Popular Culture Review Vol. 12, No. 1, February 2001 | Page 72

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Popular Culture Review

communication system that may be incorporated into specific contemporary texts,
rather than applying to an entire medium (Chesebro 21-2, 37-41).
Myth has not only continually broadened in popular and academic use, but
has also become the subject of a deliberate narrative strategy. The traditional myths
of various cultures and time periods have become subject matter for writers of
television programs - programs which span ostensibly ancient settings, such as
X en a and Hercules^ present-day settings, such as The X-Files\ as well as futuristic
settings such as R ed D w a tfund the various Star Trek series. Whether or not television
programs function as myths, the conscious manipulation of mythic material at the
very least produces texts which are a bou t myth.

Plundering the Past: Quoting Myth within the Layers

The intentional play upon the notion of myth mobilises different potential
interpretative strategies, including the interaction between the text and its
appropriated myth, and the degree to which the process of appropriation is
highlighted within the text. Myth becomes one or more nodes in an interconnecting
array of texts; a narrative strand as well as a possible interpretive vantage point.
While myth can be seen to function as part of an intertextual array in the case of
S ta r Trek, its position becomes more complex as the S ta r Trek franchise develops
over time.
In the original Star Trek series episode “Who Mourns For Adonais?” {sic)
(Daniels 1967), the Greek god Apollo is found living on an alien planet, and is
revealed to be the member of a space-faring alien race. The humans of the twentythird century S ta r Trek world are accustomed to dealing with alien beings, and
refuse to become Apollo’s new worshippers. Apollo eventually accepts the change
in human belief systems, and proclaims that his “time has passed. There is no
room for gods,” upon which he fades into a non-corporeal form. While the ancient
Greeks are shown to have mistaken powerful aliens for gods, their mythology is
nonetheless given a basis in fact. When Apollo compares Captain Kirk and his
away team with the Greek epic heroes Agamemnon, Hector and Odysseus, it
suggests not only that these heroes actually lived, but also that the Enterprise crew
have taken up the heroic role of these figures. In this respect “Who Mourns For
Adonais?” retells its mythic subject matter to both renounce the past and yet embody
its heroic nature.
While Kirk acknowledges the contribution of ancient Greek culture to Earth,
he nonetheless rejects its remaining “god.” Greco-Roman myth and culture form
part of a number of non-Star Trek sources that are reworked in the original series.
Thus “Elaan of Troyius” (Lucas 1968) takes its name from classical inspiration
(Helen of Troy from the Iliad) but little, if any, of its plot or scenario - indeed it is
loosely based upon Shakespeare’s play The Taming o f the Shrew (Asherman 106).