Abstract
As noted in the Introduction, the Star Trek franchise represents something of a natural experiment—where one iteration of the franchise is produced during the height of the Cold War, in the midst of the Civil Rights era and the student protest movements (Chapter 1), and later iterations are produced during the politically conservative Reagan Era and the denouement of the Cold War (Chapter 3). In comparing Star Trek during the Cold War and after the Cold War, we can note an outright rejection of any triumphalism of the West’s victory over the Soviet Union.