By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Star Wars is a franchise that commented explicitly on Vietnam, with creator George Lucas once specifying that the Ewoks fighting against a technologically advanced force symbolized the Viet Cong. However, outside of Original Series episode “A Private Little War,” rival sci-fi franchise Star Trek rarely touched on Vietnam or its controversies. That all changed with The Next Generation episode “The Hunted,” which showrunner Michael Piller confirmed was built around the theme of “how society treats its returning veterans.”
If you need a brief refresher, “The Hunted” is an episode where the Enterprise investigates a planet that wants to join the Federation, but the planet needs help tracking down an escaped prisoner named Roga Danar. It turns out that he is a former soldier enhanced by the planetary government to fight on their behalf, but he and other such troops were removed from society after the war because they were too aggressive. Star Trek: The Next Generation head honcho Piller confirmed this was an allegory for the Vietnam War and how many American citizens treated returning soldiers who they saw as too barbaric to re-enter normal society.
Interestingly, this Star Trek: The Next Generation episode offered a very different perspective on Vietnam than the TOS episode “A Private Little War,” which had Kirk obliquely referencing the conflict with the line “Do you remember the 20th-century brush wars on the Asian continent?” That episode featured Klingons arming a primitive tribe with advanced weapons and Kirk making the bonkers decision to fix the situation by ensuring that the rival tribe is equally well-armed. While Dr. McCoy objects to this idea, Kirk’s final decision is fascinating because it seems like the generally leftish show was explicitly endorsing America’s controversial participation in Vietnam.
Fast forward to “The Hunted,” and you get a later Star Trek episode that still doesn’t criticize Vietnam…at least, not the role played by the American government. Even though the planetary government in this episode is corrupt, the story mostly serves as a critique of American society and its reluctance to welcome back Vietnam soldiers, many of whom were cursed at and spat upon when they expected to be treated like returning heroes.
Picard ends the episode by telling the planet it can reapply for Federation membership after it figures out how to treat their veterans. This is essentially telling viewers that the future utopia of Star Trek is only achievable after we figure out how to treat veterans of Vietnam and other wars once they return to society. It’s obviously more than a bit preachy, but what were you expecting from the hippie franchise that’s all about saving the world, one endangered whale at a time?
Looking back on this Star Trek episode, Michael Piller noted that Roga Danar (the fugitive former soldier who symbolized Vietnam veterans) “bringing the Enterprise to its knees is a little hard to believe” but that he ultimately enjoyed this episode. We have to agree: “The Hunted” is the perfect example of a preachy episode that didn’t let its message keep the writer from delivering an entertaining hour packed with both action and introspection. And Danar is a killer character that we’d love to see again, possibly headlining his own spinoff movie…one that might, just might, finally get the taste of Section 31 out of our mouths.
