Human life was first brought forth in a garden. And, later in the story of salvation, the God-Man restored human life with new meaning and mission from the locale of another garden. Through the Resurrection, Jesus Christ conquered sin and death, paving the way to new and abundant life.
The stone of the tomb was rolled away, and Jesus left that garden of repose to walk again among the living. One of the old Star Trek movies, The Search for Spock, does a good job at symbolically reflecting the beauty of this greatest feast in Christendom.
Star Trek is a franchise that can be both entertaining and intellectually engaging. As Sam Guzman writes in The Catholic Gentleman:
“There’s something stirring about exploring the vast reaches of the galaxy with nothing but a trusty starship, a seasoned crew, and your wits. The philosophical themes explored along the way make it even more satisfying. Ah, the final frontier.”
This particular installment among the Star Trek films shares a message that closely resembles the Christian understanding of the miracle of the Resurrection. The Search for Spock opens with a commemoration of what Spock had done at the climax of the preceding film.
To save the lives of those on board the U.S.S. Enterprise, Spock had sacrificed himself in a deed of heroism. “I have been and always shall be…your friend,” he tells the remorseful Captain Kirk. The Vulcan then laid down his life for his friends. It turns out, despite his frequent suppression of emotions, Spock had a heart somewhere deep down inside of him.
The recap leads into a sequence featuring a lush tropical landscape, evocative of any sizable biblical garden, where the jettisoned coffin of the deceased Vulcan comes to rest. It has landed on the Genesis planet, which is a result of the Project Genesis. The procedure of the scientific project acts in such a way that it annihilates any life on a planet’s surface (if there is any) and generates a new and vibrant climate complete with vegetation, water sources, and an atmosphere.
Through death comes new life. Ironically, through a series of staggering events, this is just what happens to Spock. There are many instances of seemingly miraculous “rebirths” in sci-fi. The continual reincarnation of Dr. Who is one such example. But Spock’s rebirth is much more of a resurrection than a reincarnation; he returns to having his same body and physical appearance. Thus, his rebirth draws greater similarity to the Christian understanding of resurrection than some concept of reincarnation as that adopted by various Middle Eastern religions.
In the end of The Search for Spock, Kirk confronts his old friend, who starts to unlock his memory of their former relationship. Kirk tells Spock something that gives him a philosophical jolt back into the period of his life which he had left behind when he died.
“The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many,” Kirk tells him – reversing the roles in one of Spock’s famous paradigms. This is Kirk’s reasoning as to why they were willing to sacrifice so much to have Spock back in the midst of their crew. Similarly, Jesus uses the parable of the shepherd’s willingness to pursue the one lost sheep.
“…If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he does find it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray” (Mt. 18: 12-13).
Looking beyond the wellbeing of those who are perfectly healthy, the Shepherd seeks to bring perfect health and safety to the single sheep separated from the fold. In The Search for Spock, the other crew members were safe and sound, yet Spock had lost his life on their account. They went then to renew this “lost sheep.”
In similar fashion, Christ, who is the Good Shepherd, seeks us out in an individual and personal way. He wants to save us from spiritual mortality, offering us a new and abundant life in Him.
Directing our attention to Christ seeking our own personal salvation is not all that Star Trek III offers the Christian viewer. It renews that phrase which is both synonym and summation to the franchise in its entirety. And this, in turn, can be seen as drawing attention to Christ’s earthly vocation.
In the sequence depicting the coffin in the garden, near the beginning of the film, Spock narrates:
“Space – the final frontier. These are the continuing voyages of the starship Enterprise. Her ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life forms and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before…”
Few words in all of popular culture continue to deliver as nostalgic and as potent a punch as these. They aren’t empty words either. This is the theme of Star Trek – to boldly go where no man has gone before. As it turns out, this munus, or mission, is that of Christ as well.
Expounding upon the vague call to action that Gene Roddenberry’s imagination has suggested, we understand the wholeness of Christ’s vocation or mission to be fulfilled through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Through His salvific actions, Jesus initiated humanity’s final step toward salvation. He opened the Gates of Heaven that were previously barred by the weight of our sins – a weight we were incapable of carrying.
God became incarnate; He became fully human. As man, he boldly went where no other man had or could go before. He came and did what we ourselves could not do. He redeemed us from sin and death.
Star Trek doesn’t always have the proper commentary on the world’s dilemmas. It doesn’t always have the answer, but Christ the Redeemer does have the answer. Jesus invites us to take up our cross and follow Him into the Resurrection and beyond into new life.
Behold the Cross of the Lord
Begone hostile enemies
The Lion of Juda
The Offspring of David has triumphed.
Alleluia. Alleluia.
*Dedicated to Joseph Tuttle and the Seminarians of St. Gregory the Great Seminary
John Tuttle
John Tuttle is a Catholic journalist, blogger, and photographer. He has written for Prehistoric Times, Culture Wars Magazine, Those Catholic Men, Catholic Insight, Inside Over, Ancient Origins, Love They Nerd, We Got This Covered, Cultured Vultures, and elsewhere. He can be reached at jptuttleb9@gmail.com.