As a tribute to Shakespeare, Star Trek, (and Star Trek doing Shakespeare) I give you…a very silly Star Trek sonnet: Flying past stars, aboard the Enterprise Where noble ship and crew bid well adieu Journey to a new world, their mission lies Thou art lazy writing, stock Planet Q Alas it matters not, here cometh strife … More A Silly Star Trek Sonnet, TOS: S1E13 “The Conscience of the King”
From the first grunt of spoken language, human beings have been telling stories. In essence, we have been creating new worlds. Whether it is a heroic epic showing how we can surpass our limitations, or a starship exploring new possibilities, these fantasies help us understand ourselves and the world around us. Or, they can offer … More Freedom in Choice, TOS: S1E11-12 “The Menagerie”
While cruising through space, the Enterprise comes across a spinning Rubic’s cube of some kind. Naturally assuming it to be of absolutely no consequence or interest, they move right along…or at least they attempt to move away from it. Alas, the eight cornered atrocity will not let them pass, and the captain is forced to … More Kirk’s Labyrinth, TOS: S1E10 “The Corbomite Maneuver”
Mental illness is often stigmatized and feared due to it being poorly understood. The truth is that although we have made great progress in our recognition and treatment of many mental illnesses, there are still vast aspects of our brain function which are, for now, uncharted. In a place where knowledge is lacking we often … More Scars, Suffering, and Blank Slates, TOS: S1E9 “Dagger of the Mind”
A snapshot of a population after a disaster event does not always offer information on what the nature of the population was prior to the catastrophe. Upon receiving an ‘Earth style’ distress signal (SOS), the Enterprise crew was astonished to discover a second Earth lightyears away from the original. The main crew beamed down to … More Generation Exterminate, TOS: S1E8 “Miri”
“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both,” is a vastly paraphrased version of a quote often attributed to Benjamin Franklin, although he allegedly denied saying it. However, the idea which it conveys can be quite challenging to reconcile. We need both freedom … More Imperfection is in the Eye of the Beholder, TOS: S1E7 “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”
Modern human exploitation takes many forms, such as forced labor and sex trafficking. Fortunately, charities and government organizations are working to increase global awareness of this distressing issue, and in a similar vein, Kirk and his crew did not approve of trading Harry Mudd’s ‘cargo’ either. In ‘Mudds Women’ the Enterprise comes across the distressed … More Soap Sales and Stepford Wives, TOS: S1E6 “Mudd’s Women”
A popular psychological theory suggests that we possess five major aspects of personality, which shape our character depending on the relative strength and weakness of each. These traits (openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) are not meant to function independently, but the Star Trek episode ‘The Enemy Within’ does just that. After beaming aboard the … More Authoritarian Assumptions, TOS: S1E5 “The Enemy Within”
In one of the most cringe worthy contamination scenarios brought about by a group of trained space scientists, the Enterprise crew is exposed to a disease causing agent manifesting bizarre behaviors in the affected. The episode opens with an away team, led by Spock, inspecting the planet Psi 2000 to investigate a research team that … More Operation Contamination, TOS: S1E4 “The Naked Time”
The second pilot produced, but actually the third episode to air, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” challenges the limits of our human experience, both intellectually and emotionally. While exploring, the Enterprise stumbled across the old black box recorder of the starship Valiant, which carried evidence of the ship’s ill fate two hundred years prior. … More Upper Limits, TOS: S1E3 “Where No Man Has Gone Before”
