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?

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

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!

009 - Arena, Tomorrow is Yesterday, Court Martial

A lizard fight, some time travel, and a 23rd century courtroom drama.  All this and more in this week’s episode of the To Baldly Go Podcast.

Tonight, I am joined by my friend Nate as we discuss:

• Star Trek: The Original Series episodes: Arena, Tomorrow is Yesterday, and Court Martial

• Can’t believe how far we are already.  After this week we are through 21 episodes

• If you don’t like Arena, you probably don’t like TOS

• People who make fun of Star Trek people think of episodes like Arena

• Over-the-top campiness

• A convoluted message

• A reflection on Vietnam?

• Metaphors

• Does the message of the Metrons make sense?

• Flawed characters that we love

• Do higher life forms have no predilection for violence?

• First mention of the Federation

• I get defensive of our heroes

• Am I a Trekkie now?

• Has Spock not learned his lessons?  Is this a lack of logic?

• I confuse photon and proton torpedoes

• A recurring trend – watching people watching people on TV

• Making the connection that this is specifically 300 years in the future

• How and when does Earth become united?

• More recurring themes – the Enterprise shows up and causes problems

• How much difference does one person make?  If John’s son hadn’t made the trip to Saturn, somebody else would have

• How much can they mess up the timeline?

• Recommending Matt Ridley books

• Comedy of errors makes for a good episode.  Without conflict, these episodes would be boring

• How do you teach somebody from the past?  How would we function if we were 300 years in the past?

• Technological discussion from two sides

• Time travel in different stories

• Musings on time travel and different timelines, or how I finally contribute to Star Trek conversations

• I won Star Trek

• Time travel vs time dilation.  Interstellar

• More watching people watch people on TV

• Regression in the courtroom over the next 250 years?

• Stipulated!  Clearly, I’m a legal expert

• Another negative view of technology.  But it’s the people who made technology unreliable

• Fawlty Towers discussion

• There are other ships like the Enterprise

• Lawyering in the 23rd century is awful

• Humanity fading into the shadow of the machine.  AI discussions which are still applicable today

• There’s a reason that we are following this crew and this captain

• Vulcanians

• The series has really found its footing.  Social commentary.  Showing what life can be.  Using the medium of story to convey that message.  Show, don’t tell

008 - You're not wrong, Spock, you're just an a--hole!

Welcome to episode 8 of the To Baldly Go Podcast, as I document my mission to explore strange new worlds.  To seek out new life and new civilizations.  To Baldly Go where so many have gone before.

I have started at the beginning, with Star Trek: The Original Series, watching through in an attempt to understand why people love these shows as much as they do.  Just maybe, I’ll become a Trekkie myself.

This week I am joined by Abbie and Nate, as we discuss:

• Star Trek: The Original Series – Shore Leave, The Galileo Seven, and The Squire of Gothos

• The Alice in Wonderland bunny and initial thoughts

• Nate second-guesses his rating

• A different landing party than we normally see

• A man with a jeweled knife – Don Juan, of course!

• Daydreams or weirdly intrusive thoughts?

• The crew doesn’t seem to notice when things should seem strange – like a human-sized bunny, or a loaded 20th century gun

• The more complex the mind, the more important play is.  Get out of your own head

• Kirk’s age

• 20% of the way through The Original Series

• Spock’s first command

• Galactic High Commissioner

• Standing orders

• Charging phasers to get into orbit

• Foreshadowing from Spock?

• Trying to trap Spock into being wrong

• Spock the Stoic

• Results-oriented vs probability-oriented

• Spock doesn’t understand the logic that some people will act emotionally and can’t respond accordingly

• Logic doesn’t have all the answers

• Rituals are very important to people

• Would Spock have stayed behind?  Abbie calls Nate out for making claims from episodes or movies yet to come

• A rare instance of Nate and Abbie disagreeing on a rating

• Kidnapped Kirk rejects the mission?

• Form vs substance

• Mirrors are a window to the soul

• The future is the past

• Q

• Abbie with the deep questions – Is Kirk a good Captain?  A good friend?  A good person?

• Kirk’s similarities to Picard

• Janeway discussion

• More on Kirk as captain, friend, person

• Abbie throws more shade at DS9

• The draw of stories

007 - Shakespeare and an Introduction to Romulans

Welcome to episode 7 of the To Baldly Go Podcast, in which I set out to explore strange new worlds.  To seek out new life and new civilizations.  To Baldly Go where so many have gone before…

Starting with Star Trek: The Original Series, I am watching through in an attempt to figure out why people love this show so much, and just maybe come to love it myself.

In this week’s episode, I am joined by Abbie and Nate, as we discuss Shakespeare in Space and get an introduction to Romulans:

• Star Trek: The Original Series episodes – The Conscience of the King and Balance of Terror

• I make a prediction and am way wrong

• The first mediocre episode I’ve watched.  Underwhelming

• Nate is the exact opposite of me

• Abbie and Nate are on the same page

• The episode “feels” like Star Trek

• How old is Kirk?

• Voice testing to confirm Kodos’ identity

• Racy dialogue

• Using Spock and McCoy dialogue for exposition

• Star Trek stereotypes

• Living in space and the differences between The Enterprise and standard military ships

• What is the Enterprise’s mission?  Military?  Diplomacy?  Policing?

• How do you handle impossible decisions?

• HIPAA laws go out the airlock sometime in the next 300 years

• Space-sounding words and being light-years off-course

• I was convinced to change my rating, and I am open to revisiting later

• A Yeoman Rand-om sighting

• The Series is really hitting its stride

• The sanctity of the Neutral Zone

• A Cold War with the Romulans

• Similarities and differences between Romulans and Vulcans

• Religion and ceremony in Star Trek

• Putting my Biblical and Theological Studies degree to work

• Living life in space

• Space exploration is still a risky proposition

• Will I like Star Trek as we progress through this and the other series?

• Shots fired at DS9

• There are lyrics to The Original Series theme

• TNG discussion

004 - A most annoying emotional episode

Welcome to Episode 4 of the To Baldly Go Podcast, in which I continue my mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations.  To Baldly Go where many have gone before…

I have started with Star Trek: The Original Series in an attempt to understand why people love the show as much as they do, and just maybe come to like it myself.

In this week’s episode, I am again joined by Abbie and Nate and we discuss:

• Our completely individual and subjective rating systems to grade each episode

• Star Trek: The Original Series episodes – Mudd’s Women and What Are Little Girls Made Of?

• Catfishing in the ‘60s

• Links between The Original Series and Next Generation

• Starfleet hasn’t been referenced yet?

• You either believe in yourself or you don’t.  Confidence is the ultimate beauty

• A perfect segue to the next episode

• A major disagreement

• Antagonism toward androids somehow turns into Data on the bridge?

• The Ship of Theseus

• Are androids a threat to humanity?

• HP Lovecraft connections

• What was available to watch in the 1960s vs. today

• Revisiting our scores for the first few episodes

Until next time –

Never give up!  Never surrender!

002 - Where apparently some have gone before

Welcome to Episode 2 of the To Baldly Go Podcast, in which I embark on a likely longer than 5-year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out no life and new civilizations.  To Baldly Go where many have gone before…

I am starting at the beginning and watching through Star Trek in an attempt to understand why people love the show as much as they do, and just maybe come to like it myself.

In this week’s episode I am joined by Abbie and Nate and we discuss:

• Star Trek: The Original Series episodes - Charlie X and Where No Man Has Gone Before

• What does it mean to be a man?

• Kirk awkwardly handling “the talk” with Charlie and leaving him with some really odd advice

• More lizards!

• Nate and Abbie discuss other series and their terrible episodes while I just listen - I have so much to look forward to

• I am in new territory, not knowing much about what lies ahead, and just sitting back and enjoying the ride

• A strong recommendation for Season 5 of 24

Until next time –

Never give up!  Never surrender!

000 - What am I doing and what do I already know?

Welcome to Episode 0 of the To Baldly Go Podcast, in which I prepare for my journey through the Star Trek franchise.

In this initial episode, I explain the genesis of this project:

• My embarrassing first contribution to a Star Trek discussion

• What I hope to learn and gain from this endeavor

• Some random stuff I know about Star Trek having never really watched much beyond some of the newer movies and the first season of Picard

If you are also new to Star Trek, join me as I watch through for the first time, starting at the beginning, in an attempt to learn what it is that people love so much about these shows and movies.

If you are a certified Trekkie, live vicariously through me as I experience the voyages of the Starship Enterprise and crew for the first time, and maybe even join your ranks.

Until next time, remember -

Never give up! Never surrender!