Trek Nation is a feature-length documentary directed by Scott Colthorp that tells the story of the impact Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek has had on the lives of both its viewers and creators.
With the help of Gene’s son, Rod Roddenberry, Colthorp amassed a huge wealth of footage. Since not all of it could fit in the documentary, he’s releasing some of that footage as a series of shorts on Youtube. He’s calling it the Director’s Log.
The most recent Director’s Log features clips from an interview with Michael Piller, lead writer for Star Trek: The Next Generation and one of the creators of Deep Space Nine and Voyager. The interview was filmed shortly before Piller’s death in 2005, but you’d never know it. His optimism, passion, and love of storytelling is bright on his face. Asked about Star Trek fans and what the series means to them, he seems to speak for himself as well.
I think what these fans are, the fans of Star Trek, are people who have great hope for the future. I think they really want to believe that a world can exist like Roddenberry created it. [...T]hey’re gonna work towards those goals, and really wanna accept the principle that man can solve the problems that faces it.
Or, as Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) more succinctly says in Director’s Log 01:
We’re better than we think we are.
I know that I owe a huge debt of gratitude to Star Trek‘s entire creative team for lending me some of that hopefulness. It’s pretty evident that everyone involved in this documentary feels the same way.
You can watch all the Director’s Log footage on Trek Nation’s Youtube channel. Trek Nation premiers on the Science Channel at 8PM EST/PST tomorrow, 9/30.
