Star Trek has often been ground breaking, whether that meant having an ethnically diverse cast, promoting peaceful protest, advocating birth control, or discussing many other taboo subjects. Yet one area where Trek noticeably lagged behind for decades was in its…
Star Trek stands out among its science fiction contemporaries for its ability to use the genre to touch on dire real-world subjects. Eugenics. Nuclear war. Environmental disaster. The rise and fall of fascist dictatorships. Trek portrays these as wake-up calls…
A feminist take on “Our Man Bashir” and the more dubious elements of the James Bond franchise Due to the ongoing pandemic, the release date of the latest iteration of the James Bond movie franchise, No Time to Die, has…
As a woman of active imagination and a science-fiction enthusiast, I could never help but wonder what my life would be like had I been born in Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future. Would I apply for Starfleet? Would they…
In season five of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the episode “Doctor Bashir, I Presume?” opens with Doctor Bashir getting the opportunity of a lifetime: the newest Emergency Medical Hologram will be modeled off of his appearance and personality. He…
I teach two sections of a developmental English course at a public community college in New York City. When students fail their reading and writing college entrance exams, they come to me. My class differs from traditional remedial courses in…
In the DS9 two-parter “Past Tense,” Sisko, Bashir and Dax travel to the year 2024, a dark time in our near future. Treknews.net blogger Michelle Toven joins us to discuss the episodes’ socio-political themes, which include homelessness, mental health, race, class, violence,…
Season 1 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine took a lot of risks and introduced us to stereotype-busting women characters. Our crew talks about the series premiere “Emissary,” our earliest impressions of the DS9 main characters, and Kira and Dax’s…