Editorial







For Star Trek: Discovery, A Romulan By Any Other Name Would Smell As Treacherous

Star Trek fans are eagerly awaiting any news about the upcoming series Star Trek: Discovery. With the recent announcement that the Original Series episode “Balance of Terror” will be a “touchstone” for the new series, we thought it prudent to take a look back at the history of Romulans in Star Trek. We noticed an odd pattern and have to ask: why are so many Romulans nameless? Could Discovery retcon some key commanders with names? And we found one bit of Trek lore that -no one- else on the Internet has spotted.


Mental Health in Star Trek is More Than Seeing a Counselor

In part two of my editorial on mental illness and Star Trek, being published on World Mental Health Day 2016, I will focus on two other examples of Star Trek portraying mental health issues that depict a positive future where illnesses are understood and the people around our characters help. I also suggest that we work together to break down stigmas, and be there for those we love when they struggle with mental illness.


Star Trek’s Poor Depiction of Mental Illness in a Hopeful Future

The medical advances depicted in Star Trek are nothing less than extraordinary, but solutions have not been found to maladies that millions in our world are struggling with: mental illness. This article examines the few instances where characters are depicted as struggling with mental illnesses, and sadly concludes that Star Trek’s writers completely failed to present us with a future where such illnesses have been eliminated, nor one where mental illness does not carry the stigma it carries today. This is a two-part article, with the second describing my own struggle with mental illness and how I use Star Trek to help. 


EDITORIAL: The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Voices of the Few

Vocal minorities tend to lead perception. It’s not necessarily because they are right, but because they are loud, consistent in message and sometimes the only mouthpiece. Lately however, that vox populi has taken its gripes and issues to an entirely new level; one that ridicules, mocks and bullies creators online, as well as posting critical and negative comments to anything and everything covering something that supposedly brings these fans great joy. All of these behaviors can easily be attached to countless fandoms currently occupying the zeitgeist, yet sadly it seems to have taken a firm hold on Star Trek, which is disappointing considering what the franchise represents.



EDITORIAL: CBS All Access: The Good, The Ads, and The Over-Compressed

Since Star Trek: Discovery will be coming exclusively to CBS All Access in the United States, I decided to give the network’s new over-the-top streaming service a try. I’ve been using All Access for a good nine months now, and I’ve learned a thing or two about what the service gets right and where it leaves something to be desired.


EDITORIAL: Why I Embraced Brannon Braga’s Star Trek After Years of Unfairly Blaming Him

During the last golden age of Star Trek on television from 1993-2005, fans became ever more connected due to the internet, and specifically fan sites dedicated to Trek and message boards. While this was wonderful in bringing us together, every episode and series was analyzed, criticized, and the writers sometimes vilified. Of the many who faced the ire of Trek fans during the respective runs of Voyager and Enterprise, none received as much vitriol as Brannon Braga despite him being responsible for some of the most celebrated Star Trek episodes in the entire franchise.



Who Owns Star Trek? BuzzFeed asks

Adam B. Vary of BuzzFeed just published an in depth article on Star Trek fandom (centered primarily around the reboot movies and Axanar as two different sides of Trek and fandom), titled “Who Owns Star Trek? How Star Trek Created, Lost, And Won Back Its Devoted Fandom”. With interviews from Trek actors, producers, directors, and fans, it’s a great read. Click through for some choice excerpts.


EDITORIAL: The Future of Star Trek (an open letter to Bryan Fuller and Alex Kurtzman)

In an open letter to the creators of the upcoming Star Trek CBS series, science fiction author Steven Erikson makes a plea for the new show to embody the characteristics that made the Original Series so universal and posits, “Star Trek will survive on the quality of its drama – not on the special effects, not on the strange aliens, and not, alas, on the legacy of what has gone before.”



Editorial: With Execs Calling for ‘Star Trek: Zero Dark Thirty’, Does Paramount Just Not Get Trek?

The president of Paramount’s Motion Picture Group recently told WIRED that he wants to “take advantage” of unexplored parts of the Star Trek universe going forward with future films, throwing out such “ridiculous” ideas as “Star Trek: Zero Dark Thirty” and meeting the SEAL Team Six of the Star Trek universe. After the action-adventure shoot-em-up blow-em-up blockbuster that was Into Darkness, Paramount wanting a “less Star Trek-y” script, and the head of the reboot proclaiming that Star Trek is “too philosophical”, is this another indication that Paramount really has no idea how to do Star Trek?


Editorial: With Lydia Wilson as latest addition to Star Trek Beyond cast, can we expect a strong female role or another Carol Marcus?

Lydia Wilson has just been announced as the latest addition to the growing call sheet for Star Trek Beyond, currently filming in Vancouver. As usual, no one has any clue as to what her role might be (although there is plenty of speculation abound). I am excited about the addition of another female presence on the screen, but I remain cautiously optimistic after our “strong female role model” Carol Marcus turned into a one-trick pony designed to catch Kirk’s (and the audience’s) romantic interest.