Symbols and Tropes
The Kobayashi Maru
Training DayNo, unfortunately this does not refer to the adorable cat Maru, who graces the interwebs by fitting his entire fluffy body into a way-too-small box.In fact, there's nothing adorable (or...
Moby-Dick
The Wrath of AhabHere we have it, folks: the amazing moment where Trekkies and Lit Nerds converge into a giant ball of happy geektitude. It's Melville meets The Enterprise,and it's basically paradi...
A Tale of Two Cities
2285 Was the Best of Times, 2285 Was the Worst of TimesContinuing our whirlwind tour of Literary Classics in Outer Space, Star Trek II makes a series of overt references to Dickens' A Tale of Two C...
The Genesis Device
Not to Be Confused With the Band That Launched Peter Gabriel's CareerThe Genesis Device is a convenient plot thread: a kind of bomb, developed by Federation scientists, intended to turn uninhabitab...
Kirk's Glasses
Unless your name is Clark Kent or Diana Prince, there's only one reason to wear a pair of glasses—your peepers are in need of a little help.And the glasses on display in Star Trek II remind us th...