To say that Star Wars means a lot to me is an understatement. My daughter’s middle name is Amidala, my wife walked down the aisle to ‘Across the Stars’ and my home is filled with various merchandise, collectables and memorabilia. Even in the off weeks where my fandom […]
About two and half years ago, I first came across an exciting documentary project exploring female and non-binary fans in Star Wars and how the figure and influence of General (née Princess) Leia has shaped, guided and informed their lives. My wife and I happily spared what we […]
The names given to Star Wars characters, like the names we give to our own children, are often heavy with meaning. The tender shoots of their creators’ plans for them, and beyond that the role they are destined to play in the galaxy. In this, Padmé Amidala’s name […]
Hard to believe it’s been a whole six months since the last time I posted an update about how fares our baby raising. Initially, the ‘Daddy diaries’ were marking major development milestones but, at this age, they come so thick and fast that we may as well have […]
Inspired by a moving collection of pieces on how Star Trek has saved lives and salved mental wounds and trauma, I wanted to share my own story of how the franchise offered a light in during my darkest time. Sparing some of the details, and for ease of […]
Right from the get-go, the prospect of The Mandalorian never exactly appealed to me. Oh, of course, I was excited about getting a live action Star Wars TV series, but at best I was ambivalent. Even the involvement of animation mastermind Dave Filoni and a host of diverse and […]
For all Star Trek got right over the years in terms of representation and tackling important social issues, there are many areas where the franchise could have done better. One in particular is the portrayal of pregnancy. Deanna Troi and the ‘mystical pregnancy’ trope In ‘The Child’, the […]
It’s difficult to deny our innate call to storytelling, exercised each time we interact with character and plot. Certain tropes and archetypes have resonated down through the ages and myths and poems thousands of years old can feel as fresh, vibrant and subversive today as they were when […]
Recently I’ve been thinking about the fundamental differences between Star Wars and Star Trek. At this point, however, both franchises have grown far beyond any easy definition so that the simplest way to differentiate them is by genre and setting – Star Wars takes place in a mythic […]
Most people have a favourite television theme and Star Trek fans could probably rank the franchise’s main themes in order of preference. Fortunately for me, my favourite TV and Trek theme are one and the same. The Voyager theme was specifically written for the show by long-time Trek […]
