How Legendary Sci-Fi Writer Isaac Asimov Felt About Star Trek – Looper
How Legendary Sci-Fi Writer Isaac Asimov Felt About Star Trek
By Jaron Pak Nov. 7, 2025 11:50 am EST
Captain Kirk flanked by Spock, McCoy, and the rest of the bridge crew on Star TrekParamount.
It’s always interesting to hear what creators think about others in their genres, especially when we’re talking about the biggest names in classic science fiction. One example is when the legendary sci-fi author Isaac Asimov was interviewed in footage from the New York City “Star Trek” convention in 1973. Asimov, who wrote the Laws of Robotics (and the Zeroth Law) in context of both “I, Robot” and “Foundation,” offered his thoughts on the fellow sci-fi icon. This was after the original series had ended in 1969, and more than a decade before “Star Trek: The Next Generation” began, meaning he was talking about foundational “Star Trek” concepts.
Asmiov talked about the show’s famous tagline, “To boldly go where no man has ever gone before.” He pointed out that, while the implication is territorial, the show tackled, in his words, “problems that man has not faced.” He praised the way “Star Trek” wasn’t afraid to deviate from adventure to tackle real social problems.
He also complimented how the show handled their Prime Directive, saying, “It mattered not what form the intelligence took, or what kind of universe the intelligence built for it. If it was intelligent, if it was intelligent enough to build a culture, then it had the right to live in that culture. It had the right to exist and be. And no other culture had a right to interfere with it, as long as it was not endangering cultures beyond itself.” That’s all a lot more favorable than what Asimov later thought about “Battlestar Galactica.”
Star Trek’s character development and the rational man
Paramount
Asimov also had a lot to say about how “Star Trek” handled its characters. He pointed out that the show gave them sanity and meaning in the midst of adventure into the unknown. “It had fully realized characters,” he said in ’73, adding, “Naturally, Spock springs to mind. The rational, sane man. And there’s something very comforting about sanity, especially in a world like ours.”
Complimenting the characters of “Star Trek” is interesting, considering that character development is one of Asimov’s weaker points. His “Robot” novels have few recurring characters. Even when you do meet someone again, they are often presented and re-presented with minimal backstory. Dr. Susan Calvin is one of these, only popping up in short stories when needed. Elijah Baley is probably the most important recurring character in the “Robot” novels, and he is a flatly troped detective, all things considered.
In the “Foundation” novels, characters see relentless turnover. Some, like the plot-central Golan Trevize, are again predictably written. It’s ironic that, in Apple’s “Foundation” series, the most compelling characters are individuals like Lou Llobell’s Gaal Dornick and Lee Pace’s Emperor Cleon, both of whom have a scant presence in Asimov’s stories. Hari Seldon (Jared Harris) isn’t even a steady focus, though, like the Apple series, his presence lasts even when his body is dead.
Asimov was a world-builder and a concept creator. Character development simply wasn’t his strong suit, but he knew to love it when “Star Trek” did it well.
Read More: https://www.looper.com/2019818/isaac-asimov-sci-fi-writer-feelings-star-trek/
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