CFP "Live Long and Prosper": 60 Years of Star Trek in Popular Culture (7/10/2026; Online 9/10-11/2026)

"Live Long and Prosper": 60 Years of Star Trek in Popular Culture

deadline for submissions:
September 10, 2026

full name / name of organization:
The Popular Culture Research Network, University of New England, Australia

contact email:
jo.coghlan@une.edu.au

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2026/06/13/live-long-and-prosper-60-years-of-star-trek-in-popular-culture



Call for Conference Papers

"Live Long and Prosper": 60 Years of Star Trek in Popular Culture - 10-11 September 2026

Free and Online

The Popular Culture Research Network, Australia

In September 1966, the first episode of Star Trek aired on American television, introducing audiences to a future shaped by exploration, diplomacy, scientific discovery, and the possibility of social progress beyond the limitations of the present.

Created by Gene Roddenberry during the cultural and political turbulence of the Cold War era, Star Trek emerged at a moment defined by civil rights struggles, decolonisation, nuclear anxiety, the space race, and rapid technological transformation. From its earliest years, the franchise articulated an ambitious vision of humanity organised around diplomacy, scientific cooperation, multiculturalism, and collective progress. Yet Star Trek has also long contained tensions and contradictions of its own, including militarisation, liberal humanism, expansionism, technological paternalism, and the limits of utopian politics

Over six decades, Star Trek has become central not only to science fiction history, but to the development of modern television itself. The franchise helped shape syndication culture, fan conventions, transmedia storytelling, blockbuster franchising, streaming-era television, and participatory fandom. It has inspired generations of scientists, engineers, activists, educators, and audiences, while influencing popular conceptions of artificial intelligence, space exploration, communication technologies, automation, ecology, and posthuman futures.

Since Star Trek: The Original Series, Star Trek universe has expanded to include nine live action series, three animated series, an anthology miniseries, a telemovie, ten prime-universe feature films, and three ‘rebooted’ movies set in an alternative timeline. Through an interplay of prequels, sequels, and all manner of spin-offs, Star Trek has continually re-invented itself in response to changing political, industrial, and technological conditions. Contemporary Star Trek continues to engage with questions surrounding authoritarianism, climate crisis, refugee politics, surveillance, platform capitalism, artificial intelligence governance, political extremism, and ecological collapse, demonstrating the franchise’s enduring relevance within twenty-first-century popular culture.

Sixty years later, Star Trek remains one of the most influential and enduring franchises in global popular culture. Across television, film, animation, novels, comics, games, conventions, merchandising, tourism, podcasts, streaming platforms, and digital fandoms, the franchise has continually evolved while shaping cultural understandings of race, gender, technology, politics, labour, ecology, empire, and ethics. It has done so through imaginings of primarily utopian futures grounded in examinations of the contemporary social dynamics that threaten to prevent such states of flourishing.

In the decades since audiences first heard the words “Space: the final frontier,” Star Trek remains a vital cultural framework through which societies imagine both the possibilities and contradictions of human progress. As Star Trek enters its seventh decade, this project seeks to explore how the franchise continues to shape cultural understandings of humanity, technology, justice, community, labour, ecology, and our future in space.

This conference invites scholars to examine the cultural, political, industrial, philosophical, technological, and aesthetic significance of Star Trek across its sixty-year history. We welcome interdisciplinary contributions from media studies, cultural studies, sociology, political science, history, science and technology studies, literary studies, fan studies, philosophy, queer studies, Indigenous studies, disability studies, gender studies, environmental humanities, posthumanism, critical race studies, and related fields.

We particularly encourage submissions engaging with intersectional, global, decolonial, and underexplored perspectives on the franchise and its cultural impact.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Utopianism, dystopianism, heterotopias, and political imagination in Star Trek

• Race, colonialism, frontier ideology, and the Federation

• Indigenous futurisms and decolonial critiques of exploration narratives

• Gender, sexuality, intimacy, and queer futurities

• Representation, exceptionalism, sentience, and recognition

• Dis/ability, neurodivergence, and embodiment

• The limits and frontiers to humanism(s) and posthumanism(s) in Star Trek

• Conlangs, comparative xenoanthropology, and universe building

• Artificial intelligence, androids, holograms, and synthetic life

• Portrayals of the human condition through process, protocol, and organisational dynamics in Star Trek

• The Federation’s ideals in theory and in practice

• Ecology, planetary crisis, extraction, and environmental futures

• Labour, capitalism, automation, and post-scarcity societies

• Platform capitalism, streaming economies, and franchise management

• Cetacean ops, the Captain’s Yacht, and other (mostly) off-screen ‘characters’

• Examining war, militarism, fascism, diplomacy, and surveillance cultures

• Refugee politics, migration, borders, and interspecies relations

• Tribbles

• Klingons, Vulcans, Borg, Romulans, Cardassians, and constructions of alterity

• Scientific, ethical, medical, and technological imagination

• Religion, spirituality, mythology, secularism, and philosophy

• Fashion, costume, prosthetics, design, and material culture

• Foodways, hospitality, consumption, and everyday life in the Star Trek universe

• Architecture, infrastructure, and speculative urbanism

• Music, sound, language, and sonic worldbuilding

• Seriality, episodic storytelling, and television form

• Opening title sequences, visual effects history, and audiovisual aesthetics

• The Okudas, iconography, and Star Trek aesthetics

• Fan cultures, digital fandom, fan fiction, and cosplay

• Spot

• Convention cultures, tourism, and exhibitions

• Fan labour, material fandom, and participatory media

• Global receptions, Cold War politics, and transnational fandoms

• Star Trek and American identity, diplomacy, and soft power

• Memory, nostalgia, heritage, archives, and franchise longevity

• Merchandising, branding, licensing, and corporate franchising

• The cultural legacy of performers such as William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Kate Mulgrew, and others

• Star Trek and contemporary politics, crisis, and social transformation

Please submit abstracts, including a title, of 250 words along with a short biographical note (100 words) to

Submission - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8jjzaWnS732QsFE

Registration - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_7TGWUYZidtlxVLU

Abstract Deadline: 10 July 2026
Notification of Acceptance: 17 July 2026

Early submissions will receive earlier notification of acceptance.

It is expected that an edited collection with an international publisher will be associated with this Conference. Details will be available at the conference.



Last updated June 13, 2026

CFP Space, the Feminist Frontier: Essays on Women and Gender in Star Trek (11/29/2022)

Space, the Feminist Frontier: Essays on Women and Gender in Star Trek

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/07/13/space-the-feminist-frontier-essays-on-women-and-gender-in-star-trek

deadline for submissions:
November 29, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Jennifer Garlen

contact email:
jennifer.garlen@gmail.com



Co-editors Jennifer C. Garlen and Anissa M. Graham are currently seeking proposals for an anthology of intersectional feminist essays examining the past and present of Star Trek. Proposals may engage any of the Trek films, television series, or related media (games, books, convention culture, etc). At this time, we are particularly interested in proposals that represent LGBTQ+ and BIPOC perspectives. Graduate students and independent scholars are welcome to submit proposals. Accepted contributors will receive author credit for their work as well as a free copy of the final publication, pending acceptance of the book proposal by an academic publisher. Proposals should include a working title, a brief (1-2 paragraph) summary, and relevant personal or academic background. For questions or proposal submissions please email Jennifer at jennifer.garlen@gmail.com.

Jennifer and Anissa are the co-editors of two previous essay anthologies for McFarland: Kermit Culture (2009) and The Wider Worlds of Jim Henson (2013). Both have also contributed to several academic essay anthologies about film, television, and popular culture.



Last updated July 14, 2022

CFP Space, the Feminist Frontier: Essays on Women and Gender in Star Trek (5/31/2022)

A post in honor of First Contact Day:

Space, the Feminist Frontier: Essays on Women and Gender in Star Trek

source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2022/04/06/space-the-feminist-frontier-essays-on-women-and-gender-in-star-trek

deadline for submissions:
May 31, 2022

full name / name of organization:
Jennifer Garlen

contact email:
jennifer.garlen@gmail.com



Co-editors Jennifer C. Garlen and Anissa M. Graham are currently seeking proposals for an anthology of feminist essays examining the past and present of Star Trek. We are looking for feminist readings that engage any of the Trek films, television series, or related media (games, books, convention culture, etc). We welcome any proposals considering the roles of women and gendered identity in Star Trek and are especially interested in intersectional feminist criticism that also addresses issues of race and sexuality. Graduate students and independent scholars are welcome to submit proposals. Accepted contributors will receive author credit for their work as well as a free copy of the final publication, pending acceptance of the book proposal by an academic publisher. For questions or proposal submissions, please email Jennifer at jennifer.garlen@gmail.com.

Jennifer and Anissa are the co-editors of two previous essay anthologies for McFarland: Kermit Culture (2009) and The Wider Worlds of Jim Henson (2013). Both have also contributed to several academic essay anthologies about film, television, and popular culture.




Last updated April 8, 2022

CFP: Edited volume on Star Trek and Star Wars (8/2/2021)

Call for Proposals: Edited volume on Star Trek and Star Wars

Source: https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cfp/2021/05/11/call-for-proposals-edited-volume-on-star-trek-and-star-wars

deadline for submissions:
August 2, 2021


full name / name of organization:
Emily Strand and Amy H. Sturgis for Vernon Press


contact email:
drahsturgis@gmail.com



Call for Abstracts

Edited volume on Star Trek and Star Wars

Edited by Emily Strand, MA and Amy H. Sturgis, PhD

Vernon Press

The generations-spanning, multimedia franchises Star Trek and Star Wars will form the focus for this edited collection of scholarly essays. As venerable and evolving repositories of science fiction and fantasy storytelling, and as towering pillars of popular culture, both Star Trek and Star Wars inspire, transform, and even at times inflame their often overlapping fan bases. Together with the publisher, the editors seek proposals for essays exploring these franchises’ themes, narratives, characters, treatment of moral and philosophical dilemmas, religious or spiritual notions, and other aspects. (Abstracts for essays which compare or contrast the two franchises are also welcome.) Collected essays will offer insight — from a variety of disciplines and perspectives — on how these franchises contribute to popular culture and the tradition of speculative storytelling.

Abstracts and subsequent essays should be academically rigorous yet accessible to the informed (even non-academic) reader.

Abstracts of 300-500 words in length should be submitted, along with a brief biographical statement, by August 2, 2021.

Authors of accepted papers will be notified by September 1, 2021, and paper drafts should be submitted by January 10, 2022.

Please submit proposals via email (with or without attachment) to emilykcstrand@gmail.com and drahsturgis@gmail.com.

Last updated May 11, 2021 

 

CFP Star Trek Discovery Collection (expired)

Sorry to have missed this earlier. It looks like the call was open for less than a month:

CFP: Context is for Kings – An Edited Collection on Star Trek: Discovery
https://www.fantastic-arts.org/2018/cfp-context-is-for-kings-an-edited-collection-on-star-trek-discovery/
March 22, 2018

Context is for Kings – An Edited Collection on Star Trek: Discovery

51 years after Star Trek: The Original Series first aired on U.S. American TV, Star Trek: Discovery is updating the franchise for the 21st century. Like TOS was in the 60s, Discovery is firmly rooted in the zeitgeist and current political climate—a fact that has led to surprising amount of backlash from some corners of the fandom. Thanks to the advantage of streaming platforms over network television, the series is also updating the largely episodic structure of the earlier installments to a more serial and coherent storytelling that allows for longer narrative arcs as well as a focus on in-depth character development.

Set 10 years before The Original Series, Discovery is notably darker than any of the previous iterations of the franchise. Depicting the Federation at war with the Klingon Empire, the first season raises questions about identity and othering, war and trauma, and the conflict between idealism and pragmatism. It explores how Starfleet, an organization ostensibly dedicated to exploration and diplomacy, deals with the ethical questions surrounding war, and the lengths people are willing to go to win. These questions are deepened and complicated by the fact that the series, unlike any of the previous entries in the Star Trek canon, focuses not exclusively on the crew of the U.S.S. Discovery and the United Federation of planets, but also presents the events from the point of view of the Klingon Empire. A foray into the Mirror Universe dominated by the fascist Terran Empire throws Starfleet’s ideals and the characters’ struggles to live up to them into even sharper relief.

In addition to the questions raised by the narrative, Discovery has continued the franchise’s commitment to representing diversity on screen. Featuring a woman of color in the lead role, a racially and ethnically diverse main and supporting cast, and introducing the franchise’s first gay couple (played by out gay actors), the show is even more inclusive than any of the previous Star Trek series. Discovery thus has once more proven Star Trek’s continued cultural relevance and has, after only one season, already warranted an in-depth academic study that engages with the series from the perspectives of a variety of academic disciplines, such as cultural studies, gender and queer theory, political science, philosophy, and more.

We thus invite contributions to an edited collection to be published with a notable international publishing house or University Press.

We already have contributions on:

• Military Femininities (Admiral Cornwell, Captain/Emperor Georgiou, Michael Burnham, L’Rell, Silvia Tilly/Captain Killy)
• Gabriel Lorca, Ash Tyler and the Question of Masculinity
•  “‘Lorca, I’m Gonna Miss Killing You:’” Possible Worlds and Counterfactuals in Star Trek: Discovery
• Fan Reception and Discussions of Political and Social Values in Discovery
• Cultural Relevance/Zeitgeist of TOS and Discovery in comparison

List of other possible topics can include, but are not limited to:

• Questions of racial diversity in casting and narrative
• Representation of femininities and masculinities
• LGBTQ representation on and off screen
• Depictions of war and trauma (portrayal of PTSD, torture, rape)
• Fandom (Fanart, fanfiction, conventions, cosplaying, etc.)
• The role of social media and resulting changes to fandom/fan engagement
• Discovery’s relationship to the Star Trek canon and expanded universe (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT; Star Trek novels)
• Serial storytelling and world building
• The portrayal of non-human/alien races, particularly the Klingon Empire and the Kelpien Saru
• The role of Science Fiction in the current political moment
• Discovery’s vision(s) of the future
• Depiction of scientific exploration (in general, and its conflict with the war effort in particular)
• Questions of moral philosophy and ethics

The deadline for submissions is April 15, 2018. Please include an abstract (300 words) on the topic you would like to write on, plus a short bio-blurb, and send it as a pdf to Mareike Spychala, M.A. (mareike.spychala@uni-bamberg.de) and Dr. des. Sabrina Mittermeier (Sabrina.Mittermeier@pecess.de).

We will inform all participants by May 15, and full papers (6500-8000 words in length) will have to be submitted by October 31, 2018.

Millennial Mythmaking: Essays on the Power of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Films and Games

Been catching up on my McFarland collections. Perlich and Whitt offer a varied yet deeply informative set of essays.

Millennial Mythmaking: Essays on the Power of Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, Films and Games
http://www.mcfarlandbooks.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-4562-2
Edited by John Perlich and David Whitt

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-4562-2
Ebook ISBN: 978-0-7864-5592-8
notes, bibliographies, index
212pp. softcover (6 x 9) 2010

Price: $39.95
Available for immediate shipment

About the Book
Contemporary myths, particularly science fiction and fantasy texts, can provide commentary on who we are as a culture, what we have created, and where we are going. These nine essays from a variety of disciplines expand upon the writings of Joseph Campbell and the hero’s journey. Modern examples of myths from various sources such as Planet of the Apes, Wicked, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Spirited Away; the Harry Potter series; and Second Life are analyzed as creative mythology and a representation of contemporary culture and emerging technology.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii
Preface: "There and Back Again…"      1

Contrasting Colors
1. Sorting Heroic Choices: Green and Red in the Harry Potter Septology
(KIRSTIN CRONN-MILLS and JESSICA SAMENS)      5
2. The Complexity of Evil in Modern Mythology: The Evolution of the Wicked Witch of the West
(JASON EDWARDS and BRIAN KLOSA)      32
3. Polysemous Myth: Incongruity in Planet of the Apes
(RICHARD BESEL and RENEE SMITH BESEL)      51

New Champions
4. The Hero with the Thousand-and-First Face: Miyazaki’s Girl Quester in Spirited Away and Campbell’s Monomyth
(DEE GEORTZ)      67
5. The Odyssey of Madame Souza: A Heroine’s Quest in The Triplets of Belleville
(DAVID WHITT)      83
6. Rethinking the Monomyth: Pan’s Labyrinth and the Face of a New Hero(ine)
(JOHN PERLICH)      100

No Boundaries
7. Actors and Their Mythic Heroes: From the Doctor to Captain Kirk
(DJOYMI BAKER)      129
8. Running Free in Angelina Jolie’s Virtual Body: The Myth of the New Frontier and Gender Liberaton in Second Life
(ELLEN GORSEVSKI)      146
9. So Where Do I Go from Here? Ghost in the Shell and Imagining Cyborg Mythology for the New Millennium
(JAY SCOTT CHIPMAN)      167

Epilogue: "Always in Motion Is the Future…"      193
About the Contributors      197
Index      199


About the Editors
John Perlich is a professor of communication studies at Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska.
David Whitt is an associate professor of communication at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska.

New Star Trek Thoughts

With recent news of a third Star Trek film for the alternate universe franchise to be released in 2016, it seems a good time to catch up with the previous two films, both directed by J. J. Abrams.

First, Star Trek (2009) offered a bold re-imagining of the franchise set within an alternate timeline in which William Shatner and his now aged crew were never aboard the Enterprise. In their place is a very young and energetic cast, and, although the film seemed marketed at attracting newer viewers, there is, in fact, much to appeal to established fans, who might otherwise take umbrage with the liberties taken by the filmmakers. While it does take some adjustment to accepting them in the roles, the new actors do settle in nicely. Plus, homages to Shatner Trek are frequent (both visually and aurally), and the presence of Leonard Nimoy as Spock Prime adds an interesting link between universes.




Having reflected on Star Trek, its sequel, Star Trek: Into Darkness (2013), presents a better-balanced film in terms of old/new visions of the Star Trek Universe. The new actors seems more natural--i.e. believable--now in their roles (Scotty, Chekov, and Sulu are especially fun, though the dynamics between Kirk and Spock, Kirk and McCoy, and Spock and Uhura also make great viewing), and it is very much an edge-of-your-seat film that stands up well to repeated viewings, even when the film has revealed all of its secrets upon a first viewing.




Both Star Trek and Star Trek: Into Darkness are now available on a special edition Blu-ray titled Star Trek: The Compendium, which includes a wealth of extras for the second film that were previously split between retailers. Full details at Blu-Ray.com (http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Star-Trek-The-Compendium-Blu-ray/107044/) and Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki (http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Compendium).

Updated 1/20/2015

Journal of Popular Culture February 2013

Catching up:


The Journal of Popular Culture
Vol. 46.1, February 2013

Editorial Gary Hoppenstand

Articles

Brigman Award Winner “Forged in Love and Death: Problematic Subjects in The Vampire Diaries” by Mary Bridgeman
“The Sand/wo/man: The Unstable Worlds of Gender in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Series” by Ally Brisbin and Paul Booth
“Camping with Bigfoot: Sasquatch and the Varieties of Middle-Class Resistance to Consumer Culture in late Twentieth-Century North America” by Joshua Blu Buhs
“Broadcasting Diversity: Alan Lomax and Multiculturalism” by Rachel C. Donaldson
“The White Savior and his Junior Partner: The Lone Ranger and Tonto on Cold War Television (1949-1957)” by Michael Ray Fitzgerald
“Cowboys of the High Seas: Representations of Working-Class Masculinity on Deadliest Catch” by Lisa A. Kirby
“Hansberry’s Hidden Transcript” by Lisbeth Lipari
“The Monomyth in Star Trek (2009): Kirk & Spock Together Again for the First Time” by Donald Palumbo
“Rakim, Ice Cube then Watch the Throne: Engaged Visibility through Identity Orchestration and the Language of Hip-Hop Narratives” by David Wall Rice
“Don’t It Make My Black Face Blue: Race, Avatars, Albescence, and the Transnational Imaginary” by John G. Russell

Book Reviews
Milestone, Katie and Anneke Meyer. Gender & Popular Culture. Malden, MA: Polity, 2012. Reviewed by Heather McIntosh.
Tresca, Michael J. The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, 2011. Reviewed by Christopher T. Conner.
Brundage, W. Fitzhugh, Ed. Beyond Blackface: African Americans and the Creation of American Popular Culture, 1890-1930. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2011. Reviewed by Jennifer Forsberg.
Paoletti, Jo B. Pink and Blue: Telling the Boys from the Girls in America. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2012. Reviewed by Tanfer Emin Tunc.
Edgerton, Gary R., Ed. Mad Men: Dream Come True TV. London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2011. Reviewed by Gretchen Dietz.
Strong, Catherine. Grunge: Music and Memory. London: Ashgate Publishing, 2011. Reviewed by Hilarie Ashton.
Jess-Cooke, Carolyn. Film Sequels: Theory and Practice from Hollywood to Bollywood. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009, 2012. Reviewed by Anthony Metivier.
Negra, Diane, Ed. Old and New Media After Katrina. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010. Reviewed by Kimberly Springer.
Hay, Simon. A History of the Modern British Ghost Story. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Reviewed by Taryn Norman.

Star Trek Anniversary

The Star Trek franchise celebrated its 46th anniversary yesterday, and Google commemorated the occasion with a video Google Doodle, which has been archived at http://www.google.com/doodles/46th-anniversary-of-star-treks-1st-broadcast. An interview with the designer can be found at StarTrek.com.

New/Recent from Berg

American Science Fiction Film and Television 
Lincoln Geraghty

Paperback
Oct 2009
160pp
9781845207960

American Science Fiction Film and Television presents a critical history of late 20th Century SF together with an analysis of the cultural and thematic concerns of this popular genre.

Science fiction film and television were initially inspired by the classic literature of HG Wells and Jules Verne. The potential and fears born with the Atomic age fuelled the popularity of the genre, upping the stakes for both technology and apocalypse. From the Cold War through to America's current War on Terror, science fiction has proved a subtle vehicle for the hopes, fears and preoccupations of a nation at war.

The definitive introduction to American science fiction, this is also the first study to analyse SF across both film and TV. Throughout, the discussion is illustrated with critical case studies of key films and television series, including The Day the Earth Stood Still, Planet of the Apes, Star Trek: The Next Generation, The X-Files, and Battlestar Galactica.


Contents

Introduction - American Science Fiction Culture

1. Conflict and Consensus: The Cold War and the Space Race

2. Pushing the Frontiers of Reality: Science Fiction and the Counterculture

3. Unsettling Visions of America's Future Present: Dystopian Science Fiction

4. Hopes and Fears: Aliens, Cyborgs and the Science Fiction Blockbuster

5. Beyond Truth and Reason: Politics and Identity in Science Fiction

6. American Science Fiction Post 9/11

Filmography

Bibliography

Index


About the author

Lincoln Geraghty is Principal Lecturer in Film Studies and Subject Leader for Media Studies in the School of Creative Arts, Film and Media at the University of Portsmouth. He is author of Living with Star Trek: American Culture and the Star Trek Universe, editor of The Influence of Star Trek on Television, Film and Culture, and co-editor of The Shifting Definitions of Genre: Essays on Labelling Films, Television Shows and Media.

Fantasy Film: A Critical Introduction
James Walters

Paperback
Series: Film Genres
Jun 2011
160pp
9781847883087

Fantasy Film proposes an innovative approach to the study of this most popular cinematic genre. Engaging with the diversity of tones, forms and styles that fantasy can take in the cinema, the book examines the value and significance of fantasy across a wide range of key films. This volume extends critical understanding beyond the often narrowly defined boundaries of what is seen as "fantasy".

Fantasy Film uses key concepts in film studies - such as authorship, representation, history,genre, coherence and point of view - to interrogate the fantasy genre and establish its parameters. A wide range of films are held up to close scrutiny to illustrate the discussion.

Moving from Alfred Hitchcock's dark thrillers to Vincente Minnelli's vibrant musicals, from George Méliès' 1904 Voyage à travers l'impossible to the X-Men series, the creative dexterity and excitement of film fantasy is evoked and explored. The book will be invaluable to students and fans of the fantasy genre.


Contents

Introduction
1. Approaching Fantasy Film
2. Fantasy, History and Cinema
3. Fantasy, Authorship and Genre
4. Fantasy, Childhood and Entertainment
5. Fantasy, Imagination and Interiority
6. Fantasy, Style and Coherence
Conclusion
Annotated Guide to Further Reading
Filmography
Bibliography
Index


About the author

James Walters is Lecturer in Film and Television Studies at the University of Birmingham and author of Alternative Worlds in Hollywood Cinema and co-editor of Film Moments: Criticism, History, Theory.

Science Fiction Film: A Critical Introduction 
Keith M. Johnston

Paperback
Series: Film Genres
Oct 2011
192pp, 9 bw illus
9781847884763

Science Fiction Film develops a historical and cultural approach to the genre that moves beyond close readings of iconography and formal conventions. It explores how this increasingly influential genre has been constructed from disparate elements into a hybrid genre.Science Fiction Film goes beyond a textual exploration of these films to place them within a larger network of influences that includes studio politics and promotional discourses. The book also challenges the perceived limits of the genre - it includes a wide range of films, from canonical SF, such as Le voyage dans la lune, Star Wars and Blade Runner, to films that stretch and reshape the definition of the genre. This expansion of generic focus offers an innovative approach for students and fans of science fiction alike.


Contents:

Section 1: What is Science Fiction?
1. Genre Theory and Science Fiction
2. Reading Science Fiction
3. Science Fiction and Technology

Section 2: Genre History
4. Pre-History, 1895-1950
5. Defining the Genre, 1950-70
6. Science Fiction as Blockbuster, 1970-90
7. Science Fiction as Mainstream, 1990-2010

Section 3: Selling Science Fiction
8. 'Adventure Dramas of the Future': Advertising Genre
9. Genre and Spectacle: The Science Fiction Trailer
10. Audience and Genre: Science Fiction and the Internet

Conclusion

Annotated Guide to Further Reading

Selected Filmography

Bibliography

Index


About the author

Keith M. Johnston is Lecturer in Film and Television Studies at the University of East Anglia and author of Coming Soon: Film Trailers and the Selling of Hollywood Technology.

Cult Telefantasy Series by Sue Short

Cult Telefantasy Series: A Critical Analysis of The Prisoner, Twin Peaks, The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Lost, Heroes, Doctor Who and Star Trek 

Sue Short
Series Editors Donald E. Palumbo and C.W. Sullivan III

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-4315-4
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8538-3
appendix, notes, bibliography, index
256pp. softcover 2011
Price: $35.00

About the Book
From The Prisoner in the 1960s to the more recent Heroes and Lost, a group of television series with strong elements of fantasy have achieved cult status. Focusing on eight such series, this work analyzes their respective innovations and influences. Assessing the strategies used to promote "cult" appeal, it also appraises increased opportunities for interaction between series creators and fans and evaluates how television fantasy has utilized transmedia storytelling. Notable changes within broadcasting are discussed to explain how challenging long-form dramas have emerged, and why telefantasy has transcended niche status to enjoy significant prominence and popularity.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments viii
Introduction 1

1. The Prisoner The Show That Set the Precedents 13
2. Twin Peaks: The Death of Laura Palmer—And the Birth of a Phenomenon 33
3. The X-Files: Trust, Belief, and Broken Promises 55
4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Beauty and the “Big Bad” 84
5. How Lost Redefined Cult Television: A Mystery Island and a Monster Hit 108
6. Why Heroes Failed: The Superpowered Franchise That Fell from Grace 138
7. Doctor Who and Star Trek: Twenty-First Century Reboots 166

Conclusion 195
An A to Z of Telefantasy Series 207
Bibliography 231
Index 241

About the Author
Sue Short lectures in film and media at Birkbeck College, University of London, and has contributed articles to numerous media journals. Cult Telefantasy Series is her third book.
Donald E. Palumbo is a professor of English at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. He lives in Greenville.
C.W. Sullivan III is a professor of arts and sciences at East Carolina University and a full member of the Welsh Academy. He is the author of numerous books and the on-line journal Celtic Cultural Studies.