Popular Culture Review Vol. 22, No. 1, Winter 2011 | Page 120

116 Popular Culture Review real world settings. Old topics are new in this collection. All the social ills: racism, sexism, genocide, to name a few, can all be examined with a clear eye because Star Trek infiltrates the arguments with Bajorans and Cardassians committing World War II crimes on their planets. Klingons and Federation explorers can stand in for Soviet and American combatants. Seven of Nine and Data offer opportunities to discuss what it means to be human. This collection treats the original Star Trek series and its descendents as reasons to hold serious discussions about decency, to critique the shape American dream has taken, and to track its inspirations. It also allows a fresh view into cultural subjects one would think we were finished discussing. This collection points out that by creating a universe where the disasters of the modem age are resolved, Roddenberry helps reshape discussions of the political conflicts that are still wreaking havoc in American culture. What is unsolvable in the real world becomes an answered question in Star Trek, which allows the freedom to search for the tme meaning of being decent, within the confines of American political, religious, and social ideology. This book presents an academic approach to Star Trek, but it is not a dry read. Vulcans are presented as representatives of religious archetypes. Seven of Nine is presented as critical to the discussion of androgyny and latent sexual discrimination. The Prime Directive is used to question who is watching the watchers. All these Star Trek specifics allow for the kind of fun that is often missing from traditional criticism. The characters, cultures, and places used as text in these papers are still new and vivid to those who would read this work. Star Trek is an essential entertaining moment to most of us in America. Even those who do not dress up and attend conventions can use it to join in discussions with serious academicians to enter into the discussion and this book takes advantage of the possibility. Kim Idol, University of Nevada, Las Vegas