I don't think we are really disagreeing? I think pre-1968 if there were fan theories by that point, they wouldn't have been so drawn to calling out some optimi

I don't think we are really disagreeing? I think pre-1968 if there were fan theories by that point, they wouldn't have been so drawn to calling out some optimism that doesn't make sense. But I really haven't watched enough Star Trek let alone caught up with fan theories to carry this further :). Did George Takei get casted thinking "fuck this bullshit, I'm going to subtlety undermine the nonsense utopia with my acting?" Or was the pain and skepticism of cold war rhetoric more a subconscious war of vacillating between hope for the future, and skepticism that "United Space Ship" and "United States Ship" had enough distance between them? I don't think many people were on that former level, say, pre-1968 at least.