“Star Trek: Very Short Treks” (2023) are single-joke shorts that miss more than they hit…

*****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS***** To fans of Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973-4) like myself, I was delighted to see the opening of the first of five Star Trek: Very Short Treks unveil recently, as I loved its tongue-in-cheek reimagining of the Paramount+ Star Trek into, which is now rendered in nostalgically cheesy, Filmation-style animation. The short…

Scanning all Star Treks (1966-present)…

*****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD!***** With the annual Star Trek Las Vegas convention (aka “the 56 Year Mission”) right around the corner, I thought this might be a good time to take an overview of the entire televised Star Trek franchise. I’d previously examined all of the Star Trek feature films, so I thought I might explore…

Star Trek: Singing the Body Electric…

*****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS AHEAD FOR TOS, TNG, PICARD, DISCOVERY***** With apologies to both Walt Whitman and Ray Bradbury, Star Trek’s attitudes on ‘the body electric’ have undergone a paradigm shift from 1966 to 2021. The season one finale of Star Trek: Picard, S1.10: “Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2″ saw Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) awakening…

Is Star Trek’s transporter room a chamber of horrors…?

Trauma of the G-rated “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” When I was a kid, some million and a half years ago, “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979) made its big screen debut. The film took the low-budget spartan sci-fi TV series and upgraded it into an A-list Hollywood feature…even going so far as to hire…

New trailers & teasers beam down for Star Trek’s “First Contact Day”…

*****POSSIBLE SPOILERS!!***** April 5th marks Star Trek’s “First Contact Day”—the fictional future holiday marking the creation of warp drive and ‘first contact’ with the Vulcans in 2063 (42 years away). Not unlike that tumultuous time in Star Trek’s imaginary future, the past year has seen some tremendous challenges as well (a deadly global pandemic, an…

Personal Log, Supplemental: Getting the second COVID-19 vaccination shot…

Supplemental Log: Stardate April 1st, 2021. For those readers who follow this site, I chronicled getting my first COVID-19 vaccination shot so that my fellow Star Trek/sci-fi fans (and valued readers) facing vaccination might have an idea of what to expect. Well, the first vaccination went just fine; a little ache in the injection arm,…

Personal Log: Getting my first COVID-19 vaccination shot…

Personal Log: Earth Date, March 5th, 2021. This column is going to be a little different from my usual sci-fi/fantasy/horror reviews, rantings and occasional convention coverage; this column is dedicated to a subject I am equally passionate about, and to which I’ve dedicated a portion of each new post — the current coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic, which…

Star Trek: Discovery, S3.7: “Unification III” takes the next logical step…

****STARSHIP-SIZED SPOILERS!!**** “Last time on Star Trek…” The title of this week’s episode of Star Trek: Discovery, now streaming on CBS-All Access, sequels a 29-year old two-parter from Star Trek: The Next Generation, with the evocative but accurate title “Unification III”. This episode sees a long-held dream of Ambassador Spock’s fulfilled; the reunification of the…