Star Trek Day is upon us once again and with it, an opportunity for us to look back on the history of the Star Trek franchise so near and dear to many of our hearts. This year’s anniversary of Star Trek first airing comes at a very interesting time, to say the least, with ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes leaving current productions on hold and our first ‘canonically’ queer Star Trek show in Star Trek: Discovery confirmed to be ending in 2024.
But as we look back, it’s worth remembering that Discovery is not the first time we’ve seen LGBTQ+ issues addressed on Star Trek. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of “Stigma,” the 14th episode of Star Trek: Enterprise‘s 2nd season, which tackled the issue of the HIV/AIDS crisis.
Before we begin, I think it’s important to recognize that Enterprise as a series is … flawed, to put it mildly. This was the first Star Trek series airing after the events of September 11, 2001 in the United States and as lead Scott Bakula points out, Star Trek has always been about addressing real-world issues (although my opinions about the 9/11-centered season are VERY different). That being said, a lot of people point to Enterprise as “the show that killed Star Trek” and I think that criticism is, frankly, undeserved for all of its strengths. And this episode is definitely one of them. Let’s take a closer look at “Stigma” and why it deserves to be remembered 20 years later.
Pa’nar Syndrome as a metaphor for HIV/AIDS
In this episode, Enterprise’s science officer T’Pol is diagnosed by chief medical officer Dr. Phlox with Pa’nar syndrome, a degenerative disease caused by the improper use of Vulcan mind melds. During the events of “Stigma,” we learn that the mind melds considered common by the time of the original Star Trek series, are deemed “unacceptable” behavior. So much so that a request from Dr. Phlox for research on treating Pa’nar syndrome from the visiting Vulcan doctors is denied on grounds that Pa’nar syndrome is primarily transmitted by the undesirable ‘melders’, making it not a priority for the Vulcans.
We also learn that mind melds can only be performed by a small minority, a “subculture” of Vulcans as if the real-world parallels weren’t already clear. The rest of the episode follows a back-and-forth with the Vulcan doctors learning that T’Pol has Pa’nar syndrome and T’Pol’s reluctance to share that she contracted the disease unwillingly, as we learned in a previous episode when T’Pol was assaulted by another Vulcan during a mild meld. Despite the fact that T’Pol is not part of the minority of Vulcans that can initiate mind melds, that doesn’t stop the Vulcan doctors from demonizing T’Pol and attempting to recall her back to Vulcan. And as T’Pol explains, “If I use that as a defense as a way of being taken off Enterprise, I’d be condoning their prejudice. And, in the process, indicting every member of the minority.”
Halfway through the episode, we’re introduced to Dr. Yuris, one of the Vulcan doctors we met earlier who is secretly also part of the minority of Vulcan mind melders! Yuris meets T’Pol in secret to deliver the research that can treat Pa’nar syndrome and eventually works with her to challenge the Council of Physicians’ intolerance at a hearing so that T’Pol can stay on Enterprise. The mirroring of real-world prejudice faced by queer people and HIV+ folks, and the US government’s inaction to treat HIV and AIDS is what makes “Stigma” such a strong episode. The ending of Dr. Yuris outing T’Pol on her assault against her wishes and that choice being what allows T’Pol to stay is the weakest point in the entire story, but T’Pol’s resolve to fight when Yuris is suspended speaks to the need to fight prejudice constantly to make meaningful change.
Enterprise Isn’t The First Star Trek Show That Wanted to Tackle AIDS
The timing of “Stigma” and its HIV-AIDS messaging came from parent company Viacom of the UPN network Enterprise was airing on, and a push across multiple different series to develop episodes that addressed the HIV/AIDS pandemic. It was an important milestone, especially given that a plot addressing AIDS was already attempted decades earlier with Star Trek.
David Gerrold, a gay man himself and a former writer for the original Star Trek, Star Trek: The Animated Series, and Star Trek: The Next Generation, originally penned a script for an episode titled “Blood and Fire,” which would have been the first episode of any Star Trek series to feature gay characters on screen. Planned for the first season of The Next Generation, the plot centered around the Enterprise crew being infected with Regulan bloodworms and needing to gather blood from the rest of the crew to fight infections. In a 2014 interview, Gerrold outlines his intent to challenge the stigma (heh) around blood donations at the time, as the episode would have aired at a time when activists were still fighting even for recognition of the AIDS epidemic in the United States in 1987.
It’s this interview that also coins longtime Star Trek showrunner Rick Berman as a “raging homophobe” after Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry himself had stated that “we should show gay people on board the Enterprise” just a year prior. The episode was eventually scrapped and Gerrold left The Next Generation without any scripts he’d written making it to air. A long list of critiques have been levied against Rick Berman over the years, with sources across the board citing him as a defining reason why Star Trek did not have queer representation for many years. Without this mandate from Viacom, we might not have even had anything at all addressing LGBTQ+ issues until Star Trek: Discovery.
“Stigma” actually has something to say about HIV/AIDS discrimination
Maybe the most important thing about “Stigma” as an episode is that, unlike other episodes of Enterprise, it takes a concrete stance against prejudice and asks us as viewers to challenge our preconceptions and biases. Captain Archer’s plea to the Vulcans to “accept people who are different than you are” and T’Pol’s comment “there are no rules telling you to oppress minorities” ring just as true as they did 20 years ago. And it’s only when Dr. Yuris takes a stand alongside T’Pol and challenges the idea of melders as “abhorrent” that we see a shift in the attitudes of the other Vulcan doctors.
Star Trek is at its best when it takes the real-world issues we face and not only addresses them, but forces us to think about what we can do differently to create better futures. If even the Vulcans in “Stigma” have to deal with overcoming prejudice and bettering themselves in the years to come, then what does that say about us and how we still deal with a stigma around HIV/AIDS status, even in queer communities? By tackling the AIDS crisis here, Star Trek: Enterprise forces us to address the society we have today and how we might get to the post-scarcity utopia that we dream about.
(featured image: Paramount+)
Published: Sep 8, 2023 05:06 pm