An Esquire Best Book of 2022!

Written with inside access, comprehensive research, and a down-to-earth perspective, Phasers on Stun! chronicles the entire history of Star Trek, revealing that its enduring place in pop culture is all thanks to innovative pivots and radical change.
 
For over five decades, the heart of Star Trek’s pro-science, anti-racist, and inclusive messaging has been its willingness to take big risks. Across thirteen feature films, and twelve TV series—including five shows currently airing or in production—the brilliance of Star Trek is in its endless ability to be rethought, rebooted, and remade.
 
Author and Star Trek expert Ryan Britt charts an approachable and entertaining course through Star Trek history; from its groundbreaking origins amid the tumultuous 1960s, to its influence on diversifying the space program, to its contemporary history-making turns with LGBTQ+ representation, this book illuminates not just the behind-the-scenes stories that shaped the franchise but the larger meaning of the Final Frontier.
 
Featuring over 100 exclusive interviews with actors and writers across all the generations, including Walter Koenig, LeVar Burton, Dorothy Fontana, Brent Spiner, Ronald D. Moore, Jeri Ryan, and many more, Britt gets the inside story on all things Trek, like Spock’s evolution from red devil to the personification of logical empathy, the near failure to launch of The Next Generation in 1987, and how Trekkie outrage has threatened to destroy the franchise more than once. The book also dives deep with creators like Michael Chabon (co-creator of Star Trek: Picard) and Nicholas Meyer (director, The Wrath of Khan). These interviews extend to the bleeding edge of contemporary Star Trek, from Discovery to Picard to Lower Decks, and even the upcoming highly anticipated 2022 series, Strange New Worlds.
 
For fans who know every detail of each Enterprise bridge, to a reader who has never seen a single minute of any Star Trek, this book aims to entertain, inform, and energize. Through humor, insight, archival research, and unique access, this journey through the Star Trek universe isn’t just about its past but a definitive look at its future.

Written with inside access to writers, cast, and crew and the perfect perspective, PHASERS ON STUN! both charts a history of Star Trek and explains its enduring place in popular culture, celebrating the show's past as well as sharing new, exclusive insight on its very current and relevant journeys.



As author Ryan Britt writes, Star Trek has captivated imaginations for more than 50 years, though twelve feature films, nine television series (three of which are currently running), with another movie and three additional television series planned for 2022, along with hundreds of novels, short story collections, and comic books. In his follow up to 2015's LUKE SKYWALKER CAN'T READ, Ryan Britt charts a course through Star Trek history, illuminating the bold choices that have allowed Star Trek to help shape the world that watched it, including stories about making history with LGBTQ representation, the sequence of decisions that turned Spock from a red devil to the personification of logical empathy, the significance of the Starfleet uniforms, Star Trek's surprising history with fan outrage, and more.



Including extensive interviews with current Star Trek showrunner Michael Chabon, and actors William Shatner and Jonathan Frakes, Ryan Britt has all the right access and the right connections to publish a definitive yet totally modern book on what Star Trek means today.

“Ryan Britt is our foremost sci-fi journalist, bringing to the pop culture of the last half-century a reporter’s eye and a fan’s caress. With Phasers on Stun!, it’s as if he used a nucleonic beam to probe our deepest questions about all things Trek—and then answered them!”
—Morgan Gendel, Hugo Award–winning writer of “The Inner Light,” Star Trek: The Next Generation (season 5, episode 25)

"With Phasers on Stun!, Ryan Britt has written a comprehensive, deeply researched, merrily opinionated romp through all things Trek."
—Nicholas Meyer, director of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

“Ryan Britt doesn't just have his finger on the pulse of Star Trek fandom; he's driving the conversation from the bridge of the Enterprise. His decades of living, breathing, and interviewing the players behind the groundbreaking and beloved franchise make him the definitive voice for both casual and die-hard fans—and this book. A must-read!”
—Caseen Gaines, author of We Don't Need Roads: The Making of the Back to the Future Trilogy

"Phasers on Stun! is the very fun, intriguing, and mindful Star Trek history book you didn’t know you needed.”
—Chase Masterson, "Leeta" on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine