level of technology, though. If interstellar travel becomes as simple and expected as sea/ground/air transport is today, it’s no more a disaster than a modern city having to import food. Yeah… until, for whatever reason, that technology is no longer available. Or war, blockade, or so forth. I’d hate to think of what would happen in Manhattan if the roadways were blocked. Yeah, you could still get stuff in and out, but it’d be a mess… ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/48 "2015-10-05T17:27:48Z")
If they have warp in Trek, they likely have all the transtater based techs. So replicators. Just need energy and raw material. Transtater - a basic gizmo that lets them use the dilithium and matter/anti-matter doodads. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/49 "2015-10-05T17:34:23Z")
…if you have replicators, you don’t need to import food. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/50 "2015-10-05T18:31:32Z")
Which was the point ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/51 "2015-10-05T19:10:53Z")
Unless you don’t like the taste of replicated food. I believe Sisko’s dad ran a restaurant in New Orleans that used real food, Riker whipped up some real eggs (which only Worf liked) and Picard’s brother didn’t have a replicator on his farm in France. Then we have Voyager, which had to stretch their energy reserves with a airponics bay and Neelix’s cooking. And don’t even get me started on synthale vs. Romulan ale. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/52 "2015-10-05T19:45:08Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > Yeah… ENT was such a lousy show I almost consider it to be “not canon”. I was only able to tolerate like 4 or 5 episodes before I gave up. Then you gave up too soon. ENT really gets into it’s own and as the seasons progress you’ll see why it is considered the best Trek of them all. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/53 "2015-10-05T19:50:27Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > And don’t even get me started on synthale vs. Romulan ale. I think you mean synthehol? :dubious: 😕 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/54 "2015-10-05T19:52:33Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > You’ll see why it is considered the best Trek of them all. I wouldn’t go that far, but it definitely had its moments. ---
**Author:** ![solosam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@solosam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solosam)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/55 "2015-10-05T19:52:43Z")
The scripts are written in such a way that every planet appears to consist of a single city, and once the crew solves whatever problem is going on in that one city then everything is resolved and everyone lives happily ever after. FWIW, the humans in Star Trek get this treatment, too. All humans speak English, all of them appear to come from a highly homogeneous culture with an identical value system, and none of them claim to be citizens of an individual nation state other than “The Federation.” Earth is basically the only planet anyone cares about and on Earth, San Francisco appears to be the only city that actually matters. Even the characters who do have explicit ethnic identities (Scotty, Chekov, O’Brien, and Sisko to a lesser extent) don’t hold their individual nationalities to be more important than their shared “Federation” identity. ---
**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/56 "2015-10-05T19:56:00Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Then you gave up too soon. ENT really gets into it’s own and as the seasons progress you’ll see why it is considered the best Trek of them all. The trick to Enterprise is to realize that the first three seasons are all about time-travel, and to honour that premise by performing a time skip directly to season four (and perform another time hop over the last episode). (Also young T’Pau is hot). ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/57 "2015-10-05T19:56:22Z")
> [@solosam](#): > > Even the characters who do have explicit ethnic identities (Scotty, Chekov, O’Brien, and Sisko to a lesser extent) don’t hold their individual nationalities to be more important than their shared “Federation” identity. Hey! The Federation was a Russian inwention! 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/58 "2015-10-05T20:00:12Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I think you mean synthehol? :dubious: 😕 [Nope.](http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Synthale)😃 ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/59 "2015-10-05T20:06:42Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > [Nope.](http://en.memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Synthale)😃 Aha. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305/60 "2015-10-05T23:45:25Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Hey! The Federation was a Russian inwention! 🆒 And it was comedic that anyone would act like that. It helped disarm any hatred you might have towards Russians. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-trek-tos-tng-ds9-voyager-is-kind-of-racist-hear-me-out/733305.md?page=4)