From combat pilot to television visionary, the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, strongly believed in racial and gender equality, and he often argued with television executives over these issues. After the Pentagon stopped cooperating on his show, The Lieutenant, because of an episode that featured a friendship between Black and White Marines, he realized that setting stories in a far off imaginary future would make it easier to slip controversial ideas past the censors. Thus, more than fifty years ago, a television show called Star Trek was born and broke ground with its daring vision, an inclusive cast of humans and interplanetary beings cooperating and working together, to over come challenges as they explore the cosmos.
Themes of heroism, optimism, equality and humanity that are still relevant today, posed questions about real life on Earth as much as in its fictional future worlds.
Encompassing more than a half-century of television series, spin-offs, and films, Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds sheds light on the enduring relevance of this pop-culture phenomenon. This fully immersive exhibition will showcase Star Trek’s significant impact on culture, art, and technology through more than one hundred rare artifacts, set pieces, and props, many of which have never been on display in LA, plus state-of-the-art photo and video interactive.
Star Trek: Exploring New Worlds opens at the Skirball on October 7, 2021, and runs through February 20, 2022.
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