From the Editors:

There can be no denial that the "Star Trek" franchise is one of the planet’s biggest contemporary, ongoing science fiction genres.

What began nearly forty years ago as an obscure and short-lived television series has blossomed into an empire that is itself worthy of a science fiction epic novel: hundreds of books and videos, nine movies, uncountable amounts of merchandise and five – soon to be six – television series.

"Star Trek" has spawned "Star Trek" (animated series), "Star Trek: The Next Generation", "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" and "Star Trek: Voyager". By all accounts, another series is in its preliminary production stages, and rumours are circulating amongst fans (and on the Internet) concerning the premise and characters for this new series.

At this time, we challenge the "Star Trek" creators to reinvent some of the original "Star Trek" vision and boldness.

The original "Star Trek" spoke of "boldly going where no one had gone before" and dared to tackle racism and equality on television. It boasted scripts that examined social issues and hid messages within allegorical stories. More than that, it inspired the hearts and souls of a generation of authors, artists, astronauts and scientists.

Subsequent incarnations of "Star Trek" have stumbled somewhat. It took four TV shows before "Star Trek" presented a black man (Ben Sisko) as a commander, and five shows before women got serious attention (Janeway, Torres and Seven of Nine). However slowly, the march of progress can be seen to move on.

In this spirit, we dare to suggest that it is time (nay, it is overdue time!) to introduce a gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or intersex person as a major and continuing character in "Star Trek".

It was a decade-and-a-half ago that Gene Roddenberry reportedly promised to introduce a continuing gay character aboard the USS Enterprise. We are still waiting for that promise to be honoured.

There was a rumour, some years ago, that the movie, "Star Trek: First Contact" was to feature a gay character, Lieutenant Hawk, and his male lover, both of whom would come to a horrible end in true Hollywood homophobic fashion. But even that seems to have been edited out as being too "gay friendly".

Are these people serious? Given that a number of "Star Trek" actors/production staff have died of AIDS, it seems foolish, hypocritical and offensively conservative to continue to deny queer characters a recognised place in modern society and in the "Star Trek" future.

It also seems foolish to deny (as did the recent so-called "documentary" film, "Trekkies") that "Star Trek" was rescued from obscurity in the 1960s and 1970s by legions of fans, many of whom were heterosexual women who wrote libraries full of fanzines, particularly "slash" fanzines – the purported homosexual hijinks of Kirk, Spock and others. There are lessons there about consumer demand that the "Star Trek" creators appear yet to learn.

One rumour for the new series is a starship with a Vulcan second in command (how original) and a captain who hates Vulcans. If true, this series would presumably explore the captain’s journey into his/her own bigotry. Yawn! That type of thing was done in the sixties. We would like to suggest a contemporary twist – that the 2IC is gay and the captain has to confront his/her own homophobia. This would still be a cliché, but at least it dares to boldly go where "Star Trek" has never had the courage to go before.

As we enter the so-called 21^st century, let’s see if "Star Trek" can finally meet the challenge of its own ideals. If it’s good enough for "Alien Nation", "Quantum Leap", "Babylon 5" and "Farscape" to touch upon queer issues, then surely this iconic TV science fiction series can also cope with queers in space – and maybe even set a new standard, as it so often appears to claim.

Until then, the only real TV connection between "Star Trek" and the queer community remains an apparent part-tribute, part-parody by a group in the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras some years ago. Such parody of the "Star Trek" ideals of equality will continue to be promoted, however unintentionally, by "Star Trek" itself until the franchise provides viewers with an all-inclusive starship crew.

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