marathag
Banned
But very much part of it, if it can be spunon the other side of the Iron Curtain that shows TOS as a future where Marxism worked, and thrived.
WI: "Star Trek" was shown in the East Bloc during the Cold War?
- Thread starter baltur2
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chankljp
Donor
In that case, we will need to focus on things that a Soviet censor working on the Committee on Cinematography (Goskino) reviewing the Star Trek series for it's suitability for screening in the USSR will see, instead of what we, as fans of the series are aware of in the backstory. Since I am guessing that some old, grumpy bureaucrat working for Goskino will not be interested in putting in the time and effort to learn about the ins and outs of the United Federation of Planets' political and economic system, and own be concerned with what he can see on the screen.
By the time of the TNG era, when Star Trek really start going into the entire 'moneyless socialist utopia' thing, with that aspect of the Federation being discussed on screen, it's already 1987, in the era of Glasnost and Perestroika, while VHS tapes with Hollywood movies are actively smuggled in from the West into the Eastern Bloc such as Romania and the USSR. As such, I really don't think the cultural impact of Star Trek being officially shown on state TV would have been that much.
For there to be any sort of notable impact on the Eastern Bloc, you will need the Original Series to be shown, and give it a few decades to enter into the people's public popular culture consciousness. Perhaps the 1970s would have been a good time for that, shortly after the show was canceled by NBC, while broadcast syndication rights for the series was being sold in order to help recoup the production losses. That would be a good time for the Soviets (Or any other Eastern Bloc country) to have been able to purchase the broadcast license for Star Trek at an affordable price.
So, we will be looking at materials ONLY from the Original Series as they were shown in the original format: No TNG, no expanded universe material...
And from that alone, I honestly do not see anything ideologically 'progressive' enough that will justify them spending their limited supply for hard currency on importing the series for showing in their country.
Ironically enough, the only Cold War era communist country that I can see doing this would be North Korea, since Kim Jong- Il was both a Star Trek fan and actively encouraged North Korean writers to try their hands on producing their own works of science fiction... But considering that he was still in this 30s studying in Malta during that era, I do not see him being able to influence which movies and TV shows his home country imports.
This, that is the perfect timeframe, maybe they convice give them the right for a long time and become popular in SU enough to get imitators(chekov help a lot, he is russian and mention leningard too)
Hm well, thats a coincidence, just recently I read about western movies on east german television (I was interested in that, since I'm from Germany), and in fact Star Trek the movie appeared in east german cinemas in 1986.
The movie was quite popular.
What I found funny, is that, while Star Trek was shown on the DDRs tv, Star Wars was baned, because it was deemed to glorify war. But then again, these were different times, and many people in West Germany also screamed bloody murder about how violent and brutal Star Wars allegedly was. Seems odd if you compare it to modern movies.
I have a feeling that this particular episode might not be shown.
marathag
Banned
Why?
the Yangs were nationalistic savages that forgot about what their history stood for? That fits with the Soviet line that the US fell well short of what the Constitution promised almost 200 years beforehand
I was under the impression that the Soviet historical stance was that the American Revolution was an elite bourgeois revolt of no real value?
The thing is, in the Soviet historical analysis bourgeois revolts and even capitalism are all part of the same dialectic which eventually leads to socialism and ultimately communism. It was a necessary stage of history. But one, which will (in their view), be superceded eventually by the "real Revolution", the socialist one.
Wouldn't it also have been entirely possible, that given the decision to show Star Trek in the Eastern Bloc, that the show could likely be dubbed into relevant local language, in which case Soviet "Script-Doctors" could place whatever Socialist speak they like in the mouths of the characters?
Not that early on, the original serie was pretty much proto-Star Trek, it had many of the elements, it was only the Next Generation and the movies which expanded the lore to a post-scarity society and full blown wokeness. That doesn’t mean the the OS wasn’t very progressive, but the progressiveness was more shown and less told.
They remained a clear soviet analogue for way longer. Just look at the Star Trek movie "The undiscovered country" of 1991 (fun fact, when the making of the movie started in 1990 the USSR still existed, and it seemed as if the cold war would come to an end with both superpowers still standing afterwards. However by the time the movie made it to the cinemas, the USSR had allready been dissolved).
The Klingon Empires economy has suffered from an astronomical military spending for years, in order to keep up in the arms race with the Federation. In this difficult situation an accident happens during a routine exercise on the moon of Praxis, casuing a horrible desaster. The moon explodes, thousands die and the Empire looses its main source of energy.
Seeking to exploit the massive crisis the Klingon Empire is in, leading figures of the Federations government and military advocate a "pre-emptive strike" (though in reality it would have been completely unprovoked, since the Klingons at this point didn't pose any threath).
Moderates win out in the debate, however, and Kirk (who still hates the klingons, because his son died in the last war against them) is sent to negotiate with a Klingon delegation, lead by the reform-minded klingon chancelor Gorkon. Both sides hope to permanently end the hostilities that have existed between the two nations for decades, when suddenly the chancelor is assasinated under misterious circumstances.
There are a few differences, but honestly, how can anyone claim that the klingons don't mirror the 80s USSR in this story (though polliticly and culturally the klingons actually have nothing in common with the soviets. In in these aspects they are actually very similiar to imperial Japan. You know with their extreme code of honour, fervent militarism, glorification of the emperor, warrior cult, etc.).
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