Robert Hewitt Wolfe, a former Star Trek writer, hits back at a Fox News op-ed that claims the long-running sci-fi franchise has fallen victim to so-called "woke politics." Wolfe began his writing career by selling the story "A Fistful of Datas" to Star Trek: The Next Generation, which became a standout for its comedic elements and witty writing. This landed him a job on the creative staff of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, where he worked for five years and wrote some of the show’s most widely acclaimed episodes, including "Hard Time" and "Call to Arms."
While Star Trek has been back in the news for many reasons, including the recent Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiere, not all press has been celebratory. In a now viral opinion piece for Fox News, David Marcus points to two recent episodes as examples of Star Trek entering the world of partisan - and therefore "woke" - politics, including Strange New Worlds episode 1, which alluded to a third World War that a result of the Capitol Riots on January 6, 2021. According to Marcus, this was nothing more than a dig at the Trump administration, and constituted the long-running franchise breaking new ground in its political messaging.
Wolfe takes issue with the article, but expresses his thoughts in a much more succinct way. Replying on Twitter, he cites his experience as an actual Star Trek writer as giving him the authority to call out Marcus as a "moron," and invites both Fox News and other outlets to quote him. In a separate tweet, Wolfe then replies with a gif of Rom saying “workers of the world, unite” from his own DS9 episode, "Bar Association," as small piece of evidence that Star Trek is no stranger to the world of leftist politics. Check out the tweet below:
Click here to see the original post
While Wolfe’s response doesn't mince words, it summarizes the opinion of legions of Star Trek fans, who understand that Marcus’ writing fails to grasp what the series has always has stood for. In his article, he does state that television should advocate for “broad agenda items” and says that general incorporation of progressive themes is preferable over the more directly "woke" way that Strange New Worlds tackled politics. A good example of this would be the casting of Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura, which made her one of the first Black women prominently featured on a major TV show. For many, this was a landmark moment in television and is now remembered fondly by many, including Marcus, who takes no issue with how the show has always had diverse casts.
However, the casting of Nichols was not a “broad agenda item,” as Marcus puts it; it had only been two years since the passing of the Civil Rights Act when Star Trek season 1 hit the small screen, and had the terminology existed, her inclusion could have been labeled "woke" by conservative thinkers of the time. Perhaps Marcus takes issues with the supposed lack of subtlety that shows like Strange New Worlds display, but as Wolfe's DS9 gif reveals, past Star Trek franchises could be very upfront with their leftist politics, as well. However viewers might react to seeing recent events mentioned in a series set in the distant future, arguing that Star Trek hasn't ever done so before is, as Wolfe suggests, woefully misguided.
Source: Twitter