A Year of Disasters The year was dominated by a global pandemic, but that was not the only disaster that faced us. The year opened…
Geeking Out with Jeffrey Harlan
Tag: Entertainment
While superhero comics were born with Superman in 1938, it would be several years before black characters began to appear even in supporting roles, and more than three decades before a black superhero would headline a comic of his own. More and more black heroes would appear in the ensuing decades.
On June 19, 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation, first issued in January 1863, was read in Texas, the most remote of the U.S. states that had rebelled in the American Civil War. The date, which has come to be known as Juneteenth, Freedom Day, and other names, is celebrated as the end of slavery in the United States, and a day to honor the contributions of African Americans to the nation’s history.
This week, Geek Unified Theory will be sharing several stories to do just that. On #TrekTuesday, we will post a story about Star Trek and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. For Comic Book Wednesday, we will discuss the history of black superheroes. Thursday Game Night will feature a story about African Americans in the game industry, and SFF Friday will showcase African American science fiction and fantasy writers.
Humanity has been fighting against disease throughout history, from the common cold to the Bubonic Plague, and most recently, the coronavirus, aka COVID-19. Humanity continues this fight in fiction, to varying degrees of success.
When it comes to superheroes, gamers are spoiled for choice in the realm of roleplaying games. Dozens of games provide unique variations on the theme.
Starfleet has fielded many uniforms over the course of its existence. In this series, we will take a look at each, from the beginning of the Earth Starfleet in the 2140s through those worn in 2399 and beyond.
The future of the human race in Star Trek is a bright one. Humanity had struggled with war, disease, and hunger, but had “pretty much wiped ‘em out,” by the mid-twenty-second century, as Charles “Trip” Tucker bragged in the first episode of Star Trek: Enterprise. But, as the theme song to the series made clear, “it’s been a long road, getting from there to here.” The path to the bright future of Star Trek’s Earth was a dark and bloody one.
Birthdays 1: Morgan Freeman (1937); Rene Auberjonois (1940); Brian Cox (1946); Tom Holland (1996) 2: Lester Del Rey (1915); Sally Kellerman (1937); Anthony Montgomery (1971);…
In the wake of George Floyd’s death and the unrest that has followed, many have taken to the Internet to compare recent events with the Bell Riots from Star Trek, and others have questioned whether the comparison is apt, or even appropriate.
In the two-part episode “Past Tense” from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s third season, a transporter accident sent Commander Sisko, Lieutenant Dax, and Doctor Bashir back in time to San Francisco in the year 2024. Sisko and Bashir were immediately taken into custody and placed into a Sanctuary District, while Dax was taken in by a wealthy media executive. The fact that Sisko was a black man, and Bashir middle eastern, whereas Dax was an apparently white woman (her spots notwithstanding, which were quickly dismissed as tattoos), was not lost on most viewers when discussing their treatment.
Birthdays 25: Ian McKellen (1939); Frank Oz (1944); Bob Gale (1951); Connie Sellecca (1955); Ray Stevenson (1964); Anne Heche (1969); Octavia Spencer (1970); Cillian Murphy…