Dr. Una McCormack is so good at capturing Janeway's voice in this 'autobiography' and it really makes the book. It's hard to write something capturingDr. Una McCormack is so good at capturing Janeway's voice in this 'autobiography' and it really makes the book. It's hard to write something capturing highlights from a fictional character's life without just repeating what we saw on the show, but McCormack brings in more of Janeway's personal takes and things we can believe she felt, but never expressed aloud on the show.
I read a couple of reviews that said they wanted more drama and emotion, particularly in Janeway's early life. It's true it removes some of the more harrowing ordeals we see in Mosaic but Janeway has so much drama later that I didn't miss the earlier trauma, though I also wished Janeway as a narrator was more conscious of her immense early privilege. But that's me wanting to find the qualities I most admire in a character that I've considered a hero, and I can appreciate that we wouldn't really be learning anything about Janeway if she wasn't written to have a few shortcomings. Overall I thought the tone was consistent with how Janeway carries herself as a character - we see in the show she often has trouble confiding her darkest feelings and it makes sense that she'd be hesitant to really lay it all out there if she were to write an autobiography for public consumption. ...more
In this academic analysis, communications and literature professor Carey Millsap-Spears makes a strong case that, while Star Trek has long drawn inspiIn this academic analysis, communications and literature professor Carey Millsap-Spears makes a strong case that, while Star Trek has long drawn inspiration from Gothic literature, Star Trek Discovery draws particularly on the tradition of the “Female Gothic,” including Frankenstein, Ann Radcliffe’s romance novels and Jane Eyre.
Millsap-Spears’ introduction is especially well-done, outlining the components that define Gothic literature and the Female Gothic in particular and using examples from across the Star Trek canon to both illustrate the concepts and highlight how pre-streaming Trek drew inspiration from them.
Part of me wished that this book had come out after the show finishes later this spring, because so much great work went into it and it feels unfortunate that the final season wasn’t able to be included. But on the other hand, when many of us are re-watching Seasons 1-4 in preparation for the Season 5 premiere, I really appreciated having this new lens with which to view the series—and the Female Gothic classics that I love.
In A Different Trek: Radical Geographies of Deep Space Nine, David K. Seitz looks at the "black sheep" of the Star Trek family, using sets of episodesIn A Different Trek: Radical Geographies of Deep Space Nine, David K. Seitz looks at the "black sheep" of the Star Trek family, using sets of episodes grouped by theme to analyze the socio-political dimensions of the series and explore why its messages remain so relevant today.
This is easily my favourite academic book about Star Trek that I've read so far. I have so many sticky notes in this book after reading it, marking new (to me) analysis of various episodes and characters and great observations. It left me inspired to rewatch DS9 and re-energized for activism.
Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier collects ten essays from different perspectives, covering topics as diverse as depictions of ancient GrStar Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier collects ten essays from different perspectives, covering topics as diverse as depictions of ancient Greece and Rome in TOS to Seven of Nine’s representation of queer, posthuman parenthood from Voyager through Season 1 of Picard.
The book starts with a foreword by Trek novelist Una McCormack, who interweaves her own experience coming to appreciate Star Trek with the importance of the kind of work featured in the book: “This is the purpose of Star Trek scholarship, and of a book like this: to further our understanding of those stories that are most meaningful to us, that draw us to them again and again, that represent some of our most profoundly felt wishes for how the world around us might be.”
Another Star Trek fiction writer, John Jackson Miller, closes out the collection with a fascinating look at the history of Star Trek tie-in material and how the role of licensed storytelling has evolved from the James Blish TOS books to the fallow period between Enterprise and Star Trek (2009), when writers worked together to flesh out the Trek universe like never before; to the current age of streaming Trek and its limited room for serial continuity storylines.
In between, a few essays really impressed me by taking approaches to Star Trek I’d never heard or thought of before.
This slim volume of four Star Trek: Discovery stories has some of my favourite art I've seen recently in Trek comics, including both the main art by ÁThis slim volume of four Star Trek: Discovery stories has some of my favourite art I've seen recently in Trek comics, including both the main art by Ángel Hernández and the covers by Aaron Harvey. Each story focuses on one character that we could stand to learn more about, starting with Book's cat, Grudge. The other issues focus on Adira, Detmer and Linus and they're all sensitive, with a touch of humour. Even though I didn't feel I gained a ton of new insight, it was a nice stop in the 32nd century....more
Disability representation in Star Trek is a rich topic, and Ilana S. Lehmann has compiled a slew of examples for us to analyze and learn from. All YouDisability representation in Star Trek is a rich topic, and Ilana S. Lehmann has compiled a slew of examples for us to analyze and learn from. All You Need to Know About Disability is on Star Trek starts off with a clear breakdown of different models of viewing disability in our history, including the medical, social, moral and biopsychosocial models - with Star Trek examples to illustrate. In subsequent chapters she explores different types of physical, mental and cognitive disabilities, as well as overlapping issues like aging, body image/fat stigma, and quality of life/death.
As someone who's spent a lot of time thinking, talking and writing about disability representation in particular episodes, I really appreciated Lehmann's range of examples, including many I'd never thought of being linked to disability. But I found there was too much dialogue transcribed from the show on balance, and I would've appreciated a more in-depth analysis of the most prominent disability storylines in Trek, such as "Melora" and "Statistical Probabilities." Overall I think the book is a really useful resource for Trekkies who want to learn about disability but aren't already familiar with basic disability concepts. It's also a good resource if you're looking for a comprehensive collection of Trek moments that connect to disability and related issues....more
This third volume of excerpts from the 1970s fanzine Trek doesn't have quite the variety of content than previous volumes. With most of the content ofThis third volume of excerpts from the 1970s fanzine Trek doesn't have quite the variety of content than previous volumes. With most of the content of this volume coming from 1979, several pieces were reactions to/reviews of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. There were also a number of essays by fans attempting to flesh out biographies of characters like Sulu and Uhura, and famous ancestors of characters like Kirk and Spock. All these pieces are interesting as fan artifacts but don't hold quite the same interest as they might have when they were filling in the blanks for limited canon content. There were also a number of fan letters that responded to multiple articles from previous issues of the magazine, only some of which were included in the previous Best of Trek volumes.
One dynamic I found arose a few times in this volume was a bit of defensiveness about Kirk and Spock's sexuality; that is, writers trying to make the case that while they, themselves were not against homosexuality, they vehemently disagreed with fanfic writers depicting K/S as homosexual. So that was interesting and mirrors what I've read in other works like Enterprising Women: Television Fandom and the Creation of Popular Myth about the stigma in the fandom against slash fic.
The piece I was most interested in was a discussion of the planet Vulcan as a patriarchy, where author Rebecca Hoffman analyzes what we know from "Journey to Babel" and "Amok Time" and what that says about whether Vulcan is a matriarchy because T'Pau, or a patriarchy because all the other reasons. I also appreciated the inclusion of a few pages of fan art, including some NSFW art!...more
Mr. Spock's Little Book of Mindfulness rubbed me the wrong way. It isn't really about mindfulness, the few life lessons it offers aren't universally aMr. Spock's Little Book of Mindfulness rubbed me the wrong way. It isn't really about mindfulness, the few life lessons it offers aren't universally applicable, and it doesn't really get at the nuance of Mr. Spock as a character.
Mindfulness is about being intensely present in the moment, aware of bodily sensations and environment, without judgement. There is some similarity with Vulcans' ostensible open-mindedness/respect for diversity, and Dakin does include a chapter on the importance of living in the present moment (as opposed to dwelling on the past or anticipating the future). But the book is mostly surface-level analysis of Vulcan approaches to things like relationships, family and change.
The challenge is that, as the book does note, a lot of those approaches, taken to the extreme, aren't really a good idea for humans. That contradiction forces a bit of contortion in the analysis, as when Dakin cites Spock's observation in "This Side of Paradise" that he's never paid attention to things like the shapes in clouds, as a positive example of Vulcan focus, instead of a somewhat tragic example of denying oneself emotional fulfillment.
In terms of the takeaway lessons, they don't go very deep. There's a fair amount of explaining why non-judgment and accepting reality are important, but not how to do it. In terms of accepting the self, there's analysis of why we need to accept our flaws, but less acknowledgement of the opposite problem: fixating on your potential flaws and personal shame instead of practicing self-compassion. Here again is a place we could learn from Mr. Spock, if the book had tried for a bit more nuance.
The format also made it a bit difficult to pull out the lessons that were there. The quotations in each section were bolded, but the lessons were not and were often in the middle of a paragraph with observations and jokes based on fan references.
I get that ultimately this is a novelty humour book, and I did enjoy the cartoons and some of the rewrites of quotes by famous Earth historical figures as if they were Vulcans. But the book would've been better titled something like The Vulcan Guide to Life's Big Questions or Vulcan Thinking for Beginners. You won't find a chapter on meditation in this book, which is a Vulcan practice and pretty central to mindfulness work. It's like if Star Trek: Body by Starfleet: A Fitness GuideStar Trek: Body by Starfleet: A Fitness Guide hadn't contained any examples of exercises but just talked about all the exercises we could see people doing on the show. It might've been entertaining, but it wouldn't have been very useful. ...more
Nadine Farghaly and Simon Bacon have compiled a great collection of essays on gender and identity in the Star Trek universe, pre-Discovery. There's a Nadine Farghaly and Simon Bacon have compiled a great collection of essays on gender and identity in the Star Trek universe, pre-Discovery. There's a real range of topics, from Janeway as a Gothic heroine to alternative sexuality in the Mirror Universe, and biracial identity in Star Trek. Several papers really blew my mind, such as Andrew Howe's "Deep Space Gender: Miles O'Brien, Julian Bashir and Masculinity," and Fedor and Frasure's piece using different theoretical approaches to deconstruct "Mudd's Women." Some other pieces had solid concepts but were less successful, such as the essay on trans identities in Trek, which focused overly on the survey methodology and, in the end, didn't offer much in the way of interesting conclusions or even major questions for future research. Still, I would really recommend grabbing a copy of this compilation if you're a Trekspert who is interested in feminism, gender and identity and looking for new ways of seeing their favourite show. ...more
These collection of essays that featured in the 1970s fanzine Trek are so fascinating, and this volume had a few pieces that were unexpectedly spicy! These collection of essays that featured in the 1970s fanzine Trek are so fascinating, and this volume had a few pieces that were unexpectedly spicy! A few essays weren't really of interest to me, like explorations of the science behind communication in Trek, or musings on the time travel questions presented by the existence of the Preservers, but I'm glad that people were exploring this stuff in such detail, just as Star Trek fans do today. One of the highlights for me was a piece contemplating the status of women in the Federation, and the contradictions between Starfleet's stated egalitarian values and how women were actually depicted on screen - the same kind of stuff we look into on our podcast, Women at Warp. So cool to see more evidence of those conversations happening early in the fandom....more
I was really impressed by how succinct and accessible the essays in this collection were. Whether it was reading about the links between Kant's CategoI was really impressed by how succinct and accessible the essays in this collection were. Whether it was reading about the links between Kant's Categorical Imperative and the Prime Directive, musings on what might justify Q to put humanity on trial, or holodecks and the nature of reality, the pieces never felt like a slog. I don't have an extensive academic background in philosophy and appreciated how the authors clearly but quickly explained key philosophical theories, in a way that didn't bog down the rest of the pieces.
I have a few minor issues with this collection. One is that there was a fair amount of overlap in subject matter, particularly themes of self-hood and autonomy and their relationship to the Borg, as well as characters like Data and Odo. The other is that there are a few essays in the collection (such as the essay on the Klingon cultural pastiche and the one on Indigenous narratives and symbolism in Trek) that are more about a straightforward account of what we've seen on screen, enriched with a little behind-the scenes or secondary source information, but without a significant new argument that I could see. For me these pieces will likely be useful sources if I ever write on those topics, but I didn't find them as interesting to read as the people who had more creative theses. The collection, with a few exceptions, doesn't really try to showcase diverse perspectives or intersectional critique of the series or the philosophical theories that essays are based on. But overall I found it an enjoyable and enlightening read. ...more
A collection of articles from the 1970s fanzine Best of Trek, this book is a snapshot into the Star Trek fandom of the era, with speculative "faction"A collection of articles from the 1970s fanzine Best of Trek, this book is a snapshot into the Star Trek fandom of the era, with speculative "faction" (writing that speculates on, say, Klingon society, using what we already know to be true), Star Trek trivia, letters from fans, and articles on topics from time travel paradoxes to the best episodes of The Animated Series. While some of the episodes and letters feel random to a modern Trek fan (the series of letters debating Space: 1999 is a good example), it's an interesting window into what fans were thinking and doing, and the range of fandom interests. ...more
A delightful collection of Star Trek-themed cocktails with a classy vintage feel. The art and photography are just perfect and a lot of thought has beA delightful collection of Star Trek-themed cocktails with a classy vintage feel. The art and photography are just perfect and a lot of thought has been put into Trek/drink puns and back stories for each cocktail recipe.
Realistically most of the recipes are just Trek names on classic drinks and the book leans heavily on complicated recipes involving multiple types of rum, and liqueurs that I would be unlikely to drink again (the last bottle of melon liqueur I bought was for a Halloween punch in my 20s and I think I ended up throwing out half of it). There are probably only one or two drinks in this book I'll actually try beyond ones that are really familiar under their classic names (e.g. the mimosa, renamed "Buck's Fizzbin"). Still, overall the experience of perusing the book was delightful enough that I don't regret buying it....more
Gene Roddenberry's novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a really entertaining read. It's also completely bananas.
It's really interesting Gene Roddenberry's novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture is a really entertaining read. It's also completely bananas.
It's really interesting to read one of Roddenberry's unadulterated Star Trek stories - it shows that he was a skilled sci-fi writer, weaving together characterization with action and vivid, often beautiful imagery. He was also really, really into boobs. It's hilarious how women are described throughout the book, as well as how seemingly random things are compared to sex with women, like Kirk's feeling of possessiveness over the Enterprise.
Roddenberry also had big ideas for technology and how Starfleet would work - some of which were genius and some of which I think most fans would be glad never ended up in on-screen canon. It doesn't take away from how entertaining the book is but I do think it's an interesting case that shows the "Roddenberry vision" of Star Trek that fans like to cite from TOS was actually an evolving vision shaped not just by Roddenberry but also major writers and producers, and that the end product benefitted from incorporating others' edits....more
There hasn't been much published that focuses on race in Star Trek and this book is probably the best in terms of accessibility and coverage, even thoThere hasn't been much published that focuses on race in Star Trek and this book is probably the best in terms of accessibility and coverage, even though its publication in 1998 means it necessarily focuses on TOS and TNG. Bernardi does a great job analyzing some of Trek's problematic racial narratives, such as the tendency to portray more "evolved" or more powerful races as white (*cough* Q *cough*) and more primitive or less "evolved" races as brown (e.g. TOS' "The Apple" and "The Paradise Syndrome").
Bernardi argues that while Star Trek outwardly prevents a vision of diversity, it has a problematic history anti-miscegenation messages and essentialist racial stereotypes. He contends that Trek ultimately promotes assimilation rather than meaningful integration of people of colour and various alien "Others." His analysis is intersectional with gender and he uses many examples to back up his claim, with enough explanation that a somewhat casual fan should be able to follow.
The weakest part of the book is the end section where the author attempts to gauge fandom viewpoints on race in Trek through engaging on the STREK-L Internet listerver from 1992-1994. The resulting chapters are clunky and wanting for more thorough or comprehensive analysis of the fans' comments. For example, Bernardi shares several fans' opinions on how alien races on Trek may or may not reflect IRL human ethnicities. A section on the Klingons talks about the acknowledged history (Klingons as the Soviet Union) as well as conflicting perceptions of the Klingons as stand-ins for African-Americans. But Bernardi only presents three views and doesn't delve into the significance of the fans' standpoints or contents of their remarks.
Overall, given how little there is out there, this is a pretty essential read for progressive/critical thinking Trek fans, even 20 years later....more
Race, this country's tragically misunderstood issue, is humanity's real final frontier. It seems clear from this analysis of two science fiction telev
Race, this country's tragically misunderstood issue, is humanity's real final frontier. It seems clear from this analysis of two science fiction television programs spanning more than a quarter of a century that very little, if any, real progress has been made in developing symbolic codes of representing ethnicity in the elaborate vision of the future woven across hundreds of hours of popular entertainment that counters our national legacy of abusive media stereotyping.
Pounds makes a smart call to restrict his analysis of representations of race to the first two live-action Trek series, given the time of publishing. One of his stated goals is to compare two series that could cite Gene Roddenberry as a common creative force, in two very different socio-political time periods.
The book starts very strong with a look at the changing social context of television production and reception. In spite of my own interest in Star Trek, social justice and labour history, I had no idea about the very concerted campaigns by the NAACP and others to increase and improve representations of Black people on-screen and behind the scenes in Hollywood in the years leading up to the premiere of Star Trek: The Original Series.
However, as I continued to read I found the text somewhat dense I had to really question the methods that Pounds chose to investigate representations of race in Star Trek, as well as the way he presented his findings.
For example, Pounds spends a fair chunk of time investigating the name origins of the main characters in TOS and TNG and trying to infer deeper meanings from them. He also analyzes two publicity photos (one from each series) to infer relationships and hierarchies among the characters, but when you’re a fan who knows how many publicity photos there are from both series, picking these particular ones seems like cherry-picking to support his hypothesis.
Bernardi founds his analysis on three episodes from TOS (“Space Seed”, “The Ultimate Computer” and “Plato’s Step-Children”) and four from TNG (“Emissary”, “Reunion”, “Booby Trap” and “Galaxy’s Child”), leaving some really low-hanging-fruit episodes like “Code of Honor” and “The Paradise Syndrome” totally unanalyzed.
But in spite of all the issues I had, I found myself agreeing with a lot of Pounds’ eventual findings.
This standalone comic shows the first meeting of Jean-Luc Picard and Cadet Beverly Howard, when the former was serving as Captain of the Stargazer. BeThis standalone comic shows the first meeting of Jean-Luc Picard and Cadet Beverly Howard, when the former was serving as Captain of the Stargazer. Beverly Howard comes on board to visit her fiance Jack and immediately finds herself at odds with Captain Picard, but when his hubris lands him in hot water, he'll need her and Jack to pull him out.
J.K. Woodward's art is outstanding as always, and I love that he uses the cadet uniforms that we see on the TNG Starfleet Academy action figures. However, the story is odd and unsatisfying. Jack Crusher doesn't make much of an impression, and the ending includes Picard making a really weird comment (view spoiler)[ about how Howard is too boring a last name for "such a special woman" but Crusher would be "far superior." So he'd better get on officiating their wedding, I guess. Seriously, the comments about maiden names like the "Mr. Troi" joke in Nemesis were cringey in 2002. More than 15 years later they're inexcusable. (hide spoiler)]...more
Prequel licensed novels can be really challenging because they aren't often permitted to add a lot beyond what we see on the TV show or movie, for feaPrequel licensed novels can be really challenging because they aren't often permitted to add a lot beyond what we see on the TV show or movie, for fear of limiting or spoiling future plotlines. Luckily the talents of Una McCormack have been brought to bear on this first Star Trek: Picard tie-in novel and she keeps it engaging and often suspenseful even though we know where it's ultimately headed.
As she takes us through the Romulan refugee resettlement mission, McCormack gets inside the heads of Picard and Raffi, as well as minor characters that turn up on the show like Clancy and Zani, and a slew of original characters whose perspectives shine light on various aspects of the crisis. I particularly appreciated the way McCormack takes us through the political dynamics on the Federation and Romulan sides, astutely mirroring many dynamics in our world today.
We'll be discussing this book in Women at Warp book club in April so I won't go into spoilers or further details. In the meantime definitely read this book and I hope you'll join our discussion in our Goodreads group!....more
We'll be doing an entire book club episode on this book for our podcast, Women at Warp but I'll list a few important points here.
1) This book definitWe'll be doing an entire book club episode on this book for our podcast, Women at Warp but I'll list a few important points here.
1) This book definitely needs a content warning for sexual violence. I hadn't expected it and was caught off-guard. This is a prison story that includes rape, torture and suicide.
2) This book focuses on original characters, specifically the growing bond between two women, the human Cleante and Vulcan T'Shael. Some people in reviews have been bothered by the relative dearth of scenes featuring the original Enterprise crew, but people in our book club largely saw the focus on the relationship between two women as a positive.
3) The premise of the book was a bit hard for me to swallow. I couldn't really accept that the Federation would require member worlds to send innocent relatives of political figures to live in captivity and potentially to be executed in the event of war. But I found that the plot picked up about halfway through and I sailed through the second half....more
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