First, I'm a fan of Star Trek. Hands down. It was one of the first space shows I ever got to watch when I was a young boy, as well it was one of the only shows that we would get on our limited TV antenna two-available-channel black-and-white television. I also remember it was on at a specific time, I think it was usually 2 pm on a Saturday or a Sunday. I always hated having to wait until the religious programming was finished to watch the shows I really wanted to see. Saturday morning cartoons were the best, but that's for another posting.
But I digress. I've always been a fan of space shows, again especially Star Trek, and especially because of characters like Mr. Spock. I recall one episode "The City on The Edge of Forever" where Captain Kirk had referred to Mr. Spock as being Chinese, and got his pointed ears because as a boy he got his head caught in a rice picker. Even prior to that though, I could identify with Spock because he looked different, and looked very much Asian, with the high pointy eye brows and standard Vulcan bowl cut.
I could also identify with Spock, because he had a life and a back story, unlike the actual Asian on the bridge, Lieutenant Sulu, who for all intents and purposes was the helmsman and we didn't know very much about who he was and how he got there. We eventually learned he had a first name, Hikaru, but really that was about it until the 2016 film edition where we got a glimpse into his life outside of Star Fleet. Yet with Spock, we met his parents ("Journey to Babel")
and we visited his home world where we even met his wife (that he since divorced through the Pon Farr in "Amok Time").
While Star Trek sought to be more inclusive, again adding lieutenant Uhura as the only black female on the bridge, even she did not have a strong back story. She was very good ethnicity filler though, and looked great in an official capacity as communications officer, again adding a splash of color in an otherwise white dominated bridge.
But back to Spock.
He is the closest to a fully rounded Asian looking character in that time of our TV history. But he was still an alien. An outsider. Someone that worked hard to fit in, and his struggle to do so eventually elevated his popularity above that of Shatner's Captain Kirk. He became a symbol in a way of the universal struggle to belong, and then finally got his due in the form of more fan mail than the dashing leading man.
I hope other shows now and in the future will give Asian characters a life and a back story with the depth that they have given with Spock.
Live Long and Prosper
