This page is my Greatest Hits. These are the pieces I’ve written that I feel are my best work and where I accomplished everything I set out to. Several of them are long-form essays rather than standard articles and posts, and this archive is here so that when they drop off the “most recent articles” on the front page they’ll still be easily accessible. If you’re new to my website, this could either be a great place to start, as this is my best work, or the worst place to start, as many of these pieces are longer than my usual output and kind of unrepresentative of the website as a whole.
Regardless, I hope you’ll check out these articles and essays at some point.
The same rules apply as on the homepage – in order to read the article you’ll have to click or tap on the title or the image, not the little excerpt.
Should Discovery have always been set after Nemesis?
“Discovery proved controversial in some corners of the Star Trek fan community right from the start, and today I want to consider one of the reasons why that was the case…”
The untapped potential of Short Treks
“Short Treks could be the catalyst to bring more of that experimentation back to Star Trek…”
Et in Arcadia Ego: What went wrong?
“That’s the real tragedy of Et in Arcadia Ego: the way it makes eight genuinely wonderful episodes feel worse in retrospect…”
Keeping the Star Trek fan community a welcoming place
“It’s up to all of us to be considerate and thoughtful in our interactions within the fan community…”
Do you have to love everything Star Trek does to be a “true fan?”
“Failing to offer valid criticism where valid criticism is due can only lead to the franchise repeating mistakes or doubling-down on them…”
The classic Star Trek dilemma: Kirk or Picard?
“When it comes to the franchise’s first two captains, there seems to be a major clash of personalities…”
The Matrix Resurrections – film review
“The Matrix Resurrections is one of the most complex, raw, and brutally honest films I’ve seen all year…”
Crowdfunding and pre-ordering are completely different
“This fundamental misunderstanding has caused an awful lot of disappointment in recent years…”
Star Trek: Lower Decks is boldly going for asexual representation
“I’m incredibly grateful to Lower Decks for this episode, this character, and this powerful story…”
Ah, September!
“As September begins, we mark the unofficial end of summer…”
Star Trek: Discovery Season 3 – what was the Burn?
“The ending didn’t flow from what had been slowly built up across the rest of the season…”
Dr Pulaski – a character study
“I found Dr Pulaski an interesting character and a welcome addition to The Next Generation, even though not every aspect of her characterisation succeeded or achieved its intended objectives…”
Has space exploration become… boring?
“No human has left Earth’s orbit in my lifetime…”
The odd criticism of Six Days In Fallujah
“Getting as many perspectives as possible across as broad an array of media as possible about such an important event seems worthwhile, at least to me…”
If Star Trek had behaved like Star Wars…
“Let’s step through the looking glass, across the divide between universes, into a strange new world…”
In defence of Luke Skywalker
“Luke Skywalker suffering from depression is not what fans wanted or hoped to see, but not only is it an incredibly powerful story, it’s one that many fans needed to see, whether they realised it at the time or not…”
The Nintendo 3DS has been discontinued – let’s look back at this unique system
“Even at the height of the Wii U’s problems in 2012-13, the 3DS continued to churn out titles and move units. The importance of its success in that period to Nintendo can’t really be overstated…”
Star Trek: Lower Decks and the ethics of piracy
“Is it any surprise that Trekkies outside the US and Canada turned to piracy to access the series? If it’s literally unavailable any other way, and there is radio silence on when it may become available, what choice to fans have?”
Star Wars needs to move on
“For the franchise to survive long-term and remain viable, it needs to step away from the original trilogy for the first time. New films and shows, whenever they may come, should look at wholly new characters in a setting and even time period that’s distinct from what came before…”
Star Trekkin’ – a number one hit!
“The song was – perhaps understandably – rejected by several record labels. According to the story they took one look at it and turned it down hard. But the members of The Firm were convinced they had a winner, and at their own expense funded an initial release of 500 copies…”
Can we PLEASE stop calling things we don’t like “objectively” bad?
“Calling something ‘objectively bad’ has a finality to it. It seeks to shut down the debate and block off any chance of someone offering a different opinion…”
On the subject of gaming addiction
“I wanted to take a moment to defend the decision to categorise gaming disorder/video game addiction as a separate condition, because I feel that too many people who don’t really understand the topic had a knee-jerk reaction to attack it…”
Further thoughts on Game of Thrones
“One thing I’ve learned from reading reviews, criticism, and fan-made re-writes over the last few weeks is that practically everyone has a different take on which point was the worst…”
Where did Game of Thrones go?
“The question I’m asking today is simple, but the answer may be complicated: was Game of Thrones’ final season so badly-received that it essentially extinguished any support the show had?”
Television licensing is outdated and needs to stop
“The BBC charter – which includes the television license – is renewed every ten years. The last renewal was in 2017 and will thus expire in 2027. There is ample time for the BBC to make extensive arrangements to find an alternate method of funding…”
How does Commodore Oh affect other Star Trek stories?
“There are two possibilities for how the presence of Commodore Oh could be interpreted…”
There’s no such thing as a “sponsored review”
“There is a solid line between a review and an advertisement, and crossing that line destroys any integrity a self-proclaimed critic may have. It also damages the brand that is paying for such a promotion…”
It’s time for Deep Space Nine and Voyager to get the HD treatment
“Unfortunately, though, the lack of interest in The Next Generation on Blu-ray has meant that Deep Space Nine and Voyager never made it to the remastering suite. They remain in their original format, in what we’d call “standard definition” or DVD quality…”
Physical game shops in a digital world
“More and more transactions are taking place in online storefronts, with titles being downloaded with no need for a disc or cartridge…”
“Old” versus “New” Star Trek
“I wanted to take a look at the phenomenon for myself and give my thoughts on how the franchise is split, some of the possible causes, and what that split could mean for the franchise going forward into the 2020s and beyond…”
The Borg – space zombies
“For a while I’ve been wanting to look at the Borg from a storytelling perspective, because I think they’re one of Star Trek’s most interesting villains…”
Looking back at Star Trek: The Motion Picture on its 40th anniversary
“Star Trek was always into the weirder, more esoteric side of science fiction, especially prior to The Motion Picture, and this film stands alongside episodes of The Original Series as a pure science fiction work, not an action-sci fi film like The Wrath of Khan or First Contact…”
Trekking with Dennis 