Socks of the future
One particular area that has benefited from Star Trek aesthetics has been the clothing and fashion industry. The Star Trek brand has influenced the creation of amazing t-shirts, wetsuits, bathrobes, and Spock inspired oven mitts, hoodies, and socks.
While these clothes and fashions are truly awesome, they pale in comparison to the fashion sense demonstrated on The Next Generation. Fortunately, there is a tumblr devoted to cataloging and critiquing the fashion sensibilities of the 24th century, aptly titled Fashion It So. Some of the more fashionable episodes that are reviewed include Gambit, The Drumhead, and Dark Page.
Star Trek has not only assimilated into the fashion world, it has also made its way into the culinary world. Here are a few neat Star Trek inspired food items;
- Several types of salt and pepper shakers
- Romulan Ale
- Enterprise pizza cutter
- Cookie cutters
- Tea, Earl Grey, hot.
Plomeek tea, recipe available from Food Replicator
Star Trek not only inspired food products, but also food itself. Serious Eats has a great primer on the food of various Star Trek cultures, and the excellent tumblr Food Replicator provides recipes for some of the dishes, including Leola Root Soup and Hasperat, there is even a Star Trek Cookbook, for those more inclined to get their recipes offline. Characters in the Star Trek Universe have a unique relationship with food. With the use of replicators, they can have their stomachs desire in an instant, no need for prepping or cooking. This instant availability of food never seemed to diminish its enjoyment, but the enjoyment and simple pleasure of handling and preparing meals is largely absent in the Federation, with the exception of Deep Space Nine’s Captain Sisko, who grew up working in his fathers restaurant and frequently cooks real, not replicated, food for his crew. With the advent and steady improvements to 3-D printing, the replicator technology featured in Star Trek is becoming less far fetched, but hopefully we are far away from losing touch with our food.
Red Shirt Cologne instills confidence, showing the universe your strength, your valor, your devotion to living each day as though it could be your last
With fashion and food choices covered, one of the last frontiers Star Trek has influenced is the dating scene. There are at least three Star Trek inspired dating sites, Star Trek Dating, Trekkie Dating, and Trek Passions. Regardless of how you get there, if you manage to find your imzadi, be sure to make a good impression with a Star Trek inspired cologne, scents include Tiberius, Pon Farr, Shirtless Kirk, Sulu Pour Homme, and Red Shirt.
Speaking of Redshirts, contrary to popular belief they all aren’t as doomed as we once thought, as long as the redshirt wearer is not in the security department. From a recent statistical analysis of crew member mortality from The Original Series;
Only 10% of the entire redshirt population was lost during the three year run of Star Trek. This is less than the 13.4% of goldshirts, but more than the 5.1% of blueshirts. What is truly hazardous is not wearing a redshirt, but being a member of the security department. The red-shirted members of security were only 20.9% of the entire crew, but there is a 72.2% chance that the next casualty is in a redshirt and 64.5% chance this red-shirted victim is a member of the security department. The remaining redshirts, operations and engineering make up the largest single population, but only have an 8.6% chance of being a casualty.
The study did not examine the impact of being named after a character on The West Wing on the likelihood of survival, but based on this hidden gem from Star Trek: Voyager, where it is revealed that the crewmembers who shared the name of characters from The West Wing all died on the way back to the Alpha Quadrant, it probably isn’t good. Speaking of casualties, you can brush up on your detective, and acting, skills with this How to Host a Mystery: Star Trek: The Next Generation game, which is reviewed below.
It is clear that Star Trek has permeated into many aspects of our culture. Its influence can continually be felt and seen all around us, and is only limited by our imaginations.
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On a Quasi-Related Note 