Before Star Trek, the overwhelming majority of film and broadcast science fiction portrayed aliens as BEM’s,
Bug Eyed Monsters. The idea that a Terran starship could include a “friendly” allied alien
(Spock), as well as an international/interracial multi gender crew, was the exception, at least in film and T.V. Yes I know that Klingons were a substitute for the Soviets in the original series, but a Federation of alien species was not general fare in broadcast media.
This was a vision of a democratic, ethical galactic future. Even the prime directive was an
attempt to break with the western world’s history of imperial colonialism.
It was a breath of fresh air, despite the often juvenile plot lines-
