In spite of the fact that Star Trek has been an enduring force in our culture for over 50 years now, the literature on Star Trek and race remains limited, and most of what has been written on the subject has been by academic publishers for academic audiences. The most prominent text is Daniel Leonard …
With a new year upon us, I decided the least I could resolve for 2019 was to try and finally finish Enterprise. I’ve seen almost all of Season 1 plus a smattering of episodes from the other seasons, but it’s time to fill in the gaps, starting with “Minefield.” If “Shuttlepod One” wasn’t enough, get …
In “Statistical Probabilities” we meet a group of people who were institutionalized after childhood genetic re-sequencing left them with “unintended side-effects.” Turns out they’re super brilliant and Bashir may be able to harness their intelligence to the advantage of the Federation in the war. Cool concept, right? Except most DS9 audience members would read the savants’ …
“Day of the Dove” is a classic Trek episode with a strong message about the futility of war as well as how war is perpetuated through racism. We also get to see the first Klingon woman, and she’s pretty cool. But before we get into that, we need to take a moment to talk about …
How to even approach an episode as iconically, awesomely bad as “Spock’s Brain”? It’s infamous as one of the worst TOS episodes, and yet is so over the top that it’s hard not to just laugh at. Even though yes, it’s sexist. Kyle Andersen at Nerdist actually argued it’s more sexist than “Mudd’s Women.” Michelle Erica Green at Trek Today …
“Assignment: Earth” is both the TOS Season 2 finale and a pilot for a spinoff series starring secret agent Gary Seven (Robert Lansing), his “erratic” secretary (Teri Garr), and Isis, the ninja cat. I gotta say, though the spinoff didn’t take off, I would’ve watched the heck out of it. The Enterprise is pretty unnecessary …
In “We’ll Always Have Paris,” we meet Picard’s great past love, Jenice Manheim, after the Enterprise responds to a distress call from her time-experimenting scientist husband. When Picard realizes he’s going to be reunited with Jenice, Troi confronts him about the repressed feelings she senses from him. Troi: I don’t want to interfere with your personal …