Category Archives: Star Trek

Star Trek vs. Star Wars: Criteria for Assessing “Better” Science Fiction

May 26th, 2011 | Posted in science fiction, Star Trek, Star Wars

Yesterday one of the interesting media features I came across came from College Times. A piece by Janice Vega asked a question with its title “Which is better: Star Trek or Star Wars? Two mega-fans battle it out”. In the piece various facets of the two science fiction franchises are examined in competition and scored […]

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Fan Culture Documentaries: Back to Space-Con, and Four Days at Dragon*Con

April 25th, 2011 | Posted in conventions, documentary, Dragon*Con, fan cultures, fantasy, geek cultures, liminality, science fiction, science fiction convention, Space-Con, Star Trek

This weekend I had the opportunity to watch two documentaries, Back to Space-Con, produced and directed by Tom Wyrsch of Garfield Lane Productions, and Four Days at Dragon*Con, produced and directed by Jack Walsh of Public Broadcasting in Atlanta. Taken together, these films tell the story of the development of science fiction and fantasy conventions, […]

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PBS Pioneers of Television: Science Fiction, Airs January 18

January 15th, 2011 | Posted in science fiction, Star Trek, Twilight Zone

PBS is beginning the second season of Pioneers of Television with four episodes. The first will look at science fiction, including Lost in Space, Star Trek, The Twilight Zone, and those who helped create them and make them pioneering. It’s no wonder that Gene Rodenberry, creator of “Star Trek,” turned to science fiction when he […]

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Star Trek Fandom as a Religious Phenomenon?

February 14th, 2010 | Posted in fan cultures, religion, science fiction, Star Trek

For a while now I’ve been composing an essay on a religion that finds metaphorical inspiration from pop culture, in particular The Matrix trilogy of films, a religion called, appropriately enough, Matrixism. In my exploration of this hyper-real spirituality, I considered a number of interesting research threads, including myth, science fiction narratives as sacred stories, […]

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Star Trek 2.0 – Does It Work?

May 8th, 2009 | Posted in science fiction, Star Trek

Tonight my wife and I took in the latest entry in the Star Trek franchise, an attempt by Paramount Pictures to rebirth and reinvigorate a long running classic in television and cinematic science fiction. Previously I had seen the trailers for the film on television and had mixed feelings in connection with the possibility of […]

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And the Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth, or at Least Lead Pop Culture

April 29th, 2009 | Posted in fan cultures, geek cultures, science fiction, Star Trek

When I grew up in the 1970s I had to work hard to nurture my love for the fantastic, my ever-present “inner geek,” if you will. In those days I was too young early on to be able to see the few films of the fantastic in the theaters, and like everyone else my family only had […]

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CSI: Astro Quest Parody and Homage

April 17th, 2009 | Posted in Astro Quest, hyper-real spiritualities (or fiction-based), science fiction, Star Trek

Last night’s episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation titled “A Space Oddity,” provided another example of why it is one of the best programs on television, and why CSI is the best of the three programs in the CSI franchise. Unlike CSI: Miami and CSI: New York, CSI incorporates a spectrum of approaches to crime […]

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Star Trek Conventions as Sacred Pilgrimage

January 31st, 2007 | Posted in fan cultures, geek cultures, pilgrimage, Star Trek

I have been doing some reading on anthroplogy of pilgrimage. One particularly helpful book has been Intersecting Journeys: The Anthropology of Pilgrimage and Tourism, Ellen Badone and Sharon R. Roseman, eds. (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2004). One of the more interesting chapters in the book is “Pilgrimage and the IDIC Ethic: Exploring […]

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