Darmok and Jalad in the Upper Room
A recurring theme in some of the strongest episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation is the pursuit of understanding. You could almost say that this theme is a core value of the Star Trek universe as a whole. For…
Terraforming the Human Soul
Through Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry envisioned a future Earth with no war, disease, or division, a place of peace and human unity. It is an ideal that closely reflects the culmination of the Christian gospel, only without the Christian gospel.…
"Terminal Provocations" – Star Trek: Lower Decks S1E06
First of all, I felt personally attacked by this episode’s cold open. Just because I listen to Star Trek warp engine sounds while I work sometimes and can definitely tell the difference between the Enterprise-D’s and Voyager’s ambient warp core…
From Farpoint to the Poker Table: Picard Walking in Fellowship
The very first time we meet Captain Jean-Luc Picard he is shrouded in darkness, peering out a window into the great unexplored mass of the galaxy. He is alone in the shadows, having just taken command of the Enterprise-D, and…
"Cupid’s Errant Arrow" – Star Trek: Lower Decks S1E05
Find yourself someone who talks about you the way Tendi and Rutherford say “Whoosh.” “Cupid’s Errant Arrow” is the first story I’ve felt fit within the duration of a Lower Decks episode thus far. While the other four entries into…
What You Control Can’t Hurt You: Fear, Victimhood, and the Dominion
Fear takes many shapes. From cowering victim to preemptive striker, from passive aggression to dedicated isolationism, fear leads both people and societies to pretty much every extreme of reaction. Still, perhaps the most unexpected result of fear is, paradoxically, an…
“I Don’t Want Any More Cracks About The Book!”: Insights for Interpreting Sacred Texts from Star Trek
Sacred books and texts loom large in human civilizations, past and present. Yet such books and texts are scarce in Star Trek. Memory Alpha’s entry on “Sacred Texts” lists exactly 16 examples from the entire franchise. Is this dearth of…
Trektember: Season 5 Preview
Welcome to the fifth season of Trektember! We’ve now run longer than Enterprise, and boy has it been a long road…gettin’ from there to here. When we first launched Trektember back in September of 2016, there was no Star Trek…
"Moist Vessel" – Star Trek: Lower Decks S1E04
Navigating interpersonal relationships is no simple task; even if you live on a technological marvel in the distant future, it’s not the stuff in deep space that will really get on your nerves, it’s the people on that technological marvel…
Who Killed the World? | Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
“Who killed the world?” This question haunts the now five-year-old masterpiece Mad Max: Fury Road. Though it is only uttered twice in the film, the state of Fury Road’s world demands it be asked. The barren desert landscape bears witness…