When this site was on Tumblr I shared a lot of great Star Trek links with some connection to the blog theme, or further thoughts on episodes I’d already analyzed. Now on WordPress it doesn’t work as well to give each its own post, so I’m going to share batches of them along with brief descriptions/excerpts. Enjoy!
- “Christine Chapel in ‘The Naked Time'” at Welcome to My Lair
- Another perspective on “The Naked Time” and a particularly nuanced analysis of Christine Chapel in that episode.
- “What We Aren’t Talking About When We Talk About Inclusion and Representation, And What We Are” by Becky Chambers at The Mary Sue
- This is a great starting point if you’re looking to explain to a defensive creator or fan what we’re trying to do when we talk about inclusion and representation.
- Jane Espenson interview at The Advocate
- We know and love Jane Espenson from her writing on shows like DS9, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, The O.C., Gilmore Girls, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, Game of Thrones, and Torchwood: Miracle Day. In this interview she talks about writing diverse science fiction characters, saying: “If we can’t write diversity into sci-fi, then what’s the point? You don’t create new worlds to give them all the same limits of the old ones.”
- The Valkyrie Directive
- The Valkyrie Directive is a great Tumblr project that analyzes and celebrates women in Star Trek. She and I did a few crossover posts that will be shared here. I’d encourage you to deep dive into the stuff she’s put together, particularly on Trek women’s costumes. For now, here’s part of the Directive’s intro post:
Each of the women of Star Trek has positive qualities, each of them could perhaps have been shown in a better way, and I’m sure we’ll all disagree on exactly how that could have been done.
But I think we can all agree that the current view of these women is unacceptable. The first link that appears when you Google ‘Women of Star Trek’ is an article – if it can be called that – breaking these women into the ’26 Hottest Babes in Star Trek’.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but ‘rating’ intelligent, complicated, interesting characters solely by their appearance and nothing more makes my blood boil.
It’s time for things to change.
- George Takei interview at the Huffington Post on Gay Rights and Star Trek
- “Some of the cast and creatives were aware that I was gay, and I did, on occasion, bring a male date to parties. “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry was aware of my sexual orientation and very supportive. That was the extraordinary thing about “Star Trek.” That we were a diverse crew of people representing so many colors, backgrounds and heritages.”
- The Star Trek Reboot and How it Treats The Ladies – infographic that I found at grrrltrek on Tumblr
- “O Captain, My Captain: On the Importance of Ben Sisko” by Kendra James at Racialicious.
- Here’s an excerpt:
For every Octavia Butler there are five Joss Whedons. More pointedly, for every one Captain Sisko, there’s a Captain Picard, Captain Kirk, Han Solo, John Carter, and… well, you get the picture. With Sisko in the lead DS9 is self-aware and capable of criticising the flaws of its own genre, and that’s something to appreciate.
- “The Other Women of Star Trek” by Aimee Fleck at The Toast
- Celebrating some of the lesser-known women of Star Trek, including Kazue Tamura, Charlene Masters, and Elizabeth Palmer.
- Felicia Day takes down Star Trek Into Darkness
- Where are the women? The strong women? The women we’d like to see in 200 years? Where are they in this world? They certainly aren’t around the roundtable when the Starfleet are learning about Khan.
- Aisha Tyler interviews LeVar Burton on the Girl on Guy podcast
- And part of what makes it so great is this exchange:
Aisha Tyler: Great science fiction, though – great science fiction is about ideas.
LeVar Burton: Yes it is.
Aisha Tyler: Lazy science fiction is about, like, aliens and sex with purple girls.
LeVar Burton: And explosions.
Aisha Tyler: Yes, and things blowing up and fighting. But GREAT science fiction is about ideas, it’s about the nature of humanity and who we are and our place in the universe.
LeVar Burton: And why we’re here, right. Our place in the universe. And that’s Gene’s vision. That’s Gene Roddenberry. That’s why I have always been a fan of Star Trek, and always will be a fan of Star Trek. Gene’s vision is so strong.
- NASA Space Makeup Kit Rejected via Tumblr
- Learn about the makeup kit proposed for women astronauts like Sally Ride, and how it was ultimately rejected.
