Hopefully, Star Trek helped you build a better world with this summer. I kicked things off this year with a ringing endorsement of The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized, Oral History of Star Trek, the First 25 Years. I am going to close with just as much enthusiasm for the second volume of that book, and a party.
The Fifty-Year Mission: The Complete, Uncensored, Unauthorized, Oral History of Star Trek, the Next 25 Years covers all the Rick Berman produced shows: Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise--and the J.J. Abrams’ reboot. Editors Altman and Gross even deep dive into production histories of Trek parodies on other TV shows. Chapters about Enterprise are the real gold mine. That show was a dumpster fire. Members of the creative team accuse each other of arson. Others just try to soothe the burn. I would feel guilty for rubbernecking but, after all, it's just tv show. The other side of the coin is Deep Space Nine. Though never a ratings hit like Next Generation, DS9 traversed territory other Treks feared to tread; namely, war and serialized storytelling. The creative freedom of the DS9 team reaped rewards for viewers and acclaim, if retroactive, from critics.
This fall, will Star Trek Discovery go supernova or be a gas giant?
Come talk about that at the Mission Accomplished! Summer Challenge Star Trek Party on August 12th at 2pm at the Main Library. There will be trivia, games, prizes, and visions of a better world.
