Gaze not into the abyss lest you accidentally write a book

Skip to content

L.I. Underhill is a media critic and historian specializing in pop culture, with a focus on science fiction (especially Star Trek) and video games. Their projects include a critical history of Star Trek told through the narrative of a war in time, a “heretical” history of The Legend of Zelda series and a literary postmodern reading of Jim Davis' Garfield.

6 Comments

  1. Daru
    June 19, 2014 @ 8:38 pm

    Awesome thanks again Josh! Vaka Rangi has broadened my horizons again. Obviously I read about reading Rainbow i the Roots post, but really I knew nothing about it being a British viewer. It gives a whole new perspective on LeVar Burton that I never had before.

    Reply

  2. Josh Marsfelder
    June 20, 2014 @ 6:17 pm

    I worry I may have undersold Reading Rainbow here: it really was a dreadfully important TV show for me and I have a lot of really tender and fond memories of it. And it doesn't just shape, it defines the way I think of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

    I highly recommend checking it out if you can (like Mister Rogers' Neighborhood it's on iTunes, at least in the US: It's worth it for LeVar alone and I think you in particular would get a real kick out of it.

    Reply

  3. Daru
    June 20, 2014 @ 9:25 pm

    I don't think that you have undersold it's meaning to you, I can really feel it. And this ties in very nicely with the Roots post. It can be hard I guess to see what people think when the comments are low, but this is a high quality post so don't be disheartened.

    Again I can't find Reading Rainbow on my UK Amazon, and iTunes is proving to be a problem too. Must be as I am UK based? Ah well. I will continue hunting!

    Reply

  4. Froborr
    October 12, 2014 @ 11:01 am

    Ah, Reading Rainbow. An absolutely stellar show and a huge part of my childhood, though like you I was already completely convinced of the value of reading, so it was definitely more about LeVar Burton for me. He was just so much fun, so energetic and fascinating.

    And that definitely carried into the way he played Geordi. I've always felt Geordi is in many ways the soul of the Next Gen crew, much as McCoy was the soul of the TOS crew, only better because he wasn't constantly making racist jabs at the Designated Outsider.

    Reply

  5. Josh Marsfelder
    October 12, 2014 @ 11:41 am

    "I've always felt Geordi is in many ways the soul of the Next Gen crew, much as McCoy was the soul of the TOS crew, only better because he wasn't constantly making racist jabs at the Designated Outsider."

    I agree: You might enjoy the direction I'm heading with the TNG coverage 🙂

    Reply

  6. Ross
    October 12, 2014 @ 3:43 pm

    only better because he wasn't constantly making racist jabs at the Designated Outsider

    Just once, I'd have loved to see Spock file an EEOC complaint against Bones for all the incredibly blatant racial slurs

    Reply

Leave a Reply to Daru Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Discover more from Eruditorum Press

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading