Maria Jose and John Tenuto. Photo courtesy of Trekfest.

Trekkies can learn more about Iowa’s Star Trek connection and the life of the late Leonard Nimoy at this year’s Trekfest.

Guest speakers John and Maria Jose Tenuto will be giving two presentations this weekend titled, “Thriving on Limitations: The Making of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan” and “A Remarkable Life: A Tribute to Leonard Nimoy”. The Tenutos have spoken at Star Trek conventions across the country; featured in several publications, television shows, and documentaries; and are both professors of sociology at the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Illinois.

For their presentation on The Wrath of Khan the Tenutos have been researching archive resources at the University of Iowa, from which the film’s director and writer Nicholas Meyer graduated in 1968. John says the presentation will give a closer look at the film’s production, “So, we have about 800 photos that no one’s ever really seen before, behind the scenes photos. With the permission of Nicholas Meyer we took the best 100 of them or so and we use them in the talk. So, if people come to the talk they’re going to see some amazing pictures that most people have never seen before outside of our talks, where people can see Leonard Nimoy, and William Shatner, and the actors and actresses working.”

John and Maria Jose frequently incorporate Star Trek into their sociology classes, and they even teach a course to professors on how they can use the franchise to teach different subjects. John shares why Star Trek relates to sociology, “Really, science fiction is sociology. There’s a difference in how it’s done, one is obviously a written and metaphorical and imaginative, and the other is a science. But they both look at social issues and try to imagine what things are going to look like in the future by taking a look at today and making commentary on it. The difference is that the science fiction writer doesn’t necessarily have to prove what they’re saying but the sociologist does because it’s a science, but it’s really the same set of muscles and same topics.”

The presentations are free to attend and will be given at 7 p.m. Friday and 2:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Mary’s Parish Hall during this year’s Trekfest.