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July 24, 2026
It's time to run some more Star Trek here at the Black Cat House! From its very beginnings in 1966, Gene Roddenberry created Star Trek to promote a whole range of humanistic themes. So it shouldn't be surprising that Star Trek has been a favorite for woke nerds for 60 years!
We will be watching two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation dealing with the theme of artificial intelligence (AI) and its influence on human sexuality. The episodes are not quite a traditional two-parter, but the second episode is still a direct sequel produced a year and a half after the first one. Non-Trekkies should also be able to easily follow the plot of both episodes.
In "Booby Trap", the U.S.S. Enterprise is endangered by an ancient alien weapon. Chief Engineer Geordi LaForge, as part of brainstorming a solution to the crisis, has the ship's computer create a holographic replica of Dr. Leah Brahms (who was a principal designer of the starship's systems). Holo-Brahms is meant to be an interactive diagnostic tool, but LaForge (an archetypically sexually frustrated nerd) becomes attracted to the approximation of a smart, beautiful woman and the two seem to share romantic chemistry.
In "Galaxy's Child", we meet the real Dr. Leah Brahms. She comes aboard the Enterprise to inspect and study modifications to the starship's engines that have been made in deep space by Chief Engineer LaForge. Still awkward around women, Geordi struggles to understand why his relationship with Dr. Brahms is so different from his interactions with Holo-Brahms. Leah is simultaneously confused by Geordi's behavior, until she accidentally discovers and activates Holo-Brahms for herself. The ensuing confrontation is one of the most awkward scenes from any version of Star Trek...
These two episodes from the early 1990s seem strangely timely in a world where sexually frustrated men are being sold everything from deepfake-pornography generators to chatbot "girlfriends" to animatronic-sex dolls. We hope to explore some of these real-life parallels in the discussion after watching these episodes.
As always, our events are free and open to the public. The Black Cat House welcomes all ages, and is a drug and alcohol-free venue. To help keep everyone safe and healthy, we ask that all guests wear face masks in our space. We are wheelchair accessible.