Is Modern Star Trek Too Focused on Sex and Romance?

 

Image description: Spock and T'Pring as they appear in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. SNW pulls from the canon of The Original Series and still has Spock and T'Pring as a betrothed couple, but spends time evolving their relationship a bit so it isn't just a relationship of duty. However, in so doing, they make the relationship far more romantic and sexual than it was ever implied to be. This isn't something that only happens in SNW, but seems to happen a lot in modern Trek - which I'm defining as any Star Trek media made in the 21st century. Today, I explore whether modern Trek relies on these things too much and why, as well as diving into why it matters in the first place.

As a geek, I know the idea of a beloved franchise continuing can be both a gift and a curse. On the one hand, watching a piece of media continue for years or even decades can bring the potential for new and incredible storylines, multigenerational characters and plot lines, and new talent getting to come into the piece of media – some of whom may have been long-time fans of the media as well. On the other hand, however, the longer a franchise lives, the more it might be stretched and altered beyond recognition through bad sequels or reboots, becoming unrecognizable, and that sometimes makes franchise longevity something to be feared rather than be celebrated.

Trust me, I have seen this time and again – as my recent retrospective about the Dragon Age franchise doubtless proves. But as an aspec geek, there are other, more complicated ways that I can find myself both excited for and frustrated by franchise expansion, and I think perhaps no franchise typifies that better for me than my first fandom, Star Trek. Perhaps the science fiction show, Star Trek has always been concerned with showing us an optimistic far future, meaning it can easily exist in every decade and still be as relevant today as it was when it first premiered in 1966.

However, while Starfleet’s future may always look the same or very similar from version to version, the shows themselves often change with the times they’re in. Sometimes, of course, these changes are very good things, allowing the franchise to break out of the limitations of certain time periods, societal expectations, or even the demands of a network. However, as I’ve often discussed on this blog for various pieces of media, something that frustrates me as an aspec fan is that the modernization of Star Trek and its themes never seems to translate into a willingness to portray aspec characters or even simply non-sexual and/or non-romantic ones in a way that is meaningful and handled with respect.

While the modernization of media tends to mean other identities are finally able to be represented, not only does this almost never translate into aspec representation of any kind, but rather the modernization of media actually sometimes serves to make things worse. Freed from previous societal conventions or - thanks to modern day streaming platforms - even from the standards and guidelines of cable television channels, modern Star Trek is not only allowed to ignore non-sexual and/or non-romantic storylines, but is able to make their current storylines more sexual and/or romantic than ever.

Of course, sex and romance have been part of the franchise since its inception and even when they had to obscure their meanings, being open about these matters has always been a core of the future imagined by the franchise. I’m not saying that this has to change or even that it should. But in today’s post, I want to explore modern Star Trek’s desire to portray sex and romance far more than usual, sometimes when it has no place, while also unpacking the ways it seems to ignore opportunities for aspec representation instead. As I’ve explored on the blog before, sometimes this utopic future is not a friendly place for aspec characters, and as someone who has always loved and longed to be a part of the world Star Trek portrays, I think this is a real shame. As Star Trek continues to evolve, so too must we continue to analyze its triumphs and its limitations, especially in regards to the infinite diversity it has the potential to portray and yet never seems to come close to showcasing.

Spoiler warning! 

Star Trek: The Original Series (various)

Star Trek: The Next Generation ("The Naked Now")

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (various)

Star Trek: Voyager (various)

Star Trek: Enterprise ("Broken Bow," "Harbinger" "A Night in Sickbay", etc.)

Star Trek (2009 movie)

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds ("A Space Adventure Hour," "Four-and-a-half Vulcans," "New Life and New Civilizations," etc.)

--------------------------------

The Sexualization of the Final Frontier

In order to understand the limitations of Star Trek’s attitudes on sexuality, especially in more recent series, we have to first look at the history of sexualizing the series. As I said in my introduction, the idea of sex and/or romance in Star Trek is nothing new. From the scantily clad Orion slave girls of The Original Series to the sexual escapades portrayed in The Next Generation to the way the character of Seven of Nine from Voyager was described as a “sexy Borg babe” behind the scenes, it’s not as though the franchise has ever tried to shy away from sex, romance, or sci-fi stand-ins for these things (often in somewhat problematic ways). However, the concept of “sexy Star Trek” probably first really came alive thanks to the first Star Trek series conceived of in the 21st century – the prequel series, Enterprise.

According to the Star Trek wiki, Memory Alpha, Enterprise was literally designed to be a more modern take on the franchise in the hope that this would boost ratings, which is part of why it was set in a nearer future than the rest of the franchise in order to make it “more accessible.” Rather frustratingly, the idea of making the show more “accessible” seems to also have extended to the way it was more daring in portraying the sexuality of its various characters, and I don’t doubt that this more sexualized storytelling was purposely crafted in an attempt for better ratings and more relevancy.

There were several ways the show attempted to do this, including the skin-tight outfits worn by female Vulcan crew member T’Pol or the various plot points that seemed to revolve around various members of the crew and their unresolved sexual and/or romantic tension for one another. One of the most bizarre ways the show attempted to amp up the sex appeal, however, was through inventing situations where characters – especially the characters of Trip and T’Pol – had to be sent into decontamination chambers, which naturally required stripping down and rubbing each other down with decontamination gels.

This is included in the very first episode of the series and is of course played as exactly as sexualized and erotic as it sounds, something which was even played up in advertising for the series by showing characters fully clothed and then half-naked in the decontamination chamber, as well as highlighting scenes in which characters rubbed the gels on one another. This includes a decon session from “A Night in Sickbay,” an episode in season 2 in which the two women on the crew – T’Pol and Hoshi Sato – must rub the gel on each other. While the decon chamber’s later appearances did feature the crew more clothed, the fact that it exists in this early form at all is proof of the bizarre and often sexually-exploitative plot points the series used, somehow thinking these things were “sexier” and would appeal to a broader audience.

However, even more infamous than the decon chamber might be the fact that the series made use of actual nudity, albeit partial nudity. This occurs in the season three episode “Harbinger,” during which T’Pol is shown from the back, clearly entirely nude, and shows part of her posterior. But aside from this overtly sexual moment, there are plenty of other instances – both within the decon chamber and outside of it – in which T’Pol was shown wearing very little or was limited to tight and restrictive clothing when she was clothed.

While Enterprise gives us some of the most overt and obvious examples of trying to sex-up a show for ratings, it also somewhat gives vindication to the idea that this doesn’t always mean a great show. Enterprise certainly does have its fans and at the time there were several fan-led campaigns to save the show when it was in danger, but I would say most Trek fans do not rank the series very high, to the point where hating on Enterprise has somewhat become a fandom in-joke. The negative reactions to the show prove that sexualizing a show is not the magic bullet to better ratings or the key to saving a franchise.

Image description: The first infamous "decon" scene from Star Trek: Enterprise, this one featuring T'Pol and Trip in the series first episode "Broken Bow." Believe me when I say this is one of the least sexualized images I could find of this interaction.

It also proves that the issues inherent with modern Trek are not just limited to the idea of making it sexier. While I think trying to make Star Trek sexy is an inherently flawed premise, there are deeper issues with modern Trek, chiefly in that many modern entries in the franchise seem afraid to actually do anything especially bold or groundbreaking, often using sex and/or romance as poor substitutes for deeper storytelling. Other than in a few instances of much-needed representation, the likes of which we see in modern series like Discovery and Picard, modern Trek more often than not actually moves the needle backwards in terms of certain portrayals, or makes the lack of these things all the more insulting.

This is something I mention a great deal on my blog, wherein the portrayal of better representation for certain groups or the dedication to be more inclusive makes me wonder why aspec identities are seemingly not considered as part of this. I believe it would have been not only possible but very easy to explore aspec-adjacent characters, or at the very least non-sexual or non-romantic storylines through characters such as Data, Odo, Seven of Nine, and the Doctor – just to name a few – and that allowing these characters to be portrayed as such would have been revolutionary both then and now. Unfortunately, the way these characters are often treated instead isn’t just a study in missed opportunity, but also one in ignorance.

However, I’m also the first one to admit that I’m not expecting these nuanced portrayals from the older series and I’m especially not looking for canonical aspec representation when I look back at shows made decades ago. When it comes to modern Trek, however, I think it would be entirely possible to portray characters who are non-sexual and/or non-romantic and I find myself wondering why these otherwise diverse series are unwilling to do so, and why, in many cases, modern Trek still uses the same tired and worn-out tropes to portray their characters.

For instance, to pick on Enterprise again, the series' obsession with sex or romance actually creates a less tolerant and diverse atmosphere than Trek series of bygone eras. As critic Jarrah Hodges says in her review of the Enterprise pilot, “Broken Bow”: “Yet again, everyone on the ship (whose sexual orientation we can identify) is straight,” and I would add to that “everyone is allosexual.” This limitation doesn’t just crop up in the infamously “sexy Star Trek,” though; the presumption that every character or every alien race would be sexual and/or romantic seems to be a throughline in every Star Trek series and every time period, and I think we need to ask ourselves why this continues to happen.

Romance in Space

If you ask a Trekkie what their favorite thing about Star Trek is, each individual person is likely going to give you a different answer. For me, as with all good sci-fi and all good stories in general, my favorite part is almost always watching characters grow, develop, and bond as they adventure across the galaxy. Because every Star Trek series takes place with a crew made up of diverse characters, each with their own stories, the best instances of character growth come thanks to these various characters interacting with each other, forming mentor/mentee bonds, deep friendships, and sometimes, of course, romances.

There are plenty of romances throughout Trek history that are actually pretty great. But, like with most things, when Star Trek gets romance wrong, it gets it really wrong, and there are just as many Trek romances that are ill-conceived. Think, for instance, of the infamous romance between Seven of Nine and Chakotay in Voyager and how it seemed hastily contrived and was poorly received as a result. Other romances have strange and/or problematic elements for the characters involved, such as the complicated nature of a couple such as Odo and Kira from Deep Space Nine. And other couples are just bizarre on the face of it, like the sexual pairing of Data and Tasha Yar in “The Naked Now,” the second episode of The Next Generation.

This is certainly not an exhaustive list, and each Trek series has at least one utterly baffling romance or one character whose romantic entanglements lead to some generally bizarre plot points or bad characters. My examples, however, demonstrate some of the regular romances for main characters that I think miss the mark entirely. Of course, regular readers of the blog will note that the romances I singled out each share one thing in common: at least one member of the couple has aspec vibes that their respective series never allowed to flourish. 

Star Trek fans will also doubtless note that these romances come from the more “classic” series, furthering my point that romance and sex in Star Trek are not new phenomena. If anything, some of these classic examples are worse primarily because they involve pushing these non-romantic and non-sexual characters into these relationships, upholding certain regressive tropes in the process. But modern Trek isn’t entirely blameless either. While certain plot points and romantic couples certainly do make an effort to correct the sins of the past, I have to wonder if perhaps modern Trek relies a little too heavily on romance to further its storytelling, sometimes at the detriment of other character development.

This is something I discussed in a previous post where I talked about Strange New Worlds character La’an Noonien-Singh, in which I wondered why media seems to refuse to let stoic girls such as La’an be non-romantic and/or non-sexual, instead throwing them into romances, often out of the blue. In that post, I looked at how La’an’s stoic nature makes perfect sense and yet is routinely treated as though it were a problem that needs to be softened through the use of romance, something which the show encourages and which much of the audience seems to have accepted as canonical fact about her character.

Whether aspec-adjacent or not, portraying a character this way has some serious issues, and the fact that it’s allowed to continue even in the most modern Trek series we have is unsettling. Also in that post, I postulated that the show would take the disappointing avenue of giving La’an yet another romance under the guise of “character development,” and I didn’t realize how accurate that would turn out to be. This occurs about halfway through season three when we are introduced to a surprise new pairing [spoiler alert] of La’an and Spock.

While this particular pairing certainly blindsided me, especially for La’an, the idea of Spock and romance is a somewhat longstanding thing within Star Trek. Dating back to the earliest days of the character in the 1960’s, Spock was treated as a sex symbol, and rather than try to push back against these attitudes, modern Star Trek instead encourages them. In fact, giving Spock a romantic or sexual relationship seems to be almost inevitable at this point. One of the worst examples of this, in my opinion, comes in the rebooted Trek films, beginning with 2009’s Star Trek, which saw the bizarre addition of having Spock date Uhura.

Image description: Uhura and Spock as they appear in the reboot Star Trek films of the early 2010s.

It could be said, therefore, that Strange New Worlds is just continuing these long-standing attitudes in its romantic and sexual storylines for Spock, but I believe this is a very unfortunate element of what is otherwise a genuinely good Star Trek series. While I never expected much from the reboot movies, I have come to expect a lot from SNW, as it’s proven it has what it takes to be a true Star Trek series with the same willingness to explore the ideals and questions that have always made the franchise great. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, romance can easily be a part of that, but its overreliance on romance – especially for Spock – has started to become a bit baffling to me. SNW has proven this by throwing him into three different romance arcs in the span of three seasons, first with his betrothed T’Pring, then with Christine Chapel, and then with the aforementioned La’an.

To be clear, none of these romances are exactly bad. In the case of T’Pring, SNW is merely choosing to flesh out the idea of Spock’s canonical betrothal to the character in ways that are actually quite interesting (if not slightly lore-breaking at times). In the case of Christine Chapel, I appreciate that they attempted to turn what TOS portrayed as a one-sided longing on the part of Chapel into an actual full-fledged relationship in order to lend some extra context to canon. Even La’an isn’t a bad match for Spock – as the show itself points out in the episode “Four-and-a-half Vulcans – despite my previously affirmed feelings about romance for La’an’s character. Rather, the worst part about any of these romances is they otherwise severely limit the storytelling of all the characters involved, taking away from things that are more interesting and robbing us of the opportunity to have storytelling that, well, boldly goes farther.

This isn’t something that’s just limited to Spock, of course, and there are plenty of characters whose story arcs end up being largely defined by romance. Even in cases when I like the romances being depicted, they just end up being less interesting than other elements of the show, and in some cases I believe they grind the rest of the plot to a halt. And yet, despite this, the series seems to be focused on romance. This is something the lead writers of SNW even admitted to. For instance, show co-creator Akiva Goldsman remarked that these things are bound to happen “when you put a lot of hot people on a ship in outer space,” a remark which shows me that unfortunately this seems to be top of mind for the show’s creative team.

While this isn’t necessarily a problem, I do find it frustrating to know that sex and/or romance are being emphasized while exploration, storytelling, and character development sometimes get pushed aside. I can’t help but wonder, in a day and age when we should be able to tell better, more diverse stories, why are we choosing to ignore them in favor of romance? While of course I would find this frustrating as an AroAce fan desperate for representation – or, at the very least, just an understanding that not every lifeform in the galaxy would be swayed by “hot people on a ship in outer space” – it seems I’m not the only fan who thinks these romances are out of place.

Image description: La'an and Spock in Strange New Worlds. Despite the show's insistence that this pairing makes sense based on the fact that both parties come from troubled backgrounds, we are never actually shown this level of depth. Therefore, their relationship feels less like healing between equals and far more like, as La'an herself puts it, a bit of "fun," seemingly because the writers couldn't resist throwing a romance at both characters.

Circling back to the many romances for Spock in SNW, critic Gavia Baker-Whitelaw examines this from a slightly different lens in a TVGuide article titled: “Why Is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds So Obsessed with Giving Spock a Girlfriend?” Baker-Whitelaw makes many of the same points I have made not just in this post but in many others I’ve written about Star Trek on the blog, pointing out that pushing these characters into romances is by and large less interesting than anything else that they could do with them. The article also goes on to point out how the repeated attempts to give Spock a girlfriend specifically are somewhat at odds with the most important relationship in Spock’s life: his dynamic with Captain James Kirk. As Baker-Whitelaw says:

“Regardless of whether you view them as a romantic couple, there’s no denying that Kirk is the most important person in Spock’s life, and vice versa. Watching Strange New Worlds, we’re aware that Spock’s defining relationship is still waiting over the horizon. No matter what happens between Spock and his various love interests now, these relationships will fade into the background once Kirk joins the Enterprise – a fact that makes Spock a doubly puzzling choice as a focal point for romantic drama. For the next 130 years of his life, he’ll be more interested in science and exploration than in dating, and his closest relationship will be with his captain.”

I’d take this even a step further. As I was writing this post, I took a break to watch the season three finale, which seems to imply that the Kirk/Spock bond – whether you choose to see it as romantic or platonic – is ostensibly rooted in a Vulcan mind meld they engage in as part of the plot to save the day. If the mind meld were a larger part of the episode or if it had been explored more, I might not have minded this as much, but as it was portrayed, it was incredibly quick and almost felt throwaway, and it doesn’t sit right with me that one of the most enduring and important relationships in not just Star Trek history, but the history of sci-fi, is being reduced down to something so quick when the romances are so fleshed out.

Don’t get me wrong, modern Trek – SNW in particular – does have some absolutely amazing friendships, many of which I’ve discussed in previous blog posts. But to think that the show created in the 1960’s did a better job of fleshing out friendship bonds for Spock than the show made in the 2020’s did is a bit puzzling. Once again quoting Baker-Whitelaw: “…when it comes to his love life, the subtextual message is clear: Strange New Worlds wants Spock to be straight. In fact, it wants him to be more overtly, concretely straight than he was in the 1960s, spending more time on his love life than on other forms of character development.”

From my own perspective, much as I said earlier in regards to Enterprise, I believe this idea can be expanded even further: SNW doesn’t just want Spock to be straight, but desperately wants him and everyone else in the crew to be allosexual and alloromantic, as that quote from Akiva Goldsman seems to prove. This was disappointing when various Trek series did it in the past, and it’s even more disappointing now, and I believe a character like Spock is a perfect example of why. There’s nothing wrong with finding allure in a character like Spock, nor is there anything wrong with giving him romantic story arcs. But I believe that focusing on romance at the detriment of everything else is where the problem truly lies, especially because Spock is otherwise a fascinating character with a lot of depth.

From his earliest inception, his story of being half-Vulcan and half-human and not exactly fitting into either world because of it speaks to issues of belonging and feeling adrift that many people have doubtless experienced. While SNW has certainly explored these things with Spock’s character, I’d argue that it could explore them more and could make meaningful and very relevant social commentary in the process. This is part of why I feel modern Trek – SNW especially – is doing itself a disservice by focusing on romance so heavily, and why articles like the above deride these newer series for their lack of willingness to push boundaries.

Again, I love SNW – and, after the failure of Enterprise, the disappointing generic-ness of the Star Trek reboot movies, and the mixed reception of series like Discovery and Picard, I’ll admit it’s just nice to have Star Trek feel like Star Trek again, with stories that make us think and wonder. But sometimes that’s not enough. The franchise has always been about tackling important issues and giving us new perspectives, and when those things get pushed to the back burner for any reason, I think a conversation should be had; when these things are pushed to the back burner because of romance and/or sex, all the more so.

Why Modern Trek Matters

Something I constantly tell people who don’t like Star Trek is that it’s not just a show about technobabble or strange looking aliens like it may seem from the outside. Rather, it’s a show whose lessons can apply to all times and which give us something to hope for. I think it’s very easy for people to see the outdated CGI of the older Trek series or the cheesy costumes for the aliens or the goofy set pieces and focus on these things rather than on the important messages that lie underneath it all. Because of this, I think modern Trek has an opportunity to do something that no other Trek series has had a chance to really do: deliver the same messages and metaphors that Star Trek has always given us, but using the modern technology audience have come to expect.

However, I’m constantly astonished at how often the reality of modern Trek doesn’t live up to this ideal, and how modern networks, studios, and writers want to treat the franchise as nothing more than a generic sci-fi romp. But, as I’m writing this post near Star Trek Day – which this year marks the 59th anniversary of the premier of The Original Series – I can tell you that a generic and meaningless series would not have endure that long, nor would it have inspired so many people. This is something I hope never changes, and I know I’m not alone in that; in fact, even the show itself is aware of this legacy.

Image description: Spock and Christine Chapel share an embrace in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.

Recently, Strange New Worlds featured an episode called “A Space Adventure Hour,” in which La’an, tasked with testing out early holodeck technology, chooses to explore a mystery program based on her favorite series of detective novels. These are stories that were deeply meaningful and comforting to her during the worst period of her life, and so she delights in taking on the role of the detective, solving a murder mystery centered around a pulpy sci-fi show called The Last Frontier. Naturally, the show is meant to be a playful spoof of The Original Series, and the crew of the Enterprise lends their faces to characters involved in said show’s production.

The episode is generally silly and lighthearted, but there is one moment that deeply struck me. While interrogating one of the murder mystery’s characters – who, since the computer is using the likenesses of the Enterprise crew in order to bring those characters alike, is being “played” by Uhura – La’an finds out that The Last Frontier was on the verge of being cancelled. The character played by Uhura laments this, stating that the show is special because it was designed “to take our rotten world with its warts and injustices and give audiences something better.”

“You don’t find the idea inspiring?” she presses La’an. “You don’t think some kid out there is going to see this show and spend the rest of their life searching the stars? You don’t think a person can love a piece of art or music or a story so much that it heals them, shows them parts of themselves they’ve never even seen before, and give them hope?” With tears in her eyes, thinking of the stories that comforted her after the loss of her family, La’an affirms that she believes all of that can be possible. And I as a fan, with tears in my own eyes, nodded in agreement.

Although some people view this episode as being a bit too snarky towards the legacy of TOS, other fans have pointed out that the speech being given by the character Uhura is playing within the simulation is particularly appropriate. After all, the role of Uhura in TOS was groundbreaking representation that young black women from actress Whoopi Goldberg to astronaut Mae Jemison found deeply inspiring, and so it makes perfect sense for Uhura’s character to be giving a speech like this. But for me, it becomes even more inspiring – albeit intentionally – when you consider that Uhura’s actress in this series, Celia Rose Gooding, identifies as being on the asexual spectrum, and also a little sadder.

I too have been comforted and inspired by Star Trek over the years. It continues to be a source of joy for me and prompts me to think about the world around me. It helps me strive to imagine a better future and feel uplifted by the possibility of it coming true. It makes me laugh and cry and cheer, and fall in love with dozens of diverse characters and incredible story arcs spanning decades of time. Turning once again to “A Space Adventure Hour,” the speech given by Uhura’s character says it best: “A show like this could have gone on forever. Given generations of fans a place to feel seen, to belong, something to believe in again, no matter who they were or where they came from.”

But this beautiful idea that I believe Star Trek and its continuing fandom has been built on is far from complete. I don’t need to be represented by Star Trek in order to love it, but I do want to feel like someone like me has a place in the final frontier, and that I too can feel seen and like I belong and like I have something to believe in again. That, to me, is why modern Trek matters and why discussing these things matters too. As long as Star Trek keeps boldly going into the future, I hope its ideas about humanity and human nature can keep evolving, showing us a vision of the future where everyone gets to boldly go too.

Image description: "Classic" Spock as he appears in Star Trek: The Original Series.

At the beginning of this post, I mentioned that the continuation of a franchise can be both a gift and a curse, but of all the media I’ve ever loved, Star Trek is the media that makes the most sense to continue on, mirroring the continuing mission of Starfleet itself. While there are some pieces of Star Trek media I hate and some decisions across its almost sixty-year history that I find difficult to swallow, the fact that the franchise itself and its ideals still endure is deeply meaningful to me.

Star Trek is not only my first fandom, but discussing aspec issues in relation to it is how I kicked off this blog back in 2020. The reason why I critique it is the same now as it was then: because I believe in this franchise and its power to trailblaze. In that post, I mentioned that Star Trek has taught me to hope, and I still do – because I believe, as long as people are curious about science and space and the future and building a better world, Star Trek will always be there. And for as long as it exists, I will continue to talk about it and analyze its messages in the eternal hope of better representation as we explore new life and new civilizations, boldly going where no one has gone before.