“Who is your favorite Star Trek character?” Feel free to discuss any character from the franchise. Why is this character your favorite? Is it someone you personally connect with? Is it someone who played a particularly powerful role in the franchise? How is this character grounded in the social or political time of his or her creation?" 

My all-time favorite character is Dr. Phlox. He's a Denobulan served as the Chief medical officer on the Enterprise NX-01. I like him because he's of a nutreul voice of reason that many confide in. Due to his scientific approach he never seems to be surprised by the many various emotions many of his patients are feeling and has a way of explaining personal mattters from both an informative and education perspective. These explanations are helpful the the inquiring staff and audience too. I personally relate to this character because human connection, function, social constructs are a passion of mine. I also have many people that confide in me due to my 'neutral' approach and I have learned very much by that method. I enjoy seeing the show explore human nature and connection.

Dr. Phlox is aired on the Enterprise series which is often over looked. Although the character writing did not start off strong, it developed into a show that doesn't get enough credit. His character is not associated with what might traditionally be considered powerful but I appreciate the the crew acknowledges the importance of his role on the ship, both personally and professionally.

To put it lightly, canon can be a tricky thing. There are many variables that make it arguably acceptable (or not). Overall, I think remaining canon is very important and agree with Judith Okuda in the previous video when she described it as perimeters.

Whether a story is told strictly text, as in a novel, or a tv show, defining the parimeters, and or rules, is the foundation of understanding the world and characters within a imaginative universe. Often times when something is off canon it can conflict with previously established informaition which can be extremely distracting to the audience.

Where canon could be useful is when writers may want to take a different, creative approach. In this sense, paramiters could limit and or restrict creative efforts. I'm fairly new to the Start Trek world and have not encountered uncanon content yet. Where I do have more experience is Star Wars and Marvel comics. Those world have expanded so much that it can start to feel like anything goes. Many character personalities unpacked personal histories feel less interesting with the bigger the changes are made. That's hard to enjoy and stand by as a fan. In fact, now the term canon is used by fans as a definition of acceptance or rejection of any newly release content and whether it's worthy to be considered in alignment with original work.

“What Star Trek technology is on your list of must-haves?” Could the Star Trek universe exist without this type of technology? How would it be better (or worse) with (or without) this technology? Be sure to use evidence to support your argument.

I think that the replicator is a very interesting piece of technology that is integral to the Star Trek universe and the message that it is sending to it's viewers, and if it suddenly became real, it would have huge effects on our society today.

The replicator is there not only for convenience of plot but to drive home the point that the federation is post scarcity, which is a thing that comes up time and time again. And while the Star Trek universe could exist without the replicator I do not think that it could exist without the ideal that it stands for.

In your opinion, what are the benefits of adhering to canon? What creative potential exists in jumping off from it? Where has Star Trek (or other similar franchises) done it well or poorly?

I think that adhering to cannon makes it easier for viewers to suspend their disbelief and makes it possible to establish a certain logic in the series that not only makes the story possible to understand but can also introduce fun ways to play with the narrative within its logic and rules. If there was absolutely no cannon at all you would not be able to have a non-anthology show let alone a franchise. Cannon is what makes the world. Cannon also introduces world mechanics which can help viewers understand the message of the text and can make fun and creative ways to play to the mechanics advantages. A good example of this would be how the Next Generation two parter Unification uses the well established relationship between the Vulcans and the Romulans along with Spock's past to build a story that could not exist without these previously established world mechanics.

However, cannon can also become a sort of trap that forces a series into corners that do not make sense and can hold back a metatext from expanding and growing with our modern world, and in these cases it's probably better to abandon the cannon and retcon. Turnabout Intruder, the last TOS episode, established that women cannot be captains in Starfleet, which was later disregarded, and rightfully so.

To what extent did the business model of network television enable Star Trek: The Original Series to appeal to such a wide range of audiences? In ways did that same model constrain it?

In today's world where practically anything anyone could want to watch is just a few clicks away at any possible time (if you've signed off enough of your money to subscriptions that is), it can be easy to forget that it wasn't always that way. Streaming encourages hyper-targeting demographics in a way that was impossible in the network television days of the 1960s when Star Trek: The Original Series first graced the small screen. Despite the fact that the business model used by network television stations when Star Trek aired promoted low production costs and exceptionally high ratings, which eventually caused the series to be canceled, the business model's key objective to make all of their programming easily accessible general audiences and family-friendly, lead what otherwise could have been an extremely niche show to have a broader range of viewers.

The importance of appealing to broad audiences in the business model of network television enabled Star Trek to reach a wide range of viewers because it caused the show to fundamentally change to become appealing to this larger demographic and then was given the platform to do so. The first pilot, The Cage, was deemed to niche and cerebral to be a valuable asset to the network, which caused the show to be reworked. Everything thing from the uniforms to the increase of action-adventure sequences and the recast of the captain caused the show to become more marketable to more people. Another thing worth mentioning is Majel Barrett's role going from second in command to Nurse Christine Chapel. While Star Trek has always been a beacon of progress, things like recasting a woman into a less powerful role to appeal to a larger audience remind us that there are obvious flaws in their progress.

Introduction:

As a nerdy teenager who loves space history, media analysis, and was looking for something interesting to do for the few months I have out of school, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to learn about one of the greatest sci-fi franchises to grace the screen.