Oct 31, 2017
The X-Files and Star Trek.
Just like Kirk and Spock, Mulder and Scully have become pop-culture
icons, outgrowing the some 200 television episodes and two films in
which they appear. Although The X-Files has yet to achieve Star
Trek’s level of longevity, the property will soon mark its
twenty-fifth anniversary, and is...
Oct 24, 2017
The Federation’s Field of Dreams.
“Death to the opposition!” Starfleet officers are expected to be good sports and, for many of them, the lessons they’ve learned while playing their favorite games—tennis, fencing, even water polo—are ones they’ve brought with them onto the bridges of their starships. But...
Oct 17, 2017
Star Trek and Allegory.
In February 1964, Gene Roddenberry’s television show The Lieutenant produced an episode dealing with racism in the US military. The episode proved so controversial that NBC refused to pay for it, let alone broadcast it. A month later, Roddenberry pitched Star Trek, a science-fiction format that...
Oct 3, 2017
Star Trek and Epic Heroes.
“Sokath, his eyes uncovered!” When Captain Jean-Luc Picard finally cracked the Tamarian language, he countered “Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra” with an ancient myth of his own: the Epic of Gilgamesh. One of the earliest known works of literature, this deeply strange but profoundly...