In the "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode "The Outcast", the crew of the Enterprise aids a species called the J'naii in locating and rescuing a missing shuttlecraft. The J'naii are a genderless species, claiming to have evolved past specific gender identities. In their society, any expression of maleness or femaleness is considered darkly taboo, and gendered sexual contact has been criminalized. Commander Riker (Jonathan Frakes) spends a great deal of the episode working with a J'naii pilot named Soren (Melinda Culea) and the two bond. Soren will eventually reveal that she feels more female than genderless and that she is attracted to Riker. When Soren's gender identity reaches the other J'naii officials, she is threatened with the sci-fi equivalent of a conversion camp.
By today's politics, "The Outcast" feels clumsy in its attempts to discuss gender identity. It can, however, be commended for even attempting to tell a trans...
By today's politics, "The Outcast" feels clumsy in its attempts to discuss gender identity. It can, however, be commended for even attempting to tell a trans...
- 2/25/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
Being a "Star Trek" fan is a full-time job unlike any other. While normal people would find hundreds of hours of material a daunting prospect, the average Trekkie has been dutifully conditioned to say things like, "Don't worry, this overall mediocre show finally gets good in season 4" or staunchly defend some of the absolute weirdest and most out-there concepts ever produced in live action.
"Star Trek: Voyager" had plenty of highlights and lowlights in that regard, from that time Captain Katherine Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Lieutenant Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) hooked up with each other after devolving into lizards -- yes, this really happened -- to the horrifying legacy of "Tuvix." But none of it would've been possible had Paramount Television failed to support the production that would become "Voyager" back in its earliest conception. While "Deep Space Nine" gets all the credit for radically reinventing the very idea of what "Trek" could be,...
"Star Trek: Voyager" had plenty of highlights and lowlights in that regard, from that time Captain Katherine Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Lieutenant Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) hooked up with each other after devolving into lizards -- yes, this really happened -- to the horrifying legacy of "Tuvix." But none of it would've been possible had Paramount Television failed to support the production that would become "Voyager" back in its earliest conception. While "Deep Space Nine" gets all the credit for radically reinventing the very idea of what "Trek" could be,...
- 2/6/2024
- by Jeremy Mathai
- Slash Film
In the "Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Threshold", the U.S.S. Voyager discovers a rare, extra-powerful version of dilithium, the crystal that is required to run starship engines. Using this new dilithium, the Voyager crew figure they can build an engine capable of passing the mythic warp-10 barrier, essentially allowing them to reach infinite velocity, passing through every point in the universe simultaneously. Such a breakthrough would allow the Voyager to return to Earth in a moment.
When testing their new engine, however, something goes awry. Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) returns from a test flight ... altered. He begins to mutate and change, losing skin and spitting out his tongue. It seems that the infinite velocity flight somehow triggered his body's evolutionary genes and he is rapidly transforming into whatever creatures humans will evolve into in the next hundred million years. When Paris becomes an amphibian-like frog man, he kidnaps...
When testing their new engine, however, something goes awry. Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) returns from a test flight ... altered. He begins to mutate and change, losing skin and spitting out his tongue. It seems that the infinite velocity flight somehow triggered his body's evolutionary genes and he is rapidly transforming into whatever creatures humans will evolve into in the next hundred million years. When Paris becomes an amphibian-like frog man, he kidnaps...
- 2/2/2024
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
This Star Trek: Lower Decks article contains spoilers.
In “The Inner Fight,” the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks‘s fourth season, the big bad is revealed to be someone we haven’t seen in a long time. Once a promising Starfleet Cadet and talented pilot, he let his youthful arrogance get the better of him, ending his career in disgrace. Even before Beckett Mariner opened a bunker door and the shadowy figure emerged, we heard the smarmy voice of Robert Duncan McNeill and realized who was back.
No, not Tom Paris. It’s Nick Locarno!
Yes, McNeill did play Lt. Jg./Ensign./Lt. Jg. Tom Paris for seven seasons on Star Trek: Voyager. And yes, he was a gifted pilot whose career ended in disgrace due to his arrogance. And Star Trek producers would have us believe that McNeill never appeared as a member of Starfleet before the Voyager premiere “Caretaker.
In “The Inner Fight,” the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks‘s fourth season, the big bad is revealed to be someone we haven’t seen in a long time. Once a promising Starfleet Cadet and talented pilot, he let his youthful arrogance get the better of him, ending his career in disgrace. Even before Beckett Mariner opened a bunker door and the shadowy figure emerged, we heard the smarmy voice of Robert Duncan McNeill and realized who was back.
No, not Tom Paris. It’s Nick Locarno!
Yes, McNeill did play Lt. Jg./Ensign./Lt. Jg. Tom Paris for seven seasons on Star Trek: Voyager. And yes, he was a gifted pilot whose career ended in disgrace due to his arrogance. And Star Trek producers would have us believe that McNeill never appeared as a member of Starfleet before the Voyager premiere “Caretaker.
- 10/26/2023
- by Joe George
- Den of Geek
Days after her grandmother’s death, a young professional woman returns to her family home to sort through what was left behind. Wrapped in a blanket to warm herself from the storm raging outside, the woman senses a ghostly presence, one that visited her in a dream the night before. The presence begins to speak, bidding the woman closer, promising that he loves her as much as he once loved her grandmother. Terror grips the woman’s face, but with it, desire.
I’m not describing a beloved rom-com or a scene from a Harlequin novel. This is a scene from Star Trek: The Next Generation; specifically the season seven episode “Sub Rosa.” If you haven’t seen “Sub Rosa,” you may still be very aware of it. Known as the one in which Dr. Beverly Crusher has sex with a candle ghost, “Sub Rosa” regularly ends up on lists...
I’m not describing a beloved rom-com or a scene from a Harlequin novel. This is a scene from Star Trek: The Next Generation; specifically the season seven episode “Sub Rosa.” If you haven’t seen “Sub Rosa,” you may still be very aware of it. Known as the one in which Dr. Beverly Crusher has sex with a candle ghost, “Sub Rosa” regularly ends up on lists...
- 2/3/2023
- by Kirsten Howard
- Den of Geek
"Star Trek: Lower Decks," currently in its third season, took its name from an episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." Originally airing on February 7, 1994, The NextGen "Lower Decks" introduced several lower-ranking officers, and depicted what life on the Enterprise-d would look like from their perspective. Trekkies could easily see what space adventures were like for Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), but few knew the inner life of Nurse Ogawa (Patti Yasutake). Also in the episode were a very Boimler-like Ensign Lavelle (Dan Gauthier), the very Tendi-like Ensign Sito (Shannon Fill), and the Vulcan, Ensign Taurik. Bruce Beatty played a character named Ben who was a mere civilian.
The point of "Lower Decks" was to show that lower-ranking officers aren't made savvy to the plots and machinations on the bridge. They don't get to sit in the conference room with the senior staff. They only have to follow orders. Although...
The point of "Lower Decks" was to show that lower-ranking officers aren't made savvy to the plots and machinations on the bridge. They don't get to sit in the conference room with the senior staff. They only have to follow orders. Although...
- 10/12/2022
- by Witney Seibold
- Slash Film
This Star Trek: Lower Decks article contains spoilers for Season 2, Episode 1: “Strange Energies.”
The mission of the USS Cerritos is to do the jobs other Starfleet ships can’t; following up with all sorts of minutiae and boring outer space logistics, long after the Enterprise or the Defiant has warped out. But whether it’s Lower Decks or Picard or Discovery or Strange New Worlds, the mission of hardcore Trek fans is the same: Pause the screen and see what deep-cut Easter eggs got slipped in this time!
In Season 1, Star Trek: Lower Decks earned the reputation for the most meta-textual Star Trek ever. There are layers and layers of Trekdom within every frame of this series, making it hard to look at one episode and catalog all the references. But if you thought Season 1 went deep into the wells of Trekkie references and Easter eggs, Season 2 is here to make Season 1 look tame.
The mission of the USS Cerritos is to do the jobs other Starfleet ships can’t; following up with all sorts of minutiae and boring outer space logistics, long after the Enterprise or the Defiant has warped out. But whether it’s Lower Decks or Picard or Discovery or Strange New Worlds, the mission of hardcore Trek fans is the same: Pause the screen and see what deep-cut Easter eggs got slipped in this time!
In Season 1, Star Trek: Lower Decks earned the reputation for the most meta-textual Star Trek ever. There are layers and layers of Trekdom within every frame of this series, making it hard to look at one episode and catalog all the references. But if you thought Season 1 went deep into the wells of Trekkie references and Easter eggs, Season 2 is here to make Season 1 look tame.
- 8/12/2021
- by Kayti Burt
- Den of Geek
Llinos Cathryn Thomas Jul 11, 2016
Following the recent news from Star Trek Beyond, we look at Star Trek's track record when it comes to queer issues and characters
Many Star Trek fans are celebrating following the news that, in the upcoming movie Star Trek Beyond, Sulu is confirmed as being in a long-term relationship with another man. This kind of queer representation has been a long time coming for the Star Trek franchise.
The Original Series wasn’t afraid to tackle social issues, with a racially diverse cast and episodes dealing – literally or allegorically – with women’s rights, racial divisions and the futility of war, but the later installments in the franchise have shied away from taking the obvious next step of including queer characters.
In 1991, Gene Roddenberry made a statement on his plans to include gay characters in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but following his death shortly afterwards,...
Following the recent news from Star Trek Beyond, we look at Star Trek's track record when it comes to queer issues and characters
Many Star Trek fans are celebrating following the news that, in the upcoming movie Star Trek Beyond, Sulu is confirmed as being in a long-term relationship with another man. This kind of queer representation has been a long time coming for the Star Trek franchise.
The Original Series wasn’t afraid to tackle social issues, with a racially diverse cast and episodes dealing – literally or allegorically – with women’s rights, racial divisions and the futility of war, but the later installments in the franchise have shied away from taking the obvious next step of including queer characters.
In 1991, Gene Roddenberry made a statement on his plans to include gay characters in Star Trek: The Next Generation, but following his death shortly afterwards,...
- 7/10/2016
- Den of Geek
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Buffy, Doctor Who, Star Trek and more have all devoted episodes to members of their supporting cast...
Over an extended run, some television shows give off the impression that all life in their universe revolves around a small number of characters, but if they run long enough, writers and producers will invariably have to look elsewhere every once in a whle. Maybe on another day to every other episode, when the forces of evil rally and all seems lost, the good guys are... otherwise occupied, leaving someone else to pick up the slack.
As a dramatic convention in pop culture, foregrounding minor characters dates at least as far back as Tom Stoppard's 1966 play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, which takes place “in the wings” of Shakespeare's Hamlet as the two minor characters have little comprehension of the tragic events going on concurrently. But over the years, geek...
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Buffy, Doctor Who, Star Trek and more have all devoted episodes to members of their supporting cast...
Over an extended run, some television shows give off the impression that all life in their universe revolves around a small number of characters, but if they run long enough, writers and producers will invariably have to look elsewhere every once in a whle. Maybe on another day to every other episode, when the forces of evil rally and all seems lost, the good guys are... otherwise occupied, leaving someone else to pick up the slack.
As a dramatic convention in pop culture, foregrounding minor characters dates at least as far back as Tom Stoppard's 1966 play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, which takes place “in the wings” of Shakespeare's Hamlet as the two minor characters have little comprehension of the tragic events going on concurrently. But over the years, geek...
- 4/27/2016
- Den of Geek
“…Depression… is a storm indeed, but a storm of murk… slowed-down responses, near paralysis, psychic energy throttled back close to zero…the body…feels sapped, drained.” Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness, William Styron
Sorry for the skip last week, everyone, but I wasn’t up to it – I was down. As in my depression said “Hello, again!” last weekend. No, I didn’t lie in bed for 48 hours, I’ve never given in to that, even back in the day before I was properly diagnosed with this goddamn thing. So on Saturday, though I could feel it banging on the door of my psyche’s house, I did get dressed and made the usual weekend runs to the supermarket and to the laundromat…but by Sunday Elvis was in the house, and even though I got up and put on my workout gear, I blew off my free personal...
Sorry for the skip last week, everyone, but I wasn’t up to it – I was down. As in my depression said “Hello, again!” last weekend. No, I didn’t lie in bed for 48 hours, I’ve never given in to that, even back in the day before I was properly diagnosed with this goddamn thing. So on Saturday, though I could feel it banging on the door of my psyche’s house, I did get dressed and made the usual weekend runs to the supermarket and to the laundromat…but by Sunday Elvis was in the house, and even though I got up and put on my workout gear, I blew off my free personal...
- 11/10/2014
- by Mindy Newell
- Comicmix.com
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