Victory Post – by Lucas Bowser
While many reviews of the new Star Trek film seem to miss the obvious, there is no doubt that key elements of the plot are a commentary on modern politics and specifically the war on terror. The creators of the movie announced this to be their intention in 2009 telling the LA Times that the sequel, ”needs to do what [Star Trek creator] Roddenberry did so well, which is allegory. It needs to tell a story that has connection to what is familiar and what is relevant.”
The films co-writer, Roberto Orci, stated, “We’re trying to keep it as up-to-date and as reflective of what’s going on today as possible. So that’s one thing, to make it reflect the things that we are all dealing with today. More recently, Orci told Miami.com that, “Star Trek has this tradition of reflecting the time that it’s in. That’s a tall order, man. We felt that after the first movie, which was an origin story, we had the responsibility to make Star Trek into what it’s always been — a reflection of what’s happening right now. And what’s happening right now? War. Terrorism. Our need for vengeance and retribution. Does that violate our values? We’re just bringing these themes up as questions. We’re not making any answers. But Star Trek would be a failure if it wasn’t reflecting the world we already know.”
Discussing the philosophical debates and moral quandaries in the film he asks, “What happens when authority is wrong? What happens when following the rules means doing the immoral thing? What happens when you suspect you’re going to be attacked, so you become the attacker?”
[Spoiler Warning]These interesting and important themes become especially provocative when you apply them to 9/11 and the war on terror. In the film, a terrorist bombing takes place followed by an attack on Starfleet Command. The terrorist, a former Starfleet agent named John Harris, then flees to the enemy planet of the Klingons to hide in an uninhabited province. Admiral Alexander Marcus sends Kirk and company on a mission to execute the terrorist from just outside the Klingon’s territory by using special new prototype technology photon torpedoes. His orders from Admiral Marcus are to unlawfully kill the terrorist with the new weapons, but a discussion among crew members convinces Kirk to attempt to capture him and bring him back to Earth to stand trial instead.
When the crew finds the terrorist, they learn that he had been manipulated by the Admiral who sent them on the mission in the first place. The terrorist named John Harris is revealed to be a genetically engineered superhuman named Khan who was awakened from a cryosleep after 300 years by Admiral Marcus for the purpose of developing advanced weapons to use against the Klingons. Khan’s fellow super humans, still asleep in their pods, had been stored in the new torpedoes.
Because Khan thought his crew had been killed, he committed the terrorist attack which helped give Admiral Marcus the excuse he needed to attempt to provoke the Klingons into War. Admiral Marcus’s plan was to draw the Klingons into a war after Kirk completed his assigned extrajudicial execution of Khan in Klingon territory. Because Kirk captured Khan, the plot was revealed and Admiral Marcus then attacked the enterprise itself, which he later admits was part of his plan anyway.
While it is true that Khan is a cold blooded murderer, he was also a tool that had been used by Admiral Marcus to wage a pre-planned war. Without the actions and interventions of Marcus there would have been no terrorist attack. The torpedo scenario easily draws comparisons to current drone policy and is among the many other obvious parallels to the attacks of 9/11 and the war on terror. The movies credits even state that it was, “dedicated to our post-9/11 veterans,” four of which were given roles in the film by the director, J.J. Abrams.
Of course it should be no surprise that so many mainstream reviewers seem to miss these parallels, whether they intend to or not. Most of the critics seemed to miss the themes of false flag terrorism contained in the Star Wars prequels as well. Many of those who do make the connections to 9/11 are dismayed and quickly point out that Star Trek co-writer Roberto Orci is known to be a conspiracy theorist.
Claiming that it ranks among the worst 9/11 allegories ever filmed, Matt Cohen from Washington City Paper states, “When the plot veers into conspiracy-theory territory, with high-ranking members of Starfleet revealed as corrupt war criminals, I can hear the 9/11 truthers tittering with glee.”
Alyssa Rosenberg from Think Progress writes,“the Marcus plot sits uncomfortably as a critique of the War on Terror in part because of Orci’s publicly-stated beliefs that the September 11 attacks were an inside job. When Kirk, having realized that following Marcus’ orders would have degraded both Starfleet and the Federation itself, addresses Starfleet Academy at the end of the movie and declares “There will always be those who wish to do us harm. To stop them, we risk awakening the same evil in ourselves,” it would be nice to know for sure that he’s talking about real foreign enemies rather than domestic ones dreamed into existence by conspiratorial thinking.”
Unlike Rosenberg, Mr. Orci is clearly an open minded and independent thinker. A quick scan of his twitter feed reveals comments about the Boston bombings similar to those which Alex Jones was attacked for making. On April 15, the day of the Boston Marathon bombing, Orci wrote, ”Keep your eyes on Boston today. Look for evidence of Government drills, etc…”
He later posted a link to the Local 15 news coverage of University of Mobile’s Cross Country Coach, who witnessed drills taking place at the Boston Marathon. He wrote these comments referring to the link, ”Now we have to figure out what this means. Could be innocent, but why close your minds before looking.”
The rest of his Twitter feed further shows the Star Trek co-writer to be a well informed critical thinker who doesn’t blindly trust authority. On may 17th he wrote, ”White House has requested a print of #startrekintodarkness. Hope they pay attention;)”
I’m sure they are paying attention, however I’m not so sure that they will have favorable reviews, considering blockbuster films like these can have the effect of undermining and eroding their propaganda efforts.
Oblivion is another recent science fiction film with conspiracy themes that parallel current reality. Most movie critics didn’t seem to like or get that one either, but who cares about reviews when important messages are reaching the public on a massive scale. Science fiction has a history of being used as a vehicle to deliver important controversial social commentary, and as pointed out by Orci, this has always been a part of the Star Trek legacy.
The Star Trek episode from the sixties titled, “Day of the Dove” deals with the very same themes of being manipulated into war (with the Klingons no less) as the new Trek film. Here is a short breakdown of the episode put together by ThoughtCrime7 on YouTube. And for fun, check out this excellent video titled, “9/11 Trek” credited to DayJobOrchestra.com
Related: Star Trek Into Darkness director J.J. Abrams, who has previously worked with Orci on other projects including the TV series Fringe, is going to be the director of Star Wars episode VII.
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Sent to us by the author.
I went to see this film yesterday with my family, not to support the CIA/Mossad controlled propaganda industry, but to see if these wankers got it right this time. It appears they did for the most part. I noticed all these themes mentioned above and there were many more not listed.
In the opening scene, the crew of the Enterprise is on planet “Nibiru” trying to save it from an extinction level volcanic eruption. They even got the detail of everything being red. I thought this was a hilarious stab at the whole idea of Nibiru.
Also, the use of genetic modification could be found as an under theme. Khan and his cronies were developed genetically to be superior. Catch that message, “Superior” because they were genetically modified. Monsanto babies anyone?
Then, if you were paying very close attention, there were several members of the crew with synthetic enhancements. One crew member on the bridge actually had the implant in his brain. Yes, this is really where the control freaks want to take it, “Hey, get this new chip in your brain for direct internet access. We promise we won’t use it to supplant our own controlled agenda directly into your brain.”, which puts a whole new slant on thinking for yourself.
Yes, I cannot wait for this to come out on DVD so I can further dissect all these hidden reflections of today. Or, is it really just predictive programming? I’ll go with the latter, but still enjoy the film. Oh, not for the reasons most people enjoy Star Trek, no. I watch to see what new gadgetry they will be hoisting upon the human race by acclimating us to it through film. Star Trek is a Rand Corporation “enterprise” after all. Enjoy.
Saw the movie Saturday. I wasn’t impressed. Yes, it was chock full of NWO analogies, which I more or less expected, but having grown up with the original cast, it pained me to see them attempt to make all the characters look as close to the original cast members as they possibly could. They could have done a much better job had they gone with a “Next Generation” type of scenario, with an all new cast, names, etc. Didn’t care for Chris Pine as Kirk at all, he was FAR better in “This Means War”. Also didn’t like Karl Urban as Bones. He rocks in bad guy roles (The Bourne Supremacy / Chronicles of Riddick) This was too much of a wimp role for him.(he would have been far better as Khan, imo)
The Wrath of Khan was probably the most popular movie of the original series, which was likely why they recycled the character again (he was also in an episode from the series). This movie seemed to me to be a patchwork ensemble – bits and pieces stolen from previous films, such as Kirk (Spock the first time around) saving the ship, but dying in the process. Only difference being, they resurrected him in the same movie, instead of the sequel.
As far as conspiracy buff movies go, I thought the remake of “Total Recall”
has been one of the best to come along in years.One of Colin Farrell’s best roles ever. Throw in Jessica Beal and Kate Beckinsale, and you’ve definitely got some serious talent (and great looks) to work with.