The afterlife in Star Trek

[prometheus 0]

The afterlife has been described in different terms in the history of Star Trek.

In Star Trek V It was the planet at the centre of the galaxy - VortaVor, Eden

In TNG Picard has a life after death experience in Tapestry with Q

In DS9 We hear of Stovokor and the sybolism in the Bajoran faith is rich

In Voyager we get to see The Barge of the Dead

However, i think it is the Voyager episode Mortal Coil that we see Neelix dying and there being no afterlife...

How important is the concept to you and do u think Star Trek should have tried to create a uniform almost scientific explanation for what happens after death?

[Lt. Evans 0]

Life after death really is the final frontier. In the real world; some people have been declared officially dead for hours and all these people have had completely different experiences; some say they went to heaven and met everyone from Elvis :lol: to the Virgin Mary. Others claim they simple experienced previously unmatched euphoria. Some claim that dying is like a dream, it is out of control, strange, insight but also frightening. Others claim they have seen nothing, felt nothing and were truly 'dead'.

 

In Star Trek the various writers behind the hundreds of episodes and several movie have tried to address this great scientific mystery. The problem is all these writers had a different idea, some didn't want to touch on the subject or even wrote to avoid it... after all numerous Star Trek characters are ressurected, cloned or so on and so fourth.

 

I think that a single idea would have been a little bit more difficult to swallow, part of Star Trek has always been the exceptance of others. In TOS we have a bridge where the crew are Asians, Americans, Russians, Africans, Europeans and even Aliens. Fast forward to the more modern days in Voyager where there is a white Klingon and a black Vulcan.

 

Sometimes, as a prodestant christian, I wish they would include some real world religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Shintoism, e.t.c. Perhaps a christian crew member would argue that 'The Prophets' are like the entity called 'Q', and while all-powerful supernatural beings they are not actually god... much like the Founders, they play god. A Bajoran crew member might see this as an affront to their religion and argue against it. However, since Star Trek is an American program, and in America they choose to avoid the problem of religious disagreements rather than openly discuss them and make them a part fo the media as they are in life. I mean no offence by this comment, but it is somewhat true.

 

A more realistic idea would have been Dax talking with Worf about the Klingon Stovokor and whether or not he truly believes it exists when Captain Sisko is visited by the prophets so often. Just a couple of thoughts.

Edited October 6, 2005 by Lt. Evans

[Theunicornhunter 2]

There was another VOY episode as well - where they found the planet where people were covered with the web type stuff after they die and the people they contacted also had issues similar to that of Neelix.

 

ST is a fictional show - I think for ratings issues they couldn't "lock into" any one point of view lest they offend someone.

 

One I saw throughout the various series is the idea that humans have a "separable consciousness" - in TOS there was the ep where Janice Lester switched bodies with Kirk, where Chapel's fiancee transferred himself into a robot, where the people in globes borrowed Kirk a lady doctor. TNG had the three prisoners that took over Troi & others. VOY had the body snatcher that kept transferring through people, ENT had "the Crossing" I'm sure there were more that I've overlooked. Anyway the point was that - is that scientific? - IMO no - a strictly scientific approach would indicate everything we are is based on the chemical activities of our brain and thus we couldn't exist outside our biological context. Yet time and again ST and other scifi series keep presenting the concept of separable consciousnesses.

 

The concept of a separable consciousness does seem consistent with the belief in an afterlife because it indicates that some essence of who we are lives to go on to Stovocor or wherever.

 

Personally I did think it somewhat narrow of ST in general to assume all humans had forsaken religion but to have all other species - including the all so logical Vulcans - have some sort of mystical belief. Although I can see a practicality to their reasoning.

[Lt. Evans 0]

As I said it would be nice to see a religious character. When I was a bit younger I did what every real Star Trek eventually does. I came up with my own crew. The First Officer was a Russian woman I named Commander Nadezhda Chekov, she was a Russian Orthodox Christian.

Edited October 10, 2005 by Lt. Evans

[A l t e r E g o 9]

 

As with the way Trek has shown different possibilitys resulting from time travels (or any 'unprovable' subject;) I like that they mix it up and not stay centered on only one possibility. As it relates to storytelling; IDIC is more important than continuity imo.

[Matt 0]

It's always dangerous for a show with such a wide appeal to delve into religion as it can single out groups of people and turn others off. I think it was quite brave of Star Trek to tackle religous issues the way it has and I think it has done so very effectively. It's shown a universe of infintite possibilities, hugely varying belief systems and most importantly never saying that one is more right than another.