Movie pitch: Spock on Gilligan's Planet
Maybe the Professor is Vulcan?
Welcome to Star Trekking, my attempt to share points of interest and random intersections in the final frontier.
Here’s a pretty good representation of the inside of my mind for the past couple of weeks.
My mother unexpectedly died (as I inferred in last week’s not so subtle issue) so I have a lot of unexpected responsibilities and issues on my mind.
But I have also tried to stumble along with regular life, and in so doing, came across this post on a blog I visit regularly, Tyler Cowan’s Marginal Revolution: Which historical figures would you like to see good movies made about? In it, he answers that he’s not particularly a fan of biopics, and adds this.
I would be happy with any popular movie made about scientific figures, putting science in a positive light. That said, I think Spock and “the Professor” from Gilligan’s Island are far more effective than a biopic of Ernest Rutherford.
Those are certainly two characters that led me toward rationality and interest in science.
Star Trek has long been known as an inspiration to scientists and astronauts.
“Roddenberry and other writers added magic like the transporter and medical miracles and the holodeck, but they put these in as equipment, as powerful tools built by human engineers in a future of human progress,” says physicist David Allen Batchelor in a NASA post about the science of Star Trek. “They uplifted our vision of what might be possible, and that's one reason the shows have been so popular.”
And as I once wrote, Spock is “a cheerleader for science. The scientific method is simply the best tool we’ve yet devised to understand our surroundings. Careful experimentation, reason, making choices based on evidence rather than instinct or intuition. Why embrace mumbo jumbo when the wonders of the infinite universe are open to us through science? Emotions have their place, but reason and evidence usually bring us to the best conclusion.”
Spock - and Star Trek - led me to reading science fiction which led me to reading Isaac Asimov’s science essay collections which led me to…um, well, not a career in science but at least a lifelong interest and trust in the scientific method.
As for the Professor - well, at the moment I wrote this I am wearing khaki pants and an oxford shirt and blue tennis shoes with white soles.
And he did eventually build a spaceship out of coconuts and palm leaves...
MEANWHILE…
You never know what treasures are awaiting you on YouTube.
For instance, the opening credits to Enterprise except with Shaun Cassidy’s A Star Beyond Time.
Me singing that song (sorry).
Someone else singing a song called Mr. Spock.
Which led me to the original which I honestly don’t think I’ve ever heard before?
Why did none of you tell me that song existed?
If you’re holding back anything else like this that you think I must obviously already know about, well, don’t make that assumption, friend. Please disclose the information.
Okay this is super cute.
Are you looking to read a book about Gilligan AND Star Trek (and The Simpsons and The X-Files)? Of course you are. I read this back when it came out and loved it.
Gilligan Unbound by Paul A. Cantor looks at globalization through the lens of pop culture, specifically through the four shows listed above. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country haters will quite enjoy the chapter about the End of History.
Star Trek inspires the best scientists.
And, finally, an actual Gilligan/Star Trek crossover.
Until next time, remember -
The human adventure is just beginning.