Feminist Enterprise? "Star Trek: The Next Generation" and the Occupation of Femininity

Abstract

Regenerations: Texts and Viewers, Television and Television Studies. Recently, there has been a lot of action from those corners of galaxy where, as story goes, no one had gone before: amid both speculation and dismay, Star Trek: The Next Generation ended its seven-year run as most successful firstrun dramatic series in history of TV syndication; Star Trek: Generations, first Star Trek movie to pair classic characters with those of the next generation, was released on big screen in November 1994 and immediately (though briefly) soared to number one at box office; and a new television series, Star Trek: Voyager, has been launched, pulling in its wake a new network (the United Paramount Network) and introducing Star Trek's first female captain in a starring role. This historic event (for television and for women) provides just one motivation for my discussion of representation of women in Star Trek universe, particularly in relationship to Star Trek: The Next Generation-the series which, arguably, reignited Trek phenomenon bringing Gene Roddenberry's vision back to small screen and so paving way for other spin-offs. In addition to this topical justification is a theoretical one. For despite all of attention that it has yielded, it is difficult to assess implications of everexpanding Star Trek universe for understandings of both television and, as I hope to show, gender. Consider, for instance, treatment of Trekdom in TV Guide, a magazine devoted to mediating (and masking) potential divide between television industry and television audiences and thus a telling cultural index. TV Guide frequently features Star Trek and its various spin-offs, and stars from original series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager have graced its covers (once for issue in which TV Guide initiated its special column on science fiction, spurred, they claim, by small-screen supernova known as 'Star Trek' ).1 Yet Star Trek's place within television industry has also been disapprovingly noted-not for any failure on producers' part but rather for way in which programs, especially The Next Generation, have been regularly