Fighting for the Future

The first two seasons of Star Trek: Discovery, the newest instalment in the long-running andinfluential Star Trek franchise, receivedmedia and academic attention from the moment they arrived on screen. Discoverymakes several key changes to Star Trek’s well-known narrative formulae, particularlythe use of more serialized storytelling, appealing to audiences’ changedviewing habits in the streaming age – and yet the storylines, in their topicalnature and the broad range of socio-political issues they engage with, continuein the political vein of the series’ megatext.

This volume brings together eighteen essays andone interview about the series, with contributions from a variety ofdisciplines including cultural studies, literary studies, media studies, fandomstudies, history and political science. They explore representations of gender,sexuality and race, as well as topics such as shifts in storytelling anddepictions of diplomacy. Examining Discovery alongside older entriesinto the Star Trek canon and tracingemerging continuities and changes, this volume will be an invaluable resource forall those interested in Star Trek andscience fiction in the franchise era.

List of contributors: Sherryl Vint, Andrea Whiteacre, Torsten Kathke, John Andreas Fuchs, Ina Batzke, Sarah Böhlau, Will Tattersdill, Kerstin-Anja Münderlein, Diana Mafe, Whit Frazier Peterson, Henrik Schillinger, Arne Sönnichsen, Judith Rauscher, Amy C. Chambers, Mareike Spychala, Sabrina Mittermeier, Jennifer Volkmer, Si Sophie Pages Whybrew and Lisa Meinecke.