Enterprise Zones: Critical Positions on Star Trek (Film Studies (Boulder, Colo.).)

Rating:
Summary: An academic look at the Enterprise
Review: This is a book written by fans of the phenomena that is Star trek who also happen to be academics - or is it the other way round? Either way, what is offered here is a critical but affectionate study of some of the issues that many viewers and fans believe Star Trek to address most successfully - racism, sexism, colonialism and so on. What becomes apparent, however, on reading this book, is that basing one's critical approval of the series on an assumption that Gene Roddenbery's creation has got it right on each and every occasion is a position that is far from safe. The authors show that in more than one instance the Federation behaves in a manner as questionable as that of its purported enemies. This is especially the case with Star Trek's most powerful villains to date, the Borg (featured in the latest of the Star Trek movies "First Contact") whose aim to "raise the quality of life" is really no different from the Federation's aims, even if the methods employed are quite unalike. In other words, the Borg want everyone to be Borg and Federation Starfleet wants everyone to be (at least in attitude and outlook) human. To take another example, the Klingon Worf is praised by Captain Picard on a number of occasions, but only when his behaviour imitates that of this human crewmates; when Worf behaves like a Klingon (for example when he kills someone in a Klingon "rite of vengeance", an acceptable act in Klingon culture), he is reprimanded. These are valid observations, but sometimes the essays make connections which are more tenuous, such as the one which identifies the android Data with African-Americans in the present century. As a fan and an academic, I can appreciate what the authors of this collection are attempting to do. Whether the essays as a whole would be appreciated (in both senses of the word!) by those fans who are not accustomed to the language of the lecture theatre or text book is another matter, but I have no hesitation in saying that I found it rewarding, often fun and, despite the reservations I have already stated, it is a book to which I find myself turning again and again as I watch - perhaps too frequently - reruns of my favourite show.