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Shaun Corley is a Staff Writer for ScreenRant, a position he has held for five years. While he enjoys many types of comics and graphic novels, he has a particular interest in the licensed Star Trek titles.
Warning: contains spoilers for Star Trek: The Last Starship #4!
After 39 years, Star Trek is officially scrapping its best bit of future technology. The Star Trek franchise features many cool, futuristic innovations, but few have captured the imagination of fans like the replicators. Able to create food and drink, the replicators are a true sign of utopia, but now, in Star Trek: The Last Starship #4, they fall out of favor.
Star Trek: The Last Starship #4 was written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly and drawn by Adrian Bonilla. After the Klingon attack on Earth in the 31st century, the planet asks all extraterrestrials to leave. They also declared independence from the Federation.
As Earth purges itself of the Federation’s influence, they forsake replicators.
The Replicators Are Star Trek's Best Piece of Technology
Replicators Help Realize the Post-Scarcity Future That Makes Star Trek So Appealing
The replicators, introduced early in the run of Star Trek: The Next Generation, were perhaps the pinnacle of Federation/Starfleet technology. Using the same “matter-to-energy” principles as the transporter, replicators could create a wide variety of items, from food to clothing to medicine. Replicators were everywhere in the galaxy by the end of the 24th century.
The replicators were not only the apex of convenience, but were also representative of the socialist utopian mindset that underpins Star Trek. The franchise depicts humanity as having moved beyond the need for wealth and material goods. Instead of acquiring money, humans better themselves.
The replicators were not only the apex of convenience, but were also representative of the socialist utopian mindset that underpins Star Trek.
Replicators reinforce this mindset by rendering items that would normally command premium prices, such as gold and silver, worthless. Furthermore, the Federation is a money-less society. People no longer need to go to the grocery store for their food, as they can create whatever they need from the comfort of their home.
Earth Forsaking Replicators Points to a Much Bigger, and Heartbreaking, Problem
Earth Just Rolled Back Centuries of Progress After the Burn
Yet after the devastating Burn, the Federation fell apart. Species that were once united in harmony were suddenly at each other’s throats. Against this backdrop of unrest, a group of renegade Klingons attack Earth, killing billions. In the aftermath, a wave of xenophobia swept Earth, and the planet left the Federation.
This xenophobic impulse was so strong in humanity that they turned their back on an invention that made their lives easier for hundreds of years. Earth wanted to be rid of the Federation’s influence, so the replicators had to go. The issue did not say what humans were using in the place of replicators.
While Earth chucking the replicators may not seem like a big deal, it is in fact one of the most heart-breaking moments in the entire Star Trek franchise. It shows humanity backpedaling on nearly a thousand years of progress, and returning to the old ways. Humanity lost its soul in the Burn, and replicators as well.
Star Trek: The Last Starship #4 is on sale now from IDW Publishing!
English (US) ·