I wonder that too, though I think part of the difference comes from going against 3 years’ worth of existing canon (at that time) versus going against 50+ years’ worth of existing canon (today).

Those are Klingons?

Yeah, when I was a kid in the 80's, Tomorrowland was my favorite section of Disneyland, and was still focused on science and the future (Mission to Mars, the Peoplemover, etc.—even some exhibits on actual science). At some point in the 90's they decided to change most of it into a steam-punk “retro-future” land (along…

Once Star Wars Land is completed at Disneyland, I hope they’ll let the Tomorrowland section of the park be Tomorrowland again. Nothing against Star Wars!—but I always thought it was great that Disneyland had a whole section of the park dedicated to celebrating science and futurism, and would love to see that return in…

“The future still sounds pretty cool!” That’s my young daughter’s attitude as well. May they be part of a new generation that makes that ideal into a reality. Thanks for another great article, and keep them coming!

“You lot. You spend all your time thinking about dying—like you’re going to get killed by eggs, or beef, or global warming, or asteroids. But you never take time to imagine the impossible: that maybe you survive.” -The Ninth Doctor, “The End of the World”

I’ve always appreciated this C. S. Lewis quote in that regard: “Those who cannot conceive Friendship as a substantive love but only as a disguise or elaboration of Eros betray the fact that they have never had a Friend.” (The Four Loves, 1960)

According to NASA’s website, these are only the flight suits; the EVA suits are a whole different animal and will remain the same for now. The article here didn’t really make the distinction clear (and confused matters further by comparing the new flight suit to 2001's EVA suits).

I’m just going to put this out there... I really hope we don’t spend the next four years getting lots of dystopian movies and books. Science fiction (or “-fun,” or whatever) should be about showing us what we’re capable of becoming (Star Trek, 2001, etc.), not forecasting doom and gloom. I realize not everyone shares…

Oh, I don’t know—my understanding is that the opening crawls are meant to be reminiscent of the opening crawls of old 1930's serials, and that the purpose there was to catch up the viewers in case they’d missed the last installment, not necessarily to fill you in on what’s happened since the last installment. This…

Extremely well put. We can either spend our time complaining that the world seems to be heading in a dark direction, or we can, individually and collectively, work to try to fix things. And that’s the conversation I’m hoping more people will want to have moving forward.

Another fantastic article—thanks for this. As the father of a young daughter myself, I’ve also learned to appreciate those moments where she expresses a shared intersest in something I love (in our case, it’s space travel and Star Trek). Enjoy them!

“Personally, other than treating each other with compassion and respect, I think there’s no better way to honor a god/God than to use the brain we were given to increase our understanding of the universe.”

Ooh, forgot about The Country Bears. And I think you’re right that it was the first theatrically-released attraction-inspired movie (2002). At least, I still can’t think of an earlier one.

Yeah, Innerspace is great—we have it on DVD, and it still holds up very well—but, indeed, not a Disney movie. Whether the movie makers were at all inspired by Disneyland’s “Voyage Through Inner Space” ride, I don’t know.

Hmm, excellent question! I know they’ve had tons of synergy going between their theme parks and film/TV ever since the parks began. Back in the 1950's Walt Disney’s first TV show was created specifically to promote Disneyland—for example, their early TV movie “Davy Crockett” loosely tied in with the “Frontierland”…

I remember Carl Sagan proposed exactly that in one of his books. Makes sense to me. (Of course, by then “home” will probably mean more than just Earth in any case!)

Oh man, that show had amazing potential. I watched Season 1 and gave up partway through Season 2 after they ditched the real science for mermaids and aliens. A few years ago I went back and started watching the rest of Season 2, and it just confirmed I was right to have stopped in the first place.

For what it’s worth, I’m also a huge Trek fan who initially decided to pass on “Enterprise” after seeing the pilot—but I just recently decided to give it another chance, and, for me at least, it started to get better after the first couple of episodes. Sure enough, it’s turned into a binge—I just started Season 2 this…

Thank you!