Before the Future Came

S01E01. First Contact

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Content Warnings: body horror and self-injury; alcohol; frank discussions of sex, caste oppression, misogyny, and misogynoir.

In honor of our first episode, Gregory brings Star Trek: First Contact, written by Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore and directed by Jonathan Frakes. We discuss Star Trek's views on exceptionalism vs. collectivism, the idea of destiny and the "right timeline," and the film's theme of fantasy and visions as figured worlds.

For images discussed in this episode, visit the episode page on our website.

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Connections:

  • Picard is assimilated into Locutus in the two-part episode "The Best of Both Worlds," the season 3 finale and season 4 opener for Star Trek: The Next Generation, which also depicts the Battle of Wolf 359.
  • Lore takes control of a group of Borg in the two-part episode "Descent," the season 6 finale and season 7 opener for Star Trek: The Next Generation.
  • Lore announces his perfection in Star Trek: The Next Generation S01E13, "Datalore."
  • The Temporal Prime Directive is speculated to exist in the future of Star Trek: The Next Generation S05E09, "A Matter of Time," and is apparently official Starfleet policy as of Star Trek: Voyager S07E11, "Shattered."
  • The Guardian of Forever first appears in Star Trek: The Original Series S01E28, "The City on the Edge of Forever," and appears in hiding in Star Trek: Discovery S03E09-10, "Terra Firma."
  • The Borg Queen's transtemporal awareness is revealed in Star Trek: Picard S02E02, "Penance."

    • Works cited:

    • Holland, D., Skinner, D., Lachicotte Jr., W., & Cain, C. (1998). Identity and agency in cultural worlds.  Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
    • Kubrick, S. (Director). (1968). 2001: A space odyssey [Film]. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
    • Scott, R. (Director). (1979). Alien [Film]. 20th Century Fox.
    • Shakespeare, W. (1623). The tragedie of Macbeth. Edward Blount, William Jaggard.
    • Spiegel, A. & Miller, L. (Hosts). (2015, Jan. 23). How to become Batman. [Audio podcast episode]. In Invisibilia. NPR News. https://www.npr.org/programs/invisibilia/378577902/how-to-become-batman
    • Steppenwolf. (1968). Magic carpet ride [Song]. On The second. ABC Dunhill.

      • Our next episode will cover "Relativity," the 24th episode of the 5th season of Star Trek: Voyager. It was written by Nick Sagan, Brian Fuller, & Michael Taylor, and directed by Allan Eastman.

      Before the Future Came is edited by Lucy Arnold, transcribed by Melissa Avery-Weir, and webmavened by Gregory Avery-Weir.

      Our theme is “Let’s Pretend” by Josh Woodward, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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      Before the Future CameBy Melissa Avery-Weir, Gregory Avery-Weir, and Dr. Lucy Arnold