Stark Trek Intro
I’m Michael Stark and for all my life I’ve loved the Star Trek franchise. I grew up with the wonderful stories across the 90s Trek shows: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. Captain Picard is my guy, so you’ll see me write about him a lot here.
Also, why am I here? Good question! I’m not even sure I have a good answer. I’m guessing this will likely be an outlet mostly for myself. But I’m doing it because I’m lacking a space to think, write, and discuss this important franchise in a nuanced, critical way. Twitter is mostly yelling. Reddit is…also mostly yelling. I’ve grown tired of trying to tease out why things work or don’t work on screen in the limited space of those other platforms. So I’m doing that here.
So what to expect? I’m not sure. It’ll be a bit of reviewing, some observations, and some analysis of anything Star Trek. And maybe I’ll meet some new friends along the way.
As a bit of an introduction to me, I thought I’d give you a fun little introduction. I live in Denver with my wife and three dogs, one of which is named after Deep Space Nine’s incredible first officer, Kira. I used to teach and write philosophy, and I think Star Trek is rich with discourse there that hasn’t yet been tapped. I used to write a lot when I was teaching, and don’t get to do that anymore. So here I am.
My wife and I are recently married, and she lovingly let me place a few Star Trek nods at our wedding. I will never get to write for a Star Trek show and place cool easter eggs in there. But I got to with my wedding. Pretty much all little nods center on my hero, Captain Jean-Luc Picard, so there’s some fun nods to The Next Generation and Picard.
Admiral Picard’s Tie Knot
I wanted a little extra flair with my tie, so I looked up the unique tie knot that Admiral Picard wore for his interview in the Picard premiere episode, “Remembrance.” I practiced for hours. It was worth it, as I received a lot of compliments on it. Note: Bottom photo from series for reference.
Admiral Picard’s Combadge Case
I loved this design, seen in “Remembrance”. I went out of my way to find a screen-quality replica. Thanks to some help from fellow Trekkies on Twitter, I was able to track one down and it held our rings during our ceremony. Top photo: my replica. Bottom photo: Screenshot from series for reference.
TNG/DS9/Voyager-era Combadge
On the outside of my jacket only for photos. It went inside the jacket for the ceremony.
Enterprise “Make it So Bar” Sign
I saw this lovely cake topper on ETSY, but because we were not having a cake, I repurposed it with flowers at our bar. 11.04.22 is our wedding date.
NoCo Distillery Whiskey
This one is super fun, as it connects to my home in Colorado. In a quick sequence in Picard, “Two for One”, this bottle of whiskey from a distillery in Fort Collins appeared. I bought a bottle to share with my groomsmen before the wedding.
Captain Picard Socks
Another one that no one saw during the wedding day. I wore Captain Picard socks. They came with Worf and Geordi pairs, too, which two of my groomsmen wore.
