After what turned into a giant post on Star Trek canon, let’s see if I can keep this one simpler: “Who is your favorite Star Trek character?” Feel free to discuss any character from the franchise. Why is this character your favorite? Is it someone you personally connect with? Is it someone who played a particularly powerful …
Unit 3 of Star Trek: Inspiring Culture and Technology, asks us to consider Star Trek canon and some of the debates among fans as to what is and isn’t canon, and whether canon is even important. In your opinion, what are the benefits of adhering to canon? What creative potential exists in jumping off from …
In Unit Two of Star Trek: Inspiring Culture and Technology, we’re asked to analyze the pilot episodes of the live-action Trek series in a different way than I’ve attempted previously. Which pilot best addresses the contemporary societal issues from when it was produced while taking the most advantage of the television format on which it …
Our question for Unit 2 of Star Trek: Inspiring Culture and Technology is this: To what extent did the business model of network television enable Star Trek: The Original Series to appeal to such a wide range of audiences? In ways did that same model constrain it? According to the Unit 2 course materials, and reinforced in …
Trekkie Feminist’s log, Stardate 11909.30. This week I signed up for the Smithsonian/edX course Star Trek: Inspiring Culture and Technology and part of the class is weekly “Starlog” blogging assignments. Assignment one is just to introduce myself and explain what brought me to this course. So here goes! My name is Jarrah and I live …
When I was at Star Trek Las Vegas this year I picked up two issues of a fan-produced Star Trek news magazine called Stardate. In Issue #10 a fan had transcribed an informal talk Nichelle Nichols had given to a group of fans at the 1975 Star Trek convention in Chicago. It turned out to …
The big news is that I recently launched a podcast called Women at Warp, with co-hosts Andi (@FirstTimeTrek), Grace and Sue. Our website is live at womenatwarp.com and the first episode is available here. In February I joined Cam and Tyler on their podcast Subspace Transmissions to talk about Trek’s worst child characters. Elizabeth has …