'Acolytes of history'?: Jazz music and nostalgia in Star Trek: The Next Generation. (February 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Owen Jones, Craig
• Is Part Of: Science fiction film and television. Volume 9:Number 1(2016)
• Page Start: 25
• Page End: 53
• Publication Date: 2016-02
• Subjects: science fiction television -- nostalgia -- jazz music -- narratology; Science fiction films -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Science fiction television programs -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; 791.43615
• DOI: 10.3828/sfftv.2016.2
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1754-3770

Abstract

Abstract : A nostalgic scenario, experienced on the holodeck in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, is analysed. It is proposed that certain narratological elements, including the diegetically unusual self-reflexivity of the scenario, prevent the protagonist from fully engaging with an environment – a simulacrum of a 1950s jazz bar – beyond his real-life experiences. The verisimilitude of the scenario and the implications of certain shortcomings in this regard for the nature of the beholder's experience are explored.