It’s our first “actual” installment of Whiskey & IR Theory in Space! We discuss Star Trek: The Next Generation’s ‘gay rights’ episode, “The Outcast,” which Dan uses to introduce his students to different modes of “reading” the politics of (and in) science fiction. PTJ and Dan summarize the episode (can you spoil an 30+ year-old TV show?), discuss their own reactions to it, and then Dan talks about how his students respond to it differently now than they did a 10-15 years ago. The two hosts conclude by descending into rambling geekery as they discuss what they’ll cover in the second installment of the series. 

The answer, by the way, is the two short stories that PTJ opens his class with: Ursula K. Le Guin’s “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas,” and N.K. Jemisin’s “Those Who Stay and Fight.” 

The Whisky: Port Charlotte CC:01