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!

Animation, Interview, Star Trek

Brett Gray and Ella Purnell on What’s Next for Dal and Gwyn on ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’

October 13, 2022October 13, 2022 Swara Salih

When we last saw Dal (Brett Gray) and Gwyn (Ella Purnell), along with the rest of the crew of the USS Protostar, they had made a daring escape from Gwyn’s father The Diviner (John Noble), but not before he revealed the reasons for Gwyn’s existence. But Gwyn lost her memory in the midseason finale, leaving where her journey will go more uncertain as she and her friend get closer to Starfleet. What will the latter half of this season of Star Trek: Prodigy have in store for her, Dal, and the rest of their crew?

Animation, Interview, Star Trek

Kate Mulgrew on Returning as Vice Admiral Janeway on ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’

October 12, 2022October 12, 2022 Swara Salih

It was a landmark moment for the Star Trek franchise when Kate Mulgrew, Captain Kathryn Janeway herself, returned to voice a version of her character in the thrilling Paramount+ Nickelodeon animated series Star Trek Prodigy. The twist was that she would be playing an AI version of the character, one who guides the next generation in the ways of Starfleet.

Interview, Television

Kim Rhodes Reveals Her ‘Kung Fu’ Character is NOT a “Karen”

October 12, 2022October 12, 2022 Laura Sirikul

Kim Rhodes only had one demand when she was offered a role on Kung Fu – her character CANNOT be a “Karen.”

“I did not want that,” Rhodes tells The Nerds of Color. “And they didn’t want to write her that way.”

Fandom, Interview, Star Trek

Star Trek Day 2022: A Celebration of Family and Belonging

September 9, 2022September 9, 2022 Jason Sperber

On Wednesday, September 8, 2022, the Star Trek fandom community and many of the stars and creators of that universe marked the 56th anniversary of The Original Series’ premiere with a teaser-filled celebration at Los Angeles’ Skirball Cultural Center, and The Nerds of Color were there on the star-crowded purple carpet and in the fan-filled theater to witness a gathering that was, underneath it all, about the power of found family and the magic of finding a place in which to belong.

Books, Fandom, Scholarship1 Comment

The Power of Fandom for Radical Change

July 16, 2022July 17, 2022 Shawn Taylor

Hello Folks,

It has been a minute. I’ve been working on too many projects so I’m not able to write as much as I would like for NOC. I wanted to show folks some of the stuff I’ve been crafting while I’ve been away.

Interview, Star Trek

Babs Olusanmokun on Playing Dr. M’Benga on ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’

June 22, 2022 Swara Salih

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds takes us back to the original Star Trek era where Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) led the Enterprise and her crew on daring missions to explore the vastness of Space and make new discoveries and advancements on behalf of the Federation. The crew of the Enterprise is has a vast range of experience and skill they bring to their mission, and one Dr. M’Benga, played brilliantly by Babs Olusanmokun, gets his own featured episode this week.

Interview, Star Trek

Celia Rose Gooding on Staying True to Herself and Uhura in ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’

May 25, 2022May 25, 2022 Laura Sirikul

Celia Rose Gooding is a woman of her time just like the iconic character she plays on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Cadet Nyota Uhura.

Interview, Star Trek, Streaming

Director/Producer Olatunde Osunsanmi on What’s Next for ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

March 18, 2022March 19, 2022 Swara Salih

Finally, the mystery of Species Ten-C has been resolved. In a stunning finale, Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and her crew of the USS Discovery figured it out with galaxy-spanning ramifications. In this race to the finish with her lover Clevand Booker (“Book”) (David Ajala), who had gone renegade this season in his own pursuit of justice, Star Trek: Discovery delivered yet another stunning finale, with limitless pathways to pursue in Season 5. After this finale, I’m incredibly excited for the next journey of Discovery.

Interview, Star Trek, Streaming

Hiro Kanagawa on Joining ‘Star Trek: Discovery’

March 11, 2022 Swara Salih

Hiro Kanagawa has been on our tv screens for decades, appearing in such favorite shows as Smallville, iZombie, Legends of Tomorrow, Inuyasha, The X-Files, Altered Carbon, and much more. Now, joins the critically acclaimed Star Trek: Discovery as the inquisitive Dr. Hirai, one of the Federation’s leading specialists in astrolinguistics, xenophonology, and theoretical semiotics in the 32nd Century. As the Federation prepares to engage with the extra-galactic Species 10-C, Dr. Hirai is pivotal to establishing first contact.

Interview, Star Trek

‘Star Trek: Discovery’ Director and Executive Producer Olatunde Osunsanmi Discusses Season 4

December 17, 2021December 17, 2021 Swara Salih

Star Trek: Discovery has returned to our streaming screens for another spectacular season as the Discovery crew and the Federation of the future must deal with a galaxy-threatening anomaly. It’s unlike anything the Discovery crew has faced before, and resultingly Captain Burnham and her crew and loved ones are pushed to the brink in so many ways. What goes into making such a spectacular adventure that we watch every week?

Animation, Interview, Star Trek

Dawnn Lewis, aka Captain Carol Freeman, on the Return of ‘Star Trek: Lower Decks’

August 11, 2021August 11, 2021 Swara Salih

Dawnn Lewis does it all. Acting, voice acting, musicals, and more. And she can add Starfleet Captain to the list with her role as Captain Carol Freeman of the USS Cerritos. She’s a no nonsense captain who unfortunately has a lot of nonsense to deal with from her crew, including her own daughter Beckett, who may cause the most trouble of the bunch. Ahead of the Season 2 Premiere this Thursday, August 12, we at The Nerds of Color were able to speak with Lewis on how she approaches the role of Captain Freeman, her voice-acting career, what we can expect for her and Beckett’s mother-daughter dynamic, and the prospect of returning to Broadway for the musical Tina.

Hard N.O.C. Life, Star Wars, Streaming1 Comment

Hard NOC Life: The Lin-Mando Takeover of Disney+

May 18, 2020May 15, 2021 Hard NOC Media

On Hard NOC Life, Dominic and Keith welcome Lauren Lola — who took a moment out of her busy CAAMFest schedule — to talk about Hamilton and Mandalorian season 2 coming to Disney+.

Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: The Lin-Mando Takeover of Disney+”

Fandom, Hard N.O.C. Life

Hard NOC Life: Zoom NOC Life

May 4, 2020May 4, 2020 Hard NOC Media

This week’s Hard NOC Life is the most ambitious crossover event in history as Dominic, Shawn, and Keith welcome a vast array of friends of the pod for probably the longest episode in the show’s existence.

Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: Zoom NOC Life”

Fandom, Star Trek, Streaming

All Good Things…

February 10, 2020May 15, 2021 Shawn Taylor

As soon as I was exposed to it, I was a rabid fan of Star Trek. We share a birthday, September 8, and a value system that holds art and science as equals. Trek was more to me than a fandom. It was a vision of our shared future world that was achievable. Maybe not warp drive and phasers, but philosophically and materially achievable. While I loved the Original Series, it was The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine that seemed to realize R. Buckminster Fuller’s (one of my favorite thinkers) dream of universal equity.

Continue reading “All Good Things…”

Hard N.O.C. Life, Movies1 Comment

Hard NOC Life: Once Upon a Racist Hollywood

August 2, 2019May 8, 2020 Hard NOC Media

Before news broke about Shannon Lee’s issues with the way Quentin Tarantino depicts her father in his latest film, Dominic and Keith recorded this episode in which they reexamine the auteur’s less than ideal treatment of race in his films.

Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: Once Upon a Racist Hollywood”

Fandom, News

AOC is NOC AF! (Updated)

April 8, 2019October 13, 2019 Dominic Mah

UPDATED OCTOBER 13, 2019 for Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s birthday. See #12-14 below!

For those visiting our blog for the first time, ‘round these parts “N.O.C.” stands for Nerds Of Color (or Non-Official-Cover if you’ve just rewatched the first Mission: Impossible film).

It’s a term of inclusivity that we wear with pride. And because part of our nerdy duties include ingesting a lot of TV, movies, and Twitter, we feel obligated to note that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is, by her choice of pop-culture references on Twitter and other forums, also a Nerd Of Color. (We’ll update this listicle periodically as Rep. AOC continues to use Twitter to do spectacularly nerdy things.)

Hard N.O.C. Life, Television

Hard NOC Life: Crazy Random Acts of Convenience

August 10, 2018May 8, 2020 Hard NOC Media

Shawn returns to Hard NOC Life as he and Keith break down the week that was in Nerd Pop.

Continue reading “Hard NOC Life: Crazy Random Acts of Convenience”

Fandom, Scholarship5 Comments

Decolonizing My Fandom

August 7, 2018December 7, 2018 Shawn Taylor

Dr. Who. Star Trek. The Twilight Zone. The Night Stalker. Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Battlestar Galactica (the original series) E. E. “Doc” Smith. JRR Tolkien. David Eddings. Margaret Weiss & Tracy Hickman. Joseph Campbell. The Avengers (tv show and comic), Spider-Man, The Uncanny X-Men, DC’s Trinity and on and on and on. What do all of these pieces of geek-pop have in common? They were all generated from the minds of (mostly) white men.

Not that there is anything inherently wrong with this, but it begs the question: Do I actually like this stuff, or is it all part of some kind of indoctrination into the dominant culture? Continue reading “Decolonizing My Fandom”