Writer
Trekology.com is written by Woody Goulart (pictured.)
This is not a fan site. The most accurate way to describe Trekology.com would be to call it a research site that reports on persuasion in science fiction, specifically in Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek and in Ronald D. Moore’s Battlestar Galactica. Together with Wesley Y. Joe, Ph.D., I wrote a chapter about Moore’s Battlestar Galactica that appears in the forthcoming book, New Decades of Political Science Fiction, to be published by University of South Carolina Press in June 2008. You can read excerpts here.
My interest in conducting research into these television shows goes back many years. Today, I am not a teenager nor a twenty-something or a thirty-something. Because I am the age that I am, I have a unique perspective that younger writers cannot have.
I was born and raised in a small California community. When I was in high school in 1966, a then-new television series named Star Trek premiered on NBC-TV. An English teacher assigned me to watch episodes of Star Trek and write a report to present in class. Mercifully, nothing survives the passage of time from those days, so you are spared the unexpressable agonies of reading what I wrote. So, I am afforded the rich opportunity to fantasize about how eloquent I certainly must have been as a 16 year-old boy.
When I worked in Los Angeles radio in the early 1970s after graduating from college, I met Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, and produced a radio documentary series about him and his science fiction efforts.
You may enjoy visiting my Los Angeles rock and roll radio history site. A few years after I left LA, I earned a Ph.D. in communications from Indiana University. My 1978 doctoral dissertation examined the persuasive powers within narrative entertainment television in the original Star Trek and other sci-fi shows including the original Battlestar Galactica.
You can use the same methodology that I crafted for my research to allow you to examine today’s persuasive powers within narrative entertainment television shows. This will help you understand how you and your family members might be targeted for persuasive messages embedded within the stories and characters depicted in popular television series.
If you have questions or comments about this site or my research, you can contact me by turning this text into a working email address: wg (at) woodygoulart (dot) com.
| It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again because there is no effort without error and shortcomings, who knows the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the high achievement of triumph, and who at worst, if he fails while daring greatly, knows his place shall never be with those timid and could souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
–Theodore Roosevelt
|
Q: I disagree with certain things that the writer of this site has written here. How do I get in touch with the writer?
A: You can send email to him using the email address above. However, please note that the writer does not engage in ongoing discussions via email regarding the opinions and conclusions expressed on this site.
Q: Can the writer provide mailing addresses, email addresses, or telephone numbers of people involved with the television series mentioned on this site?
A: That’s not going to happen in this universe.
Q: Can the writer recommend colleges or universities where the study of television programming is conducted?
A: The central purpose of this site is to share information about how persuasive techniques in television storytelling can work. If you find that you have developed a serious interest in attending a college or university program to undertake similar or related scholarship, you should start by asking an academic advisor for help.
Q: Why does this site mention some episode titles or characters but not others?
A: It would not be sensible to refer to all or many episode titles or characters here since this site is not intended to be an exhaustive review of all the stories and plotlines.
Q: Why are some science fiction television shows excluded from mention on this site? My favorite series is [fill in the blank] and I am upset that it was not mentioned here.
A: This site is not intended to be an exhaustive reference for every science fiction television show ever produced. The main focus is on science fiction space operas. Specific series have been included on this site because the writer felt their inclusion contributes to the highest level of understanding about the persuasive use of storytelling within television narrative entertainment.
