Familiar Traps

Even though Star Trek is commended for giving minorities and females more visibility on television, it was not always positive. Many stereotypes are presented and reinforced in the entire Star Trek franchise.

The character Spock is second in command. He replaced a female character played by Majel Barrett who held that position in the first pilot shown to NBC. The network told Roddenberry to replace her with a man because the audience would not respond well to a woman in such a high ranking position.

The network also had an issue with Spock's skin color. Originally, to reinforce his martian origin, Spock's skin was going to be reddish but that was changed because he would appear black if the show was viewed on a black and white television. Instead they gave him a greenish hue.

Spock is half human and half Vulcan. This puts him in a minority category and he is constantly reminded and ridiculed for not being entirely human by some members of the crew. The crew always has an issue when Spock is in a position of power when Captain Kirk is unable to lead even though he is second in command. The underlying reason is inevitably because he is part Vulcan and is governed by logic, not emotion. The rest of the crew on the Enterprise see this as a flaw in Spock's character, something that separates him from the rest of them, and they complain about it frequently.

Many of the stereotypes frequently featured in Star Trek are ones that are well known in American culture.

The head engineer of the Enterprise Montgomery "Scotty" Scott, played by James Doohan, is a Scotsman who is constantly drinking and is seen getting into bar fights.

Lt. Sulu, played by George Takei, is a recurring character in the Original Series yet one of the only facts the audience learns about him is that he has a sword and knows how to fence. Ensign Chekov, played by Walter Koenig, had a ridiculous Russian accent that makes him difficult to understand at times. He also is seen drinking vodka and is usually under the impression that most things were invented in Russia.