030 - The Animated Series

This week, Nate and I discuss:

• The Emmy-award winning Star Trek: The Animated Series

• Stopped rating the episodes

• Less than the sum of its parts?

• A bad series

• Animated Series as punishments

• Spaceships and aliens

• Target demographics

• Shortcomings of TAS

• No Chekov

• The great episode of TAS – a top episode for the franchise to this point

• Political implications of airing certain episodes

• Is TAS canon?

• Life support belts

• Kirk was the Devil’s advocate?

• Missing charm and disjointed dialogue

• Unrealized potential

• What non-Star-Trek fans think Star Trek is

• Felt like the Gorn fight from Arena

• TAS trivia

• Nate’s Star Trek models

• Star Trek production guide

• Looking ahead to Next Generation

• Planning future podcast discussions and watch order

029 - TOS Season 3 and Series Wrap UP

In this episode Abbie, Nate, and I discuss:

• Final seven episodes of The Original Series

• Another episode it feels like we’ve seen before

• Fairy Tale by Stephen King

• Abbie wanted to DNF episodes

• Creepy, ick factor

• Valentine’s Day Star Trek episode

• Worst episode of The Original Series

• DC Fontana

• Qualified ratings – a “Season 3” Seven

• Mixed messaging

• Space Lincoln

• Anti-war, but winning a war at all costs

• A real, not real Abraham Lincoln speech

• When do we learn to not fear words?

• An ok episode, but terrible series finale – but does that say more about today?

• And just like that, it’s over

• Better than Nate remembered

• Greater than the sum of its parts

• Unprecedented

• If it was more successful initially, would we be talking about it today?

• Remembering the good moments and forgetting the negatives

• Original Series trivia

• Up next

028 - Racism, Overpopulation, and a Russian History Lesson

This week I am joined by my wife, Abbie, and our friend, Nate, as we discuss:

• Let that Be Your Last Battlefield, The Mark of Gideon, and That Which Survives

• The Trouble with Tribbles story

• Elaan of Troyius recap now that Abbie is back

• Overt messaging in shows

• Star Trek without Gene Roddenberry

• Is a good message enough to carry an episode?

• A Captain’s responsibility to keep the ship out of enemy hands

• Great Enterprise security

• The transporter as a weapon

• Nuclear codes in history

• Dr. Strangelove

• A good message – “Don’t hate”

• Terrible movies with heavy-handed messaging

• Watching people watch people on TV

• Episode context

• What is the call to action in this episode?

• Being extra-Spock

• Spock needs to be more precise

• Abbie gets attacked by a kitten

• The Tunguska Event

• Another callout to The Beginning of Infinity

• Limits on human knowledge?

• A victim of the medium at the time?

• The decline of the series

• Over Warp 14

• More multi-culturalism on the Enterprise

• A game plan to finish The Original Series

• Planning a Star Trek trivia challenge

• Looking ahead to The Next Generation

• Abbie fires some shots at DS9

• Nate throws down the gauntlet for the best episode ending in all of Star Trek

• A Star Trek producer spoke in my video production class in college

• Something about whales

027 - You stupid cow

This week we discuss:

• The Empath, Elaan of Troyius, and Whom Gods Destroy

• Star Trek: Saw

• What do you do if you have limited resources and can’t save everyone?

• Low-percentage vs no-percentage

• Intellect alone is not sufficient

• Kirk acting in slow motion?

• Book recommendation – Shadow Divers – don’t get the bends!

• Star Trek’s Helen of Troy?

• Stories about things that the stories aren’t about

• Elaan hit first

• Tony Soprano is a bad person who does bad things

• Kirk has bad moments but isn’t a bad guy

• How was non-slapstick violence received in the late-1960s?

• Old tropes that are uncommon today

• Power struggles over resources

• When does the Prime Directive apply?

• Warp speed, physics, and suspension of disbelief

• Baggage when watching Star Trek

• A Spaceballs connection

• Litmus tests for how much I enjoy an episode

• Two Kirks and memories of X-men

• Pirates of the Caribbean and too much of a good thing

• Ensemble strength

• Powerful, yet helpless.  Art imitating reality

• Episodes that are less than the sum of their parts

• Fan fiction from a simple line

• The Cochrane Deceleration

• High-stress turns in space?

• Planning some competitive trivia

026 - Kirk is Grits

This week we discuss:

• The Tholian Web, Plato’s Stepchildren, and Wink of an Eye

• We continue last week’s debate and how Nate is wrong

• A traditional Star Trek episode

• Ratings with qualifiers

• Episode and series hero journeys

• Scotty the full-blown alcoholic?

• A weak spot in the episode?

• Explaining to the audience instead of the characters

• Grown-up storytelling

• Shatner stepping back in an episode

• Could this have been a TNG episode?

• Star Trek memorabilia at auction

• Scotty’s hair

• Another back-in-time episode

• First television inter-racial kiss, at least in the US

• Abbie wants internal consistency

• Subtle vs overt messaging in shows then and now

• Motor control vs mind control

• We can again see why the series was canceled

• Things that take us out of the story

• Inception and X-Men did it better

• Star Trek Customizable Card Game

• How the series was experienced in the late-1960s

• Cinematography

• Kirk’s coffee

• Why didn’t they harness the power when they had the antidote?

• Abbie is refusing to watch The Animated Series

• Star Trek graphic novel

• Getting rid of Kirk?

• Hanlon’s Razor?

• A Waffle House story

025 - The Talosian Illusion Strikes Back

In this episode, we discuss:

• Spectre of the Gun, The Day of the Dove, and For the World is Hollow and I have Touched the Sky

• Budget issues during Season 3?

• Nate is over the non-spacey episodes

• Some bourbon discussion

• Klingons with swords

• Nate rejects the premise of the episode

• Nate nearly rage quits the podcast over the IMDB rating

• I claim victory in the discussion

• We’ve seen this episode before

• A Star Trek Sith Lord

• Who is pulling the strings?

• How does Kirk run into the same Klingon multiple times?

• Captain Uhura?

• Truth, religion, and dogma

• Prime Directive

• Is Bones married?

• Characters are always safe (except the redshirts)

• Similarities to other shows

024 - No Sh*t, Shatner!

In this episode, we discuss:

• Abbie and I had an opportunity to watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and a Q&A session with William Shatner

• For a 92-year-old man, Shatner was ranting and raving and moving around pretty well

• An education in COPD and lung disease

• The impact of the Actors’ Strike on the show

• Stories about bow hunting and pranks on DeForest Kelley

• Getting pulled over dressed as Captain Kirk

• No shit, Shatner!

• Shatner was what we expected.  A master of his craft

• Curiosity

• Seeing the movie in the theater was a trip

• A better appreciation for the movie on a second viewing

• The experience of watching this kind of movie in that kind of setting

• A great movie in its own right.  But even better for a Star Trek movie

• Felt like Star Trek

• Shatner’s thoughts about Star Trek: The Motion Picture

• Space Seed holds up

• Movie reshoots after leaks

• Gene Roddenberry intrigue

• Kirk’s forgotten plots

• Leonard Nimoy was ready to be done as Spock

• Why is the Genesis technology a threat in Khan’s hands?

• Vulcans can cry?

• Learning why things work on a Starship.  If you don’t know why, you can’t adapt.  You can’t be creative

• William Shatner and George Takei don’t get along

• Ricardo Montelban’s real chest

• Character names changed because of clerical errors

• Continuing voyages of ongoing missions…

• Original story proposal

• TV in the ‘90s

023 - SPACE DAGGERS!!!

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Paradise Syndrome, And the Children Shall Lead, and Is There in Truth no Beauty?

• Star Trek: Renegades

• Other TV discussion

• The worst episode yet?

• Was life in the past better than life today?  Life without Advil…

• House spoilers

• Tahiti Syndrome

• Differences between cultural appropriation and cultural assimilation

• Greek mythology

• Kirk’s fear

• We decide on an episode title

• Without followers, evil cannot spread

• Star Trek and Zodiac connections

• Do we see reality for what it is?  Or for what is useful?

• Sciencey-sounding words

• Beauty

• What could go wrong?

• Smart decisions and storytelling

• Trying different technical things in the episode

• The IDIC medallion

• Word salad

• Spock’s French Stewart eyes?

• Completely unrelated music discussion

• Nate and I discover our mutual love of Blues Traveler

022 - Movie Review and Season 3 Kickoff

In this week’s episode, we discuss:

• Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Spock’s Brain, and The Enterprise Incident

• The movie worked a lot better on a big TV than The Original Series

• Strong opening to the movie

• Klingons look and seem very different

• Enterprise porn

• Remastered version of the movie – probably looked better on my TV at home than it would have in the theater

• Characters felt different

• What somebody who doesn’t know anything about Star Trek might think Star Trek is like

• William Shatner doing a Captain Kirk impersonation

• Differences between the series and the movie

• For all the criticism of the movie, it was stunning

• Is human consciousness just a physics and chemistry question?

• Some timely Oscars talk – debating Avatar vs. The Hurt Locker

• Absurd moments for a Star Trek episode

• Future technological understanding

• Was Gene Roddenberry holding up a mirror to society?

• Star Trek and Black Mirror

• Star Trek as a Trojan horse

• Mutual respect with the Romulans?

• Lies of omission

• Space pirates

• The Vulcan Death Grip

• Genetic similarities between Vulcans and Romulans

• Self-destructing Enterprise

• A pleasant surprise for early season 3

021 - Season 2 Finale and Recap

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.

As usual, I am joined by my wife, Abbie, and our friend Nate, as we discuss:

• The final two episodes of Season 2: Bread and Circuses and Assignment: Earth

• Abbie is over The Original Series

• More episodes we feel like we’ve seen before

• Prime Directive

• Kirk’s character judging abilities

• Parallel development vs Earth influence

• Religious references

• Dropping the things that worked in Season 1

• South Park: Cartoon Wars and Star Trek Mad Libs

• Will Abbie still enjoy other Star Trek series after this?

• Will I become a bigger Trekkie than Abbie?

• Our scoring system is like Who’s Line is it Anyway?

• Would Kirk risk his crew to save Spock and Bones?

• Another Gene Roddenberry episode

• Are fun character traits a crutch?  Lazy?

• Do Star Trek characters make something a Star Trek story?

• Spinoffs!

• Do Star Trek and Doctor Who take place in the same universe?

• How shows are influenced by the time in which they are made

• Top shows from the late 1960s

• Fewer “timeless” stories in Season 2

• More discussion about technological evolution faster than biological evolution

• Bioshock spoilers

• The choice of character names can tell a lot

• Overall ratings of season 2

• Different ways to experience TV

• Our next plans

020 - Team America, Galactic Police

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.

As usual, I am joined by my wife, Abbie, and our friend Nate, as we discuss:

• The next 3 episodes of season 2 of Star Trek: The Original Series – By Any Other Name, The Omega Glory, and The Ultimate Computer

• Interstellar from the perspective of the other planets

• Callbacks to earlier episodes

• What I’ve come to expect from Star Trek, but does that mean they’re running out of ideas?

• Kirk, the man-whore

• What does it mean to be human?

• What does it mean to be living?

• Life is more than just elements, but without the elements, there is no life

• Some Brazilian Jiu Jitsu analysis

• Episodes starting a lot stronger than they finish

• Was this propaganda?

• Subtlety vs heavy-handedness

• A successful letter-writing campaign

• A brief history lesson about The Scorpions

• Seeing more recurring story lines and trends

• Negative views on technology?

• Saying “Thank you” to Alexa

• In real life we make the same mistakes and tell the same stories over and over again

• Different experience between binge watching and watching weekly over the course of many years

• Similar shows, books, and movies released around the same time

• Will the AI conversation actually change?  Has the conversation surrounding AI changed in the past 60 years?

019 - Space Nazis

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.

As usual, I am joined by my wife, Abbie, and our friend, Nate, as we discuss:

• The next 3 episodes of season 2 of Star Trek: The Original Series – A Private Little War, Return to Tomorrow, and Patterns of Force

• What was the message of this episode?  Do they even know?

• TV makeup and High Definition

• We don’t like Gene Roddenberry episodes?

• Understanding why TOS was cancelled

• Was TOS running out of ideas?

• A Next Generation actress

• Characters acting out of character

• Star Trek and the Apollo missions

• Other shows calling their shots

• Command structure on the Enterprise

• Risk vs. reward

• Scotty’s voice and linguistic talents

• Biblical connections?

• Plot devices vs. realism

• Fermi paradox

• Aliens and Mexican parliament

• A relative lack of surprise that Kirk and Spock dressed as Nazis

• Blues Brothers discussion

• Nazi imagery in the episode

• An episode we wanted to dislike

• Is there always a silver lining?

• Moral ambiguity and how shows are received

018 - Bean sucks at poker

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.

I am joined again this week by my wife, Abbie, and our friend, Nate as we discuss:

• The next 3 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series – The Gamesters of Triskelion, A Piece of the Action, and The Immunity Syndrome

• First – my homework to rewatch The Trouble with Tribbles

• I can see why The Trouble with Tribbles is a favorite episode for many

• Does “more fun” mean “better”?

• Parks and Rec vs. The Sopranos

• Have we seen this episode before?

• Aaron can rate something a 10

• Fair terms?

• Would Kirk have acted the same if only saving himself and crew?

• Downgrading my rating and things that took me out of the episode

• No blondes on Vulcan

• A good-enough episode

• Application of the Prime Directive?

• Let’s play Cups!

• Kirk’s ‘20s talk

• Radios and rotary phones

• Nate hates Scotty

• Abbie didn’t finish the final episode

• The death of one vs the deaths of many

• Kirk’s understanding of their mission

• Spock shit-talking McCoy

• Spock and McCoy truly care for each other

• Nate’s 13-year-old humor

• Instinct and intuition vs logic

• Did the Vulcans logic themselves to death?

017 - Aaron can be stubborn. And wrong

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.

I am joined again this week by my wife Abbie and our friend Nate as we discuss:

• The next 3 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series – Obsession, Wolf in the Fold, and The Trouble with Tribbles

• Drinking Minnesota beer in Northeast Florida

• A good, forgettable episode

• PTSD in Star Trek

• Personal log vs Captain’s log

• Kirk is quite the dynamic character

• The Farragut

• Moby Dick

• Logic vs Intuition

• Star Trek and religion

• A Newsradio segue

• Hedonism Bot from Futurama

• An episode that could have been stronger if it was shorter

• Piglet the Ripper

• Deep space murder mystery – of course we’ll jump to an unsolved series of murders from London 400 years prior

• Stunt doubles and watching Star Trek on our phones (like they did when this first came out)

• “Abbie will hate this episode”

• Was Hengist innocent?

• Anchor points and being underwhelmed

• Undercover Klingon

• A perfect episode???

• Physical altercations over disrespectful words

• I agree to rewatch The Trouble with Tribbles

016 - Halfway

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.

I am joined again by my wife Abbie and our friend Nate as we discuss:

• The next 3 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series – Journey to Babel, Friday’s Child, and The Deadly Years

• Starting with the last episode

• Aging the characters, compared to reality

• Are we aging differently now?  Or is it a social construct?

• A good leader surrounds himself with good people

• Don’t embarrass the boss

• Budgetary constraints and command

• Trying to do the right thing, but not knowing how to do it

• Stockton or Stocker?

• The Beginning of Infinity

• How does the Neutral Zone work?

• The return of Corbomite

• Watching on a phone instead of a TV making the series more palatable?

• A better episode if made today?

• Earliest-born Star Trek actor – born in 1882!!

• A murder mystery on the Enterprise

• Sarek – a character with depth that I don’t realize

• Additional episode context and how these episodes are received

• Orions?  Or Gorn?

• Lack of recurring characters

• Genetic espionage

• Strange episode titles

• A strong start and a slow, weak finish

• We’ve seen this episode before

• Good music

• The Godmother of Star Trek

• Who punched first?

• Reactions to Chekov’s Russia claims

• Computing in the 1960s, Teletype, and how technologically forward-looking we can be

• Technological inspiration from Star Trek

• Chick Fil-a vs Raisin’ Canes

• Thumbnails for next week’s episodes

• Thinkgeek.com

015 - Harcourt! And the Intergalactic Trash Panda

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.

I am joined again this week by my wife, Abbie, and our friend, Nate, as we discuss:

• The next 3 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series – Catspaw, I Mudd, and Metamorphosis

• Probably the weakest set of episodes yet

• Going over Abbie’s low bar for this series

• Nate almost didn’t finish the episode

• A Star Trek episode?  Or a Halloween special with Star Trek characters?

• Not the “most philosophically rich” episode of Star Trek

• Chekov’s hair

• Enterprise props today

• The sum of its parts are greater than the whole

• Seeing something we’ve seen before

• Binge watching affecting the viewing experience?

• Recurring themes – a life without limit is meaningless

• Recurring themes – the ethics of AI

• Technological advancements to allow intergalactic travel?

• Nearing halfway through The Original Series

• More problematical moments

• Which Einstein?

• I’ve heard that name before!

• Another rare consensus

• The importance of human contact to humans

• Captain Kirk.  Diplomat

• Nate gets distracted with DS9 talk again

• Yesterday’s progressivism, tomorrow’s conservatism

• Judas goats

• Nate’s growing fondness for Kirk

• Limitations providing meaning and value – recurrent themes

• TOS episodes as a basis for future series episodes and movies

• The first people to make certain Star Trek connections

• Space rabies!

• Nate already has a rating for Trouble with Tribbles

• Seeing why the series was cancelled after season 2

• Ricky Gervais and Arena

014 - Well, there goes Paradise

An evil crew, paradise, and a destructive intergalactic space worm.  All this and more in this week’s episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast!

I am joined, as usual, this week by my wife, Abbie, and our friend, Nate, as we discuss:

• The next 3 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series – Mirror Mirror, The Apple, and The Doomsday Machine

• Is this the “darkest timeline”?

• Another parallel universe episode

• Gene Roddenberry’s vision (hope?) for the future

• Star Trek has always been progressive for its time – it’s not something new today

• Under the progressive veneer, there are still traditional values throughout the episodes

• Theory of parallel universes

• What are you?  DNA?  Experiences?

• Was Kirk trying to change the mirror universe for the better?  Or was he just trying to get back to his universe and his ship?

• “Evil” Kirk is a formidable foe

• For a savage society, they are really bad at fighting

• Uniform colors

• Nature vs. Nurture and morality

• A piecemeal episode

• A Spock and Bones role reversal?

• What is the definition of “Paradise”?

• An anti-religion episode?

• Spock like Satan

• No ramifications?

• Can freedom be imposed?  Or is it necessarily a choice?

• Lurr – Ruler of Omicron Persei VIII

• The parable of the banker and the fisherman from Jimmy John’s

• Can a society be thriving but also stagnant?

• Exploration of other command styles

• Other ships

• A rare consensus

• Cold War commentary

• How often do officers lose their ships?

• Decisions and results

• Major transporter issues.  Is Scotty bad at his job?

• Security shortcomings

• Planetary system discussion

• Motion Picture and other movie discussion

• It all comes back to Independence Day

013 - This one is problematical

Vulcan biology.  The worst episode yet?  And some Irish folklore.

Thank you for joining us for all this and more on this week’s episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.  As usual, I am joined this week by my wife Abbie and our friend Nate as we discuss:

• The next 3 episodes of Star Trek: The Original Series – Amok Time, Who Mourns for Adonais?, The Changeling

• Season 1 episode analysis wrap up

• World-building of Vulcan society

• Noticeable increase in production quality at the start of season 2

• How is Spock’s development news to the Federation and Enterprise crew?

• Spock’s…biology

• Kirk questions Spock’s request for shore leave

• Kirk’s valuing of Spock’s life

• Decision-making at Starfleet

• Spock and the Crew disrespecting Vulan customs and culture?

• A series with no, or minimal, ramifications from one episode to the next

• Callback characters in other series

• Difficulty of the Vulcan salute

• Chicken pox parties

• A very convoluted episode

• Disagreements across the board

• Worst episode yet

• Why does the Enterprise only seem to run into rogue Earth probes?

• Abbie has reached her breaking point with The Original Series

• Problematic.  Not just TOS, but even TNG

• TNG/Picard discussion

• Warp 10…and no lizards

• Changes in warp drive

• After an episode about Greek mythology, we get some Irish folklore

• Uhura speaking Swahili

• A technology-forward show that has deep skepticism about technology

• I clearly don’t know what American Gods is about

• Yes, I have seen Arrival!

• ChatGPT shortcomings and strengths

• Looking ahead to upcoming episodes

Until next time – never give up…never surrender!

012 - The Lazarii Problem

The worst episode of the season, the best episode of the season, and The Crazies in Space.  This, and more in this week’s episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.

I am joined again this week by my wife, Abbie, and our friend, Nate, as we discuss:

• Star Trek: The Original Series episodes: The Alternative Factor, The City on the Edge of Forever, and Operation – Annihilate!

• We hit the whole spectrum of episodes this week

• An interesting topic with terrible execution

• Discussing earlier dumb episodes

• Tim the Enchanter

• The “high water mark” for Star Trek

• Pacifism at the right time

• Sacrifice for the greater good

• Gene Roddenberry’s vision for the future

• 11.22.63

• Spock’s primitive understanding of science

• A similar episode today would be a jump back to 1986

• Back to the Future, the 1993 edition with Metallica

• Foreshadowing that we all missed

• Are difficult decisions easier when we don’t know the affected people?

• How was The City on the Edge of Forever received in the ‘60s?

• Did ChatGPT get this one wrong?

• What differences would we have seen if Edith Keeler hadn’t died?

• First Contact discussion

• I talk about the wrong episode

• Another episode that is better than its title might indicate

• All of the elements of a good episode

• Kirk will not accept a no-win scenario

• McCoy doesn’t have the disposition for command

• Kirk with a Kodos’ decision to make

• McCoy struggles with Spock’s idea of triage

• Fake Kirk’s shitty moustache

• Boogers?  Or poorly cooked eggs?

• Lessons of the Horta did not transfer

• Plot holes from script changes?

• Kirk’s nephew is nowhere to be seen

• Levity at the end didn’t match the tone of the episode

• We have reached the end of Season 1

• “10”-rated seasons of other shows

• The experiment has been a success

• While the show has more depth than just spaceships and aliens, there are still spaceships and aliens

011 - Minor Ideological Differences

Welcome to another episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.  As usual, I am joined again this week by my wife, Abbie, and our friend Nate as we discuss:

• Star Trek: The Original Series episodes: This Side of Paradise, The Devil in the Dark, and Errand of Mercy

• ChatGPT for philosophy

• 3rd-level Star Trek analysis – talking about what ChatGPT says about episodes!

• Colonies in Star Trek

• Was Kirk immune because he was angry?

• What is life without ambition, wants, challenge?

• Do we need to have ambition to survive?

• Lack of ambition pulling others down

• Cordyceps

• Biologically, what is happening with the spores?

• Are we overthinking this?

• Stories with underlying meanings, intended or not

• Why intense emotions broke the spell of the spores

• Revisiting our scoring system

• The Tricorder is basically a smart phone

• Spock should not be a gun safety instructor.  Trigger discipline is lacking!

• Mines from Stardew Valley

• Hero’s Journey.  Character change in Kirk

• ChatGPT says 1 thing about the episode in 5 different ways

• Spock doesn’t want to explain his theories without data to back it up

• Similar episodes in different series

• Preconceived notions

• Mind meld from distance?

• Phaser differentiation

• The Prime Directive and imperfect information

• Who gets to decide who is in control?

• Two sides of the same coin?

• Klingons and Federation become friends?

• Automatic deflector shields

• A Vietnam allegory?

• Realizing that we draw many of the same conclusions as ChatGPT

• Personal freedom as the highest of virtues

• What is worth fighting for?

• The United Federation of Planets

Until next time – Never give up!  Never surrender!