the AOX

“What The Cove means for Star Trek” by Joseph Parks

The other night, a few friends and I went down to SoHo for a screening of The Cove. It was a fantastic expose on the slaughter of dolphins in Japan. We were actually a few friends short because many understandably didn’t want to watch any footage of people hurting dolphins. Fortunately, the film is mostly clean. Even the end where they finally show the footage, it is remarkably restrained; it could have been a million times worse. Nonetheless, I completely understand why they would abstain from the viewing. I salute all of those that were involved with the documentary and those involved with saving these creatures.

One aspect that was interesting was the activists repeatedly compared their plight to the movement of saving the Whales from the 1970s until the passing of the Moratorium on whale hunting by the International Whaling Commission in 1986. I completely concur with them that this is a similar fight and one worth fighting. But there is a a major difference, and this difference is one that might make the fight to save the dolphin not as successful. I am talking about the lack of Captain James T. Kirk and his crew of the USS Enterprise. “The Cove” is indeed powerful, but as we have seen in history, the dolphins on our planet will need the help of Star Trek.

Upon doing a little research, it occurred to me that the passing of the ban on whaling in 1987 might not have occurred without the efforts of the USS Enterprise and the support of Star Trek. It is no coincidence that the release of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in 1986 helped push the public conscience and mood in the direction of saving the whales which resulted a year later. This isn’t some wild sophist claim. The movie was made on a $27,000,000 budget and brought in $133,000,000 total. Additionally, the movie was widely popular when it was released on VHS and subsequently on DVD. In other words, a lot of people saw it.

In the film, a deadly probe in the 23rd century descends on Earth to communicate with the then extinct whales, threatening to destroy the planet until communication can be achieved. The whales between 1987 and the 2200’s were eradicated by man by the destruction of the environment and over-whaling. It is soon concluded that the crew of the Enterprise has to go back to the year 1987 to retrieve some Humpback Whales to bring to the 23rd century in the hopes that the whales will finally communicate with the probe; thus, saving the planet Earth from destruction. The plan works; the Earth is saved and the whales will then begin to repopulate the oceans. (Sorry for the spoiler, but the film is almost 25 years old. You should have seen it by now.)

The dolphins at this point have no such savors and it doesn’t look like any other franchise is willing to step in and be the messiah. Not that I was counting on the Terminator saving the dolphins anyway, and no one in their right mind wants to see Harrison Ford near a whip ever again after last year.  The problem is that in 2009, the actors that played the original crew are either dead or well into their twilight years, and they aren’t coming back for another film regardless. All hope seems lost.

However, there is a new crew that appeared in this year’s highly successful reboot of the Star Trek franchise. It appears that they are the only ones that can bring a happy conclusion to the dolphin genocide. Sorry guys, but I and the rest of the world, are putting the whole dolphin problem on you and producer JJ Abrams’ shoulders. We need a new film that will slap the public in the face, and we need it now!

Listen, politics doesn’t work and we are never going to save these magnificent creatures through fighting the bureaucracy against the large amounts of corporate money behind their slaughter. We need the sequel of the new rebooted Star Trek to somehow have the crew show the world that dolphins are worth saving. We owe it to our cousins in the sea.

I don’t think it is a coincidence that this brilliant eye-opening documentary was released right at the same time that a script for the new sequel to Star Trek is just being produced anymore then Star Trek IV’s release saved the whales. Sorry to put the task on you guys and subvert any sequel plans you might have already had, but did you see how effective the 1986 film was? Did you notice the results? Yeah… that’s what I thought. Get to it! It’s now a moral imperative and I don’t think you want Star Trek’s legacy to be an accomplice to the greedy “SS” Japanese dolphin murderers.