How I Learned to Stop Worrying About ‘Star Trek’ Canon and Enjoy the Big Dumb Mystery

March 16, 2023March 20, 2023 Zhouweiwen

As we are halfway through our return to the 25th Century, we can pretty much settle into the rhythm of Star Trek: Picard. It’s a bit of a clunky narrative but a lot of fun character work for new and returning players. Most discouraging but perhaps least surprising is for all the things Season 3 has done to get us those wonderful character moments, it can’t escape the Kurtzman of it all and has at its center a big dumb mystery around Jack Crusher.

Reviews, Star Trek

‘Star Trek: Picard’ is Really Worried about Mom and Dad Fighting

March 2, 2023March 2, 2023 Zhouweiwen

Yellow alert! This was still an overall enjoyable episode with a mix of good and somewhat forced character beats. However, some of the internal logic is starting to be concerning.

Reviews, Star Trek1 Comment

‘Star Trek: Picard’ — That’s Not How Accents Work

February 25, 2023March 2, 2023 Zhouweiwen

Mercifully, Picard is not hiding the ball. A recurrent problem with a lot of serialized shows is setting up a lot of mysteries that are slowly dripped throughout the season and you have to hope the mystery at the end is worth it.

Reviews, Star Trek1 Comment

‘Star Trek: Picard’ — Once More Unto the Breach

February 17, 2023March 2, 2023 Zhouweiwen

Star Trek has always wrestled with managing its legacy and the ability to do something new. Fans are always a prickly bunch judging a new series, movie, or a given episode as to whether or not it feels like Star Trek.

Hard N.O.C. Life, Star Trek1 Comment

Hard NOC Life 299: All Good ‘Star Trek’ for the Next Generation

February 13, 2023February 27, 2023 Hard NOC Media

In anticipation for the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard, Keith welcomes his brother Raymond to Hard NOC Life as they countdown their top five episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation!

Star Trek, Television5 Comments

Don’t Be Riker

November 5, 2013June 17, 2014 Walidah Imarisha

“Yeah I love Star Trek too,” Shahid said enthusiastically. “But what do you think about Riker?”

“Oh goooooodddd!” I groaned. “He’s such the epitome of white straight dude privilege. The way he walks around with his chest all puffed out, stroking that beard, taking up so much space.”

“Exactly! Even the way he sits, like a cowboy — he takes up so much space.”

I rolled my eyes. “I know. He is everything wrong with the world and with privilege in community organizing. It’s like where do you even begin to address it all?”

Shahid laughed. “It’d be easiest just to say say ‘Don’t Be Riker.’ Whatever you do, just don’t be Riker.”

I doubled over with laughter. “That’s so awesome! Someone should do a blog like that. Just post pictures of Riker doing straight white dude stuff, with a caption, ‘Don’t.’”

Shahid paused for a minute. “Yeah, yeah they should.”

Continue reading “Don’t Be Riker”