Back in 2009, reporters on NBC News and at Newsweek magazine compared Star Trek fan Barack Obama to a character in the popular phenomenon -- the half-human, half-Vulcan Mister Spock -- as “a person who has dealt with some of the same prejudices and problems that our new president does.”
On Thursday, GOP presidential candidate Ted Cruz made another Star Trek comparison during a New York Times Magazine interview with Ana Marie Cox.
You are the chairman of the Senate subcommittee on space, and during a hearing, you asked NASA to focus on space exploration rather than climate change.
Do you think there’s a big overlap between sci-fi nerds and people interested in policy?
“Well, I do think that readers of science fiction are interested and attracted to the future,” Cruz replied. “And in many ways, politics is a battle for framing our future.”
After stating that Cruz is “also a fan of Star Trek,” the interviewer asked him a question that has been debated by fans of the phenomenon for decades: “Do you prefer Captain Kirk (the commander of the U.S.S. Enterprise during the original series) or (Jean-Luc) Picard (the captain during The Next Generation)?”
He quickly replied: “Absolutely James Tiberius Kirk.”
Soon after, Cox asked the Texas Republican a “fascinating” question: “If you were a journalist interviewing you, what would you ask?”
“Who knows?” Cruz replied. “I might as well ask ‘Kirk or Picard?' I’ve never been asked that before, and I actually have a strong opinion on it.”
“Well, that goes with being a Kirk person,” the interviewer responded.
“It does indeed,” Cruz stated. “Let me do a little psychoanalysis. If you look at Star Trek: The Next Generation, it basically split James T. Kirk into two people. Picard was Kirk’s rational side, and William Riker was his passionate side.
“I prefer a complete captain,” he continued. “To be effective, you need both heart and mind.”
“I thought your critique might go in a different direction,” Cox stated, “because Next Generation is more touchy-feely in its politics than the original.”
“No doubt,” the GOP candidate responded before asserting:
The original Star Trek was grittier. Kirk is working class; Picard is an aristocrat. Kirk is a passionate fighter for justice; Picard is a cerebral philosopher.
The original Star Trek pressed for racial equality, which was one of its best characteristics, but it did so without sermonizing.
Cox continued by asking: “Do you have a suspicion about whether Kirk would be a Democrat or a Republican?”
“I think it is quite likely that Kirk is a Republican, and Picard is a Democrat,” Cruz answered.
“I think you and Kirk might have some personality traits in common,” Cox said.
“Well, thank you,” the Republican official responded. “I can affirmatively say that I have made out with far fewer space aliens.”
However, the story doesn't end there. When William Shatner, the actor who plays Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek series, heard about the interview, he tweeted:
Star Trek wasn't political. I'm not political; I can't even vote in the U.S. So to put a geocentric label on interstellar characters is silly.
Actually, the first Trek series dealt with several issues, both political and social. Among them are: “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” which utilized the conflict between two black-and-white characters as an examination of racism, while “A Private Little War” was a metaphor for the conflict in Vietnam, which was going on when the series first aired.
But last week, the discussion turned to another aspect of popular culture when the interviewer asked:
In your marathon anti-ObamaCare speech, you impersonated Darth Vader (the powerful and deep-breathing villain in the Star Wars universe). Are you attracted to anti-heroes?
“Certainly not to Vader,” the candidate quipped. “I was always a Han Solo (heroic rogue) guy. And when it comes to comics, I was more of a Spider-Man guy,” referring to the most popular super-hero of Marvel Comics.
Cox then asked: “You seem to be good at anticipating what journalists are going to ask you. Do you think you would make a good journalist yourself?
“I don’t know,” the GOP official stated. “I spent many years as a Supreme Court litigator. There is a premium on brevity there because if you take even an extra sentence or two, the odds are high you’ll be cut off by a justice before you make your point.”
“Interesting,” the interviewer noted. “The man who is famous for filibustering claims that what he’s really good at is keeping his answers short.”
“I’m just letting the irony of that comment flow right over my head,” Cruz replied.
