University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository University of Calgary Press University of Calgary Press Open Access Books 2006 Drones, clones, and alpha babes: retrofitting Star Trek’s humanism, post -9/11 Relke, Diana M.A. University of Calgary Press Relke, Diana M. A. "Drones, clones, and alpha babes: retrofitting Star Trek’s humanism, post -9/11". University of Calgary Press, Calgary, Alberta, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/49319 book http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 3.0 Unported Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca University of Calgary Press www.uofcpress.com DRONES, CLONES AND ALPHA BABES: RETROFITTING STAR TREK’S HUMANISM, POST- 9/11 by Diana M.A. Relke ISBN 978-1-55238-667-5 THIS BOOK IS AN OPEN ACCESS E-BOOK. It is an electronic version of a book that can be purchased in physical form through any bookseller or on-line retailer, or from our distributors. 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Acknowledgement: We acknowledge the wording around open access used by Australian publisher, re.press, and thank them for giving us permission to adapt their wording to our policy http://www.re-press.org/content/view/17/33/ Relke Diana M.A. Relke rones, Clones and Alpha Babes rones, Clones The Star Trek franchise represents one of the most successful emanations of popular media in our culture. The number of books, both popular and scholarly, published on the subject of Star Trek is massive, with more and more titles printed every year. Very few, however, have looked at Star Trek in terms of the dialectics of humanism and the posthuman, the pervasiveness of advanced technology, and the complications of gender identity. In rones, Clones and Alpha Babes, author Diana Relke sheds light on how the Star Trek narratives influence and are influenced by shifting cultural values in the United States, using and these as portals to the sociopolitical and sociocultural landscapes of the U.S., pre- and post-9/11. From her Alpha Babes Canadian perspective, Relke focuses on Star Trek’s uniquely American version of liberal humanism, extends it into a broader analysis of ideological features, and avoids a completely positive or negative critique, choosing instead to honour the contradictions inherent in the complexity of the subject. Diana M.A. Relke is founding member and professor in the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of Saskatchewan, where she teaches courses in feminist theory, science fiction, and popular culture. Having served five years in the Canadian navy as a communications specialist, Relke is drawn to Star rones, Clones Trek’s kinder, gentler version of Anglo-American Naval tradition and intrigued by its imaginative projection of and communications technologies into the future. Alpha Babes www.uofcpress.com ISBN 1-55238-164-1 Retrofitting Star Trek’s Humanism, Post- 9/11 rones, Clones, and Alpha Babes Drones_Book 1 2/23/06 12:33:17 PM Drones_Book 2 2/23/06 12:33:17 PM rones, Clones, and Alpha Babes Retrofitting Star Trek’s Humanism, Post-9/11 Diana M.A. Relke Drones_Book 3 2/23/06 12:33:18 PM ©2006 by Diana M.A. Relke Published by the University of Calgary Press 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4 www.uofcpress.com No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licening Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777. The University of Calgary Press acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the support of the Alberta Foundation of the Arts and the University of Saskatchewan, Divison of Research Services for this published work. LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION Relke, Diana M. A Drones, clones, and alpha babes : retrofitting Star Trek’s humanism, post -9/11 / Diana M.A. Relke. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 10: 1-55238-164-1 ISBN 13: 978-1-55238-164-9 Also issued in electronic formats: ISBN 978-1-55238-667-5, ISBN 978-1-55238-330-8 1. Star Trek television programs–Social aspects. 2. Star Trek television programs–Political aspects. 3. Star Trek television programs–Philosophy. I. Title. PN1992.8.S74R46 2006 791.45’72 C2005-906992-9 Printed on 60 lb. Rolland Enviro acid-free paper Printed and bound in Canada by AGMV Marquis Cover design by Mieka West. Page design & typsetting by Elizabeth Gusnoski. Drones_Book 4 2/23/06 12:33:20 PM For my kinswoman, Daria C. Danko, who never lets her intelligent feminism spoil her enjoyment of Star Trek. Drones_Book 5 2/23/06 12:33:20 PM Drones_Book 6 2/23/06 12:33:20 PM Contents Acknowledgements / viii Introduction: Why Trek? Why Now? / ix ALPHA BABES IN THE DELTA QUAD: Postfeminism and the Gendering of the Borg / : Modernism/Postmodernism / 3 2: Regendering Command / 9 3: Phallic Mothers / 31 4: Techno-maternalism / 47 5: Queen Bees / 61 DRONES, CLONES AND STARSHIP CAPTAINS: Encounters with the Posthuman / 73 6: Humanism/Transhumanism / 75 7: Cyborg Emergence / 87 8: Extropia of Borg / 99 9: Holographic Love / 15 0: Time, the Final Frontier / 33 Afterword / 55 Works Cited / 57 Index / 65 Drones_Book 7 2/23/06 12:33:20 PM Acknowledgements This book is not exclusively the product of my life as a couch potato. Over the years I have discussed my love-hate relationship with Star Trek over cups of coffee and glasses of wine with many friends and colleagues who have had an influence on my thinking. Those who spring immediately to mind include my colleagues Wendy Schissel and Bernard Schissel, who are themselves big fans of Star Trek, and my sister Joan Relke, who definitely isn’t. To Daria Danko, my chief inspiration for this book, I owe my convic- tion that many academic critics of SF need to get out more. My students – particularly those of the “Science and Society in Fiction and Film” and “The Celluloid Cyborg” courses of recent years – have contributed signifi- cantly to my take on The Next Generation and Voyager: these students will be able to trace through these pages some of the arguments we have pur- sued in class and some of the battles we’ve waged over Trek’s ambivalent gender representations. I am also enormously grateful to the team at the University of Calgary Press – most especially the wise and patient John King – for seeing this proj- ect through to completion. And last but not least, I thank the University of Saskatchewan, Division of Research Services, for providing a generous grant in aid of publication. Drones_Book 8 2/23/06 12:33:21 PM Introduction: Why Trek? Why Now? Interpretation is radically temporal in nature. It is also radically depen- dent upon context – or, we could say, it is radically historical. It is moreover guided … by our interests and by our expectations, by our prejudices and by our position in the world. – Deborah Knight, “Women, Subjectivity, and the Rhetoric of Anti-humanism in Feminist Film Theory,” 52.