The fluorescent screen in our lounge,
Mirrored the starship’s onboard viewer
glimpsing unfamiliar, fictitious worlds
and new civilisations.
Going boldly where TV had not gone before.
We encountered both friendly and unfriendly aliens,
Pointed ears, blue faces, or lizard-like Gorns
Occasionally, it was all just too much
After all, I was only nine
It wasn’t Dr Who scary, but it was close
They whisked us weekly across the cosmos
“Warp speed Mr Scott”
These intrepid explorers
aboard Enterprise NCC 1701
became our friends and our encouragement
to reach out to our stars
“Signal Starfleet Lt. Uhura”
I felt sorry for those dressed in red security shirts
We all knew that they would soon die horridly
Superfluous to this landing party.
Step forward our conquering hero
Confidently commanding the tense situations
Like a counterfeit Alexander the Great.
He was always in complete control
Dominating both time and space,
Young women looked upon him sensually
he returned their look with a charming grin
Stouter men, out of respect, parted the way
Yet he was so focused, he never even noticed them
Tribbles, however, simply adored him
Intelligence ran second best to the physical
The cerebral bowed low to the biceps and toned abs.
Spock versus Kirk
Brains versus brawn
Human versus Vulcan,
their man-love restrained and unbetrothed
Two men with more differences than similarities
Yet ready to put those differences aside
Where the needs of the many
outweighed the needs of the few
Or the one
In later episodes, the aliens were better costumed
Often more prolific, often more horrific
Still those fragile, lost, and abandoned girls
longed for this federation champion
There was a need for more intelligent scripts
The weary captain couldn’t fight every alien
The crew must devise logical plans to outwit adversaries
If they were to live long and prosper,
There was only so much posturing
our ageing hero could continue.
The toned abs of our captain Kirk, now held tight
by close-fitting elasticised corsets.
Empathetically supplied by Dr McCoy
J.T. required other support
His hair flapped, unattached,
Uncontrolled, ungoverned, unglued
But he was still our favourite captain
Racing across federation space
To complete his and their vital mission
In the allotted fifty minutes.
“Impulse power Mr Sulu.”
“Phaser banks ready, Mr Chekov.”
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