Tag star trek

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 cover shows the four main characters with a spaceship zipping in front of them.

Cerritos Strong!

Peter N. 1 Comment
Several figures in Star Trek uniforms are groups in a light stream, with space ships and planets in the background.
Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 2 cover shows the four main characters with a spaceship zipping in front of them.

by Peter N.

Are you a Star Trek fan? No, we’re not going to get into the longstanding Trekkie vs. Trekker debate. I just want to know whether you’d enjoy some good laugh-out-loud fun in the Trek universe. If so, you need to pick up Seasons 1, 2, and 3 of Star Trek: Lower Decks. One of the recent entries in this new golden age of Star Trek, this animated series stars Ensigns Beckett Mariner, Bradward Boimler, D’Vana Tendi, and Samanthan Rutherford aboard the USS Cerritos. In the Star Trek universe, much prestige is held in the name Enterprise. Well, this show isn’t about the prestige of Starfleet, but rather the workhorses behind everything; namely the California Class ships of which the Cerritos is one.

Charged not with the famous first contacts that the Enterprise and other famous ships conduct, the Cerritos and its crew handle second contacts. In other words, follow-up and cleaning up the messes that are left behind by the more famed ships after they’ve left. It isn’t a great job, but the crew takes pride in what they do, even if they get into some weird hi-jinks along the way. They are a ragtag group of rapscallions that somehow get the job done, along with maybe getting terraformed aboard ship or turned into giant killer scorpion creatures.

As a long-standing Trek fan, I wasn’t sure about how I’d like this show when it was first released but it soon became my favorite of the new Star Treks. Created and written by Mike McMahan of Rick and Morty fame, this show is truly a love letter to the franchise. It is filled with humor, adventure, heart, and more than a starbase full of legacy Star Trek references. This show was created by fans for fans!

Pick up Seasons one, two, or three at your local HCLS branch today!

Peter is an adult instructor at the Miller Branch who has too many books in his TBR pile, too many shows and movies to watch, and wishes that Starfleet was real.

The book cover is a photograph of Patrick Stewart facing the camera, hands crossed in front of him and smiling slightly. He is wearing a light green shirt and a gray jacket.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

elianahcls Leave a comment
The book cover is a photograph of Patrick Stewart facing the camera, hands crossed in front of him and smiling slightly. He is wearing a light green shirt and a gray jacket.

By Eliana H.

I grew up watching Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Jean-Luc Picard will always be my captain. With family connections to Yorkshire, his home county in England, I’m especially fond of Sir Patrick Stewart. He grew up a scant three miles from the hotel where we used to stay when visiting relatives. Even if you are not a Trekkie, you probably would recognize the classically-trained actor from his depiction of Professor Charles Xavier in X-Men and its sequels. If you’ve missed all of those, you might have spotted him in the recent Super Bowl ad for Paramount+, in which he wore a very old-fashioned football uniform and threw a “Hail Arnold” as Creed sang in the background. I enjoyed his performances throughout the Star Trek franchise as well as in the X-Men films, Jeffrey, and more, so I was excited to see that Sir Patrick Stewart had a new memoir out. I have very positive associations with his voice and was especially delighted to see that he narrates the audiobook. 

Making It So is a nod to one of his signature lines as Captain Picard, one that my father happened to enjoy using as well. I don’t read a lot of memoirs, so I was glad that it kept my interest. I learned a lot about Patrick Stewart’s humble beginnings, the work he had to put in to succeed in the world of British theater, and how he ended up playing his most recognized iconic roles. I will admit that some of what I learned about his personal life tarnished the shine a bit, as he was not always a good partner. Still, it was a pleasure to feel more connected to one of my childhood icons. I found myself wishing that I could go back in time to see some of the stage performances that I wasn’t aware he was engaged in during my adult lifetime! Thankfully, Sir Patrick Stewart indicates in the book that he has more to share with the world, so I anticipate opportunities to appreciate his artistry in the future. In the meantime, I’m working on watching Blunt Talk, one of his more recent television shows. 

Making It So is available from Howard County Library System in print, in e-book and e-audiobook formats, and as an audiobook on CD.

Eliana is a Children’s Instructor and Research Specialist at the Elkridge Branch and co-chair of the HCLS Equity Committee. She loves reading, even if she’s slow at it, and especially enjoys helping people find books that make them light up. She also loves being outside and spending time with friends and family (when it’s safe).