Earlier this week, Dr. Surekha Davies — historian of science, historical monster consultant, and author of the brilliant new book Humans: A Monstrous History — joined me for some 5AM StoryTalk. You can listen to that here if you haven’t already. Today, Surekha returns for a bonus episode exclusive to my brilliant paid subscribers whose support keeps the lights on here. We’ll be discussing a seminal piece of art from her life — the iconic “Star Trek: The Next Generation” episodes, “The Best of Both Worlds” Parts 1 and 2, which involve one of her favorite fictional monsters…the Borg.
The events in these two episodes have reverberated throughout the Trek franchise in the year since they first aired. which is probably because they're two of the best episodes of any Trek ever produced. Many critics even cite Part 1 as one of the greatest cliffhangers in TV history. They were written by Michael Piller and directed by Cliff Bole.
Surekha and I are going to use “The Best of Both Worlds” to further discuss the role of Trek in her life, dig even deeper into the role of monsters in the human psyche, and wonder about humanity’s quest for utopia (as embodied by the Trek universe).
You can learn more about Surekha’s book Humans: A Monstrous History, or buy your own copy, here.
If you’d like to hear more from Surekha, but aren’t yet a paid subscriber yourself, you can upgrade now for $6 US a month or $60 a year. For that, you get full access to hundreds of articles and educational resources for screenwriters, arts seminars where you can seek direct help from me, and all of my podcast episodes — including bonus episodes — weeks, sometimes months earlier than you would if you subscribed to me at, say, Apple or Spotify. Most importantly, you help keep this independent media source alive with your support - thank you!
And don’t forget to listen to the first part of my conversation with Surekha!
Q&A: Historian Surekha Davies Knows Where Monsters Really Come From
This week on the 5AM StoryTalk Podcast, I'm joined by Dr. Surekha Davies, historian of science, research fellow at Brown, Johns Hopkins, and Utrecht Universities, and author of the brilliant new book Humans: A Monstrous History — which explores how we’ve defined human beings in relation to everything from the animal kingdom…
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