Patrick Stewart spent seven television seasons commanding fictional starships, but for Eugene science fiction author Jerry Oltion, his greatest achievement had less to do with warp drives or distant galaxies. It was the way he lived his life.
When news of Stewart's death this week reached Oltion, the longtime writer didn't think first about Captain Jean-Luc Picard or the enduring popularity of “Star Trek: The Next Generation.” Instead, he thought about a man who had fulfilled his purpose.
“He accomplished what he set out to do as a human being,” Oltion said. “He did something special with his life.”
Writing the Star Trek way
For Oltion, that carries particular weight. Few writers know the “Star Trek” universe as intimately as he does. Between 1996 and 2000, he authored four officially licensed Star Trek novels, joining a select group of writers entrusted with expanding one of science fiction's most beloved franchises.
“They let you write a novel based on their characters, and you can write pretty much any adventure you want,” Oltion said. “And it's great fun for people who are big fans of “Star Trek.””
His adventures were set aboard the original Enterprise, the ship he first encountered as a young fan watching Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Scotty explore the final frontier. Yet even as his loyalty remained with the original series, Oltion developed a deep admiration for Stewart, whose thoughtful portrayal of Picard helped redefine what a science-fiction hero could be.
“He played roles that inspired a generation of viewers,” Oltion said. “Star Trek portrayed a future in which humanity has solved most of its problems and can get on with the business of exploring the universe we live in.”
That optimistic vision has long resonated with Oltion. Since the early 1980s, he has built a prolific career publishing novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them appearing in Analog, one of science fiction's most influential magazines. Though now mostly retired from writing, he still recalls with delight the imaginative puzzles that made “Star Trek” storytelling so rewarding.
One of his favorite novels challenged the crew of the Enterprise to accomplish a feat of cosmic engineering: restart the rotation of a tidally locked planet, where one hemisphere forever faces its sun while the other remains in permanent darkness.
The premise allowed Oltion to contemplate consequences on a planetary scale.
“My favorite line,” he said with a laugh, “is when the planet starts having earthquakes, and Scotty tells the captain, ‘The planet can't take any more of this, Captain. She's breaking up.’”
The fading of an era
These days, Oltion channels much of the curiosity that fueled his fiction into a real-world passion for the night sky. He helps lead the Eugene Astronomical Society, one of Oregon's oldest astronomy clubs, continuing a lifelong fascination with space exploration and the mysteries beyond Earth.
Stewart's death also follows another recent loss for Oltion. Earlier this month, actor Walter Koenig, who portrayed Ensign Pavel Chekov in the original “Star Trek” series, died at age 90.
For fans, the passing of actors such as Stewart and Koenig marks the fading of an era. For Oltion, it is something more personal. The heroes who helped shape his imagination are leaving the stage.
Yet the future they envisioned, a future of curiosity, exploration and human possibility, remains very much alive in the stories they inspired and in the people who continue to look up at the stars and wonder what lies beyond.
