Space. The Final Frontier Anonymous

These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise. Its ongoing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before...

People sit on their couches awaiting the first-ever episode of Star Trek: Next Generation. The year is 1987, but the show is set in 2364. Fans’ lips move in concord with the famous quote at the beginning of the show, and already it is obvious that some things have changed. William Shatner is not narrating. The words “five-year” are now “ongoing”; “no man” becomes “no one.”

This is only one of many examples of how Star Trek went boldly where none had been before -- not only in 2364, but also in 1987. Star Trek brings joy to its fans by hurling them through exciting galaxies at warp speed, but it also brought peace to alien races, and to people on Earth. Star Trek was in many ways ahead of its time. An inter-galactic federation of peace! Hiring a real, live Russian to play Chekhov in the 60’s! Nyota Uhura, a black woman, kissing her white, male Captain Kirk, on TV! George-it’s-okay-to-be-Takei openly gay as of 2005 and still fighting for equality at 77! Exciting stuff.

To me, nerdy entertainments like Star Trek, Marvel Comics, and DC cartoons are...