Read our review of Star Trek: Celebrations, a Pride Month anthology from IDW that includes many of the LGBTQ+ characters from Star Trek.
We reviewed the book on the Stack podcast. But in the interest of highlighting more about the title, here’s a summary of the conversation with our thoughts. And if you prefer the longer audio version, that’s below as well!
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Star Trek: Celebrations Review:
In this issue, we’re getting short tales about many of the LGBTQ+ members of the Star Trek franchise — from John Cho’s Sulu, to Nurse Chapel, to a couple from Lower Decks.
What was perhaps most interesting about the book for the hosts, beyond some fun Star Trek stories, is that for the most part — other than the Lower Decks story — it wasn’t really about their LGBTQ+ identities.
“Even though these were mostly stories that were tangential to their sexualities, I think there’s something to be said for doing something like that in terms of, yes, these are LGBTQ+ people who are just existing,” said host Alex Zalben, “that is the thing that they’re doing, and particularly side by side with [other Pride month anthologies] I appreciate that approach as well.”
Digging in further, they discussed a story about Stamets and Reno from Discovery, particularly as Stamets and his husband are one of the great love stories in Star Trek lore. Here, it’s Stamets and Reno doing what they always do: bicker and solve a science problem.
“It has literally nothing to do with pride or sexuality,” Zalben noted, “And that’s where it really snapped in for me where I was like, Oh, they’re just letting them exist. That’s all.”
On the other hand, there are some big stories in the issue. Justin Tyler was floored by the big mythology story involving Nurse Chapel. “I can’t believe this big story idea is a short in this Celebrations issue,” Tyler said. “I could see a series about this… This feels like it could be an episode in any TV show.”
Zalben added that on Strange New Worlds they’ve alluded to female/female relationships Chapel has had, but this is also the first time canonically it’s seen — so that’s a big event as well.
So overall: good stories, a good message, and well worth adding to any Star Trek fan’s stack.
Star Trek: Celebrations Official Synopsis:
IDW proudly presents a one-shot anthology centering and celebrating LGBTQIA+ characters from across the Star Trek universe! Join legendary heroes from each era of the beloved franchise in stories that showcase the strengths of infinite diversity in infinite combinations, brought to you by a star-studded cast of writers and artists including Vita Ayala, Steve Orlando, Mags Visaggio, and more!
