Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations: Star Trek, the Sixties & the American Left

In recent years, scholars studying the 1960s have increasingly relied on artefacts of popular culture in order to study the larger themes of the decade. The reason for studying popular music, movies, magazines, and television is they that bear the hallmarks of the decade that produced them. Whether commercially produced or independently made, they all reflect the attitudes, values and politics of their creators ’ society. Despite its out-of-this-world nature, science fiction television was as rooted in sixties culture as any other genre, because it was created by and for the people. This meant that content was often heavily controlled by conservative network executives who did not want to risk offending audiences. Science fiction television managed to slip through the censors more often than other genres (a convenience for politically-minded producers) as it used aliens and space ships rather than a more familiar setting in order to talk about contemporary events. Yet surprisingly few shows of the decade took this opportunity. One of those that did was Star Trek, which aired in the late 1960s and provided the viewing public with images right out of the liberal left’s textbook. Headed by creator Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek was used by its writers, as a vehicle for promoting the political ideas of the liberal American left, as well as fo