As well as being the franchise’s 55th anniversary, this year would have been Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry‘s 100th birthday. To honor the memory of Roddenberry and his legacy, the Roddenberry Foundation — partnering with Paramount+, the satellite company Planet and tech company OTOY — will launch the “Boldly Go” campaign. Beginning during Paramount+’s purple carpet event on Star Trek Day, the campaign will run throughout September. The Star Trek Day event features Star Trek stars LeVar Burton, George Takei, Patrick Stewart, and more. Rod Roddenberry, Gene’s son who founded the Roddenberry Foundation and is Roddenberry Entertainment’s CEO, will participate in a panel streaming during the event.
The “Boldly Go” campaign asks Star Trek fans to submit photos and videos expressing their hopes for the next 100 years. The campaign intends to honor Gene Roddenberry’s optimistic view of the future. The Foundation will then work with OTOY and digital artists to mold these submissions into a singular work of art. The piece will be made available to the public and then auctioned to raise money for nonprofit organizations.
Planet to install the artwork into a satellite network, which will launch into space in 2022. It will become a space-based art installation.
On Gene Roddenberry’s birthday, ComicBook.com spoke to Rod about what it means to carry on the family legacy. “I attach the name Roddenberry to all of our entities because I’m very proud of my father and the name and what the name represents,” he said. “The name represents the ideas instilled in Star Trek. The backbone philosophy of all Star Trek is the IDIC philosophy, infinite diversity from infinite combinations. And the idea is to truly appreciate everything that is different, both in form and in thought and idea.
“The crew of the Enterprise and the ships of the Federation, they’re not out there seeking weird looking aliens. They’re seeking creatures that live in our galaxy that look at the universe in a unique way and a unique perspective because we’re at a point, humanity is at a point in its development, where we’ve learned that it is new ideas, those are the things that we grow and intellectually evolve from. So to find things that look at things differently than us, that is the gold mine. That is the quest. That is how we can grow. Even if we don’t agree with them, we are putting a notch in our intellectual evolution as to how we can better ourselves. And so that is what I, the son of Gene Roddenberry, am trying to ensure is in Star Trek.”
What do you think? Let us know in the comments. Star Trek Day is on September 8th.
(Source: Deadline)