Latest Mission Log
Latest Supplemental
Latest Live Show
Latest "Prodigy"
Latest "The Orville"
Gene-ology
13
Gene-ology: Oil Lease
In the latest Gene-ology, an “Oil Lease” is in jeopardy as Earl and Norman examine Gene Roddenberry’s final script for the 1950s cop show Highway Patrol.
Guest starring Mark Pracht as Detective Dan Mathews, Matt Hensley as Fletcher, and David Takechi as the Colonel.
I find the comments on this entry about Roddenberry’s ideals in conflict with his career as a police officer very interesting and I’d like to offer some perspective on that. My girlfriend is a huge Original Series Star Trek fan, so much so that we’ve watched the show about 3 times trough now. She was also an LAPD officer for 10 years before moving onto a second career in the movie industry much the same as Gene did.
We’ve often discussed Roddenberry’s utopian vision of the future and when I mentioned that he was also former LAPD, her response was “Oh, that makes perfect sense.”
She went on to explain that, because cops see the worst of humanity most of the time (most of their calls involve domestic violence); they tend to fantasize about a better world. In other words, Star Trek is like a dream that cops would love to escape to. A kind’ve, “Boy, wouldn’t it be great if things were like this instead’-scenario.
It’s a take I never considered but the logic of it is undeniably authentic once you stop and think about it.
Anyway, just something to think about. Let me know your thoughts on that.
Great insight – I’ve had a number of police officers in my social circle, though most of them at this point in the “former police officer” category, and I’ve seen what dealing with the job does to them. I can easily see someone in that position, who’s gotten to see the parts of the system that simply do not work to anyone’s benefit, wanting to devise a better system.