Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier
vernonpress.com
After more than 55 years of transmedia storytelling, 'Star Trek' is a global phenomenon that has never been more successful than it is today. 'Star Trek' fandom is worldwide, time tested, and growing, and academic interest in the franchise, both inside and outside of the classroom, is high; at the moment, more 'Star Trek' works are underway or in development simultaneously than at any other moment in history. Unlike works that focus on a limited number of stories/media in this franchise or only offer one expert’s or discipline’s insights, this accessible and multidisciplinary anthology includes analyses from a wide range of scholars and explores 'Star Trek' from its debut in 1966 to its current incarnations, considers its implications for and collaborations with fandom, and trace its ideas and meanings across series, media, and time. 'Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier' will undoubtedly speak to academics in the field, students in the classroom, and informed lay readers and fans.

The critical anthology ‘Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier,’ edited by Amy H. Sturgis and Emily Strand, will surprise and inform readers from beginning to end. In the foreword, science fiction scholar and novelist Una McCormack asks, “Why ‘Star Trek’?” These essays answer that question over and over again with original perspectives, scholarly research, and thorough analysis of the ‘Star Trek’ media universe. Divided into three sections, “Exploring the Series and Films,” “Exploring the Ideas,” and “Exploring the Multimedia Storytelling,” this collection features deep dives into characters like Jonathan Archer and Seven of Nine, as well as broader investigations of the political, imperial, ecological, and linguistic systems at work on the futuristic Final Frontier. The essays range widely in content, from discussions of ancient Greece and Rome in the ‘Original Series’ and conspiracy theories in ‘Voyager,’ to series-wide studies of the creation of fictional languages and the consequences of imagining a future with infinite energy resources. Despite its range and variety, the anthology provides a rich, coherent understanding of how the series’ creators, writers, actors and fans have worked together to develop the most popular and challenging speculative fiction series of our era. Ultimately, and in the best tradition of science fiction, these critical essays on ‘Star Trek’ provide insight not only into this franchise but into our present, very human selves—our struggles, our prejudices, and our dreams.

Dr. Kathryn N. McDaniel

Andrew U. Thomas Professor of History Chair, Department of History, Philosophy, Religion, and Gender Studies Marietta College