Trektember: The Sound of Her Voice
Star Trek doesn’t do ghost stories very often. In an intentionally pro-science, anti-supernatural universe, the unusual always has an explanation; gods are advanced shape-shifters, prophets are nonlinear aliens living inside a wormhole, and spirits do not haunt our heroes. This…
Trektember: Far Beyond the Stars
“You are the dreamer…And the dream.” So the street preacher tells Sisko/Benny in the back of the ambulance when he asks (understandably), “Who am I?” Dressed in Sisko’s Starfleet uniform, he still wears the watch, ring, and glasses of Benny…
Trektember: Empok Nor
There isn’t any objective “up” or “down” in space. Which is why, objectively, it makes no sense that O’Brien and his salvage crew’s approach to Empok Nor feels so disquieting. The abandoned Cardassian station looks almost exactly like the familiar…
Trektember: Trials and Tribble-ations
The original Star Trek was sometimes over-dramatic, but it was always dramatic. It was aiming for a kind of weighty seriousness, a sense that things really mattered; except in “The Trouble with Tribbles.” Then they just had fun, even poking…
Trektember: The Way of the Warrior
“Some things are worth waiting for…” Benjamin Sisko’s remark at the beginning of season four is in reference to his paramour, Kasidy Yates, but for me it resonated with the episode itself and the whole series. This wasn’t just a…
Trektember: Civil Defense
Our situation is already pretty bad, but it gets even worse. Therefore we try harder, but it only ever increases our need for help. But in our lowest moment, instead of comfort, our greatest enemy shows up to taunt us.…
“Helheimr!”: Tolkien’s Battle Cry for the Living
With a reputation built on works full of staggering narrative detail and deep mythological roots, J.R.R. Tolkien could perhaps be better described as a world builder than as an author. His mythological worlds have mythologies of their own, along with…