Captain Janeway Helps Teach Earth As The Center Of The Universe
UPDATE: Find out what Mulgrew had to say about her part in the documentary right here.
One of the great things about Star Trek over the years is that it’s helped inspire passion for science in fans both young and old. So it makes sense that various Trek actors have lent their talents to films and programs promoting astronomy, biology, math — you name it. But one place I never expected to run across Star Trek: Voyager’s Kate Mulgrew was narrating a trailer for a movie arguing for a geocentric model of the universe. As in “the Earth is the center of the universe and everything else revolves around it.” Yeah.
The trailer above is for an upcoming documentary called The Principle, and opens with Mulgrew making the rather ballsy assertion that “Everything we know about our universe is wrong.” From there, it seems to be making the case for so-called Intelligent Design, specifically for the notion that humans were specially created by God. So, simple enough: it’s another creationist/theist/Intelligent Design movie, the sort of thing you’ll see roll though theaters and sell out to church crowds every now and then. But if you dig a little deeper then the film’s geocentric thesis becomes clear. As best as we can tell, this whole “we’re the center of the universe” thing is being presented not as metaphor, but as literal, actual, geographical fact.
As nutty as that possibility might seem, The Principle was bankrolled by a guy who believes just that. As reported by Raw Story, one of the people behind The Principle is “ultra-conservative and anti-Semitic Robert Sungenis,” who also runs the bluntly named Galileowaswrong.com. Honestly, I’m not sure which aspect disturbs me more, but my initial thought after watching the trailer and reading Raw Story’s report was that Mulgrew must have been hired on without knowing exactly what she was lending her voice to. Right?
Unfortunately, we tried to reach Mulgrew for comment, but had no luck. When we called her one-time publicist Andy Snider, we were told he no longer represents her. A call to her representatives at Viking Talent Management will hopefully prove more productive — they seemed a bit shocked when we told them what our story was about, but they promised they would call back. We’ll let you know if they do.
The Principle is due for theatrical release sometime in 2014. You can learn more on the film’s Facebook page, and you can read Sungenis’ description of the film in his own words in this forum post. Finally, here’s the official description for The Principle:
Everyone knows that the ancient idea of Earth in the center of the universe is a ridiculous holdover from a superstitious age, right? Modern science has proven that we are nothing special! We inhabit, in Carl Sagan’s words, “….an insignificant planet of a humdrum star lost in a galaxy tucked away in some forgotten corner of a universe in which there are far more galaxies than people.”
Well….prepare to be shocked!
“The Principle”, destined to become one of the most controversial films of our time, brings before the public eye astonishing results from recent large-scale surveys of our universe- surveys which disclose unexpected evidence of a preferred direction in the cosmos, aligned with our supposedly insignificant Earth.
Set for theatrical release in Spring 2014, “The Principle” includes narration by Kate Mulgrew (“Star Trek Voyager”, “Orange Is The New Black”, and “Ryan’s Hope”), stunning animations by BUF Compagnie Paris (“Life of Pi”, “Thor”), and commentary from prominent scientists including George Ellis, Michio Kaku, Julian Barbour, Lawrence Krauss, and Max Tegmark. Tracing the development of cosmology from its inception (Stonehenge, the Great Pyramid at Giza), through the great revolution of Copernicus, to the astonishing new discoveries of Earth-oriented alignments in the largest structures of our visible universe, “The Principle” leads us face-to-face with the question, and the challenge — what does this mean for the future of mankind?
