Off the heels of their previous adventure, the crew of the USS Discovery head to Trill in hopes of finding the next clue to the Progenitors’ technology before it ends up in the wrong hands. Dr. Culber (Wilson Cruz) and Cleavland Booker (David Ajala) brief Capt. Burnham (Sonqua Martin-Green) on what they’ve discovered about Moll (Eve Harlow) and L’ak (Elias Touifax) before they reach their destination. Booker begs to be included on the away team to Trill due to his distant relation to Moll, which is precisely what gives Capt. Burnham pause. Capt. Burnham and Dr. Culber head to engineering where ..read more

  Following a harrowing series of away missions, Capt. Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) contemplates the literal meaning of life. Capt. Saru (Doug Jones) interrupts her reverie and together, they reflect upon the magnitude of their mission. While awaiting clearance to depart dry-dock, Capt. Burnham expresses her fondness for Saru on his final day aboard. Before continuing their quest, Capt. Burnham is called to Starfleet Command for a hearing with Capt. Rayner (Callum Keith Rennie). L-R Sonequa Martin-Green as Burnham and Callum Keith Rennie as Rayner The hearing serves as a mirro ..read more

  Capt. Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) sits on the bridge It is extremely bittersweet to review the final season of such an impactful series in the Star Trek universe. From a new propulsion technology to a new point in time, Star Trek: Discovery has been the pioneer of modern Star Trek since 2017. However, as we embark on new episodes and a new review format, we are reminded that all good things…   In true fashion, this season premiere of Star Trek: Discovery starts off with a bang. We immediately see Capt. Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) on the hull of a ship while ..read more

“He met with a severe fall” from Wallace Goldsmith’s illustrations to Oscar Wilde’s The Canterville Ghost (1909). Is it logical to believe in ghosts? For most of our favorite Star Trek characters, I imagine the answer would be no. Starfleet officers are scientists, and it’s part of the job not to believe anything without proof. On the other hand, it’s also part of the job to admit that there are things we’ll never know. This tension between logic and mystery makes for fascinating ghost stories. Even if the “ghosts” are explained at the end of the episode as something more appropriate to sci ..read more

“To everyone who is reclaiming their story and speaking their truth,” says the author’s dedication in The Autobiography of Benjamin Sisko, and it’s a strikingly apt one. Several other Star Trek autobiographies show the “author” entrusting their story to a younger person, such as Spock to Picard, but for Benjamin Sisko, this framing device has a special significance. The book is presented as a message that Sisko sends to his son Jake from inside the Celestial Temple after joining the Prophets there (S07E25 “What You Leave Behind”). Jake publishes the message and adds a prologue from his own per ..read more

Have you ever read an original novel and thought: Hey, that sounds like fanfiction – and meant it as a genuine compliment? If so, you may have been reading a little too much fanfiction (or not enough). Either way, this is how I felt about The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord. Written in 2014, it’s a story about a mysterious, telepathic, emotionally controlled species called the Sadiri, who, after losing their planet to a genocidal attack, seek refuge on Cygnus Beta, a melting-pot world inspired by the author’s native Barbados. Cygnian government official Grace Delarua and her Sadiri c ..read more

  One of the most fascinating things about Star Trek is how prescient it can be when it comes to technology. One era’s science fiction becomes another’s science fact, often in surprising ways. The Star Trek: Voyager episode “Author, Author”, in which the Doctor, an artificial intelligence, fights for creative control of his holonovel, was written in 2001. No one could have known that 22 years later, the Writers’ Guild of America would launch a 148-day strike that, among other things such as more financial security, won them the right not to have AI write their scripts for them. From this ..read more

Star Trek premiered during the civil rights era and often pushed the envelope by showing a future where people of different ethnicities and members of different species joined together to explore space. At a time when roles for people of color in media were limited, sometimes the side characters in Star Trek end up being more impactful than anyone could have thought.   I thought it was time to shout out some of the awesome characters of color on Star Trek, focusing on characters with one appearance in the alpha canon (some reappear in beta canon, but not all). Some writers still have ..read more

Star Trek has a history of challenging racial and ethnic stereotypes, yet gender stereotypes seem to persistently appear in the franchise into the modern era. From the male command bias in many of the early series to how many women are written through gender-specific lenses, Star Trek episodes can reveal subtle and other not-so-subtle gender stereotypes. Does this imply that even as other stereotypes are overturned, gender stereotypes will follow Starfleet into space? Please note that this is not an exhaustive examination of every character where gender stereotypes seemed to harm the character ..read more

If my legacy is “that weird lady who defends The Animated Series,” so be it. Just like its predecessor, TAS was made on a miniscule budget and it showed. Yet for all the weird color choices—the Barbie movie probably stole some of the pink from the Kzinti—or instances when the same voice actors playing multiple characters had entire scenes where they talked to themselves, it pushed the envelope. It took risks with episodes set on aquaplanets, new alien designs not possible in the physical series, adult storytelling where children learn about the loss of a pet, and even an episode where the very ..read more