Reviews

Phasers on Stun! is a love letter to Trek. But it is an uneven love letter, with the bulk of the praise aimed towards The Original Series. It is also uneven in its anecdotes, with later sections (such as Picard and The Lower Decks) hyper focusing on only specific aspects whereas The Original Series took on a more broad and nuanced approach. But as a Trek fan, I still enjoyed reading it and learned something new. The first half of the book, focusing on the myths of Star Trek's making, were a delight, along with the times in the latter half it interrogates fan reactions to Trek. But ultimately, I still think it's a good read, if a long one.

siobhanward's review against another edition

Go to review page

informative medium-paced

4.0

The secret is, if you speak kindly of Voyager, I'm probably going to like what you're writing because I have a soft spot for that series. That aside, this was a fun read and Britt clearly knows his Trek. I appreciated how much detail he went into about some of the less mentioned series, like Voyager and DS9. While there was a lot of focus on TOS, it made sense since it gave the context for everything that came after. I loved how Britt covered what was happening in the world at the time of each series and how it fit into historical context (including that - GASP - Trek wasn't always as cutting-edge and pro-social justice as we make it out to be). This was a fun read - dense if you're not into Star Trek, but definitely a fun one.

lserver362's review

Go to review page

5.0

While I haven't seen more than TOS, this book provided such a loving history of the franchise and its impact. This book made me tear up in a couple places. I love being moved by media and you can see that that's what happened here. Fantastic read.

montigneyrules's review

Go to review page

3.0

#readingchallenge2023 (my book set in Hollywood)

A casual fan; watching Star Trek was a late night bonding activity for my mother and I- we enjoyed the distinctive characters-the complex stories-and engaged with the dream of adventuring the deep scope of space. Re-watching as an adult, I found there was so much more to discover within episodes, more complex and intellectual. Though I never ‘hardcore’ dove into everything, but this novel made me want to start a re-watch binge.

The historical context was interesting- the author presented his insider information in a timeline pacing- starting at the beginning and walking the reader through the development evolution of the universe- a fascinating look at why the franchise has endured and how it has adapted and changed over time.

Overall, very resonating enjoyable nerdom; my only mild woe-there was a lot more opinionated aspects compared to arbitrary backstory, by which I mean in some areas the author tended to talk more about himself-and his preferences for the Star Trek universe than just unopinionated facts on the subject, which I feel led to more of a memoir nerdy small talk about a shared love vibe than deep non-fictional look at the highlights of the franchise.

But I loved the touchstone highlights for Trekkie pop culture. Again, the book made me want to re-watch-then newly watch things within the franchise I haven’t given a chance.