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The Heroes of Star Trek and Beyond
Star Trek is considered to be one of the most popular television series of all time. Thirty years after its original airing, it has spawned three spin-off series and a plethora of major motion pictures with old and new cast members (Gibberman xi-xii). Its message of seeking out new races and civilizations under the banner of peace has been effectively delivered to its steadily growing audience, chiefly because of the inclusion of strong and heroic characters into the story lines. Whether the focus is on the gutsy, testosterone-driven Captain Kirk, the more cerebral and reflective Picard and Sisko, or the powerful Amazon Janeway, one cannot deny that Star Trek's success is correlated with these unique and prominent heroes (Iaccino, Jungian 15, 31-32).
However, Star Trek has become so much of a popular culture phenomenon that other science-fiction series have been overlooked over the past decades (Muir 1-4). Take for instance the 1970s show Space: 1999. Although the premise of a nuclear-powered moon becoming a starship for its 311 inhabitants sounds ridiculous upon first inspection, what makes Space: 1999 a memorable entry is the heroic depiction of Commander John Koenig (played by Martin Landau). In the first season alone, Koenig dies five times (refer to "Matter of Life and Death," "Black Sun," "Another Time, Another Place," "Missing Link," and "War Games"). What is significant is that he comes back to life in each of these episodes, renewed in body and refreshed in spirit so that he can continue to oversee Moonbase Alpha on its intergalactic journey. The cyclical nature of Koenig's "death and rebirth" is much more consistent with the Jungian characterization of the archetypal hero than what has been provided in the Star Trek universe. In many cases, the original Star Trek characters have never died once, let alone five times (e.g., "Bones" McCoy, Montgomery Scott, and Sulu), and so they have been kept in a "limbo" state of development throughout the course of the series. Of course, there are exceptions to the rule (e.g., Spock in Star Trek II and III, Kirk in Star Trek Generations, and Sisko in the final Deep Space Nine episode, "What You Leave Behind"), but these instances are few and far between.