Star Trek is a dangerous, denialist lie that is about hope in the future. We cannot hope for a future without injustice where Earth is a paradise without first addressing injustice here and now. Then we can talk about utopia. I realize not all science fiction does what Trek does. I also realize Star Trek…
Posts Tagged
Sisko
Expansion of Utopian Struggle in the Motif of Entering a Room/Space(s) for Continuity
To quote Kim Stanley Robinson “utopia has gone from being a somewhat minor literary problem to a necessary survival strategy” (as quoted in “Guns Under the Table: Kim Stanley Robinson and the Transition to Utopia,” Utopian Studies, Oct. 2020, Andrew Miller, 389). To carry over this survival strategy for the sake of utopia from novelized…
Father Figures in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5 and the Knowing of Our Shared Responsibilities
Avery Brooks said on a number of occasions that he accepted the role of Benjamin Sisko in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine because of the depiction of the ever-present father figure that Sisko represented in the series. Benjamin’s relationship with Jake, his son, was repeatedly emphasized as the most important thing to Sisko. In many…
Eddington is Right When He States that Utopia Requires Assimilation
Michael Eddington is either loved or hated. Many (perhaps most) feel his betrayal of Starfleet as an agent for the Maquis was an emotive betrayal corresponding to matters deeply entrenched in the outlaying ethics of Starfleet ideas, goals, and the fight against oppression in the larger galactic equation. However, Eddington was not wrong when he…
Avery Brooks and His Understanding of Sisko
In a 1986 Good Morning America interview promoting the prime time show, Spencer, Avery Brooks was asked about another role he was playing in Uncle Tom’s Cabin for Showtime. The interviewer stated it was “against type casting, a very unusual thing” to which Avery Brooks replied, “No, not really. You know, I’m an artist. So…
Tuvok’s Moral Middle Ground
Tuvok was not without his forays into romance outside of the strict, sacred bond he held with his wife, T’Pel, in the Alpha Quadrant. True, there were manufactured instances of romance, such as in “Body and Soul” (2000) when Tom Paris prescribed Tuvok time in the holodeck with a hologram of his wife in order…
The United Traits of Bajoran and Cardassian Resistance
The heart of the Bajoran resistance was to cripple, stun, defeat, and alienate any element present of the Cardassian occupation. When Captain Sisko orders Colonel Kira to assist Damar with his struggling Cardassian uprising against the Dominion she is at first taken back. It is laughable. At the first instance of the suggestion and on…
Narrative Obtrusion and Difference in the Deep Space Nine episode “In the Pale Moonlight” and Enterprise’s “Damage”
There is a highly reasonable, shared pattern of reluctant leadership for Captain Sisko and Captain Archer between the Deep Space Nine episode “In the Pale Moonlight” (1998) and Enterprise’s “Damage” (2004). As Archer tells Dr. Phlox, amid almost complete destruction of the Enterprise, “I’m about to step over a line. A line I thought I…
Holo-Morals
The holodeck, or holosuites, offer a grand rejection of reality. However, it is through that dismissal of the restraints of reality that we see the crews of Voyager and Deep Space Nine inject themselves into a cascade of criminal conduct. In the Voyager episode “Worst Case Scenario” (1997) and the Deep Space Nine episode “Badda-Bing,…
Community and Found Family in Star Trek
PHLOX: When you invited me to join this crew, I thought it would be an interesting diversion for a few months. Some time away from the complications of family, which on Denobula can be extremely complicated. I didn’t expect to gain another family. (close to tears) It hurts as if she were my own child….